The Eric Metaxas Show - Canon J.John (continued)

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

Canon J.John continues his Miracle Monday report of the amazing miracles and work going on across the globe with people hearing the good news found in the Bible and turning their lives around.

Welcome to the Eric Mettaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey there, folks. I think it's Monday. And if it is Monday, then this program that I'm doing with Canon J. John is a Miracle Monday program. But even if it's not Monday, it feels like a miracle Monday program. We're talking about a lot of beautiful, important things. You, Canon, J. John, have a new book out called Will I Be Fat in Heaven and other curious questions? And by the way, that's a very funny cover. We are mostly a radio show so people can't see this.

But if they go online, it looks like that might be you on the cover. It is. Lying on a donut, a giant donut. A giant donut. A giant donut. Well, we'll leave that where it is. We were talking before about the story of the woman at the well. And then you shared with great vulnerability your story about Amy Winehouse.

And I want to talk to you about the idea that God speaks today. And there are Christians, many devout Christians, who are either uncomfortable, made uncomfortable by that subject, or they shrink from it, or sometimes they push back theologically. It's been my experience that God speaks today. Just as when I read, you know, Jesus knows these magic things about this woman. And how is that? Well, it's because he is God, and even if you're not God, as you are not, and I am not, God through the Holy Spirit, speaks sometimes to us about other people because he wants to reach them. He wants to blow their minds and say, see, I am real.

I'm outside of time and space. I know who you are. I love you, and I want to convince you of that, so you'll receive me. You've experienced this many times. Now, did you experience God speaking to you immediately? on coming to faith when you were in university, as you put it? Well, I received Christ on the 9th of February, 1975, at 10 o'clock. It was the moment I opened the door to use that picture from Revelation 320.

Jesus stands at the door and knocks. If you hear the knock, open the door, let him in. And I said, Jesus, I don't even know where this door is, but wherever the door is, can you break the door down and come into it? to my life. And I felt my mind was illuminated and my heart was warmed. But I didn't have the vocabulary, Eric, to articulate what was going on. But I knew something had happened. Now, the next day, where I lived and where I went to college was about a mile, I would walk. And as I'm walking, I see a homeless man. And I said to him, have you had breakfast? He said, no. I said, do you want

breakfast. He said, yes. I said, well, I'll take you for breakfast. So I took him for breakfast. And I said, where do you hang out? He said, I hang out where you met me. And I said, no, where do you normally hang out? He goes, well, in the mornings, you know where you met me? That's where I hang out. And I thought, is he telling me the truth? Because if he's telling me the truth, that meant Monday to Friday, September, October, November, December, January, February, I walked past him and I never saw him. So this is my first day as a follower of Jesus and I see homeless people that I've never seen before. And so I said, well, look, I can't do this every day. But I said, how about once a week? We'll go for breakfast. So he said, I love that. And he said, can I bring my friends? I said,

would you mean friends? How many friends? Anyway, we agreed he could bring three friends. And we started the breakfast club. So, but to go back, to this idea that, I mean, okay, so you saw him, you had this prompting, but there are kind of levels of supernatural communication, right? I mean, this wasn't the Lord saying to you, talk to that man. It was a quieter prompting, and you were, for the first time in your life, I suppose, open to this. Yes, but I think what was interesting was I saw him. Why did I not see him for those other months before? Because I walked past him. And it was almost like the Lord gave me eyes. And the thing is, Eric, people do not care how much we know until they know how much we care.

They don't care. That's a good. They don't care how much. Say that again. That's really a quotable quote. That's worthy of Chesterton. Go ahead. Say it again.

People do not care how much we know until they know how much we care. And I think wherever we're traveling, walking, going as believers, like I said, we carry the presence of Jesus. Jesus. And many, many times you read in the Gospels, Jesus was walking and stopped. And I think we're rushing around too much and we don't stop enough. I think I rush around exactly the right amount. That's the question, isn't it? How can we possibly know when we're being? Because I've really seen both sides of this.

