The Eric Metaxas Show - Charlie Kirk

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

Charlie Kirk sits down with Eric at Amfest and discuss the state of America 

Welcome to the Eric Metaxus show. It's the show featuring Go Go Go the Chimp. Nothing like a chimp to liven up the radio show. Easy there. Go-go, go, go. No, go, go. Folks, I'm at Am Fest, and, you know, a lot of people want to know. Who is married to that guy, Charlie Kirk?

Is he married? What's going on with him? Is he single? Is he available? Turns out he's married. He has two kids. and his wife Erica is sitting with me. Erica, welcome. Thank you. You're one of my favorite humans, aside from my husband, but humans on Charlie's podcast and in our orbit.

Because you're fun and you're real. Fun is important. Being real is important. Authenticity is important. But you're very smart. And you're very wise. Please never leave. Stay here. Stay here. Keep going. No, that's so sweet, Erica. Thank you. Listen, I interviewed Charlie a little bit ago, and I said the same thing to him. It's so much fun to talk to him because, well, I mean, I guess on some level it's because we agree violently on so many important things.

So it's a joy to speak to somebody who gets it, so to speak. But in all seriousness, people want to know. Now, I know, because I met you when you guys were just dating. But how did you meet Charlie? You were like, where are you from? And how did you guys meet? I'll give you a brief spark notes for you. Yeah.

So I grew up here in Arizona. This is where Amphus is right now. Yeah. And I went to Trump's first rally here in Arizona because in 2012 I was Miss Arizona, USA. Wait, now wait a minute. Yes. Now wait a minute. I have lived many lives.

That I didn't know this about you. So when Donald Trump. Or maybe I knew and I forgot? No. So Donald Trump. Trump owned Miss USA and Miss Universe. Yeah. And so I was one of the last few years before he sold off his portion of ownership.

And so being Miss Arizona, his first rally, I guess you could say, was in Arizona. And so I went. Yeah. I met Tyler Boyer, and he came up to me and he was like, we're starting this. We have this organization, this young conservative movement. You should check it out. And I was like, thank you so much. but no

I live in New York I have a lot going on right I thank you but let's stay in touch I love staying in touch with people I feel like God puts people in your life as little puzzle pieces

you have no idea where they fit and eventually they fit right so I stayed in touch with him and then randomly enough I went to Israel with my mom and I saw this guy in the ticket line on our way home

and I was like gosh that guy looks so familiar was it a tall guy tall good looking guy yeah handsome and so my mom was like, go say hi. And I was like, no, I'm not going to go say. So then fast forward when I got home two months after I got home, mind you, my whole intention on my heart, anywhere in Israel,

you know this because you've been there. You stick like little pieces of paper wherever you go of prayers. Anywhere. Like if there's a wall, you can stick prayer. Right, right. That my intention was for my future husband, always praying for my future husband. I get back from Israel and I get a text message from Tyler Boyer,

who I haven't talked to since the first Trump rally. He said, hey, we're doing our office opening. I would love if you're in town to come to that. I said, okay, why not? This I think was in August. I went to the office opening, saw the guy that was in the ticket line, Charlie. And I was like, that's creepy. And then, but God.

I don't think you need to say creepy. I think you'd just say, that's weird. That's what? That's incredibly interesting. That's God. Because there's nothing creepy about it. No, you're right. But please continue.

Yes. So then anyways, but long story short, we met. very briefly and then he messaged me and was like, hey, we're starting a faith portion of the organization very early on. This was, I would say, in 2018 and

sat down with Charlie at Bill's Burgers where you and I first met later with Charlie and he grilled me for three and a half hours on politics, philosophy, theology. Now, wait a minute. Was this a date? What was this? It was a job interview.

It was a job interview. Job interview. And then at the end of it, he puts down his napkin and he stares at me. And he goes, I'm not going to hire you. And I said, I didn't need the job. I just was here because Tyler suggested. And he goes, no, no, no, I'm going to date you. And I was like, you don't want to just be friends.

He goes, no, I haven't. How arrogant? How arrogant I'm going to date you? Oh, you are? Because I haven't said yes yet, but thank you. It's very caveman-like. Like, you're my woman. That's wonderful.

Yes, that's the good part. So we literally, he's precious. and I said, do I have time to think about it? He said, yes, tomorrow night until I take you out for dinner again, and the rest is history. We have two kids, precious babies, and it's been unbelievable. God is so good. How amazing.

