The Eric Metaxas Show - Bodie Theone

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

Best-selling author Bodie Thoene on her career spanning writing for John Wayne to the Zion Chronicles.

Welcome to the Eric Metaxos show. I shouldn't tell you this, but Eric hired someone who sounds just like him to host today's show. But since I'm the announcer, they told me, so I'm telling you, don't be foed. The real Eric's in jail. Hey there, folks. Most of you have heard of Brock and Bodie Taney. They are the authors of innumerable works of historical fiction, the Zion Chronicles, the Zion Chronicles, the Zion covenant and a lot of other great stuff.

And we are here in the studio with Bodie Taney. Welcome to the studio. Thank you for coming in. I have wanted to meet you forever because you are... I'm sorry that it's a disappointment. I apologize. We did the best we could. You're the Bonhofer guy.

And we have, you know, of course our books, The Zion Covenant, especially, those nine books, start with the fall of Vienna and go right the way through the Capitol. of Europe. And so Bonhofer is actually a character, a part of our books. And yeah, even though it's fiction, you know, that's historical fiction. And so your book, which came, you know, of course, much after our... 2010, yeah. Yeah, uh-huh, yeah, we have been writing since the 80s and 90s,

that particular series. Our idea, our original idea, was to never forget. was to let people see within a historical setting, a fictional setting, the reality that people really did go through this stuff, that this is how it happened, this is the progression politically. And so you put characters into the actual historical events, which is why it's historical fiction, not some kind of a romance thing. And people are living at them. and people are learning about it.

I began my career as a writer working with John Wayne. Wait a minute. John Wayne? John Wayne? Really? He's an historical figure who actually lived. When I read that about you, I just thought, it's going to be hard for me to want to talk about anything but John Wayne.

I love John Wayne so much. Please tell us how in the world you got to work with the great American patriot, John Wayne. How did that happen? Well, I want to tell you, it was a God thing because I was a magazine writer. I wrote with Western Horseman magazine. I did a story on John Wayne's stuntman, Chuck Roberson. From there, Chuck was such an amazing recontour. I mean, he told stories.

Chuck Robeson. Chuck Robeson. Not to be confused with James Robeson, who is my stunt guy. Go ahead. Yeah, okay. So Chuck Roberson. and I said, you're, you know, you're just such an incredible storyteller. Why don't we write a book?

And he said, I can't even write my name. And I said, okay, you tell the stories and I'll get it down on paper. Wow. And so Duke actually did write the forward for it. He loved that book so much. He said, you got all good stuff in Chuck's book. There's nothing left for me. But he hired me.

And so I went to work. What year? My goodness. It was in the late 70. It was right at the very end of his life and the end of... Was he filming The Shootist? Yes. Are you serious?

Uh-huh, yeah. This was during the filming of the Shootist. Yeah. That film, I've seen it so many times, starring Ron Howard, Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne. Yeah. There's another name in there. I can't think of his name now.

Anyway, but, I mean, so many people, but that film, it's beautiful, it's heartbreaking. And it was at the end of his life. Did he know that he was dying when he filmed it? No, I don't think he did. I think he knew he wasn't feeling great. Because he's playing an old gunfighter. Yeah. Great movie folks, the shootist.

But he plays an old gunfighter who knows he's dying. Yeah. I'll tell you a story about that, too. When he, after he passed away, and I was still with the company, it was still with Bat Jack Productions, I went to ABC Studios to a screening of the shootist with my shootist with Michael Wayne, who was at that point. He had taken over back, Jack.

He was my boss. And we sat together alone in that screening room. It was about probably Duke had been gone maybe eight weeks. And they played that film. And Michael sat and cried the whole way through because I don't think he had seen it since his dad had died. And it was so moving and so just amazing. and Duke always ad-libbed.

