The Eric Metaxas Show - #137 - Brant Hansen

Episode Date: June 12, 2026

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric talks with Brant Hansen about his book Life Is Hard. God Is Good. Let’s Dance. and the updated edition of Unoffendable. Brant argues that many Christians have been taught the wrong way to think about anger, outrage, forgiveness, anxiety, and “righteous anger.” Eric and Brant discuss injustice, William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, forgiveness, praying for enemies, hypocrisy in the church, traffic, anxiety, trusting God, and why the way of Jesus is not weakness but freedom. Subscribe for clips from The Eric Metaxas Show to hear politics and culture from a Christian perspective.GET BRANT'S BOOKS:Living Unoffended: The Joy of Simple Peace in An Angry, Anxious Worldhttp://bit.ly/49Re1diUnoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Betterhttps://amzn.to/4eD2AbM⭐ ORDER NOW:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World📕: https://a.co/d/0ir3NlapTODAY'S SPONSORS:⭐ FREE SLAVES with CSI: https://csi-usa.org/metaxas/⚖️ 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/⭐Blocktrust Crypto--- MetaxasCrypto.com

Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor,

free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. In Toronto, every arrival, is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19 speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac.

Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Hey there folks, welcome the program. You can tell by my background, if you're watching, that I am on the road. This is part of the revolution tour, the supercentennial 250 revolution tour. I'm speaking about my book everywhere, even places they haven't booked me, even places that don't want to hear me. I'm speaking and speaking and speaking. I never stop speaking about the book. It's exciting. But every now and again, I stop. I hit pause on my busy, schedule of speaking about revolution. And I actually talk to someone else about what's going on in their life. It's rare, but it could happen. And I think it's going to happen right now. Wait a minute. Yes, there he is. Brand Hanson is my guest. Brand Hansen, welcome back. Thanks, man. It's great to see you again. It's hard not to talk about my revolution book, but I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it because you have another book, I guess, technically. it's a book, right? Other people do write books, Eric. It's very cool. Everyone knows it's nowhere near as long as my book. But at the same time, it is technically considered a book. It's between two covers. And actually, the book we're going to talk about right now is an update.

It's an enlarged version of a book you wrote some time ago. Yeah, it's called Living Unoffended. And it's about this lifestyle of actually not being consumed with anger and anxiety all the time. You know, that sets me into a rage just hearing that. I'm consumed with anger at that. What a nonsensical idea. Like I should not sit. Like I shouldn't be ticked. All right, wait. Sure. Wait a second. For people who are tuning in who don't know who you are because there are going to be some, right? Let me at least remind them a little bit. So Brandt Hanson, who is my guest right now. And the last name is Hanson. Brant Hanson is in fact handsome. So if there's a computer,

confusion there. That's an appropriate confusion. Brand Hanson is my guest. He and his wife, Sherry, do a podcast. It's called the Brent and Sherry oddcast. And that's an intentional flub. It's a podcast, but they call it the Brent and Sherry oddcast. Brand's been involved for a long time with Cure International. You can say something about that at some point, Brandt. But the book we're talking about right now is called Living, Unoffend, So what's the general idea for folks who aren't familiar with you or the book in its earlier version? What's the general idea? Well, the idea is that I think we're taught wrong about anger when it comes to the church, for instance, like Christians are actually taught wrong, and we need to be taught better, and it leads to a healthier life.

It will actually be better at addressing injustices and better at addressing all the problems in the world if we're not acting out of anger. anger happens, but we're supposed to get rid of it before the sun goes down. And that's very consistent language in the Bible about anger. But we believe that we have righteous anger about every single news story, and it's making us very unhealthy. And we think we're supposed to hold on to it because it's righteous. And so we should be angry all the time.

But if not about this, and that's next thing. And it actually kills you. The physiological effects of anger in your system, as you probably know, having cortisol in your system all the time or whatever. Actually, it's devastating. I'm going to take the debate. I'm going to ask you. I see tremendous injustice.

I see corrupt politicians. I see politicians brazenly lying for self-serving interests, for power. And it is, it outrages me. It is an offense. And I think it makes sense to be offended and to be outraged by it. But perhaps not to hang on to that. that outrage or that offense. I don't know. I guess that's what I'm wanting to understand, because I think that when I think of my hero William Wilberforce, who spent decades battling

against the slave trade. And he knew the wickedness of it, the horror, the nightmare horror of what human beings did to other human beings. And he wanted to eradicate that. He wanted to bring Christian values into Great Britain. And it's different. to see that injustice to your fellow man. And it's also difficult to see other people who either don't care about the injustice or are perpetrating the injustice. And so he spent decades working to change that. And I guess as a Christian, you want to have the right motivation.

