The Eric Metaxas Show - Kathie Lee Gifford (continued)

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

Kathie Lee Gifford continues in-studio interview with Eric sharing several emotional stories, including a few powerful interactions with Howard Stern.

Welcome to the Eric Mettaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey, folks, we're dropping some bombshells here. I'm talking to Kathy Lee Gifford. She just threw shade at King James. Yes, King James. You know the King James that persecuted the Puritans that came here for religious freedom? That bum, remember? But we say, oh, King James Bible.

Kathy Lee, you were just saying that the King James Bible, which was written by 12 committees, that it's got some problems. First of all, the people who were transposing it, transcribing it, whatever you want to call it, from the original Greek and the original Hebrew, had never been to Israel. And so they had no geopolitical or cultural contrasts.

You know, it's context. So they said, no, I know there are many things that are in the King James, that you read it, and you think this feels like 1605 England. Yes, first of all, Jesus did not speak the king's English. Jesus spoke Aramaic, he spoke Hebrew, and he spoke Greek, and probably a little bit more, you know, because this was a trading post, you know, the Via Maris, the road of the sea along the Mediterranean, getting ahead of myself, too fast, Kathy's too fast, was a major trade route to the north-south and down to Africa and down to, you know, north to like Turkey and on Asia. And so lots of people came through there. Now the worst thing is everybody thinks Jesus had been a carpenter because that's what it says in the King James.

But he was a tecton, which is different. He was a builder. He was a builder. And back then, the only thing you could build with, really build with, was stone. Jesus was a stone mason. Thank you. Now, why that's important is two-fold. Number one, I don't want to be told he was something he wasn't.

I want it to be what it really, would you please tell me what tecton means? It means architect slash builder, which I love because we know that Jesus was with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the architect of all of creation. So he's, that, I'm with that. That's cool. In the beginning was, right? And builder, that's where they went wrong. They went, oh, builder, he was a carpenter like us in England.

No. All the buildable trees that are in Israel now. were planted after it became a state in 1948. I never thought of this. I never thought, Albin, that I would learn this kind of level of stuff from Kathy Lee Gifford. She's just a showbiz personality. I'm not expecting this kind of stuff. Kathy, keep going.

No, and so the second part of why it's important, and you know this, now the scripture comes to life. Upon this rock, I will build my church. And he didn't mean Peter. He meant the truth that he had just declared that you are the Messiah. upon this truth I will build my kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Well, the gates of hell is a real place near Cessaria Philippi where it's a pan. It's an ancient temple to pan. And they think that it was the entrance to hell through this cavernous lagoon type thing.

And all sorts of bestiality and sort of things were happening there. Not that they were judging. No, Jesus took his disciples there to show them that and to teach them a great truth. no good rabbi would ever do that. They would avoid places like that. Jesus took him there to see it so he would know what the world they needed to go into in his name. So I want to know what tecton means.

Another thing you don't learn unless you're studying rabbinically is when I was 12 years old, I got kicked out of Sunday school. When I was eight, I got kicked out of the brownies. And when I was 17, I got kicked out of America's Junior Miss Paget. This is my sordid life of prime. I was a wild woman. But I got kicked out of Sunday school. Yes.

I could say, honestly, I was never kicked out of the brownies. That's amazing. I know. I'm very proud of it. What did you do? What did you stand? I'm not going to talk about the brownies. I only have so much time with you.

I'm going to tell you why I got kicked out of Sunday school. Because we were reading the story in the New Testament, we should never talk about Old and New Testament either because it's one story. It's not the Old Testament belongs to the Jews and the New Testament belongs to Christians. It's one very long story based basically in the Jewish faith, and Christians have never been taught that in the Western world. So anyway, the story about when Jesus came down from the Mount of Olives, he'd been in Bethany, and he's coming down the Mount of Olives

on that very, very famous road that ultimately he would ride the donkey down for his last week on this earth, and it goes right through the middle of the Garden of Gassimony on either side, As he's walking on that road, which you can still visit, Rock Road and Rabbi, baby, there was a tree. It was a sycamore fig tree. And it says Jesus saw the tree, and he was hungry, and he went over to it. And there was what? No fruit, because he, you know. And so the Bible says he cursed it.

