Apparently, I was a little late discovering Columbus.

But considering how much of his story I never learned in school, perhaps that’s appropriate.

Like most Americans of my generation, I grew up learning about Christopher Columbus, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. We learned that he sailed the ocean blue in 1492, searching for a shorter trade route to Asia, where Europeans hoped to obtain valuable spices and other goods.

And, of course, we learned that he discovered America.

Except he didn’t know he had reached a continent Europeans would later call America. He believed he had reached islands near Asia. And the lands he encountered were already inhabited by people whose ancestors had been living in the Americas for thousands of years.

But that’s not the part of the story that has captured my attention lately.

What surprised me was discovering what Columbus himself believed he was doing.

Because when you start reading his own writings, something remarkable emerges.

Christopher Columbus believed God had called him to his voyage.

Not simply to find spices. Not simply to establish trade routes. Not even simply to bring wealth and prestige to the Spanish monarchy.

He believed his journey was part of a much larger Christian mission.

And there’s an entire religious dimension to his story that I certainly don’t remember learning about in school.

The Columbus I Met in Elementary School

Think back to your elementary school history lessons.

What do you remember about Christopher Columbus?

Three ships. A brave explorer. A round Earth. A search for a new trade route to the East.

Perhaps you remember coloring pictures of sailing ships or memorizing the names of the vessels.

Some of us were even taught that Columbus set out to prove the Earth was round, although educated Europeans already knew that. The real disagreement concerned the size of the Earth and whether Asia could be reached by sailing west across the Atlantic.

Over the years, the story has changed considerably.

Today, Columbus is often discussed primarily through the lens of European colonization, the suffering of Indigenous peoples, and the consequences of his voyages.

Those consequences are real and deserve serious historical examination.

But I’ve noticed something interesting about the way we tell history.

We have a tendency to reduce complicated people to a single storyline.

In one generation, Columbus becomes the heroic explorer who discovered a new world.

In another, he becomes a symbol of conquest and oppression.

And somewhere between those competing narratives, we can lose sight of a rather important question:

What did Christopher Columbus actually believe he was doing?

Fortunately, we don’t have to rely entirely on someone else’s interpretation.

We have his writings.

And they’re fascinating.

Then I Started Reading What Columbus Actually Wrote

One of the most revealing documents is the surviving account of Columbus’s journal from his first voyage in 1492.

The original journal no longer exists, but much of its content was preserved through a later transcription and summary by Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish priest and historian.

The opening is striking.

Rather than beginning with a discussion of spices, sailing conditions, or navigation, the journal’s prologue begins:

“IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST”

Columbus then discusses the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, and their victory at Granada earlier that year.

Why does that matter?

Because Granada was the last major Muslim-ruled kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula. Its surrender in January 1492 marked the culmination of centuries of Christian reconquest in Spain.

And just months later, Columbus would sail west under the sponsorship of those same monarchs.

In his journal’s prologue, Columbus describes the monarchs’ interest in sending representatives to Asia and learning how its inhabitants might be converted to Christianity.

He specifically connects his expedition to the desire to spread the Christian faith.

Now, to be clear, Columbus was also seeking wealth, titles, territory, and a commercially valuable route to Asia. His own writings make that clear.

But Christianity wasn’t merely an incidental detail.

Religious purpose was part of how he explained the voyage from the very beginning.

That is a significant piece of historical context.

And it raises an interesting question.

If Columbus understood his mission in religious terms, shouldn’t that be part of how we teach his story?

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Wait. Jerusalem?

Here’s where the story became even more surprising to me.

Columbus didn’t simply hope to spread Christianity to people living in distant lands.

He also envisioned using the wealth generated by his voyages to help finance the recovery of Jerusalem for Christendom.

Yes. Jerusalem.

As in the Holy Land.

As in the city that had been at the center of centuries of conflict between Christian and Muslim powers.

In a letter to the Spanish monarchs written after his first voyage, Columbus described a remarkable ambition.

He proposed that the wealth of his discoveries could eventually finance an army of 5,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry for a campaign to take Jerusalem.

He even described this religious objective as a reason for undertaking his enterprise.

Think about that for a moment.

The man we learned about as an explorer searching for spices was discussing how the riches of his expedition might finance a military campaign to reclaim Jerusalem.

That certainly adds a dimension to the story that I don’t remember from my elementary school history book.

Of course, there is an important historical distinction here.

The strongest surviving statements about Jerusalem come from Columbus’s writings after his first voyage. Historians debate precisely how central this objective was to his original plans in 1492.

But the evidence establishes that Columbus eventually regarded the recovery of Jerusalem as a major part of his mission, and he suggested that the idea had been present from the beginning.

Whether his royal sponsors shared the same level of enthusiasm is another question entirely.

What fascinates me is that Columbus saw exploration, wealth, evangelization, and the future of Christendom as interconnected.

He wasn’t simply thinking about geography. He was thinking about biblical history.

The Book of Prophecies Nobody Told Me About

And then I learned that Christopher Columbus compiled something called the Book of Prophecies.

Have you ever heard of it?

I hadn’t.

Around 1501 and 1502, Columbus worked with others, including a Carthusian monk named Gaspar Gorricio, to assemble biblical passages and other religious writings that he believed helped explain his voyages.

This wasn’t a navigation manual.

It wasn’t a collection of maps.

It was a compilation of Scripture, religious commentary, and prophetic interpretations.

Columbus believed that certain biblical prophecies pointed toward the spread of Christianity throughout the world and the eventual recovery of Jerusalem.

And he came to see his own voyages as part of that unfolding history.

Imagine that.

A man who had crossed the Atlantic Ocean, encountered lands previously unknown to most Europeans, endured storms, experienced political conflict, and even returned to Spain in chains was spending time studying Scripture and trying to understand how his life fit into God’s plan.

He believed the events of his lifetime carried spiritual significance.

Now, whether his interpretation of biblical prophecy was correct is an entirely separate theological question.

Christians can certainly disagree about that.

But understanding what Columbus believed helps us understand the decisions he made.

It also reminds us that the world of 1492 was very different from the world we inhabit today.

For Columbus, religion wasn’t necessarily a separate compartment of life.

It shaped how he understood kings, kingdoms, history, exploration, and the future.

His worldview was deeply influenced by Christianity.

And that worldview deserves to be examined if we want to understand the man.

Did Columbus Really Believe God Had Called Him?

This may be the most fascinating question of all.

Was Columbus simply using religious language to persuade Catholic monarchs to finance his expeditions?

Was Christianity a convenient justification for seeking wealth and power?

Or did he sincerely believe he had been chosen by God for a particular purpose?

Historians have debated these questions for generations.

And I don’t pretend to know everything that was happening inside Christopher Columbus’s heart.

Only God knows that.

But I do find it difficult to dismiss the religious dimension of his life as nothing more than political theater.

His writings repeatedly return to Christianity, evangelization, Jerusalem, and divine providence.

His Book of Prophecies represents a considerable investment of time and thought into understanding his experiences through Scripture.

That doesn’t prove every motive was pure.

It doesn’t mean he always acted consistently with Christian teachings.

And it certainly doesn’t mean that believing God called someone to a mission automatically means God actually did.

But it does mean that his faith was a serious part of his understanding of himself and his work.

And that matters.

Because there’s a difference between evaluating whether someone’s actions were right and understanding why that person believed those actions were justified.

Good history requires us to do both.

Faith Doesn’t Erase Failure

Now, I want to address something important.

Exploring Columbus’s Christian faith doesn’t mean we have to pretend that everything he did was admirable. But it also doesn’t mean we should judge his actions without understanding the world he encountered.

Columbus didn’t arrive in a world where every Indigenous community lived peacefully alongside its neighbors. In his journal, he described meeting people who bore scars from conflicts with other groups. He also recorded accounts of hostile islanders and alleged cannibalism, although historians continue to debate the accuracy of some of those reports.

These were complicated societies with their own cultures, political relationships, rivalries, and conflicts. And Columbus was trying to understand them through the enormous language and cultural barriers separating them.

What I find particularly interesting is that Columbus also wrote about his desire to introduce these people to Christianity. In his first journal entries, he expressed the belief that they could be converted through kindness rather than force.

That matters when we’re trying to understand his intentions.

But intentions and actions aren’t always the same thing.

Columbus also acknowledged taking Indigenous people by force to serve as interpreters. Later, his administration of Hispaniola became the subject of serious complaints and an investigation ordered by the Spanish Crown. And his expeditions helped establish a colonial system that brought profound suffering to Indigenous populations.

Those facts deserve acknowledgment, too.

But here’s where I think we need to be careful.

We shouldn’t automatically attribute every abuse committed during centuries of European colonization to Christopher Columbus personally. Nor should we assume that every accusation made against him was necessarily accurate simply because it appears in a historical document.

The same standard of evidence should apply whether we’re examining his faith or his failures.

And as a Christian, I find another part of this story worth considering.

Scripture is filled with accounts of deeply flawed human beings. King David was a man after God’s own heart, yet his sins had devastating consequences. Peter loved Jesus and still denied Him.

The Bible doesn’t hide those failures. It records them.

Of course, recognizing that biblical figures were imperfect doesn’t excuse the mistreatment of other human beings. And believing that God has called someone to a mission doesn’t automatically mean every decision that person makes carries God’s approval.

But it does remind us that human beings are complicated.

Columbus could sincerely believe he was serving God while making decisions that contradicted the very Christian principles he professed.

Faith is not proof of perfection. And failure is not proof that faith was insincere.

We don’t have to turn historical figures into saints or monsters to study them honestly.

We can examine their beliefs, their accomplishments, their failures, and their consequences, while remembering that understanding someone’s motivations is not the same thing as endorsing their actions.

That’s what history is supposed to help us do.

What Happens When We Leave Faith Out of History?

This is where the Columbus story connects to something I’ve been thinking about much more broadly.

What happens when we teach history without adequately explaining the religious beliefs of the people who lived it?

I’m not suggesting every historical event was motivated by Christianity.

Nor am I suggesting that religious motives were always noble.

History gives us plenty of examples of religion being used to justify terrible things.

But faith was a powerful force in shaping the worldview of countless historical figures.

It influenced their understanding of duty, sacrifice, authority, morality, and purpose.

And if we remove that dimension from the story, we risk misunderstanding why they made the decisions they did.

Columbus is a particularly interesting example because the religious and commercial dimensions of his voyages were so closely intertwined.

He wanted access to the riches of Asia.

He wanted recognition and authority.

He wanted to spread Christianity.

He wanted to see Jerusalem recovered.

And he believed his achievements were connected to divine prophecy.

That is a far more complicated story than simply saying he went looking for spices.

It is also more interesting.

As someone who has spent a great deal of time encouraging Americans to read our founding documents for themselves, I keep coming back to the same principle.

Primary sources matter.

If we want to understand the Declaration of Independence, we should read the Declaration.

If we want to understand the Constitution, we should read the Constitution.

And if we want to understand Christopher Columbus, perhaps we should spend some time reading Christopher Columbus.

Not just the paragraphs someone selected for a textbook.

Not just the social media posts that circulate every October.

His actual words, considered alongside the broader historical record.

Maybe We Should Start Asking Better Questions

Here’s what I find most interesting about all of this.

For years, I thought I understood the basic story of Christopher Columbus.

He wanted spices. He sailed west. He encountered the Americas.

End of story.

But the more I learn about his religious convictions, the more I realize how much context was missing from that simple narrative.

Columbus believed his life had a purpose that extended far beyond personal ambition.

He saw his voyages through the lens of Scripture.

He believed Christianity should spread throughout the world.

And he connected the wealth he hoped to acquire with the recovery of Jerusalem.

We can examine those beliefs without automatically endorsing his interpretation of God’s will.

We can acknowledge the suffering associated with his voyages without pretending his faith was irrelevant.

And we can recognize the enormous historical consequences of 1492 without reducing the man at the center of the story to a cardboard character.

Maybe that’s the lesson I find most valuable.

History isn’t supposed to be a collection of carefully selected facts designed to produce a predetermined conclusion.

It’s supposed to be an honest investigation into the past.

And sometimes that investigation reveals things we never expected.

So yes, I’m a day late for Columbus Day.

But perhaps there’s something appropriate about discovering a different side of Christopher Columbus 534 years after his famous voyage.

After all, the most interesting discovery I’ve made about Columbus lately has nothing to do with the coastline he encountered.

It has to do with the mission he believed God had given him.

And that seems like a pretty important part of the story to leave out.

Maybe the next time Columbus Day rolls around, instead of asking only whether Christopher Columbus deserves to be celebrated or condemned, we should begin with a different question:

What did he actually believe, and what do the historical records tell us about it?

That seems like a much better place to start.

Don’t Take My Word for It. Read the Sources.

If this part of Columbus’s story is new to you, I encourage you to explore the documents and historical research for yourself.

• Columbus’s 1492 Journal: Fordham University’s Medieval Sourcebook

• Columbus’s Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella: King’s College London, Early Modern Spain

• The Book of Prophecies: Scholarly discussion of the manuscript and its biblical sources

• Religious Motives for Columbus’s First Voyage: Daniel J. Wood’s historical research

• Reading Columbus: University of California Press

History becomes much more interesting when we start asking questions and reading the evidence for ourselves.

Giant cart. Paper towels. Rotisserie chicken. At least one thing you didn’t plan to buy.

Well, apparently there’s a new thing.

Silver bars.

Not silver jewelry. Not silverware. Actual bars of silver, sold under Costco’s own Kirkland Signature brand.

I had to read that twice.

During Costco’s September 24 quarterly earnings call, chief financial officer Gary Millerchip rattled off some of the company’s new Kirkland Signature products.

Matcha green tea powder. Pretzel sandwiches. Ultra-filtered 2% milk.

And one-ounce silver bars.

One of these things is not like the others. 😂

Naturally, I went looking.

The Kirkland Signature silver bars are listed on Costco’s website in five-packs, each containing five one-ounce bars of .9999 fine silver.

They’re sold online, with purchase limits.

And this isn’t Costco’s first adventure into precious metals.

Back in 2023, the company reported selling approximately $100 million in gold bars during a single quarter. Those bars became so popular that reports described them selling out within hours.

Now Costco has put its own name on silver.

I find that fascinating.

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Think about the typical Costco customer. Families buying groceries. Parents stocking up on household essentials. Small business owners buying supplies. Grandparents shopping for the next family gathering.

These aren’t necessarily people who spend their afternoons studying commodity markets.

They’re ordinary Americans.

Of course, Costco’s decision to sell silver doesn’t prove that every family is suddenly worried about the dollar. Retailers introduce products for all kinds of reasons, including customer demand and profitability.

But it does make me wonder what conversations are happening around kitchen tables across America.

Are people thinking differently about savings? Are they looking for alternatives to traditional investments? Are they simply curious about owning something tangible?

And what does it say about our financial culture that precious metals are now being sold alongside pretzels and paper towels?

While I’ve been exploring Costco’s newest product line, I also watched the October 7 debate between Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and State Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

And something about that debate kept bringing me back to the questions I’ve been asking about money.

The candidates discussed economic growth, government spending, gas taxes, healthcare, and election integrity.

All important issues.

But as I listened, I kept coming back to a more fundamental question.

What is government actually supposed to do?

Governor Shapiro repeatedly emphasized economic growth under his administration.

And every time the conversation returned to what government was doing to grow the economy, I found myself thinking about the distinction between government creating prosperity and government establishing the conditions in which prosperity can flourish.

Because I believe we’ve developed a serious education gap in this country when it comes to understanding the proper role of government.

And frankly, I think that gap is affecting nearly every political conversation we’re having.

Let me explain what I mean.