So what do you say about that when you say we shouldn't be angry or should hold on to anger? What do you mean? What we're supposed to do about injustice, we've been taught that we're supposed to get angry. And that since anger is righteous, then we've done something, right? I got angry about this and I got angry about that. I got angry about the trial yesterday

and the people protesting the trial. I got anger about the thing at Belfast. I'm anger about all that anger. Yeah. Actually, what you're supposed to do about injustice is do something about it. So the idea that I'm righteously, they weren't doing anything about it.

Well, honestly, so, but the rush. So the funny thing is, like, Wilberforce, a great example. He's being tactical. He's not acting out of rage for decades. He's being very tactical about it. Same thing with another guy you know about, I mean, D. D. T. T. T. Bommhoffer, who also taught this same thing that I am teaching about anger. There's no such thing as righteous or unrighteous anger for the believer. Like, anger happens, but what we're supposed to do about injustice is actually act on it. Anger actually doesn't help you do stuff. It actually clouds your judgment, not to mention,

destroys your marriage, destroys other relationships, has this, again, has this physiological effect that shorten your life, make you look older, make you gain weight, break down the collagen in your skin, causes heart disease, keeping this in your system. I didn't expect the conversation to go to collagen so quickly. You surprised me there. I joke about it, but I should have said something on the book,

like, this will actually help you look younger because it does. Like, the way of Jesus is so genius when he's talking about this way of forgiveness and still doing the right thing. But I'm not doing it out of rage. I'm doing it because it's the right thing. I want to protect the vulnerable. I'll actually do a better job if I'm not doing it out of rage. The rage doesn't help actually. Folks, before we go, I want to recommend to you in case you want to do something crazy and beautiful, we are doing another campaign with our friends at CSI. These folks are heroes.

If you want to free a slave, literally, this is what you. what CSI does. Every $250 sets one captive free and puts them into a life of freedom, sets them up. This is important. Help us do this. Go to ericmetaxis.com. Click on the banner. Couldn't be easier. Please go to ericmetaxis.com. Click on the banner. Very important. So the way you're putting it now, I guess I'm understanding it better, because in fact, because I have the views that I do on many things, people often will talk to me about these things. And many times I will say to them,

I don't really want to hear it right now, if you don't mind. All it does is upset me, and that is fruitless, completely fruitless. I simply, I want to be at peace, and I want to do something about it. So if I can do something, I will do something, and we should not be, if I'm interpreting what you're saying correct, we're supposed to do something about injustice. Right. So being angry about it does nothing.

Being angry about it is foolish. It accomplishes nothing. But what you're saying is it gives people this false sense that they're doing something because they're outraged. Like the universe, you know, here's my outrage and it's going to do something. And that's not quite right. I mean, I would say you can instantly pray, pray instantly. That'll do something. Pray.

But just to simply be angry, and you're quite right. There are people that are running around with this outrage, but it doesn't. I mean, I think it also needs to be said that speaking about injustice is important because that can get something. That can awaken people to what is happening. But it has to lead to action, even if that action is just prayer. Prayer is action. There's other kinds of action.

but simply to be angry is foolish as counterproductive. And we're kind of playing into the enemy's hands because we're not doing anything about the injustice. Right. So if you think that we have to be angry to protect justice, like, do we want police angry? I mean, do they do a better job when they're angry? Do we want juries and judges angry?

Like, do they do a better job? No, they don't. I mean, we function better without this. It happens. It's an emotion, right? So I'm not saying it's a sin when the anger hits you. Like it's a warning light on the dashboard. Something is happening that needs your attention.

Got it. But from there, we're told to get rid of it as soon as possible. I mean, there's no biblical idea of righteous anger for humans. You cannot find it. God's anger is righteous. So people are like, Jesus went in the money changers and threw them out and all like, like, yeah, you're the money changers, man. You're not Jesus in this scenario.

We always think we're Jesus. But the other thing is God isn't a sinner. Jesus isn't a sinner, we are. He's entitled to things that we're not, like vengeance, for instance. Like, that's his, not ours. Confating ourselves with God all the time is the only way that we can pat ourselves on the back for being righteously angry. And it'll happen for the rest of your life unless you learn that this isn't the way

to live, that I actually do need to do what you just said, which is pray for people, even my enemies. And I will address my enemies. I will address the problem better having prayed for them. I will still protect the vulnerable. I will still do what's right. I'll be more effective, but I'm supposed to pray for my enemies.