I've seen people who become almost religiously obsessed. In other words, it becomes unhealthy in the opposite direction where they feel this kind of constant guilt that I need to be doing this or I need to be doing that. And I feel that that can also be unhealthy. You know, you don't want to be walking around wringing your hands thinking that if I don't do this now, someone will go to hell or if I don't do this. So there are people who I think suffer from that temptation. And then there are other people that suffer from the temptation, which is maybe more common, just to ignore. Yeah. I know. And Eric, you know, it is. It's just getting a balance. I mean, we got a taxi to get here to the studio today. And I didn't get into the taxi thinking, oh, I've got to tell the taxi driver about Jesus. No, he was giving us a ride. But I was very kind to him. I was very warm to him. I prayed a blessing for him and he was so happy. And I gave him a great tip. Yeah. You know what I mean? Well, no, I know exactly what you mean.

because I think that that's always the question, isn't it? That when you, I mean, to go back to the story of Amy Winehouse, I think we're all struggling with these questions. Or I should say many of it, those of us who are serious about our faith, we're always struggling with this. Am I really hearing from God? What should I do now? Should I wait until tomorrow?

And you're right, we tend to think that there's time. We do. We tend to think that there's time. but if the scripture says, which it does, all things work together for good. Absolutely. For those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes, even our worst mistakes, the Lord says if you give that to me, I mean, here you are talking about it, so that, you know, potentially millions of people will think about this as a result of the fact

that you, who are a human being in a moment, did something that you now think was a mistake. Absolutely. And every day, Eric, one of my prayers, I mean, the first thing I do, when Kili and I wake up in the morning, the first thing we do is we pray the Lord's prayer. That's the first thing we do. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. We're asking, we're saying, Lord, can you rain and rule over us?

Can you cleanse us from our failings and deficiencies of yesterday? And then I pray a prayer, Lord, guide my steps and guide my stops. Hey, that's good. you know, you've got a lot of good material. We've got to get you on the road. I like this stuff. It is funny, though, because I think that, look, this is to use the cliche, we're all on a journey. So just because you accept Jesus doesn't mean that suddenly everything is perfect, right?

You walk through life and there are these seasons and things. And I think that the Lord is working with us because each of us is different. So he doesn't say that, you know, everybody, as soon as you accept me, you must do this and this and this. we bring a different set of issues to the to the table. But it is interesting that he does want us one way or the other to get closer and closer to him so that these promptings are more natural. We don't feel awkward. It just feels like this is who I am.

This is what life is. Absolutely. But I spoke at a university, Sydney University. And in fact, I'd say it was kind of, oh, I'd say, I don't want to say it was a revival, but there were signs of revival, Eric, because the largest auditorium, indoor auditorium, couldn't contain the students that wanted to come. So we had to move it to the open air. And there was about 4,000 students.

Anyway, I spoke, I got off the stage, stepped down, some students were interacting with me. While that was happening, a girl came, a girl came and interrupted us rudely. And she said to me, I hated, what you said. And I said, oh, I'm so sorry. She says, I can tell you this. Church ruins people's lives. And I said, oh, I'm really sorry that you feel that. I said, look, have you got a few minutes? And she said, why? Now, hang on. This is another cliffhanger. Folks, you're not going any place. Talking to Canon J. John. His website is Canon, C-A-N-J-John.com. Hey, folks, do you wish you remembered names better and thought more

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Go to Vivalore.com, buy three and get 40% off with code 3-40. That's 40% off with code 3-4-0. The makers pray that God's glory rests on every pill. Vivalore.com. V-I-V-O-L-O-R-R-A.com. I'm talking to Canon J. John. The new book is Will I Be Fat in Heaven and other curious questions. So you're telling us a story of being in Australia. Is this many years ago? Yes. Quite a few years ago.

Yes. And so this young woman comes up to you at the end and says, I hated what you said. Church destroys people. Absolutely. So I said to her, look, have you got a few minutes? And she was like, why? really angry. I said, if you've got a few minutes,

can we go and have a coffee? And she's like, all right, let's go. So we just went to the cafeteria. We sat there. We got a coffee. I said, why are you so angry? And all this stuff just came out. And I just listened.

