Pastor and friend of the show Dr. James Robison called in the radio program this morning to talk about his and Jay W. Richard's new book, Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It's Too Late.
Glenn had high praise for the book saying, "it is probably the best book on answers and clear thinking I have read in a very long time if you're looking for answers. In fact, I've had a copy of it for a while now and I have read it, my wife has read it, Pat has read it. All of us are saying absolutely fantastic book."
"The book is a great reference," Glenn says, "it's clear-thinking and concise." It is a great resource both economically and spiritually as a guide for Americans to pave the path back to a strong economic spiritual foundation. The co-author of the book, Jay W. Richards, is a former Marxist. Now a devout Catholic, he does a fantastic job taking on the ideas of socialism and communism, especially those that tied Jesus to the ideas of these ideologies.
Glenn asks Dr. Robison about this topic in the book, "Was the early church communist, was Jesus Communist?"
"Absolutely not," Robison replied. "They had all things in common only because they had the love of God overflowing in their heart. When they saw a need, they were anxious to meet it. We still are today. And one reason people do not go ahead and address the needs is they've already paid so much money to the federal government and they've been told the federal government is supposed to take care of all these problems which they absolutely have not and cannot. You cannot separate the compassion connection. The early church was anything but communist. They shared in common the needs of the people around them because they were so full of the love of God. No one came in and took their property and distributed it according to their own discretion. It was something that came out of the overflow of the love of God that was in their hearts. And that is as far from communism and collectivism and statism and progressivism as anything on the planet."
Dr. Robison, who recently was a guest host on The Glenn Beck Program interviewing MLB star Josh Hamilton, says the wrote this book with the intention of getting America back to it's roots of faith and personal responsibility. He says Indivisible provides "the steps necessary to really get us out of the pit of depression and debt and defeat and get us back on the road to success and peace and prosperity where we're going to be able to address the needs of the poor."
Robison went on to talk about how he was able to achieve the American dream, and how the attitude of being able to overcome personal struggles to do the same is being erased by the mainstream media and the left. "I came out of poverty, and I didn't come out of poverty in a fatherless home because someone taught me to hate everybody that wasn't in poverty and to resent those that had succeeded. I looked out and saw success as a possibility for me in poverty, and I went for it. And I started at age 12 and I found out we can live the American dream if we don't allow the general public and the upside down world view that's prevailing in Washington and throughout the academic community and through much of the media, if we don't let that upside down world destroy the opportunities that we have, we can literally see the greatest days America has ever experienced and we can continue to be the most benevolent and helpful, compassionate nation on the planet."
Glenn reads a LOT of books, and very few recieve the amount of praise he is giving this one saying it is "one of the best books that I have read in a while, and very clear." Glenn has said previously you know God is active when he speaks in multitudes. This morning he said that this book is echoing the messages of his prayers, saying, "these are the answers. This is not just about faith. This does have Biblical backing behind it, but it is also really good political thought. a way for you to understand it, a way for you to debate it, a way for you to, like he said, put the armor on, because you know what's true."
Pick up a copy of Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It's Too Late by Dr. James Robison and Jay W. Richards today.
Read the Full Transcript Below:
GLENN: There's a book that just came out. It's called Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family and Freedom Before It's Too Late. It was written by a friend of mine and a former Marxist and it is probably the best book on answers and clear thinking I have read in a very long time if you're looking for answers. In fact, I've had a copy of it for a while now and I have read it, my wife has read it, Pat has read it. All of us are saying absolutely fantastic book.
Last night I'm laying in bed and I bought it on Amazon so I could have it on my iPad because this is a book you will reference, and it is ‑‑ it's clear‑thinking and concise like this. Just listen to this one paragraph: When we talk about poverty, we often compare the poverty of some with the wealth of others, as if the wealth of some causes the poverty of others. The problem with our international global economy, argues Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, is that the wealth of the world goes from the poor to the rich. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and poorer. But the gap between the rich and the poor does not automatically mean that wealth is just transferred from the poor to the rich. In a market economy, it is as wrong to say ‑‑ as saying that the health of some causes the illness of others, or the intelligence of some leads to the ignorance of others. Steve Jobs and his many well‑paid employees didn't get rich by stealing iPads from homeless people. In fact, this "gap" thinking can actually prevent us from helping the poor.
Now, if you just know that one paragraph and you are in a debate with your friends and you can say, "And the rich just keep getting richer," and you just remember that one paragraph, you win. The name of the book is Indivisible. James Robison is on with us now. He is the co‑author with Jay Richards. Hey, James, how are ya?