He cursed the tree. Now, I remember saying in Sunday school, my Jesus, no, I don't believe that. And my Sunday school teacher goes, what? I said, I don't believe that. She goes, it's in the Bible. I said, I know, but I don't think it means that. It couldn't. Jesus would never curse something he created.

He loves everything he creates. Albert, I'm about to kick Kathy Lee off of the show. Kathy, you're going to have to pull this out of the tailspin. What happened? I'm dying to know. She said, I don't think that you should be. If you don't believe in the Bible, then I said, I believe, but that was the story was, I didn't want to go to Sunday school anymore if I couldn't ask questions.

And so. So what happened is now I'm 40 years later, I'm on a rabbinical trip. Right. And we're studying the very same thing. And we're on that road. And I say to my rabbi, I said, I don't believe that Jesus cursed the tree. And he goes, you're right. I'm going, really?

Redemption? And he goes, geopolitically, the context there is, in first century AD, every, then they were not trees then, really. They called them trees, but they're really glorified bushes. like the balsam, the olive. You couldn't build things with them. You couldn't make a little bones. So he said that every major tree represented something in Jewish culture.

The olive tree represented the Jewish people. Many other things, different trees. Guess what represented, what the figs sycamore tree represented? Since we don't have time, I'm going to let you tell us. The Pharisees and the Sadducees. Really? Jesus was saying,

woe to you, you hypocrites, for not feeding your sheep. Now what commentary do I have to redefine that? Because whenever I hear something like this, my initial response is anger. Like, why have I read this? Why are we not taught this? Why do the children in Sunday school to this day

think that Jesus was a carpenter? He was born in a stable and born in December? None of that is true. So why don't we just tell the truth that's so much more interesting? Jesus was conceived in December during this season right now Hanukkah I am the light of the world

whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life he came into the world through the conception of the Holy Spirit into Mary's womb in December so in a sense he was born then but he wasn't physically born until nine months later when during the festival of Sakot

in or Sakot some people call it and that's the festival of shelters when the Jews celebrate the tabernacles let us build three booths. Well, it's really about the Jewish people remembering God's faithfulness during the wilderness experiences. So what we, as Western Christians don't understand, is that every major thing that ever

happened in Jesus' life happened during one of the Jewish festivals. He was a rabbi. He was a good rabbi. He kept the law. He came to fulfill it. We know he was murdered on Passover. But he wasn't raised on Easter Sunday. That's a pagan thing.

That festival is called First Fruits. And he was the first fruit, the first son of the online. The truth is way more interesting than what we've been hearing. Because the deeper you dig, the more you find. I mean, it's so fascinating to me. I, you know, you mentioned having an atheist. Which is the atheist friend? Atheist is Ricky Jervais.

He's right. I, we'll talk about this another time, but my new book, which I could be a copy of, is called Is Atheism Dead? I have come to believe that you can't really be an intellectually fulfilled atheist. If you want to be an agnostic, you can. But that science and biblical archaeology and things really make it impossible to say there's no God. If you want to say, I'm not ready to be a Christian, I've got questions. Great.

That's fine. But to say in this day and age, I know there's no God or we could have the universe. There's no higher power. I would say that. It's all random. You no longer can do that. So anyway, all right. Talking to Kathy Lee Gifford,

the book is The Jesus I Know, honest conversations, and diverse opinions about who he is. We'll be right back. Hey there, folks. Have you ever looked for a business podcast? You're into business, but you also like to be entertained.

So you're looking for a funny business podcast. Well, some of them try to be funny. They're just not funny, which is a problem. I think I have the answer for you. If you like business news and current events with the side of actual comedy, you want to listen to, I can't say this with a straight face. It's called IP Frequently, the host, Sir David and Brad, IP Frequently, Solid Business Advice that Leans Right, conservative, comes with 80s music and current events. They're calling it the unicorn of business podcast. Is that a good thing?

If it's funny, it is a good thing. They're also calling it the Holy Grail of Business Podcasts. Subscribe to IP Frequently and stay up to date on their weekly stream of episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Go to IPfrequently.com. That's IPfrequently.com. Hey there, folks. I'm a writer, but I do this show just to pick up a few extra bucks. And I'm talking to Kathy Lee Gifford.