I said, that was a Monday. I said, come and hear me Tuesday and we'll have a coffee. And she's like, I don't know. Anyway, she came, we went for coffee. I said, come and hear me Wednesday. We'll go for coffee. She came, we went for coffee. Come and hear me Thursday.

we'll go for coffee she came we went for coffee i said one meeting left come and hear me friday we'll go for coffee friday she's ransomed healed restored and forgiven that girl's name christine kane ladies and gentlemen on the back of this book will i be fat in heaven and other curious questions there's a blurb an endorsement from christine kane some people because we have a very uh mixed kind of crowd tunes into this program. Some people know who Christine Kane is. Many do not. So tell my audience who Christine Kane is. Well, and the interesting thing about that story, Eric, is five coffees. Five coffees help this restless girl encounter the true and living God. Well, she's a little dynamo. I think one of the most incredible things that she and her husband are doing,

is that they founded a ministry called A-21, which is anti-human trafficking, and has made such a difference throughout Europe and around the world. And she's a speaker. I mean, she's an ambassador for Jesus. Oh, she's a big deal. But, I mean, so the idea that this is the woman. Now, listen, I have to ask practically speaking, right? I think, you know, the older you get typically, typically, the busier,

you get, things get scheduled, and also then there's a simple issue of energy. You and I were talking about there earlier that I really struggled with that because I've had health issues over the years and energy issues and things. So it still requires wisdom and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to know, do I go and have a conversation with someone now? Or, you know, what do I do? That's not an easy thing. No, and I agree.

And I, listen, Eric, and I, I don't want to infer that I do this with everyone. There was something about her. And first of all, I looked at her and I said to her, I said, are you Greek? And she said, yes, I'm Greek. I was going to say, how crazy that you're Greek, I'm Greek, and she's Greek. So there are three of us now. I know. And then Christine and I started talking in Greek.

So there was like that Greek connection. So initially there was no connection between us because she hated what I said. But then there was the Greek connection, almost a bit like Jesus and the Samaritan woman. There was something. But there's something funny to me about the fact that she came up to you at the end of this, specifically to tell you, I hated everything you said. There's something funny about that because, first of all, it's the sort of thing a Greek person would do, I think. It's just kind of funny that Greeks are passionate and they say things.

Because she might as well, she could have just as easily just hated you from afar. Absolutely. But she didn't. She felt somehow, you know, moved enough that she wanted to communicate with you, which says something. There's something beautiful about that. Yeah. And then I just felt, well, the most appropriate response would be just to give this woman a bit of time and just listen to her. And I think at that first coffee moment when she told me everything that's wrong with the church, I said, look, there have been many, many mistakes made in the name of medicine, huge mistakes made in the name of medicine.

But we don't throw out the whole of medicine because some mistakes have been made. And then gradually I'm just sowing a little bit of seed, a little bit of seed, till on Friday she had this encounter with Jesus. Now, practically speaking, you know, if a young woman, comes up to me after I have spoken and says, I'm not going to say, hey, let's have coffee alone. I mean, did you have a group of people? Is Killy with you?

How does that work? Because, you know, you have to have wisdom. Oh, totally, Eric. And do you know, I cannot recall, and my wife can testify to this, actually ever going and having coffee with another woman on my own? Yeah.

Well, typically I would say to people, I don't think that's a good idea. Of course. You know, be careful. It was in a public area. is very strong stuff definitely it was in a public area it was in the university cafeteria my team were like within a stone stroke right no i mean i just say that just because absolutely we've got to be guarded dinner with a woman and evangelize whether that wouldn't be wise right no but it's just

beautiful to to hear this i i think you may have shared this with me a long time ago and i forgot about christian king she's never been on this program i've never met her but she's one of those people because she's ethnically Greek. I just would be so delighted. So I don't know if she ever gets here to the United States, but at some point I would just be delighted. I know that the TBN audience is aware of her. Yes.

What do you think, because we were talking about just the supernatural aspect, this is not about accepting some morality or whatever. This is about accepting the living God. And that, you know, when we talk about Jesus, we're talking about God who loves us and is alive now and wants to communicate with us. What do you see, globally speaking, because I think most people, wherever you're coming from, politically or on any level, you realize we're living through extremely strange times, at least in our lifetimes. This is an unprecedented level of madness that has sort of taken over the globe, not just with COVID, but with many relationships. issues. What do you see happening in the church or in the world just from your perspective? Because you're, you know, you're not in America. You're typically across the pond. Well, Eric, look,

we live in a world of miracle and mystery. And we somehow have to hold those two things together. That there is miracle, there is mystery. Our next door neighbors, not Christian, they called my wife and I, the neighbours from heaven, which was a really endearing expression for us. And we got to know them really well. And the lady had a stroke. And the consequence of the stroke, she fell into a coma. And the daughter came round and spoke to my wife and said, we've just met with the doctors.

