Gentleman Outlaw

The Founders’ Warning — What Happens When You Kick God Out (Spoiler: It Gets Weird)

by Ryan Rush | Mar 20, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Alright, outlaws — time for some bad news and hard laughs. The Founders didn’t just talk about God because they were bored or trying to pad their word count. They knew something we forgot:

A nation without God turns into a circus.

That’s not me talking — that’s them, in their own words. And if they could see 2025 America, they’d be like, “Yep, called it.”

What the Founders Actually Said (and What They’d Say Now)

John Adams:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Translation: This system only works if people can control themselves. If they can’t, the government has to do it for them — and that’s how you get surveillance drones watching your lawn and 42-page regulations on how to grill a hot dog.

George Washington:

“Religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

Translation: If you yank those out, don’t be surprised when everything collapses like a Jenga tower at a frat party.

Benjamin Rush:

“Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind.”

Translation: If you’re ‘educated’ but think truth is whatever you feel today, congratulations — you just got scammed by the education-industrial complex.

Kicking God Out: A Quick Timeline of Disaster

✅ 1960s — Toss prayer out of school.
✅ 1970s — Discover consequences are optional.
✅ 1990s — Replace morals with “follow your heart.”
✅ 2020s — Your heart identifies as a toaster.
✅ 2025 — Government prints pamphlets teaching kids how to sue their parents for calling them the wrong Pokémon.

The Founders saw this coming because they understood one thing:
If God doesn’t set the standard, someone else will — and that someone will always be Caesar, Karen, or Karl Marx.

The Bible Saw It Coming Too

• Proverbs 29:18 — “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.”
  (Modern translation: No truth = no brakes.)
• Isaiah 5:20 — “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”
  (Modern translation: Welcome to the news cycle.)

The Founders’ Prophetic Roast

What they said:

“Virtue, morality, and religion. That’s the foundation.”

What we did:

“Let’s see what happens if TikTok and Washington write the rules.”

What they’d say if they came back today:

“Ben Franklin found TikTok, and now he thinks we fought a revolution for 15-second dances and eating laundry detergent.”

The Outlaw Faith Challenge

This isn’t about whining for the ‘good old days.’ The Founders gave us a manual to fix this mess — but only if we have the guts to use it.
✅ Bring back real truth — not “your truth.”
✅ Teach your kids who actually defines right and wrong (hint: not influencers).
✅ Be the guy who knows the Constitution, the Bible, and how to change his own oil.

Tomorrow: Faith & Freedom — Not Either/Or. It’s Both or Bust.

Render Unto Caesar — But What Doesn’t Belong to God?

by Ryan Rush | Mar 19, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Welcome back to Outlaw Faith, where today we’re opening one of the most misquoted lines in Scripture:

“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” — Matthew 22:21

This verse gets thrown around whenever someone wants Christians to sit down and shut up about politics — like Jesus was telling us to mind our business and just pay taxes. But if you actually look at the context — and ask the right question — you realize this isn’t about keeping God out of government at all. It’s about recognizing who actually owns everything in the first place.

The Setup — and the Mic Drop

The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking if Jews should pay taxes to Rome. If He said “yes,” He’d look like a sellout to Rome. If He said “no,” they could accuse Him of rebellion. Classic setup.

Jesus asked for a coin and said:

“Whose image is on this?”

“Caesar’s,” they answered.

That’s when He dropped the line:

“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Most people stop there. But the real punch is what He didn’t say.

The Real Question: What Belongs to God?

Here’s the logic Jesus was setting up:

• The coin has Caesar’s image on it — fine, give it back to him.
• But what has God’s image on it?

You do. Your kids do. Your marriage does. Your whole life bears God’s image. That means Caesar has no rightful claim over any of it. It’s all God’s — your work, your parenting, your land, your education, your body, your loyalty.

So if we render unto Caesar things that actually belong to God — like handing over our kids’ education, our moral compass, or even our understanding of truth — what are we saying?
We’re saying we don’t think those things belong to God.