ROBISON: Glenn, I'm fine, and I really enjoyed hosting your program last week. No one can fill your shoes but I did think the Josh Hamilton story was quite encouraging to people who have been defeated. I want to thank you and I just want to say to you that any of your viewers who come to appreciate what you stand for and what you've told them they should be concerned about and they really would like to have some body armor to fight and win this culture war and to correct our nation's catastrophic course and get us back on a safe course, we have append in Indivisible the steps necessary to really get us out of the pit of depression and debt and defeat and get us back on the road to success and peace and prosperity where we're going to be able to address the needs of the poor. And I came out of poverty, and I didn't come out of poverty in a fatherless home because someone taught me to hate everybody that wasn't in poverty and to resent those that had succeeded. I looked out and saw success as a possibility for me in poverty, and I went for it. And I started at age 12 and I found out we can live the American dream if we don't allow the general public and the upside down world view that's prevailing in Washington and throughout the academic community and through much of the media, if we don't let that upside down world destroy the opportunities that we have, we can literally see the greatest days America has ever experienced and we can continue to be the most benevolent and helpful, compassionate nation on the planet. And the American people want that, Glenn. That's why when you talk to them, you see that they resonate with your concern. And the people that really care, here's the real problem they have so often. They are taking care of their family and they are doing what they should do, but they haven't realized that someone else is taking this nation in an opposite direction that really is dismantling and destroying everything that gave them an opportunity to be prosperous and to understand personal responsibility and to have a good home. And we've got to get the people active right now. And I join with a Catholic and here I am an evangelical protestant evangelist and I'm working with a philosopher from Princeton who was once a Marxist socialist himself and a liberal and God almighty changed his life just like God changed your life and changed my life and we've now come together to, really as people of faith who love families and understand what really matters ‑‑ and yes, poverty matters, but the government's war on the poverty's proved to be a war on the poor and a war on the wealth‑creators. And I want to ask all the socialist‑minded people, the progressive socialists, where do they think they're going to get the money to support all their redistribution of the wealth if they destroy the ability to produce the wealth?
I mean, we are literally being governed right now by the most inverted world view you can ever imagine, and every time our leaders think they're pulling up, they're taking us further down toward total collapse and ruin. And it's time for the American people to stand up, get suited up like one talk show host said, put on the body armor that's found in Indivisible and let's become the city set on a hill that cannot be hidden and let's pierce this darkness and illuminate the way. And Glenn, it's time to do it and we can do it, but we must start now.
GLENN: I only asked one question and I mean, that is the ‑‑ you are one of the best monologuers I think I've ever run into.
ROBISON: You know, I didn't even have a TelePrompTer.
GLENN: I know. Let me take you to a couple of highlights in the book because what the book does is ‑‑ and James, I can feel your influence in it but I also can feel the Marxist influence in it, a guy who turned his life around. He knows, he knows right where their argument is, and the two of you then take it apart.
There's several things in it. Let me start with ‑‑ let me start with the global aspect. I just got back from Rome this weekend. I was with ‑‑ we called a conference of Tea Party, if you can call them that, leaders from all over Europe. They're freaked out of their mind by what's coming. I was in Greece. I met with the Vatican in Rome. They all also are very concerned about what's coming, and it is a global effort. You want to talk a little bit about globalization that you talk about in the book?
ROBISON: Well, here's the thing, Glenn. The last 0 years I worked all over the world. Our ministry's active in 50 countries and we've been alleviating poverty with a compassion connection and I find the American people and the people in Canada and Australia and even in the U.K. who understand the importance of compassion, I find them joining hands to really undergird works that change lives, whereas our government tends to turn money over to foreign governments and it has no oversight. The infrastructure was promised by other governments never takes place and our corporations and our government don't even care to give it the oversight enough to make the changes.
What I am seeing that is absolutely fantastic right now, however, on the part of the people around the world, there's a real desire for someone to come in and show them the way. I just met with a lead missionary in Africa. As a matter of fact, the Clinton Foundation actually gave him the award for their effectiveness on the mission field and they are our mission organization. And he was telling me about all of the opportunities to develop through a free market ideology and philosophy, the most unbelievable resources to benefit the people of Africa. As a matter of fact, Jay and I point out clearly in the book that we here in America, even because of many of our subsidy programs, we have diminished the ability of the third world countries to be productive even in agriculture. And we have moved so away from our founding principles that we're having a negative effect on a world that's in desperate need. And I tell you, Glenn, the stage is set. You talk about making an impact on the vote, people all over the planet are praying for us right here in America. They realize that the very ‑‑
GLENN: They are.
ROBISON: ‑‑ future hopes for freedom and advancement depends upon the decisions we make right here in our country now. So the stage is set for something great to happen but not in a one‑world government but with the love of God and the truth of God being shared in action and not just in words.
GLENN: Is ‑‑
ROBISON: So the stage is set for us to touch the whole world. The world is ripe right now.
GLENN: Is the ‑‑ I love this part of the book. Is the early church, was the early church, was Jesus a communist? (Sniffing.)
ROBISON: Was he ‑‑ you're asking me was it socialist?
GLENN: No, no, I'm asking ‑‑ that's one of the topic headings here. Was the early church communist, was Jesus Communist?
ROBISON: Absolutely not. They had all things in common only because they had the love of God overflowing in their heart. When they saw a need, they were anxious to meet it. We still are today. And one reason people do not go ahead and address the needs is they've already paid so much money to the federal government and they've been told the federal government is supposed to take care of all these problems which they absolutely have not and cannot. You cannot separate the compassion connection. The early church was anything but communist. They shared in common the needs of the people around them because they were so full of the love of God. No one came in and took their property and distributed it according to their own discretion. It was something that came out of the overflow of the love of God that was in their hearts. And that is as far from communism and collectivism and statism and progressivism as anything on the planet. It is the exact opposite. And David, as George Gilder said in the book, Jay Richards and James Robison prove this persuasively and concussively how the social and economics cannot be divided and how what we do in the social and moral community affects the economic. And I tell you, Glenn, you started off on the right track, you're on the right track, your viewers and your listeners know it and I really do believe that we're going to see the greatest awakening, I think we're going to see the next great awakening. It must happen.
