The Eric Metaxas Show - #101 - Peter Giersch

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric talks with Peter Giersch about his new book Talking Of Michelangelo, a deeply personal story of doubt, beauty, mortality, and the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. They also discuss T.S. Eliot, Michelangelo, spiritual crisis, and why this book goes to places most modern Christians would rather avoid. Subscribe for clips from The Eric Metaxas Show to hear politics and culture from a Christian perspective.⭐ PRE-ORDER TODAY:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World📕: https://a.co/d/0ir3NlapTODAY'S SPONSORS:⭐️ BlockTrust IRA: https://www.metaxascrypto.com/✡️ Help Save Lives in Israel TODAY: https://www.savinglifeisrael.org/⚖️ Legal Help Center - Get Free Legal Help Today: https://www.legalhelpcenter.com/🛏️ MyPillow — Save BIG with code ERIC: https://www.mypillow.com/☀️ Honest, fast, and free Medicare plan guidance: https://askchapter.com/metaxas/💧 Sentry H2O: https://sentryh2o.com/

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Visit edc.ca to learn more. Hey there, folks. Welcome back. As you know, I like books. I write books. I even on occasion have read a book or two. But right now, I do something else with books. I publish books. Yes, I have an imprint. It is called Odysseus Books. And we are publishing, I guess the category is books that I like. If I find something and I go, you know what, that should be a book. Can we publish that? And I think the first book that we're publishing under Odysseus is by somebody who's been a friend of mine for 20 years until yesterday when he hurt my feelings. Just kidding. His name is Peter Gersh. And he is the author of the first book that we're publishing.

It's called Talking of Michelangelo, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell in the Burgundy region. Peter Gersh, friend, author, welcome. Thank you, Eric. It's great to be here. I mean, I have to tell the story because people don't know the story. And it's, you know, the book is new. And I've always known you. I've known you for so many years as a Christian, as a brother in Christ, as a friend, as a business guy, not as a writer.

and about four years ago, as often happens, people think, well, Eric's a writer, maybe he can help me with this writing project. And so you reached out to me and you said you had this book

that you'd written and you sent me the manuscript. And it came at a time where I was just unable to breathe. I don't know, I was probably writing one of my own books at the time. And it took forever for me finally to read it. But because you're a friend,

I said, of course, I'm going to read it. And I was flabbergasted. I said, why do they send me this trash? Just kidding. I was flabbergasted because I said, hey, this is really good. Now, I know you're smart, but there are a lot of smart people that can't write a book that is really good. And you, Peter, wrote a book so extraordinary.

thought, I would love to see this book published. And then lo and behold, we decided to do an imprint called Odysseus Books. And so now I get to say, I am part of publishing your brand new book, talking of Michelangelo, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell in the Brigundy region. I want to say, before I give you a moment to respond, that I, folks, I did a long interview on the subject of this book with Peter Gersh at Socrates in the city. So if you were, want to know more about the book because we'll talk about it a little bit but if you really want the in-depth go to socrates in the city dot com or go to the socrates and the city youtube page uh because there is more to say about this book than we're going to get a chance to talk about

right now but it is a memoir um and peter do you do your do the authors thing where you tell the audience basically what is this this book and why is it i'm happy to do that and thank you eric but before i do I got it going back to your story about how you got the book. When I sent it to you, I said, if you remember, I said with apologies to Petrarch, because Petrarch was the first sort of the Petrarch and Sonic, right? We think of that. He was like the first famous writer in the world, the sort of early Renaissance guy. And everybody was sending him his poems, their poems.

And he was like, oh, my God. See, that I didn't know. Right? That, I didn't realize that, first of all, not too many people on this program bring up Petrarch. But you're telling me that Petrarch was so famous as a writer in his time that people were sending him their poems. I didn't know that, except for the fact that you brought it up to. And he complains about it. Yeah, he complains about it.

And I think that's in the Penguin Renaissance reader. It's one of the essays in there. But anyway, so thank you, Eric. And you certainly did have a lot to do with publishing this book. And the thing about this book is that, what is it? you know, it's a memoir, it's a travelogue, and it's also kind of a, it's also kind of a, you know, reflection on the four last things, right? Death, judgment, heaven, and hell. And the way it came about was that, you know, I had this experience, this dark night of the

soul. I mean, we throw that phrase around a lot, but, you know, I definitely a crisis of faith. And I had this crisis of faith, and I struggled through it. And I considered myself kind of a survivor, right? You know, like who writes, who who, who writes memoirs anyway, you know, either, you're either a politician or, you know, wants to get their word out, there, there's a story out there, or you're a famous person who was in the room where it happened, or you're, you know, you survive or somebody who fell off of Mount Everest and survived or whatever. And I felt like I survived organized religion, you know, like a lot of people say, well, I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious. And what that kind of means is, I like God, but I don't

