The Eric Metaxas Show - Kathie Lee Gifford (Encore)

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

Kathie Lee Gifford is in the studio to talk about her incredible career, and to share personal, behind-the-scenes stories of several high-profile celebrities, including Craig Ferguson, Kevin Costner, and Howard Stern. (Encore Presentation) 

to the Eric Mettaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey there, folks. I've got a lot of special guests on this program. Unfortunately, today, the best we could do is Kathy Leifford. Kathy, welcome. Because she has nothing else to do. You've got nothing to do, Kathy. Kathy, you're one of those people I told you this before.

You make me happy. I start cracking stupid jokes because that's the wave length of Iran. Well, you better. But that's the wavelength you're on, that you're funny, you can do schick, you can sing, and then you write books. And so the reason you're in the studio today is not to sing, although perhaps you will. I might break into songs. Pray that I don't. What do you say?

She ain't what she used to be. But you have a book out. So that's ostensibly why you're here. But I've known you for quite a long time. Yes. And you are a woman of faith. And the thing that I say to people, and I've said this for years, I don't know if I've said this to you publicly,

but what I've always felt we needed in the culture, and I've always wanted to try to be one of those people, is a public figure who is openly Christian. And whenever I talk about that, I immediately go to you, because I think who has been out there over the years, who has just been leading her life as a public figure, not as a Christian figure, but who is nonetheless openly Christian. And I really think that that's kind of the missing piece in the culture, because we've divided,

we've got like Christian faith over here, and then we've got the rest of the world here. And anybody with common sense knows that's nonsense. Right. But very few people are willing to live that out. You're one of them. In fact, you might be two or three of them, and I want to say thank you. Oh, sweet. You know, I've always had a boldness about my faith.

I've always had an awareness, even a 12-year-old girl when I first asked Jesus to be in my heart, that to the answer right away? Yeah, to whom much is given, much is required. Once I started learning scripture, I was sitting in a little movie theater in Annapolis, Maryland, and God already knew that I wanted to be an actress and a singer and a writer. He knew that I came out of the womb with a rim shot in a prop fall. You know, I mean, people do. And there's a reason for it.

God, everything I am and everything you are was woven in our mother's wounds into us. Are you saying that our parents were drinking? Is that the issue? No, I'm not. That something went wrong. No, something went very right. It's exact up. No, that's the schick you're talking about.

I can do shit. Yes. I didn't know the Lord. I was not born into a religious home. Thank you, Lord. but I was born into a home that honored God. My father was Jewish. My mother was a Gentile.

And we honored God, but we didn't have an organized religion in our home. You were not, so you weren't really even raised Jewish. You were raised pretty much secular. We love to go to Baltimore to Lombard Street and get the locks and the bagels and all, and the Jewish culture was a part of my life. All that Jew stuff. We're going to edit that out, by the way. That Jewish stuff is better.

I'm a New Yorker. And being a New Yorker, I feel like I'm culturally Jewish. So I get this stuff. I think a lot of people in this world are cultural Christian, culturally Jewish, culturally Muslim. I have some friends that, you know, they've never read the Quran, but they consider themselves Muslim. I have read the Quran. And I'm not a Muslim. But I wanted to understand it.

So I wanted to understand, I want to understand a lot of things. and I know I never will understand everything perfectly, but I'm a student at heart. By the end of this show, you'll be very close. Very close to what? To understanding everything. Albin and I, we've got it all lined up. We're going to get you straightened out in 40 minutes.

I think we can do it in 40 minutes. Okay, but look, so you wrote a book called The Jesus I Know, honest conversations and diverse opinions about who he is. So just for folks who don't know your biography, so you said at 12, At 12. What happened in your life at 12? Growing up, see, when you say you grew up in a home where you're, you know, you're culturally Jewish, your mother's... Oh, but we celebrated Christmas.

Okay. But that's what I'm saying. To me... We were more cultural Christians. But I was aware of my Jewish heritage. But what I'm saying is to me, that's most of America. Yeah. That's sort of how I was raised.