And they've told us that she's brain dead. There's no brain activity. She's on a life support machine. And we're going to switch it off in five days. So my wife said, okay, can my husband and I visit your mom? And the daughter said, please, can you visit my mom? Because my mom was so fond of you, that would be a very nice thing for you to do. So we, the only day I could go was the fifth day. So final day, next day, she's going to die. Now, I didn't go to the hospital, Eric, to pray healing. I thought, well, I'll just go. I'll maybe do the last rights. I might anointer with oil. You know, that's what I'm going. going to do. Anyway, we arrived. She's in intensive care. She's got tubes all over her. And I just said, Hey, Joyce, it's the neighbors from heaven. We've come to pray with you. So I took her hand. I held my wife's hand. She held her other hand. And I said, Joyce, we're going to pray the Lord's

prayer now. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. When we said your kingdom come, she woke up. And it was pretty scared. very Eric, because it was all very slow motion. And then she just woke up. So we go back to see her husband and I said, hey, she woke up. He goes, no, she didn't. I said, well, she did actually. He said, no, she didn't.

I said, well, she did. Anyway, 10 days later, she came back home. She lived another 10 years and died last week. and I'm taking her funeral this week as soon as I get back. Why am I telling you that story? We live in a world of miracle and mystery. I didn't even pray for healing. I just prayed the Lord's prayer and the woman woke up,

but I think God gave her an extra 10 years. It's beautiful. I mean, what an idea and why does God do things that way? Why does he wait till the last day? literally they were going to pull the plug the next day, and you show up and you pray, and she wakes up. I mean, part of why I want to talk about these things is, I think people need to understand this stuff happens, folks.

This is real. Some of us see it more than others, but I think we live in a world that unless you're tuned in to some, whether it's Christian radio or TV or something like that, it's a secular world. People act as though these things don't happen. These things happen all the time. God is alive.

He's using us. I've got innumerable stories of my own, very few as dramatic as the ones you've been telling. But people need to know God is alive, and he doesn't just want to save you from hell. He wants to draw you into his presence and into his purposes now, forever. It's just so beautiful. And I think we'll be continuing this conversation. We'll be right back. Hey, folks, Eric Metaxis here. Joe Biden and the Democrats have laid out the most socialist agenda our country has ever seen. Instead of following President Trump's blueprint that had the economy booming, the Dems are going to raise taxes, increased regulations, and skyrocket an already outrageous national debt. If your retirement is in traditional investments, it is in jeopardy. Americans should be diversifying their investments with gold and precious metals. Gold gives you control over your wealth and protects you from market volatility, inflation, and a weakening dollar.

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Yes. Be back in April. I'm preaching at Times Square Church. Okay. Now, I don't know if you know this, but I met my wife, Suzanne. at Times Square Church. We met in 1994. We were married in 96. And I got most of my spiritual foundation, I would say, at Times Square Church. Also at a charismatic Anglican Episcopal Church in Derry in Connecticut, Terry Fullum. But Times Square Church, really, the new pastor, Tim Delina, of course, Carter Conlon has been on this program many times. But it just makes me so happy that you're going to be speaking there. You know, when I first came to Christ, I read the cross and the switchblade, run, baby, run.

And you know that in the cross and the switch blade, there's a story about the policeman. Tim Delina was on this program some months ago. He told the story. But no, no, but people won't. People won't know. First of all, you have to explain because there's young people. You don't know about the cross on the switchblade. David Wilkerson, this ends up being this amazing man of God.

But he's what, 21, 22. God speaks to him. He's in rural Pennsylvania. He drives eight hours to New York. He's ministering to these people. I mean, it's a book of miracles. It is. And in the middle of the, right in the beginning is the story of here you have this kind of like Hick rural preacher, 21 years old, in the middle of Gritty New York in the late 50s. And he starts talking to this policeman. I mean, just that the idea of this rural preacher talking. to this New York cop. And the New York cop ends up being the father of our friend Tim Delina, who is today, the pastor of Timesquish. I love that story.

