Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1112 | Joel Osteen’s ‘Mary’ Movie Gets the Gospel Wrong

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Today, we're discussing the sad news of a shooting at a Christian school in California, where two kindergartners were injured but are in stable condition now, praise God. And in a strange turn, it seems as though the shooter targeted the school as revenge for the violence in Gaza? Of course, the mainstream media largely ignored this story, to absolutely nobody's surprise. We also cover the tragic death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the bizarre social media trend of sexualizing the alleged shooter. Finally, we talk about the awful new "Mary" film on Netflix and its fundamental misunderstandings of the gospel. But perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised by that; after all, prosperity gospel preacher Joel Osteen is the film's executive producer. Watch the latest episode of Relatable At Home, "The Theology of Hospitality" featuring Abby Kuykendall exclusively on BlazeTV: https://get.blazetv.com/allie/ Buy Allie's new book, "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion": https://a.co/d/4COtBxy --- Timecodes: (03:59) Two kindergartners shot in CA (24:01) United Healthcare CEO killed  (38:28) Taylor Lorenz celebrates UHC CEO’s death (48:33) “Mary” film on Netflix ---   Today's Sponsors: Seven Weeks - Experience the best coffee while supporting the pro-life movement with Seven Weeks Coffee; use code ALLIE at https://www.sevenweekscoffee.com to save up to 25% and help save lives. Good Ranchers — Go to GoodRanchers.com and use code ALLIE at checkout to claim your free give and get $25 off your order. Hillsdale College — Hillsdale College is offering more than 40 free online courses they offer on History, Economics, Politics, Philosophy, and more, including their free course on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, all available for FREE. Go to https://hillsdale.edu/relatable to enroll. Pre-Born — Will you help rescue babies' lives? Donate by calling #250 & say keyword 'BABY' or go to Preborn.com/ALLIE. Jase Medical — Go to Jase.com and enter code “ALLIE” at checkout for a discount on your order. --- Links: Roman's GiveSendGo https://www.givesendgo.com/Romanandarmani?utm_source=sharelink&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=Romanandarmani Elias's GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-eliass-family-during-this-crisis?attribution_id=sl:f7[…]man_sharesheet_dash&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link ---   Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

The new Mary movie on Netflix produced by Joel Osteen totally misses the point of the gospel and Christmas. Also, people are weirdly sexualizing the assassin of the United Healthcare CEO. And we are covering a little known story. Two kindergartners at a Christian school in California have been shot by a man who says that he was paying retribution. for America's crimes in Gaza. We've got all of that on today's episode of Relatable. It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com.

Use Code Allie at checkout. That's good ranchers.com, code alley. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. We are back in the studio looking and sounding as normal. Thanks for bearing with us yesterday. All right, we've got a lot to get to today.

Just a reminder that we've got our hospitality special out, Relatable at home, with my friend Abby Kirkendahl. She walks me through making a very simple bread recipe, took a lot less time than sourdough. This was beer bread. But more than that, we just talked about what the Bible has to say, what Jesus' ministry and life has to say about setting tables for people, hospitality, inviting people into our home. This is really a beautiful message for anyone in any stage of life. She talks about how she started her hospitality journey, when she didn't know how to cook, when she was a single woman inviting college students over, and then when she became a wife, and now she is a mom of a little baby boy, and hospitality has

looked different in every season of her life. But it was really good for me to hear that we're really never too busy to extend the call of hospitality and generosity to the people in our lives. So a really fun and unique, special, a different side of relatable that we don't usually get into on the day-to-day show. So go to blazedtv.com slash alley. I think you can use code Alley 10 for a 10% off your subscription. I think so. So use that promo code.

Also, a Blaze TV subscription would be a really good gift to either the Related bro or the related gal in your life because you get access to all kinds of Blaze TV content, not just my stuff. And we're really hoping in the new year to give you guys more consistent subscriber-exclusive content, the Related. team. We've got lots of ideas lined up. It's a lot to do in addition to the show that we have. And so that's why it's been a little bit sparse, but we're hoping to be able to give you more of that in the new year. So go to Alee or blazedTV.com slash alley. One more announcement. I just thought of it. We do have the date for

Share the Arrow's 2025. Y'all. I am so pumped. That's all I can say right now. I promise all will be revealed in due time when ticket sales will go up, when and where it will be, and all of that good stuff. But I just want you to keep your eyes peeled. Share the Arrow's 2025. This year was amazing. This was honestly one of the highlights of my year. I still think about just how super naturally special that day was. It was such a spirit-filled, a spirit-filled day. We were all able to feel it while we were there and I've talked to so many of you who are ready for round two and so many of you who couldn't make it this year. You were having a baby. You were traveling, whatever. And you are set and determined to make it in 2025. So don't you worry, tickets will be on sale soon. And I will

give you more information as I can. But be on the lookout. All right. I want to talk about the story that I really have not seen circulating in the media all that much. And that is this tragic story of a California Christian school shooting where two kindergartners were shot. Now, thankfully, they are still alive. They are in critical condition, but they are alive. Praise God for that. And this just hasn't been the viral story that it really should be. Unfortunately, this is not the first school shooting we've had to talk about far from it. And so some people may see this just as a common occurrence, but it seems to me that the virality of a story when it comes to the mainstream media coverage of it, when it comes to politicians' attention to it really depends upon the

