The Eric Metaxas Show - David Collum
Episode Date: June 24, 2020David Collum of the Pocket Testament League has the inside story of the blind woman who was banned from a park in Rhode Island because she was handing out St. John's Gospel booklets to passersby. ...
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show. But first, two very important questions. Have you ever tried to stack marbles while
wearing boxing gloves? Also, did you know that marigolds and geraniums hate each other?
Absolutely. And now your host, Eric Mataxis. Hey there, folks. Welcome to the Eric Mataxis
show. This is the Eric Mataxis show. I'm Eric Mataxis. And my posse is James Simone. He's always
off camera. He's an engineering type. He doesn't like to be on camera. But fortunately,
I have two producers, one of whom is named Chris Himes and the other.
who the other is not. Albin, you're the other guy, correct? I am the other guy. I'm wearing my old man
sweater today. I'm trying to look. We, man, we have a lot to cover. First of all, I want to warn everyone
that if you missed hour one, hour one today was John Smirak. Don't want to miss John Zmirak. Trust me,
ladies and gentlemen, you don't want to miss John's Mirac. In a few minutes,
From now, I'm going to be talking to David Colum, C-O-L-L-U-M.
He's ahead of the Pocket Testament League.
They hand out little paperback versions of the Gospel of John around the country anywhere.
And a blind woman who has been doing this for years was banned from doing this.
They would have arrested her.
it's an extraordinary story he's coming up in just a few moments um albin and chris is there anything
that we need to mention right now i've got a couple of things that are that are hot and heavy
on my heart actually let me let me let me let me get that out of the way um on Twitter
I have a personal Twitter account and I've got I don't know 87,000 followers or something like
that and I'm still able uh because
you know, I don't have a million followers.
I'm still able to read most of the comments that people make when they tag me.
And I try to do that.
And if anybody says anything unpleasant or mean at all, I block them.
But most people, of course, don't do that.
And I read everything.
And today, someone sent me a link to a video by a guy named David Wood.
I'd never heard of David Wood.
He, I guess, is a Christian apologist.
but I'd never heard of him, never seen him,
seems to be like a young guy,
maybe in his late 30s.
And he talks about why some, he's a white guy,
why some people hate cops.
It is one of the most compelling videos I've ever seen.
It's 50 minutes long,
and I have no time, and I watched every second of it.
He should be appointed by the president to a panel
to help oversee criminal justice reform in America because we do have real problems.
The only question is how to deal with them.
And any kind of peaceful protests toward that end have been now hijacked by Marxists who are wicked people
who will never help reform the system.
They want to burn the system down and create a banana republic on our shores.
But this video by David Wood, I put it on my Twitter account.
If you don't follow me on Twitter and you're on Twitter, you're missing some stuff because I post a lot of extraordinary things.
But we're going to try to get David Wood on this program as soon as possible.
And I know that you, Chris, and you Albin and James, when you see it, you'll realize that this is someone we need to have on.
So I wanted to say that.
Yeah, Eric, I'll have to know. I have a good friend who's very good friends with him.
You know, I suspect it.
I could smell it.
Yeah, and his story is incredible.
He has some other videos of his change to faith.
He was a, you know, a psychopath, a self-admitted psychopath.
And he details how that got him in trouble with the law and sort of like the mental background
of what it meant to sort of become, you know, become aware of your psychosis, basically.
It's pretty fascinating.
That's right.
Well, I'm so thrilled that you have a connection to him because,
I was, you know, I'm always shocked when I discover someone or something or anything that's amazing.
And then I'm shocked that I hadn't discovered it until I just did.
Like just watching this video this morning, this David Wood video, again, I put it up on Twitter.
I'm locked out of my Facebook again because my computer broke and I have a new computer
and I can't figure out to get back on Facebook.
But the point is I'll post it on Facebook too.
But the fact is that he is a voice that we need to hear.
here. He's a white guy who lived through the prison system, went through the prison system, went
through all kinds of hell and has emerged more than triumphantly on the other side. But he knows.
