The Eric Metaxas Show - Dave Slade

Episode Date: June 26, 2020

Dave Slade, author of "The Christ Virus," points out some intriguing and even eerie similarities in his book published in 2012 that coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic and hysteria.

Welcome to the Eric Mataxis show. I just found out I'm supposed to be someplace else right now. So my sincere apologies, but I simply won't be able to introduce today's host, Mr. Eric Mataxis. Hey, folks, welcome to Hour 2 of the Eric Mataxis show, but we are continuing our conversation from Hour 1 with Dr. Michael Gillen. Science Plus God with Dr. G is the name of the new podcast. He has a YouTube show called Going Viral with Dr. G. Many, many books. Gillen is spelled G-U-I-L-L-E-N.

Michael, you were just making an amazing point about different perspectives and why science is not incompatible with the scripture. But I think sometimes people take a very literalist view and they get down in the weeds. So there are certain things on which you would describe yourself in the general term as an agnostic. In other words, you're not going to take a position on X or Y or Z because you think it doesn't matter necessarily. It is a, how would you call it? a straw man or a red herring.

This is one of my big heartbreaks, Eric. And you see it all the time on your show. I mean, you talk to people. What breaks my heart is to listen to Christians staking their faith, staking their entire faith in Jesus, in Jesus, the son of God on the age of the universe. Are you kidding me? You're staking your entire faith on a relative truth?

The point I was making just before we went on break, is that arguing over time, over matters of time or space or matter or energy are nonsense. It's idiocy. There is something you learn in elementary modern physics when you're just being introduced to special theory of relativity. Usually you have two reference frames. One guy is in the rest, what we call the rest frame. He's on earth. And then his twin gets in a rock.

ship and takes off at speed V. Okay. And elementary special relativity says, asks you a question, okay. So an event happens, like maybe a firecracker goes off, okay? And the question is, how long does the firecracker last, or a tick of a clock, let's say, the clock ticks. Okay, so you inquire how long is the tick of a clock to the guy in the rest frame compared to the tick of the clock to the guy in the rocket ship. And you'll see that they disagree. Right. But what you learn is that those two points of view are reconcilable, completely reconcilable. They're not at all. Dr. Gerald Schroeder wrote a call Genesis and the Big Bang. We had him about that at Socrates in the city. And that's an extraordinary book,

Genesis and the Big Bang. I recommend it. But he actually goes, he's a Jewish man, lives in Tel Aviv, brilliant scientist, but he reconciles. Yes. Yes. The next little days with the 13.8 billion years of the universe. It's the craziest thing, and it refers to what you're talking about, the time frame. Yes. But he takes it one step for it.

Yes. And that's a perfect example, Eric. It's a perfect. Schroeder is the perfect example of what I'm talking about, where you can use the absolute truths of science to reconcile these two points. There is, in other words, what I'm saying, it's a fake argument. Why are you spending time and energy on this fake argument where the two points of view can be easily reconciled? There is no argument here.

The emperor has no closed, folks, and the same thing can be said about masks. I could hold a penny in my hand. Now, if you whiz by, you're going to disagree about how much that penny weighs. We're going to disagree. Now, are you wrong and I'm right and vice versa? No, we're both right. the point that people have to understand Christian and non-Christian alike who are listening or watching this show is that there are, there's an entire category of truths that are relative. Don't argue over them.

Don't argue over. There is no argument. Those points of view can be reconciled. What you want to argue over are the absolute truths, the fundamental truths, okay? Those are the things that matter. And so when you ask me the question, is there a fundamental truth that is described in the Bible? that is completely at odds with the fundamental truth that we've discovered in science. And the answer is absolutely no.

Capital N, capital O, no. And in my book, and I know we've talked about this book on your shore before, amazing truths how science in the Bible agree. I give 10 examples of that. I give 10 examples of huge, fundamental, absolute truths that both science say is true and the Bible say it's true. That's the kind of agreement that matters. Not the silly stuff.