And so there was a lot of stuff that he said that wouldn't be in a script. I've never heard that about John Wayne. Oh, yeah. Oh, all the time. Yeah, I mean, he really did. And so he would put his sense of patriotism, his love of his family. I mean, there's a scene in the Cowboys, for instance,

when he's with Mr. Knightlinger. and they're standing out by the chuck wagon and he talks about his son and he's talking about his sons and the word was he just went off script and just did it and he would break his sentences

so that he didn't finish a sentence so they couldn't cut it you see that's why the cadence of his language is to say half a sentence and then finish it off. Wow, I've never heard this before. We've got an inside info on the Duke from somebody who knew him. That's just amazing to me. And he was such a great patriot.

He really was. And people talk about, you know, he was an icon. He was an living legend. He was and a tremendous storyteller and loved the legend of the West and said, this is a merit. And so when you see his films, you know, you're looking at stuff. He is able to say things that maybe, you know, normal people can't just say in a conversation. He was able to portray that patriotism and that strength of an American.

And he gave that to me. I asked him one time, when, I mean, why are you doing this for me? Because, you know, I was just a kid from Bakersfield who happened to, get lucky doing, you know, I wrote the fall guy and wrote it with Chuck and he liked it. And, you know, and so he just brought me in. And I said, why are you doing this for me? And he said, because somebody did it for me. And he asked me one time, I was walking down the hall and he asked me one time, what is your passion? What do you most want to write? And I said, I want to write the story. of the rebirth of Israel as a nation. And he said, I love this, he said, you gotta do it, it's the Jewish alamo. Yeah.

He said that to you? He said that to me. And I was also then, you know, also working with a guy by the name of Mel Chabelson who did Cast a Giant Shadow, which I bet you've seen. And yeah, it's building the road to Jerusalem. And I could have done film. I was working with these guys

and learning how to write. And Mel and Duke both said, don't get in this lousy business, write novels. And so I did. And so when you read a tainy novel, it's kind of like reading a movie. It's like watching a movie. And they're done, you know, I don't do chapters, I do scenes.

And God just opened these doors so that we could write about Israel so that we could interview the people who actually lived through the creation, the recreation, the rebirth of the state of Israel. So if people are not familiar with you, what's the best thing that, where should they go first? I would say start with Vienna Prelude. Vienna Prelude. Yeah, that's the beginning of the Zion Covenant series. But we're working now, and I want to give you this before I forget, before time gets away from us, because it's going quick.

I am presenting this to you, Eric Metaxis. To me. To you. So you can be an honorary member of the Mission Navigator Foundation. Now, this is a nonprofit foundation that promotes conservative Judeo-Christian programs. And that's what Brock and I are working with right now. This is a big surprise to me. I had no idea.

Yeah. God bless you. Thank you. Yeah. Well, what you're doing, you know, right. writing the history of Bonhofer, for instance. I just reread my own book after 15 years. Isn't you amazed at what a great writer you are?

I finished last night on the plane. We're going to be right back, folks. I'm talking to Bodie Taney about all kinds of great stuff. Don't go away. Hey, folks, this year I've given you so many reasons to try balance of nature, but now I've got one you cannot ignore. But let's review some of the other reasons. First, with balance of nature, you get a product made from whole fruits and veggie ingredients.

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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 Eric for 15% off. Again, Neutrametics, N-U-T-R-A-M-D-I-X.com. Nutrametics.com, use the code Eric for 15% off. Welcome back talking to Bodie, Taney, who is. an author. I also am an author, and we have a lot more in common than just that. We do. A love of John Wayne, a love of America, a love of Israel, and a love of using writing to communicate the truth,

to communicate history. This has become a big thing for me. I know it's huge for you. I'm not sure that I've talked about it on my own program very much, but I want to develop a number of my books into streaming TV series because I am firmly convinced that communicating these truths of history, it simply changes the way people think. When people know the story of Bonhofer, when people know the story of what happened to the Jews, when people know that, it changes them. And there's so many who don't know it. Exactly. And that's what I've heard about these books. And we know that. You know Michelle Bachman. Of course. One of the, my best friends. I literally got a text from her two days ago. We're on the same page in many ways.

