The Eric Metaxas Show - Greg Laurie

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

Greg Laurie talks about the new film based on his life, "Jesus Revolution," starring Kelsey Grammer as Pastor Chuck Smith and chronicling miraculous events of the early 1970s.

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mataxis show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Welcome to the Eric Mataxis show. It's a nutritious smoothie of creamy, fresh, yogurt, vanilla, vanilla, vanilla, and a mushy banana. For your mind? Drink it all down. It's nummy. I wub, vanilla. I wubb, I wop. Banana. Here comes Eric Metaxus. Folks, welcome. We're doing something we do every week, whether you like it or not.

We do a segment called Ask Metaxus. And I implore you to send us fun, interesting, intrusive questions. We will do our best to pick them, and I'll try to answer them to best my ability. Okay, Albin, you ask the questions and I'll try to answer. Are you ready? I'm ready. I got the questions right here. Number one, did you watch Biden?

State of the Union address, and what did you think? I cannot bear to watch any news, much less the nightmare of Joe Biden giving a quote-unquote speech. No, I didn't watch it. I find him so unbearable and horrific. I can barely acknowledge his so-called presidency. what clips I saw and what response I saw, I think that we are under judgment as a nation. He is under judgment. They stole the election.

And that's not, you know, a peevish opinion. I think that is just true. And seeing what he has done, what his administration has done to the state, nation in two years is mind-blowing. So I, so the answer is no. I didn't watch it. I can't watch it. It's just too horrific. Thank you. Okay. And I mentioned yesterday, Anne and I watched Miss Marple instead. Much better. Question number two. What is your favorite Bible verse? My favorite Bible verse is, well, it's Philippians 4-2. I'll read it. for two and three i implore i wouldia and i implore sindiki to be of the same mind in the lord okay

and and i urge you also true companion help these women who labored with me in the gospel with clement also and the rest of my fellow workers uh i was just kidding that's not my favorite i was just kidding i'm putting that one i'm putting there's certain verses you're like you know people say it's the word of god it's the word of god but yes some some some verses are less compelling than others. So, but that's in the same chapter as my favorite Bible verse. Actually, there are two. Let me start with the other one.

The other one, my, you know, because I was talking to a friend last night who is young in the faith and I was trying to help him. And I said, there are a couple of touchstones for me. And these two verses are my touchstones. I know I've mentioned them on this program. I think people have asked on Ask Metaxes at other times. But one of them is Romans 828. All things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes.

All things. Every nightmare, every bad thing works together for good. If you love God and are called according to his purposes, you can take that to the bank, ladies and gentlemen. When something terrible happens, you say, Lord, your word says, you say, that all things, including this terrible thing, work together for good. Now, if you know God and you understand the biblical view of other things, these things make more sense to you. Otherwise, you're not going to even be able to process that.

But Romans 828, but the other one is Romans, I'm sorry, the other one is Philippians 4.6. I was joking around by reading Philippians 4, 2, and 3. Philippians 4-6, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And then it goes on,

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Be anxious for nothing. What that is saying, God is saying, listen, I love you so much that I'm going to put in my word, this command to you not to be anxious about anything.

As soon as you're tempted to be anxious, some terrible thing has happened. You say, great, I'm going to take this to God in prayer, and I'm going to give it to God because God is my heavenly father. He loves me. He wants me to know. He wants me to know that I'm to take my troubles to him. I am not to let them bounce around in my head and torture me. That's not God's plan.

If you want to know God's plan, you can get a clue from that scripture verse. His plan is that you would be at peace and that you would trust him with your troubles, with your problems. We all have troubles. We all have problems. So that's scripture verse, Philippians 4-6, be anxious for nothing. Nothing. You say, well, what about this?

What about nothing? It says nothing. Every single thing that will trouble you or give you anxiety or whatever, God says, if you want to do my will, you take that anxiety, that trouble. You bring it to me in prayer. put it at the foot of my cross. And it says with Thanksgiving, in other words, with an attitude of gratitude to God,

number one, that you get to do this. Number two, that he's given you all kinds of things. He wants us to live that way. He can't force us to, but if you want to know what God's will is, that's God's will. So Romans 828 and Philippians 4.6, that will be my answer.

