The Eric Metaxas Show - Alex Simone

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

Eric talks about the new documentary "Letter to the American Church" with the director Alex Simone 

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m. Investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments. Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to listen to a man of grace, sophistication, integrity, and whimsy? Well, so are we. But until such a man shows up, please welcome Eric Mattaxas. I am so excited, folks. I have no words to tell you how excited I am. As you know by now, Letter to the American Church. My book has been turned into a documentary, and what a documentary.

The two brilliant women behind that documentary are my guests right now. Simone Alex, Rachel Tash, welcome back. Hi, Eric. Hi, thank you, Eric. Seriously, you guys have done such an amazing job. I saw the final cut recently, and it is so beautifully done. So forget the content. The content is only unbelievably important and urgent, yeah, but forget to put that to the side.

It looks amazing. It is edited amazingly. Thank you. It's just so rare to see a documentary that's this well made. It kind of sets the bar. So I don't know why you felt the need. to do that, but thank you. Well, thank you so much. We did want to set the bar on another level for conservative documentaries. I think that there's been a lot of documentaries that have come out

that have been great content, but haven't been well made. And people are so hungry for the truth that these have been successful. But Rachel and I, with our backer, backgrounds in Hollywood. We have maybe a, I don't know, a trained eye for what is captivating, what is visually stimulating along with the content. And so we wanted to bring our background, our experience in film and television into this world. And so, yeah, we told you from the beginning when we very first had the conversation that we wanted to raise the bar and make this visually compelling because obviously the content, your book has been one of the most successful books that you've written and the content was obviously there. The facts were there and we just

needed to pull it together. We had an amazing team, a fantastic editor, a fantastic graphic designer, and they really caught the vision. So we are very happy and dare I say proud in a way that we just, you know, we've created something here that we want to show the world. And it's been such a journey. I mean, people need to know the journey of getting, reaching out to people. Originally, we had cast Buddy Ebson as the Tin Man and the makeup reacted with his skin and stuff. And so eventually, you know, he missed out on this, you know, this is just a landmark film. I may be confusing with Wizard of Oz, but, you know, we'll edit that out in post. But seriously, you guys went after some amazing people.

We got them for the film. They're all in the film. And I, you know, the work that you put into that, again, watching it from the beginning. Now, listen, we've got to say something. I think that's my stomach. We've got to say something here, which is, I always forget, where and how can people see this film? Because it's one thing to talk about it. We want people not just to see.

see it, but to, you know, be part of a movement. So first I'll say the website is letter to the American church.com. There's tons of information there. But where will people be able to see the film? So the film, my dog is very excited about the film, too. Sorry about that. It's going to be coming out February 8th on Epic TV, which is part of Epic Times. They got behind the documentary very early on.

They were excited to see us lay out. what happened in China with Mao and various other regimes. So February 8th, it'll be streaming on Epic TV, which is part of Epic Times. There will also be a very big church tour all over the country where you can see the film for free at different churches in different states. That's currently being set up right now. Well, it's unbelievable. I was going to say people, I just want to say this generally speaking about Epic Times.

It's E-P-O-C-H. people ask me often where do I get my news i certainly don't ever even glance in the direction of the new york times increasingly uh have trouble with all the mainstream media people need to know about epic times epo c h epic times uh and they again these are people that are familiar with the evil of communism because let's be clear it is communist atheism. It is atheistic Marxism. This is not just a different political view. It is antithetical to everything we believe in as Americans, as all Americans believe in. And so Epic Times to partner with them in getting this film out is thrilling to me. And so you just

said it's going to be on EpicTV.com. Is that right on February 8th? Correct. Epic TV is part of Epic Times. If you subscribe, it's right up there at the top. It'll be free for subscribers for the first 24 hours. So please go check it out. Free. And you can want free for subscribers. And even if you don't subscribe, you can still watch it. You can pay a small fee to watch it.

And I just want to note that epoch is, they have millions of subscribers. And subscribers, these subscribers may not necessarily be Christian, right, have read your book. But this is going to go far and wide amongst. conservatives. And so that was our decision with going with epoch because we could reach a massive audience with your book, with your facts, with scripture that we wouldn't have been able to reach had we stayed in the Christian echo chamber. So this is really exciting for us. Aren't we biblically supposed to stay in the Christian echo chamber? I think that's very clear from scripture. No, seriously, this is a, it's a great opportunity.