I wish Christians would get over that. It's the fundamental truths that matter. But when the Bible says something like, you know, Methuselah lived to be 968 years old or whatever it is, you don't have a problem with that. No, because we know, for example, boy, that gets us into a nice slice. You can argue, biologists today,

today in the 21st century can argue about what is the theoretical lifespan of a human. Now, up until now, there's been a rule of thumb that it's 10 times the age of puberty. Okay, so if you take the age of puberty to be somewhere around 13, you multiply it by 10. Old school biology would say then the theoretical lifespan, maximum lifespan of a human would be about 130 years old, right? but man we're not living in the old this isn't this isn't this isn't your grandfather's biology we're now living in the age of genetic engineering my brother and so i remember doing a story about the company called cal gene who had came up with a tomato that has a very long a supernatural lifespan that it has a shelf life much longer than what you would expect of a tomato

and you know how they did that? When it gets genetically... Huh? When it gets very old, does it have to move to Florida? I'm just trying to... I'm just trying to end this conversation on a stupid... No, no, no, no, but I'll end it on a super... Natural note, no.

What they did was they identified the part of the tomato genome that contributes to its aging, to the rotting process. And you know what? They literally turned it 180 degrees, and they implanted it into this new tomato. So what I'm saying to you is that when you say Methuselah could live to be 900, that doesn't faze me as a scientist. That doesn't break any, that doesn't break any scientific law.

It doesn't for me either, but there are certain things that's kind of funny. Listen, this gets to be a very long conversation, which is why I want to have you back as soon as possible. I'm not kidding, Michael, because there's a lot to talk about. I'm fascinated by this. but when we talk about the age, I mean, I think it was Adam lived to be 969. Methuselism. Methuselah topped him by 20 years or something, but I don't really have a problem with that.

I understand why people would, but I just think to myself, if we're talking about a God who created the universe literally out of nothing, a singularity, and all of the fundamental four forces were perfectly correct, instantly, otherwise. we wouldn't even have a universe. I mean, it all depends on what you want to look at. But to be amazed by somebody living to be 900, that's the least of it. I mean, that's, that's kind of nothing when you talk about getting the four fundamental forces, you know, perfect with, you know, in the first millions of a second or whatever it is. So do you talk a lot about the fine-tuned universe? Because I'm so fascinated with that. We've only got about a minute or two

left. Well, the fine-tuned universe is the discovery in it. And the discovery was made in my lifetime. So it's a relatively new discovery that if you look at some of the fundamental constants of the universe, so I compare these to the, you know, when you go to the doctor and the doctor will check your vital signs, so your blood pressure, your may your pulse, your oxygenation level, and so forth and so those are your vital signs, and the doctor looks at those vital signs to see how you're doing. Well, we do the same thing in astronomy. We look out at the universe, and we've identified a group of numbers that, think of as the vital signs of the universe.

They tell us something fundamental about how the universe operates and its health and so forth. And what we've discovered is that when you look at the values for those numbers, they're exactly the numbers you need to hit in order to have life in the universe, in order to have atoms in the universe, in other words, to have an Eric Mattaxas show on the universe in existence. So the question then becomes, okay, well, did we just get lucky? Well, listen, we have to end. I'm so sorry, we've got to get you back.

I hope Alvin is making a note as soon as possible, because I want to continue the conversation. It's a delight. I want to tell people they can find your books. Dr. Michael Gillen, you've written many books. The new podcast is called Science Plus God with Dr. G. The YouTube show is going viral with Dr. G. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Eric. It's always a joy. God bless you, brother. Texas show. This is the show. I'm Eric Metaxis. And this program, I talk to all kinds of people, novelists, politicians, athletes, you name it. Today, novelist. Right now, I have as my guest, David Slade, who's the author of a book called The Christ Virus. David, welcome to the program. Thank you, Eric. Good to see you again. Good to see you, too. Now, I've got to tell my audience. you know, that often people give me books or things to read. I rarely have time. In your case, I read your book. This is a number of years ago when it first came out called the Christ virus,

and I was amazed at how good it was, and I was sorry that I was unable to communicate that to you. So more recently, as this COVID virus has gripped the world, your book, The Christ virus has become, maybe in a way prescient. I'm not sure how you think of it. But tell my audience, first of all, you know in Albuquerque. That's where we met. Tell my audience how you came to write this book,

The Crisis Virus, and what the plot is, if you don't mind. Sure. I wrote the book, started in 2008. And I hadn't written, I was a newspaper reporter. That's my background. And I used to write hard news, features. I worked for a biweekly. but I hadn't written it 24 years.