Great. Question three, what does the unexamined life is not worth living mean to you? Well, what does it mean to me? First of all, it was said by Socrates, and he didn't say it in English. He said it in Greek, oddly enough. The unexamined life is not worth living.

But it's the motto for Socrates in the city because I think even people who they don't know God or they don't have faith, you can lead them to the truth because Socrates was interested in the truth. truth. And he made the statement, the unexamined life is not worth living. In other words, it's worth thinking about the meaning of life. It's worth thinking about the meaning of your life. Now, why would he say that? I think Socrates had an implicit faith that there was a larger truth, that there was a God, that there were good answers, that this was not a fool's errand,

that he knew enough not to be a nihilist or a cynical person and say, who's to say if there's even such a thing as truth, he felt that there must be intuitively. And so he said the unexamined life is not worth living. And as I mentioned, that's the, the motto for Socrates in the city, because I think whatever conversations we have at Socrates in the city, the idea is to get people to think about the deeper issues, believing that it will lead you closer to the truth who happens to be the God of the Bible. We don't do that explicitly necessarily. Actually, I should say this. February 28th, which is in a few weeks, it's the most explicitly Christian Socrates event we've ever had because it's kind of kicking off Lent and because the speaker is Eugenia Constantinou,

who wrote a book called The Crucifixion of the King of Glory. So we're not always openly Christian. and in fact, rarely are openly Christian. But in this case, we are February 28, Socrates and the city.com as the website, please go there. But yes, that's the meaning of that phrase. Okay. If you could go back to any decade in American history, what would it be and why? What a great question. And I don't really have an answer, but I guess if I had to answer,

I'd say the 1930s. I watched a lot of Turner Classic movies. I just love that period. I love the way people dressed. I love the way people talked. Obviously, we had much more traditional values. That was more part of who we were as a culture at that time. But every decade has something to recommend it, to be honest.

And I also say, I got to say this, I got to get serious. I think there's a temptation for us to think, I wish I could go back here. I wish I could go back. I get that. But that's really a longing for heaven. And it's God's will that we be alive this minute now in this decade. So if you want to know what God's will is, it's his will that we be here now, right now,

because he has a purpose for us right now. Okay, we're at a time before we go. Speaking of purpose, I don't normally do this. We have an urgent, urgent, urgent request that you give to help the folks because of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Go to Metaxistalk.com. You'll see the banner. This is deeply, this is seriously urgent.

Text Eric to 911-999. Again, text Eric to 911-999. And you can give that way. It's urgent. Thank you. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed.

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that I'm friends with the pastor, Greg Lorry? That's a lie. Greg Lorry has gone Hollywood. He won't even acknowledge me now. If you're not like Brad Pitt, he won't even look at you. He won't even take your calls. So we got somebody who looks a lot like him to be on the program now because I wanted to talk to him about this exciting film.

It's called Jesus Revolution. And so Greg Lorry, I'm using air quotes. Welcome to the program. Well, I'm a stunt double. You know, I've actually had people say, has anyone ever told you you look like Greg Lurie? And I've said, yes. first of all, he's an idiot.

And they'll say, really? Oh, yeah, I've met him. He's so mean. I said, but actually, I'm a stunt double. So whenever you see Greg fall, that's me. Then look at me quickly. Like, wait, what? That's it.

And that's another way we know Greg has gone Hollywood. He's got a stunt double. I'm in the process of getting a stump double. That's for my projected future in film. But I figure get a stunt double early. Now, listen, Greg, I joke with you because we are good friends, and I love you. And I am so proud.

of you for so much that you've done. But this film, which I watched, honestly, I mean, I've already watched, even though it's not out yet. It's absolutely wonderful. And I know you've got to be very, very proud of it. So I want to ask you my first real question is how did you, you know, when you entrust someone to make a film about your life and about a very, very important part of American history, which is the Jesus Revolution, the Jesus movement of, you know, around 1970. Where do you begin? Because it's so, you know and I know that there are a lot of films that are Christian themed, that they're not up to the standard that we would expect from other films. So this film certainly is. But how do you, how do you even begin a process like that? Because you've

succeeded. And now that you've succeeded, I want to say, how did you start? Well, I started by working with someone that knows what they're doing. And John Irwin is a great director. The first film I saw that he directed was called Woodlawn, a fantastic film. And then he went on to direct, I Can Only Imagine, which was the most successful Christian movies, so-called of all time. And then on to American Underdog and others. So he came to me with this idea, Greg, I want to make a movie about the Jesus movement. And someone told me you were there. We had just met.