And I think something is happening. Let's be, let's be honest, something is happening in the world right now where people, they're crossing lines. I mean, like, you know, a couple of times you said conservative, and I think, what's conservative about it? There's nothing conservative. This is biblical. This is true. This is about what are we biblically obliged to do? It's kind of, so it's kind of bizarre in a way that, you know, in a way we have to go to, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we. We, we. We, we. We, we. We, we. We, we. We, we. We, we. We, we. We. We. We. We. We. We you think about it as conservative and you think, wait a minute, everybody who has a scriptural view, this is either scriptural or it's not. And if it's a scriptural view, then it transcends politics. It transcends everything and it really is for everybody. And that's what excites me is that we know that there are plenty of people in the church and plenty of people outside the church that they're looking around trying to make sense of the madness. And a lot of that is in the film. I mean, you guys have done an incredible job of getting some footage of the madness of what is going on out there and how we react to it.

How did the two of you, I mean, you can both answer, how did you come to where you are in terms of faith, in terms of your views? Because I was just so excited when you decided you wanted to make a film of my book. How do we come to faith? Well, how do you come to faith and into your views? Because there are some people that they say that they're Christians, but they wouldn't go near this stuff.

They say, oh, that's political. You know, they don't understand that we're supposed to, to go everywhere. I mean, we go to a very outspoken church, God speak, Rob McCoy Church here in California. And I think that is just the mission of our church is to speak truth and to speak it out to the world and to try and engage and wake people up. Simone and I met through another organization and we just happened to both go to the same exact church, which was also a God thing.

And we just immediately clicked. And when I heard you speak at God Speak where it all started, I was a lot of watching you speak and I immediately knew that this had to be made into a documentary. I wanted to see the visuals. I wanted to see the parallels laid out throughout history up into modern times what is happening. I wanted someone to explain it. Our pastor explains what is happening during the week. Every day that we face all these things on Sunday morning, he doesn't avoid them. He brings them up and we discuss them. And he always brings it back to the truth of the Bible and what Jesus said. So it's one of the best churches I've ever been to.

So that for us is, I think, kind of how it connected and how things kind of came together. But I want to add to that, too, that Rachel and I have in our background with Hollywood, she was an executive at several studios. And I was mostly in front of the camera as an actress. And we both saw in our own right as Christians, we both saw in our own right what was happening behind the scenes. She was seeing it from the executive level at the studio. I was seeing it on a day-to-day basis on sets. All of this wokeism and just the DEI.

And it's been we got sick of it. I want to, we're going to go to a break. I want to be right back to continue that and other sentences. Folks, very excited. Don't go away. Tell me why Relief Factor is so successful at lowering or eliminating pain. I'm often asked that question just the other night. I was asked that question. Well, the owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal. That's right, designed to heal. And I agree with them. And the doctors who formulated Relief Factor for them selected the four best ingredients, yes, 100% drug-free ingredients. And each one of them helps your body deal with inflammation. Each of the four ingredients deals with inflammation from a different metabolic pathway. That's the point. So approaching from four different angles may be why so many people find such wonderful relief.

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with a few clicks. Visit legacy pminvestments.com to get started. You're going to love this free new tool they've added. LegacyPm Investments.com. Legacy pm investments.com. Check it out. Folks, have I mentioned that I'm excited. I am so excited. My book, Letter to the American Church, has been turned into a brilliant, an extraordinary documentary film with the title, Letter to the American Church. I have the filmmakers with me, Simone Alex and Rachel Tash. We've been talking about it. And Simone, both of you spent decades, you seem too young to have spent decades, but you spent decades in Hollywood, and you saw the madness of the wokeism infiltrate Hollywood so dramatically. you were just talking about that.

So what a nightmare to see it infiltrate the church. I mean, you were just saying something about that when we went to the break. Yeah, well, Rachel was a studio executive for many studios for several years. And I was in front of the camera as an actress. So I was on sets day to day. We are both married to a gentleman who are in the industry as well, a cameraman, director. My husband does lighting.