perpetrator and the victim. This is a dynamic we talked about in yesterday's show when we talked about Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely. That is the unfortunate reality that many people interpret the events of the day and the weight of the significance of the events on the day depending upon the intersectionality scale. So if it is a convenient perpetrator and say it's a white, straight male and it's some kind of minority that gets killed or is assaulted in some way that tends to blow up as a new story. But if it's a narrative that doesn't really fit into progressive ideology. It typically depends upon conservative outlets to sound the alarm about it. And this seems to me one of those cases, especially when we look at Governor Gavin Newsom's

response to it. So some more details about this. You probably haven't heard about it unless you saw me post about it on Instagram. On Wednesday, December 4, two kindergarten age boys were shot shortly after 1 p.m. at Feather River School, a private 7th Day Adventist Christian School in Palermo, California by a man claiming to be taking revenge for American involvement with a supposed Gaza, quote unquote, genocide and attacks on Yemen, according to a Thursday, is it Butte County, County Sheriff's Office briefing? I apologize if I got that name wrong. So more information about these victims. Roman Mendes, he is six years old, Elias Wolford, five years old. We're in critical but stable condition. Again, praise God, following the attack by a gunman, a 56-year-old who was known to have a

lengthy criminal record in mental health history. I'm not going to say his name, and we've gone back and forth on this. Sometimes it's so hard not to say their name because it's very confusing to explain these stories, but so often these gunmen want notoriety. They want to become famous and would-be killers want that fame. And so when they see someone's name out there, it motivates them to do a copycat attack. And I'm not saying that my show is going to make or break that for someone, but whatever I can do to not contribute to that, I want to make sure that we adopt that kind of policy. So I'm going to do my best when we're talking about the stories today, not to give air to their fame. So the shooter arrived at the school, which was fewer than three dozen students enrolled.

So a very small Christian school. He took an Uber under the alias Mark Hanson. He had reportedly scheduled an appointment with the school's administrators under another alias, Michael Sanders, is an identity that he had previously used in a November license forgery and theft of a U-Haul truck. Well, that is not very bright, is it? If you're going to use a fake name, you can't come up with more than one. Under the guise of Sanders, the shooter pretended to be interested in enrolling his fictitious grandson at the school. After a tour of the facilities, the shooter headed toward the school's parking lot before suddenly changing direction and turning toward the playground.

He pulled out a concealed ghost gun pistol and shot the two boys. A California Highway Patrol Trooper was the first to arrive on scene. He found the two wounded students and discovered the shooter dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot. So he committed suicide after he shot and tried to kill these two boys. Thank the Lord for law enforcement that they were able to help save these boys' lives. The families of these two kindergartners say that they are showing signs of improvement. Roman sister, Vanessa Diaz, posted on social media that her little brother is awake and breathing independently. The nurses told his sister the first words that came out of his mouth when the tubes were removed where where is Elias. Oh, that is just so sweet.

What a sweet boy. Elias came out of surgery Friday afternoon. His grandmother said that the doctors were able to close all of his wounds. Again, just praise God. pray for these two little boys pray also for the other children that saw this happen oh my goodness that is something that their eyes should never have witnessed they could be traumatized forever just pray for them pray for their families pray for the teachers that god would give them all wisdom give them all strength give them all courage and comfort um in this time and that somehow he would be glorified in all of this

We'll talk a little bit more about the shooter's motivations because he did leave behind a manifesto that I think are pertinent to this conversation and would be worth highlighting, I think, is the governor of California. But interestingly, for some strange reason, Gavin Newsom decided to leave out the apparent motivations of this shooter. But let me pause and tell you about our first sponsor for the day. It's seven weeks coffee. I absolutely love seven weeks coffee. if you've got a coffee lover in your life, this would be a great Christmas gift for them. You can go ahead not just give them the box of coffee, although that's a great gift, but you could subscribe for them. So they join seven weeks coffee's heartbeat club, and so they get the box of

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We hear that there's a mental health crisis in this country. I think that's absolutely true. There's actually probably more of a mental health prescription crisis in this country. But certainly the godly. and the moral relativism that is so pervasive in our society today does lend itself to a mental instability and to mental sickness, certainly as people are purposeless. They don't know who they are. They don't know who they are. They don't know why they're here. These are questions that people for all of time have been seeking to answer. And we basically tell people

through the popular narrative of today, that there is no real answer to those questions, that you do you, you serve the God of self, you pursue your own happiness, that ironically doesn't make people happier, that makes people a lot lonelier and feel a lot more insignificant, actually. And so when we have detached people from the God that made them in the name of liberation, inclusion, whatever, I do think that we send people. down a path of being very lost. And it manifests itself in a variety of ways. But really our solution, our so-called solution to the problem of our low mental health in the United States has actually made the problem worse through over-prescribing medications that actually lead to psychosis and further

depression and anxiety. Anyway, I don't know if that's the problem here. I'm just saying that that's a conversation that's always had when really we need to be looking deeper, more spiritual, because evil people do exist. It's not always just a mental health diagnosis. So why would someone choose to target little children? Sure, it could be a mental health problem. It also could just be that he's spiritually sick and he's an evil person and did an evil thing. So he targeted this Feather River School. He attended a school of Seventh-day Adventists. in another town as a child. He possibly had a relative who attended Feather River as a young child.

So we don't know exactly what the connection is there. There's clearly some history. Maybe some of you who are in the community. Maybe you know better. We couldn't find any verified facts of that correlation. And so if you've got information, feel free to reach out to me. Police found that the shooter had left a statement where he tried to justify the shooting as revenge for the ongoing Israeli military operation against Tamas.