That's Jesus, very direct teaching in multiple places. Like, I have to do that. Well, we have to clarify, because a lot of people misunderstand this. When I pray for my enemies, I think a lot of people misunderstand that. Like, it's like I want to bless my enemies in their sin. No, if I'm praying for my enemies,

I'm praying that they would, cease to sin, that they would cease to do the evil thing that is cursing them, that is cursing their souls and harming other people. So to pray for our enemies, it's different than saying, like, I like my enemies. No, no, no, I hate the sin. I love the sinner. That's, you know, people need to get that because that, that is a tricky thing. It's a tricky thing. It is very doable, though, and you have to do it. I mean, we don't have a, if you're somebody who's a Christian, you call yourself a Christian, you don't have a choice about it. this. So the idea that, well, I'm not going to pray for my hand. And we go, okay, well, then you don't

want to do the Jesus way of life. I got it. But he told us to do this. It turns out it's a better way to live. It's actually healthier. But when you do it, too, you have to remember, this is so important. You know this, Eric, you've talked about this. We're not in a battle against flesh and blood. Like, these people who are you're in, they may be up to very real evil and they need to be stopped. But there's a backdrop of spiritual stuff that's going on that they're caught up in. There's another battle. There's a deeper battle. I am still rooting for these people, even if I think they need to be punished, even if I know they have to be stopped and restrained. I'm all for that. But I'm still ultimately rooting for them. And I'm seeing that this is a spiritual matter and that

God still wants them. So I'm still, I'm still rooting for that to happen. And that is, I mean, this separates the sheep from the goats because there are plenty of people that think they're Christians, but I hear, I hear this sometimes. I hear people that they rejoice that somebody's going to hell. I want to say, like, then you're a stupid idiot. Like, you, you know, you know nothing if you're rejoicing that someone's going to hell, because God is not rejoicing that they're going to hell. It's God's will that everyone be saved. And he wants us to pray for them that if there is a chance that they can be pulled away from the lip of the volcano. So I think that that's important. And, And again, that's a tricky thing because people need to understand what it means and what it doesn't mean.

You know, I always use the example of when Pope John Paul II was shot at, he was almost killed. He went and prayed for the man who did that. He went to the prison and prayed for the man. But he didn't say, well, therefore, let the guy out. Because the guy needs to be punished. The guy needs to be kept from harming other people. but you can still pray for them. But you need both.

And I think that a lot of Christians, well, Christians can err on either side of this. And to err on the side of too much grace where it becomes cheap grace, where it's not grace, is to say like, oh, yeah, I forgive him, it's cool, man. No, it's not cool. It's wicked. And I pray for that person who's done a wicked thing.

But I don't say it's a good thing or it doesn't matter. It does matter. know the wickedness of what they've done is wicked. And I pray for them, just as Jesus prayed for us when we were still in our sins. And so that's a, that's a tricky thing for people to really get that, to get what is God's heart on this? And not to take it sloppily in one worldly direction or fleshly direction or in the opposite fleshly direction. Because, you know, it's like the idea of toxic empathy. You can have real empathy or you can have kind of this foolish empathy, which is no empathy at all, where your kindness is actually a cruelty.

So that's the fine line with what you're talking, and that's hard for all of us to get right. Honestly, I appreciate what you're saying. I know that's how people kind of hear this at first. Like, well, I don't know what to do this. That's because we haven't been taught about this. Right. The anger thing is not righteous.

You can forgive people the anger and then still hold people accountable for what's happening. You'll do a better job. It's like Dallas Willard said, whatever you do with anger, you can do better without it. Whatever you do, you'll be clearer minded. You can still be just as effective. But the idea, we have so many people, millions of people who are believers,

just getting themselves ginned up on their phones every day about the outrage of the day. The loss is in their family's lives. Like, you're not growing in wisdom. Instead, you're just being ginned up and angry because you think you should be angry. It makes you feel good to be angry, but it's like, we actually need you to grow up.

Like, younger generations actually need somebody who's at peace to look at. Someone who's not anxious and angry? Like, can you be that? Rather than thinking it's your duty as a Christian to be angry about everything, that's quite the opposite of what scripture actually says. And it's not not acting. I do stuff than the world.

Act better when it's not out of rage. It's actually driven by a deep desire to protect the vulnerable. Yeah, this is powerful stuff, Brand. For people who are unfamiliar with you and your story, can you give us a little bit of your background of, you know, where you come from, where you live, and how you got to be who you are? Well, okay, I haven't been able to talk about this until recently.

My dad passed away a couple months ago. So I didn't talk about it much when I wrote this book about forgiveness, but it comes from being raised in a preacher's home. He was a pastor, very fundamental, preached three times a week, and terrorized us, cheated on my mom repeatedly. it was domestic violence, abuse, all the while growing up with art,

isn't your dad a great man of God and all that sort of stuff? See, people would see him on stage. Yeah. Walk more. So I had to decide, my brother too, we had to decide, is this going to define us for the rest of our lives?