I'm glad you shared that just because a lot of people, it's interesting. I do the thing called Socrates and City. Obviously, we're sitting here with a banner and stuff. And when I do a Socrates and City interview, I get the deeper, you know, that's now really I'm doing my radio show and my podcast. But it's nice to get the. the bigger picture. And when I'm talking to Charlie,

or when Charlie's doing interviews, it's kind of like politics, politics. But you want to kind of get behind that. And talking to you now, I feel like I get behind that a little bit because people want to know, who is this guy? Is he a good guy?

Is he a real guy? Right. He's not a robot. Right. Because there are people, you know this, that you interview them. I won't mention names. But there's some people that, I'm not saying that they're phony,

because I don't think they're phony, but they don't, there's, You don't make that kind of connection on a human level. It's kind of more about, you know, ideas, ideas, ideas, and then they're gone. And so I've had the joy of getting to know Charlie behind the scenes, and we just can't stop joking, you know. It's like, it's healthy. It's emotionally healthy, right?

So, okay, so he has been traveling around like a maniac. He is utterly devoted to you and your kids. And so he, you know, he's getting home. He cares about things. So it's kind of amazing. What does it like to watch? Because you're very involved in TPSA. I mean, it's been an historic year.

It's been unbelievable. It's been very humbling to witness the way God has used him, especially in this last year specifically. But to be able to know that my job is to make sure, as the guardian of the home, to make it a safe space for when he comes home, he drops his bags, and he can be Charlie. He can be my Charlie,

and he can just relax, play with the kids, Nothing needs to be done on his end other than just to breathe. I want to make that a space for him where he can always have a reprieve and never be like dishes, laundry, something. Right, right. He's home for such a short amount of time, make it count. He's so good at being in the present moment, and he's so good at making sure we're all included for trips or if we can travel with him with kids. But he's just, he's an amazing human. He really is.

Well, that's clear to any idiot. I mean, we don't need you to tell us that because it's kind of funny. Now, Eric, it's funny because he is so gifted, but the key is that he knows God, and he knows that the gifts that he has are, they're a gift from God for God's purposes. Because you can imagine anybody who's tremendously gifted are talented, there's a temptation to think it's me. And that is fatal. And so it's such a beautiful thing for me, you know, old enough to be Charlie's dad,

to see this young man who gets that and who's chosen this extraordinary way. I mean, it really makes me very happy. Now, I've got to ask you, how old are your kids? So Genevieve, we call her Gigi, Genevieve Grace. She is two and four months, which. And then MacArthur is seven months. Now, do you call him Mac? We call him Mac or the Little General.

Oh, that's so great. Seven months? Seven months? He's my little dream boat. Oh, my gosh. I know. We're so blessed, and they love their daddy. I mean, Genevieve is obsessed with Charlie.

Isn't that? How wonderful. Very sweet. And he's very good at, even though it's a, it's the quality over quantity when it comes to time when he's traveling. Because when he's home, he's laser focused on the kids. Yeah. puts his phone down, doesn't touch it. Yeah.

He's there for the kids. Well, that's very important. And, I mean, just the juggling the whole thing, but I've never seen anything like it. But so, yeah, you must be. obviously relieved that we won this election because my goodness he poured so much of his heart and soul into it and to see I mean you know the youth vote was huge if we didn't have that it's amazing but I mean it's not it's kind of funny because on the one hand like okay we're thrilled that the

youth vote went for Trump like that's great but even better than that for the future the idea that these young people kind of got it and that they're sort of sort of, you know, on board. That's a cultural shift. I know. And I think it's going to keep shifting. And, you know, I'm more interested into the cultural, so I'm not a political junkie the way Charlie is obviously.

He's a super expert. But for me, it's about the culture. And it's the kind of thing that we have to care about. You can win a lot of elections, but you have to change the way people think we're out of time. But what a joy to get a few

minutes with you. God bless you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Okay, every new year, we all spend a few days seriously thinking about what we can do to improve our lives, and usually it revolves around better health, right? Well, I want to strongly encourage you to do what I do, take responsibility for your health by taking balance of nature's whole food ingredient supplements. Seriously, they're packed with 31 varieties of fruit and vegetable ingredients from tomatoes to sweet potatoes, just about everything in between. It's a resolution you can truly keep all year long like I do. This is your last time to put it off because today you can become a preferred customer at Balance of Nature.