Gaza in operations to counter. Ansar ala, this is a Houthi terrorist leader in Yemen, maritime terrorism and missile attacks. Now, what's the connection there? I don't know. Maybe he thinks, oh, all of these children are dying in Gaza and the U.S. needs to feel the same pain that the Palestinians are feeling. Maybe that's his mentality. I'm not sure.

He said, countermeasures involving child execution have now been imposed at the 7th Day Adventist School in California, United States by the International Alliance. So that's what his manifesto said. I, lieutenant of the alliance, carried out countermeasures in necessitated response to America's involvement with genocide and oppression of Palestinians along with attacks towards Yemen. So he believes that he is a foot soldier of the Arab oppressed in these areas and that he is paying retribution to the United States for what they have done. Was he radicalized by someone either here in the United States or elsewhere that convinced him that he would be doing some kind of act of vigilanteism or heroism here?

Or just not sure. He goes on about America's involvement in the Middle East and how there needs to be payback for that. He also had made an appointment to visit another Seventh-day Adventist school in Red bluff on Thursday. Investigators say that this was his alternative target. A law enforcement was working to identify if there was indeed an organization by the name of International Alliance or if it was just a fabrication of the shooters. He does have a criminal history, not a violent criminal history, but he has been in trouble with the law in the past.

He was actually sentenced to eight years in state prison in 2003. At the time, law enforcement also found a bulletproof vest and notes on his computer that indicated. that he was planning some sort of mass incident involving explosives. So I highly doubt that his true motivation had anything to do with Gaza or America's involvement over there. I mean, maybe this is an extended grievance that he's had all the way since 2003, but he just seems like he's a violent person. And again, gosh, this could have been so much worse.

Praise God that these little lives were preserved. And I just pray that Jesus would draw these boys to himself and that somehow their testimony of God preserving their lives would lead other people to Christ. What Satan means for evil, God intends for good, and some glory and good can come out of this because we do serve a God who works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And I just pray that these families truly do love the Lord and that God just brings them near. The shooter was a convicted felon and therefore could not legally possess a firearm. And so any commentary, which we'll get into in a second, about gun control,

it really is, it's moot because this was not a gun that he purchased legally. So this was not because of the laws. He did what criminals do. He broke the law. And so California also has really strict gun laws, really strict gun laws. Some of the strictest in the country. It is really hard to carry a gun legally in the state of California. And so there's really no response from the gun control lobby that is appropriate here, which is actually why you're not hearing a big reaction from them. If this had happened in Texas or Arkansas or Tennessee or any of the states that are, um, constitutionally aligned with the Second Amendment, then this would have been a much bigger story. But the fact that this guy was at least ostensibly on the side of progressives when it comes to Gaza,

the fact that he attacked Christian students at a Christian school, the fact that this was in a place that has very strict gun laws, it just doesn't really align with any grander narrative that progressives like to push, which is why, of course, California Governor Gavin Newsome failed to mention the names of the victims or the shooter's pro-Palestine motives in his statement. Instead, focusing vaguely on gun violence, he didn't push this because, again, this is his own state. He knows what the laws are. He said heartbreaking. Once again, a community is shattered by senseless gun violence. Our hearts are with the children, their families, and everyone impacted by this horrific tragedy to the survivors of gun violence, just like general out there.

You are never alone. California stands with you. A conservative outlet red state points out the contrast of this statement with Newsom's response when a Muslim boy in Illinois, so a totally different state, was stabbed to death in another religiously targeted killing. So he said this, my heart broke when Wadiah al-Faumi, a six-year-old child, was stabbed to death in Chicago. He and his mother viciously attacked because they were Palestinian and Muslim. I grieved not just for Wadilla and his family, but for all who felt less safe after

that devastating tragedy, who wondered whether they or their children might also be targeted because of their Muslim faith or Palestinian heritage. This sort of horror doesn't just inflict violence on one life for one family. It tears at the safety and belonging of the of whole communities. And so obviously this was his lengthy and heartfelt response because of who the victims were. And this was a entire letter that he wrote to the Muslim community in California. This is probably largely because this was before the election. He thought that he could make a point about this and try to paint conservative. as anti-Muslim or bad in some way.

But I didn't see a letter from Gavin Newsom to the Christian community or the Seventh-day Adventist community in California. So when a Muslim is killed in another state that apparently is a crime or an intimidation tactic against Muslims as a whole. And it was apparently, according to Gavin Newsom, because of their Muslim identity. But when Christian kids are attacked, it has not been. to do with the motivation of the shooter has nothing to do with the religion, the beliefs, the identity of the victims. It's not an intimidation tactic or an attack on the entire

Christian community. This is what I mean by viewing every instance through the lens of intersectionality because Christians, especially white Christians and one of these boys was white, the other one looks Hispanic. They are seen as the least oppressed. They are seeing as the least oppressed. They are seen as the most conservative. And therefore, because of that, their lives to these progressive politicians just don't matter as much because they're not as useful to push a particular narrative, that the white Christian oppressor must be taken down through progressive ideology. It's really evil. It's actually anti-justice, but this is who Gavin Newsome. And many like him have unfortunately proven to be.

So I just wanted to highlight this story because it's not being talked about a time. I want you to pray for them, pray for these communities, lift up these boys and their families in prayer. I don't see in my notes. I will post about it if I find it a fundraiser for this school or for these families. If I find that, I will post about it on Instagram. I know if it were one of us, we would want people to rally around us and to pray as much as possible. So please continue to do so. All right, we've got another sad story to talk about, especially when it comes to the reaction to it in just a second. But let me pause and tell you about our second sponsor for the day. And that is Good Ranchers.

