Phil Robertson – the no-nonsense patriarch of TV's "Duck Dynasty’" – says the nation has lost its moral compass, with Americans being lured into and destroyed by Satan's diabolical web of easy sex, booze and drugs.
And Robertson has the gravitas to make that claim: the Louisiana-born outdoorsman says he was an unapologetic party boy for years before realizing it was a dead end that was literally destroying his life.
"Back in the '60s, I was part of the rebellion, the sexual revolution and all, and I was basically was operating with no God. I was my own god," Robertson – author of the new book, "The Theft of America's Soul" – said Monday in an interview with Newsmax TV's "Newsmax Now."
That meant raising hell by consuming copious amounts of alcohol, getting high and sleeping around – even though he was married and the father of a young son. Ultimately though, it left him with feelings of guilt and shame that were hard to shake.
"When I was 28, I heard the story of Jesus, God becoming flesh, dying on the cross to forgive us our sins – and I had a lot of them – and three days later being resurrected from the dead. I was stunned. I said man, that's life and immortality tied to that. I said I didn't realize I had missed that," Robertson told Newsmax's John Bachman.
"I have two degrees from Louisiana Tech, but I never heard a kind word about Jesus or anything else biblical when I was earning those degrees … I was basically running my own show and I was not doing very well at it – I'll put it that way – with a sinful lifestyle."
Robertson, 72, believes that little by little Americans have allowed the lines of morality, decency and virtue to be erased and that many people across the country believe the controversial mantra that "God is dead."
"In the book, I am attempting to show people the source of the problem that is now plaguing us. Now we listen to the lies Satan tells us and we decide we don't need God, we don't need stable marriages, we don't need family units who are together … we don’t need to refrain from drug use and alcohol," said Robertson, a diehard Republican and conservative.
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One glaring example of this, he said, is the New York State's passage last month of a law permitting late-term abortions to be performed after the 24th week of a pregnancy when there is "an absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient's life or health."
"The law that was just passed [says] that you can now kill your children even when they come forth from the womb and we're going, yea, we can kill them at any time, during the gestation period we can kill our children,"Robertson told Bachman.
One way of turning things around is to renounce Satan and offer oneself to God, Robertson said. But that doesn't just mean attending a weekly church service, singing a few hymns and repeating a couple of prayers.
"We [must] offer our bodies, our existence, our lives as a living sacrifice … We need to be good, do what’s right, watch our mouth, be aware of God, love our neighbor – not hate him, certainly not rob him or kill him or whatever – everywhere we are,” Robertson said. "And then and only then can we be the salt of the earth … So I'm trying to get people to broaden their thinking."
Robertson added that he instilled the tenets of clean living, the lessons of the Scriptures and the worship of God in his four sons – Willie, Jase, Jules and Alan – and said they now constantly praise him for doing so.
"They're married to their original wives, my four sons," he said proudly. "And they have given me grandchildren, great grandchildren and they have all thanked me for disciplining them, rebuking them and correcting them and training them via the Scriptures."
That included a rigid "Robertson penal code,’" in which the patriarch was fast to mete out punishment when it was warranted: Run afoul of biblical living? Three licks. Dishonor your mother? Three licks. Disrespect your teacher? Three licks? Get caught drinking or cursing. The same.
"All my sons have said, 'Dad, we thank you for raising us that way. We didn’t realize how hard it is to raise children until we had some.' So they thanked me for that and it made me feel good that I had done that for them," he said
In his book, Robertson, who founded Duck Commander – a family-run company that manufactures duck-hunting merchandise and was the subject of A&E’s red-hot reality show "Duck Dynasty" from 2012 to 2017 – credits his sister, Jan, helping him get on the straight and narrow path.
Through thick and thin, he's been married to his wife, Marsha Kay Carroway, whom he fondly calls Miss Kay and who was his high-school sweetheart, since 1966.
"Unruly as I was, violent as I was, whoremonger that I was, my sister, Jan, never gave up on me," he writes. "Sure, she believed in me, but more importantly, she believed the power of God could free me. Jan knew the truth. God was not dead."
Robertson adds: "If enough folks turned and gave their lives to the Almighty, I believe we'd see a country committed to God once again. We'd find ourselves with virtuous leaders, leaders courageous enough to enact godly laws and stand against evils like abortion and the changing definitions of marriage.”
"The Theft of America’s Soul: Blowing the Lid Off of the Lies that are Destroying Our Country" is published by Thomas Nelson and hits bookstores this week.
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