I grew up in the Greek Orthodox Church, but we didn't walk around saying we're Jesus people or what... Right. Most people in America, they're just trying to raise their kids. They don't hate God, but they might not know God personally. They might have a religion, but not a relationship. So what happened at age 12? At age 12, there was a movie. It was the first Billy Graham movie that his association put out.

And it was about a young woman who was at the cusp of womanhood. She was 14, I think, or 15, something like that. And she was given a choice. She had a boyfriend that was sort of a bad boy. or she could go and walk with the Lord. And it was, Billy, even at that time, got a lot of flack for even making a movie. You know, there was so much stigma,

movies and the radio, and you can't dance and you can't drink and you can't, all these things because it's, yeah. And to his incredible credit, and I love the man. I loved him so dearly. He knew that the devil didn't own the airway, so he used radio. He knew that the devil didn't own the TV stations. He did his crusades on TV. He was so wise and he listened to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit said, make a movie for a next generation. It was called The Restless Ones. At the end of it, there was an altar call.

Now, wait, how did you, as a 12-year-old, secular Jewish girl, how did you end up going to this movie? About three months earlier, I'd come home from something. It was dark out and I was at the front door and I was ready to walk. in. When I looked over to the left and I could see into my living room and my sister and my mother were on their knees in front of the television crying. And I thought the president had died or something like that. And I went, uh-oh.

I walked in. No, they were watching a Billy Graham crusade. They had both just given their hearts to Jesus. So then when my mother... That's a good reason to be crying in front of the TV. Yeah, yeah. They weren't watching any of these reality television shows. They heard the gospel. It wasn't like a

dark episode of gun smoke. We're talking about a good reason. A good reason. Now, my mother was, you know, I don't know what age she was, but my sister was 10. But this is kind of, isn't this amazing? Doesn't it tell us how right Billy Graham was? About so many things. To use the airwaves to reach people who would never stumble into a crusade or a church or whatever.

Or read a Gideon Bible when they check into a Ramada Inn. Or they'd laugh at the, if they came upon some evangelist, you know, saying, not believing. You know, they'd just make fun. You're laughing at us right now. That's okay. We don't care. We don't care. Okay, so seriously, though, this is so cool to me. I went forward.

I went forward. And I, because I heard the voice of Jesus sitting there say to me, Kathy, I love you. And if you'll trust me, I'll make something beautiful out of your life. And you were 12. I was 12. And what I love is that you believed it. There was not a question in my mind. My brother sitting next to me, it was a bad section of a little Annapolis.

He did not want me. Where are you going? I'm going to go down. And he said, no, no. you're not. I said, then you come with me. Is this the brother that became a minister? Yes, right here in Cardigan. I know your brother.

I love it. He's a great. He became Pastor David Epstein of Calvary Baptist Church right across from Calvary, from Carnegie Hall. And it cracked me up every time I'd walk by it. People would go, wait a minute. Southern Baptist pastor Dave Epstein. Epstein?

Yeah, yeah. Is his first name Schmooley? No, he was David. David, we can deal with David. We can deal with David. Schmuli or Moishth, it's too much. So you come to faith at age 12. Is there any practical outworking or do you just kind of drift along for a few years before something else happens? No, total practical out. I just, I went. I just, well, I just knew in my inner being. You know, I love in Acts where it says, in him we live and move and have our being. It doesn't say in him we go

and visit once a week in a building somewhere and be. a cookie cutter person, reciting cookie cutter prayers, and singing cookie cutter songs. I couldn't take any of that. But to get back to the Billy Graham point earlier, you know you're quoting scripture, but Paul was quoting a pagan poet. Yes. When he said that. And even some of your poets have said. All truth is of God. And this fake division between there's religion and that truth is truth. So, okay, so you became a believer. Did you get any pushback? we're going to have to go to a break here. Folks, this is his show business.

