The Eric Metaxas Show - Jack Graham

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

Pator Jack Graham joins to discuss his newest book "The Jesus Book"

Welcome to the Eric Mataxis show. Do you like your gravy thick and rich and loaded with creamy mushrooms? If no one was looking, would you chug the whole gravy boat? Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug. Stay tuned. Here comes Mr. Chugg-a-lug-a-lug himself, Eric Mattaxas. Folks, welcome to the program. I'm really excited whenever I get to talk to friends of mine on the program

because it doesn't feel like work, it feels like fun. Right now, I get to talk to a friend who is a lot of fun for me for many, many reasons. He is Pastor Jack Graham of the amazing Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. He has a new book out called The Jesus Book. Jack, my friend, welcome to the program. Great to be with you. You were just with us, of course, for all your audience information and spoke I don't know, month or six weeks ago and just God's so moved in that service and we're still

hearing the response and just your call and your challenge and you are loved here at our church and in Texas all the way from where you live in New York. You are, we're going to make you actually maybe an honorary Texan. We'll give you some boots the next time you're here. Well, let me tell you, I feel like an honorary Texan. I think I have more friends in the DFW area than I do in New York. York City, and I'm not kidding, and they know who they are. It's true. Every time I get to Texas, I get happy. And when I've had the privilege, and I do consider it a privilege to step into the

pulpit at your church, I feel so honored. I want to tell you. But you, you know, you and I were very serious about the things of God. We're very serious about loving America, but we know how to have fun. And you're one of those people. I get around you, and I don't think you're even aware of it. you say stuff and you just you just crack me up. You just have a way about you. So you're just fun to be around. And that's kind of my highest compliment, Jack. It's like if people are fun of around, that's it.

I'm in. I'm in, you know. I like that. And of all things, a couple of summers ago, we are in the great museum, the National Museum and the British Museum. And a million people a week go through that museum, I think. And I'm standing there in the middle of the, these tens of thousands of people and in a foreign country and it's a whole other country

over there, another country. And I run into Eric Metaxus and family. And it was like one of those serendipitous moments. And so every time we, you know, connect, it's, we've been to Israel together. Yeah. We've been on platforms together. We've been riding in cars, telling jokes together. is a good friendship. I got to tell you that I mentioned it, you know, when I spoke from your pulpit a few weeks ago, but I don't know if my audience knows. I mean, I just happened, this is not much more than a year ago. So it's, you know, not this summer, but the summer last year.

I happen to be in London, you know, for other stuff or whatever. And I said to my family, we've got to go to the British Museum. Because, as I've said, I wrote my book, Is Atheism Dead? which is all apologetics from science and from archaeology. And while I wrote the book, I got so flipped out excited about some of these archaeological finds. And I knew one of them's in the British Museum. I've got to see this thing. So I dragged my wife and daughter to this black obelisk of Shell Menezzar.

And I'm pontificating to them about it, whatever. And somebody says to me, Eric McTexas, and I turn around. And it's your pastor, Jeremiah Johnson. and I was like, what world am I in? Like, I'm in this British Museum or whatever, and he nudges me, and then I turn around and I see you standing there. I thought, this is so crazy.

Because you think, again, what are the odds of that? But it was, it's just one of those moments where God just winking at you and making you feel great. But I just, I want to, before I talk to you about your book, you have a brand new book out, The Jesus book, which, Big deal. But the last time I was with you was in Atlanta at this pastor's event put on by our friend Paula White. And President Trump was there. I felt like I could feel that day that he's going to be reelected. I don't know how it's going to go. I never dreamt it would go as well as it went. Praise God. But it was kind of an amazing event.

to be in that room. No doubt. And we had the opportunity to be with President Trump for a while. And he was so at ease. Didn't you feel, Eric, we've been with him through the years, but he was so at ease. He knows us now. There's a trust there.

And no president has ever given Christians, Bible-believing Christians, the kind of access and opportunity that we've been given to speak to him. and he listens and for him to speak to us. And it was a love fest in that room, right? And 3,300 pastors and ministry leaders, there was a lot of worship and praise and prayer and speaking and the president there and praying over him. It just was, and I think on that day we all knew that God's hand was moving.

in his life, sparing him from death, the near assassination shot, and yet he's still standing, and he's been given a purpose. And he believes that, and we heard that straight up. And so we couldn't be more excited. And, you know, we have a mandate now, and I'm going to speak this Sunday in my church on the subject. I don't know when this is going to record, but I'm speaking in my, church on the subject, why Trump won and where do we go from here? And that's... Oh, no, no, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is airing this week. And, and so yeah, so people can tune in.