So we, from the both of us and our families, we've seen it and talked about slowly but surely this DEI moving in, diversity, equity, inclusion, this LGBT movement and how you're strong armed into accepting every little, you know, jot and tittle of that movement or else you're out. I had to step away from acting because at least theatrically in scripted television and film, I wasn't comfortable with what they were having me say. So I moved into commercials and stayed in commercials because it was very vanilla and bland. But I think that we really, she and I really saw eye, saw eye to eye from our different perspectives. I know that she will tell you that she had to be silent for the most part at the studios, you know, sort of keep her views down low. And when we first met, she said then, and I know I'm speaking for you, but she said that

she was so fed up that she started dropping like truth bombs throughout the studio halls and when she was having conversations, especially when the vaccine was rolling out. And all the, you know, there was either you knew about really what was, what was going on with the vaccine or you didn't. And she knew. And so she started to tell people about it and masking and all of these things. And I think that we were both so fed up that we wanted to take the best of Hollywood, right? The best of our experience, the best of what we knew and that excellence and professionalism and bring it into this world and really start telling truth and truth through great stories and visually compelling and just making excellent content. And just making excellent

content. So that is, that's what drove us here as Christians and, dare I say, conservatives, or let's just say we don't, we don't fall on the progressive left. We're not, we're not into Marxism. But again, that's the point is that the progressive left. I mean, the Democratic Party is no longer Tip O'Neill or Jimmy Carter or Richard Gephardt or Gary Hart. I mean, I think of that era. And they were, you know, very similar to the Republican counterparts. We now have. leftist Marxism, which is atheistic. We have to be really clear. The Democratic Party does not use to be atheistic. We're now talking about atheistic, Marxist lunacy, having infiltrated American culture. Hollywood has been a big part of that. But the reason you made this documentary

film is because many in the church have welcomed it with open arms or have simply, ignorantly left the door open like, you know, we're open to this kind of stuff. Really? You're open to atheistic ideology that rages against God. And so this film, like my book, it's an effort to make the biblical case. Folks, it's either a biblical case or it's garbage. And this is making the biblical case for why Christians need to get involved, why they need to speak out. We've had a number of the folks in the documentary on this program, James Lindsay, John Amunuchuku. John Amuncchukwu is a hero. He's going to school board meetings, and he's reading what is in the books in these schools, and they're shutting him down and saying, you can't say that.

That's vulgar. It's sexual. And he's like, yeah, that's the point. These are the books that are being made available to your children with your tax dollars. So he's a hero, but he's coming from a place of faith. It's just, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, It's exciting to me. Rachel, were you behind the, there are a number of Instagram posts and reels that you guys have put out that are clips from the movie. But the one with people like dropping dead from the vaccine, that's one of the most jarring things I've ever seen. And I was just so glad that you put it out there. Yeah, that's part of our marketing campaign.

So we'll be cutting, they're called TV spots, TV 30, social spots. We'll be, you know, giving people little glimpses into the film besides. the trailer. You'll be able to see a lot of things on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X Twitter. For the film, we will be pushing things out from now until February

8th. You know, the whole point of making this film was to awaken the church, to let people know that it's okay to speak out, that you need to wake up and realize what's happening. At the end of the day, this is a spiritual battle. This is good versus evil. As old as time, good versus evil.

It's really about nothing else. and we as the church need to arise and awaken and come out and start engaging and talking to people and getting involved in your community. Who's your mayor? Who's on your school board? Those are people that are affecting your lives, your children's lives, your neighbors, kids, your grandkids. And we really need to engage. We've been asleep raising our kids and working for a very long time.

And it has crept in and overtaken America and our culture. Anyone who is not from America who was born in another country and flea. here will tell you this. They left these countries, Iran, Venezuela, Bolivia, to come here for freedom and these rights, and they see it happening here, just like it did in their country. So we're in a very crucial year. This year is very, very important to awake and to get involved. I got to say, so how can people get involved? In other words, when they go to the website, letter to the American Church, because we actually want people to get involved, not just to see the film. We want everybody to see the film. We want every single church to have a free screening. Folks, free. That's,

there's no strings attached, except if your church is not interested in a free screening of this film, then my question is, why are you going to that church? Why? Because, you know, you're going to fall under judgment if you're going to a church that looks the other way, while evil is being pushed on our neighbors. We're supposed to love our neighbors. But how can people get involved? So, a couple ways. First, First of all, if you want to host a screening at your church, or if you're in leadership, or if you want to go to leadership, you can go to letter of the American church.com. And there is a form that you can fill out to request a screening. And we are actively booking church screenings across the country right now.