He understands the situation better than anyone I've ever heard describe it. He's a Christian
apologist, I believe, is how we could describe him at this point. But my goodness, it was amazing.
We shouldn't forget the movie Uncle Tom.
Uncle Tom.com is the website.
Some of you saw our conversation yesterday with Larry Elder.
Oh, my goodness, folks.
There are things out there that they're just too good to miss, too good not to share.
You can go to Uncle Tom.com and see it.
But, oh, boy, it's extraordinary.
We should also mention our sponsors.
We wouldn't be here without Mypillow.com and Mike Lindell.
And every time I see an ad, I don't know if you guys are this way, but like Mike Lindell is ubiquitous on certain TV channels.
It's hilarious.
It's like might as well be called the Mike Lindell channel because he's on there as much as the hosts of the programs.
And the fact is that they always have a code wherever you are and you're on your computer or you're watching TV.
They say, use this code.
And I'm here to tell you folks, don't use those codes.
tell your friends to use the code Eric, E-R-I-C.
Please use the code.
Eric, you're not going to get a better discount than we give you.
If you do get a better discount, go ahead and take it.
But I'm telling you, I don't see you getting a better discount than the one you get when you put in the code.
Eric, there's all kinds of specials available right now.
Mike Lindell and my pillow make this program possible.
Can I say that?
That's true. They make this program possible. All of our sponsors make this program possible.
We should also give a shout out to Relief Act or an honorbound coffee. Honourbound coffee.com.
They give all of their proceeds, all of their profits, folks, all of their profits, 100% of their profits, to helping military families. That's honorbound coffee.com. I drink it every day. I drink from an honor bound mug, which is now my favorite mug.
And I want to say that if you are interested in super duper coffee, where 100% of the profits go to help military families, go to honorbound coffee.com.
It's just spectacular coffee.
But even if it were medium, even if we're middling coffee, 100% of the profits go to help military families.
But it's not middling.
It's spectacular coffee.
What else do we have going on, guys, before we get to our big guest?
I got a few things. I wrote down some quick notes here. Today in 1896, Booker T. Washington,
who wrote up from slavery and who was a slave, became the first black person today in 1896 to receive
an honorary master's degree from Harvard. So that's number one. I've been reading in Romans. In Romans
chapter six, I read Romans chapter six today. It's all about freedom from slavery, slavery to sin,
being mastered by sin and then being freed from sin.
So read Romans chapter 6 today, folks, if you want something from that to inspire you.
And today, this is a sad note.
This is a sad note.
My dad 20 years ago today passed away.
The most wonderful man I ever knew, I just love this man to death.
He was a small town, a policeman in the first suburb outside of Pittsburgh.
So he's a small town cop very much like Annal.
of Mayberry, I must say. He was built like Barney's Fife, but his personality, everybody in town
loved this guy, loved him. But he was wonderful. Every time you talk about your dad, I get
choked up because the love you had for him, have for him is clear. I should say, since we're
talking about June 24th and what happened, my mother wouldn't want me to say this, but she doesn't
listen to the program. So tough luck, mom. Happy birthday. 86 years young. I love her to death. Let
just tell you, it's mom's birthday today. And in three days on the 27th is my dad's birthday. My dad and I
share a birthday were exactly the same age born in 1927 on the 27th of June. We're out of time.
When we come back, we have our new friend talking about the Pocket Testament League and an hour one.
I hope you didn't miss it. John Smirak.
Hey, folks. Welcome to the Eric Matak.
a show. We love to talk about current events. We also hate to talk about current events. So it's
great when we can talk about current events and also not talk about current events with the same
guest. As my guest, David Column, not spelled like the Doric or Ionian things, not spelled
like the fluted columns, but C-O-L-L-U-M. David, Collum, you are the head of the Pocket Testament
League, is that right? That's correct. It's good to be with you. Good to be with you. I know we've met in
person. You are coming to us from Lake George, so you're north of me in a very much more picturesque area.