Of course, I want Pennsylvania’s economy to grow. I want businesses to thrive, families to prosper, and young people to have opportunities that allow them to build meaningful, productive lives.

But I don’t believe government’s primary responsibility is to engineer economic growth.

I believe its responsibility is to protect our God-given rights, uphold the rule of law, respect constitutional limits, and maintain the conditions in which free people can pursue opportunity.

There’s a difference.

Governments can build roads, enforce contracts, establish regulations, collect taxes, and make investments. Those decisions absolutely affect economic activity, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.

But government doesn’t manufacture the products sitting on store shelves. It doesn’t invent every new technology, take every entrepreneurial risk, or make the millions of daily decisions that determine what people want to buy and sell.

People do that.

Businesses do that.

Entrepreneurs do that.

And I think we’ve developed a habit of looking to elected officials as though prosperity is something they dispense from the governor’s office.

Maybe we’ve forgotten that an economy isn’t a government program.

It’s millions of people making decisions, solving problems, serving customers, creating value, and exchanging goods and services.

The question I wish we’d spend more time discussing isn’t simply which governor can promise more economic growth.

It’s what government should do—and what it should leave to the people.

The debate also included a discussion about temporarily suspending Pennsylvania’s gas tax.

Stacy Garrity expressed support for suspending it, while Governor Shapiro emphasized that changing the tax would require action by the state legislature.

Let me be clear about something right up front.

I’m all for suspending the gas tax. In fact, I’d support eliminating it altogether.

Pennsylvanians are paying enough in taxes already, and I’d love to see some meaningful relief at the pump.

But here’s where the civics lesson comes in.

On the question of constitutional procedure, Shapiro is right.

Yes, I said it. Someone write down the date. 😂

The governor doesn’t get to wake up one morning and unilaterally rewrite Pennsylvania’s tax laws just because it’s a good idea.

That’s not how our system is supposed to work.

The legislature makes the laws. The executive branch carries them out. Those separate powers are an important safeguard against concentrating too much authority in one office.

And here’s the thing: I don’t want a governor I agree with exercising powers that I would object to a governor I disagree with exercising.

That’s not constitutional government. That’s just picking and choosing when the rules should apply.

But that doesn’t mean a governor’s hands are tied.

Governors can propose legislation, advocate for policy changes, negotiate with lawmakers, and use their public platforms to make the case for their priorities.

So there’s a difference between saying, “I don’t have the constitutional authority to do that by myself,” and saying, “Here’s what I’m willing to work with the legislature to accomplish.”

And frankly, I’d love to hear a serious conversation about not just suspending the gas tax for a few months, but whether Pennsylvania should eliminate it entirely—and how we would responsibly replace the transportation funding it currently provides.

Because good policy and constitutional procedure are not mutually exclusive. We should demand both.

We should know what our elected officials have the authority to do, what they don’t have the authority to do, and what they’re actually proposing to do.

Otherwise, how can we hold anyone accountable?

The debate also touched on Medicare, Medicaid, and the financial challenges surrounding healthcare.

And this is another area where I think we’ve lost sight of some pretty fundamental questions about the proper role of government.

Let me be clear. I absolutely believe we have a responsibility to care for people who are sick, struggling, elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to care for themselves.

But I also believe we need to ask whose responsibility that is supposed to be.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965, nearly two centuries after our nation’s Founding. Today, they’ve become enormous parts of our healthcare system, and millions of Americans depend on them.

But their existence raises a question that I don’t think we discuss nearly enough.

When did we begin looking to government to fulfill responsibilities that Scripture places on the Church, families, and individual believers?

Throughout the Bible, we’re instructed to care for widows, orphans, the poor, the sick, and those in need.

James 1:27 speaks of caring for orphans and widows in their distress. Acts 2 describes early believers sharing their possessions to meet one another’s needs. And in Matthew 25, Jesus speaks about feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, and caring for the sick.

These weren’t instructions to establish a federal agency.

They were calls for God’s people to love and serve their neighbors.

And I think there’s something profoundly different about a community of believers voluntarily coming alongside a struggling family and a government program funded through compulsory taxation.

That doesn’t mean we can simply dismantle programs tomorrow and ignore the millions of people who currently depend on them. Nor does it mean churches have always done an adequate job meeting these needs.

But shouldn’t we at least be willing to ask whether we’ve gradually transferred responsibilities away from families, churches, and local communities and placed them in the hands of an increasingly centralized government?

And if we believe the Church has a responsibility to care for those in need, shouldn’t we also be asking whether we’re prepared to step up and actually do it?

Because I don’t believe the answer to every human need should automatically be another government program.

I believe the Church has an important responsibility here, and one we should take seriously.

Which brings me right back to the question I kept asking throughout the debate.

Have we become so accustomed to government doing things for us that we’ve forgotten what we’re supposed to be doing for one another?

Now, back to the silver.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Coinage Act of 1792.

If you missed that article, it was called Wait… THAT’S in the Constitution?

That little historical rabbit hole started with a question about gold and silver and led me to a law signed by President George Washington on April 2, 1792.

The Coinage Act defined the United States silver dollar using a specified quantity of precious metal.

Specifically, 371¼ grains of pure silver.

That’s approximately 0.773 troy ounces.

At a silver price of approximately $61 per ounce, that quantity of silver would have a metal value of about $47 today.

Forty-seven dollars’ worth of silver in the original dollar.

Now, before anybody gets too excited, that’s not the same thing as saying one dollar in 1792 had $47 of today’s purchasing power. Silver prices change independently of the overall cost of living, and the historical comparison isn’t an inflation calculator.

But it’s still a remarkable illustration of how much our monetary system has changed.

The original American dollar was defined in terms of silver.

Today’s dollar is fiat currency. It isn’t redeemable for a fixed amount of gold or silver, and its purchasing power depends on economic conditions and the stability of the monetary system.

That doesn’t automatically make precious metals a better choice for every saver or investor.

But it does make monetary history worth understanding.

Maybe the Bigger Problem Is What We Don’t Know

Here’s where my two rabbit holes finally connected.

One started with a debate about government and the economy.

The other started with a silver bar at Costco.

But both led me to the same realization.

We spend an awful lot of time talking about money without necessarily understanding how it works.

We argue about taxes without always understanding who has the authority to change them.

We debate government spending without always discussing where the money comes from.

We talk about economic growth without always distinguishing between public investment and private enterprise.

We worry about inflation without always understanding what causes prices to rise or how different assets respond.

And we ask our children to prepare for financial independence without necessarily teaching them the history of money, the responsibilities of citizenship, or the fundamentals of personal finance.

I don’t think any of us ever finishes learning these things.

I certainly haven’t.

But I think asking better questions is a pretty good place to start.

Why I’m Still Asking Questions About Gold and Silver

My partnership with Revelation Gold Group has given me an opportunity to explore some of these questions in greater depth.

I’ve been learning more about physical precious metals, the history of money, and the different ways families approach long-term savings.

Revelation offers a free educational guide explaining how gold and silver work, including options for purchasing physical metals and holding eligible precious metals in certain retirement accounts.

If you’re curious, you can find it at ToniRevelation.com.

As always, do your homework. Precious metals can fluctuate significantly in value, and buying, storing, or holding them in retirement accounts may involve costs and restrictions. No investment is right for everyone.

I’m not a financial advisor, and this isn’t personalized financial advice.

I’m simply continuing to ask questions, learn, and share what I discover.

The next time you’re pushing that giant cart through Costco, take a look around.

There’s a lot more happening in that warehouse than you might realize.

A family buying groceries.

A small business owner buying supplies.

A parent trying to stretch the household budget.

And somewhere online, a Kirkland Signature silver bar.

Maybe it’s just another product Costco thinks its members will buy.

Or maybe it’s an invitation to ask some questions we haven’t thought about in a while.

What gives money value?

What creates lasting prosperity?

What responsibilities belong to government, and what responsibilities belong to us?

And what should we be teaching our children about all of it?

I don’t have every answer.

But I intend to keep asking.

Duty is ours. Results are God’s.

I wasn’t quite ready to tell you what it was because I wanted some time to kick the tires before I started talking about it publicly. If I’m being completely transparent, I’m naturally more of a “fire, ready, aim” person when something new gets me excited.

But I’ve also learned that having a public platform comes with responsibility. When I tell you I believe in something, I want to have done enough homework to actually mean it—not just be caught up in the hype.

So I studied. I asked questions. Then I asked more questions. And probably a few more after everyone involved was ready for me to stop asking. 😂

Well, I’m now six weeks in, so put your seat belt on.

I pulled the trigger and became an “affiliate” with a network marketing company called Vital Health.

Yep. After more than 20 years in an industry I thought I had permanently walked away from, I’m back.

But probably not for the reason you think.

I’m not writing this because I suddenly decided From Mom to Patriot needed more mushroom coffee content.

I’m writing it because over the past six weeks, I’ve started to see a connection between this new venture and the work I’ve spent the last several years doing.

It has to do with something I’ve been talking about a lot lately:

Politics is downstream from culture.

And if we want to change the direction of our country, maybe we need to spend more time upstream.

Long before I was teaching students in an actual classroom, I spent more than 20 years working with people through network marketing.

When that chapter ended, it didn’t end easily.

For years, I wondered whether I had wasted all that time. Was walking away quitting? Had I failed?

Lately, I’ve started asking a different question:

What if those years weren’t wasted at all?

Because when I look back now, the thing I miss most isn’t the business.

It’s the people.

Some of my favorite experiences were working with young adults who wanted something more for their lives. We weren’t sitting in a classroom discussing entrepreneurship.

We were actually doing it.

They learned how to talk to people, sell something, hear “no,” manage money, set goals, serve customers, lead others and manage their time.

They learned how to fail at something without deciding they were a failure.

They learned that they could solve a problem, create value for another human being and get paid for it.

In other words, they weren’t just learning about free enterprise.

They were experiencing it.

And because we were working side by side, we built relationships. Those relationships created opportunities for conversations about life, marriage, character, faith and yes, sometimes politics.

Occasionally they created opportunities to talk about Jesus.

That’s especially meaningful to me because someone in that world once cared enough about my husband and me to share the Gospel with us.

When I look back now, I don’t just see a network marketing business.

I see a place where I was able to invest in people.

For the last several years, most of you have known me through a very different world: election integrity, constitutional education, Patriot Academy, civic engagement and politics.

I’m not walking away from any of that.

Apparently, I’ve simply decided sleep is overrated. 😂

But I’ve become increasingly convinced that we can spend all our time working on elections and government and still miss something enormously important.

If politics really is downstream from culture, at some point we have to go upstream—where people are forming their ideas about work, family, money, faith, responsibility, government, opportunity and what a good life even looks like.

And I’m particularly concerned about the next generation.

We talk a lot about young Americans being more open to socialism and other economic models than previous generations. But before we shake our heads and wonder what in the world they’re thinking, perhaps we should pay attention to what they’re experiencing.

The economic anxiety is real.

A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 89% of Americans under 40 believe buying a home is harder for young adults today than it was for their parents’ generation. Between 2019 and 2024, inflation-adjusted median home values increased 30%, while median household income for households headed by someone under 40 increased only 9%.

The same survey found that 82% of Americans believe saving for the future and paying for college are harder for young adults today.

I’m not suggesting those economic realities automatically determine someone’s political beliefs. They don’t.

But imagine being 24 years old.

You’re working. Rent is eating your paycheck. A starter home doesn’t feel very “starter.” Getting married and starting a family feels financially daunting.

Then someone from my generation comes along and gives you a lecture about how wonderful the American Dream is.

Maybe the lecture isn’t what they need.

Maybe they need an opportunity to experience some of it for themselves.

That’s the connection I didn’t see at first.

I teach entrepreneurship now, and I love it. But there are certain things I simply cannot teach from a textbook.

I can explain sales, but eventually somebody has to actually ask for the sale.

I can explain profit, but there’s nothing quite like earning $300 and discovering that revenue and profit are most definitely NOT the same thing.

Welcome to capitalism, kids. 😂

There is something powerful about discovering for yourself:

I can solve a problem. I can create value. I can earn money. I can save it. I can build something. I can lead somebody.

Those experiences don’t dictate someone’s politics, nor should they. But they give people real-world experiences from which they can form their own conclusions about entrepreneurship, free enterprise, opportunity and personal responsibility.

And that’s when I started remembering what I had spent more than 20 years doing.

When it’s done responsibly, network marketing can provide a relatively low-barrier laboratory for entrepreneurship. You don’t have to invent a product, hire employees, rent a storefront or borrow $100,000.

Someone can start small. Maybe five or ten hours a week.

And instead of lecturing them about entrepreneurship, I can work beside them and mentor them through it.

That’s what got my attention.

When my previous business changed, one of the hardest things for me was realizing that I no longer believed I could offer young people the same economic opportunity I once could.

If I’m asking a 22-year-old to give me five or ten hours of their week, I want to believe there is a legitimate possibility those hours can improve their life.

Not guaranteed income.

Not “RETIRE YOUR HUSBAND BY THURSDAY!!!” nonsense.

Not rented Lamborghinis or screenshots of checks.

I hate hype.

I mean an opportunity to learn something, earn something, develop skills and potentially create supplemental income.

When I no longer believed I could offer that in good conscience, I left.

Then Vital Health came across my radar.

This time, I approached it very differently.

I wanted to understand the compensation plan. Where does the money come from? What does an ordinary person actually have to do? Could someone realistically do this in five or ten hours a week? What skills would they develop even if they never built a large organization?

Most importantly, I wanted to answer one question:

Could I look a young person in the eye and feel good about inviting them to try?

Six weeks in, my answer is yes.

This is precisely where network marketing articles usually become unbearable, so let me get this out of the way:

My results are my results. They aren’t a promise of anyone else’s results.

But they are relevant to explaining why I’m paying attention.

In my first six weeks with Vital Health, I’ve been able to put a business structure in place that has reached roughly the same level of income it took me an entire year to build to in my former business.

That surprised me.

The compensation structure is very different from what I previously worked with, and based on my experience so far, I believe it gives me a better opportunity to help someone begin generating supplemental income without first having to build an enormous organization.

And that’s when my thinking shifted.

Instead of asking:

“How big can I build this?”

I started asking:

“How many people could I reach with this?”

We need Constitution classes. We need election integrity. We need informed voters. We need people paying attention to their government.

I’m going to keep working in those arenas.

I can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Or at least that’s the plan. Check back with me in six months. 😂

But I’m beginning to wonder whether we’ve been trying to solve a cultural problem almost exclusively with political tools.

You can’t legislate someone into becoming an entrepreneur.

You can’t pass a resolution that teaches someone leadership.

And you can’t simply tell a struggling 25-year-old to believe in the American Dream.

Sometimes you have to help them build one.

That’s the piece I’m going back for.

I want to work alongside people and help them learn how to earn, budget, save, reinvest, communicate, sell, serve customers and lead.

And I want to build relationships deep enough that we can have conversations about bigger things—faith, citizenship, our Constitution and the ideas shaping our country.

Not because agreeing with me is the price of admission.

It isn’t.

But because relationships create opportunities for meaningful conversations that Facebook arguments rarely will.

And somewhere along the way, maybe I’ll have the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone the same way someone once shared it with me.

For years, I’ve wondered why God allowed me to spend so much time in an industry I eventually walked away from.

I’m beginning to wonder whether I’ve been asking the wrong question.

Maybe I wasn’t just learning how to build a business.

Maybe I was learning how to build people.

And maybe that’s why I’m back.

Don’t worry. I’m not turning From Mom to Patriot into From Mom to Mushroom Coffee Saleswoman. 😂

This Substack will still be about faith, freedom, culture, citizenship and the future of this country.