Like, because you could be angry at all this. I could be an angry atheist the rest of my life. I'm not going to let it ruin the rest of my life, but when you go through something like that, the temptation is to go, well, I have righteous anger and to be reacting.

to that. I don't want that to happen. So now I've been married 36 years. I have a home that's at peace. My kids had no connection to what I went through. I don't think they see me as being different than what they would watch right now. They'd be like, that's dad. But it's like, if I had let that anger fester, I would be defined by that. So this is, this way of Jesus is actually freedom. And it doesn't I mean, by the way, people will be like, so I have to stay in an abusive relationship. Is that what you're saying? I have to forgive everybody no matter what. Like, no, you don't have to, you can still have boundaries.

But if you don't forgive people, you are staying in a relationship with them in your head for the rest of your lives. This is everything Jesus tells us is freeing and good for us. This isn't weakness. This is strength. And as a result of not letting anger dominate me, I have a happy home. And hopefully I'm able to be a voice of not. non-anxiety for the people around me, my neighbors and friends and others. So that's my background growing up in rural Midwest with my dad. So just the last couple months, I've been

kind of able to unpack where this is all come from. Well, that's heavy stuff because I think there's so many people who have been really hurt or wronged. And the most natural thing is to react, you know, all Christians are hypocrites or all men are horrible. or all women are horrible or that that's normal but it's toxic and God says I have another plan for you. And that plan involves forgiveness. But again, there are people who I always laugh because President Trump is honest. One of the things I love about this president is his honesty.

So he doesn't go like, oh yeah, forgive your enemies. Yep, yep. He goes like, I don't get that. That doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't make sense. It needs to be unpacked. And that's why I'm talking to you. Because unless somebody really explains what do we really mean by that, people here, I'm supposed to pretend like, you know, that rape didn't happen.

Or I'm supposed to pretend like that didn't destroy my life. Or I'm supposed to pretend like. No, not at all. And you're saying, no, you're not. But, but. And so that's the trick is to really understand what we really mean. What does God really mean? And that is the teaching you're talking about.

We need to get the right teaching on that. Right. If you believe the Jesus story, which I do, that I'm responsible in part for Calvary, that makes me accessory to the murder of an innocent man. God chose to forgive me anyway. And then he takes the form of a man and tells a story about an unmerciful servant

who's forgiven for tons of stuff and won't turn around and forgive others. What do you think that means? And forgiveness is necessarily it's giving up your right to stay angry with people and to get revenge. It's giving that up. So you get angry, it happens. What we're told specifically is get rid of anger as quickly as possible. And we can still pursue justice and we'll do a better job without. That's just it. People think forgiveness is tantamount to, oh, I guess nothing happened. Well, that's a wrong understanding of forgiveness.

That's never been a biblical understanding of forgiveness at all. Well, I mean, it is interesting because I think there's, there's a I think that what's tricky here is how we express anger or how that works because there's also passion. I think passion, you know, if somebody is, there's a famous thing and a lot of people are going to be too young to remember it.

But I remember when Michael DeCoccus was running for president and he was in the debate. And in the debate, he was famously asked, if your wife, Kitty, were raped, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And his response was so blood, that people thought, what is wrong with this guy?

Like, he's not even pretending to be upset. He just kind of bloodlessly, like a bureaucrat, answers the problem. And there's something human about passion, and I think that you see God is passionate. And so then the question is, where does that go wrong or how does that go wrong? Where is that appropriate, the passion for justice, let's say? Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's born out of being four people. again, reminding yourself, we're in a war that is a spiritual battle and people are caught up in that. The Lord still wants these people. So I pray for blessings on their head. I pray for my enemies to bless those who curse me. That's who we're supposed to be. But here's the other thing, too, we have a confusion about anger being masculine. Like, oh, you're saying you wouldn't defend your wife.

Of course I would. That's actually what anger is for. It's a fight or flight response to an immediate threat, right? So to hang on to it makes no sense. That's what kills you physiologically. Animals don't do that. The birds of the air or the animal, like they get a fight or flight response. It's over in 30 seconds.

Like one way or the other, it's over, right? But humans, we can hold on to it for years and it kills us. All of that physiological stuff that happens, we're talking about the cortisol or adrenaline or high blood pressure, all of this stuff that changes in your body. Humans keep that in their system. And every time that you think you're supposed to be angry about another news, story, you're getting another spike of that. And it's literally killing us.

And no wonder that the very one who designed us told us, here's a better way to live. You forgive people. You bless those who curse you. This is not unmasculent. It takes more guts. It takes more like toddlers

get angry. The idea that we can put off anger and be like, you know what? I'm going to forgive because I've been forgiving. Not because they deserve it. people don't deserve it. But right there's, Brand,

I think there are a lot of people that haven't really dealt with the fact that they're guilty and that Jesus forgave them. There are a lot of people that they're not, they don't get, they don't understand that.