It's kind of an amazing story. Now, we will air this. By the time we air this, you will already have spoken at Hillsong in New York City. A friend of mine and I just at dinner with the new pastor of Hillsong here in New York. We are so excited. I wanted to bring this up because God is doing things everywhere, including in New York City. It is just wonderful that there are these huge churches. And these are just two that we've mentioned, right here in Manhattan, that, you know,

they're crazy enough to invite people like you to their pulpit. Times Square Church actually allowed me in their pulpit a bunch of times. You know, this is kind of, it's fun to me to think that in a place like New York, there are these kinds of churches. Oh, absolutely. look Eric, none of us have got it together, but together we've got it. This guy's good, Albert. Come on. This is the 21st century Chesterton.

I love it. None of us, say it again, it's so good. None of us have got it together, but together we've got it. And no one church, Eric, monopolizes God's truth. Right. And it's a bit like going into an ice cream parlor, particularly here in America, you have a lot more flavors than we do in England. but you have countless flavors of ice cream, but it's all ice cream.

And what I love about that with regard to the church, it's like you've got different flavors, but it's the same roots. It's Jesus. It's Jesus. Well, no, it is just wonderful. And what I like, you know, in Dallas, Texas, Eric, you're like this. I preached at three churches. I preached at a church called Prestonwood.

I preached in a church called First Baptist. I'm speaking at Preston Wood in February. And I believe I've, who's First Baptist? Wait, is that Pastor Jeffers? Yes. I've spoken there many times. Hey, I'm right behind this guy. But listen to this, listen to this.

So I preached at Preston Wood. I preached at First Baptist and I preached at Gateway. And I gave the same message at all three. The only difference was I wore different clothes. That's fooling them. You know, which is lovely. I love God's creativity, God's different churches, but it's Jesus. Well, look, if it ain't Jesus, run.

But I love the fact that you get over here to our neck of the woods and that you speak in these churches. And I'm delighted that I'm aware of these churches in Texas. But you're quite right. See, that to me, though, is. part of how I know God is moving in our time that a lot of these ridiculous boundaries. I mean, there are people that they care more about being a Methodist or a Congregationalist or a Presbyterian than they do about being a follower of Jesus. And at that point, I know, you know, they're not much of a follower of Jesus if that's your focus.

And I think that when that breaks down, that's a sign of kingdom thinking, that there are people in these different churches. They say, it's not about my church. It's not about my denomination. It's about Jesus. Absolutely. And you know when Jesus rode on the donkey into Jerusalem? Did you know, Eric, the donkey thought it was all about him? He couldn't believe it.

It was his first outing. He'd never been out before. So the donkey was like, this is incredible. I've never had so much applause in all my life. Oh, my word, they're even laying their clothes down so that I don't have to dirty my feet. You see, the donkey thought it was all about him. Yeah, I don't know where I've heard that story, but I love that. story so much. I love that story. It sounds like, is that not a children's book? Doesn't it seem like a

children's book that I should write quickly before he gets a chance to go back to England and write it himself? I've heard that story, but it's, it's funny. It is funny. And the thing is, there's an element of that where we think it's about us. No, no, no, no. It's not about us. It's about Jesus. Who doesn't need to hear that? That is so beautiful. Well, we're not going to we're not going to say goodbye yet. I think we have another segment, folks. Why would you go away? This is such a fun conversation. The new book is, will I be fat in heaven and other curious questions? The website, canonjjohn.com. Don't go away. Hey, folks, I've got to tell you a secret about relief factor that the father, son,

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Oh, I love Christmas, Eric. I'm Mr. Christmas. I love everything about Christmas. You're Mr. Christmas? Yes. I've been wondering who you were. Now I know. Now, do you know what would have happened if they were wise women instead of wise men? No, I don't. What would have happened? They would have asked for directions and arrived there on time. They would have brought a casserole, they would have cleaned out the stable, they would have helped with a delivery, and they would have brought far more practical presents. Isn't it great that we know that? Well, you say you love Christmas. It's interesting because Christmas is one of those rare, rare times when it's easy to talk about Jesus. It's not, you don't have to, you don't have to go very far.