And I kind of put it away, Eric, because I felt like, you know, not a good way to make a living being a novelist. And so I went into real estate. Even when you write good, when you write good novels, even when you write particularly as you do. But I was saying, so the Christ virus nonetheless managed to come out of you. Well, I appreciate that. It was like God was opening a creative window in my life, and I remember it, and it just had this pressing need to begin to write, and yet I didn't really have anything to write about.

So I was praying. I was just seeking God on it, and this kind of a strange, what-if scenario came to mind, and that is, what if a terrorist were to acquire a deadly pathogen, and the government found out about it, how would the government respond? What would they do? What would the response be from the public? And that kind of became the genesis for the idea of the Christ virus. And God was very faithful to bring me two mentors to help me write this book, because I really had no clue how to write fiction. I was trained as a journalist and nonfiction. And back in the 70s, when we wrote stories, they were nonfiction, not fiction like some of the news people today. And so he brought these two people in my life that were experienced novelists, and I learned how to write fiction.

It took three years to write this book. Well, I want to say it again. I was surprised at how good it was because there are many books out there. A lot of them have things going for them, but they don't rise to the level of my wanting to recommend them. But your book, The Christ virus, really was well done on every level. what is the heart of the plot? In other words, or I should say, why is it called the Christ virus? You know, titles, I generally get titles from my books at the very, very beginning,

and it kind of drives the plotline and the story. But the Christ virus, the title did not come to me until almost three years into the writing of this book. And I remember very succinctly standing in my great room in the fireplace, and this idea, these two kind of like oxymorins come together like Christ and virus. Like, really? Well, it's kind of provocative. I kind of like that.

I'm not really sure how it's going to fit. And at the time, I was still in rewriting, and it all came together. And it really has a double meaning in the story, because Christians are brim for the outbreak of the virus. Because the government, in order to protect the people, they decide that they're going to implant everyone with a chip. that is able to detect the virus, what some is infected, so that we can quickly call them from the population.

And Christians, the majority, them refuse because there is a underground church led by Pastor Luke Chavez that says, I can't tell you this is the mark of the beast, but it looks a lot like the mark of the beast. So the majority Christians say, no way, we're going to take the chip, and therefore the government puts him in term in camp,

very much like the Japanese during World War II. they call these sanctuaries, and the virus breaks out in these sanctuaries, and Christians get blamed for it. People are angry that there's an outbreak, and they happen to be in the sanctuaries, and therefore they name the virus, the Christ virus. Well, isn't it interesting that, you know, first of all, there are a lot of people listening to this program who aren't Christians or who aren't biblically literate, and so I want to explain to them that many Christians, when they read the book of Revelation, They get the idea that it's plausible. Just as you say, this fictional pastor says, I'm not going to guarantee that this is the mark of the beast.

But the idea that people are telling you, you must get this, whether it's a tattoo or an implant or something, otherwise your persona non grata. We won't allow you to live in our society. It seems so far-fetched and so implausible. And yet in recent years, it has seemed increasingly more plausible. And suddenly now, with this COVID virus,

I think people have even suggested it, right? That, you know, listen, it'll be simple. We'll just put a chip in people and, you know, it'll be your ID code. And if you've got the virus, you won't be able to go into public places or you won't be able to go into stores or whatever it is. It all seems so logical. And yet the idea that you effectively predict this kind of a thing in your book, is kind of extraordinary because I can see all of this playing out now in a way that,

and I hope it doesn't, but in a way that I couldn't quite when I read your book a few years ago. Well, there's a lot of things in the book that were implausible back when it was written. That being one of them, and I think, you know, this idea of quarantining people is going to be a reality here very shortly for us in a new dream. dramatic way, and that is the vaccine, when the vaccine is released. Because when the government comes out with this vaccine, I know Moderna is in third-state trials right now, that when they come out with this, the question is, if President Trump is re-elected, I think it will be a mandate given to the states. But in my state, I could tell you, New Mexico, you would have to take