Use my discount code Eric to get 35% off plus free shipping plus a free fiber and spice supplement. It's an unbelievable limited New Year's promotion, but you can use my discount code Eric. Call them at 800 2468751. Use discount code Eric or order online at balance of nature.com. Discount code Eric to get 35% off their food and veggie supplements plus a free fiber and spice supplement. Okay, ready? Balance and Nature.com. code Eric. Go. Hey there

folks. My Pillow is excited to announce that their Christmas extravaganza is finally here. Get this season's flannel sheets for as low as 59. 98. They won't last long, so get them while you can. They're famous MySlippers. Those haven't been on sale for a long time. Regularly priced at

1998 for a limited time now 5998. And their six-piece towel sets are back in stock with extremely limited quantities, only 2998. With hundreds of My Pillow products, there's something for everyone on your Christmas list for bathrobes, duvets, quilts, down comforter, so much more. Go to Mypillow.com or call 800-9783057.

800-9757. Be sure to use promo code Eric to save on all MyPillow products. That's promo code Eric. Flannel sheets for as low as 5998 or the six-piece towel sets for just 2998, but that's not all. They're extending their 60-day money-back guarantee till March 1st, plus all orders. $75 or more. Ship absolutely free. Mypillow.com.

use code Eric folks as you know I am at Amfest and Amfest it's just a little thing that I dreamed up years ago

but my friend Charlie Kirk he's been taking credit and you know what Ronald Reagan said I just don't care as long as good stuff is getting done I don't care who gets credit so Charlie that's right you want to claim you are the brain child of Amfest

I remember we were sitting in a room It is my brain child I'm saying you were sitting in a room and you mapped it all out and then you said you left room abruptly and I stole it all. And Charlie stole it. But you know what? I'm fine with that because it's

just so wonderful. Charlie, listen, you know, I tease people that I love, so I tease you the most because I'm just... It's reciprocal. Well, that's the joy of our friendship. But this has to be such a glorious moment for you, but you are because of the election. But what I love about

you, I think, is that you get better than anybody. that we don't have time to rest. We have just been given the gift to go to war for all this stuff. So what do you see happening in the months ahead? Well, first, I do think, and this is so hard for me, I'm trying to give people my team, myself, permission to celebrate. That's hard.

And because we did something hard and big and deep and challenging. And so just rolling battle to battle is important. However, there is a need to say thank you, Lord. for your grace, for your intervention, for your mercy, for your love. And you know where I'm coming from with that, because my temperament is like, let's just go to the next hill. So I'm going to try to take time over the next couple of days. I'm just trying to soak all of this in. Because I do believe that we're living through one of God's greatest graces upon the Republic since its founding.

There's absolutely no doubt. I mean, I'm tracking 100. I've been saying the same thing. This is, we're living through tremendous history this minute. And I think God gave his grace at its fact. founding, God gave his grace in the Civil War. God gave his grace in World War II. And I think that this is up there. Because where we were headed, it would have... Honestly, this is ahead of World War II. Could be. I mean, I mean, it could be as far as the implications for the civilization and for

the Republic. I haven't thought deeply of whether it's greater or not, but it's up there. It's in the same category. So that's the first thing. The second thing, though, is that there is this energy that I haven't sensed. And this is what's so important. People, our team, who haven't been around, they said, well, Charlie, if we win, you know, our donation's just going to stop because we want, say, no, it's the opposite.

You don't understand. Once we win, our side is going to go nuts to go do more because we've been so demoralized. I said, if you think we worked hard, you know, in 23, 24, just wait until 25. There's a lot of work yet to be done. We have to make the Republican Party more conservative and more in alignment with its voters,

which is why we're going to be embarking on primarying senators that do not align with President Trump's agenda. We have a lot of work to do to make sure President Trump gets his cabinet and his personnel. And then we have the cultural stuff and the stuff that you and I care about. We could talk about high school, college, all that. But the thing that is just staring at us is the fact that church failed this election. And if you and I and your audience do not make it a primary concern to strengthen and sharpen the church significantly in the next couple of years,

then we might not be given another respite from the Lord and another period of grace. I think my theory, I'm not sure exactly what I think, but my theorizing on this issue is that we're living through a reformation in the sense that when people talk about the church, the church is no longer the church. The church has changed. God has moved on. And I think that what's kind of funny,

I said this a few years ago, God does his best work outside the church. God goes outside the church. He'll pick a thrice-married New York real estate developer to show the church what courage looks like. That's what God does. And you see this all through history, and I think the churches that are thriving,

and you and I know a lot of these pastors, they have been bold as brass, and the churches that are playing the safe game and saying we don't want to be political, I think they're struggling to keep their doors open. I think they're dying. We need to accelerate their demise. Exactly.