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When you use promo code Alley, get $25 off your order. Good Ranchers.com code Alley. Okay, so this was a shocking story to me. United Healthcare CEO was assassinated on the streets of Midtown Manhattan last week, and the reaction to it has been mind-blowing. I just had no idea that there were this many people, who would want to justify or even celebrate the murder of a businessman of a husband and father because they didn't like the policies of a health care company.

But that is exactly what's going on. So last week, United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was gunned down early Wednesday morning outside a Midtown Manhattan Hotel where he was scheduled to attend his company's annual investor conference. In response, many took to social media to rationalize, if not celebrate the death of the health care insurance executive. He leaves behind a wife and two sons. And a disturbing response, many are calling the accused killer. He's a 26-year-old.

And it's going to be really difficult not to say his name in this segment because so much of the commentary has to do with his very Italian-sounding name. They're calling him a hero and attractive. I'm going to really try not to say his name because I don't want to lionize him more than he already has been. So I'll get into all of the response like why people are celebrating this, what people are saying about this killer in a second. But first, I want to back up and tell you about how they found this person and what happened. So I saw the video last week and I was just, I was very chilled by it. Unfortunately, if you're on X, you're going to see a lot of disturbing stuff. I am on X less and less. I will sometimes like, you know, put my take out there, but I really don't

doomscroll because if you click on something, just once they will assume that you want to see it over and over again. For example, I saw someone I follow commenting on a video of a Chinese person viciously, violently torturing a cat, and then asking, why do, does it seem like, Chinese people are like torture animals more than other groups too. Is it cultural? And so it was like a whole conversation. But because I had clicked on that like one tweet, not even the tweet that was being commented on, not even the video, but just the commentary.

It, I don't know, X just assumed, okay, now you want to see all of these people commenting on this topic. And I did not. I did not. I'm very disturbed by it. And so I know that's how algorithms work. I'm not even saying it's Twitter's fault, but it just makes it a really unpleasant experience. said, I don't want to fill my mind with all of that. So when I did click on this video,

because of course, the headline is very shocking that someone was assassinated and like a nice part of Manhattan and it didn't look just like, you know, a gangbanger. I clicked on it and I was so, it was just so, it was so chilling. It was so disturbing to see this guy slowly lose his life and this assassin just walk off calmly. And everyone immediately erupted with speculation that this was a paid assassin. This was obviously intentional. This wasn't just like a random act of violence. He went into Central Park right after he killed this guy.

And I had no idea, but I saw people say on X that inside Central Park, there's actually no cameras. Isn't that so strange? There are cameras at the entrance. but not actually within Central Park. And so I guess this assassin knew that, and that's why he escaped into Central Park, but it does seem like he has been caught now.

After a five-day national manhunt that included divers scouring a Central Park lake for a missing murder weapon, police arrested the suspect following a tip from a McDonald's employee. The 26-year-old was found carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, a U.S. passport, a firearm, and suppressed. consistent with the weapon used in the murder, according to the New York City Police Commissioner. Police arrested him on gun charges and brought him in for questioning.

It was also reported that he had been, like before the assassination, he had been caught on a security camera pulling down his mask, I think, in a Starbucks because he was talking to the employee and they started flirting. And she asked him to take down. his mask and smile. And so again, it's all like a little hard to believe. Are you some kind of evil genius or are you a dummy? It could be both. It could be both. But apparently that is part of the story here, how they ended up catching this person because, of course, that was caught on a security camera. In an interview with NBC, Thompson's widow, Paulette, told the network that

there had been some threats against her husband potentially related to a lack of coverage, a lack of health insurance coverage. According to the AP, the words deny, defend, and depose were found emblazoned on the ammunition. This is according to law enforcement sources. There is a 2010 book critiquing the insurance industry that is titled Delay, Deny, Defend, which is a common description of its tactics, which is basically just describing how they treat those who are trying to claim coverage, who are trying to get covered for the medical events that they have. Police found a two-page document on this strong person of interest, so the suspect, that railed against the health care industry and suggested that violence is the answer.

Two quotes from his letter, these parasites had it coming. I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done. So late Monday night, the suspect was charged with murder in New York and is facing four other charges, including one count of forging a document in criminally possessing a firearm. He was denied bail is currently being held alone in a single cell at the maximum custody level, according to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Press Secretary. So who is this person? He is apparently, the suspect, is an Ivy League graduate software engineer from a prominent Baltimore family

who appears to have favorably reviewed the manifest. of the Unabomber on a book website. He was the valedictorian of his high school. This is an all-boys school in Baltimore. He said on his Goodreads profile that he approved of parts of the Unabomers Manifesto. He said he was a violent individual rightfully imprisoned who maimed innocent people, while these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy Luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary. He also had his own medical issues. He suffered from troubling back pain. He underwent surgery to treat it, according to a friend and online postings. Friends that went to high school with him said that the back surgery changed everything. He went absolutely crazy. There were also books. on his goodreads profile about back injuries and about trying to not only fix your back injury, but also how to get out of like the scam of fixing back injuries. Apparently, there's a whole industry that surrounds back injuries that are not really

