The Eric Metaxas Show - John Stonestreet on Truth Rising | New Film Exposes Crisis in the West

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center, joins Eric to discuss Truth Rising, a groundbreaking new documentary from Focus on the Family and the Colson Center. This powerful film exposes the growing crisis of Western civilization and features Seth Dillon (Babylon Bee), Jack Phillips (Masterpiece Cake Shop), Chloe Cole, Katy Faust, and more. Together, they explore why truth is under attack — and how Christians can find courage and clarity at this pivotal cultural crossroads.

Welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show. Ladies and gentlemen, we ask you now to count down from 10, silently, if you don't mind. And when you get to one, you'll hear one of the greatest voices on this or any other planet. Three, two, one, Eric Mattaxas! Hey, folks, every now and again, we do a couple of segments. We call it Ask Mataxis. A lot of you have written in. And by the way, I want to encourage you to write in.

we are delighted to hear from you. This is, you know, radio listeners. A lot of you watch this on YouTube. By the way, subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please do that if you haven't done that. Eric Metaxus on YouTube. It's just my name, Eric Mataxis on YouTube. Subscribe to our channel because a lot of these interviews that I do and segments that I do,

they're fun to watch. So anyway, but we do a lot of Ask Mataxis stuff. sometimes we have segments called, you know, a listener writes, and sometimes I combine them because there's a question, but there's a lot of, it's a very, very long question, and I want to read it. So I'm going to read one right now that has come in from Michelle. Michelle, if you're listening, I'm going to read what you wrote. Here we go. Ready, folks? All right. Eric, I'm so thankful for your strength of conviction and your courage at this incredible time on planet Earth. I sent both my senior and assistant pastors your book letter to the American Church because I've been disappointed that there's been no mention at church when pivotal things are happening in the world. No comment after Israel was attacked, not even lifting them up and praying for Israel. I was appalled. No comment at all after the assassination attempt on President Trump. I could go on and on, but you get my point.

I relocated from Los Angeles, California to Charleston, South Carolina in 2021, retired 2022. I began attending a wonderful conservative Presbyterian Church here, but my pastor remains silent on big and or political issues, and it truly bothers me. You say, get out, but I have listened to many sermons in my local area following those big and or political issues and events, and you know not a one of the one of the ones. of them had the gumption to stand up and plainly speak from the pulpit as to what had just taken place. My pastor actually said he would not speak on these things, but instead would preach only

on Christ and his life, death, and resurrection. I need my church body for love and support, and the folks at my new church are absolutely lovely, friendly, godly, and committed, but I'm left feeling like I'm here on this earth now. What can I as a Christian do now to best serve the cause for Christ? where am I to go when so many churches are mute? I'd love your thoughts on this, Michelle. Wow. Well, I really have spoken about this a lot. You know, ladies and gentlemen, I can't tell you what to do.

But a lot of you go to these kinds of churches. I don't know what to say, honestly. I don't know what to say. I do know that this is how you lose America. I do know that this is how Germany went to hell. I do know that. And so when people say I go to church, I guess I want to question you, what is it that maybe, let me just say this, maybe you need to be more challenging to your pastor. Maybe you need not to tithe to that church.

Maybe you need to write a letter and say, you know, I'm going to attend, but I cannot give God's money to you because I'm getting fed elsewhere on this issue. I need a pastor who is going to tell me how to live in these times. I mean, imagine if you're in a, you're living in communist China and you go to some underground church. And the pastor says, well, we're not going to talk about anything that's controversial. We're not going to tell you how to live out your faith in this hostile world or what to do. he'd say, what are you kidding? Like, we're being persecuted. You're not going to tell me, pastor, what to do.

If you're living in a place where Islamic radicals want to kill you and burn your church down and kill your family and your pastor says, well, I'm not called to talk about that. I'm just going to preach about Jesus. It's absurd. It's manifestly absurd. But that is what American pastors are doing. They think, and again, I've spoken about this so much, it's kind of pathetic. But they think they have a religious carve out. like they don't imagine again if you are going to a church in 1860 and your pastor refuses to take a stand on the slavery issue

do you understand you are complicit maybe you don't think that you think that oh the pastor's doing it but but you're going to the church bithing God's money to a church that refuses to take a stand. Now, imagine that you read the scripture, it says, do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Jesus commands you, and you know that there are people that are enslaved that might, because of your actions or the actions of your church be freed, slavery might be abolished, but you say, well, you know what, I'm not called to do unto those enslaved peoples as I would have others do.

