The Eric Metaxas Show - Greg Laurie (Encore)

Episode Date: February 23, 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. (Encore Presentation)

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas 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. They say it's a thin line between love and hate, but we're working every day to thicken that line, or at least to make it a double or triple line. Now here's your line jumping host, Eric Mattaxas.

Uh-oh. The cameras are on. They're running. We're live. Alive, I say. I'm alive. Yes. Actually, today's Wednesday.

It is, Ash Wednesday. I'm back in the studio. Today's Ash Wednesday. Now, just to be clear, you Catholics and you Protestants, you're not the whole church. There is this thing called the Eastern Orthodox Church. And the Eastern Orthodox. church. That's the Greek Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, have a different calendar.

So for them, Ash Wednesday is a week from today. Yeah. Consider yourself schooled. Well, I mean, it's just, it's a fascinating thing to me. But so this, for most people, nonetheless, today officially begins the period that we like to call Lent. Yes. And we also don't like to call it Lent, but we call it Lent.

And I, the first thing I have to say, before anything is that in, in hour one today, we're going to do something we don't normally do. We're going to play an encore. We played it in hour two, so a lot of you only listen to one hour of the program. But before I get to the subject of Lent, just want to tell you Greg Lorry, who's been a dear friend of mine for quite a while now. And it's wearing real thin, let me tell you. He and I, he's one of those people. There aren't many, very few.

that as soon as I see them, I start cracking stupid jokes. So I had a very fun interview with him. So we're going to replay that in a minute. But I want to talk about the fact that it is about a revival that happened. This is, you know, they call the Jesus Movement, Jesus Revolution. The title of the movies, Jesus Revolution, which is coming out. And it was a real thing, and it affected millions and millions of lives across America. and people have been praying for all these decades that something similar would happen.

Because I think when you're in a very divided time, now the late 60s was it's extremely divided time in this nation. But we are now similarly living in an extremely divided time. There's simply no question of it. And God is the only answer. Now, if you don't believe in God, I apologize because it's still true that God is the only answer. and the movie shows us a period when revival happened in America. Kelsey Grammer stars in the film, the great Kelsey Grammer, the brilliant genius Kelsey Grammer, stars as Chuck Smith, this kind of lead pastor of the time. And what I love about this, I'm so excited, is that because Kelsey Grammer stars in the film Jesus Revolution,

Kelsey Grammer was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon talking about this film. And I thought there are people who are going to see this film that would never see your typical film aimed at Christian audiences. He was also on the show. Nobody knows what it's called anymore. It used to be Regis and Kathy, Regis and Kelly. Kelly and what's his name? I don't know. But anyway, the point is he's done all this main.

mainstream media. And this gives me hope for America that a lot of people looking for truth, they're going to go see the film, Jesus Revolution, and it's going to move them. It's going to move their hearts. What's happening at Asbury and now at other universities, something is going on. My friend Keith Junta wrote about it at his blog, which is winepatch.org. You should go to articles. I read them both and they're really extremely good. He's got testimonials in there and all that. You've got to go to wine patch.com. Winepatch.org. And Keith is always, like, thrilled when I share his stuff. He's like, oh, thank you so much. It's like, no, Keith. No, Keith. The articles are actually good. I'm not doing it because you're my friend. So back off. Yeah. Seriously, I'm so thrilled he's writing about it. So it's really cool. Okay, so that's the Jesus Revolution, the film. We're going to be talking about that.

I was just, oh my gosh. I mean, where do I even begin? I was in, I had a speak engagement in Connecticut last Saturday. Saturday. Now, I'm never invited to speak in the Northeast, right? The Northeast is like pagan, secular territory. It's like the Naguev desert, spiritually speaking. But I was invited to speak at a wonderful event in Meriden, Connecticut on Saturday.

So we stayed with my parents. and then I went to this event with Suzanne. And then I had to fly to California because literally the next day, which is to say on Sunday, I spoke at Awaken Church at their Carlsbad campus. The head pastors there are Samuel and Katie Duth. These are, you know, new friends. But Yergen Matasius, he's the head of the whole awakened thing. And when you see what is going on in these churches in the San Diego area and in Southern California,

You think this is a, this is a, this is a California, the media doesn't know exists. There are tons of fiery churches in California. Something is going on. Okay, I'll say more about that later. But anyway, after I spoke there, and we haven't, we don't have the videos up. We're going to put the videos of my sermon, two sermons on Sunday morning up, because it's interesting that. even though I'm preaching out of my book letter to the American Church, it was two distinct sermons.