Yeah, yeah. She's such a hero. She is absolutely amazing and just, just fabulous. Well, she tells me that reading from the Zion Covenant books changed her life and inspired her to go into politics and support Israel. Wow. Her youngest daughter is named after one of the characters in our books, Elisa. And so we're, you know, we just, anyway, it's a lot of fun. And she told me to tell you hello. Oh, my goodness.

Well, look, she's another amazing patriot, brilliant speaker, man. When I first heard her, I give a speech, I thought, I didn't know she was capable of that. That's, like, amazing. She is just fiery. She is unbelievable. And we're on the same page with you.

We believe getting younger people to read these books. There's a whole generation. now that needs to be reading these they need to be reading bon offer they need to be reading the zine covenant books they need to be listening to michel you know it's it's that kind of um excitement because when you turn people on to great stories then they internalize it it's not just something that's you know history and facts and you know on this date on 1947 this happened in 1948 this happened no You have your characters live it.

They live through it. And that's what we've got going here. And what we have had, and God brought us into it. And Duke used to say, because I was kind of a new Christian, and there were times that I would write something, and it would come in kind of heavy. And Duke said to me, you can tell people what they need to hear if you put it in a good story.

that's is that basic stuff yeah is that the basis of creativity yeah and so you know i am blessed i was blessed eric with having the best writers in the world because those films so outshine anything that's being done today oh my goodness and and the writers you know i mean we should mention some of them honestly folks you know i say this to people You need to get a cultural education. This is why God is called it to the culture. So some of these films, when you think of The Searchers, John Ford's masterpiece starring John Wayne, The Searchers. I mean, this helps you understand what America is.

It really does. And who we are and what we need to be. It's so powerful. Now, here's some insight. I was able, even after Duke was gone, to interview the people who were part of the cast, part of the, you know, there's a John Ford, John Wayne stock company. And part of my life, you know, after Duke passed away, working with Michael, working with another guy by the name of Tom Kane, who was the story editor, I would go out and interview directors like Henry Hathaway. And you mentioned the searchers. There was a woman who plays the mom, Olive Carey.

I could see your face. Yes. Well, I got to be really good friends with her. I'm going to tell you a fun story. It didn't have anything to do with this. This is a real sidebar. So I see her all the time, all the time. Down in Carpenter Rear.

She had lived in a little brown house in the middle of an orange orchard. And I'd go in and I'd interview her and get all these John Wayne stories because she knew him from the time he was at U.S. see. And we're sitting talking. She looks at me and says, oh, Bodie, I have something I want to show you. And then we go on to something else. We have lunch. We're doing the dishes, standing at the sink. She said, I remember. She said, climb up on that counter, on the kitchen counter. Get in that cupboard up there. So I take my shoes off. I climb up on her kitchen counter, open the cupboard and there in front of me is a wax long horn cow with one of the horns dangling.

And she said, Charlie Russell sculpted that for me. C. M. Russell. Charles M. Russell. and she's had this wax up above her kitchen sink for years. She said, take it down. Get it down. So I'm, you know, freaking out. I mean, this is a CM Russell wax, not cast into bronchion. Take it down. We put it in a cardboard box.

I took it back to the bat. Yeah. I took it back to the Batjack Productions office in Hollywood. The whole building came to see. see this Sam Russell. Michael had it had the wax cast and bronze is done. I have one and then sold them and Ollie got to live off of the royalties of that. But we're talking something that was carved out of wax in 1929 and I got to pull it out of the... Unbelievable. The history, I mean, I just realized Natalie Wood is in the search of us. A very

Very, very young, Natalie Wood. Some of that is so moving. Yeah. And do you remember that scene when he's sitting? This is John Wayne is sitting. And the guy he's with, I don't remember, it's the young guy. It's always the young guy. There's always some young guy that John Wayne is kind of dealing with.

