Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Parish Circuit. I am your host, Stuart Amadon. Joining me today is Larry Davis, who is running for Congressional District 6 in Louisiana. Is that right, Larry?
[00:00:14] Speaker B: That's right, Stuart. District six.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: Let's go, baby. Let's go. So you are actually our first political interview inside of the Parish Circuit. I've asked other people in St Legra parish, but for some reason, they just keep telling me no. Now that seems.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Why are people afraid of the media? I mean, I know.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: Well, it's because they know I'm a conservative Christian. They don't want to talk.
So I'm glad that you said yes and we can get this conversation going. So, Larry, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. The first thing I want to ask.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Why?
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Why, man? Like, what? What on earth possessed you? I have dear friends of mine who have lived in and around St. Legendary Parish District six their whole lives, and they've looked at me and they've said, man, I love it here, but I could never run for office here. So what on earth has possessed you to take that move, to take that step? Why? Why do you want to run? For this. For this post.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Well, before we started the podcast, you said something pretty profound, and you said that your faith goes before your politics. And that's just where I am.
I really became tired of sitting by watching the foundations of our country destroyed and men and women who call themselves faithful to the mission of the gospel get elected into office, but yet they fail to preach and they fail to stand up for the truth of the gospel. And I said, you know what?
It's time for me to practice what I preach. It's time for me to put my beliefs on the stand and show people what it is to be a faithful believer, but also a person who writes and professes laws. In fact, we see that perfectly displayed in scripture is Jesus came to fulfill the Word. He was tired of talking about it, and he came to show us how it was done. And so, you know, that's the why.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: So what you're saying, what you're saying is that you would take office and not leave the Bible behind you, and you're saying you would take the Bible behind with you into office?
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: You would.
Let me. Let me. So in other words, now this is brand new for Louisiana. Like, I don't know that I've ever talked to people in Louisiana who are getting ready to run for office, who are saying things like you're saying right now that they'll Typically stand up and they'll say the, the traditional faith and family, you know, we'll hear that kind of stuff. But what you just articulated was that the laws that you write would reflect what the Bible says. Is that right, Larry?
[00:02:50] Speaker B: That's right.
Infinite wisdom.
The key is into Scripture. In fact, Stuart, me and my pastor actually do a discipleship once a week to go through the Bible and to create policy drafted from the Bible. Now, we don't believe in running our country in an ecclesiastical sense, but in a civil government sense. The Bible gives clear definitions as to how civil governments are to be led. And that's what we, you know, that's what we want to prioritize in my congressional office.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Okay, so then let's, let's kick that ball around a little bit. Like, give me an example.
You're working through legislation from a biblical worldview. Give me an example of a way that Louisiana is doing something wrong right now. Now that you would say we need to course correct on, based on the Bible.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: As far as justice goes, Ms. Pot, that is something that we're, we're studying right now, the death penalty.
The death penalty is not something that is, that should be strung out in years. It's something that needs to take place efficiently, effectively. And there are crimes listed that the death penalty must be done for, including rape, including, you know, child molestation. We see a lot of these crimes need to be answered with rape. And that, that is justice, that is mercy in those areas. Because if we allow those individuals to continue to live in our society, there is, there's not going to be any change. And we see now, as time progresses, those two crimes are now rampant. You hear it in education, you're hearing it in law enforcement, you're hearing it in homes. And it's because we haven't dealt with that particular crime the way the Bible has instructed us to do it.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and I would also argue. So this is, this is kind of close to home to me. I would also argue that the death penalty for the one who has committed the crime is actually far more merciful than the current justice system that we have in place. Place. What do we do with people who have done things, horrible things like rape or pedophilia? We lock them in a box for the rest of their lives to functionally be tortured until they're dead. Like what, what kind of justice? That's not justice, that's wickedness. Whereas in a Christian worldview, we say, no, those people should be executed. We know that they should be executed, but that's not the end for them. Right.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Like death.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Death is not the end. This is why pastors went around on death row and, and visited with people and prayed with them and offered the gospel to them. Some of the worst, most egregious murderers in the history of the world repented at the end of their days to follow the Lord because they came to realize what was actually coming when they received justice.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: Because our God is a God of justice. Yeah. Okay. We're cooking.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Justice informs of the death penalty. Absolutely. Talk to me about, talk to me about your views on abortion.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: My, my belief on abortion is as simple as this. We as a nation cannot be a moral example for any other nation. We cannot protect the smallest among us.
