Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson Seeks to Reclaim Soul of America in Latest Book

Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson is not afraid tell you what he thinks. As one of the most outspoken advocates for conservative Christianity today, Robertson regularly and unabashedly proclaims the Gospel message across various media platforms.

Robertson believes that after decades of political decay coupled with our current climate of racial unrest and a global health crisis, that we are losing sight of who we are as an American people. He contends this is not the country our Founding Father’s envisioned.

In his latest book, Jesus Politics: How to Win Back the Soul of America (releasing tomorrow), the New York Times bestselling author challenges readers to use their personal influence and resources to protect and advance the policies of Jesus Christ.  He believes that in doing so, an increasingly morally deficient America can be restored.

I recently spoke to the Duck Commander about the new book, the roots of decay in America, and how we can respond to America’s brokenness.

I want to talk to you today about Jesus Politics, your new book. But before that, congratulations for discovering that you have a daughter in recent months.

She just stepped out of my past. Ms. Kay had told me through the years that one of these days, all your wild ways (are going to catch up to you). She said, ‘You're probably going to have a child or two coming out of all that.’ She said, ‘I hope it's a girl because we don't have a daughter.’ She said, ‘I'm just saying, you've repented from your past life.’ And she was correct. Phyliss just stepped out of my past. I had no idea. She's moving right next to us. So that's going to be pretty cool.

She's a very godly woman. She said she would walk to church when she was about 10 years old. I think it was God protecting her, getting her ready for the meeting with her dad, which took 45 years. Just think of that. It was a pretty emotional meeting.

Let's talk about this book, Jesus Politics. What was the inspiration or the catalyst for writing it?

I looked around at the current events. It mainly sprang off from this (Scriptural) text, 2 Timothy 2:24. ‘The Lord's servant must not quarrel. Instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose Him, He must gently instruct. And the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth.’ You know, the truth will set you free, that (people) will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, whose taken them captive to do His will. I looked at that. I said, you know what? I need to write a book to explain to (people) that we, as the kingdom of God … listen to this Colossians 1:10. ‘We pray that you will live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit and every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious night, so you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. He's rescued us from the dominion of darkness (and believe me, my life was dark) and brought us (past tense) into the kingdom of the son He loves and whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.’ I read that and I said, you know what? I'm living in a country that was based on Judeo Christian teaching. It rose to tremendous heights, a world superpower. The Constitution was written, and old John Adams said this about the Constitution. ‘This constitution that (James) Madison has come up with here was written for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.’ Well, when I looked up and started seeing what's going on … we ran God out of Hollywood if he was ever there. We ran Him out of the education system and voted Him out of the Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court forgot one little thing. There's a big difference between them, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Being. They ran Him out of the school system. They ran Him out of the news media. And our government is teetering. I don't know how many godly are left, but when you look at it, I said, you know what? I'm going to give (people) a book that explains how the kingdom of God, the king being Jesus, loving Him and loving each other is basically what it's about. Paul told the Ephesians, ‘We're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but the rulers, the authorities, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.’ I want to show people how the kingdom of God should function amongst all of us. It's not a pretty sight.

Is there any one thing or event that you can point to that serves as the root to the decay that our nation is currently experiencing?

It didn't pop up overnight. This has been going on. The seeds of it were sewn back in the 1960s with one Supreme Court decision after the other. If you don't teach your children the love of Jesus Christ and you don't discipline your children and you don't point them in the way they should go, they are going to depart from you. And as soon as they got into these institutions of higher learning, remember, they've had 60 years with no God. In Romans 1, because they did not think it was worthwhile. This is Romans 1:28 and following … because they didn't think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God.

(People) have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They're murderers, full of envy, strife, deceit, and malice. That was written 2,000 years ago during the days of the Roman empire, man. I'm looking at it now, there are gossips, slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful. I see it every night. So, that's why I said, I just can't sit here. I was in a mood like Lot was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah that Peter wrote about. He said he was tormented in his righteous soul because he was seeing what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah, just sexual perversion and morality out the roof. And we're there now all these years later. It’s scary and I'm trying to head it off. I'm just one man, trying my best to get our people to have a mass awakening and turn back to God. Bow to Him and Him only.

As believers in Christ, how can we respond to America’s brokenness as a representative of King Jesus?

I've met Donald Trump personally three times. One time when he was running. And you might say, ‘Phil, how long did it take you to get the Gospel preached to the man who's now the current president? It took me about 35 or 40 seconds. ‘How you doing?’ ‘Pretty good. I'm glad Phil, that you’re own board with me.’ I said, ‘Yes, that’s good. I hope you win it. But whatever happens, do not forget this.’ Then, I shared the good news of Jesus with him.  And I said, ‘I owed you that. Whatever happens, whether you win the presidency or not, don't forget this.’ I told him the same thing the next two times.

So, here's my point. All three times I talked to Donald Trump, you said, how do we turn this thing around? Start with whoever, whenever you get an opportunity to preach the Gospel to whoever is standing there, whether it's the president or not. You understand what I'm saying? What was good about it is the man listened carefully. And he would ask me questions. My point is all three sessions, although they were less than 10 minutes each, all three times we were speaking of spiritual matters, which is what the country needs. That's what we need to carry on a conversation. We're not judging (people). We love them whether they follow Jesus or not. I forgive them even if they curse me.

The bottom line is we all came from Adam and that ought to be enough to get people to understand there's not but one race on planet earth. It's called the human race. And we ought to love God and one another a little better. We will be ok but I’m going to tell you this.  People have got hard heads, man!

In your book, you write about a Kingdom Manifesto.  What is that and do you think we truly need a manifesto?

We made a manifesto because we need to let the Bible be our guide. It's the Word of God. All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training and righteousness. This so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So, our job is to proclaim the Gospel and the kingdom of God, Jesus being the King. We, his people, according to the apostle Peter. Let's see, you're a chosen people (according to) I Peter 2:9. (You are) a royal priesthood. Think about that, a royal priesthood, with Jesus being the King. We are all priests. He's the high priest. Now a lot of people would mistake me for a homeless man, if they didn't know any better.

I'm trying to reach (people) so they can become a member of the chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and brought us into light.

We need to step up and be more vocal about just telling folks at the supermarket or wherever you meet people. I do it all the time. I told the President of the United States. Who would have thought that someone who was there would show you about Jesus here, Mr. President and go right into it? You just can't have things like fear and I'm not confident enough to do it. Everybody ought to be able to tell his fellow man about Jesus and what He's done for them. So, it's not complex or rocket science. We have a simple message and the overarching manifesto is let's just love God and love our neighbor no matter what.

All I know to do is just keep hollering about Jesus. We're winning them, but I wish it was faster. If we don't do something, Chris, this thing is going to collapse around our ears.

After people have read Jesus Politics, as an author what would you like people to get out of the experience?  What is your greatest hope for the book?

My greatest hope would be before you vote for somebody, read their platform. If they killed or they slaughter their own children, I'm never going to vote for you. If you murder your children I'll forgive you, but I'm not going to vote for a political institution that says we're part of perversion with the slaughter of our children. I'm just not going to do it. I'm going to vote for the godliest people I can find. And if I can't find them, I don't know where to turn. So, hopefully we can still have people that have some semblance of the rule of God. I'm just hoping we can get any kind of Judeo-Christian values in the hearts of people before I vote for him. It's getting more difficult all the time. Just don't vote for people who are up to no good. Start there.