They don't understand that. You should feel forgiven. You should know you're guilty. You should know you deserve nothing and that God has given you all these gifts out of his grace and love and mercy. And that brings about some humility. So if you're not walking,

around with a little humility, you're not going to be able to forgive people because you're going to, you think you're better or you think you're whatever. You don't realize that apart from the grace of God, that's you. And I think that that's very important, actually, for us to be honest with the fact that apart from the grace of God, I don't want to think what I'm capable of or what I've already done. I don't want to think of that. It's horrible. Imagine being let off death row. You think you're going to die and never see your family again. You get in the car after the shock of being let out, even though you were guilty. And you see the blue sky and you're thinking about, I'm going to see my wife and kids again.

Are you angry when somebody cuts you off? Or are you, I mean, you're really going to like flip them off after you've been let off? You've been let off. You've got a little different perspective. That's it. So if we're actually thankful for this is the, this is, we're playing from a really strong hand, you know, like this is why I forgive other people because I didn't deserve it. And again, it doesn't mean I put up with stuff like abuse.

No, I'm going to defend the vulnerable. It's what I do. Well, this is where I go, I didn't think I was going to say this, but this is why I think the baptism in the Holy Spirit is important. And a lot of people don't even know what that is or care about it. But we're talking about supernatural grace. God wants us to walk in supernatural grace. And that really takes opening ourselves up to the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, speak to me, live inside me. It is a supernatural thing we're being asked to do. We cannot do it in our own strength. You know, when you mention, I guess just a moment ago, I was thinking of George Washington. Obviously, I'm thinking about him a lot because I'm talking about my new book and he's such a central figure. But he was a great example of this. This is a man with towering passion, but it was bridled.

He really had wisdom and he had trained himself not to react in the moment, but to be, to have tremendous wisdom and to check his emotions. And I really think that that's kind of the key to why we won the revolution is because God had a man at the center of it who really dramatically understood this. I mean, it's an amazing thing. One of the greatest heroes and leaders who ever lived is an example of this. Well, any great military leader is not led by their passion of anger. You can't. That's not how you function well. That's what I mentioned about the police too or something.

I want to say something about the supernatural element of this. That's surely true, but you also have to decide to do this. Like, you have to decide this is the way you're going to live, radical forgiveness. And then let God do his thing. And I'll tell you this too. It gets easier over time. I even tell people it's half of a joke. It's not fully a joke,

but I tell people that traffic is forgiveness practice. Here's your chance. And as you get better at it, and at first it feels like stripping the gears to pray for somebody who just cut you off. Like, you've got to be kidding. Fifth or sixth time you do it, it starts to become natural.

And then after a while, somebody cuts you off. You don't even react. It's like, they're not going to determine my day. I'm not going to be steaming in anger. I know traffic is this way. That's the other thing, too, Eric. Do you think Christians should know that the world's broken and not be shocked every day? Like, oh, I can't believe that this guy would, really, you can't believe it?

You can't believe that politician would say that again or that person. Like, you can't believe that. Is that right? Like, don't we know that humans are broken? While the corrupt federal elites have been quietly building wealth through cryptocurrency, hardworking American patriots have been left behind. Today, I want to tell you about Metaxus Cryptoferes, They're bringing access to cryptocurrency wealth to real Americans.

Crypto is supercharging President Trump's America First Economic Miracle, and now you can be a part of it. I've partnered with Block Trust IRA because their mission perfectly aligns with President Trump's Make America Great Again agenda, smashing down the barriers between loyal patriots and the financial freedom they deserve. Their animus AI trading platform works 24-7 analyzing market data and executing advanced crypto strategies that are beyond simply buy and hold, helping true American patriots build impressive wealth in Trump's historic economic boom. There's a reason their system was named the number one crypto technology platform by Bitcoin magazine from over 1,500 global competitors.

Whether you're a teacher, truck driver, small business owner, or retiree, watching inflation, eat away your 401k, Block Trust IRA's advanced animus AI gives red-blooded Americans the same advantages as those coastal elites. Right now, their clients are seeing. over 250% returns on their investments, and with military-grade security, investments are protected by up to $200 million in insurance. Don't wait, visit metaxis crypto.com and find out how they can help you join the Trump Crusade Financial Revolution that's finally giving forgotten Americans access to the greatest crypto wealth opportunity in history. For a limited time, they're offering

my viewers up to $2,500 in bonus crypto when you open an account. Crypto-Creaty. Crypto-Creaty. 80,000 new millionaires last year under Trump's phenomenal economic leadership. Why not you next? Yeah. Well, I mean, to bring it back to traffic, I think it's appropriate to lean on your horn if somebody cuts you off. Because if everybody would let them know that's inappropriate, they would they would know that, okay, I guess I shouldn't do that. So if you're steaming and raging, that's bad.