Did you hear my speech? Were you at the TPSA Faith Pastors thing? Yeah. That I gave the speech at that night? Yeah. I can't remember you there. And for the audience, I think I finally figured out the problem. And I know that's like a big contention.

But I've been doing the church thing for a couple years. And I only started doing church work in 2019, 2020. You've been in it for quite a while. And I think in the last couple of months, I finally found a way to distill it. It's that the first principal category error is you can't answer what is the church. And from that answer, what is the church? You get woke church. So you just have to get back down to first principle.

And I can tell in 30 seconds on how a pastor describes what church is, whether or not you're a good church, you're a bad church. And so, for example, what the church should be, obviously the bride of Christ, a place to create disciples, not converts. That is critical. A place of community where your worldview is sharpened and fastened, and everything that you view goes through that worldview. A church is not a place to be affirmed. A church is not a place to go feel good and comfortable all the time. It's a place to go to spiritual surgery and become better. I think you stole all this from me, but I'm going to let it go because who cares?

No, seriously, what a joy. This is the funny thing that you and I, a lot of places that I would go speak, you spoke right before me, and it was hilarious because you said everything that I wanted to say. And you were like, I'm done. I get up there and I'm thinking this is funny because But the good news is it's clearly God is speaking. God is, you know, when you said all that stuff, it's like, yeah, this is not just some ideas I came up. With God is speaking.

He's speaking to his people. And I think that what you just said about the church is not meant to be religious. It's meant to be everything. It's supposed to affect our whole world, including the political. Yes, but I mean, everything, every action that you make throughout the day, every action is a byproduct of your worldview. What you eat, who you talk to, how you talk to them, how you treat them, who you marry, whether you have kids, how you vote, your ethics, your conducts, your morals, all actionable art. So Aristotle's ethic starts with every art, every inquiry, every action points towards some good.

Okay, then what is good? And only the Bible and the biblical world that you can tell you what is good. So the church needs to be every single day with great pattern repetition, repetitiously, saying, hey, this is what is good in politics. This is what is good in spiritual matters. This is sin. This is not. We don't do that. And then we wonder why the church does not have a strengthened worldview.

Yeah. Well, yeah, we're supposed to be involved in everything. We're supposed to be helping people who are Christians think about everything. And instead, the church has just been religious and has been theological, which is pathetic. It's just useless. And I don't even know if some of the churches are that. Well, that's it. I'm talking about like the sort of good churches, right?

No, I know. Because there's a whole other category of just. Well, we're not talking about the dead mainstream church. I mean, the mainline churches, I don't know what they are. They're like, when I think of the Simpsons, you think of like Reverend Lovejoy? I know this is like a husk of its former self. Exactly. A husk.

That's the word I was looking for. A husk. So, Charlie, you have to be hopeful for the future because I think that what's happened in the last four years has awakened the proverbial sleeping giant. There are tons of people that were not awake four years ago. They are now awake. It gives me so much hope. Right? You know the hope, first of all, I mean, the hope is buzzing off the walls here, right?

You know the hope that I have is that a small group of people can make persuasive arguments despite being the minority, despite being smeared and slandered, and you can win public opinion. That is awesome. That means that this can happen again

if all of a sudden tyranny rises, we can push it back. Meaning like, what I'm saying is that we proved that we can move public opinion. We prove that things aren't always the way they have to be. We prove that young people don't have to be super liberal, that blacks don't have to be part of the Democrat Party. We prove that,

that with work we can move things. Yeah. And that's the greatest hope of all. Besides Jesus, of course. Well, but Jesus is at the heart of it. I mean, without Jesus, we wouldn't be able to do all. You know, God created reality. And we've just seen that things have gone off the rails to where the liberals.

I mean, the liberals used to be, you know, just wrong on, like, economics and stuff. They're now wrong on everything. They've just gone insane. They're not just wrong. They're sinister. Well, and so. Correct. Thank you. Once again, Charlie pulls right out of my mouth. It's wonderful, honestly, because I've been saying just that.