And that's not my calling. We're going to just preach the gospel in our church. My pastor doesn't talk about that. Why is it so easy for you to condemn those people as not living out their faith? And yet you are yourself somehow a part of a system that says, well, we're doing church. We're doing some good stuff. I'd like to know what good stuff you're doing because if it doesn't lead you to take action, if it's all this theological stuff, I don't really know.

you know, what do you think God put us on this earth to do? I mean, if you can be silent in the face of all the evil that's happening, think of the suffering in the world. When you think of these kids that are being lied to about this trans nonsense, when everywhere you look, there's lies, there's deception, there's confusion, and you say, well, it's not my job. It is your job. It is your job. You just don't want to do the job. I don't know. It's between you and the Lord, but I would tremble. honestly. Okay, here's another question. Eric, in listening to your interview with Beatty Carmichael, I was so stunned that he was describing how a demon can come into a Christian and control their body via pain and sickness. Well, we are filled with sealed by the Holy Spirit. So how do you explain that? I think a lot of the times Christians have misunderstandings of things. And so they'll say things like, nowhere does falling or stumbling remove God's seal of the Holy Spirit to then allow demons to come in.

And I just want to know, is that a biblical idea? Is that right? We're sealed by the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? I mean, I think that there are people that are assuming that there's like a seal. Like, I'm sealed by the Holy Spirit and that's it. And I think, well, what do you mean? We know that when you accept Jesus by faith, he comes to live inside us. Okay. So we are now saved. We know that we're saved. But what about this process of sanctification? What does that mean? I have heard many times that in the history of the early church, anybody who got saved would then go through a process of deliverance. Because, the moment you are saved, I think that a lot of us bring baggage into the faith.

I know people who the moment they get saved, they're instantly delivered of an addiction. I know other people who the moment they get saved, they're not instantly delivered of the addiction. And so they then need to seek healing by the power of the Holy Spirit. But it's not an automatic thing. It doesn't happen to everybody the moment you accept Jesus. And so I guess I take issue with Rick's assumption that this is so clear in the scripture that once the Holy Spirit comes in, I'm done, because that that's not quite right. And so what my guest, Bady Carmichael was talking about and my friend Ken Fish has talked about this, and I've seen it with my own eyes, that there are people that they believe in Jesus,

but they haven't dealt with certain wounding, a certain baggage where there can be an attachment. And so some people get very upset about this. They go, no, no, no, I don't believe in that. but I only want to believe in what is real and true. And just because you don't like something or something seems to get confusing, I mean, I think I want to try to understand it. So, hey, we're out of time. Folks, subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's just my name, Eric Dax's YouTube channel.

Check out Socrates in the city YouTube channel. Please subscribe. We appreciate it. God bless you. A major retail chain just canceled a massive order, leaving my money. pillow with an overstock of the classic my pillows and this is your gain because for a limited time my pillow is offering their entire classic collection at true wholesale prices get a standard my pillow for just 1798 want more upgrade to queen size for only 2298 or king size for 2498 snag body pillows for 2998 and versatile multi-use pillows for just nine 98 give your bed a whole new pillow set only while supplies last visit my pillow.com today use promo code eric or call 800 9783057.3057. To score these amazing deals while they're in stock.

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Folks, welcome back. As promised, my dear friend, John Stone Street is my guest. John Stone Street is the president of the Colson Center. Yes, the Chuck Colson Center. He is the host of Breakpoint. He is a dear friend and brother, John, makes me very happy to see your face. Welcome. Thanks, Eric.

