The Eric Metaxas Show - Allen Jackson (Encore)

Episode Date: August 26, 2022

Allen Jackson, in his new book "Big Trouble Ahead," lays out current events through the lens of the Bible and offers a guide to charting new territory. (Encore Presentation)

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.com. Taxis show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Uh-oh. You know what time it is? Oh, yeah.

Yes, it's hour two on Thursday. And that means, it can only mean one thing, Albin. Yes, I know. And the funny thing is, I don't know what that thing is. Come on. Actually, you know what? I know what it is. Yes.

It's Ask Metaxus. People write in questions. And you can write to us, folks. You can ask us the most Baroque, bizarre. Anything you write in, we will read it and we'll take it seriously. Today's questions are actually pretty simple. They are. But you can write us, and Albin will ask the question, and I will do my best to answer it.

And my best is maybe it's not that good, but I will do my best. So the first question, Albin. Okay. Here we go. Question number one, a little birdie told me. A Socrates event is coming up soon. What are the details? Actually, three Socrates events are coming up soon. We haven't, you're not allowed to register for two of them. But the first one, which is coming up September 27th, is Andrew Claven. He was on this program. Maybe we'll air it tomorrow because not everybody can get, you know, to New York.

But I got to tell you, when I read his book, it's called The Truth in Beauty. it is about how his reading of the romantic poets, Keats and Wordsworth and Shelley and Coleridge, how these poems from 200 years ago helped him to understand the words of Jesus better. I was so amazed. So we interviewed him on this program, and we will air that, I think, tomorrow, because so many of you can't get to New York. But if you can get to New York, oh boy, you're in for a treat. And I should say this, too.

I know the early bird tickets are sold out already because this is popular, but there's a VIP reception and there's a dinner. If you can afford to come to the dinner, these are very, very special private dinners that we do in the Lincoln bedroom, I almost said, with Barbara Streisand jumping on the bed. No, we do them in the Lincoln Library of the Union League Club. It's absolutely gorgeous. I just want to tell you.

And you get to ask questions and interact. act. It's a really a wonderful thing. But you have to go to Socrates in the city.com, and it's September 27th. And when it's full, it's full. So I'm just letting you know, we've got plenty time, but don't wait too long because these get full, especially the dinner, like that when that's full, that's done. But I think tomorrow we need to air my conversation with Andrew Claven. So people remember, Andrew Claven is a genius. He has won the Edgar Award. This is the award that they give to people who write mystery thrillers. Every year, it's like, you know, the award goes to one person. He has won it several times. I mean, he is an absolute literary genius. He came to

faith in Jesus, I don't know, 20 years ago. He was a secular Jew. He's got a crazy, crazy story. His memoir is amazing. But when he wrote this book, I said, this is it. I can't believe he's pulled us off. So that's Socrates and City, that's coming up. That was the long answer. I'm sorry. I forgot that we have other questions. We've got a few more. one. How was your time at Second Baptist last weekend? Well, I spoke with that a little bit of, I think yesterday the day before. I was in Houston at Second Baptist. Dr. Ed Young is the legend who has been at that church for its coming up on 40 years. It was one of the most extraordinary experiences I've had. We posted my second sermon because I spoke at Second Baptist, their main campus, which is

gigantic. And then I spoke at their other gigantic campus. in Katie, which is toward the west of, in Houston. And it's a theater in the round. It's kind of like a crazy experience. But I have to tell you, the experience of being there was very, very moving for me. It was the first time I've ever spoken on my new book letter to the American church. And I posted it on social media. And if you get our newsletter, if you go to Eric Metaxus.com and sign up for the newsletter,

which I hope you do, I think we sent it out yesterday. But it really was extraordinary. I hope that they invite me back to Second Baptist, and I can speak on his atheism dead. But it was fair. I love Houston. We have friends in Houston. And anyway, thank you.