I’m simply beginning to understand that this new endeavor fits into that mission more than I initially realized.

If politics is downstream from culture, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life standing downstream complaining about the water.

I want to go upstream too.

I want to teach and mentor. I want to help people experience entrepreneurship. I want to bring people into Constitution classes. I want to keep working on election integrity. I want to have conversations about faith when those doors open.

And I want to build relationships with people who may never click on one of my political posts.

Maybe that’s the lesson hiding inside my own necessary ending.

The business I thought I had walked away from forever may simply be another tool for the work I believe I’m supposed to be doing now.

Not just building a business.

Building people—and maybe rebuilding a little bit of culture along the way.

P.S. Want the more personal story?

There’s another part of this journey I couldn’t really fit into one article.

Recently, I sat down with some of the people I’m now working alongside and had a very candid conversation about my previous business, why I walked away, why that decision was so difficult for me, and why I’m willing to start over.

We talked about Necessary Endings, failure, quitting, starting again, and what happens when the future you thought you were building doesn’t turn out the way you expected.

It’s not a Vital Health sales pitch. It’s the story behind this story.

If you’ve ever spent years pursuing something only to wonder whether God might be asking you to let it go, I think you’ll understand a lot of what we talked about.

🎙️ Listen to the podcast episode here:

Because sometime after writing about the Constitution, I stumbled across a little clause tucked away in Article I that I had never really stopped to think about before.

And you guys know what happens when I find something like that.

Rabbit hole.

This particular rabbit hole started with Article I, Section 10:

“No State shall...make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”

Gold and silver.

In the Constitution.

I knew that clause was there. But I’m not sure I had ever really stopped to ask why.

So I started digging.

They Had Already Watched Money Fail

One of the things I’ve learned from studying the Founders is that we sometimes read the Constitution as though a group of really smart men simply sat down and dreamed up what good government should look like.

That’s not what happened.

They were responding to things they had actually lived through.

And when it came to money, what they had lived through wasn’t pretty.

During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress issued enormous quantities of paper currency—the Continental—to finance the war.

As more money entered circulation and confidence in it deteriorated, its value collapsed.

By April 1779, George Washington wrote to John Jay that the depreciation had become so severe that:

“a wagon load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon load of provision.”

Think about that.

Imagine being paid for your work and watching the money you earned lose its purchasing power before you could even use it.

That wasn’t theoretical for the men fighting the Revolution.

That same year, soldiers from four Massachusetts battalions petitioned their government because depreciation had consumed roughly seven-eighths of their pay.

They were literally fighting for American independence while the money they were being paid was becoming nearly worthless.

That’s where the expression “not worth a Continental” came from.

Suddenly that little sentence in Article I starts to make a lot more sense.

Then I Found the Coinage Act

In 1792, just a few years after the Constitution was ratified, Congress passed the Coinage Act.

It established the United States Mint and authorized gold and silver coins.

But Section 19 caught my attention.

The law provided that if certain Mint employees fraudulently debased the coins—essentially diminishing the precious metal they were supposed to contain—they could face the death penalty.

Okay.

Stop there for a second.

I had to read that twice.

They took the integrity of the nation’s money that seriously.

Why?

I think their recent experience gives us at least part of the answer.

They understood what happened when people worked, sacrificed and saved only to discover that the money they possessed no longer represented what they thought it did.

And that’s where this stopped being just an interesting history lesson for me.

What Exactly IS Money?

I have a confession.

For most of my adult life, I didn’t spend much time thinking about that question.

I earned money, spent money, and saved some money.

But I never really stopped to ask:

What actually gives money value?

What causes it to lose purchasing power?

What is inflation?

How does our monetary system work?

What is the Federal Reserve?

Why did America move away from gold and silver?

What happens when government debt continues growing?

And what does any of this mean for an ordinary family sitting around the kitchen table trying to save for retirement, send kids to college or someday buy a house?

Then 2020 happened.

And apparently I decided I needed to start questioning EVERYTHING.

The more I’ve learned about our founding, government and economics, the more I’ve realized how much I didn’t know.

And lately I’ve been thinking about this from another angle too.

What Are We Teaching the Next Generation?

I spend quite a bit of time around young people these days, and this is something I think we need to take seriously.

Young Americans aren’t imagining the financial pressures they’re facing.

A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 89% of adults under 40 believe buying a home is harder for young adults today than it was for their parents’ generation.

Federal Reserve data tell another part of the story. In 2025, nearly half of Americans under 30 were living with a parent, and 47% of adults ages 18–29 received financial help from someone outside their household to cover at least one expense.

Housing is expensive.

Groceries are expensive.

College is expensive.

Starting a family can feel overwhelming.

And when you’re 22 years old, working hard, doing what everyone told you to do, and still looking at the possibility that you may never be able to afford the life your parents had, frustration is understandable.

We shouldn’t dismiss that.

But here’s where I think we have a responsibility to go deeper.

When the System Feels Broken

We’ve also watched younger Americans become increasingly skeptical of capitalism and more open to ideas like socialism and democratic socialism.

The 2025 Harvard Youth Poll found that only 39% of Americans ages 18–29 expressed support for capitalism. Twenty-one percent supported socialism and 29% supported democratic socialism.

Interestingly, attitudes also differed according to financial circumstances. Young people who described themselves as financially struggling were less supportive of capitalism and somewhat more supportive of socialism and democratic socialism than young people who said they were doing well financially.

That doesn’t prove financial hardship causes someone to embrace socialism.

But I do think it should make us ask some questions.

Because if a generation doesn’t understand why everything has become so expensive, it’s awfully easy to conclude that the entire economic system has failed them.

And if we never teach them how money works, how inflation works, how debt works, how markets work, how government policy affects prices, how wealth is created, and how saving and investing work...

someone else will give them an explanation.

That’s why I think financial literacy is becoming a citizenship issue.

We shouldn’t simply tell young Americans, “Socialism is bad.”

We should be able to explain economics.

We should be able to acknowledge the very real financial challenges they’re facing while helping them understand the different ideas being offered as solutions—and the tradeoffs that come with them.

Education matters.

Which brings me all the way back to that little clause in the Constitution.

Article I, Section 10 doesn’t tell us how to structure our retirement accounts in 2026.

It doesn’t tell us to buy gold.

And our modern monetary system is obviously very different from the one the Founders lived under.

But that clause made me curious.

Why did they specifically mention gold and silver?

Why were they so concerned about the integrity of money?

What had they experienced that made this important enough to put into the Constitution?

And perhaps most importantly:

What can their experience teach us today?

Those questions have led me into another whole area of learning.

And one of the things I’ve started studying more seriously is precious metals.

Why I’ve Been Learning About Gold and Silver

I’ve told you guys before that I’m not a financial expert.

I’m learning.

And I’m certainly not going to pretend that buying gold or silver is some magic solution to America’s economic problems.

It isn’t.

Metals prices can rise and fall just like other assets, and every family has different financial circumstances and goals.

But I am interested in understanding tangible assets and why people have used gold and silver as stores of value for thousands of years.

I’m interested in understanding what role—if any—they should play in a family’s overall financial picture.

And I’m interested in becoming much more financially literate myself so I can help my own kids understand these things better than I did at their age.

That’s part of the reason I chose to partner with Revelation Gold Group as a sponsor of this Substack.

I wasn’t interested in simply putting advertisements at the bottom of my articles for companies I knew nothing about.

I wanted partners connected to things I’m genuinely interested in learning about and willing to explore alongside you.

Some people use precious metals as part of a retirement strategy, including certain self-directed retirement accounts. Others simply purchase physical gold or silver directly.

I’m still learning about all of it.

And if this article just sent you down the same rabbit hole it sent me down, Revelation has put together a free guide that can help you start learning too.

Learn More About Revelation Gold

A conversation doesn’t obligate you to buy anything.

Read.

Ask questions.

Do your homework.

Understand the risks and the benefits.

Then make your own decision about what makes sense for your family.

Of course, none of this is individual financial advice, and precious-metals prices can move in both directions.

One Little Clause

That’s one of the things I love most about studying the Constitution.

You can read the same document over and over and suddenly stumble across one sentence that sends you into an entirely new area of American history.

Article I, Section 10 did that for me.

It reminded me that the Constitution wasn’t written by men sitting around imagining hypothetical problems.

They had lived through war.

Inflation.

Worthless currency.

Unpaid soldiers.

Economic instability.

Their experiences shaped what they wrote.

And more than two centuries later, I think those experiences are still worth understanding.

Maybe one of the best things we can do for the next generation isn’t simply tell them which economic system to support.

Maybe we need to teach them enough about money, history and economics that they can understand the choices for themselves.

So don’t take my word for any of this.

Go read it.

Study it.

Ask questions.

Follow the rabbit hole.

You never know where one little clause in the Constitution might lead you.

Duty is ours. Results are God’s.

September 17 is one of those dates that tends to quietly pass by every year. There are no fireworks, no cookouts, and most of us don’t get the day off work.

But something pretty remarkable happened on this date 239 years ago.

On September 17, 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia and signed the document that would become the framework for the government of the United States of America.

That document begins with three incredibly important words:

We the People.

And maybe that’s exactly why Constitution Day deserves a little more attention than we usually give it.

Why September 17?

The Constitutional Convention had been meeting in Philadelphia throughout the summer of 1787. The delegates argued, compromised, and wrestled with enormous questions about representation, federal power, state power, executive authority, the judiciary, taxation, and how a republic could possibly hold together across a growing nation.

The Constitution they produced wasn’t the end of those debates. Ratification still had to happen, and the Bill of Rights would follow.

But on September 17, 1787, the delegates who supported the finished document signed their names. That’s why September 17 is recognized today as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.

And here’s something a lot of Americans still don’t know.

Did You Know Constitution Day Comes With a Federal Requirement for Schools?

In 2004, Congress included a provision in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005—Public Law 108-447—requiring educational institutions that receive federal funding to hold an educational program about the United States Constitution on September 17 each year.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Education issued another reminder to educational institutions just yesterday about that requirement.

The law says:

“Each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution.”

When September 17 falls on a weekend or holiday, the program may be held during the preceding or following week.

Interestingly, Congress didn’t dictate exactly what that educational program has to look like. Schools have considerable flexibility in determining how they teach it.

And I actually think that’s an opportunity, because Constitution Day can be much more than memorizing the three branches of government or identifying the opening words of the Preamble.

It can be an opportunity to ask bigger questions. Why did the Founders divide government power? Why are there checks and balances? What powers belong to the federal government—and what powers don’t? Why did the Founders believe concentrated power was dangerous? And what role are ordinary citizens supposed to play in this entire experiment?

Those are questions worth asking at every age.

Learn More About Revelation Gold

What Is Your School Doing Today?

If you have children or grandchildren in a school that receives federal funding, ask them what they learned about the Constitution today. You might also simply ask your school, “What did we do for Constitution Day this year?”

Not as a “gotcha,” but as an opportunity.

Teachers and administrators are juggling a thousand different requirements, and Constitution Day gives parents, grandparents, teachers, school boards, and community members an easy opening to encourage more civic education.

And thankfully, nobody has to reinvent the wheel.

There Are Free Resources Available

Patriot Academy has a Constitution Day presentation designed specifically for schools, making it easy for educators or community members to introduce students to the Constitution.

And the best part?

It’s FREE.

So whether you’re a classroom teacher, homeschool parent, grandparent, school board member, or simply someone who wants the next generation to understand how their government works, there are plenty of resources available.

But I think there’s an even bigger conversation we should be having on Constitution Day.

Get Constitution Day Curriculum Here

Teaching the Constitution Isn’t Just for Kids

It’s easy to point toward our schools and say, “Kids need to learn the Constitution!”

They absolutely should.

But what about us?

How well do we understand it? Could we explain why the Electoral College exists? Could we explain federalism? Do we understand the difference between enumerated powers and reserved powers? Do we know what each branch of government is actually authorized to do—and just as importantly, what it isn’t authorized to do?

Could we explain why the Constitution was designed the way it was instead of simply naming its parts?

I have become increasingly convinced that civic education isn’t something we graduate from. It’s something citizens should continue throughout their lives.

Because the Constitution doesn’t operate by itself. It’s a piece of parchment.

The institutions it created depend upon human beings—elected officials, judges, public servants and, ultimately, citizens—understanding their responsibilities within the system.

And that brings me to something I’ve become pretty passionate about.

Community Night Is About Learning Together

One of my favorite things I’ve started this year is Patriot Academy Community Night.

Every Monday night, we gather online with people from all over the country who simply want to learn. We’ve studied America’s founding, talked about current events, brought in special guests, asked a LOT of questions, and probably gone down a few rabbit holes along the way. 😂

But the goal has never been to create a room full of people who already know everything.

Quite the opposite.

Community Night is for lifelong learners. It’s a place where you can show up with questions, learn alongside other people, and hopefully walk away understanding our country—and your role as a citizen—a little better than you did before.

Which makes what we’re starting next week especially appropriate.

We’re Starting Rebuilding Liberty Monday Night!

Beginning Monday night, we’re going to start working our way through Patriot Academy’s Rebuilding Liberty curriculum together.

And if you’ve been watching Community Night from the sidelines thinking, Maybe I should join them sometime, this is a GREAT time to jump in.

You don’t need a political science degree or an encyclopedic knowledge of American history. You don’t need to have memorized the Constitution. And you definitely don’t need to have all the answers.

That’s the point.

Rebuilding Liberty takes us beyond simply memorizing facts about America’s founding and helps us understand the principles behind our system of government. More importantly, it challenges us to think about what those principles look like when ordinary citizens put them into practice in their own homes and communities.

We’ll learn together, discuss what we’re learning, ask questions, and figure out how the principles we’re studying translate into citizenship in real life.

Patriot Academy Community Night meets Mondays from 8:00–9:30 PM Eastern, and you’re welcome to join us.

Register for Community Night Here

Maybe That’s the Real Lesson of Constitution Day

Benjamin Franklin is famously reported to have been asked at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention what kind of government the delegates had created.

His answer has echoed through American history:

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

We tend to focus on the words “a republic.” But I’ve been thinking more and more about the second half of that sentence.

“If you can keep it.”

Those words imply responsibility.

A republic requires something from the people who inherit it. It requires citizens who are willing to learn, ask questions, understand the structure and limits of their government, participate in their communities, and teach the next generation.

And sometimes that begins with something incredibly simple.

Open the Constitution. Read it with your family. Ask your kids what they learned about it at school today. Ask questions about the parts you don’t understand.

Or come learn with us Monday night.

Because September 17 shouldn’t simply remind us that 239 years ago a group of men gathered in Philadelphia and signed the Constitution.

It should remind us that every generation inherits the responsibility of understanding the republic that document created.

Happy Constitution Day!

September 11th is one of those dates.

Today marks 25 years since September 11th, 2001. And this year, September 11th feels different to me because it comes just one day after another date that I suspect an entirely different generation will never forget.

September 10th.

Yesterday marked one year since Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University.

Two dates, September 10th and September 11th, separated by 24 years. Two very different tragedies. But I can’t look at those two dates sitting beside each other on the calendar without thinking about the generations that will forever be shaped by them—and about what we choose to do after history changes us.

Click Here to Learn More

The Girl I Was on September 11th, 2001

On September 11th, 2001, I was 22 years old. I was a “super senior” in college, wasn’t even registered to vote, and certainly wasn’t someone anyone would have described as a patriot.

I remember watching television with my roommates. I remember seeing the second plane hit the Twin Towers and feeling completely stunned and strangely disoriented. It was that feeling you get when you know you’re watching something enormous unfold but don’t yet have the ability to comprehend what it means.