And that's why we're the best one to combo at these events. After we speak, everyone's like, we're done. Forget it. But it's kind of funny because, I mean, I wrote a book called The Zathism Dead. And it's weird. It's a great book. I'm not even saying. If it was bad, I would make fun of you. It's actually a good book. Well, we're sort of, we're turning it into it. Not all your books aren't as good at that one. That one's a great one. Thank you. We're turning into a streaming TV series. But in the course of writing that book, and I sort of knew this, but in writing the book, I realized that when you take God out, right, notice that the world would have you believe that there's this neutral secularism, right?

There is no such thing. This is absolutely correct. Right? And so you get demonic. I mean, when you take God out and you get atheist Marxism, it's demonic. It's not neutral. As I said, at some point someone's going to say, well, that's good and that's bad. By what standard?

What are you appealing towards? Right. What book, what piece of literature, what document, what creed, by what do you say that is good? And they'll say, oh, common sense. Well, no, that's actually, that's not true. In other countries, they don't consider that to be common sense. In sub-Saharan African countries, they abandon babies and put them in the woods if they don't want them. Because that's common sense.

Wow. I mean, that's a legitimate. Of course, of course. But most Americans are too spoiled to know any of this stuff. Well, this is where Tom Holland's book, Dominion, do you know Tom Holland? I interviewed him at Socrates in the city. This summer. Can you stay with me five more minutes? We're going to a break. Only you. I mean, this is... Only with me. Hang on. Charlie Kirk coming back. Don't go away.

I want to talk to Tom Holland. He's special. Hey, folks, listeners to my show know I'm passionate about the work of Christian Solidarity International because they protect and free those who are being persecuted and enslaved for their faith. Thanks to you to date, CSI has freed more than 100,000 people from slavery in Sudan, but the work is not done yet. It's estimated that there are still tens of thousands more. still in bondage. And CSI is preparing right now for their final slave liberation of this year. I'm hoping you'll join me and help them liberate another 300 women and children. Your gift of just $250 will free a woman in Sudan who has been enslaved for years and provide her with food

and other supplies necessary to start her new life. Call 888-253-3522. 888-253-2522 Christian Solidarity International, freeing and healing captives in Jesus' name. Go to Metaxistalk.com. Metaxistock.com. Click on the Christian Solidarity banner. Metaxistock.com or 888-252522. God bless you. Folks, welcome back. I'm here at Amfest, which is something I cooked up years ago, but I didn't have the team to execute it. So I gave it to Charlie. Charlie, thank you. Charlie's just tuning me out at this point. Let's talk about Tom Holland. I interviewed him at Socrates in the city this summer. We did an Oxford, England. event and I interviewed Tom Holland about the very subject that you were just going to talk about.

It's called Dominion. Now, he is not officially a Christian, but when he's not a Christian, it's almost funny because he sort of wants to be. He can't help it. That's right. And so Tom Holland writing Dominion has this phrase that I love, and I repeat, called Christian inheritance, that we have inherited a Christian tradition. Oh, yeah.

And we don't even know it. Correct. Natural rights, separation of powers, charity, care for the poor. And his contention is that if you look at other civilizations that do not have a Christian inheritance, they're the most inhumane, the most barbaric, the most medieval, the most backward looking. And he says, for those you that want, it's like cut flowers. They will not grow in a vase. They won't grow in a vase once you cut the flowers.

And so our Christian inheritance is what built Western civilization. And so Americans are so spoiled and they say, oh, you know, it's just common sense that we look after the least of these. No, it's not actually. Correct. You think it's common sense because you were raised in an environment. environment and a condition of which that was considered to be normative. You think it's normal that we don't murder. Right. And it's becoming less and less, by the way.

Correct. But we raised in an environment where we believe that's... So I could go through the example, but because all of our literature, our books, our music, generally lift up these Christian virtues and values, we think that is just the way that all people live. I'm not kidding. It's funny talking to you because normally everything you're saying, like, I'm the guy talking about this stuff. And I just sit here and you're saying it's so wonderful because, look, we have to, I keep saying, we have to re-catechize the culture. People have to learn.