Yeah. Okay. Now, you covered some of this in our one, but what are your thoughts on Biden's loan forgiveness? Yeah. I didn't realize that I'd be talking to John's Merrick about that. But I will tell you, it is so evil. I am, there's certain things that really take my breath away.

and the cynicism that this president would do something like this. This is robbing from American taxpayers so that he can bribe people to vote for him. It's that simple. There is zero reason to forgive loans. And by the way, it's not your money to give. If it was your money, Joe Biden, I'd say, go at it or you want to encourage billionaires to do this. Go ahead. But when I incur a debt, I'm supposed to pay that debt.

and all of these students that did what I did borrow money so that you can go to school, that's your debt. So the idea that taxpayers, people who work their tails off to support their families, that you're going to take that money, their money, and you're going to give it to, you know, in many cases, people who could afford to pay these debts themselves or will pay these debts themselves, this is, it's absolute madness. It's deeply grievous. It's really kind of, it's so shocking to me, I can't get over it.

So let's get something. Do you have any more positive question? Okay. Do you think state fairs are inherently American? What a weird and fascinating question. Do I think state fairs are inherently American? I'm going to say yes. I don't know why I'm saying yes, because this is not a right or wrong answer.

But there is something so delightful about state fairs. In Danbury, by the way, we had the Danbury State Fair. It was basically like the unofficial Connecticut State Fair. The Danbury State Fair, it ran for over 100 years. It ended in the 80s, and it broke the heart of every person who grew up in Danbury. Because this was a thing every year you would go to the Danbury State Fair. And it was absolutely so magical for kids, and it was beautiful. So if you've got a state fair, go to it.

Okay. Classic book that every child should read. A classic book that every child should read? Yeah. Well, if I had to pick just one, I'd pick the line, the witch, and the wardrobe. But I would say all the Narnia Chronicles, they are, there's nothing like them. They are a level of genius. I didn't read them until I was like 30, because I was not raised in an evangelical home.

I never heard of C.S. Lewis. They are like the greatest books ever. And I would say very strongly, the Narnia Chronicles, the Line the Witch and a Wardrobe, number one, the silver chair is probably my second favorite but these are amazing books and he's married in Westminster

Cathedral that's right I'm not sure about no no Abby Abby Abby of course yeah not the cathedral sorry Winnie the Pooh I was thinking of Mr. The Wind and the Willows

I thought was a good Well there's a lot of great books There's the Secret Garden I need to compile the list I say this every time The Secret Garden is a beautiful book Okay Okay

What are the different between Texas and New York? Well, New York has a border with our northern neighbor, Canada. Texas has a border with our southern neighbor Venezuela. Oh, I'm sorry. I guess it's just people from Venezuela escaping the socialist madness come up through Mexico. The difference is that Texas still has people who understand what a great country of America is and are voting that way.

New York has fallen on really hard times where we have some of the worst leadership in the history of America. Starting with our mayor, I won't even pronounce his name. But Texas is a place when I go there. I feel like I'm home. This is America. New York. Now, by the way, a lot of upstate New York is more like Texas than it is like Manhattan. But every time I come to Texas, I feel like at this point I probably have more friends in Texas than I do in New York.

So final question. Okay, most exciting thing on the horizon. Well, often it's the sun, but I think maybe metaphorically speaking, the Bonhoeffer film is going to be shot in November and December. It's really happening, folks. I'm not really allowed to talk about it too much, but I just want to tell you it's taken us 10 years. It's happening next year sometime.

Bonhofer film is coming out. I am so excited. I could burst. So that's huge. The talk show, you and Alba, you Albin and I shot a bunch of episodes. That is moving along.

We've got a lot of Socrates in the city happening. There's a ton of stuff. Sign up for the newsletter, folks. On the horizon. And I think America will be saved from communism, but you have to get involved in that, which is why I wrote my book letter to the American Church. We're done.