helping people with those injuries, but hurting them. Or at least that's what he believed. And some of the books that he was reading were purporting. He doesn't actually seem to be a left-wing guy. I think a lot of people assumed that, because as we'll get into it in a second, it is mostly, not exclusively, but mostly progressives who are celebrating his death, who are saying, you know, health insurance companies, not only are they evil, but they're also the reason why we need socialized medicine. So it was kind of assumed that he was a progressive activist. But if you look at his social media history, he's heterodox. Like he certainly retweeted and followed. some right wing people or at least some like right of center people. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a guy that voted for Donald Trump, but I could also see him being like a huge Bernie Sanders supporter. So he doesn't fall solidly into one political, political camp. And he does seem to retweet a lot about mental health and the mental health industry. So it's not really clear, like,

what his background and what his ideology was or what exactly motivated him, except that we know that he thought that health insurance companies were scamming people and leaving people to die and that he needed to take retribution into his own hands and to murder this CEO. So we've got more about this in just a second. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Hillsdale. I love Hillsdale. We know that most universities these days are just communist indoctrination factories, and you don't want that for your child. If you want your child to go to college, you need to check out Hillsdale. It promotes truly Christian conservative values. They also have 40 free online courses available to you and things like history, economics, politics, philosophy, and more.

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months. A friend said nobody has heard from you in months and apparently your family is looking for you. I don't know if you are okay. One post on X read from October following his arrest. the suspect's social media presence became popular and a hashtag saying hashtag free the suspect's name went viral online. He also had a Tinder profile. He's being called a hot assassin on social media. This is what you're going to see from people left, right, and center, that he was some haughty and that he, in some cases, some people are saying that he's a hero, but some people are just sexualizing him because I think that he was attractive, which I know that a lot of people are joking and they're not actually approving of his actions. However, I just think that that's really stupid and really evil.

I mean, this was the person who killed him, or the person who was killed, rather, Brian Thompson, like, it's a real human being with a family. And if you're his wife, hopefully his wife is not on social media, or you're his sons, I think his teenage son scrolling on social media, and you are watching people talk about how hot your dad's murderer is. Like, is that not just going to kill you? Like, these are actual people. This guy is not just a meme. Like, a father of two was gunned down in the streets of Manhattan.

I think it is gross how people are even jokingly saying that this guy was hot. I really do. And also, you are just inspiring the next person to do something like this because this might be the most fame and the most significance that someone has. And if someone is feeling like they want to make something of themselves and become a hero, they are seeing right now how to do that. That's to murder someone that a lot of people don't like. And I think that's very dangerous. The ironic thing here, this guy who says that, you know, he had to, shoot down the United Healthcare CEO because, you know, I'm paraphrasing, but he's just a rich guy who installed policies that denied people coverage and people died because they were too poor to pay for their health care needs, which is sad. Like, I actually agree. Health insurance is largely a scam. And I'm not saying that these executives play no part in that. And that really does have a detrimental effect on people's lives. I absolutely agree there. But this guy who claims that

this CEO was so privileged and just in a position to hurt people because of that privilege, he actually had an even more privileged background himself. If you look at his upbringing, who his family was, the education that he has, the money that he apparently came from. And so there's just, there's a lot going on here. There's a lot going on here that clearly this guy was either probably unwell or again, he just did something evil because he had evil motivations. The complaints about health insurance may be valid, but the fact that some people are saying that those valid complaints justify this murder, it's really bad. Taylor Lorenz posted a blog post last Thursday entitled why we want insurance executives dead. You'll remember that Taylor

Lorenz, she used to write for the Washington Post. So she was kind of seen as this mainstream person who just analyzed the effect and the impact of social media. And she went after libs of TikTok. I think she doxxed libs of TikTok. She definitely showed up at her family members' homes. Very strange. COVID has made her absolutely lose her mind. She just posted, I think it was last week. She said that she is having a lunch for her friends and that she paid thousands and thousands of dollars for all of these different air filters and UV lights and all of this stuff to kill COVID germs because she believes that she's living with long COVID, that she has some kind of special need and that everyone else, in her words, is just raw dogging the air.

and that we are the reason that she and her friends, I guess, are dying of COVID almost five years later. So that is like the mental state of Taylor Lorenz, this person who is celebrating, celebrating this murder. Now, she does say in this blog post, even though she said that, you know, yes, we want them dead, but it doesn't mean we should murder them. but if you've watched a loved one suffer and die from insurance denial, it's normal to wish the people responsible would suffer the same fate. I don't know, actually. I don't know if that is normal. She posted a bunch of stuff on Blue Sky. Blue Sky is, I guess, like the liberal X. And every post that I see from Blue Sky is so violent and degenerate. Like, this is what happens when progressives are in their echo chamber completely unmitigated. It's like hell. I'm not kidding. It is like what I

imagine hell to be some of the things said on blue sky. And it bills itself as like the kinder app versus X. But it's not. It's awful. She posted on blue sky a picture of the CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield. Kim A. Kleck posted a picture of her and her name and apparently is trying to say, you're next. And so, like, she wants these CEOs to die. I saw a post on Blue Sky. If we can find it, we'll put it up where she said, like, this is what's spamming my group text this morning. And it was like this little meme of a smiling star. And in comic stands, the text said, CEO down. And so she is openly celebrating this. On Pierce Morgan's show, Taylor Lauren said that she felt joy when she saw this CEO assassinated, sought to.

I do believe in the sanctity of life. And I think that's why I felt along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately, you know, because it feels like. Seriously? I mean, joy and a man's execution? Maybe not joy, but certainly not, no, certainly not empathy. Because again, we're watching the footage. How can this make you joyful? This guy's a husband, he's a father.

