On Thursday's Hannity, Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson appeared to discuss his speech at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The host suggested Robertson is a “preacher at heart.” The A&E star explained that he views everything through a faith lens and finds himself dealing more with “spiritual warfare.”
The man behind the duck call described his life's mission as one based upon the “gospel of Jesus, Jesus died for the sins of the world.” A simple message, Robertson believes. “God loves you, sent Jesus to die for you.”
Hannity asked Robertson if he was at all surprised about the controversy he found himself in earlier this year. The TV star responded with an emphatic no:
"Surprised, not at all. Men hate you when they exclude you, when they insult you and reject your name as evil, Jesus said, because of the son of man. Leap for joy because great is your reward in heaven. It goes with the territory, spiritual warfare. There is a Satan out there, an evil one, and if anyone that looks at our culture doesn't believe it, I would simply say, what, are you blind? It's pretty rough out there."
For the Duck Dynasty patriarch, what’s ailing America is “evil.” He described the removal of the Ten Commandments from courthouses and taking God out of schools. Essentially, he argued, Americans have removed God from their “psyche.” The basic principles of “honor they father and mother, don’t murder, don’t lie, don’t steal” Robertson believes would help restore a “better society.”
"We took the Ten Commandments now and removing them from the courthouse and we're getting them out of our psyche. We took God out of our schools. If you started with young people and you taught them, you rebuke them, you corrected them, you trained them, you instructed them to obey their father and mother, honor their father and mother, don't murder, don't lie, don't steal from a young age, is anyone trying to tell me we wouldn't have a better society? I mean, it's nuts."
The relevant portion is transcribed below:
05/29/14
FNC
HannityHANNITY: I'm dealing with political wars. You think America, I think you're a preacher at heart and you believe that America has a spiritual battle it needs to fight.
ROBERTSON: You delve into and a part of the political wars, the -- as I would call it, the arguing ad infinitum. It never ends, and very few people I've noticed ever change their mind.
HANNITY: Yes.
ROBERTSON: They have their side, you have your side, you give your best shot, they come back. With me, it's all spiritual warfare. I'm wanting them to give their life to God Almighty Jesus' son and be saved from their sins, and be saved from the grave one day. Look, the Gospel of Jesus, Jesus died for the sins of the world. We're counting time by him. He must have been here or we wouldn't be saying it's 2014 years, Sean, since he got here.
HANNITY: Let me say this, Jesus did throw out the money changers and Jesus did render him to Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's.
ROBERTSON: Correct.
HANNITY: And what Sean Hannity is saying the government takes too much of our hard earned money.
ROBERTSON: No doubt about it.
HANNITY: Government is too intrusive into our lives.
ROBERTSON: No doubt about it.
HANNITY: That ObamaCare is killing jobs.
ROBERTSON: For sure.
HANNITY: We ought to be energy independent.
ROBERTSON: For sure.
HANNITY: So we got to win those political battles, too. I think they're just as important.
ROBERTSON: Yes. In other words, I just feel a little more comfortable dealing in the spiritual realm, even with the persecution of whatever comes with it, I'm just -- I have a task to do and I go forth across America. I've been doing this, most people don't realize, I've been doing this for 35 years.
HANNITY: Yes.
ROBERTSON: I've been all over the United States backwards and forwards, and my message is always the same, God loves you, sent Jesus to die for you.
HANNITY: When the controversy arose were you surprised?
ROBERTSON: Surprised, not at all. Men hate you when they exclude you, when they insult you and reject your name as evil, Jesus said, because of the son of man. Leap for joy because great is your reward in heaven. It goes with the territory, spiritual warfare. There is a Satan out there, an evil one, and if anyone that looks at our culture doesn't believe it, I would simply say, what, are you blind? It's pretty rough out there.
HANNITY: I wrote a whole book "Deliver Us from Evil."
ROBERTSON: Yes.
HANNITY: How do you explain Pol Pot and the killing fields, Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, Fascism, Communism.
ROBERTSON: Evil.
HANNITY: And then how do you explain murder and pedophilia and rape - - evil.
ROBERTSON: Yes, yes.
HANNITY: See, when you use these spiritual terms some people get, you can't say that.
ROBERTSON: We took the Ten Commandments now and removing them from the courthouse and we're getting them out of our psyche. We took God out of our schools. If you started with young people and you taught them, you rebuke them, you corrected them, you trained them, you instructed them to obey their father and mother, honor their father and mother, don't murder, don't lie, don't steal from a young age, is anyone trying to tell me we wouldn't have a better society? I mean, it's nuts.