When we come back, our friend Alan Jackson. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed. And when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and shipping spikes

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exercise or just getting older, you should order the three-week quick start discounted to only 1995 to see if it will work for you. It works for me. It has for about 70% of the half a million people who've tried it and have ordered more. Go to relieffactor.com or call 800, 4.4.4.5.com. relief to find out about this offer. Feel the difference. Hey there, folks. Welcome back. You know, as you travel around the country, or I should say as I travel around the country, I make friends everywhere. And it's a wonderful thing when you go back to the same place a number of times. You really do feel like family. One of those places is Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where I have spoken many times at World Outreach Church and gotten to know

the pastor, Alan Jackson. So we're friends. And I have already read the book that he's going to be talking about. I already gave him an endorsement for it because I love it. But I'm really happy to have him on as my guest right now. Pastor Alan Jackson, welcome. Well, thank you, Eric. It's good to be with you.

I'll pretend we're just acquaintances because this is, I want, you know, I want this to be a hard-hitting journalistic interview. I'm going to ask you the tough questions. This book is titled Big Trouble Ahead, A Real Plan for Flourishing in a Time of Fear and Deception. One of the reasons that I like you and I like the book is because you tell it like it is. We are in a situation in this country unlike anything we've seen in our lifetimes without any question. And that's what you talk about. So tell my audience effectively, essentially, what do you say in the book, Big Trouble?

trouble ahead? Well, big trouble ahead is really a play off the word tribulation, which is our biblical world, and tribulation just means big trouble. And I think there's a temptation amongst evangelicals, especially to leap ahead to think, is this the end of the world because we're walking through this turmoil? And rather than answer that question, I try to acknowledge that we're in this season of tremendous confusion and disruption and realignment. And what do we do to flourish in the midst of that?

I think there's it started with the pandemic in 2020. And we were told if we'd go home for two weeks, we could flatten the curve and return to normal. They lied. And so now we're more than two years later. And the turmoil is escalating. It's not diminishing. We've survived the virus, such as it was. But we have violence in our streets and lawlessness on our borders and more deception and propaganda and censorship.

I mean, you know the list. And we can't just click our heels together and want to go back to 2019. We have to decide what we do. in this environment to make a difference for the kingdom of God. And that's what the book's about. How do we flourish in this season? Well, you know, I have a book coming out in the fall. In fact, I think I'm speaking at your church in September the week it comes out called Letter

to the American Church, which deals in a different way with the same thing. And it's this problem. You just alluded to it. There are people, whether there are politicians or pastors, who seem to just want to click their heels and go back to 2019. as if most of our cherished values had not been viciously attacked, and we just want to ignore that and move on. That's the Christian thing to do.

I would argue, and you argue, no, it's not the Christian thing to do. The Christian thing to do is to be honest about what we're facing. I mean, when you talk about propaganda, misinformation, we have never seen that in America. That is what, if you have any sense of history, if you're old enough as we are, you just think, this is grotesque. We have never, ever seen anything like this in our lifetimes. We simply have not.

We've grown up in a world where, you know, Jim Crow was defeated, whatever. We're just trying to get better and correct our wrongs. And then we hit this era where all of these, whether authority figures or institutions of authority, have not just failed, but have gone over to the dark side, have decided we're going to put out false information. We're going to manipulate people. We've never faced that in America. And if the church does not stand up against this, we're supposed to, we believe in the one who is truth.

And if we're quiet, then I believe the Lord will judge us and to some extent is already judging us, because it is our job to speak up. I couldn't agree more. I think if we're quiet, we're like the German Christians that gathered in their churches and sang more loudly when the trains filled with the Jews passed by. But I think there's good news in the midst of this because I don't think what we're watching just happened in 2020.

I think we were asleep. I think the infrastructure was put in place. I think the ideologies have been flourishing in our schools and our universities. You know, I've spent my life around academia, and we're dishonest because you've spent enough time there. They were teaching this garbage in the universities decades ago. And for the most part, I was quiet because I wanted to earn the degree and I wanted the blessing and I wanted whatever came with that. It's just now it's made it's all the way down to our elementary schools, and they're teaching it to our most vulnerable children, and we were so distracted we didn't know.