So, yeah, I'll be preaching on that. Why Trump won and I have some ideas. And number one, I'm just thinking, you know, people are tired of the crazy. People are tired of the leftist, radical, secularist, godless move in America. And common ordinary people rose up to say, enough is enough. and common sense prevailed. Now, we want uncommon sense. That's God's wisdom. And ultimately, I pray God's wisdom prevails in all of this, and I believe it will. But it's a new day for America and a new opportunity.

And it's sort of like the great book you wrote, A Republic, if you can keep it. It's almost like, okay, we want an election now and an opportunity if you can keep it. That's exactly, I mean, that's exactly what I keep saying is that this election, it buys us the time to do what's needed. Now we have to go scorched earth on the bloated bureaucracy. We have to restore this nation to its godly foundations. And that's going to take time. But we never would have had that opportunity if Donald Trump had not been reelected.

And let's face it, how many pastors are afraid to talk about this? And it just disgusts me, Jack, because we are a nation that we're about to go a way. We're about to lose our freedoms, about to lose everything. And tons and tons and tons of pastors would not say one word about it. And it just blows my mind that we have so many, quote-unquote, religious leaders unwilling to talk about this stuff, about girls having to endure some guy in the locker room with them. And, you know, we could go down the list. But it's just amazing because you talk about common sense. It is common sense. And most, I think sometimes that non-believers have more common sense than believers, that believers can get all kind of

confused about, you know, oh, I need to have grace and I need to, well, of course you need to have grace. But so anyway, we're living in interesting times. The headline is that Trump was magnificent really reelected and he is appointing people. I mean, I just never thought I'd see the day that Elon Musk, one of the greatest business geniuses in the history of the planet, is going to be heading up the Department of a government expenditures or whatever it's called. It's like one appointment after the other. It's just so exciting. We're living at this time in history. Now, I'm very excited. Of course, the Middle East and Israel is such a important part of America and our allies there, and the fact that he appointed Mike Huckabee, my good friend, your good friend,

Mike Huckabee, who is a Baptist preacher who does have courage and has always had courage to speak to the culture, speak to the issue, to engage in government, assault, and light, that he will be our ambassador to Israel. And we can go on and on. Because when you do elect a president, everybody needs to remember, you're electing an administration, and literally thousands of people are going. in with Trump. It's extraordinary. When we come back, folks, we're going to talk about the Jesus book. Don't go away. Hey, folks, this year I've given you so many reasons to try balance of nature,

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health while helping others in need. Go to Neutrametics. That's N-U-T-R-A-M-E-D-I-X.com. Nutrametics.com, use the code Eric for 15% off. Again, Neutrametics, N-U-T-R-A-M-E-D-I-X.com. Neutrametics.com, use the code Eric for 15% off. Folks, welcome back talking to my friend, Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church, one of the great churches in this country. And so, Jack, you have written a book. What a title, The Jesus Book.

So for my audience, it's a brand new book. Tell my audience, what is the Jesus? book? Well, it's the Bible, and the subtitle is reading and understanding the Bible for yourself. I was motivated because I did a podcast. I'm doing a podcast currently on pray.com called The Bible in a year. We've been doing it a couple of years now, and when we first agreed to do it, I thought, okay, if a hundred thousand, a couple of hundred thousand people get on this, it'll be great, because what it is, it's the Bible of Bible reading, starting in Genesis. I do a, I, I, uh, an intro, brief intro, close, an application. So the whole thing is 10 to 12 minutes,

but it takes people right through the Bible. And so what happened now over 52 million people have downloaded the Bible in a year. It's, I think, the number one religious podcast in the world. So I'm thinking people have this incredible interest in the Bible. People want to know, what is the Bible all about? People want to read through it. They want to hear it. So I said, okay, let's talk about what the Bible is, what the Bible is all about. And I call it the Jesus book because before you reject the Bible, you need to know the main storyline of the Bible. You need to know what the Bible is really about. And I call it the Jesus book because through and through Old Testament, New Testament, it's all about the story of salvation. It's redemption.