It's always good to see you. You've been a good friend for a long time. Grateful for your brother. It's kind of amazing because the years add up and suddenly, wow. We should probably start by saying that we met through Chuck Colson. I remember Chuck kind of, I mean, I worked for Chuck in the late 90s, and I was a writer with Breakpoint. And Chuck kind of rediscovered me when my Bonhofer book came

out in 2010. I didn't think he thought that the young punk who he knew from the office was capable of writing a book like Bonhofer. So we kind of took him back and he was all excited. And he would talk about Bonhofer everywhere he went because Bonhofer is a living example of the stuff that Chuck talked about day and night, religious liberty, religious liberty, religious liberty and stuff. So he at that point, he and I became friends. And it was as a result of that that I got to know you because you were very involved in what he was doing. And you and I, we should say this, John, because it was like a sacred moment in our lives. We were there about eight feet away from Chuck.

He was speaking when he had a stroke in front of us. And you and I jumped up. we helped him into a chair. It's just almost unbelievable that we were there when that happened. And about a month later, he went to be with Jesus. But I mean, the fact that you and I were there when that happened. And that he said that day and at other times that he saw you and me particularly is carrying on his legacy. You know, when you hear that from someone that you love and revere, like I just,

just get choked up because I know how unworthy I am. I mean, it's one of those things. But suddenly that's a long time ago, isn't it? I mean, I can't remember how many years ago that was. It's 2012. It's crazy that it was that long ago. It was like a moment in time. I've never talked to anyone who was there who didn't feel it as a kind of a calling.

You know, the line was Chuck went out with his boots on like we would all expect him to do. And there we were. I mean, you and I kind of caught him. And for me, it was definitely a commissioning, a calling. And, and, and, and, and listen, the year since, you played an incredibly important role, Eric, and securing this part of the Colson legacy. I mean, you know, Colson was such a larger than life figure. One of the featured people in your book, Seven Men. And listen, he is known for starting the largest prison ministry in the world. He's known for advising political leaders. He's known for books and commentaries and breakpoint and that sort of thing. And the worldview side of his legacy, you know, you played such an

incredibly important role in making sure that that went forward as well. And that, of course, is what the Colson Center is about. Prison Fellowship continues to do such wonderful work to carry on the prison part of his legacy. And, you know, we've committed ourselves to helping Christians think about the cultural moment, understand what's going on, engage it. If I may, make his name an adjective, Bonhofferian sort of way. And, and of course, but really, he loved Bonhoeffer for the same reason he loved the Amazing Grace book about Wilberforce. And I talk about this a lot. I mean, I don't know if we're in a Wilberforce moment or a Bonhofer moment. You know, both of those men found their culture on the edge. Both of them felt like their faith had to be public, not just personal and private, that there were these incredible implications of being in Christ that drove them to stand for the victims of dehumanization, to fight back against evil and injustice to promote what's good.

and the efforts of one man worked, the efforts of the other man did not, but both men were incredibly heroic figures that continued to instruct us today. And, you know, so here we are to take our place in this story, right? Well, I tell you, it's incredible. I didn't plan this. But as I'm talking to you now, I think of it might have been the last time that I was with Chuck at his home in Naples, Florida, with him and with Patty. And he showed me his copy of my Bonhofer book.

And this is, again, one of these moments where you just want to fall down into the dust, I am not worthy. The idea that this man that I revered had made copious notes in the Bonhofer book. And I just, I blush at the thought of it. Well, after he passed, Patty, his widow, who has herself gone to be with Jesus, gave me his copy of my Bonhopper book. And I felt like this is like such a holy relic. I didn't even want it.

I thought, you know, so my friend Martha Linder kept it in Florida for a few years before I was ready. But eventually, I flipped through it. And it's such a funny thing while I was writing my book, letter to the American church, because this gets to this issue of what does it mean to have a public witness? You know, we don't want to make an idol of politics. we don't want to be merely culture warriors.

But to what extent does God ask us to stand the way he asked Wilberforce to stand against the slave trade? When Wilberforce was politically standing against the slave trade, he wasn't just, quote, unquote, preaching the gospel. He was living out the gospel. And so you get a lot of people like, no, no, no, we don't want to do that. We don't want to stand against the slave trade. We just want to preach Jesus.