And because of the pandemic and all that happened, it's like the alarm clock went off, and we woke up and we weren't in Kansas anymore. And now the decision has to be made. Are we going to acknowledge that we've worshipped at the altar of comfort and convenience? Are we going to acknowledge the degree to which we've wandered off the path? I read the literature in the church for the last decade or so. We've spent more energy talking about how to make friends with the world than how to explain what righteousness and purity is to God's people.

And we've got to come back and look at our fundamentals. It's not the first time in the history of the church. The Bible's filled with it and church history is filled with it when we wander away from what center is. And now God and His mercy has awakened us. And will we have the courage to do the hard work of reasserting our faith, saying our faith does belong in the schools? Our faith does belong in the corporate boardroom.

It's much easier to say, well, we just want to do. an election to fix it. We want a politician to fix it or a political party to fix it. It's not the job of the politicians. This is the church's job. And I don't mean when we gather on Sunday to sing a song and endure a sermon. I mean those of us that imagine ourselves to be citizens of the kingdom of God have to take the values of that kingdom and live them out in our neighborhoods on the ball fields and the corporate settings and the hospitals and the courtrooms. We've got to actually act like Christians when we're not at church. What a thought. I'm going to tell you, my wife and I've been watching, I guess Ken Burns, I don't know how many years ago, put out one of the series about

the West. And yesterday we watched the episode where the two railroads meet, the golden spike in the middle. It was just this extraordinary moment in American history. But what struck me about it was that there was a prayer, a profound prayer using the name of Jesus before the actual spike was put in connecting east and west. And I thought, that is America. That was a country that understood that we're not going to force people to be Christians because you can't force people to choose something that's right and true. But you can be true to your values and true to who you are. That's who we've always been. And you and I know that in our lifetimes, we've drifted and drifted and drifted away. Even in my book is atheism dead. I realize we've lived. We've

lived with this lie, the is God dead lie, the secular lie. Like, we can kind of coexist as though, you know, most people kind of know there's no God, but some of us believe there's a God. And you start thinking, wait, this is an issue of truth. How can you function in a civil society? How can you talk about right and wrong? How can you talk about slavery being wrong? Unless you have a standard of right and wrong that comes from the God of Scripture. We've pretended, Alan, that we can have what we want without that, without God. And I really think that what we're facing right now, the reason we're in such a tremendous tribulation, or as you put it in the title of your book, the big trouble, is because we've pretended that we can put the issue of God aside,

we can put the issue of truth aside, and we can still have what we want. And we're finding now, no, when you put those things away, you're going to get corruption, you're going to get every kind of wickedness, propaganda, truth is going to be bent or tied into knots. And it's time that the church spoke up. So that's why I'm just thrilled that you and just a handful of pastors in this country, I'm sorry to say, but are being bold voices and saying that we can't put our faith in some little religious box. Now, were you raised this way? When did you come to see these things as you do? I grew up in a barn in Tennessee. We could talk about how I was raised another day.

But, no, these values were put into me as a child. And in fact, my spiritual formation did not take place in the traditional church. I accepted the Lord in the kitchen and was baptized in the Atlantic Ocean. I had to come to formal faith later. My mother was given six months to live. We went to church every Sunday. When the pastor came to visit, he didn't believe in heaven or hell. So on the way to Mayo Clinic, my mom said a prayer.

If there is a God, before I die, let me know the truth so I can tell my boys. And they get the Mayo Clinic and do a four-day exam, and they said, we have pictures of tumors and blood work. We can't find any of it. Go home and raise your babies. So God intervened in my family when we were pagans. And so I'm a classic example of the grace and the mercy of God changing our lives, and he's still doing that. That's why the turmoil doesn't frighten me. God's not intimidated by evil.