The book is The Jesus I Know, Honest Conversations, and Diverse Opinions about who he is. So it seems like already in the title, Kathy, you are, you're kind of going out of your way to make a statement that the Jesus that we hear about or that a lot of people have heard about is not quite who Jesus is. In other words, a lot of people have gotten a lot of bad religious ideas about Jesus and they have kept him at arm's length. And you in your life have made an effort to have conversations with people to lead him to who Jesus really is. I believe that Jesus shows up in people's lives in different ways. He's a custom-made God. He loves us as individuals. That's why I can't stand this cookie-cutter mentality in the culture we live in today.

Look like I do. Breathe like I do. Worship like I do. Vote like I do. You know, speak just all the same mumbo-jumbo. I repel it from it because I recoil from it because that's the antithesis of what God did when he created us. It's so, I mean, went to so much trouble.

Snowflakes have a completely different DNA, millions and billions and billions. And we do too. And then the world tries to make us all the same. And I just believe that that's also why I left college. I went to a Christian college and I left. Because I knew I was different. And I said, they should not mess with my difference.

God is not pleased when we mess with people's differences. We're like, we're offending him. wait a minute, I made Eric to be a smart butt, you know, to act that way. It's my, you know, he can work on some. Was that a compliment or what was that? He can work on some of it. We'll work together. But our idiosyncrasies and our piccadillos and all those kinds of things are what make us uniquely who we are.

Peckadillos. Since you're challenging me now to correct you when you did. Picadillos, peckadillos. Pick a little, pick a little, pick a little, pick a little. Pick a lot. Pick a little. I knew we'd sing eventually. Uh-huh. So, look, you, you. You've met so many people. You must have met people that were very put off.

We mentioned earlier Howard Stern. For some reason, for years, he just decided to publicly hate on you. Oh, why? Why? Why? I don't know, and it doesn't matter. He did. I think it's because hurt people, hurt people.

And when he finally called me and begged for forgiveness. Why? Why would he do that? Do you really want to hear that whole story? Do we have time for that? Well, I mean, I'm just curious what would precipitate something like that from him. I was at the studio one day, and I was leaving that afternoon because my son was going to be graduated from college. And down, I was getting my hair and makeup, up, done, upstairs, you know, and down on a studio monitor, I saw that he had just walked in.

He was just announcing that he was going to be the judge on America's Got Talent. So there was this huge group of people going in. And I didn't know he was going to be on the show. And everybody was terrified that he and I might cross his paths. because of this ongoing, you know, whatever for 30-year feud. And I see, I look up and I go, oh, I didn't know he was going to be on today. And he, and the Lord speaks directly to my heart and says, I want you to go downstairs and say hello to him and welcome him.

And I said, okay, Lord. So I get up out of my seat, my hair and makeup people freak out because they're supposed to say, I'm supposed to be safe away from Howard Stern. I go downstairs. I'm 5-5, he's 6-6 or something like that. There's a thousand people in the studio. I've got no hair and makeup on. I've got dressed from the country where I was just coming from upstate.

And I'm going, Howard, Howard, looking up, and he's going, looking around and who's calling him, and he looks down at me because I'm so much shorter. And I said, hi, Kathy Lee. I thought it was about time we said hello. And I just want to congratulate you on the news show and wish you all the best. And he goes, he just freaked. He goes, yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy.

I said, all the best to you. And I went back, sat down, got my hair and makeup done. And they're all going, what did you do? What did you say? I said, I told him hello and wished him well. Lord told me to, so I did. I get to California, and the phone rings, and it's Howard. And he's basically, he's a wreck.

Just, Joyce, just a wreck. And begging me, he uses such bad language, I can't tell you what he said, because I'm a this. I'm a that, I'm a this, and you were so nice to me. Why were you so nice to me? After everything I've said about you and your husband and your kids. This is like out of fiction. I mean, this is so beautiful.

I'm so glad you're telling this because I don't recall hearing this. This is the definition of what's supposed to happen, isn't it? It is, and he was crying. And he said, I just, will you please forgive me? And I said, Howard, you know what? I am so happy for you. that you have come to this place where you realize that it's important to make amends with people that you've hurt. I want you to have peace. I want you to use shalom in your life. It's so important

that you have God's peace. I said, but I got to tell you, I forgave you 30 years ago, and I've been praying for you every single day since then, because that's true. I still do. I still pray for him and Beth every day. And he goes, what? You've been praying for me? And I said, yes, and I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to hear from you today. Thank you for calling me, and would you like to have dinner? We'd love to have you for dinner. He goes, you'd have me at your house? My husband wasn't too thrilled about that.