Well, what kind of Jesus are you preaching if you don't stand against this abomination called the slave trade? And the same with Bonhofer. So in the book, my own book, I'm flipping through, and I get to something about the Manhattan Declaration. I'm sorry, the Barman Declaration, which where Bonhofer was calling his fellow pastors to sign this Barman Declaration to stand against the government, the Nazi government, taking over the church. and Chuck, of course, felt called to do something similar, called the Manhattan Declaration. And with Robbie George and Timothy George down in Beeson, he creates a document. It was the same kind of thing.

And I open up the page in my book where Chuck had made a note. And I've said this publicly. I put it in the book. As he's at some place I'm in the book writing about how Bonhofer, was lamenting the inability of so many pastors to stand and sign the barman declaration, Chuck writes in the margin. I have the book. I'm looking at it.

It's up here. That's what I'm saying. I didn't plan it. It's right there. He writes in the margin something like, just like. And then he mentions people that, you know, I think of as heroes of the faith. John MacArthur. John Piper.

Alister Begg. I read this in Chuck's handwriting. I thought, oh, how it must have pained him to be fighting for this Manhattan Declaration and then to have people that he respected theologically saying, that's too political for us. And I just, I just, I will, I'll never forget that moment because I thought of how it must have pained Chuck, because these were friends of his that, you know, we're not willing to go there.

And I just thought that I think what the reason I bring that is, is to say that it humbles all of us. It humbles all of us that we all have feet of clay. We all make mistakes and we can get it wrong in any direction. And I, I think that's just one of the reasons that I so love Chuck is that he really tried to get it right. He always said that, you know,

Jesus is not coming back on Air Force One. on he he is you know so it's not we're not to make an idol of politics and yet jim dobson who just passed away there were men that said but we have to have a witness uh in this i i i forgive me i didn't plan to to go off on that but as it's so funny because i'm just talking to you i literally saw the book there and i said i it's so appropriate john i want to talk to you uh in the time we have together about something that you have done with focus on the family, start talking about that, and then we'll get into it in the next session. Well, actually, the example that you just gave is a great introduction to that. The idea of

Truth Rising, which is a documentary film and a follow-up study and a set of resources that we've been working on with focus on the family is really kind of a part in a history. I mean, we know Chuck wrote, How Now Shall We Live with Nancy Piercy that was intentionally titled after How Then Shall We Live, which is Francis Schaefer's attempt. And both of those works are really attempts to help Christians understand the cultural moment. You know, here is what the implications of the faith are for the widest possible application. How did Christianity build the West? What are the distinctives of the Western world?

What are those distinctives that the West is now abandoning? And they talked about the abandoning of truth. And yes. Hang on, folks. We're going to be right back talking to John Stone's. Street, go to truth rising.com. We'll be right back. Welcome back talking to John Stone Street, who heads up the Colson Center, the Chuck Colson Center. And John, you're just telling us about something brand new, truth rising. People can find it at truthrising.com. Colson Center did this

in conjunction with Focus on the Family. So first of all, how can people find this and then keep going talking about it? truth rising.com and as I will forgive the root interruption of the commercial break there to describe this project. Really what we're trying to do is help Christians understand. What does it mean to be engaged in call to this cultural moment? You know, one of the features, you remember this from writing Breakpoint commentaries with the Colson Center and talking about it. Chuck cared deeply about truth and realized that to abandon truth was going to have incredible consequences. And when you and I first kind of got into this, we were talking about this on really a

theoretical level, right? Like, oh, you know what? If we don't believe in God, then we don't have any grounding for truth, and we don't have any grounding for morality or for meaning. And that's going to have consequences. Well, listen, we've just come through an error. We've seen that consequence, right? I mean, we've seen it up close and personal. We saw it last week with the terrible, terrible tragedy and shooting in Minneapolis, where you have someone who has disconnected from truth and is an example, an embodiment of this kind of culture-wide loss of meaning and purpose that young people are struggling with. And we know it from actual survey data. It's not just that, oh, you know, theoretically, without God, there's no source for meaning. It's that nine out of ten

British young people announced that they don't know what the meaning of life is. It's that young people have a suicidality rate that's just through the charts. We're at this critical moment in the Western world. Our mutual friend, Oz Guinness, is a big part of this project. He's kind of our tour guide through the first half of it, where we're looking through the Western world talking to some of the brilliant thinkers from Ayanne Hersey Ali, Neil Ferguson, Baroness Philippa Stroud, David Berlinski and others who are pointing to the same thing, that the Western world is at this pivot point, what Oz calls a civilizational moment.