like rules, you know? And I was like, like everybody else, like what, you're going to talk to me about mortal sin and death and hell and all that stuff, these monks that I was on this retreat. And I struggled through it and I survived. So that's kind of how I see the book. Well, the book is many things. I mean, first of all, it's a memoir. And it's a memoir of your week-long retreat at a French medieval monastery. And so this is whatever, 15 or so, years ago that you went on this retreat for your 40th birthday and you, um, you had an experience there. And again, I want to say this, you write beautifully and it's a very readable book, which to me is the number one thing, you know, because, uh, if a book's not readable, that's kind of the point

with books that you read them. So it's very readable. There's funny stuff, whatever. But it's also Peter a devotional. Um, reading about your story and, you know, you described it as a crisis of faith at the monastery and what happened. It drew me closer to Jesus. Now, that's a big thing, folks, because, you know, I've talked about the book by Eugenia Constantineau, the crucifixion of the king of glory. There are certain books that have the ability to draw you closer to God. That's a

big thing. It's a rare thing. And your story, Peter, you're very vulnerable and honest in it. And, you know, you, you're in the Catholic tradition, but this isn't a book just for Catholics. It's a very beautiful story of your honesty, of your own struggle. And it's kind of funny because I think, you know, there's struggles and there are struggles. You know, you weren't, you know, like the prodigal son, you know, doing crack with the prostitutes. And then you, you came to yourself. We're not talking about that. But it's all the same thing. A struggle is a struggle. And you really were in a tough spot. And the fact that you're able to articulate that,

but tell the audience why the title talking of Michelangelo. Well, you know, it's interesting because, you know, Michelangelo can mean a lot of things. For me, it means the last judgment. And it goes back to what's kind of the hinge of this book is, you can tell I was an English major. T.S. Eliot's poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, is kind of the hinge of this book.

use that very importantly in the book to talk about finding the hermeneutic key to understanding things. And when you find the right hermeneutic key to understand proofrock, what you realize is that proofrock isn't about romance, it's about judgment. It's about hell. It's about death and judgment in heaven and hell. And so in that poem, of course, is the beautiful line in the room, the women come and go talking of Michelangelo. And I felt like when we, what I think Elliot's trying to conjure up there is the last judgment, Michael Angel's last judgment, and I certainly do,

it's on the cover of the book, and I refer to the last judgment because, you know, it's a, it's a book that's pondering these things. When the weather cools down, Golden Nugget Online Casino turns up the heat. This winter, make any moment golden and play thousands of games

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And again, folks, I want you to go to Socrates and the city.com or go to the YouTube Socrates and the city channel. Because we had a much longer conversation because there's pieces that are just amazing. I don't want you to miss. but it's a headline for me, Peter, that you are among other things, referencing one of the most famous poems in English language, the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and you basically give the correct interpretation of it and make it clear, and to me this is stunning,

that most of the critics got it wrong. And I always laugh because it happens to me. I kind of think, who am I to see? all the experts have missed. That's what happened to you. I mean, you realize that T.S. Eliot is talking about God. He's talking about judgment, heaven, hell. That's what he's talking about in the poem.

And when he references Michelangelo, he's talking about Michelangelo's painting of the last judgment. And all the critics miss this. And that's at the heart of it. So it's kind of a big newsy thing to me that you are correcting the record here. It's exciting, you know, and when we talk about the right interpretation, you know, let's define that, right? Because some people might think, well, the right interpretation is the interpretation that the author thinks, right? Or the interpretation that's, you know, that's given in college, my college course.

But C.S. Lewis talks about this when he says, you know, really the right interpretation is that which reconciles the most elements of the story. And CS Lewis talks about in terms of life, right? What reconciles the most elements of our life is Christianity for, at least for one and three people, if the polls are correct, you know, 30-some percent of the world is Christian. So the right interpretation, Elliot, I don't even know what Elliot said or if Elliot ever said what he thinks it is, but it doesn't matter because. But wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. We're going to go to a break here. And it does matter. And I'll tell you why.

because the quote in the poem that you reference Lazarus, you say that all the literary critics, they got the wrong Lazarus, it's not the friend of Jesus, it's the story of Lazarus and the bosom of Abraham. You correct that, and it's obvious that Lewis, sorry, that T.S. Eliot would not have put that in the poem if he didn't get this, but we'll be right back.