But I said, absolutely. Now, I never was able to do it, but he asked me to his house. I couldn't go because I was out of town. And I've seen him since then, and he's very friendly. It's one of those things that took 30 years to be accomplished. But I was faithful every day to pray. for my enemy. He's not an enemy I chose. He chose to be my enemy. I'd never met the man, never heard his show, never anything. I didn't know where it was coming from, except for the pit of hell,

because all that kind of evil does come from the pit of hell. With people like him, I mean, I have loved and hated Howard Stern through the decades. Because what I recognize, what I recognize in him, what I appreciate in him, and much of which I aspire to myself, is a kind of truth-telling, no-nonsense, uh, honesty, genius humor. Now, of course, he takes a place as that we wouldn't, but I, I have admired that about him. Yeah. No, God gave him in extraordinary gifts.

It's how he uses them, you know? And I think Beth, his wife, was, has been a great influence on him. She's a very loving, um, uh, soft-spoken, humble kind of, I've only met her when she came on our show. show and I've interviewed her. She's very, very likable girl. And she's, she's been a good influence on him. And I think he started getting some help. He told me, he's been going to therapy. And he said, I'm effed up. I'm effed up. I'm so effing this. I'm so effing that. I said, no, you're loved of God, Howard. God loves you. God loves you. He's just waiting for you to understand that,

that, you know. I could just hear him saying, what a nightmare. I'm talking to Kathleen Gifford about it. Like, it's so funny because he appreciates the irony. because of how real he is. Of course, of course. Well, we both grew up in Annapolis. We're the same age, and we're both Jewish. I didn't know that. He was Baltimore.

I was in Annapolis, and we were at the same age, and, you know, he just, I don't know. You'd have to ask him why he hated me for so long. The beauty of it is that he doesn't anymore. See, that would be my dream, Alvin, write this down to have a show where I have Howard and Kathy on and we have a conversation, because there's something so beautiful about all of this.

We don't have time to get it. It's called the gospel. It's called God's love. Right, but the problem is that it is so rare that we see it lived out in the way you've just described. We all know what it's called and what it's supposed to be, but to see it in public figures and in this kind of rear way. I didn't like the things I heard that people said he said. I didn't like it at all. But I understood that this is a man who doesn't know yet that God loves him. And that's where we, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he didn't curse everybody that was spitting.

on him. He said, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. They don't know who they're doing it too. Right. They don't know. And so we have to tell them and how do we tell them? By modeling Jesus's love. And then we and then after we tell them

we help them grow. You know, we're way into just getting people saved in our in our current. Let's see that. That's yeah. And no, and then it's the renewing of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our minds, our hearts and minds. Well, because we've seen so many people technically get saved.

They become Christians. And I think that this is another heresy, which goes back to all this stuff that you've been talking about. It's a fundamental misunderstanding that just gets pumped up on steroids through the centuries, as though the goal of life is to get people saved. Getting saved is crossing the starting line. Yes. It's not crossing the finishing line.

It's the starting line. And we act... Unless you're on your deathbed. Well, right. But that's the starting line for a whole new life, too. It's all purposeful. And there's nothing random. You will love this.

I'm sure you know this. Lerned man that you are. But you know that in the Hebrew, there is no word in the Hebrew language for coincidence. Yeah. Because it does not exist to a Jew. Right. To a Jew, that God is either sovereign God in all things

or he's not God at all. That's a brand new concept for an often. When somebody says, good luck, there's no such thing as luck. Oh. There's no such thing as luck. My father now, I believe my father is a believer. He's 94.

But in the classic Greek way, he always says to me, you know, Kalitih, good luck. And I always say to him in Greek, I say, then I parhi, dihi, there is no such thing as, you know, like to remind him. That's right. Like luck is crap. Nothing is random. Nothing.