In other words, we've detached ourselves from the truth that gave root to the Western world, and we can't continue. The Western world is destined for either revolution or decline or maybe renewal. And the only way to do that is to see truth rising, to see the connection, to these eternal truths about God, eternal truths about the human person, eternal truths about

morality. So this is really kind of a you are here project that's in this kind of tradition of the truth project and how now shall we live and how then shall we live. It's the next kind of, I think, iteration of trying to help Christians understand just why ideas matter so much. and then what we can do. How should we live in light of this moment that God's called us to? Well, you just mentioned so many great names. And folks, check this out. Truthrising.com.

You want to check this out. This is a resource. And again, if you don't avail yourself of these resources, you're on your own. They're there for you. And I can guarantee you if John Stone Street and the Colson Center were involved in this, you want to see this. So, John, you mentioned all these names. Many people I've had the privilege of interviewing myself.

And what you're talking about, again, is this is really about discipleship. It's helping people understand. It's like, okay, you say you believe in Jesus. Jesus lives in your heart. Okay, let me tell you what that means. You are now putting yourself in line with reality and truth, or you should want that. And the process of sanctification is understanding more and more and more. what does that mean in every sphere? And so we're living in a cultural moment that things have gotten

so bad that, you know, Romans 828, it ultimately can be a blessing because you see the fruit. You never knew where this was going maybe. Now you see that if I say there's no God or if I say whatever, what does it lead to? It leads to people, young people usually who are so confused that they self-destruct because we're created by God to long for him, to long to know what is the meaning of my life. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus is the meaning of your life, and he wants to lead you to understand who you are in him so that you can live out the assignment that he has given you.

And this is not something that you just get through osmosis. You have to understand to the extent that you're able. And that's, I know, John, a big part of what you guys do at the Colson Center and making this film, getting the dots for people. And it's so important that we connect the dots. So again, if people go to truthrising.com, can they just watch it there? How do they watch this? Yeah, the global streaming premiere is September the 5th. So this Friday, you can go there, sign up to get access to that.

You can host a watch party. We've got churches all over America that are going to host watch parties. on this. And there's also access then to follow up resources, including a four-part study. Because really, what happens with truth rising, Eric, is that we start with this conversation about civilization, and we land with calling. There's a pivotal truth here. And Chuck Holson used to talk about this a lot. You've talked about this a lot. And that is something that Paul says to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Act 17 is where you can find it in the Bible, that God determines the exact times that we live in the boundaries of our dwelling place. In other words, if we are at such a

critical moment in the history of the Western world, which the film argues, then why? It's because God wanted us here. And that means that all of us have a calling, not just, I mean, we think about calling, like being called to the mission field or being called to a ministry or called to an act of charity, and all that's true, but you're called to a time and place. You're called to a cultural moment. and this cultural moment is incredibly important. And so... I was going to say, John, that we unfortunately have to go to another break, but when we come back, I want to talk about this cultural moment.

Let's dig at. Yes. Very important. We'll be right back. Talking to John Stone Street, go to truthrising.com. Rising is the name of the documentary. You can see it at truthrising.com. It has been made by our friends at folks on the family and the Colson Center,

John Stone Street, who, heads up the Colson Center is my guest right now. So John, you're talking about we're at a moment right now because I think a lot of times people get confused. They, oh, I wish, you know, I would have been born in, you know, 1920 or I wish I would have, well, you know, I wish I would have been born, never been born. I wish I'd just be in glory and never have to deal with all the suffering or whatever. But the Lord evidently has a different plan. And every single one of us has an assignment and a calling from him for right now. The fact that you're alive now means that it's God's will for you, right now to do what he's called you to do in this season. And we referenced William Wilberforce and