Everything you just said, they have to get the idea that without God, you do not get the idea that slavery is bad, that infanticide is bad. God is where we get these ideas from. And I wrote a book about William Wilberforce. Before Wilberforce, most people in the West didn't even have a social conscience. They didn't have a biblical worldview. They were kind of like, let the poor rot. Who cares?

Now we argue about how do we help the poor? You know, the left says, you know, the government and the right says private sector, but we now all know somehow that we're supposed to care for the poor. We're supposed to do something about it. That comes out of the Bible. Most pagan cultures don't believe that. No, in the opposite, they believe in the elimination of the poor. Thank you.

Darwinian social Darwinism. So there's three different worldviews that are competing. There is just pure eugenics, Darwinianism, eliminate the lowest. There's paganism, which we are seeing a rise of. Worship of the earth, worship of the sun or whatever. And then there is Christianity and this ethic that we have in the West, and which is best. We know which one is best. And Donald Trump represented a restoration of the Western morality to be re-implemented, to be defended, that this is the best ethic.

Let's think about it. No men and women's sports. Christian idea. Borders. Christian idea. You're going to be able to have your kid be raised in a good environment. Christian idea. Donald Trump represented all of the inheritance of these, and pastors are so, what word would you use?

Oh, my gosh. It depends on what pejorative we want to focus on. I would say shallow. I would say they're not, they're dull. They are so dull that they don't understand the value system in the worldview that President Trump was defending on a daily basis is downstream, is a tributary effect of the scriptures. And yet, not every pastor, but you know plenty that we're silent. or complicit or cowardly. Of course. Now, part of this, I mean, what Trump has done,

obviously God has done it through Trump, but the idea of bringing back this positive, masculine energy, you've experienced this like crazy on these campuses because without that, without strong men who want to protect the weak, who want to be warriors. But let me interject,

the West only believes men should protect the weak. In other cultures, they say the men should just crush everybody. Thank you. So that's a very important thing. When we talk about masculinity, we say using the strength in a charitable, magnanimous way. You know what I'm saying? Whereas in, I don't know, Genghis Khan worldview, you use the masculinity to rape the women.

I was going to say, to rape the women, to rape the boys, to rape the men. Yes. I mean, it's... So that's an important distinction, though, that when we say we want strong men, it is strong men in the pursuit of the good, to defend the good against the terror and the tyranny. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but... No, no. you're making the point. It's, and it's

an extraordinary thing. And I think it is, you know, you talk about God's grace, the idea that we're living in a moment where we're seeing this dramatic shift that young men are understanding this. They're not buying the lies about who they are. This gives me just tremendous hope for

the future. It does. And what we did with young people was profound and important. And Eric, I just want to reiterate this as we wrap. You and I have to work more closely together on the church thing. This is an existential crisis. The church failed this last cycle. Yeah. And if we don't fix this and elevate it and strengthen it, we're going to have a long-term problem.

The church is working themselves into a corner of cultural irrelevance. We have 45 seconds left. I would do anything to help you with this. What do you think we should do? No, I mean, it would be great if, you know, we had TPSA Faith and, you know, did something together. If we had, yeah, why do you cook something up called TPSAF? That would be a great idea. Eric, what I'm saying is we have to be bolder, do more together, speak more together.

This is a top concern. Excited to work with you more on it. I'd be delighted. And listen, congratulations to you on TPP USA Faith, because a lot of people don't know. You're just doing so much, Charlie. But TPP USA Faith, the idea that you've taken this to the churches, God bless you, God bless Lucas Miles, who heads it up.

He's a rock star, isn't he? Of course he is. And I was with him last night, and he thinks you're a rock star. And I think he's a rock star, and I think you're a rock star. I don't know if he thinks you're a rock star. God's Christ. We're going to do it. Listen, praise God.

Thank you for coming on here, Charlie. Congratulations. God is doing to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. To sound your A, the day you're born. I tell you, chum, it's time to come blow your horn.

The taller the tree is, the sweeter the... Folks, welcome back. I'm excited. We get to participate again with CSI, Christian Solidarity, International. in doing something extraordinarily beautiful and good, freeing slaves, literally freeing slaves and putting them into a life of freedom, setting them up in a life of freedom. So we have our friend Todd Chapman from CSI to kind of give us the details on that. So Todd, what is involved?