And he's being young down in the middle of Manhattan. Why is that making joyful? of Americans that be murdered. So are the tens of thousands of Americans, innocent Americans, who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push policies of denying care to the most vulnerable people. That is so dark. So dark and depraved. Columbia professor Anthony Zinkas said this. Today we mourn the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down, dot, dot, dot. Wait, I'm sorry. Today we mourn the death. Today we mourn the

deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs, like Brian Thompson, can become multi-millionaires. Okay, can we care about both? Is that possible? Like, can we say, yes, health insurance, as I already said, is in many ways a scam? It is so convoluted, so complicated. People are denied coverage for their care way too often. And, And yes, if you have seen your child suffering, or if you are told there's like this new policy I saw announced last week that apparently some insurance companies won't cover anesthesia if your surgery goes too long. So past a certain point, they'll just stop covering the anesthesia when, of course,

that is not the patient's fault. And so I understand, like there's a lot of frustration. But this is an individual. This is a person who is not direct. responsible for those people's deaths. And even if he were, assassinating him is not the way to go. And so if you feel joy watching this instead of just like deep sadness and disturbance, then it is your moral compass that is off. You can have compassion for people who don't have the health insurance that they need, although there are many, many, many safety nets in the

United States for poor people when it comes to health care coverage. I'm certainly not saying that it's perfect, but there are options. But you can have compassion for those people. You can help those people. Rather than celebrating Taylor Lorenz, like, let's think about this. Like, you said that you spent thousands and thousands of dollars on a lunch with your friends, with all different kinds of filters to make sure that the little COVID germs have gone away. Instead of spending thousands of dollars doing that completely unnecessarily, why don't you spend thousands of dollars helping someone who needs care? Helping someone whose health insurance won't cover their chemotherapy or won't cover anything else

they need. Why did you spend your money doing that so that you could have a little frivolous lunch? You think that you are contributing to people's health and well-being by celebrating the murder of a husband and father? if you actually want to contribute to people's health and well-being, why don't you put your money where your mouth is? But you're a performance activist. Of course, it's much easier to sit on your couch and to celebrate the murder of people and think that you're actually helping when you're not. Whom have you actually helped?

It is time for people like that to take a look inward. And I pray to God that they would. And I pray for justice here. I pray for comfort and for strength for this person's family. Someone pointed out, and I think that this is a good point, that we know so much more about this killer. And just like a few days after this assassination, then we know about the guy who tried to assassinate Donald Trump. And that's been six months at this point. That's strange.

I mean, again, it's just interesting and strange to analyze sometimes the information that we get, how we get it. how fast we get it and why we get it. And so this is a, it's a scary and a sad situation and just a sad commentary on where we are spiritually. And some of these people, by the way, who are defending this assassination are like the same kind of people that would defend what happened on October 7th. I mean, also the same people who say things like silence is violence if you don't speak up for like their pet issue. And words are also violence if you say something that offends them, like calling them by the quote unquote wrong pronoun.

But actual violence is a justification as long as it achieves their ends. And that is a dark and twisted worldview. And Christians have every opportunity to speak into that, the truth and love about the image of God and the dignity of all. people and what truth and justice actually looks like. All right, we've got a little bit more. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor for the day. And that is pre-born. This Christmas, we celebrate the gift of life, a savior that came in the form of an embryo and then an infant. And we get to reflect God's love for children, God's care and creating all of us in our mother's womb with the

utmost intention and purpose by doing everything we can. to care for pregnant moms in need. Preborn is a network of clinics that provides resources to pregnant moms in need. There is a young woman named Deanna. She already had several children. She was in a difficult marriage. She found out that she was pregnant. She tried to order the abortion pill, but by God's design, it never showed up. And then at 18 weeks, she visited a preborn clinic for a sonogram. Her baby ended up, this is just an amazing testimony. Her baby, while she was getting the sonogram looked like it was waving at her. And if you've ever had a sonogram at that point in pregnancy, like you know that that can happen, that the baby's already kind of

developing a personality is moving all around and really sometimes looks like they're interacting with you. So that happened. That was providential. God saved her baby that day and he saved this mother too. And so when you are giving a gift to preborn, you are donating toward these free sonograms that can save lives. If you donate just $28, that covers the cost of a free sonogram, but maybe you can donate $5,000. Maybe you can donate $500. Maybe you can only donate five. Every bit counts and saves lives. Go to preborn.com slash alley to give this holiday season. That's preborn.com slash alley. Okay, so I want to just briefly, we don't have very much time, talk about this merry film. And I'm going to bring in Brie to talk about it a little bit because

I have not had the chance to watch this yet, and I'm afraid that I'm not going to have time before we're done filming for the year, but I know you guys are interested in it. So I've read all about it, and I know the problematic aspects of it, so I'll give you my thoughts, but I have not watched it and full myself. Bree has, and Bree's a hater. So she's going to bring her hating commentary to relatable today. But let me give you a little bit of a background, and then we'll get Bree's commentary. So this movie called Mary, this is according to plugged in. Great resource again for you parents. It's an upcoming coming of age film that tells the story of Mary's conception of Jesus and King Herod's pursuit of them both. It came out on December 6th on Netflix.

It's directed by Catholic director, DJ Caruso, who said in an interview that as a practicing Catholic, I believe Mary is the most extraordinary woman ever to walk the earth. Her story, especially for the younger generation, has often been. underappreciated. I wanted to create a film that presents Mary as someone we can all relate to. My hope is that audiences feel my reverence for Mary and come to see her not only as a holy figure, but as a friend, a mother and one of the greatest heroines ever to grace the screen. And the end, it's her love that will save the world. Well, well, I've already got a problem. I've already got an issue with that because, of course, it wasn't Mary's love that saved the world.