We're going to break. This is a cliffhanger. Wait till he find out what happens next. We're talking to Kathy LeGifford. The new book is The Jesus I Know, Honest Conversations, and diverse opinions about who he is. 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 it. But I think it is a big deal.

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I use it. It works. Folks, I'm talking to Kathy Bifford, and you're not. But here's the thing. I get to, I get to share this with the group. I was saying off the air that it's impossible for me because I know you're funny and but I want to do schick with you. I want to be Jiminy Glick.

And I can't help. By the way, I did an episode of Jiminy Glick with Martin. Yes, yes. There is nobody that I love more than Martin Short. No, he's an absolute genius. A stinking genius. And one of the sweet, he was so, so good to me.

He's a very sweet man to me. Not like those others. Not like Howard Stern. Hey, but even Howard Stern. Talking to you. Even Howard Stern, after 30 years of praying for him, asked me to forgive him. I know. So, you know what? God, that's why I can't stand this cancel culture. You know what? Jesus never canceled anybody. Jesus went out of his way to find people, find the destitute, find the broken, find the ones that had been thrown out of community, thrown out of relationships, dying from disease. You were that, you were the person he went out looking for. And then when he had his disciples, he said, oh, yeah, and if you're going to follow me, you're going to go there too. You're going to go to the other side where the unlove, the unclean. the unsaved live.

And you're not going to say, you're going to go to hell if you don't believe in me. You're going to say, I'm going to love you like Jesus does. And that's how we're going to fill the kingdom up with people because they were loved. Jesus said, you love because I first loved you. And it all comes out of a place of love. And we've always gotten that wrong in Western culture, I think,

the Western Christian Church. And that's why I study rabbinically in Israel, To learn what the Bible really says, Eric. We have a lot to talk about. I know. The book is called The Jesus I Know, Honest Conversations on Diverse Opinions about who he is. Before we get into this, though, I still have to ask you, you were a young woman who knew you wanted to go into show business. I knew I was called to it.

You knew you were called. Different point. Good point. Yes. Because if you're called to it. And I got so much flack as a young woman. I would be a terrible missionary in Ethiopia or wherever. I was not made for that.

Before you, yeah, missionaries aren't allowed to drink wine in Ethiopia. That's not the point. Oh, yes, it is. So how did you start out in the business? Because, you know, you have one of these careers. You've been in the public eye, your whole adult life. Not everybody knows where you started, how you started. Yeah, I started as a singer first with my sister, singing professionally.

in a folk group called Pennsylvania Next Right. And we did clubs and stuff like that, the village door down, something door, I think, village door, down in Washington, D.C. And I think I'm getting that name wrong. But anyway, some little... But you're making you sound older than you are. You're not old enough to have been part of the original folk scene, like in the mighty wind or anything. But I know what you're talking about. The tail end of that in the 70s.

You grew up on the John Baez and the... You grew up with that. You grew up with that. Sure. Yes. But... Yeah, I was born. born in 1953. So I was, you know, I was a part of the Jesus Revolution, the Jesus people

at that point. But, you know, I just, I, that's the thing that's what you're getting at is, I never have separated the secular from the spiritual. I think it's a mistake to do that. I always have to correct. It's a mistake from the pit of hell. It is absolutely, people act, when people say it's a mistake, I always want to say, like, it's evil. It's evil. It leads to every kind of terrible thing. It's one of the reasons I've always admired you is because you don't do that. You understand that truth is one.

So you were not, so you're a singer, you and your sister were singers. And then I became an actress out in Los Angeles. And how did that work? What kind of work did you get? Commercials first. Okay. And that led to an acting role on a soap opera called Days of Our Lives.

But you see, here's the thing. All the people who thought it was terrible that I wanted to be in show business. I would say to them, God is going to use me there. That is my mission field. When I can share the Lord and the hope that is within me with people that would never pick up a Bible,

throw it down, or they'd rip it up, or they'd burn it, never, you know, they just, they won't go there. And for good reasons, lots of them, because it's not very appealing. Because religious people can be the worst people. The self-righteousness is unbelievable. And the only people got, Jesus ever got angry with were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And the ones that were sinners and prostitutes and every manner of evil, he just loved on them.