My world was pretty small back then. Classes. Friends. Graduation. Figuring out what I was going to do with my life. I had no idea that I was watching a moment that would change the trajectory of our country.

Nearly 3,000 people went to work, boarded airplanes, reported for duty, or simply began an ordinary Tuesday morning and never came home. Firefighters ran up stairwells while everyone else was trying to get down. Police officers and first responders ran toward devastation. And aboard Flight 93, ordinary Americans learned what was happening elsewhere and made an extraordinary decision: they fought back.

That flight crashed here in Pennsylvania rather than reaching its intended target.

Twenty-five years later, I understand something about that day that the 22-year-old version of me couldn’t possibly have understood.

History doesn’t always announce itself as history.

Sometimes you’re simply standing in your living room watching television, and suddenly the world is different.

Then Came September 10th

Twenty-four years later, another generation experienced one of those moments.

On September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking on a college campus. He was 31 years old—a husband, a father, and one of the most recognizable political voices in America for an entire generation of young people.

Whatever someone thought of Charlie’s politics, his assassination was something much bigger than politics. A man was killed while participating in the public exchange of ideas. And millions of young Americans watched the aftermath unfold through the tiny screens they carry in their hands.

That’s the part I can’t stop thinking about.

My generation watched September 11th on televisions in dorm rooms, offices, classrooms, and living rooms. This generation experienced September 10th through phones, social media feeds, and videos that traveled around the world almost instantaneously.

Different generations. Different circumstances. Different tragedies.

But that same awful realization:

Something has changed.

What Happens After the Shock?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the 22-year-old girl sitting in that college apartment in 2001. She had absolutely no idea where her life would eventually lead.

She didn’t know that one day she would care deeply about the Constitution. She didn’t know she would become involved in election integrity, teach people about citizenship, mentor grassroots leaders, or spend her days encouraging ordinary Americans to get off the sidelines and participate in their Republic.

She didn’t even vote.

But looking backward, I can see something I couldn’t see then. Seeds were being planted. Questions were beginning. Something inside me was slowly awakening to the reality that the country I lived in wasn’t something I could simply take for granted.

And maybe that’s why I’ve been thinking so much about young Americans this week.

Because somewhere in America right now is another 22-year-old. Or an 18-year-old. Or a 16-year-old. Someone who watched what happened to Charlie Kirk and felt something shift.

Maybe they don’t have words for it yet. Maybe they aren’t political. Maybe they’ve never read the Constitution or attended a city council meeting. Maybe they couldn’t tell you who their state representative is. Maybe they think they’re too young, too inexperienced, or too ordinary to make any meaningful difference.

I would tell them something very simple:

So was I.

Tragedy Can Change Us. But We Decide How.

There is a danger in moments like these. Grief can become anger. Anger can become hatred. Hatred can convince us that the people who disagree with us are enemies rather than fellow citizens. And once we begin dehumanizing one another, violence becomes easier to justify.

That cannot be the lesson we take from either of these days.

We don’t honor the dead by becoming consumed with hatred. We honor them by deciding what kind of people we will become because they lived.

September 11th gave us countless examples of courage. People carried strangers. First responders climbed burning buildings. Americans stood in blood-donation lines. Neighbors checked on neighbors. Churches filled. Flags appeared on front porches.

For a brief moment, we remembered that beneath all of our differences, we belonged to one another.

I wonder sometimes whether we have forgotten that. And maybe remembering is one of the most important things we can do today.

Your Life Doesn’t Have to Be Political to Matter

When I encourage people to get involved, I don’t mean everyone needs to run for office. In fact, most won’t.

Getting involved can mean learning what your local government actually does. It can mean attending a school board meeting, teaching your children American history, reading the Constitution for the first time, serving your community, helping a neighbor, volunteering, mentoring a young person, registering to vote, or having a conversation with someone who disagrees with you without treating them like an enemy.

It can mean standing up when something is wrong. Asking questions. Seeking truth. Praying for our country. Refusing to surrender your responsibility to somebody else because you assume you’re not important enough to make a difference.

That may be the greatest lesson my own life has taught me.

You have no idea what God might do with your willingness to simply take the first step.

Twenty-Five Years Later

Twenty-five years ago today, I watched history happen. I didn’t know what to do with it, and I certainly didn’t imagine that someday I would look back and recognize September 11 as one of the many moments that slowly changed the way I understood my country and my responsibility to it.

Yesterday, another generation remembered a tragedy of its own.

And today I find myself thinking about all the young people watching us. What will they learn from this moment? Will they learn to hate? Will they learn to fear? Will they decide that public life is too dangerous, too ugly, and too divided to enter?

Or will they decide that their voices matter? That ideas are worth discussing. That freedom is worth protecting. That citizenship carries responsibilities. That courage sometimes means showing up when it would be easier to stay home.

I can’t answer that question for them.

But I can answer it for myself.

Never Forget

“Never Forget” has been our promise for 25 years. But remembering can’t simply mean recalling where we were when the towers fell.

Remembering should change how we live.

Today, I remember the 2,977 lives taken on September 11, 2001. I remember the firefighters, police officers, first responders, and ordinary citizens who demonstrated extraordinary courage. I remember the passengers of Flight 93 who fought back over the Pennsylvania countryside.

And one day after the anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, I remember a husband and father whose life ended while engaging young Americans in the battle of ideas.

Two September days. Two generations marked by tragedy. And one question that every generation eventually has to answer:

What will we do with the time we’ve been given?

Twenty-five years ago, I was sitting on the sidelines. I’m not anymore.

And if you’re reading this wondering whether one ordinary person can really make a difference, take it from the 22-year-old girl who wasn’t even registered to vote:

You have absolutely no idea where one decision to get involved might lead.

So remember. Mourn. Pray. Love your neighbor. Learn. Speak. Serve.

And when the moment comes that asks something of you—don’t stay on the sidelines.

For most of us, that means one last long weekend before summer officially disappears.

Cookouts.

A trip to the lake or the beach.

Maybe a parade.

Definitely a few “Labor Day Sale!” emails cluttering up your inbox. 😂

But somewhere along the way, I realized something:

I knew almost nothing about why we actually celebrate Labor Day.

I knew it had something to do with workers.

I knew unions were involved.

And... that was about the extent of it.

So, naturally, I went down the rabbit hole.

And it turns out the history of Labor Day is much more interesting—and much more complicated—than the three-day weekend we’ve turned it into.

To understand Labor Day, we have to go back to the late 1800s.

America was in the middle of an extraordinary transformation.

Factories were expanding.

Railroads were connecting the country.

Cities were exploding in population.

Immigrants were arriving by the millions.

Industrialists were building companies—and fortunes—on a scale the world had rarely seen.

America was becoming an industrial powerhouse.

But there was another side to that incredible growth.

For many laborers, ten- and twelve-hour days were common. Six-day workweeks were ordinary. Workplace protections were nothing like what we know today. Children worked in factories, mines, mills, and other dangerous environments.

If you were injured on the job, there wasn’t exactly a human resources department waiting to discuss your benefits package.

For millions of Americans, work wasn’t merely difficult.

It could be dangerous.

And workers increasingly began organizing to do something about it.

This might be my favorite little fact from this entire rabbit hole.

America’s first Labor Day celebration was held on a Tuesday.

On September 5, 1882, workers gathered in New York City for what is generally recognized as America’s first Labor Day parade.

And apparently, it almost flopped.

Spectators had gathered.

Police were ready.

The parade organizers were in position.

There was just one small problem.

Hardly any marchers had shown up.

And they didn’t have a band.

Then approximately 200 members of a jewelers union arrived from Newark—and they brought musicians with them.

The parade was on.

As they moved through Manhattan, more workers joined them. Estimates eventually ranged from 10,000 to 20,000 marchers.

They were machinists, cigar makers, printers, shoemakers, bricklayers, carpenters, and tradesmen of all kinds.

Many had given up a day’s wages to be there.

They marched to demonstrate something we probably take for granted today:

Workers had a voice.

And after demonstrating that voice...

Apparently they had a pretty good party.

Thousands continued to Wendel’s Elm Park for speeches, dancing, cigars, food, and—according to a contemporary account preserved by the Department of Labor—lager beer kegs that were basically everywhere.

Nearly 25,000 workers and family members reportedly attended throughout the afternoon and evening.

So there you have it.

America’s first Labor Day involved labor activism, an almost-disastrous parade, a last-minute band, and a whole lot of beer.

History is so much more interesting when we actually tell the whole story. 😂

There’s another historical mystery buried in the story.

Who actually invented Labor Day?

For years, Peter J. McGuire, a carpenter and prominent labor leader, received much of the credit. He reportedly proposed creating a “general holiday for the laboring classes.”

But another man has an equally compelling—and perhaps stronger—claim.

His name was Matthew Maguire, a machinist who served as secretary of New York’s Central Labor Union, the organization responsible for that first parade.

Yes.

McGuire and Maguire.

Because apparently history decided this story wasn’t confusing enough already. 😂

Even the U.S. Department of Labor acknowledges that the answer isn’t entirely clear.

Maybe that’s fitting.

A holiday intended to recognize millions of ordinary workers doesn’t necessarily need a single famous founder.

The movement was already bigger than either man.

And it spread quickly.

Oregon became the first state to officially recognize Labor Day in 1887. Other states soon followed.

By 1894, the idea was ready to become national.

But the circumstances surrounding that decision weren’t exactly peaceful.

In 1894, workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company outside Chicago went on strike.

America was suffering through a severe economic depression, and Pullman had cut workers’ wages.

But many of those employees also lived in a company-owned town.

The company didn’t just employ them.

It was also their landlord.

Workers complained that their wages had fallen while their rents had not fallen accordingly.

So they walked out.

Then things escalated.

The American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, supported the Pullman workers by boycotting trains carrying Pullman cars.

Because those cars traveled throughout America’s rail network, the dispute quickly became a national crisis.

Rail traffic was disrupted.

The movement of the mail was affected.

The federal government intervened.

President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago.

Violence followed.

People died.

And America found itself staring directly at an increasingly bitter conflict between workers, corporations, unions, and government.

In the middle of that turmoil, Congress passed legislation establishing Labor Day as a federal holiday.

President Cleveland signed it on June 28, 1894.

From then on, the first Monday in September would officially honor American labor.

The timing is hard to ignore.

The legislation had already been moving through Congress, but it became law during the same crisis in which Cleveland’s administration was confronting one of the nation’s most consequential strikes.

Labor Day wasn’t born in a peaceful vacuum.

It came out of a country wrestling with enormous questions about economic freedom, working conditions, corporate power, organized labor, and the proper role of government.

More than 130 years later, we’re still wrestling with some of them.

As I’ve been researching Labor Day, I’ve found myself looking at this history a little differently this year.

Probably because I’m also preparing to teach entrepreneurship at Arise Classical Academy this fall.

One of the books we’re using is Richard Maybury’s Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?, along with Jane A. Williams’ A Bluestocking Guide: Economics.

Learn More About Revelation Gold Group

And they raise an important question that often gets lost when we tell this story:

Why did life for the average American worker actually get better?

It’s tempting to tell the history as a simple progression.

Workers were exploited.

Workers organized.

Government passed laws.

Working conditions improved.

And there’s certainly truth in parts of that story.

Labor organizations fought for changes that became important parts of American working life. Government eventually established rules governing child labor, workplace safety, wages, and hours.

But economics adds another piece of the puzzle.

As businesses invested in machinery, technology, transportation, and better methods of production, workers became more productive.

And productivity matters enormously.

If one worker can produce more value in an hour than he could before, there is more wealth available to support higher wages and better living standards.

Competition matters too.

Employers aren’t only competing for customers.

They’re competing for workers.

When workers have choices, businesses have an incentive to offer better wages and working conditions to attract and keep good employees.

And as an economy becomes more productive, things that once seemed like luxuries can gradually become normal.

Shorter workweeks.

Paid time off.

Safer workplaces.

Higher wages.

Better housing.

More affordable goods.

The ability for children to spend their days in school rather than contributing to the family’s income.

None of that means exploitation didn’t happen.

It did.

It doesn’t mean unions played no role.

They did.

And it doesn’t mean every government reform was unnecessary.

But it does mean the remarkable rise in the American worker’s standard of living can’t be explained by legislation alone.

You can’t legislate prosperity into existence.

Ultimately, prosperity has to be created.

Someone has to grow something.

Build something.

Invent something.

Risk something.

Invest something.

Improve something.

Or figure out how to produce something people need more efficiently than we could before.

That’s one of the economic lessons I’m hoping my students understand this year.

Wealth isn’t a fixed pie sitting on a table waiting for workers, businesses, and government to fight over their respective slices.

Human beings can create more of it.

And America’s extraordinary economic story is, in large part, the story of people doing exactly that.

This is another part of the story I didn’t know.

Around the world, May 1 became International Workers’ Day, with roots in the American campaign for the eight-hour workday and the violent Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1886.

During a labor rally on May 4, someone threw a bomb as police moved to disperse the crowd.

The explosion and gunfire that followed killed police officers and civilians.

Anarchists were subsequently prosecuted, and Haymarket became an international symbol for labor movements.

By 1890, May Day was being observed as an international workers’ holiday.

But America took a different path.

Our official labor holiday developed around the September celebration that had begun in New York several years earlier.

Over time, May Day became especially associated internationally with socialist, communist, anarchist, and other radical political movements, while America’s September Labor Day developed its own character.

Parades.

Picnics.

Speeches.

Family gatherings.

And eventually...

Mattress sales. 😂

The two traditions grew from some of the same nineteenth-century struggles over labor, but they developed very differently.

And I think that distinction is worth understanding.

Here’s what I find most interesting about all of this.

Those first workers marched for things that would sound completely ordinary to most Americans today.

Shorter workdays.

Safer workplaces.

Better treatment.

Time away from work.

They lived in an era when many of those things weren’t assumptions.

They were arguments.

And that doesn’t mean we have to romanticize everything that came out of the labor movement.

Corporations have exploited workers.

Unions have abused their power.

Governments have overreached.

Workers have sometimes been caught in the middle of all three.

History is rarely as simple as the heroes-and-villains version we’re tempted to tell.

But underneath all of that is something worth remembering.

There is dignity in work.

Long before there were factories, labor unions, corporations, minimum-wage laws, or federal holidays, Scripture presented work as part of God’s design for humanity.

Before the Fall, Adam was given work to do.

Work itself wasn’t the curse.

There is dignity in creating.

Building.

Teaching.

Growing.

America wasn’t built only by presidents, generals, industrialists, and the people whose portraits hang in museums.

It was also built by millions of people whose names we’ll never know.

The farmer.

The carpenter.

The steelworker.

The nurse.

The machinist.

The truck driver.

The construction worker.

The small-business owner.

The mother and father who got up every morning, did the work in front of them, provided for their families, and tried to leave their children something better than they had.

Maybe that’s enough to remember tomorrow.

Enjoy the cookout.

Enjoy the last unofficial weekend of summer.

And feel free to delete the approximately 347 emails informing you that this is your FINAL CHANCE to save 30 percent on something you didn’t know you needed. 😂

But take a minute to remember the people who built this country without ever having their names written into its history books.

America has always depended on people willing to work.

And that is something worth celebrating.

Happy Labor Day, friends!

Everywhere. 😂

I haven’t disappeared. I just haven’t managed to sit still long enough to write.

We’re leaving Saturday for one last family trip to the beach before summer officially comes to an end, and school starts the day after we get home.

And this year, I’m not just getting kids ready for school.

I’m teaching Algebra II and Entrepreneurship.

Yes. You read that correctly.

Apparently somewhere in the midst of Patriot Academy, election integrity, Community Night, writing this Substack, raising kids, and all of the other rabbit holes I regularly drag you guys down with me...