Either you have God or you don't, and you don't need luck. You have God, but most more importantly, he's got you. And then all things work together for. good for those who love God are called according to his purpose. Albin, make a note to have her back. I like this woman. We'll be right back. Hey, folks, Eric Metaxis here. Joe Biden and the Democrats have laid out the most socialist agenda our country has ever seen. Instead of following President Trump's blueprint that had the economy booming, the Dems are going to raise taxes, increased regulations, and skyrocketed an already

outrageous national debt. If your retirement is in traditional investments, it is in jeopardy. Americans should be diversifying their investments with gold and precious metals. Gold gives you control over your wealth and protects you from market volatility, inflation, and a weakening dollar. When investing in gold, I turn to legacy precious metals. Legacy precious metals has over 40 years of experience in helping Americans protect their finances, and this team is prepared to patiently consider your own personal financial needs. If you're looking to invest in gold, call the good folks at Legacy Precious Metals today at 866-473-6204 or visit them online at legacy pm investments.com.

Don't leave your retirement to chance friends. Contact Legacy, precious metals today. That's 866-473-6204. I'm talking to Kathy Lee Gifford. Or is it Kathy Lee Gifford? Kathy, you have a new book out called The Jesus I Know, Honest Conversations, Diverse Opinions about who he is. Who do you talk to in this book?

Because you just have a zillion celebrity friends. Yeah, you know, that was a first prayer once I agreed to do. the book because of my agent. He said, Kathy, that was my most fascinating stories. Would you ever do a whole book of some things like that? I go, I don't know. Let me pray about that. Prayed about it, and the Lord said, yeah. And I said, well, Lord, then show me who you want to speak. It's the most eclectic group of people. There's none of them have the same story. And I didn't want to talk to anybody that got saved in a church. Never left that church, never went anywhere.

That's not a story to me. I'm a storyteller. I write Broadway shows. I write books. I write music. So tell me a story that's compelling. Not that I don't want people to get saved anywhere they get saved. That's fine.

But that doesn't make a book. Right. So all of a sudden I started, I think only one person that I asked said no. Was that me? No. Because my lawyer said, Eric, I don't want you doing this book. You are the biggest celebrity. In the world.

She needs you for this. book to succeed, and I don't think you should do it. And I said, okay, I'm not doing it. You know what? You're not the one that was supposed to do it. The Lord didn't put you on my heart. Sorry. See, she had to get serious, Alvin. She couldn't just go with the stupid schick. All right. I would love you to do the next one. Would you stop it? Now I really won't. I refuse. Okay. Come on. Stop. So you've got all these amazing people that you wouldn't think have a faith life story to tell. People like Jimmy Allen, Jimmy Allen, the country singer, the black country singer.

I love him. Amazing story. People like Christian Chenoweth, Broadway star. People like Chris Jenner, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Very few people would believe that she has a very, very long and storied walk with Jesus. Chris Jenner. Now, I only know, I didn't know that. See?

I did not know that. Yeah. That's amazing. We went to Bible study together 40 years. ago. And we've been friends ever since then. And that's talk about thick and thin friends, right? We've been through everything together, everything. And if I got off the phone, off with you right now, and got on the phone, and I needed something, it'd be there. She'd do it. She'd do it. I've done it for her. She does it for me. I'm a friend and a not a fair weather one. You know, I want to be, if I'm a friend,

I'm your friend, you know. So anyway, there are people like that. There are people like, Oh gosh, there are faith healers tell their story. There are prophets that tell their stories. Anybody that I would know? You should know Joanne Moody and you should know QB. Sin and you will have to read the book. I don't know them. Yes, because you haven't read the book. But anyway. Oh, I have to read the book now? Okay.

And there are, Chrissy, who would you think that... Let me tell you one that really, really blesses me. They all bless me, but I talk to Sikhs. I talk to Hindus. I talk to atheists. I talk to Catholics and Baptists. And I talk to Scientologists.

One of my favorite people in this world is the man I've probably written the most music with. My two Broadway outings were with him. And then the big, big thing, the movie that I have coming out in the spring is with him. And lots and lots and lots of songs. Adore him. And he is a Jewish Scientologist, married to a Catholic. Scientologist who adopted a child who is now 22, but he was raised as the Scientologist. When I was praying about Lord, who should go on some of these trips with me to Israel for

the Rock Rodin Rabbi Tour, the Lord said, David Pomerantz, and his wife and daughter, I want the whole family to come. They were the only whole family that came. And so I brought them with me and not knowing what would happen. But I love David from all the years we had worked together. And I don't understand Scientology. I certainly don't practice it. But I love him.