It is God's revelation of himself through creation, through conscience, ultimately in Christ, and that Christ is the point of the Bible, that what Christ has, is the point of the Bible, that what Christ has done is what the Bible is all about. So when you know what the story is, then it begins to make sense whether you're reading Old Testament history or Old Testament writings or prophecies or New Testament Gospels, it all hangs together. People get intimidated by the Bible. They see this big black book or, you know, an antique. They think it's a relic of the past, but they don't know the magnificent story of grace and love and salvation and redemption, that there's this magnificent a scarlet thread, if you will, that runs from all the way through the Bible.

Jesus was walking, I get the title really from when Jesus was walking on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection with those two disciples. They were despondent, despairing, defeated. They thought it was over. Jesus was dead in a tomb. And Jesus joins them, supernaturally. They don't understand, realizes him yet. But he walks with them and it says, Jesus showed them in all the scriptures.

and that would have been Old Testament scriptures. Jesus showed them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. He explained to them. And so with that, I say, it's the Jesus book. And ultimately, they ended up saying, didn't our hearts burn within us when we walk with him in the way? So I'm saying when you get into the Bible, the Christ of the Bible gets into you,

and that helps you understand the Bible, read the Bible. It makes sense because you know the story and you know the person that gets it. gave us the story. That's what this book is about. It's, so yeah, so your book is called the Jesus book, but what you're saying is the Bible is the Jesus book. Yeah, because, I mean, we call it the Holy Bible. It's God's book. It's God's Word. It's the Word of the Lord. But I just said, you know, it's the book about Jesus. It's the story of Jesus. It's the Jesus book. Yeah. I love that. Great titles are hard to come by. I admire them. This

This is a great title, The Jesus Book. And you, I just have to ask you, I know I've asked you at some point in the past, but just my audience, what was your faith journey? I mean, when, you know, to be a pastor as you are today, people kind of forget that, you know, maybe as a little kid you didn't know that you would end up there. When did this become real for you? I had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home and family, a little Baptist family, central Arkansas. and I had a grandfather. We live with my maternal grandfather. I sat in his lap most every night,

and he read the scriptures to me. I learned to read literally before school ever began for me, reading the Bible. You know, back of the day, we had Spot and Dick and Jane to learn how to read. I grew up on Moses and Abraham and Joseph and Daniel and Jesus and Peter. So I learned, and I reveled in the stories of the Bible. We had a, he also had a book called Herlbutt's Story of the Bible,

It's an old Bible storybook. And I reveled in those stories. I love them. And so a little bit like Timothy, when Paul said, since you were a child, you've known the Holy Scriptures. So I had this incredible privilege of learning the scriptures at an early age. And then as I've grown up, fast forward, that same trip we were talking about, Eric, when we were in London.

Previously, I'd been over to Oxford, see the home of C.S. Lewis and all of that. And so just over the years to give evidence for the faith, I've got a chapter in the Bible, in the book rather, as to, it's not a book of apologetics, but I've got chapters in there that talk about why we can trust the Bible, how we can believe the Bible, and how it is trustworthy, and why it is trustworthy. But there and then we went to Oxford, the museum, and we went deep down into the bowels, if you will, of the library at Oxford, where they brought out fragments of the gospel of Matthew from the fourth century, it's called the Matthew fragment,

and it's the oldest fragment of the New Testament in existence. And I'm holding in my hands these, I mean, they were protected, of course, but I'm looking at these little pieces of papyrus and the gospel of Matthew. And God is my witness. I flashed back in that moment. Now a 74-year-old man,

I flashed back to sitting on my grandfather's lap, way back as a four or five-year-old boy. And I'm looking at the ancient scriptures and realizing the grass withers, the flower phase, but the word of our God shall stand forever. And after all these years, Eric, of studying the Bible, reading the Bible,

preaching the Bible, I believe it now more than ever. I haven't found flaws. I have found faith in the midst of my understanding of the Bible. And now as a mature Christian, as a pastor, the Bible has been the source of life. life, Jesus being the source of my life, but the Bible is how we know Jesus, because the more you read your Bible, the better you get to know Jesus.