GLENN: I will tell you that while I was over at the Vatican, it was said to me several times exactly what you're saying: That they're very concerned. They're more concerned about us than they are about them. Because if we fall, the whole world falls. The Western way of life falls. Who is there to protect it? And they ‑‑ I mean, I ‑‑ it was amazing to me how many people in very powerful positions were saying things like, "I don't know if you guys know what you're up against because you guys are asleep at the switch." But this is a global movement against freedom. This is a global ‑‑ this is ‑‑ you know, honestly, James, this is what it talks about in the last book of the Bible about a one‑world government. This is it.
ROBISON: Absolutely. Well ‑‑
GLENN: This is the basis of it.
ROBISON: The support coming our way from countries like Australia's staggering. We were getting unbelievable support to our ministry and our outreaches and the message we're delivering. And when I get the notes from Australia, I'm talking about strong support. I'm talking about major gifts. You know what the people ‑‑ they don't even get tax credit. They are sending it because they say you know what? If you lose your understanding of freedom and if you don't stand, the whole world is teetering on the edge of collapse. And they are praying for us. I'm telling you people all over the world are praying.
GLENN: I tell you, James, it's really ‑‑
ROBISON: This is our chance.
GLENN: It's really ‑‑
ROBISON: This is our chance.
GLENN: It's really strange you bring up Australia because I was over in Rome and I was having dinner and I just felt so strongly. I said to the crew, we're going to Australia. And they said, what? I said, I don't know why, I don't know when, but we're going to Australia. And it's strange that you would bring them up. We get a lot of mail from Australia as well. One of the, one of the people who is now kind of doing research for me, she's from Australia. And the stuff that is coming out, the Australians know. That's the other side of the globe. And they're very nervous because if America falls, Australia and New Zealand become Chinese. They fall under the darkness of China.
ROBISON: Glenn, you and I, you're going to be with me on our program and we're going to be talking about ‑‑ and I did say this on your program last week. Being George Washington, with all of our flaws, if we will assume the great character qualities that he had and stand together. And if people will understand the message that you delivered in that book and then coupled with Indivisible, which I pray everyone will rush to the bookstore. As a matter of fact, I'm on this, the bus with Premiere speakers that you travel on a lot, and we're about to walk in the Barnes and Noble here in Tampa. Right now as I'm talking, I'm five minutes from being in there to sign the copies of Indivisible. We'll be in The Villages a little bit later in the day, Glenn, which is where I talked to you the first time.
GLENN: That's right.
ROBISON: And you said while you were there, God showed you that you had to make a course correction yourself in order to do what God wanted you to do.
GLENN: Yeah.
ROBISON: We'll be at The Villages in just a FEW hours and then we'll be in Jacksonville AND coming across the country. Glenn, if people get the message that you shared in that book ‑‑ you haven't written a book that people didn't need to read in my opinion. But also if you take Indivisible and we get this out, I'm just going to tell you and I'm going to say it. You can call it prophetic or you can call it a foolish prediction. You get a good percentage of America reading those two books and I believe really going and getting Indivisible so they put on this body armor to win the culture war, we are going to correct our course. And it isn't just about this election, as important as this election is. It's about a new understanding of the appropriate correct direction and doing the necessary corrections that must be made. And I pray people will go to Amazon, Barnes and Noble or go to all the bookstores because it is in the bookstores today.
GLENN: Okay.
ROBISON: And let's get America reading this book. Let's get on our face before God and then let's stand on our feet for God.
GLENN: James, thanks very much. Have a good time in Tampa and The Villages later today and God bless and I'll see you soon, my friend.
ROBISON: And regards to Tania and I've been praying for your back. I hope it's stronger.
GLENN: Thank you. It is. Thank you, James. Bye‑bye. All right. Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family and Freedom Before It's Too Late. I am telling you, and Pat, I think you would echo these words. One of the best books that I have read in a while and very clear. The same kind of stuff that I am, I'm hearing in my prayers, these are the answers. This is not just about faith. This does have biblical backing behind it, but it is also really good political thought, a way for you to understand it, a way for you to debate it, a way for you to, like he said, put the armor on. Because you know what's true.
PAT: Yeah. Because so often you get trapped on something that somebody will surprise you with and you're not ready for. After this book I think you're going to be more ready for those debates.
GLENN: You are. And it's just really, really clear and easy to read. My wife said ‑‑ she picked it up and she was reading my copy, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago and she said, man, James' book is real ‑‑ my wife never reads my books. And she said, James' book is really, really good. And I said, it is, isn't it? She said, I could not put it down. Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family and Freedom Before It's Too Late. James Robison and Jay Richards, available in bookstores everywhere.