So it's kind of like a part one and a part two. We'll post those on the Friday newsletter that goes out. If you don't get the newsletter, go to Eric Mataxis.com so you can sign up because I want people to see this stuff. Some of this stuff is kind of cool. But then on Saturday, on Sunday afternoon, after it was all over, all the preaching's over, my friend Pastor Greg Denham picked me up. up. Now, Pastor Greg Denham and I, we become friends. And he drove me to Pasadena.

Pasadena made famous by the Beach Boys in that song, The Little Old Lady from Pasadena. I just wanted to say, Albin, I know this is going to get your attention. It will. It's the little old lady from Pasadena, right? But how is she also described? Do you remember in the song how she's described in the Beach Boys, the little old lady from Pasadena? Is she riding a little deuce coop as well? No. Okay.

Maybe she is, but that's, I don't think so. No, she's described as, She's the terror of Colorado Boulevard. She's a little old lady from Pat. And I was driving down Colorado Boulevard, and I thought, hey, hey, this is it. Colorado Boulevard from the Beach Boys song. So anyway, I was in Pasadena for an event with Dennis Prager.

Yeah. And it was a Salem event. You know, we're on Salem radio. And so Dennis is on. So we did a Salem event. There were 1,000 people, more than 1,000, more 1,000. It had to be 1,100 people at this event. It was huge.

And Dennis is also huge. And it was, every time I do anything with Dennis Prager, I have fun. So I don't know if they're going to release the audio of that. But there's a lot more I want to say about that because it was very interesting. We talked about the Sabbath. We talked about what it is to be a Jew. Speaking of which, my friend Greg G. Denham that I mentioned who drove me to Pashtina and was hanging out with me. He does something.

I want to tell people to go. We're going to have him on this program to discuss it. But he talks about how the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century basically ripped Christianity 100% away from its Jewish roots. And I never understood how unbelievable this was. Like this is hard to take in how dramatic this was to make. the Christian faith non-Jewish almost, which is, of course, preposterous. But Constantine did it. So to find out more, go to the contextmovement.com. The context, you can read it there.

It's amazing. What he writes about communion, what he writes about Pentecost. It really blew my mind. I said, I can't believe I've never heard this. The context movement.com. Okay, before we go to break, speaking of Israel, one of our sponsors on the program is the Israel Ministry of Tourism. Yes.

And their website, we'll mention it again in the second hour, holyland.israel. Dot travel. Holyland. dot Israel. Travel. Actually, you know what? Before we go to Greg Lorry,

one more thing that I'll mention real quick, but we've got plenty of time later. We have never done a live stream of Socrates in the city before. We are doing it next week. Next Tuesday, we are live streaming the Socrates in the city event. It's very affordable.

I want everybody in America to be part of this that night. Go to Socrates in the city.com. Sign up for the live stream. You don't want to miss it. Live is crazy. We'll be right back. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis,

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Their 100% U.S.-based customer service team make switching easy. Just go to patriotmobile.com slash Eric, Patriotmobile.com slash Eric or call them at 878 Patriot. Get free activation today with the offer code Eric. Hey, folks, welcome. You know how many times I've told you 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. You 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. on 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 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. Along, 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. He has 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. and 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, to 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, but ultimately it shows how God intervened in the lives of very flawed people

and did a powerful work 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. Just kidding.

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

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, you know, 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 grammar 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 talked 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 tender-hearted 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 were 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 and 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 was, 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 seeing 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 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 brinkie. 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 a 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 in. 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, 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 Grammar. 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 Gramer 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 Lorry, 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. Well, the owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal. That's right. Designed to heal. And I agree with them. And the doctors who formulated Relief Factor for them selected the four best ingredients. Yes,

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I'm talking to my friend Greg Lurie. 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 you, we're talking about the film Jesus Revolution. This is a big deal.

This is, 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.movely. Jesus Revolution.com. 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, Thaddeus. 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, 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, 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, it's. He gets up there. He's got moves down. He's owning that. 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? Muscat Love.

Come on. Did you? No. 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. It was offensive. It was offensive because it's very weird. Anyway. Now, 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 part of the No, no, no, no. Let's stay right here. We can't leave Musgraat 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.