Did you know when you were young that you wanted to be a preacher? Is that something that happened later in life? I instinctively knew as a little boy that I wanted to be a preacher. I thought it was probably then just a child. I wanted to be a baseball player. My friends wanted to be policemen and firemen, but, you know, I really wanted to be a preacher. And then as a teenager, it was confirmed to me, and I really sensed the call of God. And one of the things I talk about just the power of God's word in my life, you were talking about my story. When I was 20 and a college student, I was already preaching,

was playing college baseball and preaching, so as a young evangelist. And my father, who I loved, was brutally murdered in 1970. So it cratered our family, crushed us, of course, emotionally. and the comfort and the power of the scriptures. So you go through something like that, the death of the brutal death of a parent for me. And so is the Bible true or not true? Are the promises of God real or not real?

And my pastor at that time gave me a scripture that I've quoted to many people in times of grief and sorrow through the years, Psalm 571, be merciful into me, O God, be merciful into me for my soul, trust in you. and in the shadow of your wings, will I take my refuge till these calamities be overpassed? God put that word of comfort in my heart then, and through the years I've been able to speak of the comfort of the scriptures. There's the cleansing power of the scripture.

You know, Eric, you may have seen these studies, but studies show if you read your Bible four times a week, you've got better emotional health, you have the ability to overcome temptation, whether it's porn or whatever it may be, you're more effective in your life, your marriage. Now, if you're just scanning or skimming the Bible, it may not help you much. That's why I'm writing this book to say, if you will get into the Bible, then the word of God

will get into you and it will change your life. And if you will just spend time, I talk in the book about how to memorize scripture, how to meditate, how to have a quiet time, because a lot of people don't know how to even start with the Bible. But there's really no excuses. Sometimes people say things like, well, the, the Bible's hard to understand. I kind of disagree with that. Not that there are deep things in the Bible. I mean, I've spent a lifetime studying the Bible and I've still got a lot to learn. But the basic

truths of the Bible, the promises of the Bible, the things that the Bible talks about, they're not that hard to understand, especially when you know the Lord and His Holy Spirit is there to illuminate it. That's another one of the miracles of the Bible, the illumination of the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand. The author actually teaches us in his word. I love it. The book is the Jesus book. And what's the subtitle of reading and understanding the Bible for yourself? Incredibly important. Jack, I hope a lot of people get a copy of the book. I know that you are just one of the finest Bible teachers. It's a joy to know you, a joy to have you on the program.

people check out Prestonwood Baptist Church online. A lot of people are looking for good sermons on Sunday, and they have trouble finding them locally. So check out Prestonwood Baptist Church with my friend Jack Graham. Jack, congratulations on the Jesus book, and God bless America. Amen. And it's the Bible that will give us courage, the Word of God. How many times do you see it in the Bible. They said, the word of the Lord came to be saying, and those courageous prophets. And some of these preachers that you were talking about earlier, they have no understanding of the prophetic role that we have as preachers of the gospel of Christ. Hey, folks, the story of My Pillow is a testament to faith and transformation. Mike Lindell, once battling addiction, found a new path

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Visit MyPillow.com or call 800-978-3057. Use promo code Eric to unlock huge discounts. That's promo code Eric, Mypillow.com, 800-9783057. Folks, welcome back. You often hear me talk on this program about our friends at the Herzog Foundation. And I'm not blowing smoke. For example, Chris Stagall. Welcome back to this program.

Eric is a thrill. Good to see you again, friend. You are like what, the content. and communications director of the Herzog Foundation. Is that your title? Yeah, we make some shows here. I do some external communication with folks like you, so it's been a real privilege.

Yes, sir. Well, what's new, Chris? I'm excited I get to actually talk to you. What are you guys working on? It's been a very, very interesting time, of course, given the election news that all of us are talking about, that kind of makes us rethink and imagine everything. Of course, President Trump's huge victory last week.

And one of his pledges is I know you've talked with him. I know you've spent some time with him. He has zeroed in on the Department of Education. He said that one of his top line item focuses is to rid the country of the Department of Education. Can you believe, I mean, I just want to say to people, ladies and gentlemen, can you believe we have lived to see this? I mean, this reminds me of during his first term when we're talking about energy independence. I said, what? What?

Are you kidding? Energy independence in America? Like I grew up with gas lines, OPEC gas lines in the 70s. Like, I never dreamt we could have energy independence. And under Donald Trump, we get that. I thought, I just didn't think I could live in a world where that's possible. So for him now to talk about abolishing this bloated tick on the body politic, which is known as the Department of Education, started by Jimmy Carter, 1979, I thought, I can't believe this. This is a dream come true to take all that money, to give it back to the States, to give it back to parents, to do with what they want. This is an unbelievable moment in America in our history. And Eric, I mean, I'm, you know, I'm, what am I, 47?