Tell us, if you don't mind, what is the Pocket Testament League? And the reason we wanted to have you
on to talk about this is because a blind woman who was distributing these Pocket Testaments was
arrested. A lot of people have read about that. I want to talk about that. But first, tell us about the
Pocket Testament League.
Sure, great.
Well, thanks for that question.
So at the 100,000 foot level, you know,
we exist to help Christians invite other people to meet Jesus.
That's we wake up in the morning and go to bed and night's day.
How can we help Christians invite others to meet Jesus?
And so that's why we exist.
What we do is we use the word of God rather than human reason and human arguments,
which are good, but we just use the word of God.
and we encourage Christians all over the world to basically hand people a gospel of John like this.
There's a gospel of John.
I picked one with coffee on it because I know you like coffee.
Right?
So we have all these different.
I like honorbound coffee.
Honorbound coffee.com.
Thank you very much.
Now, seriously, when you say that, that what you had in your hand there is a paperback,
very inviting looking, very un, um, sometimes when somebody hands you something, it's daunting.
but that book looks very inviting, and it's only the gospel of John. Is that right?
Absolutely. So if we're trying to reach someone who is not a Christian, maybe someone who doesn't know God,
handing them a Bible with 66 books, you know, with a table of contents, can be really, really hard.
This is you open it up and you get right into the Word of God, and it's John's Gospel.
And it's not attract, right? It's not human words. And we try to make it attractive and substantial enough where, you know, you're going to do something with this.
rather than throw it away. And so last year, for example, we had about 15,000 folks
invite 7.5 million people in 36 countries to consider Jesus by reading God's work.
Well, look, first of all, I have to say congratulations on doing something that I think
is worth doing. There are a lot of folks out there meaning doing things that are a little bit
less effective, I would say. I remember when I was a kid in junior high school,
somebody, I don't know who it was, was giving out, you know, tiny New Testaments, you know,
with very, very small text and the Psalms in the back. And, you know, it's a good idea. But I thought to
myself, it is daunting. You know, the whole, the whole thing was just, you know, it was very small.
And I don't know that people would read it because it's so tiny. There's something about what
you're doing, which is, as I said earlier, I'm just repeating myself, it's a little bit more inviting.
And I do think people would be inclined, just out of curiosity, say, what is this?
So tell us, I've got a lot of questions, but tell us about the woman, the blind woman, and what happened to her.
Where was she and what happened?
Yeah, Gail Blair, she is a sweetheart.
Gail's in her 60s, she's blind.
She hasn't been blinded her whole life.
In fact, she was a registered nurse.
She worked at Don Hopkins, a number of different places, but had a degenerative disease.
And she's in Waverly, Rhode Island.
She's been a member of the pocket for about 10 years.
And we're encouraging people to do three things every day.
Read your Bible.
That, duh, like every pastor does that.
When you leave your house during the day, put this in your pocket or your person, say a really
short prayer, hey, Lord, would you lead me to the person you want me to give us to?
And, you know, do that every day.
Pray to God every day.
And guess what he answers those prayers?
And then when he nudges you to do it, Gail has done this for 4,000 times.
Four thousand times, yeah.
She's like a rock star for us, okay?
So she goes to a park that's attached to her local library,
and she sits on a park bench, and she listens with the footsteps,
and she'll ask someone if she could give them something that they might like to read.
It's about God, and people take it.
Some people say, no, thank you.
She doesn't argue with them.
You know, she doesn't stand on a bench with a bullhorn saying,
you're going to hell or any of that kind of stuff.
She does what we encourage people to do,
which is don't argue.
If the God of the Bible is who he says he is,
then he can do the heavy lifting.
You know,
with a person who's really seeking him
and reading his word, God will find that.
So that's what Gail does.
She did it 4,000 times.
The Library Association has,
Charter with trespassing.
Okay.
And we're talking about,
is it a small town in Rhode Island?
Where in Rhode Island?
Waverly, Rhode Island.
I'm not familiarly.
with Waverly, it sounds
in any event.
So this is in Rhode Island.
For some reason, I wasn't clear
on where this that happens.