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new book published by me, published by Odysseus, the new imprint. And the title is talking of Michelangelo, death, judgment, heaven and hell in the Burgundy region. So Peter, you know, we're just talking about how you see in the poem. I mean, this is part of the story because your book is about your time in this monastery. It's a beautiful memoir. But in the middle of it is this haunting poem, the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot.

And you pick out the true interpretation of it. You get it right. And that to me, it's happened to me a couple of times where I find some. me and nobody all saw and I think who am I? How did nobody see this, right? Yeah. How could nobody see this but me? What happened? And all you can say is it was the Lord's gift to you. Yeah. Lord's gift to me because we can't take credit.

For sure, it's the Holy Spirit. But, you know, so in the love song of jail for Proofrock, most commentators will say it's Proofrock doesn't have the guts to professes love to women and to, you know, to be a romantic guy. That's so silly. There's so little in there about that. And there's so much in there. He says, I am no prophet. I've seen my head brought in on a platter, like John the Baptist. It's all about the prophetic voice. And in particular, when he says, I am Lazarus, come back from the dead, I shall tell you all, I shall tell you all. And now here's where everybody gets it wrong. Everybody says, oh, this is proofrock referring to Lazarus and

Mary and Martha's brother and the friend of Jesus. But it's the wrong proof. It's the wrong Lazarus, right? It's not that Lazarus. It's the Lazarus, who was the beggar at the rich man's gate, who sat there every day and then got nothing, and he went to heaven, the rich man went to hell, and the rich man says to Abraham, says, Father Abraham, send Lazarus back to tell my friend, to tell my brothers, and to warn them to take some care for the poor.

And Abraham says, even if a man came back from the dead, they wouldn't change their mind. And then here you have proofrock saying, I am Lazarus, come back from the dead to tell you all, I shall tell you all. So how people got to miss that and over and over and over again pick the wrong Lazarus. They must all be copying each other, right? I mean, how could. Well, no, but of course they are, but there's more to it. And this is why I have seen all the stuff that nobody else sees is because most intellectuals are biblically illiterate.

Oh, right. Most intellectuals are lucky to have heard of one Lazarus, much less both Lazarus. is in the New Testament. So they just go, oh, yeah, I'm not sure that I get it, but Lazarus, like, I'm back from the dead. It must be that Lazarus. And you and I realize, no, no, no, there's another one who also wants to, who speaks about wanting to come back from the dead to tell his brothers about hell.

They all miss it. And you get it. And so you interpret it correctly. And that's just a very tiny part of your book. But it's also important. Let me tell you why that that prophet, the, um, prooffrog being a problem. is a really important part of the book because later I have this experience in which I struggle with mortal sin and it leads me to a reflection on sexuality, death, mortal sin. I mean, all these

very current difficult topics, which as you said, they're very vulnerable in that book. And I'm trying to, again, you want to be careful about being too subtle, so I'll just tell people this right out. I'm comparing myself to Prufrock. So here's Prufrock who can't get his nerve up to tell all his high society friends the truth about, you know, death, judgment, heaven, and hell. And then here's me at the end of the book trying to do that. So that poem plays a really important role if you notice the parallel between me trying to be so vulnerable and trying to just lay it out there and tell the truth about my own sins and my own struggles. And proofrock failing to do so. Well, it's interesting because we do live in a culture.

where at least among elite culture, it's very secular. And if you bring up Jesus, if you bring up the Bible, angels, demons, people are made uncomfortable, and so they want to make you too uncomfortable to bring it up.

And that's really the story of many of our lives. It's the story of T.S. Eliot's J. Alfred Proofrock. And I, you know, it's just one of these famous poems. And it's actually, it's partially famous, because they're wonderful, beautiful lines in it. I refer to it in my book, my own memoir, Fish Out of Water.

I refer to it. It's just a beautiful poem, unlike the wasteland, which is difficult to read. That's really, or God forbid, the four quartets, which is impossible to read. But T.S. Eliot and J. Alfred Pufrock, it's kind of like Possum's book of practical cats. He's capable of writing something, you know, it's not Gilbert and Sullivan, but it is really fun and funny and interesting. And so that's the backstory. And the line, I think you got it wrong. The line is, in the room the women come and go, one of them looks like Barry Manilow.

I'm pretty sure that's the actual line. We'll be right back talking to Peter Gersh. Hey there, folks, before we go, most of you know that wicked actors continue to attack Israel. If you want to help Israel at this time, we ask you to help our friends at Magin David Adom. Their website is savinglifeisrael.org, savinglifeisrael.org. They are Israel's national emergency response team. Medics are on the ground. They rush into the danger.