the vaccine. And if you don't take the vaccine, then they're probably going to do some type of house arrest or some type of quarantine. Now, if President Trump is not reelected, I think there will be a federal mandate from the Biden government that everybody is going to have to take the vaccine. And the problem is, is that right now, the last survey I saw indicated that there were 33% of Americans that said, we're not going to take the vaccine. So that's over 100 million people. What do you do with those people? That prevents a huge problem. I guess my question is, why would it be many Christians, who wouldn't take the vaccine. What is the issue or the biblical issue with taking a vaccine? Well, the people in the survey cut across. They're not just Christians. There are people that are

naturalists, people that are afraid because there's the autistic reactions of children have had to vaccines. There's a variety of different people. And I'm not saying that it would just be Christians. What I'm saying is that there's a similar setup between what I think will happen with the vaccine and what happened with the chip. I could see a very similar pattern between the two of them. You know, I know there's a lot of Christians that may say that they don't want to take the vaccine, but I think that cuts across all different paths of life. Are there other parallels in your book, you know, the Christ virus, which came out, what, six or seven years ago, with what is happening today? The Christ virus was published eight years ago, finished nine years ago. The first event to

occur that was uncanny was the election of Donald Trump. The president in the Christ virus is a Republican, very wealthy, from the state of New York, and he is an advocate for evangelicals. He also decides to withdraw troops from the Middle East. All of these things that we know are patterns of the Trump presidency. So we have that similarity. We also have the similarity that the virus is a chimeric virus and the

Christ virus. The COVID-19 is a chimeric virus. Tell our audience what chimeric is. I know the Greek word chimera means a beast formed from two different other creatures, but what do you mean

by that? Or a chimera is particularly elusive. What do mean by it? Chimera basically is going to be unlike things that come together. So 75% of the Five Eyes intelligence agencies believe, unlike a lot of what we're hearing on the networks today, that the COVID-19 is a genetically created bioengineered virus. And there's a lot of evidence of that because this virus, unlike SARS and unlike MERS is incredibly stable virus and is not that lethal, but it's incredibly stable. And that's very

unusual for a virus to be this stable and not resist and resistant to heat. A lot of the things that viruses typically are sensitive to, this virus is not sensitive to. Forgive me, David. We're going to go to a break. Folks, I'm talking to David Slade. The book is the Christ's virus. We'll be right back. The Trump campaign has a special offer just for you. President Trump wants to meet you. This will be the first opportunity he's had to meet with American patriots like you since our country started reopening. His team will cover the flight and hotel and give you VIP access for yourself and a guest. He'll even take a picture with you. All you have to do is text VIP to 88022 today for your chance to meet President Trump. Again, that's VIP to 88022 for your chance to win and join President Trump in the

fight to keep America great for four more years. Hi folks. Trying times. Just know they won't last. Triumph times can be hard on our digestive track. So why not try LifeChange Tee at GetTheT.com? Life Change T is an herbal blend of tea that helps the digestive track and the colon cleanse from intruders. For years, people have experienced the benefits from Life Change T. And so can you. Log on to getthot com. That's get the tea.com. And for those of you that want to go a step further. We have non-GMO organic supplements. If you're listening to Eric, you're informed and educated. So how about free shipping? Just go to the checkout, find the coupon code, enter Eric,

E-R-I-C, hit apply, and receive free shipping. Again, Eric, in the coupon code, hit apply, free shipping. These historic times will pass. The yuck in your gut will pass also with get-thot-tot-com. That's get-the-tttee.com. That's get-thot-e. Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to David Slade. He's the author of a book, The Christ Virus, which in many ways rather dramatically anticipates or prophesies some of the things that are happening right now. David, I read the book, of course, six or seven years ago when you gave me a copy. You wrote it eight or nine years ago, and you're telling me that there are many dramatic parallels in this book to where we are today. So I have to ask you, did you have any sense when you were

writing the book that God was leading you to write it, even though you couldn't have known at the time that you were writing of things that would in fact be happening in the near future? You know, what wrote the Christ virus? I knew that the story, I had no idea that the story was prophetic at all in any sense. I knew that the story was a provocative story. It was a good story. And I knew that God was in the details of the story, just the way the whole thing unfolded.

I mean, there's a plot and there's three subplots. It's a fairly complicated story. And like anything, when you wrote Bonhoffer, you do mountains of research to be able to create this incredible book. I approach fiction very much like you approach nonfiction, and that is, is that I do all the research. So I did an incredible amount of research in virology and Islam persecution of the church to be able to really get the details down for this. But to answer your question, no, I didn't know that it was going to be prophetic in any way.