So suddenly,
you're saying that this library
has charged her with trespassing.
How long has she been doing
what she's been doing
in this place?
Well, she's been, for about 10 years.
She's lived in the same place.
This is her library.
It's public access.
And they banned her
from being on the property for two years.
If she, the police called her and said,
if you step, put on the property,
we will arrest you.
She is the only person that's ever been charged.
They went and looked in the police records like,
you know, just kind of trying to say,
okay, how are these folks managing this park?
You know, maybe there's lots of folks
and they have all sorts of issues.
And nope, she's the only person who's ever been arrested
or banned in their history.
So it's first liberal.
which is that folks, you know, the lawyers have filed suit on behalf of.
Kelly Schacklefordi, the friend and First Liberty is one of the premier organizations in America.
And they're just a tiny, tiny handful of them that exist that protects people's religious liberty.
So the idea that this woman has been banned from the park for doing what you're describing is certainly worrisome.
and at least worrisome.
So there's now a court battle.
When was this injunction or whatever?
What would the term be?
When was this communicated to this woman, Gail?
Yeah, thanks.
So we've been walking with Gail, praying with her and whatnot.
So this all started in the summer of 2019.
And so she received a notice that if she set foot back,
in there to do this in June of 2019.
It's interesting, in July of 2019, her church held vacation Bible school in the park.
So you're just kind of like, okay, so there's a vacation.
So this is a sizable park, obviously.
If you're doing vacation Bible school in the park, it's a public area.
This is not a tiny park.
No, it's sizable.
There's pubs.
There's weddings there, a number of things that have been held at the park.
So it's just interesting.
So Gail working with, you know, seeking a lawyer.
And just praying about, you know, Gail, first she had to pray about, okay, do I want to do this?
You know, I'm in my 60s.
I'm blind.
I mean, she can't walk through the park and go to the library and take her grandchildren story hour in the library anymore
because she'll be arrested for trespassing.
So she had some discernment to do and then finally get connected with some people who could help her,
like the great folks at First Liberty.
So they just filed the injunction this week, just filed up the suit rather this week.
They filed the suit.
But when did she find out from the library?
or from whomever, the town that she was not allowed to be there.
You said this is about a year ago?
Yeah, a year ago.
So July 2019, she found out about it.
But just the people ask me about Gail, what she liked.
So we were praying with her on the phone earlier last week.
And she said, this is what she said,
giving a sense of who she just goes,
I'm going to get to see news media people,
and I've already got the gospel covers picked out that I'm going to give them.
So I thought to myself, well, she's blind,
and she's got their covers picked out, right?
But she's not, I mean, she's upset, right?
But she's not this indignant.
My rights have been.
Blah, blah, blah.
She's like, I'm going to get to talk to these people about Jesus.
Right?
That's just her work.
She's trouble.
And that's what I love about this story,
is that this blind woman is a heap of trouble for people who don't,
you know, who don't want to hear what they don't want to hear.
And this is a free country.
So, but let me ask you, in the year since she has,
has been barred from going to this park and this library,
has she gone nonetheless or has she complied with this
in the last year?
She's complied with it as far as I know.
Yeah, she's complied with it.
So yeah.
Yeah, it's interesting to me because it strikes me
that I don't know that I would, if I were she,
I think that I'd love to dare them to arrest me,
a blind woman handing out for free pocket
you know, Gospels of John, it seems like an amazingly ridiculous thing that they were.
Do we have any sense of why they were willing to go to this length? Do we have any insight?
Not at this point. So it was done by the Library Association. So I'm not quite clear as to who's in
charge of what, but it sounds as if the Library Association has governance, some governance over the
park is attached to there. So I don't think we really have an understanding of their reasoning
at this point.
And I think that'll come out in time.
So we'll see where it goes.
The reason this is news right now is because Kelly Shackleford and First Liberty have taken
this on.
Is that right?
Absolutely.
Yep.
So they're trying to bring awareness because I think at face value, as you understand it,
you think this thing ought to be dismissed.
We're going to go to a break.
We're going to come back.