And the rationalization in this is we, just me and you discussing the death penalty, discussing crimes.
We have laws in this country that do penalties to murder and penalties to crimes. And when it comes to abortion, it's legalized murder, but yet nobody says it is that it's rephrased as a woman's right. Well, what if I was to go outside and murder someone who stomped on their brakes in front of me?
You know, that was an inconvenience to me. That bothered me at the wrong time. He did it when I had a headache. I mean, if we are, if we are justifying the murder of babies and labeling it as women's rights, we don't have any hope. Stuart, that's just what I believe in. And I have. My pastor is, is a staunch,
[00:07:20] Speaker A: you
[00:07:20] Speaker B: know, proponent of this, this abolitionist movement. I don't, I don't label myself as pro life. I label myself as an abolitionist. I want the murder of the unborn to end.
And that is the only way that God is going to heal our land. That is the only way that we can even begin to have conversations about the economy and how to fix roads. Because I tell people all the time, Sodom and Gomorrah probably had the nicest roads, the best looking building, and what did God do? He destroyed them. They're gone. Yeah. And, you know, to think that we have conversations.
Yeah, just think that we can have conversations about roads and the economy and we're murdering babies and God's going to heal the land. That's just, it's just not logical.
And we have elected officials who wear that pro life mantle who aren't doing anything.
That's my number one goal.
And just to even go further on this point, first day in office, my goal is not to get on Fox News, not to get on Msnbc My goal is to go meet with those Americans, Democrat, Republican, whatever, who represent, who come from some of these small towns across Louisiana, I mean, across America, who you don't see on the news. And the main question that I'm going to ask them or tell them is you do realize that if everybody took the stand that you took about abortion, that our country would be full of Christian conservative people because your family would have aborted you. So this world would have just been filled with Christian conservative people. And the logic behind it is your life matters. You may not agree with me on my stance on politics or policies, but we can at least agree that a child is worthy of having their own thought. And for you to decide that for a child, it is just wrong, you know, but what they're doing is, you know, they're killing off future generations of their own liberal thought, you know, and, you know, that's just. That's just a real common sense discussion to have. Right.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Well, I would call that the judgment of God, you know. Yes, the judgment of God is poured out, poured out upon the children of the unrighteous. The wicked eat their own.
That's a common practice of humanity throughout generations, is that the wicked people are the ones who burn their own children to black.
That's how it's always gone. And we're still seeing it happen like that today, whether it's the sacrificial system to literally murdering your own children or giving them over to Caesar through the government school system.
I got lots of opinions. Opinions, man. We can go hard here.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: So let's talk.
So you, you would advocate for the criminalization of abortion, and I can summarize this for you.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And then what do you do with the retort of what about the women? The women aren't victims. What about the women? How do you deal with that?
[00:10:22] Speaker B: That's a great question. And so my policy is the abolition of abortion, but resources for women. We have to, from the federal government standpoint, give resources back to the church steward to provide resources to women. And the conversations about this is far in reaching. As far as what is rape and how does.
What is the actual percentage of women that are in these pregnancies? Are we aborting babies because they're an inconvenience or because we've been raped and we don't want to live with that child? Well, you know, the answer to those questions is we need to first educate the woman that first. God designed you perfectly. Your body can handle birth. We will walk you through it. And adoption is an option. That is a common sense answer. Your body was designed to give life. Let us walk you through it. There is no condemnation for this. You do not have to live with, you know, such a ravaged thing that happened to you, but to take another life, and that is on your hands.
And there is no excusing of, of that behavior. And I mean, we see it today. They usually typically use the rape and the incest. And incest is a cultural thing. It is a.
It's an area that I believe the federal government needs to get into and start educating families. Because a lot of people in the context of incest, just from the statistics that I've seen, it's from relatives and it seems to be generational.
I'm cautioned to say it's not rape in the context of most of the individuals partaking in this activity don't even know that that's not even supposed to be happening. I can tell you in the context of illegal immigration in the public school system here we've had students in Louisiana who are living with an uncle, who their uncle is raping them. And what Americans would call rape, but in their culture is called sex.