So we had a very long lunch. And so he came back with his first draft of the screenplay. And he had built the movie around the story of my life as a young man searching for God. I was being raised, well, raised as I use that term loosely, by my alcoholic mother who had been married and divorced seven times. And so I was kind of almost the adult in that relationship, as that part of my life then where I meet Kathy. So it's a beautiful love story.

And then he also tells the story of two unlikely characters that came together. Pastor Chuck Smith, played by Kelsey Grammer. And Jonathan Rumi, who plays a role of Jesus and The Chosen plays the role of evangelist Lonnie Frisbee. They come together. It's like nitro meets glycerin. And there's this, you know, there's this explosion. But what I think is really cool about this movie is it, me, Eric, it's the most unchristian-Christian movie I've ever seen. And I mean that as a compliment,

because Christian movies tend to be lower quality. The acting performances often are not up to the standards they should be. And everything is tidy and perfect. And this movie, because it's based on a true story, has surprising twists and turns. And, but ultimately it shows how God intervened in the lives of very flawed people and did a powerful word. that many regard is a greatest spiritual awakening in American history. No, it is unbelievable. And the car chase sequence with Chuck Colson, oh my, that was really something. Just kidding.

Just kidding. No, but look, I mean, I did see the film. Car chasing with Chuck Colson. No, you would come up with that. Car chase sequence with Chuck Colson. Sequence. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.

No, honestly, there's a lot to praise about this film. I think perhaps at the center of it, because it's really, when you talk about the story of what happened, the Jesus revolution, what happened during the Jesus movement of the 60s, the 70s, what happened? What happened was Jesus was presented not just in a new way, but in a way that is authentic, that he reaches out to the hippies. He reaches out. He is not a moralist who says, if you don't dress this way, don't come into my church. We all know that's dead, bad religion. We've seen it. Most people react to it negatively. And the fact of the matter is that's at the heart of the larger story and it's at the heart of this movie. And that's why when you say that you have this essentially stayed pastor, Chuck Smith, open his heart and his church to this. hippie guy named Lonnie Frisbee, that was true Christianity, and it made all the rest happen. So it's beautiful that you deal with that. You deal with the churchy side of the church and how there's this rare moment when somebody

makes the right decision and just innumerable people's lives are changed. I have to ask you maybe an obvious question, but what's your name again? No, less obvious. But my obvious question is by getting Kelsey Grammer involved, how did you persuade someone, I mean, I can't think of a better comic actor in the world than Kelsey Grammer. Here he's playing it straight. But how do you get him involved? Because I would just assume he could do all kinds of stuff. Why would he want to play this evangelist named Chuck Smith?

How did that go? Or can you even share about that? Yeah, I can actually, because I actually talk with Kelsey. about it. We were on set shooting the film and I was, you know, you have a lot of time where you wait for the next scene to be set up. And I said, Kelsey, why did you take this role? You're very

successful actor. You have a great career. And yet you take the role of a struggling pastor. What prompted you to do that? Kelsey is a very tenderhearted man. And his eyes teared up and he said, well, I was at a point in my life where I wanted to do something that was meaningful. And in his words,

he said, I was with some friends. We meditating and talking about this. And I just opened myself up and I said, I want to do something that can help people and impact people's lives. He said the next day, the script for Jesus Revolution came to me. And he says, I read it. I said, this is it. Then I said to Kelsey, well, Kelsey, I think this was an answer to your prayer.

He says, I agree. And he plays this role so beautifully. You know, Kelsey, we best know him playing the role of Frazier Crane, you know, on cheers and then in his own show. But he went to Juilliard. He was trained as a Shakespearean actor. I didn't understand the bandwidth he had in his skills as an actor. But boy, you sure see them on display in this film with certain scenes where he shows Chuck

kind of resistant. And then he's sort of opening his heart up. And he just does it without saying a word. It's like, wow. I remember when he filmed a particular scene where Chuck, his home is invaded by the hippies. Lonnie has brought all the. these crazy hippie kids that are Christians to Chuck's home. Chuck comes out and he doesn't know what's happening.