He defeated evil through the redemptive work of Christ. And we have that wonderful heritage and that story. and we have a national history that projects that story on the wall, the abundance we enjoy, and the freedoms and the liberties, and all the things that have come to our children have come because of that heritage of faith. We are the ones that have been co-opted. The fancy word for it is centratism. We didn't reject God.

We didn't burn down our churches. We just compromised and brought in some other things. And now the question is, what, we have the courage and the humility to say to God, this is on us. This is not about the depravity of the wicked. This is about the ambivalence of the faithful. And if we'll have that courage and boldness, I believe we will see God move in the most remarkable ways. He doesn't need a 51% majority. He just needs a group of people with their hearts fully committed to him.

And we have an enormous amount of history where he changes cultures and does the most remarkable things. That's exactly where I come out. I believe that if just a handful of people will get this and we'll stand up and fight and pray, that's all God needs. We'll be right back, folks, talking to Pastor Alan Jackson. My Pillow is having their biggest sheet sale of the year. You've all helped build my pillow into the amazing company it is today. Now Mike Lindell, inventor and CEO wants to give back exclusively to his listeners. The per kale bed sheet set is available in a variety of colors and sizes, and they're all on sale.

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That's MyPillow.com. Promocode, Eric. Folks, I'm talking to my friend, Pastor Alan Jackson of World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where I've had the privilege to be many times. I know I'll be there in mid-September. He has a new bookout brand new called Big Trouble Ahead, a real plan for flourishing in a time of fear and deception. I think the madness that we're experiencing, and there's no other word for it,

I mean, is absolute madness in every direction. It is a spiritual battle. It is a satanic war on truth, and we're seeing it in every way. But the good news is the Lord is allowing it to wake up a holy remnant. And to not just wake up a holy remnant, but to find people who didn't have faith, who now see things are so crazy, there has to be an answer. Is there a God? Where do I turn?

And they're seeing Christians, like you, call things as they are, and they're saying, that's right. I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have said so before, but I see it now. The craziness makes me want to know, is there a standard of truth? And ultimately, that is, that's the answer. And in your book, big trouble ahead, you talk about that. Well, it seems to me that evil will always overplay its hand. You know, you can observe that in nature. A disease processed will destroy its host. and evil will destroy what it touches. And we're watching that.

It's come to the point of the absurd. And in that, there's an opportunity to stand up and then to begin to re-adline ourselves with the truth. How did we arrive at a place where we're unwilling in public to define what a woman is when we're electing people to some of the most, or selecting people for some of the most powerful offices in the land? We didn't get there in a week or a month. I think we got there by winking at immorality, long. ago. We said fornication really wasn't a problem, and we took all sorts of, we took down the sexual boundaries that God gave us. So now we find ourselves standing in a place where we can't

even define a man and a woman. Well, again, I grew up in a barn in Tennessee. This is not complex. There's no confusion amongst the chickens about this. Surely we humans can figure this out if we have the courage and the will to tell the truth. But to do that, we've got to come back to the fact and acknowledge there is objective truth that I'm not the measure of all things, and my experience is not the defining of all things life. I have to smile the new telescope, the web telescope that's been deployed 30 years in the making $10 billion, seeing the farthest reaches of the galaxy that we've ever seen, reminding us that there's a creator being deployed right in the midst of this cultural war when they say,

we can't figure out what a man and a woman is, and God said, well, let me show you the reaches of the universe. Maybe we should say God created the heavens and the earth. Just maybe we should submit to the authority of the omniscient, omnipotent creator. Just maybe that would make life better. The church has an exciting message. We shouldn't be frightened or threatened, but it's going to take courage and boldness. Well, and if we're not clear about that message, people are tuning out. I mean, all of the pastors that are saying, well, we don't want to be political or we don't want to, I think myself, folks, it's called truth. And if you say that an unborn baby is a human being that deserves to live and that you care about that,

and you're going to vote for people who care about that, suddenly you're being what people will say is political. But how can you not be political? How can you shrink from truth because you're afraid of being accused of being political? And this goes across the spectrum. I mean, you just said about growing up in a barn in Tennessee. I mean, if you're working with animals, you know there's male chickens. they're called roosters and they can't lay eggs. And then there's chicken chickens and they lay eggs.