I mean, we're asking people to give $250. And again, folks, whatever you can give, if you can give $25 a month or many people can give $10,000, we need everybody to participate. at whatever level. But the question is when CSI says, okay, $250 does this, what is this, Todd? Tell us about that. Yeah, so first of all, I want to be really clear because this is a question that comes up every year. Well, are you, you know, buying the freedom of these slaves? Are you using some of the money that I give to, you know, to pay cash to free them? And no, we're not. We have never paid cash for any slaves. We've been doing this since 1995. And because the concern

obviously would be, well, if you're creating a market, you know, by paying, you know, these slave owners cash, there's going to take more slaves. Well, the fact of the matter is they're not taking more slaves. There are fewer Sudanese slaves than there were when we started this work 25, you know, 30 years ago. And every year, the number of them continues to decline because you give. Now, what we do do is we take some of the money that you donate and we procure a cattle vaccine because many of these slave owners are cattle ranchers and they can't get these vaccine that they need to keep their cows alive.

And so we barter, you know, a slave in exchange for the vaccine. So there's that. And so the majority of your gift actually goes to providing a fresh start for these Sudanese slaves. They're mostly women, but we do have some men as well. And now more and more we're actually able to negotiate the release of children along with their moms who have been enslaved and slaved for a long time. And so we give them what's called a bag of hope.

We marched them down into South Sudan, about two, 300 at a time, a few times a year. And we have a camp there. We capture all of their information that we can get from them. We take photographs. We document their story. If they know their name, and many of them don't because they've been held in slavery since they were young children. But we try to capture that information so that we can ultimately reunite them with our family.

That's our goal. But we also have to give them the resources that will need to start a new life. So they get a tent. They get some bedding. They get grains. They get a mosquito net. We give them a female goat that they can use for milk. also for breeding and fishing supplies.

And so they get a whole new start of life through that bag of hope. And then, of course, all the love and care and attention and counseling led by our pastoral staff in the community right there that we bring them back into. And so, Eric, it's so much more than, you know, just all of that stuff. It truly is setting them on a path to freedom. And story after story, we hear from these women. They have said, I never thought I would be free. I've never known anything other than captivity my entire life.

I was taken as a child or I was actually born into slavery. I never knew what it meant to be free. Didn't even know my name. It was taken from me and I was forced to convert to Islam, given a different name. And so this is literally a whole rebirth, if you will, into freedom in the name of Jesus that you're providing with your gift of $250 or whatever God lays on your heart. Well, this is what's amazing to me is that we have the ability to do something. But God doesn't force us, and I say this over and over to people, that I think in the American

Church people are so focused on faith. It's all about your salvation. It's not all about your salvation. That's a myopic anti-Christian view of the Christian faith. We are saved by God and then deputized now to live according to His will and to do His will. We're going to be an army of people sold out to God's purposes. it's not about going to church on Sunday and singing songs. That's a little piece of it.

But then we have to live out our faith in every sphere. And this is a classic example. We just had an election. Well, there's nobody to vote for this month or this, you know, season. What can I do? How can I get involved? God calls us to do many things. This is something that by the grace of God on this program, we get to do.

And I want to say, folks, nothing could be a greater Christmas present to somebody than to say, hey, dad, in your name, we all got together and we freed a slave. And here's the information on that. Trust me, as a father, nothing would touch me more than getting a gift like that, getting, you know, a sweater I don't need or whatever gadget that's going to be in the garage in six months. Really and truly, this is an opportunity to do something beautiful. for God that's meaningful.

This is also something we can teach our kids about the meaning of life. Tell your kids, here's what we're going to do. We're going to do for Grandpa this year. We're going to all pull together and we're going to part of your balance and we're going to do beautiful thing. There is nothing more beautifulness. This is meaningful. And it teaches our kids and it teaches us about this is the meaning of life.

We get to participate in God's purposes, in working against evil. And God has given us the privilege that we get to do that. We have money. We have freedom. We have this radio program. We can talk about this. It's not oppressed.

It's not suppressed speech. We get to talk about this. We get to do something. But then God doesn't force us to do it. He gives us the invitation to do it. And so, folks, I think this is just a beautiful, a beautiful opportunity. And I want everybody who's listening to participate somehow and to participate ASAP.

This is really just an amazing opportunity. I can't say that enough. What an opportunity that we get to do this. We hear about this evil and some fix it. So the phone number is 888-253-3522. 888-253-3522. The website is metaxis talk.com. You see the banner right there, metaxis talk.com.