Bonhofer that they lived through times of crisis. And the question is, what is God calling you to do now? And so I know, John, in this documentary truth rising, you deal with that. And others, you don't just lay out, you know, here's the problem or here's the truth. But then the question is, what about it? Yeah. And we do it through stories. What's great is the film lands with five incredible stories. These are incredible stories of individuals who did not set out to be a modern-day Wilberforce or a modern-day Bonhofer, but many are. Jack Phillips, the incredible man who has stood against the state of Colorado for 13 years, having made a courageous decision to live according to his faith and not live by lies, as Alexander Sultzance and put it. Chloe Cole. Chloe was herself a victim of one of the most destructive and damaging lies of our lifetimes, this idea that children can be born in the wrong body. She underwent a double

mastectomy at age 16. She was all, I mean, it was just incredible. But her journey has been a journey through lies back to the truth. And through coming to the truth, she's also then been pointed to the God of truth. And now she's this incredible, courageous spokesperson for what's true and helping a lot of people understand who they are. IAN Hersi Ali. IAN's story is absolutely incredible, maybe one of the most significant public conversions of our lifetimes, where she essentially has come through the gamut of radical Islam to being one of the new atheists to now coming to grips with the thing that she says has given her true freedom. It's just an amazing thing. Seth Dillon and the Babylon B. You and I share that spiritual gift of sarcasm. And Seth, of course, has made a

courageous decision not to take down a tweet. You know, you remember this. And, you know, he didn't know what was going to come out of that. There's no way to say, okay, I'm going to make this decision and then all of these dominoes are going to fall. But if you look back at that decision and all the things that came out of that in the years after that. It's just incredible how how God works. And then Katie Faust. What was that? I want to talk about Katie Faust.

I want to talk about a bunch of these folks if you have the time. Sure. What was that tweet that Seth Dillon, who he is the guy behind the Babylon B, the, you know, the business guy behind it? He makes this leadership decision, this heroic decision. But what was that, roughly speaking, the tweet we're talking about? You remember it was a USA Today that named, uh, Admiral Levine, woman of the year, this man in the Biden administration, who was portrayed himself as a woman.

And they, like, how do you parody something that in and of itself is such a parody? I mean, look, it's, it's a dude pretending to be a woman, calls himself Rachel, looked like a meter made. Just the whole thing is so bizarre. Yeah. And I don't remember what was, so what was the real thing is that? The headline was they named him the Babylon B man of the year. Okay, which is hilarious. We've got to understand, ladies and gentlemen,

because Rachel Levine pretends to be a woman and all of the mainstream media, the whole culture bows down and says, oh, yes, yes, he's really a woman. I mean, she is really a woman. And the Babylon B, in the interest of comedy, satire, puts out a tweet and names him their man of the year. hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. And by the way, if you don't find it hilarious, we have free speech in America. People can say things like that that are funny. Maybe you say, well, I don't think it's funny, but we have free speech. But everybody came down on the battle. And Seth, Dylan, God bless him, stood firm.

Yeah, well, he lost his Twitter platform, which, you know, at the time was a huge part of their business model, a million or so followers. and that kind of started this whole cascade of events where Elon Musk noticed this and reached out and said, you know, had a conversation with them. And I don't want to give away the punchline. Many people know the story. But it's just an incredible development when you think about how this was in the heyday of cancel culture. And you remember, I mean, the cancel culture seemed like it was a runaway train that couldn't be stopped. So did transgender ideology. And we look at the moment we're in now and you realize, you know what, there were, there were some courageous decisions that were made. Riley Gaines made a courageous decision. ADF, the Alliance Defending

freedoms, you know, various lawsuits, courageous set of decisions on behalf of Jack Phillips and others. And you just kind of walk through this. You say, when ordinary everyday Christians are willing to stand by the truth, you know, George Orwell said it was a revolutionary thing to do in an age of deceit to tell the truth. And I think if it's the case that we've been called to moment in time, as the Bible says. And this particular moment in time is so unhinged from the truth. It follows that that's at least one of the callings that we all have, right? That we are to be truth tellers. It doesn't mean we have to go fight every fight. We have to go protest every protest or whatever. But the thing is, is we have to be willing when that decision comes to us, and it will.