Lonnie says, listen to this song. And really, what Chuck has seen is the birth of what we would call contemporary Christian music. And as Kelsey's playing this role, you see him kind of hard like this, I don't want this, to softening, to ending up in a big smile. He never says a word. His face says at all. That's one of the high moments of the film because Chuck, here's a man who's very conservative. he wasn't like a fan of rock music.

He left his comfort zone and allowed God to work and didn't get in the way of it. He opened his doors to a spiritual awakening. And there's other churches that kept their doors closed. And they didn't experience the Jesus movement, but Chuck opened his doors and it changed church history. Well, and you know, I just want to be clear

when you say changed church history, I know that my life was affected by what happened in California. In other words, tons of people that I came to know, I got saved, as we say in 1988, and there were tons of people involved in the churches that I was first involved in that came out of this movement. There's just no doubt that it changed America

and that there's so many people in ministry today who came out of that movement. And it was, I mean, you know, if you lived through it, and I didn't really, but I got a taste of part of it, it is, you start realizing anything is possible when that, when Jesus comes into a culture in that way, when God decides to move in that way or when we allow him to, we can't even imagine what's going to come out of it. I also have to say that Kelsey Grammer, again, the genius of his acting is you completely

forget you're watching Kelsey Grammer. You're watching Chuck Smith. And there are a few scenes where you're just what you're so sucked in because it's the opposite of what it is to be, you know, when you're a comic actor, you're kind of drawing attention to yourself and his eyes are bugging out and the nervousness and stuff. That's gone. And it's completely subsumed in the character that he plays, Chuck Smith, which frankly, when you have the abilities that a Kelsey Grammer does, that's an act of tremendous humility to completely give yourself over to the character. We're going to be right back, folks. I'm talking to my friend Greg Lory, who, my goodness, the film is about his life and about what happened in America. It's called Jesus Revolution. It will be in theaters everywhere February 24th. You've got to see it. And we'll be right back. Tell me why Relief Factor is so successful at lowering or eliminating pain. I'm often asked that question just the other night. I was asked that question. while the owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal.

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Again, use code Eric and save mypillow.com. Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to my friend Greg Lorry. As you probably know, he's the founding senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship. And Greg, you're one of those friends. It's just a handful in my life that as soon as you show up, like, I get silly. I can't stop joking and laughing. We've had many fun moments together.

I'm trying to keep it straight. Trying to keep it straight. But we're talking about the film Jesus Revolution. This is a big deal. It's based on a true story. It's a story of your life. It's a story of what happened in California, then across the country. And people can find out more at Jesusrevolution.

dot movie, Jesus Revolution. Dot movie. But so we mentioned obviously that Kelsey Gramer stars in the film. But also

Jonathan Rumi, whom many people know from the chosen he plays, I believe, Thadius. I think it's Jesus. I think it's Jesus. I always get Jesus

and Thaddeus confused, you know? Is that just me? Do you? Is that just me? Okay. Probably. So, so. So, yes, the big deal Jonathan Rumi is cast as Lonnie Frisbee,

kind of the hippie, prophetic guy. But you were just saying that you got personally involved with Kelsey and with Jonathan at a wacky Hollywood New Year's party. Am I making that up? Did this really happen? Well, it did happen. You know, we've all become friends. And Kelsey is the nicest guy.

because I've been with him where people will recognize him and just come up and start talking to him. He's very gracious, always takes time for people. So, excuse me, Kelsey says, Craig, would you like to come to my home for New Year's Eve for a New Year's Eve? And I'm like, what? I mean, because, you know, I go to bed on New Year's Eve. I'm not out partying away.

And so he has a home up in L.A. And so we weren't sure if we would, but then we decided to. and then Jonathan Rumi was invited and John Irwin, who directed the film, was invited. So Kelsey set up karaoke, but it was like a legit karaoke with the DJ and big speakers. And so I said, Jonathan, are you going to sing karaoke? And Jonathan says, I'm not much of a singer.

I said, I'll tell you what, if you do it, I'll do it. Jonathan says, okay, well, little did I know that Jonathan Rumi, who plays Jesus, has been practicing. And also I found out later he used to be a lead singer and a rock band. So his moment comes, he gets up, he does the Bruce Springsteen song, what's the name of it?