It's kind of basic. We've understood these things from the beginning of time, but we're living in a crazy time where people with power and loud voices are trying to rearrange reality. And I really do see it as a war against God. And we have to stand up and say lovingly, God is real.

God created the universe. He's the standard of truth. He's the one that sets the boundaries, as you said. and we have neglected them. I mean, I don't know how many people who maybe think of themselves as Christians, they go to churches, but, you know, they're sleeping with their girlfriend or their boyfriend. They don't seem to understand that's a deal breaker. God can't really bless you if you ignore him in that most basic thing because he loves you.

He gives you these fundamental rules. Are you hearing that from the pulpit? Or do you live in a culture where people say, well, we don't want to be divisive, and that's the way it is now. You know, that's like saying, well, we're racist now, and that's just the way it is. There's right and there's wrong. And we have to speak up against wrong and speak up for what is right.

And, you know, one of the reasons that I so enjoy coming down to Murfreesboro at a World Outreach Church is that you have a community of people that they get it, and they're not shrinking from this. But Pastor Allen, you know and I know there are many pastors across this country. They have just decided to step back. and to try to go back to what we were saying before to 2019. They just, they don't want to deal with this stuff, that we've lived through this madness, and people need it to be addressed.

They're hungry for pastors who will lead and talk about these things. They are. There's a tremendous opportunity, but you have done this so well, Eric, I mean, with book after book, and your latest one is a great example of that, a letter to the American church. But I would suggest that it isn't being political. What we're trying to address is current events. I'm not looking for a political solution. I mean, if our hearts change, I think we will see different politics.

But what we're really trying to talk about is what's happening in our world. And if we don't talk about that, our faith is theoretical. It makes me smile. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent in academic settings, having to study the social customs and the social culture of the first century or the 10th century, BC. We want to know all about the social culture of antiquity, but we refuse to talk about the culture at which we live. I'm pretty certain John the Baptist would have lived a longer life if he hadn't talked about current events. Well, that's...

That right there, we're going to go to a break, but that right there says it all. John the Baptist and Jesus said things that many pastors today would say, oh, don't say that. Well, here's the problem. They said it, and I think that I would trust their judgment on that more than I would trust some pastors today. So we need to get this right. We'll be right back talking to Pastor Alan Jackson. The brand new book is out. We'll be right back.

We're talking to the author of a brand new book, Big Trouble Ahead. Big Trouble Ahead. A Real Plan for Flourishing in a Time of Fear and Deception. Pastor Alan Jackson, author of Big Trouble Ahead. I think part of what you say in this book has to do with the idea that things are so bad that many people are turning to God. they're realizing there's no natural solution. There's no human solution. There's no political solution.

We have to turn to God because it's too much for us to bear. We need to know that there is a God who cares. Absolutely there is. We have tragedy fatigue. It seems like every day there's another, you know, shooting someplace or expression of violence or we see pictures of thousands of more people pouring across our border, whatever it is. And we're exhausted with it to the point that people want to withdraw.

and it's creating depression and defeat and discouragement. Church participation is lower than it's ever been. And there's such an opportunity in that to tell the story of Scripture. Jesus didn't come to lead a political movement. He came to launch a spiritual initiative, to set humanity free from the bondage to darkness. And that is the heart of the church's story. It's not whether we're Methodist or Presbyterian or Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox.

Our story is centered in the redemptive work of Jesus. And that stretches across time and culture. It's not new to the 21st century. We have just lived such blessed lives. We've had such a fluence, so much freedom, so much opportunity, that those things now that they're being threatened and disrupted, well, it has to be the end of the world. Well, that's a pretty awkward message if you're talking to a Ukrainian believer these days. Or if you have the opportunity to know somebody that lived in Rwanda in the 90s when a million people in 100 days were slaughtered,

most of them with machetes. I'm pretty sure that felt like the end of the world if you were living there. Sudan and their extensive civil war, two and a half million people have lost their lives. You know, they're a crisis all over the world. We've just led pretty protected lives, and so we've had this rather cosmetic faith. And God and His mercy has awakened us from that slumber so that we can actually invest ourselves in the eternal purposes of his kingdom. I don't even see it as punishment.