I decided I needed lesson plans too. 😂

So much of this week has been spent getting ready for that new season.

And honestly?

I’m excited about it.

I’m tired. But excited.

And that’s probably the best description of life right now.

There is a LOT happening.

Community Night Has Become One of My Favorite Things

One thing I absolutely don’t want to get lost in the craziness is Patriot Academy Community Night.

You guys — these nights have been SO good.

When I started this, I knew what I wanted it to become: a place where people who love God, love this country, and genuinely want to understand what’s happening could come together every week and keep learning.

That’s exactly what is happening.

We’ve talked history.

We’ve talked current events.

We’ve talked election integrity.

We’ve wrestled with big questions.

We’ve laughed.

We’ve gone down some pretty fantastic rabbit holes.

And every week I walk away thinking, This is why we’re doing this.

If you haven’t been able to join us live, I’ve put the recordings on my YouTube channel so you can catch up whenever you have time.

Watch the Community Night recordings on my YouTube channel.

And Speaking of Election Integrity...

This week was a perfect example of why I’ve learned never to write “Victory!“ too quickly when it comes to election law.

On Monday, the Supreme Court lifted a lower-court injunction that had blocked portions of President Trump’s election-integrity executive order.

But there was an important distinction that got lost in some of the headlines:

The Supreme Court did not rule that the executive order itself was constitutional.

The Court’s decision dealt with whether the states challenging the order had established standing at that stage of the litigation.

True the Vote initially shared the news as an important development.

And then...

Things changed again.

A federal judge has now temporarily blocked the new Postal Service rules associated with the order for 14 days while the litigation continues, with another hearing scheduled for September 3.

Welcome to election integrity.

If you’ve followed me since the Audit The Vote days, you know this is exactly why I’ve always said we have to pay attention beyond the headline.

Court cases matter.

The details matter.

What happens after the big announcement matters.

And sometimes the story changes in 48 hours.

So I’ll keep watching this one.

There’s Something Else I Want You to Watch

My friends at True the Vote have also been working on something for a long time that I think you’re going to want to see.

It’s called TRAPPED: Detroit.

True the Vote describes the documentary as an investigation that follows voter records into Detroit neighborhoods and talks with people connected to the records they uncovered. They’re preparing to premiere the film in Detroit and then release it online for free.

Here’s the trailer:

I’ll have much more to say about this as it comes out.

Meanwhile... Something New Is Brewing

There’s one more thing happening behind the scenes that I’m not quite ready to fully talk about yet.

But longtime readers might appreciate this one.

Before politics...

Before election integrity...

Before Patriot Academy...

There was another world that played a pretty significant role in my life.

Direct sales.

And honestly having unintentionally walked away from that industry to Save the Republic has given me a very different perspective.

I’m not ready to make some big announcement, and this isn’t me trying to sell you anything.

In fact, that’s exactly why I’m mentioning it now.

Something has come across my path that has reminded me of some things I genuinely loved about that season of my life — entrepreneurship, personal development, building something from nothing, helping people grow, and watching ordinary people discover that they are capable of more than they thought.

And I’m having fun exploring it.

That’s all I’m going to say for now.

But there may be a new adventure on the horizon.

And at 47, I’m learning that new beginnings don’t have an expiration date.

And Yes... I’m Still Writing the Book

With everything else going on, I also want to answer a question I’ve gotten from some of you:

Yes, the book is still happening.

I’m still writing, still piecing together stories, and still working toward getting this thing out into the world.

Writing a book in the middle of actually living the story has turned out to be an adventure all its own. 😂

But it’s coming.

Expect a 2027 release.

I’ll share much more as we get closer, but I didn’t want my silence on that front to make anyone think I’ve quietly abandoned it. I haven’t. It’s very much still in the works.

Which Brings Me to Fort Knox...

With everything happening over the last couple weeks, there’s one story I kept coming back to.

Senator Rand Paul recently went underground at Fort Knox.

And yes...

The gold is there.

Roughly 147 million ounces of it.

But that’s not actually the part of the story I find most interesting.

The U.S. Mint records 147,341,858 fine troy ounces of gold at Fort Knox.

On the government’s books, that gold is valued at $42.22 an ounce — a statutory value that has essentially been frozen since 1973.

That puts the government’s book value of the Fort Knox gold at roughly $6.2 billion.

At current market prices?

It’s worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Same vault.

Same bars.

Same gold.

Two radically different numbers.

And THAT is what caught my attention.

Because it illustrates something I’ve been thinking about ever since I read The Creature from Jekyll Island:

There is what something is worth... and there is what the paperwork says it’s worth.

Those aren’t always the same thing.

The Bigger Question

Rand Paul’s larger point wasn’t really about whether someone had secretly emptied Fort Knox.

It was about the dollar.

The amount of gold sitting in that vault hasn’t multiplied.

The number of dollars in existence has.

And when more dollars chase the same amount of goods and assets, each individual dollar buys less.

Nobody has to sneak into Fort Knox and steal a gold bar for the purchasing power of the money sitting in your bank account to erode.

That’s a much less exciting conspiracy.

But it’s a much more important economic reality to understand.

And there’s another piece of this story that I think deserves attention.

Despite all of the renewed interest in Fort Knox, there still hasn’t been the kind of comprehensive, independent physical accounting that many Americans assume the facility regularly undergoes. There have been inspections, compartment-seal checks and previous government examinations — but those are not necessarily the same thing as the sweeping independent audit people picture when they hear the word “audit.”

That’s why members of Congress including Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul have pushed for greater transparency.

Maybe every ounce is exactly where it’s supposed to be.

I hope it is.

But transparency shouldn’t be threatening.

Especially when the asset belongs to the American people.

Why I Keep Talking About Gold

I’ve told you before that Revelation Gold Group is a sponsor of From Mom to Patriot.

But I’ve also told you something more important:

I don’t want you buying gold because I told you to.

Gold isn’t magic.

Its price goes up.

Its price goes down.

There are periods when other investments outperform it.

That’s why the statistic I find more interesting isn’t what gold did yesterday.

It’s who has been buying it.

Central banks around the world have dramatically increased their gold purchases in recent years — averaging roughly 1,000 tonnes annually over the past four years, compared with around 500 tonnes annually during the preceding decade.

I think that’s worth understanding.

One of the things I appreciated most when I began talking with Revelation Gold Group was that they were willing to teach me first.

No pressure.

No “BUY GOLD NOW!!!”

They explained how physical metals work, how Gold IRAs work, the difference between owning metals inside and outside of a retirement account, and — maybe most importantly — the questions someone should ask before trusting any metals company with their money.

They’ve put that information into a free 2026 guide.

Get Revelation Gold Group’s free 2026 guide here.

You don’t have to buy anything.

Read.

Learn.

Ask questions.

And then make your own decisions about how to steward what God has entrusted to you.

And Now... I’m Going to the Beach

Because after writing lesson plans, hosting Community Night, following Supreme Court decisions, watching election-integrity developments, exploring unexpected new adventures, and apparently thinking about the statutory valuation of gold at Fort Knox...

I need an ocean. 😂

I’m looking forward to a week with my family before we come home and jump headfirst into another school year.

Algebra II.

Entrepreneurship.

Patriot Academy Community Night.

Election integrity.

Finishing my book.

This Substack.

And perhaps...

a new adventure or two.

Life looks very different than I imagined it would at 47.

But I wouldn’t trade the journey.

There are always more dots to connect.

Always more things to learn.

And apparently...

always another rabbit hole. 🧩

See you when I get back.

—Toni

Not what someone on social media says Muslims believe or what political commentators tell me to believe.

But what Muslims actually believe, where those beliefs come from, and how the claims of Islam hold up when compared with Christianity and the historical record.

At the time I wrote that first article, I told you I felt like I had barely begun.

Turns out, I was right.

Since then, I’ve finished Nabeel Qureshi’s Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, and I’m now almost finished with his second book, No God but One: Allah or Jesus?

At the same time, I’m working my way through Martin Lings’ Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources and I’ve started reading the Qur’an.

The biggest surprise hasn’t necessarily been the answers I’ve found.

It’s been discovering how many questions I had never even thought to ask.

Questions about Muhammad.

Questions about the Qur’an.

Questions about the historical Jesus.

Questions about how Christianity and Islam can share certain people, stories, and even terminology—and yet arrive at radically different conclusions about who Jesus is.

And perhaps most importantly, this study has forced me to ask deeper questions about my own faith.

Why do I believe the New Testament accounts are trustworthy?

How early did Christians actually believe Jesus was God?

What evidence do we have for the crucifixion and resurrection?

How do we know Christianity wasn’t significantly altered somewhere along the way?

Those aren’t questions I’m afraid to ask.

In fact, I’m increasingly convinced that Christians should ask them.

Because “I believe it because I’ve always believed it” isn’t a particularly compelling answer when you’re sitting across the table from someone who has been taught an entirely different version of the story.

Which brings me to something I recently encountered in No God but One that genuinely made me stop and think:

Many Muslim apologists argue that the Christianity we know today isn’t actually the religion Jesus taught.

And one man frequently sits at the center of that accusation:

The Apostle Paul.

🧩 Did Paul Corrupt Christianity?

I know what many of my Christian readers are probably thinking right now.

Of course he didn’t.

That was pretty much my reaction too, but what I didn’t know is that’s the very argument most Muslims make to discredit the Christian faith.

And if we’re going to ask Muslims to examine the historical foundations of their faith, we should be willing to do exactly the same thing with ours.

So instead of dismissing the question, I decided to investigate it.

What exactly is the Muslim argument against Paul?

Where did it come from?

And what did the earliest followers of Jesus actually believe?

And perhaps most importantly:

Does the historical evidence support the idea that Paul transformed Jesus from a prophet into God?

Learn More About Revelation Gold Group

First, What Does Islam Say Happened to Christianity?

This is where we need to slow down a little, because the Muslim position is more nuanced than simply saying:

“Paul came along and ruined everything.”

Islam actually recognizes many of the same people Christians recognize.

Muslims believe in Abraham.

They believe in Moses.

They believe in Jesus.

They believe God gave revelation to His prophets.

The Qur’an refers to the Torah given to Moses and the Gospel—or Injil—given to Jesus.

But Islam also teaches that the Qur’an came as God’s final revelation, confirming what remained true from earlier revelation while correcting errors that had entered into the beliefs and traditions of Jews and Christians.

This concept is often discussed using the Arabic term tahrif, or corruption/distortion.

Exactly how that corruption happened has been understood differently within Islamic thought. Sometimes the accusation is that people misinterpreted or concealed God’s revelation. Other Muslim thinkers have understood the biblical texts themselves to have been altered or corrupted in transmission.

Either way, it creates an obvious question:

If Jesus really was a prophet of God—as Islam teaches—then how did His followers end up believing things about Him that Islam emphatically rejects?

How did Jesus go from prophet...

to Son of God?

How did His message become centered around His crucifixion and resurrection when the Qur’an denies that He was crucified?

And how did strict monotheists eventually come to worship Jesus Himself?

For some Muslim apologists, one of the answers is:

Paul.

Before going any further, there’s something really important to clarify.

The Qur’an never says Paul corrupted Christianity.

It doesn’t identify Paul as the villain responsible for changing Jesus’ message.

That explanation developed outside the Qur’an and has become an argument made by some Muslim thinkers and apologists attempting to explain the enormous gap between the Jesus of Islam and the Jesus worshipped by Christians.

And when you stop looking at this exclusively through Christian eyes for a moment, you can at least understand why Paul becomes such an obvious target.

Paul wasn’t one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples.

As far as we know, he never followed Jesus during His earthly ministry.

Paul says his encounter with the risen Jesus came later.

And yet Paul’s writings became extraordinarily influential within Christianity.

Paul talks repeatedly about Jesus’ death.

Jesus’ resurrection.

Salvation through Christ.

Faith.

Grace.

The relationship between Christians and the Jewish Law.

And the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s covenant people.

So imagine looking at the story through an Islamic framework.

Jesus was a Jewish prophet calling people to worship the one true God.

Jesus leaves the scene.

Then Paul emerges, preaching throughout the Gentile world about the crucified and risen Christ.

From that perspective, you can see how someone might ask:

Did something change?

That’s essentially the challenge.

And I think Christians should understand the argument before we attempt to answer it.

Because simply responding, “That’s ridiculous. Paul was an apostle!” isn’t going to convince someone who doesn’t already accept the New Testament as authoritative.

We have to go further.

We have to ask the historical question.

Does the Timeline Make Sense?

This is where things started getting REALLY interesting for me.

Because if Paul invented the Christianity we know today, there should theoretically have been a time before Paul when Jesus’ followers believed something significantly different.

In other words:

Jesus teaches Message A.

Paul comes along and changes it to Message B.

Message B eventually wins.

Christianity becomes Pauline Christianity.

Pretty straightforward theory.

Except there’s a problem.

Paul’s own writings contain evidence that the central Christian message existed before Paul.

And remember—Paul’s letters are among the earliest Christian writings we possess.

That makes what he says about the beliefs he inherited incredibly important.

Exhibit A: 1 Corinthians 15

This passage stopped me in my tracks.

Paul writes to the church in Corinth:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received...”

Then he summarizes the message:

Christ died for our sins.

He was buried.

He was raised on the third day.

And He appeared to His followers.

Don’t miss those two words:

“I received.”

Paul isn’t presenting this as something he just invented.

He’s telling us that this was a message given to him.

And that’s significant because many New Testament scholars believe Paul is preserving an early Christian tradition or creed here—something that existed before he wrote 1 Corinthians and quite possibly before Paul himself became a Christian.

Think about what that means.

We’re moving the belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection behind Paul.

Paul didn’t originate the basic proclamation that Jesus died, was buried, rose again and appeared to His followers.

He inherited it.

That doesn’t prove Christianity is true.

But it creates a serious problem for the claim that Paul invented Christianity’s central message.

Exhibit B: Paul Actually Met the Original Disciples

Then there’s something even more obvious that somehow I had never stopped to think about.

Paul knew the people who knew Jesus.

In Galatians, Paul tells us that after his conversion he traveled to Jerusalem and spent time with Peter.

Not some Christian living three generations later.

Peter.

One of Jesus’ closest disciples.

Paul also says he met James, the brother of Jesus.

Later he describes Peter, James and John as “pillars” of the Jerusalem church.

This matters enormously.

Because sometimes we talk about Paul as though he appeared decades later, completely disconnected from the people who actually walked with Jesus.

He wasn’t.

Paul was operating during their lifetimes.

He met them.

He talked with them.

He sometimes argued with them.

And THAT last part may actually be some of our most interesting evidence.

Paul and Peter DID Fight.

If the New Testament were trying to hide disagreements between the early Christian leaders, it didn’t do a particularly good job.

Paul tells us himself in Galatians that he confronted Peter publicly.

They had a serious disagreement.

So we know these men weren’t afraid to challenge each other.

But what were they arguing about?

Was Peter saying:

“Paul! Stop telling people Jesus is divine!”

No.

Was James accusing Paul of inventing the resurrection?

No.

Were the Jerusalem apostles trying to stop Paul from preaching that Jesus’ death had saving significance?

That’s not the dispute Paul records either.

Their arguments centered largely around Gentiles, circumcision, table fellowship and the continuing role of Jewish practices.

Those were significant disagreements.

We shouldn’t minimize them.

There really were tensions in the earliest Christian movement about what following Jesus meant for Jews and Gentiles.

But that’s precisely why the absence of a recorded fight over the central identity of Jesus is so interesting.

Paul could argue with Peter.

And apparently Peter could disagree with Paul.

Yet the surviving first-century evidence doesn’t give us a Peter saying:

“Paul has turned our human teacher into God.”

