Phil Robertson — entrepeneur and patriarch of the Robinson family featured in the reality TV show Duck Dynasty and now the star of a Citizens United documentary, Torchbearer — discussed the film’s prophetic call for cultural repentance before its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Robertson and his nephew Zach Dasher, a writer on the film, sat down with Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon and Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow for the first hour of Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM Patriot 125. Quoting extensively from Scripture, Robertson laid out the film’s thesis: that sin has become mainstream in Western culture, which will soon lead to societal destruction.
“It’s a brutal film because it is brutal when you get God out of the way,” Robertson said. He declared that America is not just facing a collapse but is already several decades into one, not because of people in power taking advantage of innocent citizens but because of sin ruling the lives of regular Americans.
“Basically, I’m calling America to repent. They just need to repent and turn from their sins,” he said. “How many people talk about — all these politicians — how many people talk about, while they’re discussing how to fix everything, how many of them mention sin and repentance? Not a lot.”
Robertson said that for all of the modern world’s technological advances, “The sins are the same” as in past civilizations — whose former glory has turned ruins. “The hearts of the people are the same… So the empires rise, they fall, they forget God and they say, like now in America, ‘We’re too sophisticated.’ The sins are the same.”
Robertson called the film “overwhelming” and “powerful,” saying its footage of mass murder and “carnage” from the last century is a warning for the current generation.
When human beings remove God as their anchor and they allow men to determine what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s good, what’s evil, and how much your life is worth, once you go down that road, you see these empires rise and fall. Unfortunately, America’s on the same path. And unless something is done rather quickly, I’m calling on America just to repent — turn back to their Creator. Why don’t we try loving God and loving each other?
He cited the book of Romans, Paul’s sermon at Mars Hill from the book of Acts, and the prophet Ezekiel to explain his hopes for the documentary’s outcome.
In Ezekiel 6, God told Ezekiel, “Listen, when I tell a wicked man he will die in his sins, Ezekiel, if you don’t tell him he’ll die in his sins,” he said, “I’ll hold you accountable for his blood. If I tell a wicked man he’ll die in his sins and you do tell him,” he says, “if he doesn’t change, he’ll still lose his life because of his sins,” he said, “but you will have saved yourself because you told him.” So in my case, I have to tell America — since I live in America — or Europe, I have to tell them about their sins because I love them and I want them to be forgiven and I want them to be raised from the dead one day and live on.
Bannon and Marlow recalled how Robertson has faced down media hatred in the past for his blunt warnings against sin, particularly sexual immorality. In true “Duck Commander” fashion, Robertson stuck to his guns and argued that his critics are actively hurting people by encouraging harmful life choices.
Godly people — in fact, strong conservatives — they’re actually really the champion of the human rights movement. There’s no doubt in my mind about it. We’re for human rights. We give people the downside of immoral conduct, and a lot of people said, “Well, let’s see, the old graybeard said there’s 110 million cases at any given time of sexually transmitted diseases. That’s one out of three in America.” For someone to make an argument, “That’s the route we ought to go”…
You would think that the last thing you would do is encourage people to participate in that particular behavior. Physiologically, it is very dangerous to your health. Spiritually, it’s deadly. The CDC says there’s a hidden epidemic — these sexually transmitted diseases. They are killing multi-millions and millions on Planet Earth, they said, and we get all upset about Zika and Ebola. The real epidemic is sexually transmitted diseases. It is horrific what is happening.
Dasher, who came on the show after Robertson, said that his uncle is nothing like the caricature drawn by secular media.
“Every group that Phil supposedly hates, he has those types of people in his home,” Dasher said.
And he ministers to them, he loves on them, he lets them sleep on his couch, he feeds them out of his refrigerator. He really has a passion for people, and he actually believes what he’s talking about. It’s not about money, it’s not about fame. Phil — I’ll be honest with you, he could care less. He could care less about the fame. He could care less about the money. It hasn’t changed him one bit. I mean, he has a very singular focus and he wants to impact culture for the Kingdom.
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