I think that's the message in this book. And I wanted to let him talk to me and tell me why he believes something. And then we can have a dialogue, a respectful one, a loving one. And we have never yelled at one another in over 20 years of writing. together. So they came. And it was fascinating to watch David react and his wife react. And then this child. And at the very end, we go to a place on Jordan River and we have a baptism. But the kind that John the Baptist did, not the kind that's, you know, a little dunking thing, a real kind. You know, so anyway, what they actually did in the days of John the Baptist. It was very different

from a modern day baptism. So first person in the Jordan River during the baptism was Nicholas, his son. Nicholas, his son. He's in the book. And he later says, he says, I consider myself a Christian, Kathy. He said, I study Scientology and I apply some of its teachings, and it's been helpful to me, but I consider myself a Christian. And David said to me, I have never felt more in touch with my Judaism.

ever in my whole life as I did when we were in Israel. We wrote a song together called a Jehovah Elohim that will kill you. Because, I mean, we've written so many songs and many of them about faith, about Jesus, lots of them. But he got to know Jesus on that trip. And then his wife also had not been a practicing Catholic for years. I just, but remembered a lot of the good things about the Catholic Church and still valued it as a learning thing in her.

Every member of that family took communion, communion in the Garden of Gassimony before we got on a plane that night. That's not because I took them to Israel. That's because I obeyed the Holy Spirit, invited them. The Holy Spirit moved in them to go, and then they heard the word of God

in the places where these things happen. You just have to be a special kind of person to see the possibility of that, and then to walk into it. I'm just so grateful. We'll be right back talking to Kathy B. Gifford. Hey, folks, I've got to tell you a secret about relief factor that the father, son, owners, Pete and Seth Talbot,

have never made a big deal about, but I think it is a big deal. I really do. They sell the three-week quick start pack for just 1995 to anyone struggling from pain like neck, shoulder, back, hip, or knee pain, 1995, about a dollar a day. But what they haven't broadcasted much is that every time they sell a three-week quick start, they lose money. In fact, they don't even break even until about four to five months after. If you

keep ordering it, friends, that's huge. People don't keep ordering Relief Factor month after month if it doesn't work. So yes, Pete and Seth are literally on a mission to help as many people as possible deal with their pain. They really do put their money where their mouths are. So if you're in pain from exercise or even just getting older, or to the three-week quick start for 1995. Let's see if we can get you at a pain too. Go to Relieffactor.com. Relieffactor.com or call 800, 500, 8383 8-84-800-500-8004 relief factor.com. I use it. It works. Folks, I'm talking to Kathy Lee Gifford.

Remember Catholic Lee Gifford? Here she is. Kathy, this book is the Jesus I know. Anything else that you need to share from this? Because I want to make sure that I ask you what you're doing with yourself when you're not promoting this book. Because you are always working on so many things. Yeah, I am and I love that.

I love that I have the freedom now that I don't work on a daytime talk show. or anything else at daytime that I have to. I just have some freedom now in my life to pursue the dreams God put in me when I was a child. When I was in my mother's womb, I'm an actress and a singer and a performer and a comedian and a writer and I'm a director now and all those things. Why? Because that's the way God created me. When people go, I thought you retired. I said, no, I'd never retire.

Nobody in the Bible ever retired. They died doing what God had put them on this earth to do. too. Or else they were taken away like Enoch. Nobody knows where Enoch showed up. And John was, well, Elijah was a chariot of fire. We know what happened to him. John was exiled on Patmos. But everybody else died serving God. But you're doing a million things. I mean, you just talked about writing a screenplay for Craig Ferguson that I can't believe. I don't know how I missed that. Oh, you're going to love him and I love you. But I don't know where I was. but what are you working on these days?

What else is cooking with you? I wrote up an oratorio with a beautiful artist named Nicole C. Mullin three years ago called The God Who Seas. I'd love you to watch that. It's only, it's 11 and a half minutes. It started out to be, started out to be just a three-minute song about Hagar. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, when I was left to finish the song, it then became, because of my theater background, it became about Hagar, then Ruth. and then David with all of their desert experiences and ends with Mary Magdalene at the cross and at the tomb. And it's called the God Who Sees because Hagar, who was a sex trafficked, you know, let's be honest.