So I'm not even, you know, when you say that, I think about 1979, like the Department of Education is not as old as me, which, you know, some of these institutions, you think, oh, they've been around too long. We can't touch them. That one seems like one of the easiest one to pick off. I know President Reagan wanted to do it. So I really, we really do hope Donald Trump can succeed here. Well, listen, I think we all know, you know, the theme, of course, is that federal oversight is un-American. We should have the smallest federal government necessary. And when it comes to stuff like educating your kids, you can do it locally. You can do it at the most on the state level. But the federal government has zero business in our Constitution. It has no right to be telling parents. Parents, by the way, can teach their kids anything they want and they can send them to any school they want. It's not

the government's job to tell us what we need to teach our kids. And so, you know, it's why I am such a big fan of the Herzog Foundation, because you guys get this. You're about homeschooling. You're about Christian schooling. This is the future of America. So, you know, I don't know what the next few years who are tend, but I am absolutely excited. And as you know, what we did see on various state ballots across the country, Eric, there were some efforts and successful, I'm sorry to say, to repeal some school choice measures in certain states last week. And it's simply because there's a ton of money in protecting the status quo.

I don't have to tell you, billions of dollars, particularly from teachers' unions that are fighting tooth and nail to stop parents from having the choice to take their tax. tax dollars and spend it on their educational choice. So you can't rest on it. I mean, this is something that I think, frankly, as conservatives, we often, we get a little complacent. We have a big win like this and we think, well, that's settled. They never stop. They never stop. And they always find the funds and teachers unions in particular are highly invested in maintaining that status quo and telling people that your children will never receive an education if the Department of Education doesn't exist or your school district doesn't exist. And look, we're not out to pick on people's

or their school districts, but we are out to advocate for parents and say, you know best, you ought to get to educate your children the way you see best. That's the point. Well, look, there's no doubt about it. And I think that maybe a lot of times Americans, especially younger Americans, don't understand the way this is supposed to work. Let me explain the ladies and gentlemen. This is a free country. So you're supposed to do whatever you want pretty much. You're supposed to say, well, I want my kids to learn in my basement. We're going to set it up and I'm going to homeschool my kids. The federal government has no right to pretend like you don't get a say in how you're going to do it. So you've got to put your kids on a bus

and send them to that school, whatever. All of that has grown over the decades and decades and decades. We can go back to John Dewey. This idea that somehow the government knows better than parents know, it is fundamentally un-American. And the idea that I have to give my tax dollars to some bureaucracy to educate my kids. It's just wrong. It's, we should be able to keep that money and do with it. It's no different than if the government said, we've got government housing, you need to live in government housing. And you'd say, well, what are you talking about? I have my own house and I, I pay rent or I bought a house. Why do I have to live in government? And you're like, well, we just don't think people should have say in that. We've got government housing. And here's

where we're putting you. You'd say, well, that's a violation of my freedom. It's no different than with our kids. Parents have absolute autonomy. over what they want their kids to learn and some secular liberal version of reality is not really what most parents want their kids to learn, but we've accepted it in America because for the longest time, public schools were decent enough and when we've been along with it. But we have just, we've got a lot of work to do to get back. You know, Eric, it's an emotional argument because my mother was a public school teacher for 30 years. My mother's a good woman. My mother's not a radical idealist. She genuinely believed in teaching elementary school kids reading and writing and math.

She had no political agenda. And people feel attachment to their school districts and their high school Friday night lights and all of that stuff. I understand that emotion and you want to assume, hey, I go to church with that lady or I see him or her in the grocery store. They're good people. You don't want to cast a wide net and call everybody in public education bad actors. But as a body, the mothership of public education does not.