And he says something about, you know, what did you find? And he says, don't never ask me about it again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Oh, you want me to paint you a picture? picture. Yeah. Yeah. You know the dialogue. Yeah. I got to say so powerful. So powerful.

So and here's another thing. You talk about sidebars. There's a shot where John Wayne comes into that's the sod house where there's been this massacre. Yeah. And Martin Scorsese or someone less sophisticated would show you the carnage. Yeah. Instead, Ford, I believe it's Ford to the searchers, I'm having a hard time today, shows you John Wayne's face as he's taking in what he's looking at. Doesn't need to show you the carnage, shows you in his face what he's looking at. There's another scene in a movie, the original Alfie with Shelley Winters and Michael Kane. Very similar scene.

Michael Kane comes in this in 1967, so it's before the culture wars, before Roe v. Wade. he comes into a scene where there's been an abortion. And all they show you is his face, looking around at the blood or whatever he's seeing. They show his face. They don't need to show the thing itself. It's much more powerful. But, I mean, John Wayne's films are so great.

I mean, folks, go see The Searchers. Oh, my goodness. Longest Day, going to that, there is the scene where he comes to... What's that about? Longest Day is the D-Day. Right. movie.

Oh, right, right, right, right. And he's, you know, he's the colonel that comes upon the scene with the Americans who have been hung up in their parachutes and shot up in San Mariglis. And do you remember they don't show the carnage, but they show his face. And it is the most just, and then he yells, get them down, take them down, take them down. And I thought, why didn't he win an Oscar for that? I mean, it's just... That film, I mean, all these films, what do they have?

They have a respect for the viewer. They have a respect for the American people. They also have a respect for the dignity of those who have been killed. They have respect for that. And we as a country and as a culture had a respect for that. And Hollywood, of course, really doesn't very much anymore. We need to get back to that. It's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you because it's so important for people to understand.

Well, it is. In 1972, which is when they started the rating system, was it 72, I think, well, right in that time period. And Duke said that ruined everything, because before that time, you just had the expectation that what you were going to make, what you were going to write, taught me that. What you were going to write was going to be something that families could read and get it. Well, that's the world changed right there. The world changed. The fracturing of the viewership and the ability to, I mean, it really turned kid's stuff became saccharin. Yeah.

The stuff for the adults became dark. I'm talking to Bodie Taney. We're going to go to a break. You can look up Vienna Prelude, the Zion Covenant series. We'll be right back. Hey, folks, the story of My Pillow is a testament to faith and transformation. Mike Lindell, once battling addiction, found a new path when he embraced faith and began following Jesus.

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978 3057. Use promo code Eric to unlock huge discounts. That's promo code Eric, mypillow.com, 800. 97830577. Hey, folks. Welcome back. I'm talking to Bodie Taney, who along with her husband Brock, has given us all kinds of stuff. I don't know where to start. You've done so much stuff, and there's so much I want to talk to you about. We were talking about really communicating truth through story. And you can do it through fiction. You can do it. Obviously, I do it up to this point, principally through nonfiction. When you read the story of William Wilberforce, or you read the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, it teaches you something about everything. It's not just, you know,

some facts. And the way you teach history, this is what I so admire about your writing. It is your anecdotal. You, Walter Lord. I don't know if you know the Walter, they're way out of print. But the Walter Lord's stories would tell, you know, stories about the event, whatever it was. But you, you're anecdotal. And so your stuff just pulls you in, Eric. I mean, you know, I hope there is a revival and, you know, something where people are really reading your books. And just like I hope, you know, that a new generation will pick up the Zion Covenant, the Zion Chronicles. The, we have legends of the West, which are

they're 12 books, and they're, you know, you have to get them through our website, taneybooks.com. Hey, how do you spell? It's not easy to spell. Yeah. How do you spell it? Go ahead. T-H-O-E-E-N-E. T-H-O-E-N-E-E-Box.com.