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to Peter Gersh. I don't know how to spell it. Peter Gersh has written a book. I, Eric Mataxis, have published the book. I'm so excited. I have a publishing imprint called Odysseus Books. Talking of Michelangelo, death, judgment, heaven, and hell in the Burgundy region is the first of those that we're publishing. My book, Revolution, will be under the Odysseus imprint. Peter, this is a literary memoir, but it's not so literary that it's difficult for people.

And this is one of the things I try to do it and you do it. You invite people in. If people maybe don't understand what you're talking about, you explain it to them. You bring them along. So it's not a memoir just for people who are literary people. And I try to do that with Socrates in the city. you try to help people understand something that maybe they missed or whatever.

So there's a lot in the book. You've got, you know, you're quoting C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, but you're also quoting the Eagles and Frazier. Yeah. I mean, because God is in those things too, right? I mean, God is everywhere. When I heard after, I mean, I'd heard Jimmy Hendricks, the wind cries Mary a million times, right? and great song. But then after I became much more deeply religious and I listened to that song,

I was like, wait, this is the enunciation. This is Luke too. An angel was sent from God to a town of Nazareth to a man betrothed to a woman and the woman's name was Mary. It's the wind looking for this Mary, you know, and it's just so beautiful in the song, Wind Christ's Mary by Jimmy Hendrix. Somewhere a queen is weeping. That's Mary, you know, waiting for the Savior. Somewhere, a king has no wife. And that's God looking for somebody to be the mother of Jesus, right? And there's no way Jimmy Hendricks knew this,

right, or thought of it. But it's interesting that Jimmy Hendricks wrote it for his girlfriend named Susan, but why did he use the name Mary? Right? So there's just so much stuff like this in our culture where you can see the Holy Spirit

inspiring artists and people beyond what they even realize. I mean, recently Paul Simon wrote an album called seven psalms and he said i woke up and i had in my mind the idea that i had to write a psalm and i didn't know what a psalm was even though paul simon's jewish he's very very atheist and he said i didn't know what a psalm was so i had to look it up and read about it and and and i wrote this album because i felt compelled to to write it and i remember the interviewer saying well are you more religious now he said no

not at all so like the holy spirit is inspiring everybody all the time you know there's a there's a there's an unending shower of God's divine activity just pouring down upon the world at every moment and you can't escape it. And you can't escape it even if you try to by being secular or atheist or whatever. And so you still become God's instrument in these beautiful ways.

And I wanted to show that. So that's why I pull in the Eagles and Frazier and all this because there's so many ways in which they're also reflecting God's message to the world. Well, there's, yeah, there's so much in the book. book. We just got a minute and a half left, but the title is talking of Michelangelo, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell in the Burgundy region. One of the things that I loved about the book is the fact that you know in a French, that you go to a French monastery and that the

retreat, this Ignatian retreat, is conducted in French. And I don't know if it's C.S. Louis, well, C.S. Lewis talks about if you put something in a different, in a difficult context, it makes you listen more. And I have noticed that. It. It's a lot. And I have noticed that. if I am reading the scripture, even if it's just because I'm not fluent in Greek or German, but I know just enough that if I hear something in a foreign language, I'm listening more intently and it sucks me in because if I hear it in English, I've heard it a million times and it just kind of, you know, goes past me sometimes. And so the fact that you go to a French monastery and that you take us into this beautiful world of a medieval French monastery and what that's

like and your stories of, you know, when you were in studying with the teacher as a younger man, and he takes you to the home of the great, great, great, grandchild of some famous... Man de Rihin. Right? I mean, but there's a lot of... A lot of philosopher, yeah. There's a lot of beautiful stuff in the book. And I think that's important to a book as well, that it takes you to...

places you want to go you want to visit you want to see these things so there's just a lot in it um we just have uh seconds left what what can we say what can we leave the the listeners with today yeah well i think i think um it seems like we often advertise christian books like medicine like oh you got to read this is going to be really good for you it's going to really help your faith you know and what i'm finding in these interviews i'm doing is that a lot of people are saying this is a fun book. You know, I mean, every Christian book you read doesn't have to be like cod liver oil. In fact, I wouldn't even call it a Christian book. It's a wonderful book, ladies and gentlemen. Peter, we're at a time. Congratulations. The book is talking of Michelangelo, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell, in the Burgundy region. Thank you, my friend.