She did have great love. I think that Mary was full of grace. That's what we read of her in scripture. And I think it's beautiful how she submitted to the Lord's will, knowing that it could cost her her reputation, thinking that, oh, my goodness, what if this cost me my marriage? Of course, she was comforted by the angel that that was all going to work out. But she trusted God and she believed him. And she carried Jesus, which is an extremely significant role. but was it her love that saved the world? No, it was God's love that saved the world. That's, of course,

what we read in John 316. Timothy Michael Hayes wrote the screenplay after consulting with priests, bishops, Baptist, pastors, rabbis, Mormons, and Muslims, along with biblical scholars and theologians. So, okay, so that's a little bit about this story. But also, Pastor Joel Osteen is one of the films, executive producer. So my gosh, we've got a lot going on here. Okay. So Joel Osteen, he is the prosperity gospel from the megachurch in Houston. He preaches a health and wealth gospel, basically that if you have enough faith that God owes you promotions, he owes you health and wealth, which is not the gospel at all. Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble, take heart, I will overcome the world. We are promised persecution. We are promised tribulation. Health and wealth are not bad things.

They're beautiful things. They are beautiful things. They are, blessings from God, but we are not owed those things through the gospel. He gives, he takes away, he gave to Job, he took away from Job, and it wasn't because of Job's lack of faith or because of his faithfulness that he had those blessings, but it was according to God's goodwill. And actually, through discipline and through taking away, we can be sanctified. We can be drawn closer to God, and it is our holiness, not our health or our happiness that God cares about most. He cares about those things, but he will do whatever it takes to draw us close to him and to glorify himself. And sometimes that means that we go without health or wealth. And so these people,

including, you know, not these people, I should just say Joel Osteen, but other prosperity gospel preachers like him rarely post or preach about sin or repentance or sanctification or any of the richness of Christian theology that really matters for someone's understanding of who God is and what the gospel is. So he is a part of this executive, one of the executive producers. He is a part of the marketing campaign. One of his posts on excess shunned and forced into hiding following a miraculous conception, Mary and Joseph, go on the run to save the life of their newborn baby Jesus at all cost. This is Mary like you've never seen her before. Noah Cohen was cast as Mary. She is an Israeli actress and people were upset about this, which is so silly. Why would people

be upset about this? Again, I've got issues with like the content of the movie and the arguments that it might be making, but I don't have a problem with this actress being Israeli. I think that that fits who Mary was. Someone said, and this was a very popular post on X, she quote tweeted or quote posted the announcement of who the actress is in this film, said played by an Israeli actress, LMAO, go F yourself. Someone else said, if you make a movie about Mary where everyone is portrayed as non-Mittal Eastern, you deserve criticism. If you make a movie about Mary and she's played by an Israeli, you deserve to be shot in the head. Do you know about Jesus?

Do you know? Do you know? You know, he was Jewish, right? Like, you know, he wasn't a Palestinian, Muslim, communist, gender fluid hippie, right? You know that? So, these people, not well. There's a ton of other post saying basically the same thing. Mary was a refugee woman oppressed by the state and had to flee her country to save her in her child's life.

Casting an Israeli woman, it's frankly insulting. Okay, here's the best one. Here's the best one. Because I'm so glad that they consulted Muslims for this film. Okay, here's a Muslim commentator saying, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was Muslim. There is more written about her in the Quran than in the Bible. She is described as the purest woman in the world.

Sure she is. Sure she is. Um, she was a Muslim. Okay, she was Jewish. Joseph was Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. Now Jesus also, uh, is the son of God. And he is the founder of Christianity. He is the center of Christianity. Uh, we believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life that no one comes to the father except through him, whether you or Jew or Gentile. Um, That is who Jesus is. Yes, as a person, he was Jewish, but he is also the founder, the initiator, the sustainer of the Christian faith. And the Christian church is the bride of Christ. And he is coming back again and he will avenge his people. And those who have found salvation through him, who are a part of his flock, will get to enjoy his presence in victory forever and ever. That is who Jesus is. He wasn't some what, like, I don't know what y'all think. Like, I don't know. Islamic

jihadist, Palestinian, pro-Gaza, anti-Israel activist. That's not who Jesus was. And you don't believe him. Like, you don't believe that he's got. So why do you even care what nationality he was? You despise him, actually. You despise everything that he stood for. You despise the faith that he initiated. And so really, a lot of you just want to use him as your political tool, as your mascot. Now, let's talk about, like, what is actually in this film, Bree? Because I don't see anything in my notes at all. And so I guess that you're going to provide us with your problems. Yeah, I'll provide you.

I'm a hater, like you said. No, I really wanted to like it. I really did. Me too. I wanted to be, you know, I don't know. I wanted to like it. but I couldn't. And it's because my main issue with it was it wasn't just that they took what they knew from the Bible

and then added some things that maybe could have happened, like the chosen says that they do. They just changed things for no reason at all. Like, for example, Mary is treated like this special, Gabriel comes to Mary's parents and tells them that she's going to come and that she's going to be the answer to. So it's like one generation before Gabriel is like doing all of the, he's really up to, a lot in this movie. He orchestrates Mary and Joseph meeting. Which is not biblical. We don't have any indication that Gabriel went to her parents. No. And she throughout the whole film is treated like this special, like she's the answer to something. They sent her to a temple and there's this female

priestess who, as soon as she sees her, she's like, you're, you know, you're the answer. Like without anyone saying anything. And so people just kind of recognize in her that she's this special person, which I feel like undermines the story that she was just an average person that God chose for this. So that was my first issue. They're also just like dumb changes. Like Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem not because there's a census. He says in the film, we have to escape these people coming for you. And I have family in Bethlehem.