I think it's a gift. He's asking us to mature and to grow up, to learn to stand up. He's asking us to use spiritual muscles. We haven't used in decades, to be honest, and that's uncomfortable. It's awkward. We're a little sore spiritually. We're looking at one another trying to decide if this is the right way to do this. And it is.

Find a place where they're telling you the truth. Find those outlets. Stop listening to the latest conspiracy theory and start listening to the Spirit of God. We don't need another seminar debating whether the Holy Spirit exists or not. We need to know how to cooperate with him, recognize his prompting, and yield his authority in our lives. We can make a difference in this world. That's what our story is. It's exciting.

Well, it is exciting, and it really is, it's remarkable how we have been so blessed that many of us have fallen asleep, or it's just what happens. It's human nature. It's terrible. But I think God in His mercy is waking us up and saying that I'm going to put you in circumstances that you're going to have to turn you. to me. And that's extraordinary. I really do think that there are many people that they wouldn't have considered themselves Christians or anything, but they see such things that are so difficult to process, confusion, all these authorities that we've accepted for decades breaking down, that the places that gave us the news, the world of medicine, none of us would have dreamt

that those places that our own government would, could be the enemy, would be suspect, would have people that are so afraid of losing their own jobs, that they'll say anything, they'll lie, they'll twist the truth. We really grew up in a world where there were standards, but those standards have eroded and we're now at this point. So I think it is painful for many of us in a sense to acknowledge it, but as we're acknowledging it, the good side is that God is there to say, well, I was, always here, and I'm here now. And I just want to say to anybody listening, folks, God is here for you,

for you, whatever you are going through. Maybe you have a child in the hospital, a parent in the hospital. Maybe you're dealing with things that you don't want to talk about so much, but God knows what you're going through, and he is there to reach out to you. And I see this just as an opportunity Alan, really for the church to step up and say, God has always been here. He has the answers. He loves you. He wants to welcome you in to the family of faith and to use you for his purposes. And my favorite things in Scripture, you know, Romans 828, all things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes.

The idea that no matter what the devil throws at us that God says, well, if you you love me and are called according to my purpose is I will flip that and I will use it to bless you, to use you. You can't even imagine what I can do because he's God and we're not. So I do, I find myself being very hopeful. Absolutely. I could not agree with you more. It's not a time for despair. In fact, if you will listen just a little bit to the people around you, there are people that you interact with almost every day, I suspect, that will give you a little window into what they're struggling with. And there's an opportunity in that moment. You don't have to share even your favorite scripture or your favorite sermon or your favorite author or, God forbid, even your

favorite book. You can just say, let's pray. And in a sentence, you can offer a prayer, God, help my friend. They're overwhelmed. Give them strength. Amen. And don't wait for affirmation. Just move on. Let's start to act like salt and light. God is doing something, and he's enabled us to be a part of it. And I can't tell you, that brings such energy to me and such a sense of anticipation. I don't know what the outcome will be because I can't tell yet how the God's people are going to respond. If we will humble ourselves and stand together and stand up, I think we will see God respond in mercy. I think if we avoid the truth and avoid the reality that he's showing us, we can have a very different outcome. And I don't think that's been determined yet.

But it's an exciting time to me. start to listen to the people around you and use your voice. You don't have to have a big platform. If you'll treat the platform God's given you as if it were significant, God will expand your influence. Well, it's just, it's beautiful. I know I've shared with you in the book that I have coming out, a letter to the American church,

I really believe the story of Bonhoffer and what happened to the German church in the 30s is God's mercy to us to say, this is what happens when the church steps back, does not step forward and say, this is what God says. And I believe the Lord gives us that story as a warning to say, you don't need to go down this path. I want you to go down the right path.