Hey, baby, whatever that one is. Right, right. Yeah, he gets up there, he's got moves down, he's owning it, and I'm going up after this. And I picked the lamest song, Eric. You know, we both love music. We talk about it. Can I guess?

What? muskrat love come on no did you know by the way when the captain and teneal who you've told me many times

was your favorite band of all time perform that in front of the queen of england oh stop you're kidding no no no no no now you're joking she felt it offensive it was offensive because it's very weird anyway no wait a second stop that we have to be clear about when we're joking captain and teneal who are not my favorite band but they did muskrat love They did not perform that in front of the Queen of England.

At the White House, they performed it, and the Queen was offended by it. Well, wait a minute. I'm offended by the whole concept that they were invited to the White House with the Queen of England. This was under Jimmy Carter? Probably would have been.

I think it was Jimmy Carter. But anyway, back to the karaoke. No, no, no, no. Let's stay right here. We can't leave Muscat Love. We're burning of time and must grant love. No. All right.

Well, look, I just can't believe you would share that with me. telling me in my audience that Jimmy Carter was, was, we know he was not, you know, he was no Ronald Reagan, okay? But the idea that he invites the captain and to Neil of all the great bands in the 70s that he can invite in, the queen

of England is there, and he invites the captain and to Neil. I just want to say, you've broken my heart. Yes. What song did you sing? I sang the song that my character, Greg, sings in the movie, fly me to the moon. Wow.

I don't like karaoke. It never seems right. I mean, the pitch always seems wrong. It's up there. Fly me to the moon. I thought, I'm bombing. I'm bombing because the guy who plays Jesus did too good of a job singing a Bruce Springsteen song.

I'm bombing in front of Kelsey Grammer. And I hate this. I should have picked a Beatles song. I mean, you know what? And you are a big, big, big Beatles fan. I am. I'm a wings fan. You are.

You are. I just say that. to disturb people, just to annoy people. But let me, but let me say, but I'm, but I'm not a fan of the plastic ono band. Let me be very clear about that. No. But I do want to say that you, we've just lost the whole audience. There's no one listening anymore.

Greg, seriously, fly me to the moon. I sang that song at a fundraiser in Santa Barbara. I kid you not. I'm not kidding. Well, you think, well, why don't you do it first right now? Go. I don't, no. But, but, but I'm not kidding.

I'm not kidding. And it's just kind of this great. I'll do the first, my version, I'll do the first line, and then you do yours. You pick up the next line, ready? No. Here we go. We're in this.

Fly me to the moon. You know, I just lost my voice in that moment. Let me sail among the stars. Let me sail among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars. In other words, let's talk about the movie and stop singing. So the movie is the Jesus Revolution. Okay, you're not kidding.

You went to a Hollywood party at Kelsey Grammer's house. Yeah. He's got a big setup there. And Jonathan Rumi, who we think of as a nice guy because he plays Jesus, stabs you in the back. Well, I wouldn't put it back. Oh, I would. He is a nice guy.

He just didn't let me know of his skills set. Because I actually said, Jonathan, if you do it, I'll do it. He's like, okay. I'm like, oh, please. Anyway, I'm over it now. I'm just going to tell you something. I'm going to get, I'm going to, no, no, no, Jonathan Rumi. I'm coming after you for what you did to my friend Greg.

When we come back, when we come back, we're never going to talk about this again, but I'm coming after you, Jonathan Rumi. We'll be right back. Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars. With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, lots of companies are coming out saying they'll pay for employee abortion travel and expenses. Most of you've heard about some of these companies. You've decided to stop shopping or doing business there.