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And by the way, if you visit metaxuscripto.com, there's an opportunity for you to qualify for up to $2,500 in bonus crypto. Go to Metaxuscripto.com and see. Ladies and gentlemen, I kid you not. I have as my guest right now the one, the only, I believe it's pronounced Albin-Sadar. Albin, welcome back. What? What? What are you talking about?

It's hard to believe that it's been a while since we had you on here. And the crowds are just clamoring. Where's Albin? Where's Albin? and I always say the same thing. I say who? And they say, Albin. I go, oh, oh, Albin.

I will check. And it turns out, typically, you're in Terrytown, New York, which is where, now you know, I've written this book in The American Revolution. I have been, you know, spending a lot of time writing about the story of Benedict Arnold and what happened. It's so fascinating. And the fact, I'm not kidding, that you actually live there. I'm champing at the bit to get there and to kind of visit some of these.

I haven't visited some of these famous spots. Yeah, I know. You know, that's really funny because there's a monument to the American Revolution, right, in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Now, everybody knows Sleepy Hollow because of Washington Irving, who was the first American great offer, right? Well, there's a monument for Revolutionary War heroes. And because of that, I ended up writing an article for American,

thinker and for the Blaze talking about that monument and what what the original founders put on the line for the American Revolution. And of course, you wrote the book, Revolution. I wrote the book obvious. And it's obvious what they put on the line because there's a monument for the fact that many, many people die, as we know, in the revolution. But what's really, what I find really fascinating is that you might think, well, the soldiers on the ground. It's just like, you know, the boots on the ground. They're the people that died, the generals, they got, you know, they lose the war, they go onto another war. But in truth, the generals and especially general, you know, George Washington, those guys,

they put their very lives on the line because, as Benjamin Franklin said, if we don't hang together, we're all going to, if we're going to hang separately. And that's what they put on the line. They would be traders. From the highest up to the lowest down, they had them. They could, their very lives were on the line. So you've written an article about this at the blaze.com. And it's important.

I mean, it's what I want to talk to you about for us to understand what you just said. And I have to say there's a couple of levels here. First of all, all of those who signed the declaration, in my book, I talk about that scene when they actually signed the declaration. And it's actually, most people don't know this. And it's kind of a long chapter because a lot of people think they signed it on July 4th. No, no, no. They did not.

They didn't sign it on July 4th. They signed it on, I think, August 2nd when they signed the official version that I think it's called the engrossed version. It's like the special. I mean, they wrote it and they agreed on independence on July 4th. They finally, you know, actually on July 2nd, they agreed on Independence. And then they debate the 10th. of the of the declaration, but they don't have this official engrossed version until later in the month and they sign it. But when they signed it, August 2nd, I think, the sobriety in the room, they knew,

like really and truly, we just say this like these are just words. They genuinely knew that this is their death warrant if they don't win, that they will be hanged, that they will be, because they are now going on the line officially as rebels against the king and so on and so forth. And there are a few anecdotes about what they said. And one of them is the famous one, Benjamin Franklin says, you know, if we don't hang together, we'll all hang separately. But there were a few others who made comments. And it really gave me a chill because it actually sums up what you write about in your

article how real this was. This is not just theoretical. they really were conscious that what they are doing, they're absolutely risking their lives. And I think, you know, Albin, you and I both love this country. We understand just how sobering this is and how we need to take love of country seriously and these founding principles because people,

they really risk their lives. And we ought to be willing to do the same. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero? More like Habinier, yes.

Save the Everyday with Amazon. Yes, and the article, just in case people want to find out, the blaze is called America. founders risk the gallows, what are we willing to risk? And you mentioned this a while ago, and I think it's probably in their book, maybe the new book, I haven't read it yet, it's out in early June, but you said there are free tipping points of basically in America, of course, was the revolution 250 years ago, the Civil War, which was like 170 years ago, and then today, because I don't know if people know this, but Susan Rice, you know, she's kind of famous with. with the Obama administration, she basically said, look, once we get back in, once we Democrats

get back in, all bets are off. We're coming after you guys that hung around Donald Trump. Those people that supported Trump, there's going to be a lot of retribution coming your way. So that's why when people talk about the midterms and the, you know, coming up now, it really is all on the line. In the fall of this. year, there's no more excuses, especially for Christians to sit it out and say, like, I don't get involved in politics. Yeah. Yeah, if you don't vote in the midterms, folks, do not, don't ever tell me. Don't ever tell me that. And better yet, don't ever talk to me if you don't vote in the midterms, because we are in an existential crisis. If we don't take this

seriously, and again, there are a lot of people, I mean, there are a lot of people, Albin, theoretically conservatives, Republicans, some Christians who they really don't seem to understand what's at stake. And these are the people like Mike Pence and George W. Bush, they didn't even endorse Trump in the 2024 election. And I just, it takes my breath away that somebody like Mike Pence did not endorse the president in an absolutely crucial election. He basically shrugs and says, well, if Kamala Harris wins, yeah, I guess we'll, you know, we'll live through it and we'll get another bite at the apple.