We have a packet of information. We give your church. We make it very clear how to do it. Easy to do. So that's first of all. Second of all, call to actions. We didn't want to just make a documentary and leave people hanging. We are building out a robust activation plan to get the audience activated to do something after watching the film.

And that's all going to be built out through our website right now. We have activation partners with how to homeschool your child, how to learn how to pull them out of school and start the curriculum, even if you have a full-time job. job. We are partnered with the Patriot Academy with Rick Green and the biblical citizenship course and getting you plugged in there. There are lots of amazing people who have stepped up to help you get activated. The only reason why the audience would not get activated is if they went back home and pulled the bonbons out of their freezer and turned on Netflix. That's the only way that you would not get activated because this is the time when everyone needs to take action. that's registering voters that is campaigning for a candidate who stands for your values,

that is making sure that if you have to put your kids in public school, making sure that you're a voice like Amun Chuku, who goes to the school board and actually knows what the curriculum is in your school. So these are all being built out right now on our website. And so always just check back there even after you see the film. I was just going to say that you mentioned take your bonbons out of the freezer. Who keeps bonbons in the freezer? I have no idea what you're talking about. What is that? No, it's so funny because what you said, it really is true. Once you see what is going on,

it's really difficult to do nothing because you're going to feel guilty because you're going to know God made you for this hour. You're alive in this hour to do something for God's purposes. It's not about America or about me or the church. These are God's purposes in history. And it's a unique moment, very similar to what the Germans went through in the 1930s, which is why I referenced it in my book and it's in the film, is that there are moments in history that are different than other moments in history. This is one of those moments, the 30s in Germany.

It's one of those moments where the church has to ask the question, what is our job right now? because things are very, very, very bad. What is our job? God, what is our job? What would you have us to do? And there are a lot of people, they don't want to ask that question, but God wants us to ask that question, and he wants to respond to do what he asks us to do.

We'll be right back. We're talking about the film Letter to the American Church. Website, Letter to the American Church.com. Hey, this is Eric Mattaxas. For years I've told you about nutrometics, a professional supplement brand trusted by doctors since 1993. Nutrametics offers a variety of health bundles.

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Go to Nutrametics. That's N-U-T-R-A-M-E-D-I-X.com. Neutrametics.com, use the code E-D-I-X.com. Mike Lindell and My Pillo employees want to thank my listeners for all your your continued support to thank you. They're having an overstock clearance sale right now for the best prices ever when you use promo code Eric and you get free shipping for the entire order. Get 50% off the MyPillow 2.0 and the brand new flannel sheets that just arrived and won't last long. Get six-pack towel sets for only 2998 and take advantage of the free shipping on larger items like mattresses and mattress topers 100% made in the USA on sale for as low as 9999. Everything is on sale from the brand new kitchen towels that have the same technology as the bath towels that actually

absorb dog beds, blankets, couch pillows, and so much more to get the best specials ever. Go to mypillow.com. Use promo code Eric. Again, mypillow.com. Use promo code Eric. Remember, you get free shipping on your entire order. You can call 800-9783057. 800-9783057. Use promo code Eric. Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to one of my favorite people. Katie Madonna, she happens to be on our team, and she has done so much. But what we're talking about right now is this idea, Katie, that you had, that I really was amazed at the concept of this. It's a program that's going to be on Socrates Plus, so you have to sign up at Socratesandcityplus.com.

But it's included. It's all included when you go to Socratesandcityplus.com and you sign up for, what is it, $5 a month? You're making that up, Katie's. you're just making that up. $5 a month. You're going to hit people for $49.99. I know it's going to be $50 a month. If it's really $5 a month, people, well.

But for me, because I've done Socrates in the city and had these conversations over the years, I'm excited about that. But this thing I didn't even know about until a couple of months ago. And you came up with this idea called a gentleman's guide. You were just describing it. So please continue describing what it is. because it's a short program.