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I was trying to have a high-brow conversation about cinema and my friend Greg Lorry dragged it down to talk about the Captain Anteniel singing muskrat love in front of the Queen of England during the Carter administration. And I think the line that offended the Queen was they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed. Probably. Which is this kind of like a, it's a sexual muskrat thing. Rodents, that's what they do. That's how they reproduce. these are rodents but anyway let's get back to the film Jesus Revolution I really did been the weirdest and most surreal moment of any interview I've ever done not just with you that's my goal that's my

goal that's I'm dumbfounded by what it has just happened okay I'm back let's go that's that's that's my goal but but seriously I mean I want my audience to know I saw the film and I just I was so happy that it was so good because it's such an important story, Greg. It's such an important story. And, you know, it's very moving for me also to knowing you as I do now, thinking of you as someone who didn't have faith and was lost and so on and so forth. So I think it's going to give a lot of people hope. And I feel that it's the kind of a film. We need films just like this. There's something there's, we know that there's a brokenness in the culture. And so, look, I'm thrilled that John Irwin did everything that he did

to make this happen. And so this is opening up in a lot of theaters on February 24th. Is that right? That's correct. That's going to open in at least 2,000 theaters. It could be as many as 3,000. So I'm really hoping that all the folks that are listening are watching right now would not only go see the movie, but that they would get an extra ticket and take someone that is not a believer. I believe this is an event, this movie, that could really move them toward Christ. You know, there's something about watching art, watching a film, listening to a song. It disarms you. It opens you up in many ways that, you know, a lecture or even a sermon will not do.

And there's a place for all these things. But I think that people identify with these characters as they follow them on their journey. We see a very lost Greg Lurie, not knowing where to go in life, what to do, getting into drugs, making bad decisions. and ultimately coming to Christ, but he's very walled off emotionally. He's very closed. And I think Joel Courtney, who plays me in the movie, did an amazing job with a very subtle but powerful performance and showing what it was like for Greg to go through all of this. And so in Kathy's character, very fiery performance by a young actress named Anna Grace Barlow.

And of course, we've talked about Kelsey and Jonathan and many other fine performance. performances in addition. You get pulled into the story. And I don't think you're thinking about performances. I think you're watching it saying, what's going to happen next? And it is based on a true story. Hence, a lot of twists and turns and surprises in it, but ultimately a beautiful resolution. But at the halfway point of the film, literally at the one-hour mark, it's a two-hour film,

Greg and Lonnie pray together. And there's a prayer that Lonnie leads Greg in. And I work with Jonathan Rumi, who played the role of Lonnie, on this prayer, like how it sounds, how it would go, how you would actually lead a person to Christ in real life. And I think that moment in the film is so honest, it's so real. And I think there will be hopefully people in theaters praying that prayer along with Greg right before he's baptized. Well, listen, and then we have to talk about this is a great irony at the heart of the film because Joel Courtney, big deal. and the young woman who plays Kathy. I mean, both of them, they're not just big deal actors and great actors,

but they're very, very attractive. And anybody who knows you knows that at that age, you and Kathy were very unattractive people. I think Kathy was very attractive. I'll go with what you said about me. All right. Maybe I was joking. Maybe I was joking.

But actually, you know, they are terrific actors, very attractive. The whole thing is just really winsome. and it does draw you in. But what I was going to say, one of the particular strengths of the film is that it doesn't, it's not hagiography. I mean, it shows Lonnie Frisbee

to be a flawed individual. And I think that's so important that you see this person who has these amazing gifts. I mean, without him, would any of this have happened? I don't know. It doesn't seem like it.

And yet, he was a human being. He had his struggles. And the fact that the film was willing to go there, I thought was brave. was honest, and it's part of what makes it a great film, frankly. And of course, you knew him. Yeah, I knew Lonnie. Lonnie was the guy preaching when I accepted Christ on my high school campus. Lonnie baptized me. So Lonnie fell away from the Lord as some a number of years after God used him so powerfully in the Jesus movement. He got into drugs. He got into immorality. And tragically, he ended up

getting the AIDS virus. And I went to visit him when he was in hospice care. In Newport Beach, he was not long for this world. His face was emaciated. The effect of the AIDS virus had been devastating. Lonnie had repented of his sin. He had never lived as a gay man or lived as an immoral man as his identity. It was something he fell into. He was sorry for.

He repented of and turned back to the Lord at the end of his life. So, you know, he's a controversial figure because of this. But look, if we read the Bible, Eric, God used a lot of flawed people. I mean, Samson was powerfully used by God and completely collapsed morally. After Noah built the ark and came safely to the shore, he intentionally uncovered himself and got drunk.