That’s not proof by itself.

But it’s a piece of evidence that has to be accounted for.

Exhibit C: An Even Earlier View of Jesus?

Then I came across Philippians 2.

And this one gets fascinating.

Paul writes about Jesus:

“Who, being in the form of God...”

and continues by describing Christ humbling Himself, taking human form, becoming obedient to death and then being exalted so that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This passage is sometimes called the Christ Hymn.

Scholars have debated its origin for a very long time.

Some believe Paul wrote it.

Others believe Paul was quoting or adapting an already-existing Christian hymn or confession.

That distinction matters.

Because if Paul was incorporating material Christians were already using in worship, then an extraordinarily “high” view of Jesus existed independently of—and potentially before—Paul’s letter.

And even scholars who think Paul composed the passage still have to explain how extraordinarily early this view of Jesus appears.

We aren’t talking about something Christians invented during the Middle Ages.

We aren’t even talking about something that first appeared at the Council of Nicaea three hundred years after Jesus.

We’re standing in the first generation of the Christian movement.

Whatever else we conclude, Christians were wrestling with the extraordinary identity of Jesus very, very early.

So... Did Paul Invent Christianity?

After digging into this, my answer is:

No.

Did Paul profoundly influence Christianity?

Absolutely.

It would be silly to argue otherwise.

Paul became one of the most important figures in Christian history, and scholars continue to debate exactly how his theology relates to Jesus, Judaism and other streams of the early Jesus movement.

There were also genuine disagreements among the earliest Christians.

The historical picture isn’t nearly as neat and tidy as we sometimes make it in Sunday School.

But that’s different from saying:

Paul took a purely human Jewish prophet named Jesus and invented a new religion that worshipped Him as God.

The timeline doesn’t fit that simple explanation very well, yet that’s what Muslims argue.

Belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection appears in traditions Paul says he received.

Paul personally interacted with Peter, James and John.

The Jerusalem apostles recognized Paul’s Gentile mission even while disagreeing with him about important issues.

And extraordinarily elevated claims about Jesus appear within the earliest layers of Christian history.

Why This Matters to Me

This may be my favorite part of this entire study.

I started studying Islam because I wanted to understand Muslims better.

I didn’t expect it to make me investigate Christianity more deeply.

But it has.

Over and over again.

And I think that’s a good thing.

I’ve said from the beginning that I don’t want to approach Muslims by yelling across a theological divide and telling them they’re wrong.

I want to understand what they believe.

I want to understand why they believe it.

And when they raise a legitimate question about Christianity, I don’t want my response to be:

“Well, the Bible says...”

because the person I’m talking with may not accept the Bible as authoritative in the first place.

I want to know what the historical evidence says.

I want to know what the earliest sources say.

I want to know whether the things I’ve believed for years can withstand scrutiny.

That’s what happened with this question.

I began with:

“Wait... Muslims think Paul corrupted Christianity?”

And I ended up digging into some of the earliest evidence we have for what Christians believed about Jesus.

It needs a revival.

Not merely a political revival.

Not even primarily a political revival.

A revival of courage.

A revival of truth.

A revival of conviction.

A revival that begins one heart... one family... and one community at a time.

Over the past several years, millions of Americans have awakened to what’s happening around us.

We’ve become more informed.

More engaged.

More willing to stand for liberty.

But if we’re honest, many of us are also tired.

It’s easy to spend every day chasing headlines, debating politics, and worrying about the future of our country.

Eventually you realize something.

America won’t be saved by winning the next news cycle.

It will be restored when ordinary people rediscover timeless principles.

That’s exactly why I’m so excited about what we’ve doing on Monday nights.

It Changed My Life

When I first signed up for a Patriot Academy class, I thought I was simply going to learn more about the Constitution.

I had no idea I was about to find a community that would completely change the direction of my life.

It was through Patriot Academy that I met people who became close friends.

It’s where I discovered that ordinary citizens really can make an extraordinary impact.

It’s where I found mentors who challenged me to grow—not just in my understanding of our nation’s founding, but in my faith, my leadership, and my sense of purpose.

Looking back now, it’s remarkable how many of the opportunities I’ve had over the past several years can be traced back to one simple decision:

I showed up.

I took a class.

I kept learning.

Today, I have the privilege of serving as a Regional Development Officer for Patriot Academy, helping others experience the same kind of transformation that changed my own life.

And I’m still a Constitution Coach too.

American Campfire Revival

There’s something timeless about sitting around a campfire.

People slow down.

Distractions fade.

Walls come down.

Stories get told.

Wisdom gets passed from one generation to the next.

Long before podcasts...

Before television...

Before social media...

There were campfires.

Families gathered.

Neighbors talked.

Truth was passed from one generation to the next.

American Campfire Revival captures that spirit.

This isn’t simply another online course.

It’s an invitation to gather around timeless truths, rediscover America’s biblical foundations, and encourage one another as we learn what it means to faithfully steward the freedoms we’ve inherited.

Click Here to Register

Why Community Matters

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned over the past several years is that information alone isn’t enough.

Most of us have consumed thousands of hours of podcasts, documentaries, articles, and social media.

We know what’s happening.

The question is...

Who’s walking beside us?

One of the things people tell me over and over is that they feel alone.

Maybe your family doesn’t understand why these issues matter to you.

Maybe your friends have moved on.

Maybe you’re the only one in your circle who still believes America is worth fighting for.

If that’s you...

You’re not alone.

Every Monday night we’re building something bigger than another Zoom meeting.

We’re building a community.

A place where people can ask questions.

Share ideas.

Pray together.

Laugh together.

Encourage one another.

And leave every week better equipped to make a difference where they live.

You Don’t Need to Know Everything

One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that they need to be experts before they get involved.

You don’t.

You don’t need a political science degree.

You don’t need to memorize the Constitution.

You don’t need to have every answer.

You simply need a willingness to learn.

The people changing America today aren’t the ones who know everything.

They’re the ones willing to keep learning.

More Than Politics

Yes, we’ll talk about America’s founding.

We’ll discuss biblical citizenship.

We’ll examine history.

We’ll wrestle with current events.

But this series isn’t ultimately about politics.

Politics may influence a nation.

Character sustains one.

If America is going to flourish for another 250 years, it won’t simply be because we elected better leaders.

It will be because we became better citizens.

Citizens grounded in truth.

Citizens who understand liberty.

Citizens whose faith produces courage.

That’s the kind of revival I’m praying for.

Click Here to Register

There’s Always Room Around the Fire

If you’ve been searching for more than another livestream...

If you’re looking for people who love God, love America, and believe ordinary citizens still matter...

If you’re hungry to keep learning while building meaningful friendships along the way...

I’d love to personally invite you to join us.

We’ll learn together.

We’ll encourage one another.

We’ll challenge one another.

And we’ll remind each other why this work matters.

Because preserving liberty has never been a one-person job.

It’s always been passed from one generation to the next.

One conversation.

One family.

One community.

One campfire at a time.

Patriot Academy Community Night continunes Monday evening.

I hope you’ll join us.

I’ll save you a seat around the campfire.

Click Here to Register

Click Here to Learn More

It’s an iconic image.

We’ve all seen it.

The problem with that is, it’s mostly wrong…

… Okay, maybe not “wrong”, per se’

Just historically inaccurate.

And since today is August 2nd, I thought it would be fun to share a few fascinating facts just for my paid subscribers about one of the most important documents in human history—facts that even many history buffs don’t know.

Read more

I learned it in the direct selling industry.

For twenty years before politics, my husband and I built a business that completely changed our lives, definitely in more good ways than bad. It introduced us to personal development and leadership training… entrepreneurship and the idea that ordinary people could accomplish extraordinary things.

While I’m viewing that experience through the rearview mirror these days, I’m still incredibly grateful for those years.

Many of the habits I learned there shape my life today.

But looking back, I also see all the mistakes I made that I don’t want to ever repeat.

Without realizing it, I slowly turned the powerful tool of self-help into something it was never meant to be… an idol.

Not in the sense that I worshipped motivational speakers or business leaders, but in the sense that I placed certain people on a pedestal. I assumed that because they were successful, they had somehow figured life out. Surely, they never argued with their spouse, misplaced their car keys, or ate cereal for dinner after a long day.

Looking back, I realize the problem wasn't those leaders. It was the pedestal I had built for them.

When the Pedestal Cracked

About ten years into our business, one of our favorite and most influential mentors left.

Eventually we learned why.

He had been battling a prescription drug addiction for years.

We had no idea.

Here was someone we admired deeply. Someone who had helped shape our thinking, challenged us to grow, and influenced thousands of people—including us.

Yet behind the scenes, he was fighting a battle that almost no one knew about.

I remember feeling disappointed and confused.

Even betrayed.

Not because he struggled.

But because I had convinced myself that someone I admired so much was somehow above struggling.

That realization was entirely my own doing.

He had never claimed to be perfect.

I had simply made him larger than life.

With hindsight being 2020, I realize that was my first encounter with what I now call the pedestal problem. The disappointment wasn't caused by his humanity—it was caused by my unrealistic expectations. I had built the pedestal, and when reality knocked it over, I blamed the person standing on it.

Politics Didn't Invent the Problem

When 2020 arrived and I found myself unexpectedly stepping into election integrity work, I entered another world filled with influential leaders.

Some became close friends.

Some became mentors.

Some inspired me enormously.

Others eventually disappointed me.

Over the past six years, I’ve watched people I deeply respected make wise decisions...and poor ones.

I’ve watched heroes become villains depending on who was telling the story.

In politics, today's hero is tomorrow's traitor...usually by lunchtime on X.

But because of what I had experienced years earlier, I was better prepared.

I had already learned that leaders are still human.

Dinner with a President

One experience especially reinforced that lesson.

In the summer of 2021, I was given the opportunity to sit right next to President Donald Trump during a dinner that he personally arranged for Audit The Vote PA at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course.

Even writing those words still feels surreal.

In fact, if you'd told the engineer-turned-mom I was twenty years ago that one day she'd be having dinner with a President, I would've suggested you switch to decaf.

For years, like most Americans, I had only known him through television, speeches, debates, interviews, and social media.

When someone lives in the public eye that long, it’s easy to build an image of them that’s larger than reality.

But sitting across the table from him, I experienced something unexpected.

He wasn’t larger than life, walking around with dramatic music playing behind him. He didn’t glow. Angels didn’t sing.

He was just… a guy having dinner with us.

Friendly.

Down to earth.

Funny at times.

Thoughtful.

A husband.

A father.

A grandfather.

A man carrying responsibilities that very few people could ever imagine.

And yes...

A flawed human being.

Just like me.

Just like you.

Oddly enough, recognizing his humanity didn’t diminish my respect for him.

It actually deepened it.

Because respect built on reality is healthier than admiration built on illusion.

Trust vs. Idolatry

One of the greatest challenges facing our culture today is that we’ve forgotten the difference between trusting leaders and idolizing them.

Social media has convinced us that every public figure must either be the Messiah or the Antichrist.

Trust says:

“I believe this person is generally moving us in the right direction.”

Idolatry says:

“This person can do no wrong.”

Trust allows disagreement.

Idolatry demands unquestioning loyalty.

Trust measures decisions against principles.

Idolatry measures principles against personalities.

That’s a dangerous place to be.

Because eventually every leader will disappoint us.

Not necessarily because they’re corrupt or incompetent, but simply because they’re human.

If your favorite politician, pastor, podcaster, or pundit eventually disappoints you, congratulations.

You’ve just discovered they’re a member of the human race.

Education Is the Antidote

I’ve come to believe that one of the primary purposes of education is to protect us from idolatry.

The more history I study...

The more biographies I read...

The more I understand Scripture...

The more I realize that God has always used imperfect people.

Moses.

David.

Peter.

Paul.

Our Founding Fathers.

Every one of them accomplished remarkable things while still carrying flaws that God continued to refine.

Maybe that’s exactly the point.

Perhaps God never intended us to place our confidence in people.

Perhaps He intended leaders to point us toward timeless principles instead.

That’s what true edification does.

It builds people up.

It equips them to think.

It develops discernment rather than dependency.

A good leader doesn’t create followers who need them.

A good leader creates more leaders.

Thinkers, Not Followers

One of the greatest compliments I can receive today isn’t that someone agrees with everything I write.

It’s when someone says,

“You challenged me to think for myself.”

That’s what I hope to continue doing.

Not because I have all the answers.

I certainly don’t.

But because I’ve learned what happens when we confuse a leader with an idol.

That’s what the pedestal problem does.

It convinces us that loyalty means suspending our discernment.

We stop thinking, asking questions, and measuring ideas against truth.

The health of our Republic doesn’t depend on finding perfect leaders.

It depends on raising discerning citizens.

Citizens who can appreciate great leadership without expecting perfection.

Who can support someone without surrendering their own judgment.

Who can remain faithful to principles even when personalities inevitably fall short.

Because every leader eventually will.

They’re human.

Looking back, I realize my business mentor wasn’t the problem.

President Trump isn’t the problem.

The countless leaders I’ve met over the years aren’t the problem either.

The problem is the pedestal.

Every time we put someone on one, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment... and setting them up for failure.

The person on the pedestal can never live up to the image we’ve created.

And when reality inevitably reminds us they’re human, it isn’t just their reputation that suffers.

Our trust does too.

Maybe that’s why God has always chosen imperfect people to accomplish extraordinary things.

Not so we’d put our faith in them...

But so we’d learn to place our faith beyond them.

Leaders can inspire us.

Mentors can sharpen us.

Teachers can equip us.

But none of them were ever meant to carry the weight of our hope.

That place was reserved for only One.

Click to Learn More

My answer has largely been no.

Not because I’m against the idea, but because I’m not willing to put my name behind something I don’t whole heartedly believe in.

Many of you have been reading my work since the early days of Audit The Vote PA.

Others found me through Patriot Academy, my podcast, or through the Substack network.

Regardless of how you got here, you’ve probably noticed something about me by now.

I don’t recommend things lightly.

Whether it’s a book, a documentary, a curriculum, a ministry, or an organization, I usually spend weeks—or months—researching before I ever tell someone else they should take a look.

That’s because trust is difficult to earn and incredibly easy to lose.

I have no intention of risking yours.

A New Direction

Producing this publication has become much more than sitting down and writing an occasional article.

Every week I’m researching history, election integrity, America’s founding, current events, and my faith. I’m interviewing guests, recording Community Night, working on a book, creating graphics, answering emails, and trying to provide thoughtful content that helps all of us become better citizens, better leaders, and better stewards.

Like many independent writers, I’ve had companies approach me about sponsorship opportunities, especially in the precious metals/gold space.

I’ve declined every single one.

Some were reputable companies.

Some probably weren’t.

But almost every conversation felt the same.

It felt rushed.

Transactional.

Like someone wanted to check a marketing box instead of build a relationship.

I always walked away thinking, “If this is how they’re treating me before I’m even a customer, how are they going to treat the people who trust my recommendation?”

So, I simply said ‘no thank you’.

Then Something Different Happened

Over a month ago, a young lady reached out to me from Revelation Gold Group.

I’ll be honest—I expected it to go exactly like every other conversation I’d had with precious metals companies… ‘promote my product in X amount of your articles, and we’ll give you $$’.

I was never interested in that, and I’m still not.

But much to my surprise, this was noticeably different.

Instead of launching into a sales pitch, they asked questions about me and my journey into politics.

And then they took time to educate me about their industry. Nothing was rushed or salesy.

I got on multiple Zoom calls with them, which is something none of the other gold companies even offered to do, and they walked me through what an actual customer experience with their brand would look like.