But then when they get to Bethlehem, they're trying to find a room at the inn and no one has a room. And I'm like, you just said your family's here. I don't understand why you need a room now. Yeah. And then I think one of the biggest issues is also that it's explained that everyone in Bethlehem is there, not for the census, but because they heard that the Messiah was going to be born there. So everyone there knows. Everyone there knows. And yet when they see a pregnant woman, they're like, nah. Exactly. You can't come in. I'm waiting for the savior. It's not this one. Exactly. Yes. And then when she gives birth, then there's like crowds of people standing outside. I guess all the people that were there for. you know, to see the Messiah born and she's in a stable. So things like that. There's some really silly lines like Elizabeth says, you know, she looks at her and she says, trust the strength inside you.

And so there's lots of silly stuff like that. And I just thought they just changed things they didn't need to and they made Mary this like, feminist female empowerment goddess. And there's cultural things. I feel like they probably got wrong. I'm no expert. But even with her a marriage to Joseph. you know, that would have been expected back then, that it was just they put those two together,

but she has this whole thing where she's asking, God, why? Why do I have to do this? And it just seemed kind of, you know, to be missing some cultural context. Yes. Yeah. No, I think that you make a really good point that portraying her is having this kind of special aura about her that everyone detects undermines what God did through her. Now, I don't think, and there's, Catholics in the room that could correct me if I'm wrong, that that is Catholic teaching that she was detectably special throughout her life. But certainly Catholic doctrine emphasizes more of Mary than we read in scripture. Mary is not mentioned very often. Yes, she is full of grace. Yes, we believe that she is special. But I think if we read what scripture says about Mary,

we get a really good and accurate rendering of who she actually was. We don't read that she was queen of heaven. We don't read that she was, we don't believe that she was perpetually a virgin forever. We also don't believe that she didn't have a natural death. But that is what Catholic doctrine believes. They believe different things about Mary than we do. They also believe that Mary can hear our prayers, can carry our prayers to Jesus. Again, I don't read that in scripture.

And I personally do believe that that does take away from what God did and who Jesus. is and what his power is. And the amazing story of Christmas is that God came down. He became flesh and he reconciled us to a holy God and he becomes our one mediator. That he is our great high priest who was as we are yet was without sin. And because of that, he is the one who hears our prayers and he is our great intercessor. And so here's what we read about Mary in Luke 1. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin patrol to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings, oh, favored one, the Lord is with

you. But she was greatly troubled of the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. So it is God's favor on her that makes her special. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will will, be, he will be great, he will be great, and will be called the son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the

Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the son of God. your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived this son. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her. So that is what is special and amazing about Mary. It's that she submitted to God's will and we can't know how much she understood of what was to come. She knew and believed what the angel told her. But even not knowing everything, she still accepted the Lord's will.

She submitted to God's providence. And in that, she carried Jesus, the Savior of the world. And that is amazing. And then, of course, we read in the next chapter, actually, in the next segment of chapter one. Mary's song of praise, how her soul magnifies God. So we do see her faith and how she longs for God's glory, how she delights in God's plan. That is an example to us all. But Mary is not the point. She is never the point. She is in a long line of submissive servants that were used as mere vessels to accomplish God's plan. And she was a servant of God. She was a servant of God. She was

merely a person and we will, those of us who are Christians, get to celebrate with her one day, but she would want more than anything else for us to be worshiping Christ and Christ alone. And from what I hear from Bree and from what I read about this movie, it misses the mark, makes Mary the point. Mary is not the point. John the Baptist is not the point. Paul is not the point. Jesus is the point.

and any depiction of the nativity, any depiction of Jesus' arrival on earth that does not make the glory and the power and the providence of God the main point of the narrative, it misses the mark. Now, Joel Osteen is presumably a Protestant, and I don't think that he would agree with an elevated depiction of Mary. So I don't know what the reason is behind this, except I will. say, I guess it's just an entrepreneurial endeavor. But if you're going to put your name behind something like that, I think that you would want it to be a theologically solid. So I cannot recommend the movie of Mary. I don't even know if all of my Catholic friends would necessarily recommend the movie of Mary because it even has depictions of her that I don't even think they would agree with. But let's make sure Jesus is the point. No one else. Okay, last sponsor

for the day before we head out of here, rather. And that's Jace Medical. Jace Medical is providing for you an emergency medical supply should you need antibiotics and you can't get to them through the traditional means. So get you a Jace case. You can get life-saving antibiotics. Also add on things like Ivermectin, Epipen, Tamiflu, get a Jace daily case. That's a year-long emergency supply of the medications that you and your family rely on. Go to Jase.com. Use code Alice at checkout for a discount on your order. That's jace.com code alley. Okay, longer episode today.

We had a lot to get to. This is our last week of filming for the year. And so we've got a lot to fit in that we haven't been able to talk about so far. And then we'll have some episodes that will come out over the three weeks. We'll be out for three weeks for the week of Christmas, the week of New Year's, and then after that. Or no, it's the week before Christmas, right? The week of Christmas and then the week of New Year's. and then we'll be back at the beginning of January that week after New Year's.

But we will have a smattering of new episodes that will come out over the break. I hope you guys are enjoying this Christmas season already. So thankful for you guys and we will be back here tomorrow.