This is a wonderful, important story.
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Hey there, folks.
I'm talking to David Collum of the new, I'm sorry, of the Pocket Testament League about current events.
A woman, Gail Blair, blind, has been told she can no longer hand out free copies of the Gospel of John in this,
what sounds like a rather large park attached to a library in Waveny, Rhode Island.
And, you know, David, having you on, part of the reason to have you on is because people need to understand that we need to fight.
When somebody comes at you with what I see as an unconstitutional and deeply preposterous law or injunction or whatever you want to call it, Christians need to fight back because we're fighting for everyone.
We're not fighting for ourselves.
This is an ugly abrogation of something that all Americans enjoy.
And whenever anyone is forbidden from this, we all need to take notice.
Now, if people want to find the Pocket Testament League online before we get into the story further, how can they do that?
So, very simply, it's ptl.org.
Pocket testament, PtL.
Praise the Lord.org.
Ptl.org.
That's amazing.
Ptl.org.
And David, how long have you been affiliated with the Ptestimately?
So I'm coming up on four years.
I've been CEO for about four years.
It's been amazing to see when the board hired me,
they said that they would pray that I would learn to understand
the power of God's word.
And I kind of, you know, kind of thought my,
I said, well, thank you.
But inside I was like, a little indignant.
I was like, I beg your pardon.
I know the power of God's word.
And I'll tell you, Eric, I don't have a clue.
Because the other thing we talked earlier before break about, read your Bible every day, say a prayer,
Lord, lead me to the person that you want to give us gospel to.
So God has all these divine appointments.
So we have story after story when you hand somebody a gospel and it's just the right moment they need it.
It's amazing to see.
We have stories of babies and wombs that women that are on their way to end the life of a child
and bumped in coincidentally to someone who handed them a gospel of John.
They broke down and started crying.
Now that child's all right.
I mean, I know that these stories are out there,
but when you hear them, you realize,
I guess I want to say that I think a lot of times Christians forget
that we hear over and over and over,
oh, stop bothering people with your faith or stop proselytizing, whatever.
And certainly people can do it wrong, and you know that, and I know that.
But we forget how deeply hungry many people are.
They're on the street.
You have no idea what's in their mind.
But many of them are so hungry for a bit of hope or truth or the idea that there is truth.
And we let them go by.
They're out there.
And they're hungry.
Just as I was once hungry, just as once many people listening or were hungry or some listening now, they're hungry now.
They simply don't know that there is hope.
So the idea that in America, we can't share in the most, you know, kind, anodyne way,
the idea that you're just handing somebody something here.
It is a blind woman in a park.
I mean, how aggressive can she be?
It's the sort of thing.
It's why I wanted to have you on because people don't realize that we have a kind of a,
a narrative in America right now that is not, it's simply not correct. There are tons of people
that rather than be offended are, they're looking for somebody to share something like this with them.
Absolutely. I was down in your neck of the woods and one of the, because I travel a lot. So my standard
thing is I'll ask a waiter or a waitress, hey, I'm going to pray for my food. How can I be praying for you?
I'd rather pray for a person than, you know, this. And this guy looked at me and had to explain to him twice.
and he said, would you pray for my mom?
I said, sure, what's your mom's name?
He said, Mary.
I was like, got it.
That's my mom's, look, that's my mom's name.
So I'll remember that.
So he went and took three other orders and he came back,
looked at me and came back.
And I was thinking,
maybe I shouldn't have done this.
Walked back and he said,
are you really going to pray for my mother?
And I said, yeah, I'm going to pray for your mother.
I'm going to pray for you.
And he said, that's the nicest thing anybody's ever done for me.
It's like, that's the nicest thing.
I mean, people are lonely.
They want hope.
I found out about this, you know,
I found out about this guy's life.
He's an artist, right?
So he's waiting tables, trying to make, trying to make, trying to make his wet.
And he's trying to hard.
And, you know, somebody said, I'll pray for you and your mom.
Nicest thing somebody's ever done for me.
Game of gospel of John, had a nice talk.