She was a slave. She was carried away to a different place. She was given to her husband, Sarah's husband, Abraham, by Sarah, and said, have a child with my husband. I mean, it's a dark episode in Abraham and Sarah's, you know, story. But I love that about the Bible. It doesn't whitewash things. It tells the good and bad and the ugly. And so then it went into Ruth, and anyway, it had a phenomenal reaction in the marketplace.

It was so powerful that when I went into the studio to just demo it with Nicole, magnificent African-American singer-writer, beautiful. Oh, yeah, no, I know who she is. Yeah. She, 95% of what you hear her do on the God who sees was one take. Inspiration of the Holy Spirit, just crazy, crazy. Like, I was on my face worshipping when we finished. It was so good. I said, you know what? I got to get the Nashville Symphony Orchestra on this thing, the players. I got to do it. It's just too good.

It's too good. I took the royalties from my Rock Rodin Rabbi book, which was $500,000 sitting in a kingdom account to go to for ministry. I said, that's the way the Lord wants me to use it. That turned out so unbelievable. 65 piece orchestra with the orchestrations are magnificent. And I went, okay, back your bags, we're going to Israel. So in four days we shot it in Israel.

And the reaction to it has been so phenomenal. That a young Iranian girl that is a dear friend of mine, you would call her, she would call herself a secular, grew up with Persian parents. but the hippest, most beautiful, gorgeous girl. She was worked at the Today Show with us. When she heard it, she's sobbing. And instead of people saying it's too long, it's 11 and a half minutes, this is a 28-year-old girl.

She goes, sobbing. She was, Kathy, this is unbelievable. Can you make it longer? Can you add more stories? I've never heard these stories before. Eric, I went over to her and loved her. I said, you have no idea how the Lord just used you in my life. I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life

bringing Bible stories these epic, amazing stories that the world either discounts has never happened or if they did, they're not relevant today. I take them and I write them into symphonic form with narration, like Chalkowski's Peter and the Wolf. You know, that's an oratorio.

There's narration and symphonic. But it's ancient storytelling. And now there's three more oratorios. It's a film now. What? I'm going to ask this question. Hour and a half long. I will send it to you if you promise not to share it yet because it's, you know, you are a pirate at heart.

I can promise not to share it. It's, it turned out. In fact, I've just sent it over to Matt and Lori Crouch of TBM because, because. I'm not talking to them anymore. Okay, you two? No, just kidding. I love them. They owe me 40 bucks.

And you know what? So do you. What? Everybody owes me 40 bucks. I don't know you a dang. I'm kidding. I tell you, I'm so glad to hear you working on things like this. Oh, this is, this is, this is epic. Now that you mentioned it, I did see what you did with Nicole. I don't know if I saw the whole thing, but I remember when was that?

It came out the day that I left the today show. So it was April 7th. It'll be three years this coming April. Okay, because I remember it now, and I haven't seen you since then because, God. No, it had a profound effect. It's still having it. You can go on YouTube and just say, God, who sees, and it will come right up. And if you care to, look at the comments after it. You know, on YouTube, you get all these. Even if you look at it today, there'll be somebody who says, I was going to kill myself today. But for the first time, I feel like God sees me. He is the God who sees. And I'm sobbing now. Or now people say, this is, I, I've watched it for the 30th time, and each time my faith is real. I mean, it's because it's been anointed of the Holy Spirit that it has what we call it in my business. It's got legs, you know? It's timeless. It's like Ann Miller.

It's got legs. I just wanted to throw an Ann Miller reference in. Oh, yeah, Ann and I go way back. Dick Cavend. I only want to talk to people. I only want to get, but not like nobody had like Dick's like Ann Miller. No, I only want to talk to people who get those stupid references, so thank you. For thank you being old enough to get the N. Miller reference.

My pleasure. No, I mean, my wife and I just watch, you know, Turner Classic movies all the time. All the time. They were made with such skill. What else is there? Well, then you're really going to like then came you, because it's an homage to those kinds of, you know, pillow talk kind of, you know, and even, yeah. And by the way, speaking of pillow talk, I just did a Kathy Lee Gifford mug. Did you see that? I just did one of these.