How can you not, I mean, the reason Mike Pence is so politically bad as a politician is that he doesn't understand that. But there are many, you know, men and women, some of them good men and women, some of them genuine Christians, they don't seem to understand what's at stake. and that's what amazes you and amazes me and many people. Yeah, you know what? I mentioned this on your show months and months and months ago. To me, if a Christian does not get involved, to me, they're politically immature because they think, well, and there are Christians that I call in my book obvious.

They call themselves, and they're self-persecuting Christians, because they're like, well, God is in charge of everything. So if Camelais gets in, that's God's will. If Trump gets in, that's God's will, I'll sit this out. I'm going to evangelize. I'm going to preach the gospel. And then what's going to happen is if Camelot does get in and then they are persecuted, they'll be like, oh, I'm being persecuted. No, you were not smart enough. You didn't wake up in time to say, look, God has given me a free will. And free will also goes into politics. It's not just like, well, politics is aside from God's will in your life, you know. It's like I have that joke in my book about, you know, guy says, The doctor goes to the doctor and says, like, I want you to take these pills or you're going to die. And the guy says, like, well, it's God's will. I'm not going to take the pills.

Okay, God's will is up on the line. God will decide whether I live or die. And the doctor says, well, look, I'm a Christian too. And if you take the pills, it's God's will you live. If you don't take the pill, it's God's will that you die. So we got to get out there and we're going to stand up and say something and vote, vote, vote, and get our friends to do the same. What is that? There's a similar joke where somebody's like, you know, they're caught on a rooftop.

Yes. And the flood waters are rising. And they pray, Lord, save me. Lord save me. I know the Lord's going to save me. A helicopter comes by. They wave it off. They're like, no, no, no, no.

God's going to save me. A boat comes by. They wave it off. They go, no, no, no, I don't need the boat. God's going to save me. And then they drown. And then they get to, you know, to the pearly gates. And they say to God, I don't understand.

I mean, I thought you were going to save me. And he says, well, you know, I sent you a, I sent you a helicopter. I sent you a boat. What more did you want me to do? And it's a dumb joke. But it illustrates what we're talking about is that we are, and this is a biblical idea, that we are called to action. Yeah.

We are called, you know, faith without works is dead. And this is something that just this heresy that, you know, I'm saved by grace, which means I don't need to do anything, it's a heresy. It's wrong. Bonhoffer talks about it in cost of discipleship. It's cheap grace. And it's just something that is, it's an amazing lie that has crept into the church. And it's really led so many Christians astray.

Yeah, I'll tell you that joke you just mentioned is also mentioned in my book. Are you kidding me? That joke is in your book. Yeah, that joke is in my book, obvious. By the way, it's in Hillbilly Elegy, apparently J.D. Vance did that like retro. He went back and put it into his book after I put it in my book like 15 years after that. He stole it from you. Jady Vance, he's a good man, but he's a thief when it comes to that joke.

And we're going to hold him accountable, Albin. It's not about retribution, but it's about justice. Folks, I'm talking to Albin Seder. He's the author of a book called Obvious, and we'll be right back. Actually, wait, before I go, Albin, so where can people find your article? That's at Blase. You can find you at the blaze.com. America. The blaze.com. And the title is America's founders risk the gallows. What are we risking?

Yeah. I ax you, ladies and gentlemen. This is such an important idea. We'll be right back. I'll continue my conversation with Albin SADAR, SADAR, the author of Obvious. Hey there, folks. I've been saying that 2026 must be the year of accountability, whether talking about government spending or the way we steward our own families, we have a moral duty to seek the truth. But let's be honest, in the world of Medicare, truth is often the first casualty. Seniors, like my 91-year-old mom, are bombarded with mailers and pushy phone calls that feel more like propaganda than helpful guidance. This is why I value my partners at Chapter. They operate on a different principle, independence. Chapter is the only national advisor that reviews every single plan available to ensure you have the coverage that actually

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You heard that right. Albin-Sadar. Now, Albin, I've never met anyone named Albin, including you. Yeah. I'm sorry, not including you, because you are named Albin. But your name Albin, is that like a Slovakian name? It's Slovenian. You know, everybody knows Malania Trump.