But I did know it was a good story. And the interesting thing, Eric, is that I had a great agent at the time, and she presented it to 16 different Christian publishers, and every one of them turned it down. Too edgy, just did not fit into Christian genre, and she loved the book, and we had big expectations for it, but they went nowhere. Who did publish the book?

Zebulon published it, but Zebulon is a company that I created, so it's self-published because I couldn't get anybody to pick it up. I thought at the time that the book was probably maybe, to Christian for secular media, and yet it did not fit into the mainstream of Christian publishing. I have to tell you, I'm astounded that 16 jug-headed publishers did not pick up this book, because believe me when I tell you, I'm not just saying this. You know, most of the things that I read don't particularly appeal to me, I knew from the beginning, as I read it, that your book was well done,

and that you play it all the way out to the end. It's a wonderful book. It's a sad commentary on the state of publishing, particularly Christian publishing, that no one was able to see what a good book this was. It's kind of strange to me that... Now, you say Zebulon, isn't that a publisher that anybody can go to them to get the book?

It's like a vanity press, right? You go to them and you say, well, you print my... Zebulon is actually, I created that company. It's my company. And so to get the book, you go to Amazon.com or you can go to Dave Slade.com and get a signed copy from me, either one. So either Amazon or Dave Slade.com. Do you publish other books or is this the only book you've published?

No, published Dark Star Rising, which is the sequel to the Christ virus. Okay. Those are the only two books that Zebulon has published? Correct. Maybe I'm confusing it with something similarly named. But, okay, so people can go to David Slade. dot com to get a book. Have sales of the book changed since this COVID thing?

Has word got out of these odd parallels? Yes, the book has been trending. It's been as high as number three on Amazon in terms of religious mysteries. So yeah, it's been doing extremely well. Well, I hope as a result of this program, it does even better. because as I say, you know, there are a lot of people who like to read thrillers and this and that. I've never been someone who's at the time of the inclination, but because you and I met, we really enjoyed our time together, I thought, let me see if I can read this book and I did.

And even before now, of course, this is a number of years ago, it struck me as kind of understanding the trends and who knew that it would would end up being, you know, eerily prophetic. But you do seem to tap into some things in that book in a really particularly apt kind of way. Now, you mentioned Islam. Remind us how Islam comes into the story. Islamic, there's the antagonist in this story is named Suiman Hadid, and he believes that he's called to fulfill a prophecy,

very much like John the Baptist, and that is to pave the way for the Madi, which is Islam's version of the Messiah. And he acquires this virus, and his sole purpose is to essentially eradicate infidels, those being Christians and Jews, and to wipe them out. And the government, when they quarantine all the Christians

and people refuse the chip into these sanctuaries, it develops a very easy target for the terrorists. And so there's a lot of eschatology that comes into this in terms of the Shiots and what a lot of Muslims believe. You know, a lot of Muslims believe that Revelation 6'1, the conqueror coming with the bow on the white horse that most Christians believe as the Antichrist, they believe that's the Madi. And it's very interesting a lot of their interpretation of Scripture,

because, you know, they believe that the Bible is largely corrupted, but at the same time, the much of the Bible that they believe in. And so, you know, they have the same father, Abraham. And so there's a lot of similarities in that respect. But there's quite a bit in the book about Islam and what, a lot of the radicals actually believe. Dave Slade, just a privilege to have you. Thank you for your work.

So good to see you again. Thank you for the privilege. Thank you. Hey there, folks. It's the Eric Mattaxas show. Yes, yes. It's another segment of that wonderful show they call the Eric Mataxis show. I think that's because I'm involved with it and I'm Eric Mattaxas.

Actually, we call this segment Ask Mataxis where Albin, you get to voice the questions sent into us. lots of people email us. We read everything. So, Albin, some people have asked me some questions. We had Richard from Granite Bay, California, asked me a question. I think he even has a second question. Oh, yeah, yeah. Here's the second. By the way, the church, you know how I picked my church here in Terrytown? How did you pick your church? Well, I was walking down the street one day, and, you know, it was like, I guess it was a Saturday morning, and there was a guy standing outside with a caller or something, he said, you, get in here. So now I go. That's a great way to pick your church.