But the Pharisees had hardened hearts and the Sadducees. They were the power grabbers. They were the man. They were the machine. And Jesus threatened their power. The power of Jesus' love and forgiveness and his miracles was seducing. They thought seducing the people. I didn't bring my notebook out here, but literally yesterday, Suzanne, my current wife and I,

25 years now. The only one I've never ever done you. All right. We were reading where Jesus raises Lazarus. And sometimes you read these things, and it's almost funny, the response of the Pharisees. Like you think, are they making this? I know. They were thrilled. Somebody came back to life.

The response was, what the heck are we going to do now? Instead of saying, whoa, he's raising the dead. Maybe it's the Messiah. The response was, this is bad news. This is going to be hard. Because we are going to lose. I can't remember the exact phrase, but we are going to lose our power. That's right.

It's almost exactly like that. Yeah. And you think. The people had no affection for the Pharisees and Sadducees anyway, with their entire culture, as you know, was surrounding, was about the temple, and they controlled the temple. And if they wanted to, and they'd be thrown out of community, if they didn't follow all the rules.

It's also the 600 extra ones that the Pharisees and Sadd's put on. I'm prophesying now on the show that I'm going to go to Israel with Kathy Lee. Go with my teachers, because they're the ones that are experts. I know, I know. I want to talk to you about that. Okay, so you get a job on days of our lives. Yep. So you are, quote, unquote, a secular actor,

but you're still very much walking with the Lord. Yeah. Oh, yeah, very much so. And that's what sort of this book is about. All of the conversations that I have had through the years, several of them I shared in my last book, which is called It's Never Too Late. And when I was, my literary agent here in New York, a person very different from myself, he's a man, number one, he's a male, he's Asian, he's gay, and he was raised a Buddhist.

But he's a fantastic guy, and I love him. and he told me that what he liked the most about the last book that we had all done together were the stories I liked when I shared Jesus with Craig Ferguson on a set in a movie that I wrote for the two of us I want to talk to you about this kind of stuff so we're going there folks but yeah so that's what or Kevin Costner or I tell that story in this one and he said Kathy because you know you've had a different kind of life experience because of the world that you have made your living in right But I was exactly where I was supposed to be. And as a result, every time I had an opportunity to share Jesus or a scripture or just anything,

any moment that the Holy Spirit would give me in my own spirit, I'd know, say it. Say it in love. Say it in tenderness. Say it in humor. You know, say it in a way that will not speak gently and tenderly to people and make them laugh, too, if you can. And they will take notice. and I probably, and I thank Billy with all my heart for this because he became a very dear friend, I have probably reached millions and millions and millions of people with the gospel.

I'm not saying that like, yay me, I'm saying, that's because I'm fulfilling my purpose. And if we make everybody go to be cookie-cuttered and do the same mission and work, you know, that's not, Jesus said, go into all corners of the earth and tell everyone. everybody. And, you know, and so I'm just, that's my corner of the earth. Well, you, what's interesting to me about that is that it takes courage and it takes actual faith because you do get pushback from people as you have over the years. I just did the Today Show this morning. I'm getting all kinds of pushback about something. I don't care. Really? Yes, it doesn't matter. Are they still on the air?

Yes. I know that for a fact. Really? Really? Really? Really? And the 10 o'clock today, yes. Okay, good, good. And it's full of really, really a lot of great people over there. You know. Name five. I can't.

Well, I could, I would only make the other 50 mad. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That's a dangerous rabbit hole to go down, sir. We're not going to do that. But, but I'm just saying it takes, yes. And I was saying to you, oops, off the air, I only met Hoda the one time when I wrote my miracles book and you had me on the Today Show.