And we don't even talk about the cultural dichotomies with the League of Immigration. That's just a different topic. But as far as women, we just have to get out there and say there can be a compassionate conversation to abortion, but to ignore that women's bodies are so unique and can handle so much birth, they can give birth and we can be there to provide them with the resources to get out of it, you know, to, to help them walk through that. And that's where the church comes in at.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: Well, one of the things that I've found very state of Louisiana, it's. It's very difficult to do what you refer to as a closed adoption. I don't know if you've done any legwork here.
So just for context, this is something that my wife and I have looked into in various different circumstances.
The cost is prohibited. Finding the right attorneys is prohibitive.
Finding out mechanisms to properly deal with the termination of rights is prohibitive. Like it's. It's a very difficult situation to navigate. Is this something that's on your radar, legislation wise?
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Yes. Adoption, that was the, the other. The other side of it actually sit on an adoption or a foster care board called for the one. And one of the main things I kept hearing was adoption is. Experience is expensive.
And Louisiana is a return to the original parent state, which I disagree with there is a time and a place for everything. And I think that the best course of action is if a child is in a horrific situation that brought them into the DCF or the. Or into the state. Of course, yes, let's have investigation. I believe that's another opportunity for the church to come in and counsel that parent and, you know, have visitation all the way up until. I don't think that giving the child back to the parent is always the best option. I believe partnerships and relationship building, like co parenting, essentially, visitation is the way to go. But I will also tell you this. One of the policies that me and my team are working for is to end overseas adoptions for a period of 10 to 15 years and to lower the cost of adoption nationally. There is no reason why Americans can go and adopt Asian children, Russian children, African children, when we have children right here in America who need homes. That needs to stop. You know, foster care should not just be about selecting the newest and nicest handbag, and it should be about caring for the child. And so that's one thing that me and my team are working on now is how to limit that threshold. How do we provide actual policy that is co parenting. Because the lady that I was just that I served on the board with, who created the organization, the adopt, the mother of one of the children she has adopted, she throws the woman a birthday party. The woman has visitation, comes overseas. It is a co parenting situation, but that child's not going back with the mom.
And so that's something that I believe works. It shouldn't be. We have to stop rewarding bad decisions. It's okay. Like grace comes in, you make a bad decision, but we're not giving you back your child. We're going to show you grace through this process, your child to still get to know you, but we're not going to reward you for bad behavior, because how do you change? How do you become better? That child is already statistically going to. Even if we get the child out at infancy, that child is still going to have to reconcile with the choices of their parent. And so to just throw the child back into the hands of the original parent is not good. And we see that in the criminal justice system. We see that in the mental health. It's just not a good foundation.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: Yeah, we have some families in our church that have adopted through the foster care system in the past, and they, they functionally have adapted to a system very similar to what you're describing. They, they have functional relationships with the previous family insofar as is safe. You know what I mean? Insofar is maintainable.
And. And it seems to have gone well for them. They've been able to maintain that relationship to some extent and. And try to have their child still knowing who his biological family is. And it's. It seems to be a fruitful opportunity for them. Now, there's other instances that we've been a part of where that just wasn't possible because it wasn't.
It wasn't safe for the kids.
Things just got too extreme too quick. But that's interesting. What do you think?
So whenever I survey the landscape of Louisiana, the thing that I see is deteriorating families. I look at the foundation stone of any society being the family.
And as the family deteriorates, falls apart, is unable to stand on its own, you have every other issue fall out of it, I believe.
What are your thoughts on that? And what do you think the role of the government is in addressing stability, family, if any?
[00:17:45] Speaker B: Well, so the role of government. I'll tell you this. The Abengerfield decision was unconstitutional. I'll just say it like that. The Supreme Court does not have the right to define or to overtake Louisiana law or state laws that don't overtake the Constitution. Marriage wasn't defined in the Constitution. It was defined in the context of the church.
And marriage is between one man and one woman. And to have the Supreme Court redefine a very clear definition, like the liberals are trying to do with the redefining of man and woman, which you can't do, was unconstitutional because the word marriage has a definition. So for the Constitution to say that it was a violation of civil rights. We weren't violating civil rights. They have a right to go create their own word. Rather, it's a civil union. Rather, it's a, you know, call something else. Yeah, something else. But to say marriage, you know, so what we've seen with that decision is we've seen this precipitous decline in.