I don't know how long they're going to be. There's going to be longer versions, but go ahead. Right. So we'll do, you know, these might be 20 to 30 minute episodes. We'll have extended, you know, additions of every episode. But it really is, we're traveling with you, Eric, through a city. And you're pointing out, you know, must-see locations, little-known historical details. You're telling us restaurants that you want, you know, your favorite restaurants.

and we're just going with you. It's fun. It's like a mixture of a docu series, but also it's produced. You know, you'll maybe recite a poem here and there, or, you know, maybe something from your books will come up. But this was in part inspired from Amazing Grace, your biography on William Wilberforce, who had, you know, he felt like God gave him two chief aims in life. The first, of course, was to abolish the British slave trade. which he did, you know, that took him nearly his whole life. But the lesser-known chief aim in life for him was the reformation of manners.

So one of the things that we're really hoping to do with this show is we want to delight your viewers. We want to entertain them. You know, we want to teach them a thing or two. But underneath, you know, we want to show what does it really mean to be a gentleman? You know, maybe we'll talk about virtues or we'll have fun quotes and poems and different things. Well, I have to say, and you know I'm not kidding, because I've said this to you several times now, but I was just astonished at the whole thing because it would, you know, to me, it's sort of, it lets me be me in the best sense, basically like there's all this wonderful content that I get to present. And you, principally, and others have pulled it together. So it was so much fun for me to film it. We filmed it over two days. What was the last month? sometime. And this is just the first episode. This is a gentleman's guide to New York. And by the way, folks, we're going to do many, many more gentlemen's guides to New York because we scratched the surface.

So we're going to do one in Philadelphia. We're going to do them around the United States. We're going to do them in Europe. But we could do 50 of them in New York because New York has so many interesting things. And the one that we did in New York, and I honestly cannot wait for people to see this. it's nuts. Ladies and gentlemen, you'll see. But it was, we went to an art gallery. We went to a museum. We went to a special place in Central Park. I recited a poem that I wrote in front of the Statue of Liberty. I'm not making this up. We really did this. But it's also, it's quirky and kind of funny. It definitely has a Wes Anderson vibe, I guess, visually. Right, right. Exactly. Our director is Chris Cole and he and his team were just phenomenal to work with. And, you know, we're really

excited to do a lot more. And we're all about ripping off Wes Anderson. But seriously, it is just a lot of delightful content and it's fun. And like a lot of stuff I do, like you have to listen carefully because there will be weird statements and jokes. But if you're not, if you're listening casually, you'll miss them and you'll be, you'll be embarrassed because other people won't miss them. But it was so much fun. I cannot wait to do the next one and the next one and the next one and the next one and the next one. And so this is a show featured on Socrates Plus. And so people can go to Socrates and the cityplus.com.

And you can give us your email. But I still want to know how you came up with the idea of a gentleman's guide. Because I think this is going to be like a breakout hit. I don't know where it's going to go, what's going to happen. But it was so much fun doing it that I thought. I think this is going to go places. Right. I mean, I hope so.

I hope people really have a lot of fun watching this. And, you know, there's so many things that went into, you know, the inspiration behind this. But, you know, for a couple of things, I've been watching, you know, different travel documentaries on whatever, Netflix or Amazon Prime. I've been watching a lot of the crown, Eric, which you turned me on to years ago. But they talk all about duty and, you know, they go. They go hunting and they do all these amazing gentlemanly things. And I thought, you know, I'd love to see Eric in a suit hunting grouse. We haven't done that yet.

Not yet. Not yet. In a suit hunting grouse, ladies and gentlemen. You heard it here on the program. I'm as surprised and shocked and disgusted as you are. That will never happen. No, I think it's going to happen. I think it's going to happen.

But it's just so it was so much fun to shoot. And again, it's hard for us to communicate. This is why people have to see the visuals. But the places we went, we went to one place in Brooklyn, a bar called Fort Defiance. I mean, I don't even know. I mean, it's related to George Washington. It's really, the Battle of Brooklyn happened right there.

So there's a lot of history here. We went to an art gallery on Bleaker Street or near there. That's another story. But there were so many different pieces that it's hard to sum up. And that's the goal to make it hard to sum up. So you'll just watch it. You'll experience it. And then you'll stumble around trying to tell your friends about it.