That’s not just bad politics — that’s bad theology.

What We’ve Handed Over (Without Even Thinking)

Here’s a list of things Americans (including a lot of Christians) have handed to Caesar with a shrug:

✅ Our kids — letting government schools teach them what to believe about life, truth, gender, history, and even God.
✅ Our rights — acting like government grants them instead of recognizing they come from the Creator.
✅ Our money — assuming taxes are the price of being “safe,” even when they fund evil.
✅ Our morality — waiting for laws to tell us right from wrong instead of starting with Scripture.

What’s Left for God?

If Caesar gets all that, what’s left for God? Just an hour on Sunday morning and a prayer before dinner?

That’s not rendering to God — that’s tipping Him like a valet. And the Founders knew it. That’s why they tied freedom directly to self-government under God. Because if you’re not governing yourself by God’s truth, some version of Caesar will step in and do it for you.

Biblical Backup

• Psalm 24:1 — “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
• Genesis 1:27 — We are made in His image.
• Deuteronomy 6:6-7 — Parents are commanded to teach God’s ways diligently to their children (not farm it out to Caesar).
• Acts 5:29 — “We must obey God rather than men.”

So What Now?

This isn’t about saying taxes are evil or that government has zero role. It’s about remembering:
Caesar is a steward. God is the Owner.
When Caesar forgets that — or when we do — we end up handing over things God never said belonged to the state.

The Outlaw Faith Challenge

This week, ask yourself:

• What have I handed over to Caesar that actually belongs to God?
• My kids’ education?
• My definition of truth?
• My family’s values?
• My own sense of responsibility for my life?

If the answer is “yes,” it’s time to take it back.
Because God doesn’t just want your Sundays — He wants everything.

Tomorrow: The Founders’ Warning — What Happens When We Kick God Out of Public Life.

Separation of Church and State — The Most Abused Phrase in American History

by Ryan Rush | Mar 18, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Welcome back to Outlaw Faith, where today we’re kicking down the door of one of the biggest lies in modern politics: separation of church and state.

If you’ve ever mentioned God in a public setting — or worse, a government setting — someone has probably shouted this phrase at you like they just won a debate trophy. Problem is, they have no clue what it actually means. And if Thomas Jefferson could see what they’ve done with his words, he’d probably chuck a brick through their window.

Where It Actually Comes From

The phrase comes from a letter — not the Constitution, not the Declaration, not the Bill of Rights. A letter Jefferson wrote in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists. They were worried that the federal government might create a national church (like the Church of England). Jefferson assured them that the First Amendment built a “wall of separation between Church and State.”

That’s it.

It wasn’t about silencing faith in public life — it was about protecting churches from government interference. Jefferson wasn’t trying to keep God out of politics; he was making sure politicians couldn’t mess with how you worship God.

The Founders Wanted God In the Public Square — Loud and Clear

Let’s talk about Benjamin Rush — signer of the Declaration, medical genius, and the Father of American Education. You know what Dr. Rush said?

“The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion.”

He went further:

“The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life.”

The founder of America’s public school system literally wanted the Bible in the classroom — because he knew you can’t educate people for self-governance without moral truth. And he wasn’t alone.

What Separation Meant to Them (Not What It Means to your average blue-check X feed)

The whole point was to avoid a state-run church, not to strip faith from public life. The Founders would’ve laughed (or cried) if you told them the phrase would one day be used to ban nativity scenes from courthouses or the Ten Commandments from schools.

Faith Wasn’t a Side Note — It Was the Bedrock

• Washington prayed at his inauguration.
• Congress printed Bibles for schools — with tax dollars.
• The Northwest Ordinance (1787) — the law for new territories — literally said schools should teach “religion, morality, and knowledge.”
• Early Congress sessions opened with prayer and Bible reading — and still do.

The Founders weren’t hiding their faith under the table — they were building the table on top of it.