And my twin brother and I, my two sisters, my younger brother, the five of us, where we all have the say to our last name. And both my grandparents on both sides are Slovenian. And they came over here from Slovenia. So I guess we're second generation or something like that of Slovenians. But 100% Slovenian like Melania Trump. Now let me ask you and forgive me for saying Slovakian when I meant Slovenian. But Melania Trump, of course, is from Slovenia. Have you and Anne yet seen the film Melania?

No, no, it's really kind of sad. I don't even think my twin brother saw it yet. I know it's on prime video and it's on our list of things to see. And I'm glad you reminded me again about it. I'm excited this week. The reason I'm bringing it up is no kidding. I was absolutely flabbergasted by how little I knew Melania. In other words, she comes across in this film

as an absolutely brilliant person in many ways, but that's hidden from the public. You kind of see her these public appearances and she looks great and whatever. But she really is kind of amazing and her sense of style, like you always wonder, who dresses her? I mean, this all comes from, well, I won't spoil it,

but it really is impressive when you think about what it would take to be the first lady in the White House and to run things and to know how to run things. And you realize, you know, if you're going to marry Donald Trump, she was already doing that before the White House. You know, everything is just like top notch. But I've never seen that until Suzanne and I saw the film. And it really was impressive.

I think it's worth watching. People should watch it because it was so startling to see that side of her. And of course, she's a Slovenian, a proud Slovenian. Of course, all the Slovenians are proud. And look how I dress, huh? you never mentioned anything about that happening. I never mentioned about your sense of fashion. And that's perfectly intentional.

Okay. Out of respect. Yeah. She has a little more hair than I do as a... She's. Well, Albin, there's so much to talk about in the news. What else should we touch on in the news? Because...

You know, in the same article that I was talking about over at The Blaze is, you know, President Trump made it very clear. You know, he makes a lot of things very clear. There are two sexes. you know, that sort of thing. But he said, you can't have a country unless you have a closed border. So he's closed the border. And you have safe and secure elections. And we're still debating this whole Save America thing. When is that going to happen? You know, so again, this is one of the things where you can write your congressmen and phone your comment,

do something along those lines. Because again, if the, if the Democrats can just do whatever they want in the next election, then again, you know, there goes the country. There's the tipping point right there, the midterm election. So in a book, obvious, the subtitle is seeing the evil that's in plain sight and doing something about it. I mean, Donald Trump does something about these things all the time. And some people are just, they don't back them up sometimes. Well, it doesn't make any sense to me. I have to say, even if I disagree with somebody, I'd like to kind of understand where they're coming from.

I can't for the life of me fathom where people are coming from who don't understand the need, the desperate crying need for clarity in our elections, for know exactly who's voting, whether they have the right to vote. It's so strange to me that the left has been able to bamboozle people and bully people into saying, well, we don't want to push too hard on that because somebody will call me racist, which is insane. and I think most Americans get this, but I think, you know, most Americans are, I mean, John Thune, I believe the only way to deal with him is to take him to the Strait of Hormuz and either shoot him at some, one of the leaders, the Iranian leaders, shoot him, you know, on the top of a missile, or maybe keel haul him underneath the hull of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier since he's 10,000 times the rhino that Gerald Ford was.

because I really can't believe that this is, this is what passes for Republicans in, in, in the U.S. Senate. Exactly. And I keep saying, soon and very soon, we're going to see something happen with that saybacked. That's, that's very funny. Thune and very soon. Yeah, I think, no, he's a eunuch.

He's a political, he's, he's, he's one of these swamp creatures. I think it seems obvious that he's not willing to pay any, price bear any burden he's not willing to do anything that doesn't help john thune and um i hope he will soon be replaced but it's really just it's so it's so pathetic okay albin hold on a second i'm getting crazy here we'll be right back folks talking to albin sadar his book is obvious hey folks before we get back to our guests i just want to say a lot of people donate when there's a headline but mda magin david adom doesn't get to slow down when the news cycle moves on md is Israel's national EMS system.

That means emergencies don't stop today, tomorrow, next month. Heart attacks, accidents, trauma, surgeries, blood shortages, they're constant. Keeping that system strong requires ongoing support. When you give to the American friends of Magin David Adom, you're funding the basics that make everything else possible. Ambulances on the road, blood banks for trauma and surgery, training for first responders and equipment that's used every single shift. is not symbolic giving. This is practical life-saving support. If you want your donation to have

direct measurable impact, this is one of the clearest ways to do it. Go to savinglifeisrael.org. That's savinglifeisrael.org. Welcome back. I'm talking to Albin. That's his real name, folks. Don't make fun of it because it's his real name and he can hear you. Yeah. Albin Sadar. Albin, we joke a lot, but we're, I guess we have to joke because we're going through crazy times. You've written another article. You're writing a lot of great stuff at The Blaze and Americanthinker.com. And Americanthinker.com, you've got a piece called, once the obvious is exposed, why does it not sink in? Now, that's a good question.