I can speak.
I can say the same thing.
I mean, in 1988, someone who had been sharing his faith with me, my now friend of over 30 years
at Tuttle, you know, my uncle went into a coma, he was dying.
And I will never forget when he said, I and some people in my church are praying for your uncle.
I was staggered.
I thought to myself, what?
Like, these people are for real.
Like, even if you don't believe in what they're doing, the kindness that they would say such a thing, that they would do such a thing.
Many times in life, that is what gets people's attention.
And I think that when I was younger, I was more shy about.
about praying for people or saying something to a waiter or waitress.
And now I'm less shy about it because I realize they may well be dying to hear something from somebody.
We've just got seconds left in this segment.
We'll be back.
But tell us again, if people go to the website, ptl.org, what do they find there?
They're going to find a pretty simple mention that says,
We know you love Jesus.
We know you want to share your faith, but you find it hard.
We can help.
That's it.
Check out how to help.
And so there's courses and resources and other things that help them.
But the point is that people can get these pocket testaments from you and they can do it in their lives.
This is another one of the reasons I want to have you.
I hope tons of people listening to this program will do this.
Okay, we're going to be back.
I'm talking a day of column.
PTL.org is the website.
We'll be right back.
Turn the other cheek and don't give in.
That old wheel will roll around.
Folks, welcome back.
I'm talking to Peter Collum with the Pocket Testament League, ptel.org.
I have to ask you, David, how did you get involved in this?
What is your life story?
Where did you grow up and how did you get involved in something like this?
Sure. So I went to a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, graduated with a degree in engineering and went to work for General Electric up here in Schenectady, New York, and worked for 25 years for a laboratory that designs nuclear reactors for our nation submarines and supports the sailors that operate them. So I did that for 25 years, came to the lower when I was 30. And just over time, God just kind of moved my passion. I didn't leave my job because I didn't like it. I loved what I did.
Right. My passion to serve people more and more kind of led me to the pastor. So I was a pastor for 12 years. And then after 12 years, just because I was kind of having a different vision than the organization I was a part of, I was an Episcopal priest and just kind of moving in a different direction.
Okay, you say Episcopal Church. I just got to stop you there because I came to faith at St. Paul's Dary Ann. Maybe you remember Terry Fulham, speaking of Rhode Island. One of the great.
preachers, pastors of, you know, more than a generation. And when I first came to faith,
I realized there are Episcopal churches and there are Episcopal churches. Most Episcopal
churches have, you know, got over the edge theology. So you were in the Episcopal Church
and at some point decided no mas. Yeah, I was the dean of the cathedral in Albany and it just
got to the point where, so my view is, okay, we're arguing about theology. So it may be,
interesting to watch a church fight, but nobody comes to the Lord, right? You're not going to
bear a lot of fruit. So if they're right and I'm wrong, it'll be life-giving, they'll grow,
and what I'm doing well. And so we don't need to fight with each other about it. They just
kind of view things differently. And so you're a very sweet person. I have to say I would
be more combative about it. But at the same time, you know, I always knew that the Diocese of Albany
was one of the good ones that you guys had a lot of, you know,
faithful, biblically minded priests and,
and leadership there. So what year was it that you left
the diocese? 2015.
When the Supreme Court
redefined marriage and when the National Church redefined marriage.
And so it was just, so when you, I was in my 40s and I left a really good,
important job that I loved because I want people to meet Jesus.
That's kind of why I'm at the,
pocketessment league. And so I want to be in an organization that's very mission-focused
and really looking very specifically for the main thing. Not that other things aren't important,
but are we keeping the main thing the main thing. So that's why I'm at the league.
I was going to say we all have different callings and I think that there's something really
wonderful when you know what it is that God has called you to do. But what you're doing now,
to me it's sort of like selling something on the street corner and you get cash and it's not like
some big bureaucracy. It's real clear and real simple. You know, you hand out something. You deputize
people to hand out something and you know that some of the people walking away with that
relatively inexpensive thing in their hands will have their lives changed. And I imagine,
you know, you get stories, you referred to one recently. There must be something very gratifying
about that. It's remarkable. It's somewhat humbling. You know, the Lord doesn't have to let us
these stories, but he does to encourage us. So it's, it's just amazing. And it kind of reinforces,
you know, people are looking for hope. They're looking for truth. They're looking for justice.