And Hoda said to me, hey, fancy. And I remember, like, it took me 60 seconds to recover from trying to figure out what she meant by that. She was flirting with you. Really? Yes. Isn't she married? Oh, my. I never thought of that.

See, that's where I get in trouble. See, that's the kind of schick we want on this show. Nobody laughs more than Hoda does. A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants. Oh, go ahead. Canceler me. It's get in line. So when you say, honestly,

honest conversations and diverse. You know, everything's code for something, right? The Jesus I know, honest conversations, and it was not like those other conversations. We're going to get some dirt here. So you are talking to people, and this is, again, why I love you, because you talk to people who are not on the same page, but you don't do it apologetically.

There's a joy. You're sharing something beautiful, and you've had the opportunity through the course of your career to meet people that most people would never get to meet. When we come back, we're going to name names. Don't go away. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis,

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They can also ship gold and precious metals safely and securely to your house. Call Legacy at 866-5-28-9. or visit them online at legacy p.m.investments.com. Hey folks, I'm talking to Kathy Lee Gifford. Look, there she is. All the way up from you now, you spend most of your time in the Nashville area. Yes. But you still spend some time up here in the Connecticut area. Not very much. My son and his beautiful new wife are living there right now as they plan their next chapter in life. And my daughter and her new husband are living down near me in Tennessee.

Yeah, I'm a Tennessee resident. Really? Proud Tennessee and love it. Well, every time I get down there, I was saying to you, I have more and more friends down there. I can't even remember who, but every time I go down there, there's certain places that are just, yeah. First of all, it's a cool place.

And second of all, is an amazing creative community there and an amazing faith community of real seekers of truth. These are not pew sitters. And I am not putting people down. Whatever reason they go to church is, well, because I don't want to be that person. I'm just saying there is such a difference. I want to be that person.

I want to put them down. If you're a pew sitter, cut it out. Stay home, figure it out. Okay, in the book The Jesus, I know, you relate conversations that you've had. And this is important, Kathy, because again, when I'm with you, I joke around so much,

but this is at the very heart of everything. How do you talk to people about ultimate issues, the thing that has changed your life? and changed my life, when they're not on the same page. So how has that worked out for you? Because being in show business, you've bumped into tons of people, some of whom would be openly hostile, others would be curious, mystified. First of all, I pray before I do any project,

and I say, Lord, whoever you want me to be with, whoever you want me to meet or talk to, show me. And then let the Holy Spirit communicate in my inner woman, my inner spirit, what you want me to say. Give, you know, don't worry about what you'll say. The Lord will give you utterance. So usually, and this happens quite a bit, I don't say anything. People just start to talk to me.

They'll start to talk to me. And they'll ask a question. And that has happened more and more and more as people know that that's where I'm coming from. They don't run from it. In fact, one of the great stories is when I was, I'd written a movie for my friend Craig Ferguson and I to do, and we shot it in the highlands. It's called Then Came You. Wait a minute. First of all, you're friends with Craig Ferguson.

Adore him. Okay, he is brilliantly funny. I love him. But I didn't know that you were friends with him, and then you're telling me you wrote a movie with him. What does that mean? No, I wrote a movie for him. For him?

Yes. Recently? Yeah, it just came out last year. It was the number one movie in the country. I'm pretty sure I was in a coma. It was during COVID, and it was, you know, didn't get the, it's available, though. Can you give us a title? Then Came You.

Then Came You. Then Came You. Then Came You. It's a romance. comedy for people who don't think that romance will ever be in their life again and nothing's funny. And so I was with Craig for a week hosting the Today Show and we had to have a delay on the, because we were so dangerous. It was the most explosive television I'd done in my life.

And that's saying a lot. Wait, what do you mean? No, you know, we're bad little children when we're together. We get in trouble. We say bad things. Right. And we bring out the naughty in one another. And I love it.

So we had this incredible week. And that's you being you. Like if somebody was doing Kathy Lee Gifford, they would say what you just said. Like that was so... I can't help myself. That was the distillation of you. Yes. So anyway, we had so much fun that we said, let's write a movie.