And you'll fail just as I have done. We'll be right back. Welcome back, folks. We're talking about something that I really can't believe it's happening. But we are launching a streaming, digital streaming platform called Socrates. plus and it's just it is that brand it's the Socrates brand um so different from my radio show or my TV show or whatever it's just it's its own kind of thing but it's going to be it's going to have a lot of different stuff on it

and and I'm amazed that we're finally there that it's launching December 21st I'm more amazed that it's five dollars a month I feel like that can't be right but okay but But Katie, Madonna, who is my guest, Katie, you're a wife, you're a mother, and you're behind the scenes making a lot of this stuff happen. So I just want to say thank you on the air because I am amazed at what you have done. The gentleman's guide is just the most astonishing to me. It's just such a cool thing. And I, ladies and gentlemen, I can't wait to see it. Like I can't begin to say how I'm just drooling.

I want to see it because it was so much fun doing it. But we have to say, Katie, that this is exclusive content. You will not be able to find this anywhere. This will not be on YouTube. This is not going to be anywhere else. All this stuff that we've had on Socrates, it's been on YouTube, it's been everywhere. It won't be. If you want to see all of this stuff.

And some of this stuff has been seen like literally a million times. We've had tons of views. but we're going to migrate everything officially to Socrates Plus. So if you want to see it in toto, you have to sign up for Socrates Plus. But it's going to be, and we're going to be expanding it. I think we have to be clear, too, that there are other programs that I can't really talk about right now that are going to fall under the Socrates Plus platform. We're working on getting those funded and on doing those.

But it's just exciting. I still can't believe it. it's really finally happening. Yes, we're so excited. So Socrates Plus, again, it's a digital subscription streaming platform. It houses all things Socrates in the City. This is nearly 100 conversations, lectures, just an amazing variety of content, really thought-provoking and entertaining content that will be on Socrates in the City

plus.com. Now, we will still have some content on YouTube. We'll still have some free content. on the Socrates in the city website. But everything and a lot of new, brand new, exclusive content will be only available on Socrates plus, again, $5 a month. And yeah, like you said, there's a lot of really, really exciting things coming down the pipeline. And we are looking for, you know, if somebody would be interested in partnering with us,

if someone would be interested in investing, we take bribes, we take gifts. We need bribes. We actually need bribes. That's in our bylaws. No, actually, info. Yeah, go ahead. I was just going to say, send me an email at info at socrates in the city.com.

One of the other things that we're looking for are contributors. So the Socrates Plus website, it is really a media website. So we have all kinds of video, audio, but we're also going to have columns. So if anyone is listening and you can use the word. lapidary correctly in a sentence. You can send me your writing samples. Info at Socrates in the city.com, and we may tap your shoulder to have you contribute an article or two.

Well, I forgot about that. There's going to be a writing component on there. And I know so many writers that I've already mentioned. I want you to write for Socrates Plus because I feel like there are a lot of people like, you know, whether it's my friend John Zmirak or Keith Junta, they're writing amazing stuff. And I want to, I want people to read it

because other people are not writing what they're writing. And so it's just, it's another feature of this. And I think it's true that, you know, if it really is only $5 a month, the idea is that even if you were just signing up and just doing the same, Socrates' live streams, you're making money, sort of, because the live stream, you know, those are, those are $10.

Every one is $10. So this is just already included in that. And again, the Socrates events, we're going to be doing more and more of them. And the fact that the whole season of Socrates in the studio has been filmed. We're going to start filming a second season, but you'll begin, you'll be able to see the first season. And, you know, Katie, what I didn't want to forget is. the goal behind Socrates in the city and the whole Socrates brand has always been to give people, let's say, three things. Truth, humor, and hope.

Not always together, but often together. And it's also to help kind of educate people. Like I feel like I get an education having these conversations with these brilliant people on so many. different kinds of things. Again, it's not like it's politics or theology. It's like all kinds of stuff. And I feel like it is about feeding your brain. And that, I think, often does not happen. If you're watching like cable news or you're just listening to political content or cultural stir-the-pot content constantly. You're not feeding your brain. We need to feed our brains and enjoy that process of learning, you know, from

some of the classical minds of the past. Obviously, Socrates's at the forefront of that. And a lot of the people that, one thing we should say is that tons of our guests over the years have been somehow connected to C.S. Lewis or have talked about C.S. Lewis. There's a whole bunch that we filmed in Oxford, England, how many years ago, eight years ago in Oxford, in Oxford, England, that many of them, it was about C.S. Lewis. So I think it's an opportunity to kind of like take a break from the crazy and just to feed your mind and your soul a little bit. And that's important.