So what do you write about that? Yeah, exactly. Because when the obvious is there, why don't people see the obvious? Why don't they get the obvious? And there are several theories people have. You know, there's the normalcy bias where people just hear what they want to hear. So they kind of filter out the things that they, you know, that doesn't fit my worldview. So I'm not going to believe that or depending on who said it.

Oh, a Republican said it, a conservative Christian. I don't listen to any of that. But Dietrich Bonhofer, one of the great Christians of all time, as you know, the book is right there on your desk. He talked about stupidity. He said sometimes it's just stupidity. It's just plain people just are dumb. They don't. He said, the funny thing is, you can, you can, you can go after evil. You know, you can, if you see something evil, you can confront it. But with stupidity, even when people see

the facts right in front of their face, they just don't get it. They don't, it doesn't, does not compute. And there's a phrase that we use in general public, which is, you can't fix stupid. And everything Dietrich Bonhofer said about stupidity can fit right in that phrase. You can't fix stupid. So what do you do? There's more to life than finding the perfect car. But finding the perfect car can help you get the most out of life. Like the SUV that handles everything from drop off to off road, and the car that hulls groceries and hockey teams,

or the van that's gone from just practical to practically family. Whatever you want, wherever you're going, start your search at ototrater.ca. Canada's car marketplace. Well, I mean, the thing is, you know, it's it's sort of funny to say that and it's sort of true, but you can fix stupid on some level. And here's what I mean by that. You know, it's why I've written a lot of the books that I've written and why I speak where I speak. Because we have to preach this idea that we the people have a moral obligation to keep the republic, which means we have to understand how it works, what freedom is. is what self-government is, what is good, what is evil. We have a responsibility. And John Adams wrote about this a lot. He kind of ends up being the hero of my book in some ways because he's, I've never seen

so clearly how central he was, 10,000 times more than Jefferson. I mean, it's almost preposterous how we talk about Jefferson. We should be talking about John Adams a thousand times more than Jefferson, but he's very humble guy. He just didn't put himself. forward very much. But he talks in 1765, if you can imagine, I got a whole chapter on this essay that he wrote in 1765. And in it, he talks about this Puritan idea, this Reformation Christian Puritan idea that we must educate our young people to understand all this stuff. Because if they

don't understand it, if they can't rationally comprehend what the Bible says, what is liberty, where do our rights come from? All of that. If we can't comprehend that rationally and teach it and all understand it, the country disappears. Liberties go away. And so he's writing about this in 1765,

and that's what you're talking about is that if you have people that are ignorant of these things, in a sense, you're sitting ducks. You will be enslaved. You will be subjugated by powerful elites. And that's basically the story throughout history. And it's kind of where we are

now. It's just inescapable that we the people have to know our rights and have to have to have the moral courage to fight for our rights. And then we have to fight for our rights. Right. And that brings us right to James Tellerico, right? Down there in Texas, that's a great segue. If you go to American Thinker, I'm also doing cartoons there. And there's one about Teller Rico going out there. I have a picture of him in front of a church saying, hey, listen up. I'll tell you everything you're itching ears want to hear. And people are going like, oh, it's James Tellerico. But you know what St. Paul says about this. He gives a warning in Galatians for having sakes. He says, even if an angel from heaven were to preach another gospel, let him be forever cursed.

He said, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? And so I have James Tellerico outside a church that says, first church of another gospel. Because that's what he's preaching down there. And if Christians themselves, Christians, I guess in quotes, don't know the gospel. They don't know the Bible or scripture. They could be washed away by any new. They can be fooled. I mean, that's exactly what happened in Germany. The Lutherans were ignorant enough of what the Bible said that they could be fooled. And they were fooled by the sort of Nazified pseudo-Christians, just as Christians in Texas, some of them, many of them, are being fooled by Tala Rico. So where can we find the cartoon that you wrote about Telarico.

Yeah, go to, go to Americanthinker.com. And if you put my name and my cartoons, my articles, everything will come up and it'll be obviour. You've got a lot of stuff at Americanthinker.com. Albin, it always cheers me up and encourages me to talk to you. Thanks for coming on the program. Folks, Albin is the author of a great book titled Obvious. Thank you very much.