Let's write a movie together. Yeah. And I said, okay, well, he left for L.A. And I, that night wrote the movie, at least six chapters of it. Six not steps. What is the... It's just, it's about a widow. In showbiz, we don't call them chapters.

No, I know. But I just, I'm here for the book, so I'm on... I'm in book mode. I'll let it go. Thank you. A little mercy. It goes a long, long way, especially in the world today. Long story short, it's not about the movie today.

It's just about the fact that while we were on set, you have a lot of time when you're waiting around, waiting to shoot. And he said, you know, he said, this is the most interesting, because he knows I love Ricky Jervais too. Ricky is my favorite atheist in the world, and Craig is my favorite agnostic in the whole world. I just love these men. Why? Well, that's what he said. God, why do you love me, Drenicki? We're not good guys. We don't believe anything that you believe.

How do you anything? Why do you love us? And I said, why wouldn't I love you? You're funny. You're smart. You make me laugh my tail off. You're a joy to be with. And God loves you, and I love everybody God loves. So why wouldn't I love you? And this is the crux of it. He's looked at me very serious. and he goes, you know, Kathy, he said, no person of faith has ever told me or Ricky that they love me. Really? Uh-huh. And I said, well, you know what?

You've never met a real person of faith. Well, isn't this, see, this is what's so, I love talking to you, because it is an interesting thing. When you talk to people that aren't on the same page as we are, they have tremendous preconceived notions. Yes. as though you're going to be judging them immediately or something like that. And what you're saying, what you just said is true. In a way, they've not really met people of faith. They've met, I don't know, they've met religious people.

They've met maybe fragments of people, but they haven't really seen that. And it does surprise them and it mystifies them. I mean, I've said this to you. There are people in my life like Dick Cabot. I love him so much. and I know he doesn't agree with me politically or whatever. But in my guts, I think, who cares? Love is love. You love someone. Jesus loved us before we were on the page that we were now on. That's kind of the point of love.

That's the biblical love, agape love. You don't wait for reciprocation. You just, you love. And so there's so many people like that, and I've had many of them on this program, wonderful conversations with people. I think when people see you taking delight in them for who they are, they recognize, they go, well, that seems like love. This seems like something that I didn't. It sure doesn't feel like hate or judgment. We're being canceled. We'll be right back with Kathy McGifford. So many things I could have found.

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Is that not true? So what's with the Lee thing? What is that all about? Isn't that a Jiminy Glick kind of question? What is that all about? Are you hiding something? When I did Jiminy Glick, I think the first question he actually was, what is this Jesus thing? Did he do that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where he went right off the bat. I'm pretty sure I watched that. I just forget everything. Jesus, you're Jewish and Jesus? and that's where he started out. See, I had a chance to give my testimony on the Jiminy Click. On the Jiminy Click program.

Yeah, I mean, it's just, why are we afraid? Why are we afraid to proclaim our Lord? And let people see us vulnerable and real. I'm not perfect, but I love a perfect God, and he loves me anyway. And he tells me that he wants me to love people that are also not perfect. This is crazy talk. Listen, you know I'm with you, and I love it. So what led you to write a book with the title, The Jesus I Know?

What do you mean, The Jesus I Know? And then why honest conversations and diverse opinions about who he is? What do you mean? Because in the course of my life, I've discovered that most everybody has a concept of Jesus. And very few people are repelled by him or revolted by him, unless there's some sort of satanic influence. but people that are not challenged in that way even the demons recognized him he's a force to be reckoned with

and I find that fascinating I like to find out from people what is your concept of him when did you first hear about him and what did you think and do you even believe he was a historical figure not just a you know because they've been trying for years to say

David never existed Solomon never existed and now they're finding all kinds of things in Israel confirming that the script is true. You know I've just written a book about this? I've got a copy for you in the other room. Oh, good. I'm not even kidding.

