‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Phil Robertson’s 15 Fixes For America

Yesterday, we received the sad news that Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family, had passed away at the age of 79 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in recent years.

His family announced his death in a tribute posted to social media yesterday:

“We celebrate today that our father, husband, and grandfather, Phil Robertson, is now with the Lord. He reminded us often of the words of Paul, “you do not grieve like those who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

Thank you for the love and prays of so many whose lives have been impacted by his life saved by grace, by his bold faith, and by his desire to tell everyone who would listen the Good News of Jesus.

We are grateful for his life on earth and will continue the legacy of love for God and love for others until we see him again.”

Without question, Phil was an outspoken man. He was never afraid to share his true opinions on any subject, no matter what the blow back might be, and became known for his vocal love of Jesus and his want for everybody to become a follower of the Lord. His religious, athletic (he started over 4-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw at Louisiana Tech), business (Duck Commander, which he founded in 1972, grew into a multi-million dollar outdoors gear conglomerate), and family experience gave his the foundation for forming his world view, which he espoused in his 2014 book unPHILtered: The Way I See It, which I just so happen to have a copy of.

I feel as though now is fitting to look through this book again and reread his “fixes” for the current state of the United States of America, which has continued to fracture, at least according to many, since its publishing.

Here’s his 15 fixes from the book that exemplified the world view he continually preached:

Part One – Personal Lifestyles

Fix 1: Replace Political Correctness with Biblical Correctness

“I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings, and I don’t dislike people simply because their opinions are different from mine. I don’t hate anyone. In truth, I love everybody on this green earth. I don’t believe in stereotypes, and I do believe is respecting everyone, regardless of whether they agree with my beliefs or not…. Jesus actually commanded us to love. John 13:34-35 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I simply believe that what is written in the Scripture is the ultimate truth and that it’s the blueprint for my life… Somewhere along the way, political correctness trumped biblical correctness in America, and in my opinion it’s the cause of many of our country’s problems today… 

You want political correctness? Elect spiritual politicians who are biblically correct, and you will have it!”

Fix 2: Count Your Sins, Not Your Calories

“If you follow God’s advice on living, don’t you think you’ll be more disciplined in your eating and exercise? Focusing on your spiritual well-being is what will give you eternal health care… After you’ve read the Scripture, what do you think you should be majoring in while you’re down here on earth – Physical training or spiritual training? You might want to focus on your spiritual training because you’ll be much better off… 

Being spiritually flabby is far worse than being a little plump physically.”

Fix 3: Focus on Your Eternal Inheritance, Not Your Portfolio

“Money is fleeting. It is here today and gone tomorrow. True financial success and happiness come not from accumulating a big balance in your checking account but from following God’s plan for your life. He will provide for all of your needs. If you put your faith in Jesus and know that you will ultimately inherit what God has, you’ll be content with what you have while you’re on earth. If the riches come, so be it. 

Be generous with what you have and help care for your neighbors, the sick, and the poor. But you need to remember this: at the end of the day, if you end up inheriting what the Creator of the cosmos has, you will have everything there is, because God owns it all.”

Fix 4: Mind Your Own Business

“We really need to decide what’s important in our lives. Life doesn’t have to be so complicated. We need to figure out the people we want to spend our time with and what we want to accomplish. We need to examine our commitments and declutter our lives. If we have stress coming our of our pores, we need to commit to doing less each day. Hey, it’s okay to even do nothing every once in a while… We need to slow down, eat slowly, and enjoy the moments we have with our families and friends – the ones who are physically with us! 

When you come home from work, turn off your cell phone, computer, and TV. Spend some quality time with your spouse and kids. Talk about your day and spend time with them outdoors. Learn to decompress and to not worry about the things that really don’t matter.”

Fix 5: Raise Your Children in a Godly Environment

“Children have to see a structure in place. In our house, there was a patriarch and a matriarch, a mom and a dad. God has to be at the top. You have to do what the Almighty said to do: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6)… At some point in the last thirty or forty years, Americans stopped teaching, correcting, and disciplining (or training) their children, and now we’re seeing the results. They aren’t good. Many of our children are out of control and have no respect for authority. It’s almost like pulling teeth to get some American parents to correct their children… 

If we’re going to save our children, we have to put God back into the equation.”

Part Two – Hot Topics

Fix 6: Elect Godly Men

“I believe at some point during a campaign, the candidate needs to say “I’m running because I love you and I’m really concerned about our nation.” … 

There’s no use in arguing about the current state of our government. Political debates in this country have become nothing but televised shouting matches. The political talking heads on TV do nothing more than try to shout over each other. We need to rise above the vitriol and learn to love the people who disagree with us. We need to love our neighbor who believes in abortion, we need to love the atheist who wants to keep creationism our of schools, and we need to love the recent college graduate who wants to take down the nativity scene at the courthouse. It does us no good to argue with them… All we can do is love the nonbelievers and try to turn them.”