do think it's it's kind of like if everybody would just like let people and like yeah like no no that was not good i think that they would stop doing it so great i agree social censure means a right so pray for the person who cut you i'm telling you this as a spiritual discipline this will help you become a different sort of person you practice it it gets easier and i like i've i've said i had somebody say well isn't forgiveness it's so hard forgiveness is so hard like it is you know what's harder living a life of unforgiveness yeah it's a lot harder everything that jesus says he is he said my way is easier and lighter and come to me and i'll give you rest and then he tells us to live this way and it actually is more restable what do you know

and you're not saying that i should cut people off in traffic to give them opportunities of grace i am i am that's my next book it's called please cut people off forward by eric taxes. So, all right, tell us more about the book. It's called Living Unoffended. What else is in this book? Well, it's about anger and also anxiety, actually trusting God. Yeah. And one thing I talk about is if you've ever, like, had a team of yours win at the last second in a game. I had a team years ago in the NCAA Final Four or whatever. I was angry the entire game and anxious because they were playing so horribly. They came back. They were down like 18 with three minutes left. and won the game.

And I've rewatched that game on YouTube a million times. I'm not anxious when I watch it on YouTube. Why? I know how it ends. If you actually trust how this ends, you trust this. Like in the end of the last battle, in Narnia,

or like you have a vision for how this all earns and you trust God with it. He said, in this world, you'll have troubles, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. Like, if I actually believe that, I'm playing, again, with a very strong hand in life. Very strong.

I'm not going to be as anxious. But I hit on a lot of these things because people will think, it's not realistic to not be anxious. Like, no, I think Jesus is being quite realistic when he tells us we don't need to be anxious. When we can be like the birds of the air, they're not borrowing trouble from next week or what could happen a year from now. They don't have a cortisol spike worrying about the predator that might come across. the nest next next Tuesday. Only humans do that. And Jesus said we should be like them, just today.

Well, this is a way to live. You could practice this way of living. You'll be the one person in this culture who's not going crazy. Well, it really does come down to trusting the Lord and trying to understand what that actually means. And again, you know, because I'm thinking nonstop about the American Revolution, I realize that our side. And I was, I didn't know this when I started writing the book, but I was amazed.

at how Christian the American side was, that they determined, basically, that they're not going to stoop to what the British were doing. The British were really wicked in the war. I'm not going to get into it, but really wicked and cruel and sadistic because they just thought, we want to win and we will crush you. And the Americans determined, and again, I didn't know this, they determined we're not going to do that.

We want to honor God. We choose to honor God in how we fight. And we take that seriously. And you kind of think, like, how do you know somebody actually has faith? They live it out when it doesn't look convenient. And I have marveled at that, that they really covenanted with God, that we feel we're in a sacred cause. We want to honor God.

If we don't honor God, we know we're going to lose. And I think that's how we're supposed to live, right? We're supposed to say, Lord, I know who you are. I know what you require of me. I'm going to trust that. I'm not going to lean into the flesh when I feel like I should. I better or I mean, because I know you're real. I know it.

I don't say, well, sort of, but no, I know that you're real. And I know that I can't go wrong trying to please you and honor you and how I live. That's real faith. Let's just put it there. If you do trust God, you won't go through life anxious. And people are going to think there's something wrong with you because you're not overridden with anxiety. In this culture, if you're not overridden with anxiety, people are like, just don't care enough. It's not true.

Or they'll say you're naive. Don't you realize what's going on? Didn't you see the thing? I'm like, no, I saw the thing. I'm not naive. It's not that I know less. It's that I know more. Like if you have the big picture, it's not that you know less. Paul and Axe is on a ship that's going

down at every, 275 people on a ship and they all know they're going to die. Everybody's freaking out, including the captain and all the salty sea hands. They know they're going to die. One guy on the ship isn't freaking out. Well, to them, he's crazy. But God had told him that everybody's going to be okay.

So it's not that he knew less. It's not that he didn't understand shipping or safety. It's that he knew the big picture. So if people are going to accuse you of being naive because you're not as angry, anxious as everybody else, I'm like, no, I actually know the big picture here. I believe that the Lord has overcome the world, and I trust his character.

And in the end, I think that trust will be vindicated. that's my approach to life. It doesn't mean I don't act. It means that I act better. I'll be more clear-minded to take things on and not overridden with anxiety. So on the shipwreck where the 275 sailors are freaking out and Paul is at peace,

you're talking about the shipwreck that happened off of Malta? It's the one at the end of Acts. It's like 24-5 chapter. Yeah. Everybody survives. No, I'm just trying to trick you into saying, yeah, Malta, because that shipwreck actually, every Bible says Malta, every American Bible, English Bible says Malta, but it's wrong. The Greek is Meliti, and I published this thing on my website.