It's a very basic concept. Absolutely. It's the most receptive, fertile season of the year. People seem to be a little bit more open, a little bit more kinder, and it's a great opportunity for us to, you know, when it comes to evangelism, Eric, my philosophy is do three things. Pray, prayer, care, share. That's it.

Prayer, care, share. Prayer, care, share. Share. Share. That's it. How would we say it? Prayer, care, share. That doesn't sound as nice. Prayer, care, share. Let's pray. Let's pray for our neighbour's friends, family, colleagues. Because we know, Eric, when we pray, coincidences happen.

And when we don't, they don't. Prayer, care, share. That's it. And comb your hair. And comb your hair. Always. Comb, brush. the grisly, your hair.

Absolutely. I love that. Prayer, care, share. That's it. But I'm still going to say it in an English accent because it just sounds much more, it's nicer. I know. Hey, let me ask you something. I have a new book out called Is Atheism Dead?

I normally, when the new atheists were popular, particularly in England, I ignored it because I just thought it was just sort of painful and there was a nastiness to it. It was more anti-Christian, I thought, than being honest about what is. truth. So I never really thought much about the new atheists until I wrote this book, and I didn't write the book wanting to write about atheism. I just thought in 1966, Time Magazine said, is God dead? And I thought so much evidence has come out really pointing to God from science and whatever. I thought that the question today would be, is atheism dead? And at the end of the book, I thought, well, maybe I should write about atheism, which brings me to the idea

that, today in England, and to some extent the United States, the idea of atheism has kind of caught on almost like a religion. People are all looking for the same thing. They're looking for truth and meaning. But I just find it funny that people would gravitate toward atheism, because I think if you're logical, it really doesn't make sense, that you'd gravitate toward believing in, I mean, what do you think is behind that? I guess that's my, my long question. I think there are many people who are disillusioned with the church. And I think some people express their disillusionment by saying that they're atheists, but I don't think they really are. I met a consultant doctor recently

and he said to me I'm an atheist I said well God doesn't believe in atheists and he found that amusing and that started a conversation now and we're having a conversation so we had him and his partner around for dinner and we're about to go to their house for dinner

to keep the conversation going I think a lot of these people have never really engaged with Christians I think that's the problem No, I think you're right. And what I say in the book, and I didn't, a lot of times I write these things that I discovered as I'm writing it. But I realize that people who are really flippant about the questions of God or atheism, they don't go very far. You can't take them very seriously.

But those who have taken these issues really seriously, people like Jean-Paul Sard, Albert Camus, they had the guts to stare into the bleakness of a world without meaning or God or any. thing. They were trying to puzzle out if this is true, which they thought it was, what do we do? But those two that I just mentioned, and I think almost nobody knows this. I was astounded. Both of them came to faith at the end of their lives, one in 1960 and one in 19. Do you knew this? I did, yeah. You're the only person I have ever bumped into who knew this, because I, everywhere I go, no one's ever heard of this. Yes, because I did apologetics at universities, so I kind of read, red, well, little a little bit. Do you know one of the stories I really like is that when the first

astronaut returned from space, Russian astronaut. Yuri Gagarin. You got it. Yeah. And then the Soviet Union heralded, you know, they asked him, did he see God? He said, no, he didn't see God. They heralded this as proof that God didn't exist. And there was one professor who was applauding

Yuri in his lecture with all the students about how wonderful that he's proved that God does not exist. And one student stood up and said, Professor, may I ask you, question. Did Uri, does Uri have a pure heart? And the professor said, what do you mean? Did he have a pure heart? Well, the Bible says only the pure in heart will see God. Shazam. I mean, look, this is, we could talk for days about all this stuff. It's so, it's so important that we

think about these questions and that we acknowledge, and this is what you do. You, you know that everybody has these questions in one way or the other. They're looking for someone to help them figure out, does life have meaning? Where do I fit in? And Christmas is a great time, Eric, to kind of introduce people to Christ. The only true historical reason for celebrating Christmas is as the birthday of Jesus Christ, but no one celebrates the birthday of a dead person. You only celebrate the birthday of someone who's alive. And we Christians know he's alive. That's why there can be a true celebration of his birthday. It's such a beautiful story, too. I think that sometimes we forget how beautiful it is, the story of God who created the universe. And again, in writing this book,

I'm in awe of the more we learn from science, the more astonishing it is, who, would have created this world. I mean, it's so astonishing. And then when you realize that that God knows your name, loves you, died for you, I mean, it is so beautiful and sometimes we forget

just the overwhelming simplicity and beauty of this story. Of course we're out of time. Alvin, we're at time. God, Eric, couldn't have made himself bigger to impress us, so he made himself smaller to attract us. I think

We're going to leave it right there. Canonjjohn.com is the website. Will I Be Fat in Heaven? And other curious questions. We love you. Thanks for being here. Thank you, Eric. Hey, folks.