Okay. We'll put it on the screen for the show, but for the radio audience, T-H-O-E-N-E. T-H-O-E-N-E-Books.com. So talk about this. You said the series about Native Americans. What is that? Well, that we haven't done yet. I'm just fascinated by it.

Or you said Legends of the West. Well, Legends of the West, they're like John Wayne films, only their stories. And they touch on the, there is an overcoming that needs to happen. You know, there's an understanding that people are just people, okay? And no matter what your race, no matter what your background, you can get along. You know, you can get to know one another. And so our books are about reconciliation. We did another series in Irish series, which is Protestant Catholic.

Most people don't know that the United Irish were United Irish. and then because they wanted to untenant, meaning empty, Ireland, the division was a method of between Catholic and Protestant. So, you know, all of our books are about reconciliation and about the realization that there is a power that divides us, that tries to divide us. And so even in the Westerns, we have relationships with American Indians and the guys that hunted gold or whatever it is.

But there's always a message in those books, just like Duke said, you know, just like Duke said, you can tell people what they need to hear if you put it in a good story. So the Westerns are like reading a John Wayne movie. the other books, which are, you know, different periods of time, are, they all have a message for kids. And it's like you. It's anecdotal. It's like your writing, you know. I mean, and it's interesting, too, because one of the things that I can't help doing when I'm writing my books is whatever I like I want to write about.

Sure. So you find some amazing piece of information, some story, and I think, I've got to put it in there. Yeah. I can't leave that out. That's too interesting, too funny, too weird. And you bump into that stuff all the time. And it does kind of help. I mean, in every one of my books, there's stuff like that.

You go, did he really need this? Well, not on some level, no, but on another level, it gives color. On the level of heart. Yeah. Of heart. And that's another thing. You've got to get the heart in there. Miles and miles and miles of heart.

Miles and my prescription. Yes, it is. Yes. And Duke used to say, you know, kick. a kid, kill a dog, then you got your villain. Wow. Yeah, pretty basic stuff. They knew his business. Yeah, he did. Well, it's so, it's so funny because he was, even in his day, I mean, because when I was a kid watching him on TV or Dean Martin Roasts or whatever, you know, he was known, like my other hero, Bob Hope, known to be conservative, known to be a Republican. I think, I think it was B. Arthur who delivered the line. She says he's, she said he's, she said he's so conservative. that his favorite part of the chicken is the right wing.

But he was known in Hollywood to be conservative. One of the interviews that I did was with a guy by the name of Mori Riskin. Now you can look him up, Mori Riskin. Mori Riskin, Roy Brewer, were part of the group of Hollywood men who were. very conservative, okay, very conservative, and so was Duke. Well, I went to this, Michael's instruction, I went to Mori's house and a little bitty Jewish guy, and he wrote all kinds of stuff, and he told me the story of the night that Ronald Reagan became a conservative. And it was Mori, it was John Wayne, seriously.

this is real. This is like you're making it up except it's true. No, no, but it's true. I'm having a brown cream soda and a pastrami sandwich in Mori's kitchen. And he's talking about how Duke and he and Roy Brewer talked to Reagan all night, reasoned with him. This is called the cliffhanger. When we come back, folks, you'll hear the rest of the story. Good day. Welcome back. folks. I'm talking with Bodey

Taney, but don't be confused. It's spelled T-H-O-E-N-E. T-H-O-E-N-E. All right, Bodey were just telling us about the night Ronald Reagan became a conservative. Admitted he was a conservative. Okay. So what year can... It had to be 47-48.