I believe that's what God is speaking at this time. Folks, my guest has been Pastor Alan Jackson, the brand new book, Big Trouble Ahead, Real Plan for Flurshing in a time of fear and deception. Alan Jackson, my friend, thank you. Thank you, Eric. Keep up the good work. like a Mr. Milk Toast You'll get shot out.

Hey there, folks. This is the end of our 2. Now, before we go, a couple of things, we had a controversy early on in the program. Albin, you and your wife and your twin brother and your twin sister-in-law, you went to England, to Scotland, whatever,

and you were trying to explain to us who's buried in Westminster Abbey. Gosh, I'm still in the time zone. First, you said Richard Dawkins, and I had to say, excuse me. He's still alive. Excuse me, he's not dead. yet. Then you said Christopher Hitchens. I said, that doesn't sound right. Then we were guessing around, but you called up your twin brother. Yeah, I had to. And what did he tell us? He told us it was, I've already forgot, see that? It was, well, he said Stephen Hawking is buried near him.

Charles Darwin? Charles Darwin. It was Darwin, the most famous, right? Charles Darwin is buried a couple graves over from. But so why is this so shocking to your brother and to you that Darwin would be buried next to Isaac Newton? Well, because they're almost like two sides of the same core. And Darwin is about, you know, man is, you know, he evolves and man is right. And man is there's... Yeah, but how is Newton, like I don't really, I don't...

Well, Newark was a huge Christian philosopher, huge. No, no, I mean, I know Isaac Newton was a, was a Christian and Darwin was, at the end of his life, not a Christian, but it doesn't strike me as, as, as, ironic as if it had been... Because you're saying it's all scientists buried together, which is... Well, I mean, listen, most people in England don't have the courage to say that Darwin was wrong.

Darwin was so wrong and it's so pathetic. But they have invested so much in his legend that they have to, you know, even to admit. By the way, this brings up an interesting thing. People say, who you can have at Socrates and City on November 1st. We haven't... You can't sign up for this yet. But November 1st, we have David Berlinski is going to be my guest here in New York City. He has written the most devastating critiques of Darwin.

I mean, he mocks Darwin in a way that it's almost cruel because it's so brilliant. But Darwin is, I mean, it's sad. I mean, he had a nice idea. Turns out it's, you know, mostly. I just thought, yeah, it was two sides of the same core. Right. Incredibly famous. So get me off the hook on this one.

Okay. But let's talk about food for the poor because we're running out of time. Are there still people listening to this program who haven't donated food for the? I don't believe we have those kind of listeners. I refuse to believe it. If there are any out there who have not yet given anything to food for the poor, I guess I'll give out that information. The easiest way is to go to Metaxistalk.com, click on the banner, because these are Ukrainian refugees who can't feed their kids. Which is tough.

My grandmother has told a story. My mother's told a story of how she came home from school one day. And because of what had happened after the war, my grandmother literally had no food for her two girls. Her husband had been killed in the war. My grandfather, and she literally had no food for them. It was weeping because she couldn't feed her two girls. It can rip your heart out.

The fact that there are people going through this, in Ukraine right now. The only good news is food for the poor steps up. Food for the poor steps up, and they help. But you have to help food for the poor. So you have to go to Metaxistock.com, or if you prefer to call and calling is very easy, I'm begging you, folks, they need your help.

Please, please, please. 844-863, Hope. 844-863 Hope. 844-863 hope. Let me say that again. 844-863 hope. When you dial 844-863 hope, tell him Eric Mataxis sent you. 844-863 hope.

We really do need your help. 844-863 hope. I think I should probably spell it out. 844-863 hope. You can dial it now. You can punch it into your little phone, into your camera. 844-863 hope. Anything you give folks, there are people who need this. 844-863 hope.