not have your values at heart. We'll be right back, folks, talking to Chris Stagall with the Hertzsock Foundation, Hertzsockfoundation.com. Welcome back. We're talking to Chris Stegal with the Hertzsog Foundation, Hertzog Foundation.com. And Chris, you were just saying a lot of people across the country, they have kind of, you know, maybe they have an okay local school district or they have relationships or something. So, yeah, we want to be clear that there are places in this country when if you send your kid

off to get a public school education, it might be mostly okay. But we also know that there has been mission creep over the decades, and we have seen Marxist lunatics take over certainly teachers' unions. Why are the teachers unions, you know, it strikes me that they're not just corrupt, but that they are somehow leftists. What happened that teachers unions across this country have become so wedded to Democratic talking points and basically anti-school choice. How did that happen? You know, I'd like to point the moment in time in history. I don't know that I know it specifically, but I will say if you go to our website at readlion.com,

our news website, which is tremendous. We write stories, our team of journalists do every day about mad stories all over the country, real ideological craziness and Marxism that is crazy. into our public schools. When did it start? I don't know, but I will say this. It's clear that somewhere along the way, and maybe there's historical precedent, you're smarter than me about this, Eric, you'd know. Someone decided, you know, the best way to grow our ideology is to get a hold of the most impressionable people in our midst, our children first. And teaching, rather than becoming this noble vocation, became a center of political activism. And I don't know exactly when, but so

frightening now are so many public school teachers, young people, with a very public school teacher. this ideological bent coming out of education training with this idea that they're going to get a hold of our most vulnerable young people and turn them in to a political ideological movement or members of that movement. We've seen it in the growth of, hey, just keep this trans discussion between you and me. We won't tell mom and dad. It's a sick thing. And I think the only way their ideology can grow is if they get the young people in this

country to number one, hate God, hate our founding, question their own existence, and then gravitate toward their political ideology. I think that's the nut of it. When it started, I couldn't exactly say, but it's here for sure. Well, I know it started with John Dewey. These are the kinds of things that, again, it takes decades and decades. And I think most Americans are a combination of naive, innocent, sweet, and busy. And they just assume it's okay. And I have to say that, you know, the education I got in public school in the 70s, in America, in Danbury, Connecticut, it was absolutely decent.

There was zero marketist lunacy. There was zero leftist lunacy. But that was just Danbury, Connecticut. That was in the 70s. Over time, we know these folks have gotten. more and more entrenched. And I think it's time for house cleaning. It's kind of like, you know, it's time to abolish the Department of Education. It's time to do a lot of things to go scorched earth on this bureaucracy. And folks, because bureaucracy is antithetical to American freedom. And so that

goes for education. This idea that these elites, that they know better, that's wrong. They don't know better. And we, in our naivete and just wanting to be friendly, we've allowed this to go on and on and on. And so obviously, because I talk about it every day, the Hurtzok Foundation exists to give you resources, free resources to help you figure this out for your kids, for your grandkids. So, Chris, let me ask you, you guys at readlion.com is the newsletter, is rather the website, readlion.com, Herzog Foundation.com is the larger website. But what do parents say when they come to you? Are they looking for better ways to do Christian schooling?

Like maybe there's a Christian school and they're asking you for help with that, or is it mostly about homeschooling? What are you hearing? A little of everything. And over the last couple of years that I've been professionally associated with Herzog Foundation, what I have found are so many parents across the country don't have have, and my wife and I didn't either, by the way, when we took our youngest and took her out of public school and put her into a private Christian school, we didn't know a lot. We were quite green. And so my wife and I

do a show at the foundation called Making the Leap, where we talk to people all over the country who have either pulled their kids like we did and tried Christian school for the first time. But many of them, Eric, are starting their own schools. That's the real magic. I want to say the laboratories of education that are going on all over the country. Yes, there are well established in great Christian schools, and we talk about them. But there are also people that have said, I've been homeschooling my kid and maybe some people down the street say, I really like what you're doing. Do you mind taking my child into? And they're building these small one-room schoolhouses in their community. They're called pod schools or micro-schools. So there are versions of established Christian schools,

homeschooling by yourselves, you as your parent and just your kids. They're micro-schools where communities are coming together in their churches. But we at the foundation, we set up these trainings for people that have established Christian schools to gather and learn from one another. Or if you've never tried this before and you say, it's on my heart to homeschool now. Or I have it on my heart to start my own community Christian school. We walk you through the steps, free of charge, an eight-step process we call school blocks to help you get started.

We offer free trainings all over the country in various facets of Christian education for people that are already in established schools and they want to learn more and learn from others. If you can get to the training, we cover the cost of everything. You're lodging the trainings, the people that put on the trainings, as well as your food. We cover it all. And you can see all of the different trainings we offer and where they are all over the country at HerzogFoundation.com. It's just fantastic.