And the list of flawed Bible characters goes on endlessly. So why do we expect people in real life to be perfect? But during this moment in time when Lonnie was so powerfully used of God, he was walking closely with the Lord. And it just shows that you can be used. by God and blessed by God and you can sin, but you can also repent and turn back to the Lord and he will forgive you. Well, again, I mean, the movie doesn't go into that, but the point is it goes into his

flawed character at that time. And again, I think it's why this film is as good as it is and why it will do well, because it's honest. And it deals with the fact that there are people who might be used powerfully by God. who are still screwed up and wounded and dealing with that and so on and so forth. And I think, again, that's to me why this probably signals, you know, a positive step in the evolution of so-called Christian film. Because this is really, it's more Christian because it's more honest and so on and so forth. But I really, I just cannot tell you, we're out of time, but I'm just so proud of you and Kathy and John Irwin and everyone involved.

It's the Jesus Revolution in theaters February 24th, and you can find out more at Jesusrevolution. Dot movie. My friend, Greg, just thrilled for you. God bless you. Thank you. Thanks, Eric. Talk to you. Welcome back.

Before we leave you for the day, three reminders. Number one, Socrates in the city February 28th. Again, I just rave like an idiot. it. When I read Jeannie Constantine's book, The Crucifixion of the King of Glory a year ago, I said next year around the beginning of Lent, I've got to see if I can get her to come from San Diego, long flight, to do a Socrates in the city in New York to talk about this. This book brought me closer to Jesus. I don't say that about a lot of books. It's an amazing, amazing, amazing book to have her at the Socrates event to talk to her about it. If you can get to

New York, February 28th, go to Socrates and city.com. And if you can't get there, we're doing something we've never, never, never done before, live streaming of the event, live streaming. That's kind of putting some weird pressure on me that people are going to be watching it live, unedited. So Socratesandestity.com, check it out. I also want to say this Sunday, that's this, that's like, but a couple days. I'm speaking in Bethel, Connecticut at his vineyard. look it up on my website, his vineyard, Bethel, Connecticut, lots of friends coming to that.

And then before we leave you, we want to remind you, we are doing an absolutely urgent emergency appeal to you. This is just a three-day thing because of the horror of what has happened in Turkey and Syria. A couple nights ago, the folks on the Salem network decided, let's do this.

This is an emergency. let's jump in. They need our help now. This is not a long-term thing. If we don't help them right now, they cannot be helped. This is disastrous. So many thousands of people have died. Every time I tell you the amount, it keeps going up, it's horrifying.

You can't even imagine talking about 20-something thousand people dead is, it's unimaginable. It's an earthquake of such devastation that we've got to do something. And that's what Americans do. we step up, folks, by the grace of God. That's been the spirit of this country. And that comes from our Christian faith. So the way you can give, actually before I say that, let me play a clip for you. Rescue teams from the U.S., okay, the bottom line is a lot of these countries are pathetic at disaster relief.

Turkey is not good. Syria, they're just not doing the job and the people who are suffering. are angry. And so, of course, the U.S. sends teams in. So I want to play a clip of that. Let's play that clip. Piles of equipment wrapped in webbing were unloaded from a C-130 cargo plane at Injurlic Air Base in Turkey as urban search and rescue teams from fire departments in Fairfax County, Virginia and Los Angeles County, California arrive to lend a hand. The teams are traveling with 159 people, 170,000 pounds of specialized equipment and 12 rescue dogs trained in finding victims who are still alive beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The teams and the dogs wore special jackets marked with the U.S. Agency for International Development logo. I'm Jennifer King. Look, it's an amazing privilege that we get to do something, but we have to do it like right now, like absolutely right now. This is a three-day appeal. Please, if you can do something, there's two ways to give. Go to metaxis talk.com. You'll see the banner. You can give anything you give, obviously. They need our help now. This is. is utterly urgent. That's why we're doing this. If you prefer to give on your phone,

you can text the keyword Eric, obviously my name, E-R-I-C, to 911-999. Text the keyword Eric to 911-999, and it'll give you a link to my donation page for Food for the Poor. Food for the poor are heroes, but they can't do it without you being a hero and stepping up. So text Eric to 911-999, please right away.

Again, text the keyword, Eric, to 911-999. Give anything, anything. Or go to metaxis talk.com. And again, text the keyword, Eric, to 911-99. God bless you.