But I just, I guess, Katie, we don't have a video to show people. If people go to Socrates in the cityplus.com, there's not a video or anything yet. Right now it's just to send your email so we can send you the videos and send you all this stuff. Yes, yes. go to Socrates in the cityplus.com, and there's a little place where you can give us your email address, and we'll send you notifications. We'll tell you when it launches December 21st.

We'll send you trailers. Don't worry, we won't send you a million emails a day, but we would love to be able to keep you updated on what's happening. Right. And just to embarrass you on the way out, I think you should have a show on Socrates Plus. I'm going to twist your arm into that. Thank you, Katie, Madonna.

Thank you. Hey, the folks. Welcome back. I want to mention Socrates Plus. Now, I think I said this yesterday, but this is, it's a new digital streaming platform that we have launched. Socrates in the city plus.com. Socrates in the city plus.com. If you want to see anything in the future of Socrates in the city, you have to be a member of Socrates Plus.

So it's like $5 a month. If you do it for the year, you get two months free. But we've got a lot of upcoming events, and all the live streams will be unavailable unless you're a member of Socrates Plus. If you're member of Socrates Plus, it's free. So the live stream that, you know, that was set up in the last year or so, which was a new feature. Yeah. That cost was what, 10 bucks, something like that? Well, yeah, we would charge $10.

And by the way, that was insanely cheap. Right. But that's no longer available unless you now have to be a member of Socrates Plus. us to watch the Socrates events. And we got a lot of Socrates events coming up. And I want to mention February 8th in Seattle. We have a Socrates event. I can't believe it's coming up so quick. February 8th in Seattle, Socrates and the city event with John West. We're talking C.S. Lewis, Scientism. Very, very excited to have John West. He's the head of the Discovery Institute. And the Discovery Institute, they're the greatest. Like half of my Socrates guest come from the Discovery.

Institute. They've been on this program. But that event is happening in Seattle. Now, by the way, if you're in the Seattle area or can get there, you want to be there in person. It's very, very special to be there in person. But most people can't get there. And if you want to watch it live, you have to go to Socrates and City Plus.com and sign up. So I want to be very clear that we're shifting things now. Yeah. So that we're getting with the times. To act, right, to access most of the content. And we have filmed an entire season, already of Socrates in the studio. Yeah.

And those are basically Socrates and the city conversations without the audience of 250 people. We just aired, well, we put them all out, but some of you know the guests that we have in this first season. We have Andrew Claven. We have Margarita Mooney talking about beauty. Wonderful, wonderful conversation. Hadley Arcus, Hadley Arcus, again, one of the greatest legal. mind's ever. I mean, he's a genius. He taught at Amherst for 50 years, but also very delightful and fun to talk to. So we had a conversation about natural law. You get a real education,

frankly. Socrates and city is about the life of the mind. So I guess I say this to people, and I might as well say it here, when people ask me, well, what's Socrates and City? What is this stuff? A big part of it is the life of the mind, that, you know, you graduate college, and you want to continue to be living in the world of ideas and, you know, thinking and exploring truth. And that's what Socrates Plus will enable you to do because we're going to have way more. We used to just, you know, do an event now and again. But we've now filmed an entire season of Socrates in the studio. So you got Socrates in the city events. You got Socrates in the studio events and then we have a number of other programs

when you go to Socrates Plus you'll see the other programs. The one that I'm most excited about is a gentleman's guide. Yeah. It's going to freak you out people. It's sort of like the old Anthony Bourdain show, but it's you. It's way better than Anthony Borgaine. It's more the subject matter is about, you know, being a gentleman

and how to do that. Something like that. I don't know if I'm buying that. Well, you know, something like that. Well, it's terrific. All right, so Socrates and City Plus.com check it out, sign up, sign your kids up. Letter to the Americanchurch.com, letter to the American church.com. We need your help in getting the word out.

It is exciting. Free screenings available for churches only. It's terrific.