I think, you know, I've been beating the drum for homeschooling and Christian schooling for a long, long time. I keep saying over and over that as I travel around the country, which I do so much, I meet so many people. Whenever the homeschool kids come up with their parents, I am almost in every case amazed at their maturity, at their poise, at their knowledge that it really is like you think, wow, could it be like this? And we have to be brave. So whenever anybody gets this wrong idea, well, I'm not qualified or I don't know, what about education? Folks, trust me when I tell you, you're more qualified than you would ever dream. And it's the ones who are worried about being qualified. That's a good sign. It means you actually care about doing the right thing.

And the worst thing you can do is be convinced by someone from the outside that they're better suited to teach your child than you are. And my wife and I, my wife was a public school teacher by training, Eric, and even she would admit wrongly today with some growth and some miles on the tires. We made terrible mistakes. We handed our oldest kids off to public school thinking, well, they're trained. They're better suited than we are. Even my wife, who was a publicly trained public school teacher. I got a terrible mistake. We got to hold it there. Hurtsock Foundation.com. Folks, check out HurtsockFoundation.com and go to reedlion.com. Chris DeGal, thank you. Eric, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

One, two, three. One, two, three, five. Because you say so, don't make it true. The Bonhofer film is coming out in a week. And ladies and gentlemen, it is vital that the opening weekend be huge. I'm asking you please to promise that you will see the film on the opening weekend. This makes a big difference. Tell your friends, post about it on social media. You can link to the discount tickets, Angel.

com slash Eric, please link to it on Facebook, on wherever you are, angel.com slash Eric. The tickets instead of $15, they're $10. But this is, it is a great film. It is an evangelistic opportunity. And there's only one opening weekend and it's next weekend. So please. And it's a great story. So the weekend is big.

Then everybody, you know, it'll allow more people to see it because it'll stay in the theaters longer. if the opening is smaller, it goes away faster. So it's important to do it on the opening weekend. And the Lauren Daigle song that I posted it, I mean, if you're not signed up for my website, at my website, Aripantaxis.com, you're missing this stuff. Her song, I'm telling you,

it takes the whole film to another level that it closes with this great, great song. I'm thrilled that it's so great. I mean, I like... He's got a world-class voice. It's up there with, like, you know, know, Mariah and Kelly Clarkson and, you know, Lady Gaga, some of these real power ballad singer.

Well, but the song, I was thinking like, okay, it's Lauren Daigel. She's great. What is the song great? The song is great. And so I just want to say, folks, please take this seriously. Please tell your pastor to get the word out this Sunday. This is a great opportunity for the church, for believers, for people who love America. All right.

Hey, Eric, I'm going to do some word association. throw out some names. Tell me what they have in common. Alice von Hildebrand, Walter Hooper, Dick Cavett, John Lennox, Thomas Howard, Charlie Duke, Giammy Park, and Mark Halperin. Were they on the old Hollywood squares with Peter Marshall and Paul Lynn?

Close, very close. No, they're all in the new Socrates in the City Conversations on the Exam and Life book that we have made. Now available for Justin Time for a holiday. I have a mock-up right here. The real book, by the way, is in the other room. I didn't bring it.

It is, honestly, this is like so, oh, I love this. If you go to Socrates and the city.com slash shop or EricMittexis.com, it's in the front page. Ladies and gentlemen, I promise you, look, for Christmas, for Christmas, you are going to want to buy copies of this book. I promise you. I'm telling you, get it now. If you buy it before it comes out, December 10th, because the Socrates City event is going to be December 10th in New York City, 20th, 25th anniversary.

celebration. Everybody who shows up, in addition to dancing while I sing with the band, you get a copy of this gorgeous book. It is gorgeous. The conversations are spectacular. But if you order before December 10th, you get 20% off. So I think you can get it at my website, ericmetaxis.com. You can probably get it at Socrates and the city.com. But I promise you, you're going to say, when it comes time for Christmas gifts, you're going to go, oh, that would make a great gift because it would make a great gift for practically anyone, not like for your Christian friends, for anyone. It is a beautiful, beautiful book with conversations. You got to trust me. You know what Socrates and City is. These are the best of the best. Same thing with the Bonhofer book.

You can get autographed copies, Eric Metaxis.com. I got to tell you, this Conversations book, It is, it's, it's, it's, I'm so proud of it. I'm so proud of the way it looks. It's gorgeous. Beautiful. And it's on Amazon too. I owe Lee an email because he's done such a great job. It's just absolutely amazing.

Anyway, folks, hour two.