That's the way you pick them. The church picked me. Okay. So Richard from Granite Bay, California also, he says, how did you choose your topics for biographies? You got Luther, you got Wilperforth, you got Bonhofer, seem almost at random. Do you have others in the works? Well, first of all, that's an opportunity for me to plug my current book, Seven More Men. It's kind of funny that you pulled it out because you and I were thinking the same thing.

I, well, I'll answer the question, but I will say that there's so many wonderful people about whom I don't have the time to write an entire book. So that's why I wrote seven men. That's why I wrote seven women. That's why I've written seven more men and why we are now working on seven more women, because there are many, many stories that are just worth telling and worth knowing. And I think if somebody can just read a chapter, they can get to know the story. But how I came to write my full-length biographies, well, I'll tell you, I had never written a biography in my life, and I had no desire to write a biography. I was sure that I would never write a biography in my life. I'm not making that up. There's no hyperbole.

I never dreamt that would write a biography. I had no interest in it. Well, there was a movie coming out called Amazing Grace about the life of William Wilberforce. And somebody had the bright idea that, hey, why don't we get someone to write a new biography of Wolverperforce to come out with the movie? It's the bicentennial of the 1807 abolition of the slave trade. It's an amazing date in history. So we're coming out with a movie. Why don't somebody coming out with a book to come out with the movie?

Hey, who might want to do that? Who can we get to do that real cheap? What about Eric Metaxus? I hear he's desperate for cash. So they contacted me. And it was actually Mickey Maudlin. He was my editor on that book. He thought that I might be the right person to write it.

So I have to thank Mickey Maudlin. Maudlin. He's with Harper 1 in San Francisco. It's because of Mickey that I have been doing this with my career. And I don't know if I've ever thanked him publicly on this radio program, but it is because of Mickey Maudlin that I decided to do this. He contacted me and said, how would you like to write a biography of William Wilberforce? And I thought, well, I know about Wilberforce. I've heard about him through Chuck Colson and through Os Guinness, who are my friends, and I know a little bit about him, but write a biography? I don't know.

Am I up to that? Could I pull it off? So I prayed about it, and I'm not kidding. And this will be in one of my next books. The Lord spoke to me in a vision. That has happened to me a handful of times in my life. Very rare, very dramatic for me, because it just doesn't happen, except maybe every 10 years or something like that.

And without going into it, I knew as a result of my conversation with Mickey. And then after praying about it and this vision, I said, there's just no doubt about it. I had already sort of decided to do it, but the vision confirmed it to me. And it was dramatic. It was really miraculous. And so I left in and I wrote the book. And I thought that it was very interesting. I thought maybe I'll write another biography.

But the only person who rose to the level of Wolververforce in my mind was Dietrich Bonn. And so I proposed that and was able to publish that with Thomas Nelson. But I really never thought I read a biography, but it's because of Mickey Marlund suggesting it to me. And, you know, I was a writer thinking, you know, what can I do next? When he suggested it to me, I thought, hey, maybe, maybe that's God. Well, guess what? It turns out it was God. So I wrote that book.

It was briefly on the New York Times bestseller list. People praised it and loved it. And I really thought this is a good genre. for me. So it's what led me to write my Bonhoeffer book. And of course, that book How'd that work out for you? It changed my life. It sold over a million copies and enable us to get out of debtor's prison.

And actually, you know, I was pretty sure I would never write another biography. But my friends, Greg Thornberry and Marcus Schooner in Germany, the two of them convinced me that I should write a book on Martin Luther. It was Marcus Schoonberg in Germany.

He lives in Leipzig now. He said to me, like, I don't know what year it was, but it was like 2012 or something like that. He said, you know, in 2017 is the 500th anniversary of Luther, you should write a book about Luther. And that's what got me thinking, you know, no, I don't really want to do it. But it got me thinking. And eventually he and Greg Thornberry convinced me of the impact Luther had on history. And once I understood that and realized there's a 500th anniversary coming up, I thought maybe it does make sense. And in some ways, I'm more proud of that book than any other, the Luther book, because I think it enabled me to tell the story of somebody, warts and all, because he was a figure who was not, he was not like a Wolverford or a Bonhoffer who are, you know, sort of saintly figures. He had some issues. But he was nonetheless used by God very dramatically. And so I don't,

You know, because I wrote Martin Luther and I said I never would write another biography, I have to say maybe I will write another biography, but it has to rise to the level of those three figures, which is not easy. You know, I'm not about to write. You told me once that when you were in debtor's prison, you actually met Bob Cratchett. Is that true? No, no, no, no. I met little Dorrit and her father because they were in debtor's prison. And this is in the mid-19th century, so a lot of people find it hard to believe. And, you know, also it's not even true.