When I wanted to understand how a Gold IRA actually worked, they took their time explaining it without making me feel pressured to make any decisions.

More than once I found myself thinking,

“This is exactly how every company should treat people.”

If you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you know that’s exactly how I try to approach difficult topics.

Education first.

Decisions second.

My Financial Revelation

Some of you already know this part of my story.

After everything that happened in 2020, but prior to the November election, I started trying to understand finances better, which led me to a brief but powerful study on our monetary system otherwise known as The Federal Reserve.

I read The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin and began digging into how our financial system was actually built.

For as long as I can remember, I heard that our dollars are merely pieces of paper with no actual value attached, apart from what the government says they’re worth, but it never really clicked until I read that book.

Then I read, The Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed… more jaw dropping financial insight about the history behind all of this.

The deeper I studied, the more convinced I became that every American should understand the difference between paper assets and tangible assets. I even did a few Facebook Live videos to try to explain what I was learning to my small audience at the time.

As a result of all of that, my husband and I ended up buying a few pieces of silver just to have in case the entire financial system collapsed, and we started to understand that tangible assets have a place in long-term financial stewardship.

What Happens When the Debt Outruns the Dollar?

I keep coming back to the same question these days, and I bet a lot of you are asking it too, even if you’re afraid to say it out loud.

We voted for change. We voted to put America first, to stop the bleeding, and to hold the people who broke this country accountable.

And in some ways, things do feel different.

But here’s the uncomfortable part nobody in Washington wants to talk about around your kitchen table:

No matter who is in charge...

The debt just keeps climbing.

This year the national debt crossed $39 trillion.

Let that sink in.

Even more concerning, debt held by the public has now grown to roughly the same size as America’s entire economy—a level we haven’t seen since World War II.

This isn’t a Republican problem.

It isn’t a Democrat problem.

It’s an American problem that has been building for decades.

Eventually every family feels the consequences.

Maybe you’ve noticed it yourself.

Groceries.

Fuel.

Insurance.

Building materials.

The purchasing power of the dollar simply doesn’t stretch as far as it once did.

That’s one reason many investors—and even central banks around the world—continue increasing their holdings of physical gold.

Not because they’re predicting the end of civilization.

Because they’re trying to diversify against uncertainty.

Enter Revelation Gold Group

If you’ve been thinking about learning more about precious metals, I can honestly recommend starting the conversation with Revelation Gold Group.

Notice I said conversation.

Not purchase.

Conversation.

Whether you’re interested in buying physical gold or silver, or simply want to understand how a Gold IRA works, they take an educational approach instead of a high-pressure sales approach.

That matters to me.

It should matter to you too.

If you decide you’d like to learn more, I’ve included my partner link here:

Revelation Gold Group

Click Here to Learn More

One Final Thought

For years I’ve encouraged you to verify what I write.

Don’t believe something simply because it came from me.

Research it.

Ask questions.

Think critically.

That same principle applies here.

I’m not recommending Revelation Gold Group because someone offered to sponsor an article.

I’m recommending them because I spent time getting to know them first, and I now believe in what they’re doing.

I trust how they treat people.

And I believe they deserve the opportunity to earn your trust as well.

Whether you decide precious metals are right for your family is entirely your decision.

But I do think every American should become a student of our nation’s financial history and think carefully about how to steward what God has entrusted to them.

As always...

Do your homework.

Ask good questions.

And never stop learning.

Disclosure: Revelation Gold Group is a paid partner of this publication. I only recommend companies, ministries, products, and organizations that I personally believe provide value to this community. Nothing in this article should be considered financial advice. Please do your own research and consult qualified professionals regarding your personal financial situation.

For many Americans, it felt like a bombshell.

For those of us who’ve been living and breathing election integrity since 2020, it was more like...

“Wait... that’s the document everyone is just discovering?”

Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t say that to diminish the significance of the announcement.

Quite the opposite.

Sometimes the biggest story isn’t that new information has emerged.

Sometimes the biggest story is that people are finally willing to look at information that has been sitting in plain sight all along.

If last Thursday night felt like groundbreaking news to you, welcome to the conversation. We’ve been saving you a seat since 2020.

The Conversation Has Changed

Whether you agree with President Trump or not, one thing is undeniable:

Election integrity is back in the national conversation.

For years, many Americans who questioned election procedures, chain of custody, voter rolls, ballot handling, or transparency were dismissed before their questions were ever seriously considered.

Today, those same topics are being discussed from the White House to kitchen tables across America.

That’s a remarkable shift.

If you’ve been following this issue for the last five years, you may have experienced an unusual feeling Thursday night.

It’s called déjà vu.

Except instead of wondering whether you’ve lived this moment before, you’re wondering why it took half a decade for the conversation to catch up.

Who Gets to Decide What Americans See?

One aspect of last Thursday night’s address struck me almost as much as the information itself.

Many of the nation’s major television networks chose not to broadcast the President’s remarks live. Meanwhile, many of the same voices that declined to air the address continue to dismiss people like me with labels such as “election denier.”

Think about that for a moment.

Americans are frequently told there is “no evidence” worth discussing, yet when the President of the United States gives an address on the subject, many citizens aren’t even given the opportunity to hear it firsthand on the networks they’ve trusted for decades.

Whether someone ultimately agrees with President Trump or completely disagrees with him isn’t really the point.

Shouldn’t Americans be trusted to hear the information and evaluate it for themselves?

I’ve been called an “election denier” so many times that I’m half expecting it to show up on my Christmas cards.

The funny thing is, I’ve never denied that elections happen.

I’ve spent the last five years asking whether every part of the process deserves public confidence.

I’ve spent those years reviewing public records, organizing volunteers, knocking on doors, documenting findings, and asking questions that any healthy constitutional republic should welcome.

Questioning government processes isn’t a threat to democracy.

It’s one of the responsibilities of citizenship.

“Where’s the Proof?”

Every time election integrity returns to the headlines, someone inevitably asks:

“Where’s the proof?”

It’s a fair question.

At this point, I almost want to respond,

“How much time do you have?”

Because after five years of investigations, public records requests, lawsuits, legislative hearings, volunteer efforts, and thousands upon thousands of doors knocked across Pennsylvania, this isn’t exactly a two-slide PowerPoint presentation anymore.

At Audit The Vote PA, we didn’t spend years chasing headlines.

We spent years collecting data.

Our statewide canvassing effort is arguably the largest investigative election canvassing project ever conducted regarding the 2020 election.

Thousands of volunteers visited homes across the Commonwealth and compared what voters told us with publicly available election records.

Contrary to popular belief, our volunteers didn’t spend months wandering Pennsylvania looking for bamboo fibers with flashlights.

They did something far less exciting—and far more valuable.

They knocked on doors.

They talked to real voters.

They documented real responses.

Turns out democracy involves a lot more comfortable shoes than conspiracy theories.

Did our canvassing answer every question?

No.

Did it raise questions worthy of further investigation?

Absolutely.

Whether someone ultimately agrees with every conclusion or not, dismissing years of documented field work without ever examining it does a disservice to the investigative process itself.

If you’ve never reviewed our findings, I encourage you to do so.

The data has always been available.

The question is whether people are finally willing to look.

Accountability Requires Participation

One lesson I’ve learned through this journey is that accountability doesn’t happen by accident.

It happens because ordinary people stay engaged.

They volunteer.

They ask questions.

They observe.

They document.

And yes...

They vote.

Ironically, one of the saddest responses I’ve heard over the past five years is, “I’m never voting again.”

I understand the frustration.

But I believe that’s exactly the wrong conclusion.

Every election creates another opportunity to collect data.

Every election allows citizens to observe the process.

Every election gives us another chance to compare procedures, identify trends, and continue strengthening transparency.

If good people stop participating, we lose one of the greatest tools we have for accountability.

The Work Continues

I don’t know what additional information may come from these recent declassification efforts.

Time will tell.

What I do know is this:

No press conference replaces years of investigative work.

No headline finishes the job.

The work of election integrity isn’t glamorous.

Nobody has ever walked up to me and said,

“I hear you spent your Saturday comparing voter records... tell me everything.”

But that’s how accountability works.

One record.

One conversation.

One volunteer.

One citizen.

One election at a time.

Stay Engaged

If last week’s events renewed your interest in election integrity, don’t let it end with watching a speech or sharing a social media post.

Read the documents.

Ask questions.

Examine the evidence.

Review our statewide canvassing results.

Volunteer in your community.

Become a poll watcher.

Learn how elections are conducted in your county.

And above all...

Keep voting.

Because every election gives us another opportunity to pursue transparency, strengthen public confidence, and preserve the integrity of our republic.

For five years, I’ve watched thousands of ordinary Americans give their evenings, weekends, and vacations to this cause—not because it was easy, and certainly not because it was popular.

They did it because they believed that truth matters.

So, if you’re just joining the conversation...

Welcome.

We’re glad you’re here.

Now let’s get to work.

As I’ve often reminded myself throughout this journey:

Duty is ours. Results are God’s.

Register Here

At the time, I was leading a brand-new grassroots movement called Audit The Vote PA. We had just crossed 100,000 signatures on our petition calling for a forensic audit of the 2020 election. The movement was growing far faster than any of us expected, and every day seemed to bring a new challenge that I had absolutely no idea how to solve.

A week earlier, I had been told to expect a phone call from President Donald Trump.

The call never came.

Or at least, I thought it wasn’t coming.

Eventually I stopped checking my phone every few minutes and went back to doing what moms do—packing towels, chasing kids, negotiating over snacks, and trying to make sure nobody drowned.

Today, as I officially announce that I have a publishing contract in hand to tell this whole story, it seemed fitting to share one of the chapters from the manuscript, The Keystone Awakening: How a Pennsylvania Mom Found Purpose During America’s Third Great Awakening.

I hope you enjoy this excerpt from the book based on my best memories from 5 years ago today.

No one on the East Coast expects the weather in the middle of the summer to be cool and breezy, but on that particular July day, the humidity was off the charts. In an effort to keep the kiddos occupied and off of screens, I decided to venture out to our local swimming pool for a few hours in hopes of cooling everyone down, including myself, and also spending some much-needed time with my three kids who had suddenly started to wonder why Mommy was ALWAYS on the phone and leaving more often than she used to.

“Just a few minutes to myself… that’s all I’m asking for.”

As the laundry list of random thoughts raced through my brain at Mach one speed, I exhaled loudly and plopped all the swimming stuff down on the soggy green grass near the kid pool area. We always camped out near the kiddie pool where a giant orange crocodile bucket dumped water every few minutes. The water only came up to about three and a half feet, which meant I could keep all three girls within eyesight. Between the bathroom, the snack bar, and the shallow end, it was as close to "manageable" as taking three young kids swimming ever gets.

“Mommy, I’m hungry!” shouts my three-year-old.

“Of course you are”, I thought.

It didn’t matter how much I fed them before we left the house or what scorched earth warnings I gave them NOT to ask for concession stand food, it was just a matter of time before one of them started wandering in that direction, and I knew the fight for healthy snacks just wasn’t worth it.

The anxiety that comes with taking three young kids to a swimming pool when only one of them can swim, one has mildly developed survival skills, and one is most certainly going to drown if left unattended where she can’t touch the bottom is a whole other matter.

“Do I have to put the puddle jumper on?” Hallie protested.

“If you want to swim, you do.”

“I just need goggles, right Mom?” Juliette asked.

“I’d prefer if you also wear a puddle jumper, but if you’re going to fight me on that, then today is your lucky day. I just don’t have the energy to argue over this right now.”

Feeling like an octopus stuck in a phone booth, I tried to set up the sunshade while simultaneously laying out the blanket so that we wouldn’t get all muddy and my youngest would keep from burning up when she decided she was done with the water, which was at least once every 5-10 minutes.

“Why did I think taking them swimming by myself was a good idea?” I mused.

Shaking my head, I finished with our usual set up and headed to the shallow end of the pool to try to get some vitamin D while still fastening the puddle jumper on three-year-old Hallie.

I had pretty much given up on getting a phone call from the President, even though it was supposed to have come a week ago, so much so, that I wasn’t checking my phone regularly anymore or hoping to see a DC number pop up on the screen.

“Or should I be expecting a Florida phone number? Or maybe New York? He has a place in New York, right?” I said to myself as I was splashing along with the kiddos and swinging them around on my legs waiting for the bucket to dump water on all three of us.

My racing thoughts got back on their usual track as I started to think about our next steps. Even though we met our goal of getting over 100,000 signatures on the petition for a forensic audit and no doubt were developing serious momentum in that direction, there were still so many obstacles in our way.

Our election integrity champion, Senator Doug Mastriano, was swimming upstream in Harrisburg, getting way more opposition than support. Sure, he had just gotten back from visiting Arizona where he toured the Maricopa County facility to get a first-hand look of how they ran things, and sure he had some allies in Pennsylvania, but they were few and far between.

“Even if we got the green light, none of us had any idea how to run a statewide forensic audit. And even if we figured that out, who was going to pay for it??”

Those self-defeating thoughts never stopped, which made it even easier to reconcile that a phone call from the President was so wildly unlikely and unprecedented that I wasn’t even disappointed that it hadn’t come yet.

“Mommy! Mommy! Look, the bucket is about to drop! 10… 9… 8… 7… 6…” and as the infamous chant from the kiddie pool bucket countdown came to a close, a refreshing splash of cold water came raining down on our heads and we all laughed and basked in the simple joy of summertime.

But in between every moment of trying to enjoy family time with the kiddos, thoughts of logistically how we were going to pull this off consumed my brain once more.

I hadn't looked at my phone in over an hour, and the moment I decided to pick it up, a (202) number flashed across the screen. I didn’t know that Washington DC had a (202) area code, so when I picked up, I was shocked to hear the voice of a female assistant, ever so kind and somewhat excited saying, “Hello, Ms. Shuppe? I’m so glad we were able to connect. I have a very special person on the other end of the phone who wants to talk to you. Is now an okay time?”

Every sound around me suddenly disappears.

The laughter.

The splashing.

The countdown from the bucket.

Everything.

“Say what?”

My jaw drops.

“Is this it?”

My eyes get wide as saucers.

“Where the heck is the (202) area code from?”

I could feel myself holding my breath.

“And how is this happening while I’m at the waterpark with my kids!?”

A rush of anxiety shoots through my entire body.

“Just shoot me!”

I managed to stammer out some sort of reply while attempting to get my other 2 friends who had joined me on this crazy adventure to join the call as I ran over to Savanna who was dancing around aimlessly in the deeper part of the kiddie pool.

“Savanna!! Savanna!! Get over here!!”

I hadn’t noticed that I was pacing back and forth on the scorching hot pavement until I saw the look on her face.

“What’s wrong, Mommy?”

“Nothing’s wrong sweetheart, but this is REALLY important. You have to keep a close eye on Hallie and Jules because this is the phone call I’ve been waiting for from President Trump! Can you please make sure their heads stay above the water?”

“Yes, Mommy, I will.”

I can’t remember if she was excited or nervous or oblivious to what was happening, but I continued to pace back and forth as I waited. Then I took one deep breath, and sure enough there came that unmistakable voice.

That’s where I’ll leave the story—for now.

The conversation that followed, the invitation that came next, and the dinner that forever changed my life will all be in The Keystone Awakening.

Thank you for taking this journey with me from the beginning. More soon.

Join the TTV Now Community

Maybe it changed yours too.

Like millions of Americans, I started asking questions I had never asked before. I began studying our Constitution, our history, our election systems, our founding principles, and what it really means to be a biblical citizen.

Over the last six years, that journey has introduced me to incredible people and incredible organizations. I’ve hosted many Patriot Academy classes, worked in election integrity, written articles, interviewed guests, and spent thousands of hours learning.