No. It is, the evidence is insane. You cannot. Insane. You cannot ignore it. That's called willful ignorance when you just ignore that kind of evidence. That's perfect word. So anyway, and I wasn't, here's the story about the, at the end of the story with Craig.

So at the end of our shoot, he says, you know, Kathy, I still, I still do. don't believe in your guy. And I said... I love that. That's exactly what Craig Ferguson would say. Yes. Your guy. Your guy.

And I said, you mean our guy? And he goes, okay, our guy. Uh-huh. And then I said, I know that. I love you. You know, I love you. And here's the thing I do know about you, Craig. That you would agree that nobody ever lived a more loving, gracious, respectful,

forgiving life and taught us more about how to love and live and forgive than Jesus. And he goes 100%. And I said to him, welcome to the kingdom of heaven. Wow. Hey, this is getting good. That's the kind of stories in here. Kevin Costner called me when, after I didn't know Kevin. I'd never met him before. I can never get that guy off the phone. It's just, I know. After Waterworld, I could not get rid of him. Our son loved Waterworld, so he was happy when we called him and said, Cody, he was like nine. He loved it. Nine-year-olds loved Waterworld.

So anyway, but I didn't know him at the time. And he called me when I was accused of sweatshop abuses. So this is a long time ago. This was 1990. I just want to say, I remember, I didn't know you as a friend then, but I remember when you went through that. And I, and I'm sure many Americans, I was so angry because I could see. how wicked people can be. Yeah, it was a complete lie, and it was only perpetrated

so that Walmart would become unionized. That's it in a nutshell, but that's not why we're here. Here's the story. Kevin calls me out of the blue. He says, hi, it's Kevin Costner, and I just want you to know that what they're doing to you makes me sick, just like what you're saying. And you seem to, you have a light,

and they're trying to put out your light, and I'm just still shocked, and he says, And that light is the light of the world. And then he said this. And then he said, he said, so just remember, Kathy, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And I went, you grew up in the church? You grew up in the, he goes and he starts to chuckle, that Kevin chuckle. Yeah.

And he said, yeah, I grew up and he said, I don't always obey it. I haven't always followed it. But yeah. And we became great friends, great friends. I am so happy to hear this. Yeah. He's amazing. He's a man of integrity.

Those kinds of stories. Exactly. And a lot of people are in my business, but they're not as open as I am. Many, many times, they will lean over to me during commercial break, and they're going, I'm praying for you, sister. Or I heard you the other day on whatever. And you were talking about Jesus, and I thought, oh, thank you, Lord, bless her. But they don't.

You know? And so I just, since then, I've just prayed for them that they would be more and more open about their faith because the you know Jesus said if you if you don't stand up for me you know I have to then go and stand before the father on your behalf I want Jesus going over to the father and saying she was good she she she didn't miss an opportunity open her mouth in fact even too much even too much for me slow down cats slow down you um well again it gets to what I was saying when I was first introducing you here is that that that's what I've always valued about you because that's something that put on my heart, that we have to, in a sense, pioneer a public stance. What does it mean to be a

Christian in public life? It doesn't mean talking about Jesus every second. But at the same time, it means when the opportunity arises, you know, not hiding it. And you know what? Was it Augustine who said, you know, preach the gospel at all times, but when necessary, use words. I think that was Oscar Wild. No, no, soupy sales. I always get them confused. I always get them confused. But the point is well taken. If you're not, don't talk about it if your life is not going to be evidence of it. You know, because that's not going to help the kingdom of heaven. That's not going to advance his cause, which is, you know, the gospel means, gospel means good news. Good news is that God loves us and he loves everybody he's created and his whole schick is to bring all of humankind

back to the, to bet of the father's house. That's, You're throwing in some of those Jewish terms. Yes. Bet of. Betav, the father's house. I thought, seen it, so Betel is God's house. Yes. Betov is the father.