But, yes, Little Dorrit. Memory's fame. If anybody's looking for something to watch, since we're going to another break here, we've got another segment coming up, a five-minute segment. But I just got to say, Suzanne and I have been catching up on some of the greatest miniseries. If you go to stream and go to Hulu or Amazon Prime, they have Little Dorrit, which is one of the best, maybe the best mini-series I've ever seen. An historical miniseries, I think it's eight parts or something.

It's superb, starring Claire Foy as Little Dorrit. It is absolutely spectacular. In any event, we're going to go to a break. We'll be right back, final second. There's no time for the full. It's out like endless rain into a paper cup. They spit a while deep as they slip away. Hey, folks, just a couple of seconds left in the show.

No, Albin and Chris, you're my peeps, okay? You're my posse, my crew, my gang. Love it. And I just want to say that, Chris, you had something you were going to say. Because I said that I share a birthday with my dad, June 27th. Most years, it's June 27. Some years it's another date, but I can't explain that. But go ahead.

Yeah, it was strange because I didn't remember your birthday was June 27th, but my dad's birthday is the very next day, June 28th. And he shares it with my brother, Jimmy both June 28th. So it's odd. It's weird. It's awkward during a birthday because then you have to share cake. You've got to share everything. It's not fair. It would only be weird. It would only be weird if they both were born in the same year. That's true. That's true. The thing. Oh, before we forget, ladies and gentlemen, honestly, we have some extraordinary friends and guests. Two years ago, I spoke to someone. I'm not going to repeat the story,

but his name is Robert Leon Davis. He has one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard. It has to do with police corruption. It has to do with finding God. It has to do with more things than you'll ever believe. We're going to air that, I believe, tomorrow. And then later on this week, which would have to be Friday, probably Friday, not guaranteed, but probably Friday.

We're going to air two conversations I had with our friend John Rank and the Reverend John Rankin. We haven't heard from him in a while. His son, Jeremy, passed away at the age of 34. He talks about that. Very moving. Very, very moving. And he talks about the fact that he's going to run for Congress. He is running for Congress in Connecticut. You can go to John Rankin.orgon.us. I hope you will right now. But I want to tell you, I talked him out of his slogan. He called me after we recorded the program. Really? So when you hear the program on Friday, and he's going to tell you his slogan, I talked him out of it.

And I tried to. And evidently, he agreed with me. So I should, I should mention that. Can you mention what the new slogan is? The new slogan? No, I can't. Okay. It's me, me and Eric.

Oh, I hope it's not Winston tastes good like a, Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. I hope it's not that. That's pretty good. It's for you ban, good to the last drop. Is that you, Ben? Folgers. No, I don't know. Yes, Folgers.

Here's my favorite mug. I love doing that. Well, look, I just want to say what I said earlier. We've got a few things to promote. Uncle Tom, the movie, which was put together by our friend Larry Elder, is one of the most extraordinary treatments of the African-American. Well, actually, no, I don't use that term. The Black American conservative movement.

The Black American conservative movement, figures like Bob Woodson, we've had him on this program and many, many others, some of whom Walter Williams, you might not know, but Larry Elder is at the center of it. And the story that he tells in this documentary is actually important. I would say if you can get your family or a group to watch it, it's really important. important stuff to understand what is going on behind the scenes because the media typically doesn't cover folks like Larry Elder. He's a hero and a friend. So UncleTom.com is that website. And I also want to mention that our sponsors, we depend on our sponsors. This program is only on the air because of the sponsors of this program. Some of them are bigger sponsors than others.

the biggest are MyPillow.com and of course, honorbound coffee.com. Use the code Eric always and relief factor. I left it at home when I went on vacation. And the whole time I thought, oh no, oh no, well, I'm back on it and I'm fine. So that's the end of hour two. Now go back to hour one and listen to John Smirak and you can thank you later.