Fix 7: Judge a man by His Heart, Not the Color of His Skin

“The Bible says that every one of us – whether our skin is black, white, red, yellow, blue, or green – came from the same dude… 

We need to get back to loving God and loving each other. Jesus commands us to love one another as He loves us (John 13:34). Our focus doesn’t need to be on diversity but on embracing unity. We’re all Americans, folks. In the beginning, each of us came from Adam. We’re all together as the human race, we’re all sinners, and we will all die. However, we can be saved together and get off this earth alive through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Fix 8: Become Self-Reliant

“The entitlement problem we face in America is cultural. It’s really that simple. We have positioned our government as an enabler, and by doing so we’ve robbed many people of their own sense of personal responsibility. Many Americans are no longer teaching their children the virtues of hard work, self-reliance, and determination… 

I realize not everyone is financially able to put their neighbors to work when they need help, but we could do far more for them than what we’re currently doing. We ought to look after each other and love one another the best we can. We need to bring our neighbors to Jesus and help them out. If Americans would begin doing that, instead of relying on the government for handouts, it would be a much better place.”

Fix 9: Make the U.S. Government Smaller

“In many ways, the U.S. government is like a lotto winner who won big – really, really big. The federal government doesn’t actually earn its money – it only takes it from you and me – and it has so many methods at its disposal to blow it through fiscal irresponsibility. And like many of the no-broke lottery winners, government officials always seem to say it’s someone else’s fault when things go wrong.”

Fix 10: Never Give Up Your Firearms

“From the time the U.S. republic was founded, Americans have had a right to protect themselves and their loved ones, and being armed is the best defense against a criminal. Statistics show that people who are carrying guns legally, the ones who go to the local police station or sheriff’s office and go through a background check for concealed-carry permits, are far less likely to commit crimes than the general public. It would seem to me that if someone had been armed at the schools or movie theater where the shootings took place, the people who were killed might have had a better chance of survival. The men doing the killing are deranged. America needs to do a better job of punishing violent criminals and getting mental health help to those who need it. The mental health system in this country is an absolute embarrassment.”

Part Three – Faith

Fix 11: Look at Creation, You’ll Figure It Out

“How does a tiny seed turn into a watermelon or an acorn into an oak tree? There’s only one conclusion – there is tremendous power at work to make it happen. Humans can’t do that. We can’t touch it. This amazing transformation is living proof of the resurrection. Something dies (totally ceases to be what is was) when it goes into the ground, and we simply watch what happens next. Every day we witness the resurrection of living things all around us. The fact that somethin so small as acorns and watermelon seeds ends up growing into something so big defies all logic.

Everything we see around us in nature points to God’s majesty and breathtaking creative ability. Only God can create something out of nothing.”

Fix 12: Choose to Live Righteously

“I’m a human being living on planet Earth and so are all of my neighbors in America. And some of those people are shredding our country to bits and pieces. But our struggles are against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Make no mistake: evil is here and it’s organized. Satan and his mighty throng of evil demons that are with him gained control of the hearts and souls of men and women worldwide, and therein planet Earth is a big battlefield. 

What do we do? We go forth and we’re armed. Not with guns, but with the full armor of God. It’s invisible, but it’s real, and it provides rock-solid protection against the Evil One’s onslaught. When the day of evil comes, we’ll be able to stand our ground with armor God gives us.”

Fix 13: Repent and Ask God for Forgiveness

“It is the truth that sets us free from the sins we have committed over the years. I’m saying these things because, along with other believers, I represent Jesus here on earth – that’s what a follower of Chris is called to. Consider me an ambassador for Jesus. He loves sinners and so do I. In this case, God is making His appeal through me, and He also makes His appeal through many others like me. We are the “repentant” ones. We’ve been there, done that, and seen the error of our ways. When we heard the message we believed it, repented, and were born again in Christ Jesus. I am a “new creation” in Christ; He did everything for me, and He has done everything for you.”

Fix 14: Prepare for the Recall

“We have to remember that no one knows when Jesus is coming back. “But they day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2Peter 3:10). Hey, so much for making a prediction about when Earth will end. He is going to come back like a thief, and no one knows when a thief is going to rob you, right? God is an eternal being and time doesn’t pass for Him, not one second. Time only goes by for us.”

Fix 15: Embrace Jesus Christ

“It doesn’t matter how bad you think your sins are – you can be forgiven for all of them. I’m telling you the truth. It is time for all of America to repent and turn back to the Lord, and we had better do it now before it’s too late for our beloved nation. Can you do that? Love God and love your neighbor. It’s as simple as that. I’m doing it – no perfectly, but I’m doing it – and I’m not the only one. There are a lot more people doing it too, but not nearly enough. America, we need to get back to the gospel of Jesus as quickly as we can. If we do, we’ll live happily, happily, happily ever after.”

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