But Pillow Talk, they've had Doris Day on recently, like endless. Like, you eventually get sick of it. It's like enough Doris and Tony Randall. And like they're the greatest, but like. Rock Hudson. Enough. Well, obviously. You know something I had since we're doing showbiz anecdotes and we're at a time?

Pat Boone has been on the show many times. He told me the story of praying on the deathbed with Rock Hudson to accept Jesus the day before he passed away. When you hear stories like this, you just want to weep and weep. We're out of time. Folks, the book is The Jesus I Know. The author is Kathy Lee Gifford. Kathy. Thank you.

Oh, brother. Yeah, I'm still in tears. Oh, brother. All right, folks, let's get serious here for a second. Enough joking around. No, we've been serious. It's wonderful talking to Kathy Lee Gifford. I want to say a few things.

Number one, please do what you can to share these interviews on social media. We need your help. I haven't mentioned too much recently, but we were knocked off of YouTube. The more time passes, the more I realize how insane that is. That YouTube saw this program as such a threat. I mean, think about this. Think about this, right? Little old you.

It's like I like to know what it is that we're doing. But no kidding. They knocked us off of YouTube, huge hit financially, huge hit in many ways. So I'm just being the more bold in asking you, Make sure you sign up for our newsletter. You go to Ericmetaxis.com. That's Ericmataxis.com. Sign up for the newsletter.

Share these videos. We did an amazing interview with Mike Lindell the other day, the man is a hero. We did the interview today, obviously, with Kathy Lee Gifford. Just tremendous important interviews, but we do need your help. We need you to share this stuff. So go to Ericmataxis.com, sign up for the newsletter. So you'll get these things e-mail to you, and you can share them. Please share them on social media.

I try to share these things on Gab, on Parlor, on Twitter, on Getter, on Facebook, wherever we can do that. But we really do need your help. So I'm bluntly asking you for your help. And speaking of asking for your help, we're doing a fundraiser with Christian Solidarity International. We're able to free slaves. This is one of these things that you can't make it up, that there is true evil in the world. But the great news, and again, I can't even believe it. as wicked and horrible as it is to acknowledge that's something that horrifying is going on,

then you think, wait a minute, we can actually do something about it. We don't just have to weep and pray. We can weep and pray and then do something totally positive. For $250, and by the way, I want to encourage people to give whatever you can. It makes no difference, whatever you want to give. But if you can give $250 or you can pool it together with the kids, you can free a slave. I mean, folks, we talked about this was Kevin McCulley yesterday, not just to free a slave, but to set them up in life so that they're freed,

but then we set them up so that they can function. And it's just so beautiful. They get a goat and all that. And it's all in time for Christmas, too. I mean, think about the Christmas season for us here in America. Think about a slave being freed in time to celebrate a Christian holiday. I want to say it is so beautiful and so moving. Now, by the way, here's two things that we can say.

So if you want to do this in somebody's name, you say, we freed a slave in your name. That's what we did for Christmas, you know, dad, mom, $250. Now, if there's anybody out there who can give $2,500 to free 10 slaves, I want to say that we have, this is a hat, a Make America Great Again hat, given to me by the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Okay, I didn't buy it. He gave it to me. Yesterday I said he gave me two of these. We found a third one, okay?

So we have three of these. I also have the pen that he used to sign a number of them. Obviously, he didn't sign these, but he did give us the hat. He gave me the hat, and he gave me the pen. And I would love to sign this to you or to anyone who's able to free 10 slaves. Give $2,500 to Christian Solidarity International. and we have to go to Metaxistalkystalk.com. That's a radio website, metaxistock.com.

And obviously the first three people that give $2,500, right? We only have three. You're going to sign your name, not the president's name. I will sign my name. But I will sign it to somebody if you say, I want this to my uncle Jim or to Bradley Cooper, to Lady Gaga, anybody that you know. Soupy sales.

Who's been in a film. But, I mean, in all seriousness, it's a great opportunity. So I want to say that. And then I always say this, anybody you can give $10,000, folks, it would be my honor to have dinner with you, to, you know, we do this all the time. You set it up. It could be 20 people. It could be three people. But if we're in the same town, it would be my honor to spend that kind of time with you.

So please do go to metaxis talk.com or you can call 888-253-3522. 888-253-3522. This is urgent. This is important. Great opportunity. Thank you. Thank you.