In marriage, in. In just birth. It just. And I mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah. It seems as if once that decision was made, even the ones who were teetering on homosexuality, transsexualism, LGBTQ just went full gusto with it. And now we're seeing this.
Stuart. I don't even know what to call it.
It's just this perversion, taking over families and taking over communities. And I've seen it in rapid pace. I'm seeing it at restaurants. Like, even as a kid, you could count on having regular people serving you. Now it's like, everywhere you go, it's in your face, it's in your movies, it's serving you coffee. It's.
And that's not right. And so my administration is going to try to challenge the Supreme Court. I don't know what that looks like yet. They just rolled the baker in Kentucky down a couple of months ago. But we have to challenge that because the Louisiana people voted to outlaw gay marriage and outlaw gay adoption in this state. And the Supreme Court's decision overruled that, which was unconstitutional because they.
And that's the other thing. They label LGBTQ rights the same as black rights in the 1950s and 60s. And it's not the same.
You were still able to be treated the same. You could go to restaurants. You were not being denied a service.
But marriage has a definition, and the church reserved the right to deny your marriage certificate. And listen, it wasn't even about them getting married. If you go look at the cases about some lady getting money as everything is. Is money's the root of all evil. Some lady getting money when her partner wife died, and it wasn't even that she loved the woman and wanted to.
She wanted money. So it's a lot of work there. I would like to see the Supreme Court interpret the Constitution from an originalist standpoint, not create laws that trump over the will of the people. So I would like to see gay marriage and gay adoption ruled on in the states again, because guess what they decided. They said that the rights of abortion and the rights of the babies can be decided on the state, but the church can't determine what we consider marriage at the state level. That. That's not right.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: So this is interesting. This is interesting, what you're talking about right here. So if I could paraphrase, and you tell me if I'm. If I'm getting close to kind of what you're saying. So as I hear you speak, it sounds like what you're saying is that it is not the state that governs the family. It is not the state that necessarily holds authority over the family or the structure of the family. Rather, it's the Bible. Am I following you correctly here, Larry?
[00:21:41] Speaker B: The Bible determines it all.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: And this is what I tell my team. How did we get here? How did a nation like ours last249 years? It's because of Scripture. How did a Constitution manage to still have authority over our lives and still make sense? How did the Articles of Confederation still make sense? How did the Federalist Papers, which I have sent on my desk, still make sense today. It's because we had men who feared God and looked at the wisdom of his instruction and wrote the laws that have lasted so till this day. And why have we seen those same principles being eroded in our country, thrusted into chaos? It's because that belief system is now being trampled on.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: Yeah. So you would say America was a Christian nation?
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Absolutely, without a doubt.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: I have a friend of mine from England, he came over to visit with me relatively recently, and I took him to Bass Pro,
[00:22:44] Speaker B: the hunting paradise.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: His guns all over the wall and everything. And that. The particular one that we went to, they had a. They had a display out. I can't remember exactly what it was for, but they had a display out that had an open Bible and some American flag decor kind of hanging around it. And he looked at me, he was like, we would never see this in England. We would not even come close to seeing anything like this. And he looked at me and he said, without a drip of irony, he was like, it's not that you were a Christian nation. You are one right now.
You still hire. And I take that as a comforting thing because that is what I desire, you know, I desire for our nation to fully repent and return to its roots and hold the Bible as the first and primary form of influence over all things. Like we should submit to the word of God in all areas of life. I think that's where our government came from. I think that's the founding principles of our government, all those things. So to hear that from him gives me a little bit of hope that you're moving in this in a good direction. And I'm excited to hear that you hold those views. Now, let me ask you some. Let me ask you some hard questions, okay?
I know a lot of people who have gone to office in Louisiana, representing Louisiana, and they don't come out the same.
They go in one way.
They get pushed in a direction. They get swayed by other folks to make deals. There's a lot of deal making inside of Louisiana legislation especially.
What guard do you intend to have for yourself against that kind of stuff? How will you. How will you shore yourself up against those pieces? That type of influx?