It'll come to you. It'll come to me. That we stand up and we say, this is what's true. And we leave the results up to God. And that's a big statement. I've said that many times. And I want to get to Katie Fouse, who's the fifth. But you do the right thing, folks, and you leave the results up to God. And the results are in God's hands. Maybe it doesn't go the way you want.

That's not on you. Your job is to do the right thing. And what Seth Dylan did, ladies and gentlemen, in case you're not aware, it gets Elon Musk involved. Elon Musk, the richest man in the history of planet Earth, buys X, $44 billion. And you could argue that he saves Western civilization. You could argue that he saves the last election. We would have President Kamala Harris.

You could argue anything. But the point is, you don't know what's going to happen. And when Seth Dillon did what he did, he didn't know what was going to happen. And it is possible that we have a chance to save the Republic and to have a glorious revival and a season ahead of us because of one thing. We'll be right back talking to John Stone Street. Go to truth rising.com. Welcome back talking to John Stone Street. The documentary is Truth Rising.

You can go to truthrising.com. John, I hope everyone will see this. I hope every church will promote this. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the things God has given me the gift of this platform to promote great stuff. This is great stuff. You need to check it out.

Take it seriously. Understand you have a role to play in getting the truth out. People make documentaries. I've been involved in making stuff until it gets out there. It doesn't matter that you made it. It has to get out there. So truth rising.com is the website. John, I want to talk about

Katie Faust, unless you have something you want to add about Seth Dillon, who's number four in these five people that you're mentioning. Well, you know, I think each of these stories that we tell at the end, it's such an incredible journey that the documentary takes us on from this kind of story of the Western world to the You Are Here moment, like what defines the cultural moment and then how should we live? And to see it illustrated so powerfully, the power of embracing truth. And each of these five stories bring up something I think different about what. what it means to live by truth. You know, Chloe's story is all about, you know, that the redemption from lies that's actually possible because of Christ. Katie's story is fascinating because she's just a pastor's wife who decides to start speaking out about the rights of children and to see how God has platformed her and moved her forward.

And there was a moment where she faced a decision, a hard decision, to shut everything down her to keep going. And she kept going and she was encouraged by her church, which doesn't always happen in today's day and age. And what we've seen now is that, you know, Katie is advising governments and she's speaking to UN panels and doing incredible things about how our technologies and our redefinition of marriage and all the other things have victimized children. Big part of that story, Eric is, and you know this, we've been saying these things at the Colson Center for a long time, ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims. And the bad ideas of our culture have disproportionately victimized children. And you look throughout history,

whenever the gospel came to a pagan society, the church always stood with kids, you know, freeing temple prostitutes. You know the story of the first Christians who went out and recovered babies that were thrown out into the backyard to die by exposure. you know, the, that was a part of both Wilberforce and Bonhofer's engagement. And you think about, you know, just every single situation, Christians have to defend the rights of kids. And Katie's an example of how everyday, you know, pastor's wife can be platformed by God, because there's really not a whole lot of other explanation for it to be such an incredible voice. And so I think that's, that's really what this is about.

we land with these stories of courage because we're all called to courageously stand for the truth. We might not be on some kind of international platform. We might not be some well-known figure. But again, in every corner of our culture, we need truth tellers. Can you imagine? Can you imagine if because of truth rising, there were 10,000 more, just 10,000 more truth tellers in our culture. And the difference that that would make, if you had 10,000. more people willing to stand up for the truth with their friends, with their neighbors,

and their places of work as citizens, as Christians. It would just be an amazing thing. Well, it's interesting. When you mentioned Seth Dillon earlier, you do not know, folks, what one person can do, what one decision can do. And if you think, oh, who am I, that's the devil speaking to you. You need to reject that. God says that every single one of us has an assignment. And what you do, if you obey God, standing courageously in the moment that he gives you, the ramifications could be infinite. Jack Phillips was a baker, a baker, and God has used him outrageously. All these stories are at truthrising.com, truthrising.com.

Please do yourself a favor. Go to truthrising.com. Truthrising.com. John Stone Street, God bless you. Thanks for being with us. Thanks so much, Eric.