We have to start with a letter. We have to. I want to read this because we get a lot of letters. If you write to ericmetaxis.com or you write to Mataxa.com, we read all these letters. I read all the letters. I can't respond to most of them, but we read them. And every now and again we get something.

I think, you know what, Albin, we got to read this. on the air. Yeah, a lot of fun. So the other day, we were talking, now this is, you know, you go from the tragic to the ridiculous. There's been such bad news in this country. I don't want to touch on that right now. I just want to say that we had John Zemirik on the other day.

Yes. By the way, there's a reminder to you, folks. Go to Mataxis. Go to Eric Mataxis.com. Sign up for my newsletter because you don't want to miss these interviews with Zmirak and all these people. Please. But But we had on John Zmirak, and he was mentioning this place in Wisconsin where this horrible thing happened,

and he pronounced the place Waukesha, Wisconsin, right? And it's Waukesha. Well, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute. You don't know that. I don't know that. My wife told me it was Waukesha. Oh, she did? Yeah, yeah, she did.

She knew that? Yeah, I interviewed John the week before, and I told him it was Waukesha. But he forgot. And he said Waukeeshaw. Okay. When he talked to you. So now we got a letter. Yeah, this is great.

It says, Eric, we can't mention this woman's name, but it might be Ann Cornelius. I can't read this. This is typed illegibly. But she's from Wisconsin, and she says, Eric, love your show. Waukeeshaw is Waukishaw. Emphasis on first syllable, short E on second syllable, Waukeeshaw. Wauwakshaw. Wau.

Want you to sound real scunny. That's like Wisconsin. So I guess if you're from Wisconsin and you sound like a local, you sound scunny. Is it scunny? Now we're going to get another email saying it's scotty or sconey. But I want to thank you, Anne, for writing and telling us how to pronounce Waukesha. Yeah. Waucahaw.

It's Waukishaw. Wau. I just love this. Look, if you sent us short pithy emails, we are much more likely to read them on the air. So I want to encourage you to do that. And I want to remind you, folks, we're doing a fundraiser with Christian Solidary International. Now, I don't know if I've said this recently, but Donald Trump, President Trump, gave me three Make America Great Again hats. Actually, he gave me more.

He signed a couple. But there are three that he did not sign, but that he gave to me. He didn't have time to sign them. But he also gave me the pen that he used. to sign the other ones. It's a special Donald Trump pen. And I said anybody who gives $250 can free a slave. If you go to our website metaxis talk.com. And I just think it's a beautiful thing. But then I thought there are people out there, if you can give $2,500, you're going to free 10 human beings from slavery. We want to thank you by sending you one of these hats that

the president gave to me, and I will sign it to whomever, to you, to a friend, to an uncle, whoever you want to give it to, whatever, I will sign it, you know, to so-and-so, God bless you, your open tax, or whatever. With the pen, the president gave to me when he gave me the hat. So this is kind of a cool thing. It's kind of a fun gift. Hey, if you're looking for something to give to somebody that, you know, you couldn't get any other way, I know there people out there who can afford that. And there are only three hats. So it's got to be the first three people. Well, there were only two hats. We found. found the third hat today. So we're hoping that. I also want to say if there's anybody that can give $10,000, and look, at Christmas time, folks, this is, it doesn't get more beautiful than being able to free people from literal slavery. So if there's anybody can give $10,000, I want to have dinner with you. We've done this many times, whether it's here in New York or another city, you know, we get together. It could be, you know, three of us or two of us, or it could be 20 people in a big, right? That's all on you. But I just want to.

want to personally thank anybody who's able to do that. So we want to encourage you. Metaxistock.com or 8882533522. Read that again. 888253-352. Give something. Or just go to metaxus talk.com. God bless you.