I know this has nothing to do with what we're talking about, but I just, every time the ship of Malta comes up, I have to bring this up. It didn't have happen off Malta. It almost certainly happened off of Cephalonia or Cephalonia, which is the island where my family's from. An article was written some years ago, and I translated it on my website. But it's an amazing, it's an amazing story because if you ever need proof that scripture is not just a bunch of myths, you read acts or you read certain things, the specificity of what it's writing about. Tremendous specificity. How many people are on the ship and what kind of a ship it is and all the just details and who's the pre-fetched? Could I tell you something?

Two things to tell you. Number one, I did suspect you were tricking me because you said the one by Malta. So I thought, but the second thing is, I appreciate you telling me that. Who else is going to tell me that? Well, it's not like it matters that much. No, I love this stuff.

But actually, but here's what's cool to me about it, actually, is that the reason this stuff does matter, the reason it matters that it's not Malta and it's Keppelonia, where my family's from, is that if you have a high view of scripture, if you take scripture seriously, in that scripture in acts at the end of act, it says that, you know,

a poisonous snake bites Paul. All of the natives are in awe that, oh, he's bitten by a snake. He must be a murderer because he survived a shipwreck, but the goddess justice has caught up with him. The snake bit him he's going to die. They all know he's going to die. So if you have a high view of scripture, you say, obviously it's a poisonous sin.

snake. Obviously, you know, this is not some made up story. It's a true story. So when you find out that there have never been poisonous snakes on Malta, ever, you have to take that seriously. And you say, well, if I trust the scripture, then I need an explanation for this. But if you don't have a high view of scripture, you say, well, listen, whatever. It's like a folktale or who knows or, you know, that and or you'll say something you know like folklore like well after paul there were no poison the snakes it's like well wait a minute you know if you have a heavy of scripture you try to look into it which is what led this guy to say that with the sea currents and all these details whatever it almost certainly has to be caffalonia but you know it's a side issue that has to do with

the veracity of scripture well but it's in a way it's not a side issue because we're talking we're talking about trust and like if i don't have an explanation for something it doesn't the explanation does not exist, right? If I trust the character of God and somebody is like, well, can you explain all of this stuff? Like, no, but I trust his character. And I've learned, and it's a rational trust. It's rational.

And I trust that that will be vindicated in the end, that I've seen his character. And many times in scripture, I've been confronted with something on Reddit or something that somebody will say, like, isn't it ridiculous that scripture's, like, then you find out more of the context, like, oh, it actually does make sense.

It's not ridiculous. That's happened so many times to me as a skeptical person. I've been like, what about this? And then find out like, you know what? The Lord's good. So this is, again, people need other human beings around them in this culture, Eric, who are not freaking out. That's got to be us. We can't just be, well, I'm a Christian, so I freak out about other stuff.

You know, I'm totally freaking out, but it's about different stuff from what you're freaking out from. I'm like, that cannot be it. The sermon on the mouth, all the stuff Jesus says actually frees us from this and should allow us to be the non-anxious, non-angry voices in our culture. And still standing for what's right, still doing what's right, saying what's right. Like, yeah, all of that. Well, that's the question is, is what are you doing about it? Because there are so many people, as you said, they think that watching, a couple of hours of conservative news on TV is like a righteous act. And I can't even watch that stuff

because I know it's a mess. So I need to pray or I need to do something. Take some action. Get involved locally in politics or something. Do something. But just to fret is really a sin against the Lord. You're not doing anything. And I do think that I've seen this a lot, that people are, they want to be upset or they want to even be worried about, I mean, anything. They're worried about AI or they're worried about it. It's like, well, you may be right that those are concerns, but to be fretting about it is just wrong and unbiblical and you should know that.

Right. So that's to praise him, to rejoice in him in all circumstances. He's not kidding around. He's actually saying that. And obviously, that's what you're writing about in your book, living undefended. What else do you talk about in the book? how much do you write about collagen in the book? Maybe just the once, but it would sell bigger if I said,

here's how to look younger, honestly. By the way, I'm actually 87 years old, so this really works. Incredible. I got to tell you. Incredible. I know. I'm going to be 1,000 at the end of June. It's hard to believe. That's amazing.

You look great. So that's a lot of that. It's a lot of revisiting this from 100 different angles about how we actually go about forgiving people, like how to actually do this thing. Well, I mean, you're talking about God's, God's will touches everything. It just touches everything.

