ENCORE: Testimony—Part 1

Politicology

Jan 01, 2026•51 min•Season 2Ep. 540

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Episode description

You can pre-order Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation now at https://www.jonwardwrites.org/

Jon Ward (Journalist and author of Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation) joins Ron Steslow to discuss growing up in the Evangelical Church, “Christian Trumpism,” and his new memoir.

(03:28) Why Jon wrote the book

(08:10) Being a “border-stalker”

(14:36) The Jesus Movement

(21:07) Understanding the different motivations (abortion and race) for Evangelicals joining the Republican party

(23:00) The insular church community and how it impacted his worldview

(30:00) How Christian belief in the end times impacts action

(32:50) The connection between being a spiritual warrior and a political warrior

(36:15) Spiritual ecstasy as a sign of devotion to God (and the burnout it caused)

(41:41) How anti-intellectualism reinforced the social bubble

Pre-order Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation—https://www.jonwardwrites.org/