Right, it's got to be in that neck of the woods. So he was doing like the GE Theater at that point? Yeah, he was doing that kind of thing. Okay. And Mori told me that they just simply sat up all night and talked and talked and talked and finally talked him around so that he understood that he was really actually conservative. So he could become a Republican. Right. And then showed him the other side, which was moving toward communism.

and Reagan after that admitted to and became a very conservative guy. I mean, I have seen letters between them, you know, talking about, you know, giving up the Panama Canal. I mean, it was, this was an experience in my lifetime that, you know, I will probably never write about it much because I can't because I was under contract with. with batjack but the the thing that I'm trying to get at is to live history

you learn from it if you and if you put in your writing if you put down something that is a story about something that happened that's where people learn that's where people learn and so that's what we're doing now is we are we're getting these books

into the hands our books, into the hands of students from high school right the way through into college so that they understand what it was like to live it. And, you know, to have worked with the people I worked with who lived it, I caught the tale of the comet. Oh, my gosh, yeah. Eric, I have held on to the tale of the comet. And I, you know, recorded the things they had to say.

the attitudes, the beautiful patriotism that they all had. And they were all normal guys. Yeah. Okay? They were like, you know, like us growing up in Oildale. So you grew up in Bakersfield? I grew up in Ovaldale. Did you ever meet Book Owens?

Well, sure. Did you? I dated Buddy Owens. Okay, stop it. Yeah, yeah. Come on. I just bring this stuff up hoping, and then you're telling me, so you met Buck Owens. Yeah, sure, yeah.

Yeah, I went to school with, uh, A lot of people are like, why would you bring that up? The Bakersfield Sound. Yeah, we are, yeah, we are the Bakersfield Sound. And Brock taught Merle Haggard's kids in Sunday school, so there you go, or in school, not Sunday school. You're killing me. I know, yeah.

So where do you guys make your home to this day? Well, we live on the central coast, kind of by San Luis Obispo, which is a conservative area of California. Is that north of Santa Barbara? Yeah, north of Santa Barbara. Right north of Santa Barbara. And kind of if you cut through the middle, you go through Kern County, which is Kevin McCarthy, and up into the mountains and ranch country and, you know, farm country and that kind of thing.

So Chuck Roberson, the guy that I wrote The Fall Guy with, Duke's Stuntman had a place in Bakersfield and raised horses. And he would, he raced them and would bring them up to our little ranch up in a place called Glenville, where we raised our kids. So, you know, it's, I mean, it's, we're all just folks. We were all just folks. And I think, I think the fact that I was not a fan kid, but somebody who admired these guys and got to know them and, you know, and they took care of me.

They just took care of me. I had more blessing working with these big old tough, cussing wonderful, big-hearted cowboys than I did any other time in my life working with anybody. It was really wonderful. But keeping the books clean, first of all, not overwhelming people with something that was violent or gory or something that you couldn't read out loud to your children, you know, I'm telling everybody, get books. get books because TV is going to go away.

The digital stuff is going to go away at some point. Well, there's something, I mean, I'll be honest. You know, again, I was just finished reading my Bonhofer book. And I thought, this sounds kind of funny. But like, I was so great, I had all these long plane rides. And I thought it's so great to have a good book. Yeah. And I thought to myself, that's the problem is that there are many, many, many, many,

books that are not that great. You don't want to read them necessarily. Maybe you do, but you don't. So when you find a book or a book, or a book, an author that does that. You just think, how many more books have they written because I want to read what they have written? How can I look into a camera and say this? Is there a camera over there? I don't know. I guess so. Okay. Let me tell you something, people. Read the Bonhofer book by Eric Metaxus. It's one of the best ever. I mean, it's up on my list of top three books. So there you go.

I'm coming from you, that's like unbearably beautiful, so thank you very much. But I was just going to say, you know, that you can learn, you do learn from reading the right kind of books. And you learn all kinds of stuff. Yeah. But your books, I mean, I want to be clear. We're going to have a final segment coming up here. But you are now doing this thing. You gave me this award.

The Mission Navigator Foundation promoting conservative Judeo-Christian programs. Is there a website for that? Yes. What is that website? You know, I don't know. You don't know. But it's the Mission Navigator Foundation. Yeah.