But along the way, I kept noticing something.

People would finish a class and ask me:

“What’s next?”

Some had gotten involved but eventually burned out.

Others felt isolated because no one around them shared their passion for learning.

Some simply wanted a place where they could continue asking questions, discussing ideas, and growing alongside other people who love America and love the truth.

I wanted that too.

That’s why I’m launching Patriot Academy Community Night.

FREE to Register - Click Here

Not another six-week class.

Not another webinar.

A community.

A place where lifelong learners can gather every Monday night to grow together.

Some months we’ll celebrate America’s 250th birthday by studying the remarkable story of our nation’s founding.

Some months we’ll gather around the themes of American Campfire Revival, learning how to rebuild our communities one relationship at a time.

As election season approaches, we’ll devote entire months to election integrity, civic engagement, and practical ways to make a difference where we live.

We’ll tackle difficult topics with humility and conviction.

We’ll host special guests who have been on the front lines of today’s biggest battles.

We’ll learn how to communicate better, lead better, and serve our communities more effectively.

And every week, we’ll leave with one practical challenge to put what we’ve learned into action.

Because I don’t believe America simply needs more information.

I believe America needs more informed citizens.

Politics is downstream from culture.

Culture is shaped by families, churches, neighborhoods, schools, and local communities.

That’s where renewal begins.

Community Night is my attempt to build the kind of place I wish had existed when I first woke up in 2020.

If you’ve been looking for a place to keep learning...

If you’ve been wondering what comes next...

If you want to grow alongside people who are committed to faith, freedom, and servant leadership...

Pull up a chair.

Let’s learn together.

Let’s grow together.

Let’s lead together.

And let’s save the Republic—one community at a time.

Patriot Academy Community Night

🗓️ Every Monday • 8:00 PM ET

🎙️ Recorded live and released each Saturday as The Remnant Report podcast.

I’d love to have you join us.

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But what if I told you that almost everything we picture happening on July 4, 1776... didn’t actually happen that day?

The real story of America’s founding is far more fascinating—and perhaps even more inspiring—than the version most of us learned in school.

As America celebrates her 250th birthday, let's travel back through one remarkable week that forever changed the course of history.

July 2: The Day America Chose Independence

Most Americans would probably answer “July 4, 1776” if asked when America declared independence.

But that’s not actually true.

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to sever all political ties with Great Britain.

That vote—not July 4—was the moment the colonies formally chose independence.

In fact, John Adams was so convinced July 2 would become America’s great national holiday that he wrote to his wife Abigail:

“The Second Day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.”

History had other plans.

July 4: Not the Beginning...The Explanation

By July 4, the decision had already been made.

What Congress approved that day was the final wording of the Declaration of Independence after several days of edits and debate.

The Declaration wasn’t simply announcing America’s departure from Britain.

It was explaining why.

Think of it as America’s opening legal brief before the court of world opinion.

Before Jefferson ever wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident...” he carefully documented twenty-seven grievances against King George III.

The Founders believed freedom should never be declared casually.

It should be justified carefully.

The Paragraph That Never Made It

One of the most fascinating parts of the Declaration of Independence is something you’ll never find in the final document.

Jefferson’s original draft included a lengthy passage condemning the British Crown for perpetuating the transatlantic slave trade.

He accused King George III of violating “the most sacred rights of life and liberty” by forcing the institution of slavery upon the colonies and sustaining the trade in human beings.

That language never survived.

Delegates from South Carolina and Georgia objected strongly. Some northern delegates, whose economies also benefited from the slave trade, were unwilling to include it.

To preserve unity among all thirteen colonies, Congress removed the entire passage.

Jefferson was deeply disappointed.

He later complained that Congress had “mangled” portions of his draft.

The irony is impossible to ignore.

America declared that “all men are created equal” while simultaneously removing language condemning slavery.

History is rarely neat.

The Founders articulated one of history’s greatest statements on universal human equality while leaving unresolved one of America’s greatest moral contradictions.

That contradiction would eventually erupt into the Civil War nearly ninety years later.

Understanding that tension doesn’t diminish the Declaration.

If anything, it reminds us that the principles declared in 1776 would continue challenging future generations to live up to them.

July 5: Printing History Overnight

The Declaration still hadn’t reached the American people.

Immediately after Congress approved the final text, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap worked through the night printing the first official copies.

Known today as the Dunlap Broadsides, historians estimate roughly 200 copies were printed.

Only a few dozen are known to survive.

Those printed sheets carried America’s declaration across the colonies.

July 8: America Finally Hears the News

This may be my favorite part of the story.

By July 8, America had already voted for independence.

The Declaration had already been written.

But most Americans still had no idea.

On that day, Colonel John Nixon stood before a crowd in Philadelphia and publicly read the Declaration for the very first time.

Imagine hearing those words without knowing they would become some of the most famous ever written.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident...”

For those gathered that afternoon, these weren’t words from a history book.

They were breaking news.

And everyone listening understood the risk.

Declaring independence wasn’t symbolic.

It was treason against the British Crown.

If the Revolution failed, many of the men responsible would likely lose not only their property—but their lives.

August 2: The Signing Most of Us Picture

One of the biggest myths surrounding Independence Day comes from the paintings we’ve all seen.

The delegates did not all line up and sign the Declaration on July 4.

Most signed the beautifully engrossed parchment nearly a month later, on August 2, 1776.

A few signed even later as they returned to Philadelphia.

The iconic painting isn’t really depicting the signing.

It’s portraying the drafting committee presenting the Declaration to Congress.

The Week America Was Born

Sometimes history gets compressed into a single date.

The truth is far richer.

July 2
✅ Congress votes for independence.

July 4
✅ Congress approves the final wording of the Declaration.

July 5
🖨️ John Dunlap prints the first copies overnight.

July 8
📣 The Declaration is publicly read to the people of Philadelphia.

July 9
🗽 New York joins the cause for independence.

August 2
✍️ Most delegates sign the engrossed Declaration.

The Lesson of America’s 250th Birthday

One thing stands out to me after looking back at this remarkable week.

The Founders weren’t perfect.

They argued.

They revised one another’s work.

They compromised.

They wrestled with difficult moral questions.

Some disagreements would remain unresolved for generations.

Yet despite all of that, they united around a shared conviction that liberty was worth defending.

When the Declaration closed with the words that they pledged “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor,” those weren’t poetic flourishes.

They were promises.

Promises backed by the very real possibility of imprisonment, execution, or financial ruin if the Revolution failed.

Two hundred and fifty years later, perhaps that’s the real lesson of Independence Day.

Not that America was founded by perfect people.

But that enduring principles can outlive imperfect people.

Each generation inherits those principles.

Each generation must decide whether they are worth preserving.

As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, may we remember not only the date on the calendar, but the extraordinary week that gave birth to a nation.

Happy Independence Day!

One Last Thought...

As I was writing this article, I couldn’t help but think back to the fall of 2020.

A good friend of mine, Karen Taylor, and I decided to take a Patriot Academy Constitution class together. We had already been friends for nearly ten years, but neither of us had any idea how much that one decision would change the course of our lives.

That class sparked a passion for America’s founding that eventually led us to co-found Audit The Vote PA. We also began hosting Constitution classes together, encouraging others to discover the same incredible history that had inspired us.

Our paths have taken us in different directions over the years, but I’ll always be grateful that we took that first class together. In fact, Karen is now part of a slate of candidates working to bring new leadership to the Westmoreland County Republican Committee. If they’re successful, she’ll serve as the committee’s Secretary.

I genuinely don’t believe either of us would be where we are today had we not made the decision to study the Constitution together back in 2020.

If this article reminded you that there’s always more to learn about America’s remarkable story, I’d love to invite you to join me. You never know where one class—or one decision to keep learning—might lead.

Patriot Academy Community Night:

Join me Monday nights as we continue learning together through history, the Constitution, faith, current events, and conversations with special guests.

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We the People weren’t willing to let that happen.

Over the past several weeks, thousands of Pennsylvanians started asking questions, making phone calls, sending emails, posting on social media, and refusing to quietly accept that the Keystone State—the birthplace of American freedom—would have no presence at the Great American State Fair.

In the end, Pennsylvania will be represented after all.

Not because the Governor’s office stepped up.

But because ordinary citizens spoke up, pressure was applied, and two U.S. Senators put politics aside to find a solution.

I had a front-row seat to much of what unfolded behind the scenes, and I want to tell the story of how it happened to my paid subscribers because you are the ones that allow me to continue this work.

Read more

During a Senate hearing, the new Postmaster General confirmed that the United States Postal Service intended to reject mail-in ballots from states that failed to comply with new federal ballot tracking requirements established under President Trump’s Executive Order 14399.

For many Americans, that immediately raised questions.

1. Would USPS actually reject ballots?

2. What were these new requirements?

3. And what problem were they trying to solve?

Then today, everything changed.

A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked key portions of the Executive Order, ruling that the President does not have the constitutional authority to impose certain nationwide election administration requirements through executive action alone.

Before we talk about today’s ruling, it’s important to understand what the Executive Order was actually trying to accomplish.

What Was the USPS Rule Trying to Do?

Much of the discussion surrounding this Executive Order has centered on the phrase “rejecting mail-in ballots.” While technically accurate in describing one potential consequence for non-compliant states, that phrase doesn’t fully explain what the proposed USPS rule was designed to accomplish.

The proposal focused on the ballot envelope, not the vote itself.

Under the proposed rule, states conducting federal elections by mail would have been required to use standardized ballot envelopes that included:

• The Official Election Mail logo

• USPS-compatible envelope formatting

• Unique Intelligent Mail barcodes on both outbound and return envelopes

• USPS review of the envelope design before ballots were mailed

Election officials also would have been required to submit certain information to a USPS portal before ballots were mailed, including:

• The voter’s name and mailing address

• The barcode assigned to the outgoing ballot envelope

• The barcode assigned to the return envelope

• The originating election office

The purpose was to create a documented chain of custody for ballot envelopes moving through the postal system.

In practical terms, USPS and election officials could verify that a ballot envelope was mailed, track its movement through the mail stream, and confirm whether the corresponding return envelope was received.

The proposal also stated that USPS would not determine voter eligibility or maintain state voter rolls. Those responsibilities would remain with the states.

Separately, the Executive Order directed federal agencies—including the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration—to provide states with citizenship-related information that states could use while continuing to administer their own voter registration systems.

Supporters viewed these measures as a way to strengthen transparency, accountability, and chain of custody for mailed ballots.

Critics argued that, regardless of the proposal’s merits, the President lacked the constitutional authority to impose these requirements without authorization from Congress.

That constitutional question—not necessarily the mechanics of ballot tracking—is what the federal court addressed.

So What Happened?

Yesterday’s headline wasn’t wrong.

The USPS really did indicate that it intended to implement these requirements if the Executive Order remained in effect.

That “if” turned out to be critical.

Judge Indira Talwani issued an injunction blocking key portions of the Executive Order, concluding that the President had exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch in this area.

In other words, the court did not rule that ballot tracking is unconstitutional.

It did not rule that chain-of-custody procedures are improper.

Nor did it decide whether the proposal would have been good or bad public policy.

Instead, the court addressed a narrower constitutional question:

Who has the authority to establish these kinds of nationwide election procedures?

According to the ruling, that authority belongs to Congress—not the President acting alone through an executive order.

Is This the End of the Executive Order?

No.

A federal district court has blocked key portions of the Executive Order, but that does not end the legal dispute.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal through the federal appellate courts. If necessary, it can also ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

One common misconception is that because the Supreme Court is in its summer recess, nothing can happen until the justices return for their next regular term.

That’s not how the process works.

The Supreme Court maintains an emergency docket throughout the year. In urgent cases—including election-related disputes—the Court can consider emergency applications even while it is in recess.

Whether the Court chooses to intervene is impossible to predict, but the legal process is far from over.

For now, the Executive Order’s election-related provisions remain on hold while that process unfolds.

Where Do We Go From Here?

It’s easy to see today’s headline and conclude that the issue is settled.

It isn’t.

What we’re watching unfold is a constitutional debate over who has the authority to establish nationwide election procedures.

The courts will ultimately decide whether these provisions can move forward under existing law, whether Congress must act first, or whether some combination of both is required.

One of the biggest challenges in today’s media environment is that headlines often capture a single moment in a much longer process.

Yesterday’s headline suggested a major policy change.

Today’s headline explains why that policy has been paused.

Tomorrow’s headline may involve an appeal.

Whether you support or oppose the Executive Order, understanding how election law is made is just as important as understanding what changes are being proposed.

As always, my goal is to help you separate the headlines from the underlying legal issues and understand what these developments actually mean.

Stay curious.

Ask questions.

Follow the facts.

Because protecting election integrity starts with understanding the process.

True The Vote NOW Community:

Want to get more involved in election integrity? Join me in the True The Vote NOW Community and connect with citizens working to make our elections more transparent.

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Patriot Academy Community Night:

Join me Monday nights as we continue learning together through history, the Constitution, faith, current events, and conversations with special guests.

Click Here to Register

Maybe your life changed in 2020 like mine did.

Maybe you started asking questions.

Maybe you realized things weren’t quite what you thought they were.

Maybe you got involved.

Maybe you attended meetings, joined groups, volunteered, made phone calls, knocked doors, or spent countless hours trying to understand what was happening in our country.

And maybe, somewhere along the way, you got discouraged.

Maybe you got burned out.

Maybe you started wondering if any of it was actually making a difference.

Because let’s be honest...

How long can we run like the house is on fire without a support system to help pick us back up when we’re bruised and bloody—emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually?

Maybe you’re frustrated.

Maybe you’re tired of waiting for someone else to fix things.

Maybe you’ve realized that no election, politician, or government agency is going to save America for us.

And perhaps you’re sitting there today wondering:

🤔 “What do I do now?”

If that’s you, I want to invite you to something new, something fresh, and something that I believe is going to be very special.

Starting July 13th, I’ll be hosting Patriot Academy Community Night every Monday at 8:00 PM ET.

This isn’t just another constitution class.

It’s a place for lifelong learners.

A place for patriots who want to keep growing.

A place for people who don’t want to spend every evening scrolling social media or flipping channels wondering what happened to America and if it’s too late to really make a difference.

We’ll learn together.

We’ll ask hard questions.

We’ll sharpen one another.

We’ll build friendships.

We’ll develop leaders.

We’ll become better communicators.

We’ll discover our purpose.

And we’ll equip one another to engage the culture with wisdom, courage, and conviction.

Some nights we’ll study the Constitution using Patriot Academy curriculum.

📖 Constitution Alive
✝️ Biblical Citizenship
🔥 Rebuilding Liberty
🏕️ American Campfire Revival
🗽 Chasing American Legends

Other nights we’ll tackle current events, election integrity, leadership, worldview, culture, and difficult topics many people are afraid to discuss.

We’ll even learn how to engage people we disagree with in ways that build bridges instead of walls.

Because politics is downstream from culture.

And if we’re going to save the Republic, we need citizens who are prepared for the front lines of the culture war.

Most importantly, you’ll find a community of people who are committed to learning, growing, and making a difference where they live.

🇺🇸 Patriot Academy Community Night
📅 Begins July 13th
⏰ Mondays at 8:00 PM ET

Saving the Republic One Community at a Time.

Register here:
https://www.patriotacademy.com/coach/register/11527

And one more thing...

Over the last six years, this journey has connected me with some incredible people—from military leaders and journalists to activists, authors, whistleblowers, and culture warriors.

Many of them have already received an invitation to join us for future Community Night conversations.

I’ll be announcing special guests as they’re confirmed, but let’s just say there are some exciting names on the list. 👀

Click Here to Register

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