And so we need to go to the author. I mean, if we want to get squared away around those kind of
things, then we need to go to the author of truth and justice and life. Yeah.
How did a Jesus freak like you get involved with the Episcopal Church? There's my question.
In all seriousness, when did you come to faith in your own life?
So I was raised Roman Catholic.
I came to faith when I was 30 years old in an airport, led to Christ by an employee.
I asked him, he is the same age.
He had two sons.
I was having huge success at my corporate career.
Hang on, when you say you're raised Roman Catholic, there's so many Catholics who listen to this program.
You mean you were raised in that tradition, but it didn't really take.
In other words, you weren't all in for Jesus and the church.
You were just raised in that tradition,
and it wasn't until you're 30,
you were 30 that suddenly you get the real deal.
The penny dropped, and I understood the cross, and I understood grace.
I thought, look, I would kneel down after communion
knowing what was wrong with me and just feeling it slip away
and thinking I was, you know, I'm at a loss.
I was angry inside, and I just didn't understand.
grace. Because for whatever reason, I didn't hear the gospel and it didn't penetrate me until that point.
I mean, I think that's the case for many people. It was the case for me. I went to church every
Sunday. I was an altar boy. Somehow I never got it. And I want to say to the folks out there who they say,
well, I believe, or I believe, there's a moment when you get it, when you're born again, when something
happens and you light up. And that's what it's all about. We're not supposed to live life in half measures.
we're supposed to be excited about this faith, if it's true, and you and I know it's true.
So I just, I get so excited when I meet folks like you, but I love the idea.
I hadn't heard of the Pocket Testament League, and you see, the Lord does work all things together for good,
for those that love them are called according to his purpose, because if, if this lovely woman, blind woman,
Gail Blair, had not faced this difficult, would be talking.
and the innumerable people listening to this program would not know about, you know, going to ptl.org
and getting copies of the New Testament of John and just doing this.
I just love this idea so much you can tell.
I just, when are you going to find out more about this case just since we have a moment left?
So we're going to be chatting a little bit more with Gail and our lawyers in the coming weeks,
just to find out a little bit more.
So we certainly will keep you in the loop and follow up there.
She's being really sweet about it and careful.
So we'll just have to kind of see where that's going to go.
That's interesting.
You said at the pocket test, I get to meet people like kale.
I mean, there's 15,000 people.
And so we just want to encourage people that you can do this.
You can do a simple, repeatable process.
You don't have to be a great apologist.
You really can do it.
I joke around.
I said it's simple, not easy.
Losing weight is simple.
You know, calories in, calories out, not easy.
Same thing. We'll help you. We'll help you.
I just, listen, I love it. I'm so glad to reconnect with you, David Collum.
I hope people will go TTL.org and that tons of people will take you up on this.
I certainly will. I'm looking forward to it to be continued. God bless you and thank you.
Thank you. Take care.
Hey, folks. Just a couple of seconds left.
in the show. Albin and Chris, you're my peeps, okay? You're my posse, my crew, my gang.
Love it. 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 odd 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, later on this week, ladies and gentlemen, honestly,
we have some extraordinary friends and guests.
Two years ago, I spoke to someone.
I'm not going to repeat this 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 Rankin, 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.us. I hope you will right now. But I want to tell you, I talked him out of,
of his slogan.
He called me after we recorded the program.
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 mention that.
Can you mention what the new slogan is?
The new slogan?
No, I can't.
Okay.
It's 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 U-Ban,
good to the last drop. Is that you ban?
Folgers. No, I don't know.
Yes, it's Fulgers.
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,
It's actually important.
I would say if you can get your family or your, you know, a group to watch it.
It's really 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 uncle tom.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's Mirack and you can thank you later.