Is the father's house. You've been hanging out with that Rabbi Sobel, haven't you? Sobel. Sobel. Uh-huh. The Sobel. And others, many, many others. I know.

They're great scholars of the word. And this is the biggest issue. And you know this because you're a scholar yourself. The biggest problem, with the Bible is that it's been transposed way too many times badly. Yeah. Badly. And no worse one than the King James version.

It's the worst. I know. Can you believe she just said that? Yeah. We're going to edit this out. We'll be back. Hey, Aubin. Hey, Aaron.

Guess what I'm doing this weekend. What are you doing this weekend? I'm speaking in Bethful, Connecticut. Get out of here. Anybody you can drive there. I'm speaking in Bethel, Connecticut, this weekend, this Sunday, Bethel, Connecticut, his vineyard, church. Next weekend, I'm speaking in New York City. The weekend after that, I'm speaking in Tampa, Florida.

Weekend after that, I'm speaking in Colorado Springs. Weekend after that, I'm speaking in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Boy, you just won't shut up, will you? That's funny. That was very funny. That's good, Albin. That's good. people can find out the details of my speaking schedule at ericmetaxis.com.

There's all kinds of other stuff at ericmataxis.com. But I want to tell people that I'm going to get out there. And I love meeting people. If you can get to these venues, I sign books as long as people are there. And I just love meeting people. It's just, it's a joy. Believe me, I think we need to get out and about stop hiding in our root cellars. although President Chicken Little, he makes a point.

An untrue point, but a point nonetheless. So we should also say, Albin, that this is the last week for people to get the huge 30% off discount from nutrometics.com. Folks, if you're stocking up on nutraceuticals, vitamin D, vitamin C, hike, all of those things, You really, you want to get it from Nutrimetics.com this week because the 30% off goes back to the standard discount, 20% off. So this is the week you want to stock up, do your shopping. Nutrametics.com, got to use the code to Eric. They give 50% of their profits to missions organizations. They're the real deal.

I mean, there's stuff. I said to my doctor here in New York, have you ever heard of Nutrametics.com? He says, oh, that's a great company. So he's not where we are politically, theologically, and he knows they're a great company. But we know they get 50% off. They get 50% of their profits to missions organizations. They're just, they were, I mean, they came into existence because they are missionaries. They have been missionaries in South America.

So they're great folks. And it's nutrometics.com. But this week is the last week 30% off. Similarly, I should say, this week is the last week to give to CSI, to free a slave. Folks, it's end of year giving. Tax deductible gifts to CSI, they are a non-woke Christian charity, freeing slaves in Africa. Black people in Africa are enslaved. You care about black people? Well, guess what? Black people have enslaved black people. This is not a color thing. It's not a race thing. It's an evil thing. It's a sin thing. We need to step up and do something to help,

feel people suffering today. If you care about people, this is a way you can do something spectacular. But this is our last week. We won't mention again at the end of this year. That's it. We're done. So I want to say that when you go to our website, metaxis talk.com, you'll see the banner for CSI right at the top. We want to encourage you to give. Anything you give, we will be thrilled. So you want to get the kids involved. I think it's important to make them understand there's evil in the world, but you can do something about it. But the grace of God, we can even see what's evil. They're people that they're doing evil.

They don't even know what they're doing is evil, or somehow they've been persuaded. It's okay. We know it's not. That's a gift from God. The very fact that we know that that's wrong. So we have an obligation because we know it's wrong to try to do whatever we can about it. So please go to Metaxus talk. Do what you can.

This is the last week. I've said it before. Anybody you can give anything, you will be entered in a, a drawing to win all kinds of signed books and all kinds of stuff. Anybody gives $1,000 gets signed books. Anybody who gives $20,000 if you want to pull your stuff together and give $10,000 free 40 people, I would be delighted to have dinner with you. We'll figure it out.

I'm just going to say Merry Christmas. Yeah, Merry Christmas. And Happy New Year. And praise God from whom all blessings flow. He's real. Folks, God bless you.