The Mission Navigator Foundation. So you are, I mean, you're doing so many things right now. Probably the best place for people to find you is taintybooks.com. And we'll have a link. I mean, this is new, you know, new also for us. But we believe in educating people. people and whether it's, you know, whether it's high school kids or college kids and doing it through story. And so you have the right idea of doing great series with using your books.

And guess what? It wasn't my idea. It was God's idea. I could say that really bluntly. I never wanted to write a biography. Never thought I write a biography. Never thought I do any of this stuff. But the Lord maneuvered me, you know, if you ask him to, he will. Yeah. And it's writing what interests you. It's, yeah. And with a message. And it, and it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it makes a difference in the world. You know, it's like, you know, when Michelle told me that her daughter was named Elisa. Yeah.

And when she embraced me in front of, you know, 400 people or whatever and said, oh, you just made all the difference of, you know. It doesn't get better than that. No, it doesn't. We got a final segment coming up, folks, with Bodie. Taney, don't go away. Final segment with Bodie Taney. There's so much to talk about.

I mean, the fact that you knew John Wayne, it's kind of like when I talked to my friend Pat Boone. I can't believe I know Pat Boone. But when I'm talking to him, I can't believe that he was friends with Ronald Reagan. Yeah, yeah. You know, and you get to hear these stories and you realize these are true stories. These are amazing stories. And people should know these stories. Yeah, they should.

Yeah. And I, you know, I was just going to say, too, when I watched some of the films that we've been talking about, it really makes you understand why. why we're in the mess we're in in this country because we've gotten soft and lazy and sloppy. We don't, that pioneer spirit which carried on through those films,

which made America what it was in the 50s or the 60s that because you're watching these stories that says that's what it means to be an American, to fight for what it's right and true and to understand that there's going to be suffering, it's going to be tough, but it's worth it. Right. That has kind of gone out of the culture.

And through your fiction, through my nonfiction, and through some of the stuff that's out there, through some good movies, the Bonhofer film, the Reagan film, you kind of get a little, you get a taste of that. But it's so important that we tell those stories, because that's what catechizes the whole culture. Exactly. You're right. And I knew I was going to have a really great time talking to you because I love the way you write. And that's kind of rare for me. I'm very, very critical about it. You're like me. We're critical. We don't like a lot of stuff. But when we like stuff, Boy, do we like it. Yeah, we do.

But you have the same instinctive sense of story that I think Brock and I do. And that is you just, you need to make it relatable. And so that's what we're trying to do here with our foundation, is open a window for people so they can look out, look away from the, you know, from the green screen superheroes. stuff. Is there anything more boring? No. I cannot tell you. Those films are so pathetic most of them.

And if you like those films, by the way, folks, I'm sorry, but I just can't even, it's, I don't know. It's like watching cartoons. Well, and there's no real heart. And when they try to get the heart in, they miss it by a mile. Yeah. But you see, I saw the greatness. I also saw the beginning of the deterioration. And the guys that know said, don't get into this. Don't get into this because it's not going in a good place. And so there's a whole amazing story about how I ended up writing what I wrote. But we don't have time to tell that.

And maybe another time. But God led us, I mean, in a miraculous way, to write these books. you just cannot even imagine the stories. So I left Hollywood. I went home. I had three little kids, and I just, you know, sitting at a round oak table up in the mountains. After interviewing thousands of people, I began to write

and tell their stories and put it into fiction. And now those stories are living into another generation. People are taking them into their. hearts and they're saying now I understand why there needs to be an Israel for instance why why do we defend Israel what does this mean and you know there's a scene with Duke talking to to Mickey Marcus in in Cass a Giant Shadow great film I know we got to go but watch that film you can find it you can read it watch it watch cast a giant shadow, and you will see the heart, very basic, of why there needs to be in Israel.

And Duke gives, I think, the most profound talk to this colonel. This is why you need to support your people, and he brings him in. I mean, it's just, and it's really from his heart. I'm sorry, we're at a time. Bodie, Taney, God bless you. Thank you for all you do, and thanks for being my guest. Thank you. It was fun.

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