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Stuart, I'll tell you, that is my deepest fear. Right. Because people say, well, Larry, you worried about the election? No. If God brings you to it, the Christian can't lose.
But once we win, it will be uncharted territory for me, not for the Bible. And so Scripture will be my guide as I get there. You have to. If you're not A praying man before, you will be a praying man. Well, if you're not a praying man before, you're not gonna make it. You're gonna fall into the same traps. Let me clear that up. So you must be a praying man walking into that territory. Because when those temptations rise, when you're faced, because it's not money is not everybody's go to. It could be sex. It could be all sorts of things that hit you at once. And you have to know your strengths and your weaknesses. And that comes from knowing God. Because Christ will help you in those instances. You'll know where to lean. You'll know when it gets away. And so to answer your question, it's the Bible. It's going to have to be. And that's why my team right now, I preach on being equally yoked.
And my team right now believes in Jesus Christ.
And, you know, we have a. We have a few Catholics on the team. So that's a dichotomy that. That's different from this old Baptist boy. But I'm preaching to him as we go. I'm preaching to them as we go.
And they're working for free.
My whole team is working for free. That is how faithful they are to this mission, to this calling, to where they are willing to work to get this candidacy and to get this campaign to victory. And that's why I knew God has already answered it. Because no campaign that I've ever worked on has ever had a team of people just working for free and committed to a candidate or a mission like my team. And so I have to give credit to God for that. Because when he calls you, because you hear a lot of politicians say, I've been called by God, when God calls you to it, you will be equipped.
And in the midst of that, there will be some stretching because he has to see where your faith is lying. And so he has to build that endurance in that perseverance and that faith as you walk. But he always supplies in his own time. Because this race, the way that I look at it right now, people are saying it's impossible. There's a Democrat stronghold, black people don't vote Republican. All this worldly stuff. And it bothers me, Stuart. And I tell. And I start preaching to people immediately. And I say, what God do you serve? Because he appoints. He sets in the time in this election.
The flipping of this seat will do more for faith in this state than I think anything else.
And I just believe that God is going to. He already is. But I believe he's going to do something new in this election and he's going to bring back hearts and minds back to him and remind us of who we are as believers.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: Yep. Amen. Well, look, let me if I can. We're running out of time here, so I would love to leave you with this. I cannot remember the origin of this quote, but it has helped me many times in my life whenever I'm facing down dragons.
There is nothing more dangerous than a man with a clean conscience.
So I would encourage you as you are moving forward into this space to be that man, you know, as you go through inevitably. We're sinners, right, Larry? Like that's. We're going to deal with sin throughout our life. And as we deal with it, the way that you fight it is you weaponize confession. The Bible says if you confess your sins, he was faithful and just will forgive you your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. That means that if you've confessed to the Lord, you are forgiven and cleansed. It's done and you can move forward and fit fight as a man with a clean conscience. Larry, I appreciate your boldness.
Like I, I'm excited to see guys like you starting to run for office in Louisiana. I want an army. I want to know Larry Davis.
[00:28:55] Speaker B: Yes, man.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: Like let's go, let's go all day long. And I would be thrilled to continue to, to help you and be alongside you, anything that you like for the remainder of campaign. So Larry, where do people go to find out more about you? Find out more about the campaign.
Where do they go?
[00:29:14] Speaker B: Yes, you can find us on Larry Davis that's on Facebook at Larry Davis. Our email is info at Larry Davis campaign.com We're on Instagram Larry Davis for Congress. We're on X Larry Davis for Congress there as well. So please reach out to us. And Stuart, if I may, I will say this and to go with your last question, this is a grassroots led campaign.
So every dollar helps us to where we don't have to depend on this. And we know that God is to show up and show out. So we need your financial support but also your prayers as we walk this walk.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: Be bold, be brave, be straight, shoot straightforward.
And I think that you'll have, you'll have good results. Larry, thank you so much for coming in and being a part of this. We'll be praying for you. I know I want to see you flip that seat and get in there, man. And so you need anything from me or from anybody over here at the Parish circuit. Don't hesitate to reach out. Okay, my friend?
[00:30:12] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Stuart, thank you so much. All right.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: Thank you, Davies.