Leaving his way touches every part of our lives. And I think... Here's something you can do. Like, just as a practical thing, this is one of the things I talk about. I forgive people in advance. So in the morning,

I ask God to please let me forgive the people who are going to do stuff because they're going to do stuff. They're going to do the same stuff they did yesterday. People are... I'm not going to be shocked anymore. But literally, in the word, forgive, forgive,

like it's sort of almost an advance, it's a posture towards the world. Oh, to give before. Yeah, it's like four, four. I didn't think of that. I'm really into etymology, and I never, I don't think I ever thought of that.

To give before. Four, it, F-O-R-E, but the word is written F-O-R, but to give before. Yeah. Yeah, I started thinking about it in those terms, but honestly, this is a discipline you can do when you go, I walk the dog in the morning and I pray and I ask God to help me with things and tell them what's going on.

And I ask him to help me forgive people ahead of time. But this becomes a posture again. Now you're going into your day. Everything you read, everything you're, the people you're interacting with, your neighbors, the people you work with. I'm already in a posture of forgiving this person, not because they deserve it, but because I didn't deserve it. But that becomes a way of being. it becomes second nature after you practice this and it becomes it like you're becoming more like Jesus

I'm convinced of that because this is a way to become more like him it's being his apprentice being his disciple like you actually do this stuff and it changes who you are well this is all very important stuff now why did you write an updated version of the book Living Unoffended? Well what we did with Living Unoffended

we took excerpts from Unoffendable so that's in there and then a couple of my other books, including one about anxiety. So there's excerpts. There's a lot of short chapters, and then I added like 20 chapters in there as well. So there's new stuff, but a lot of excerpts on this thing. It started off kind of like a devotional, but then I just thought, I don't want to do devotional. So it's just, it's short chapters about all this stuff as reminders about how to actually live life like this, because it is doable and it is lighter, and Jesus way is actually easier. And Bonhofer talked about that too. Like the way of Jesus actually is easier. He said that.

Like the cost of non-discipleship is higher than the cost of discipleship. Yes. So there's a cost of both, but it's just like Jesus said, you put my words into action. You're like somebody who builds your house on the rock, not the sand. In either case, you're building a house. But when the storm hits, who's got the easier life? Like the way of Jesus is better. I want to remind people of your name, Brand Hansen, H-A-N-S-E-N. Brand-Hansson, where can people find you and where do you live? What's going on with you? Well, I'm not getting my direct address, but you can find me at brantanthanson.com.

I'm just joking. I live in Jupiter, Florida, so I could be run over by Tiger Woods at any moment, so I'm living in Costa fear. Is that near Malta? Is it? Is it near Malta, did you say? Because that's wrong. That's wrong. I gotcha.

Gotcha. You're in Florida. All right, well, so. Brantanson.com or on Amazon. And you are, and the book is living unoffended. And you are, have you ever pastor to church or you've just been in ministry? What is your story? You know what?

Because of my dad, I just never wanted to do. do that. I'm on the radio. I'm on Christian radio, a couple hundred stations. But one of the reasons the show works, honestly, is because I think I've been through this great deal of hypocrisy in life. And when I say stuff, I really mean it. I don't want, I don't want there to be a disconnect between what my wife thinks of me and what I'm saying on the air. And I actually think that comes across. Wait, what does your wife think of me? Because I don't want there to be a disconnect there either. Okay, she saw you speak one time. And she came back and she said, he's cute.

And she probably made it, made up like a root of bitterness that she's been dealing with ever since then. I know. Well, I'm, I'm, no, she said you're cute. So the bitterness is mine. I'm the one who's having to work through that. No, no, it's kind of funny because what you're talking about, you know, that authenticity, just because, you know, when you do see hypocrisy or whatever you think, Lord, I keep me humble, Lord, keep me humble, keep me straight. Let me not say things that are untrue. Let me not

say, hey, I'm praying for you when I'm not praying for you. Like, just let's keep it simple. Let's keep it. Let's keep it basic. If you do say you're going to pray for somebody, actually do that. We got seconds left. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, I got to tell you this. For people who are losing faith because of hypocrites, do not let hypocrites have the power to chase you away from the best relationship of your life with the Lord. Don't give hypocrites that power. They don't deserve it. Amen.

No. So that's been my decision. Like, I'm not going to let him do that. That's beautiful. Folks. We've been talking to Brand Hansen, H-A-N-S-E-N, Brand-Hansson. Not Brent, brand-Hansson.com. Brand-Hansson, my friend, thank you so much. Thanks, man. Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets?

Yes? Good. This is for you. Because on Spotify, there's an audience that's different, locked in, loyal, invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music. They feel seen by it, like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to.

And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify advertising. You're among fans. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if, like what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was boring. He's old.

You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Good to see you.