The Bible’s Take on It All

This whole debate is really about authority. Who’s the ultimate authority — God or government? The Bible’s answer is clear:

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” — Psalm 24:1

Governments don’t create rights — they’re supposed to recognize the rights God already gave. That’s why the Declaration says “endowed by their Creator.” If rights come from God, then governments have limits — they can’t mess with what God already settled. That’s the whole philosophy behind America. No God = no anchor for rights = government becomes your god.

What To Do With This

1. Next time someone throws “separation of church and state” at you, smile — then explain where it really came from.
2. Carry a Benjamin Rush quote in your wallet just for fun.
3. Don’t apologize for bringing your faith into public life — that’s literally the American way.

Tomorrow, we’ll hit the big one — What Jesus Actually Said About Politics. Spoiler: It’s way deeper than just “Render unto Caesar.”

Questions, rants, or stories about getting yelled at for praying in public? Drop them in the comments.

The Founders’ Faith — What They Actually Believed (Not What Your Textbook Told You)

by Ryan Rush | Mar 17, 2025 | The Outlaw Faith

Welcome to Outlaw Faith — and welcome to a reality check.

If you grew up in public school, there’s a 97% chance you were told the Founders were a bunch of enlightened deists who wanted religion and politics separated like bad prom dates. If you took a college class on American history, they probably doubled down and told you the Founders wanted a “neutral” public square — where faith stayed inside your house like a drunk uncle nobody talks about.

That’s garbage. And I can prove it.

Meet the Founders — in Their Own Words

John Adams (you know, second president, helped write the Declaration) — the guy flat-out said:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

That’s not some random diary entry — that’s his public warning in 1798. Translation? Freedom only works if the people govern themselves — and self-government doesn’t work without morality and faith.

George Washington — the first president, the GOAT general — left this gem in his Farewell Address:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

Indispensable — as in, you cannot have a free country without them. Skip church if you want, but don’t pretend Washington would’ve been cool with faithless freedom.

Benjamin Franklin — everybody’s favorite wisecracking genius, supposedly the least religious of the bunch. Even he said this at the Constitutional Convention:

“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men.”
He even called for daily prayer in the middle of the Constitutional Convention because things were falling apart.

Thomas Jefferson — the dude people love to call a secularist — told the Virginia Assembly:

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis — a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?”
That’s Jefferson, folks. Not exactly the “keep your Bible off my Constitution” guy they told you about.

What They Believed vs. What You Were Taught

What This Means in 2025

The Founders knew something we forgot: If people won’t govern themselves morally under God, government will step in and do it for them — badly.
That’s exactly where we are now:

• Cameras on every corner because people can’t be trusted to behave.
• Schools teaching kids they’re animals because we erased the Creator.
• Courts rewriting basic truths about biology because truth is now “personal.”

The Founders wouldn’t be shocked — they warned us this would happen if we abandoned faith.

Let’s Talk Jefferson — The Most Misquoted Man in America

They love to quote Jefferson’s “wall of separation” letter, but they cut out the part where he literally thanks God for the rights we have. The man who supposedly wanted God out of government put religious freedom into Virginia’s law himself. He didn’t want a state church — but he absolutely wanted faith shaping public life.

Jefferson knew — no God, no freedom. Period.

The Bible Backs It Up Too

The Founders didn’t invent this idea — they got it from Scripture:

• Psalm 33:12 — “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
• Proverbs 14:34 — “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.”
• 2 Corinthians 3:17 — “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

The pattern is clear:
God > Morality > Self-Governance > Freedom.

You can’t skip step one and expect the rest to work.

So What Do We Do With This?

First — stop apologizing for mixing faith and politics. The Founders did it first.
Second — reclaim the truth. Next time someone says, “Separation of church and state!” hit them with actual history — and maybe a laminated quote card for fun.
Third — live it. Faith isn’t just a private comfort — it’s the public foundation that makes freedom possible.

Tomorrow: Separation of Church and State — What It Actually Means (Spoiler: Not What You Think)

Questions? Comments? Angry emails from your old civics teacher? Drop them below.