You're telling me in my audience that Jimmy Carter was, we know he was not, you know, he was no Ronald Reagan, okay? But the idea that he invites the captain and to Neal of all the great bands in the 70s that he can invite him. The Queen of England is there. And he invites the captain and to Neil. I just want to say, So back to the karaoke party at Kelsey South.

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. 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 even more than a Beatles fan I just say that to disturb people just to annoy people but let me but let me say but I'm not a fan of the plastic on a 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 you. Well, why don't you do it first right now? Go. I don't, no. 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. 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. But you're, okay, you're not kidding. You went to a Hollywood party at Kelsey Grammer's house.

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 skill 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 right 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, 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.

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I was trying to have a highbrow conversation about cinema and my friend Greg Lorry dragged it down to talk about the captain and to Neil singing Muscat 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 tangled. Probably. Which is 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. This has been the weirdest and most surreal moment of any interview I've ever done, not just with you, but with anyone. That's my goal. I'm dumbfounded by what it has just happened. Okay, I'm back. Let's go. That's my goal. 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

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 2000 in 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 Lorry, 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 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 there's 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, no, 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 amoral. moral 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 the list. 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. Make like a mystery. a milk toast, you'll get... All right. So is everybody ready to go see Jesus Revolution? I know. This Friday. Ladies and gentlemen, Albin and I have seen this film and we can vouch

for the fact, because a lot of times we talk about films on this program, but I never get to see the film. We saw the film and it is really wonderful. I mean, it's a new level of filmmaking in the Christian genre. In fact, I don't even know

that it's a genre. But it really was, was so well done. And part of that is Kelsey Grammer. Yeah. Kelsey is kicking it because he is such a great actor. And in fact, he's such a great actor that he makes you forget that it's Kelsey Grammar. And there's no prosthetic makeup. There's nothing.

No. But he makes you forget that you're watching Kelsey Grammar. Yeah. So you've got to see it. Got to see it. Well, I honestly think that. And the film, the style looks like the 70s too. The film is a little rusty.

or something like that. You brought that up last week, and I had kind of missed that, but they managed to pull that off visually so you feel like you're watching a period piece. It's almost like a documentary, yeah, because of the way it's shot. And I think,

I don't want to forget this. I think I mentioned it earlier, but we're having a Socrates and City event February 28th. We've never live streamed it before because it's a little complicated. But the idea, this has been my dream for years, to enable people, around the world, around the country

to participate with us the evening of the event, to watch it live, to tune in live. So we figured it out. We're doing it February 28th. You have to register, right? It's like 10 bucks, but you can, you know, you can have 100 people over to your house and watch it.

You can do whatever you want to do. But for 10 bucks, you get to participate live. And I just love this idea. And I would love people to do it. We mentioned earlier that Today's the beginning of Lent for most Christians. And I want to say that a year ago when we had Jeannie Constantine on the program, maybe we'll re-air that on Friday.

But I have to say that I immediately thought we've got next year around the beginning of Lent, we have to get her first Socrates in the city. Because it really draws you closer to God to see, to hear her tell the story in a way that I have absolutely never heard it. It really, what she's done in this book is amazing. So the fact that we actually got her to do Socrates in the city with us, it's going to be, she'll be here on next Tuesday, but you can participate. And I want to encourage you, maybe you've got a home group or whatever, you just want to do it with your family, but the live stream, you have to go to Socrates and the city.com to the events, to Jeannie Konstantino. But the live stream is like, it's

10 bucks. Yeah. And I just want to tell you it's going to be fun. You can have your own private Socrates event at your house, right? Now, this is like wine and hors are not included with the $10. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay.

There's no fine art on the walls. If you want that, you've got to get it yourselves because, you know, the Union League Club, when we do it there, it's pretty special. So if you want to get to the Union League Club, of course, you're welcome. You can buy a ticket and go to that. But to be able to do this. at home, wherever you are, I just love that idea. It just makes me so happy that people around the country,

I don't know how many of you are going to do this, but that you can participate live. I mean, again, this puts a little pressure on me because to do something live, it could be disastrous. Oh, yeah. And then you'll be a witness to history as the Hindenberg goes up in flames. Whatever it is that happens, you will be there. So that is, you have to go to Socrates and the city.com.

but I want to encourage you. We've never done this before. I'm very excited about this event, as you know, because I keep talking about it. But the fact that you can participate this way, it's going to be nuts. It's going to be nuts. All right. Yes. In hour two, well, actually, there's much more to talk about.

In hour two, I think we'll figure it out. We'll be right back.