The banner's right at the top, metaxistococ.com. What an opportunity. So, and Todd, do people give monthly as well to people sometimes want to do that? Yeah, absolutely. You can give monthly. You can give a one-time gift. Obviously, you know, it's $250 per slave that you free. And one of the things I love about, say, your listeners, Eric, is every year, you know,

I see some of the names that have given for a number of years now. And we see people coming back and making this a part of their annual giving. And we love that. And also what we see over time, people tend to give more and more because what you said, You know, when you participate in anything that you do in the name of God, yeah, you're bringing good in the world and you're doing, you know, you're showing God's love and transformative ways. But it also changes you. It changes our heart. That's why Jesus talked about giving and showing love.

And so if you want to change the world and also I have God change you in the process. Be in part. And it's not just giving to CSI. Give to his work anywhere that you feel led. But I'm just a big believer and lover of what we do at CSI, freeing human beings. in the name of Jesus. I am with you. Freeing human beings, literally, freeing them from slavery, the website, metaxis talk.com. The banner is right there. The phone number 888-253-3522. Dial it today, call it today. Give today 888-2533522, 888-2533522. And the banner,

metaxis talk.com. Do it. God bless you. You sheltered me from her. Hey there, folks. As promised, I want to get my friend Kevin McCullough back on here to talk about CSI. This is an insane opportunity. I beg you, take advantage of the opportunity to free a slave. There's nothing more significant. Anyone could do no better Christmas present. You could give to someone to say that you've done this in their name.

You've freed a slave. You go to metaxis talk.com. Metaxistalk.com. The banner's right there. So my first question for you, Kevin McCullough, You were recently on here talking about the work CSI does. I thought I'd have you back so you could detail further the impact that is made. So what do you say?

Well, the great thing about what CSI is doing, and I love the fact that our shows do this together. We're both in the process of asking people to join the effort. And what's great about doing it at this time of year is that we are just around the corner from another major liberation with Christian Solidarity International. And what that means is that people are going to be freed and they're going to be allowed to go home. And as you think about the holidays and kind of what this is normally all about, going home is a big thing for a lot of us at this time of year. But imagine being someone who was kidnapped from your home when you were maybe six, seven, eight years of age. You're a girl.

Your parents may have been killed in front of you. Your mom may have been raped in front of you. There may have been things that you've seen repeatedly in how people treated you over and over again for dozens of years. And now as an adult, you have the first opportunity this Christmas to be with people that love you, to be with people that have missed you, to be with people that have wondered if you were even still alive. That's the beauty of CSI at Christmas time. We have a liberation that is just around the corner. and we can give them that new life, that return home, that blessing that we all enjoy when we go home for Christmas, we can give that to these hurting hearts that have not felt it in years and in some

instances ever. Kevin, where does the $250 go that it frees the slave? I mean, there's more. How are those resources specifically utilized? The CSI program is pretty straightforward. word. There are what we refer to as retrievers that are Sudan Arabs that want to have good relationships with South Sudan Christians. And they have been recruited over time, over the number of years the CSI has been doing this, to go into Sudan and look for slaves that are thought to still

be alive, thought to still be there. At one point, there were 185,000 women and children that had been taken as slaves. We believe the new people. number is somewhere around 35,000 now, after years and years and years of CSI, basically being the lone voice in the wilderness saying, we got to do something about this. But these retrievers locate them. They alert CSI. They engage in negotiation and they secure the release of the slave. Now, what the slave master will usually release the slave for in exchange is a very hard-to-get-cattle vaccine that helps their cattle withstand the extreme temperatures of what they are going through. Many of these slave masters are ranchers.

Cattle is their only means of material wealth or income. And so, you know, you can't be having cattle die on you and be successful. So the life of the cow or the bull is more valuable to the slave master than the life of the slave, and CSI is able to effectively say, if you'll release this slave, we will see to it that we get a vaccine for your cattle. I know that everybody's in a different place, but everybody can do something. Whatever you can do, please, folks, join us in this beautiful, beautiful thing. Go to metaxis talk.com. You'll see the banner there. You click on it. It'll walk you through everything. And right now, we're going to hour two. I guess I just want to leave the phone number with you.

888 2533522, 888-253-3522, or the website metaxisstalk.com. Metaxistalk.com. You'll see the banner. This is the right thing to do. Jump in. God bless you.