The Eric Metaxas Show - Laurel Guillen

Episode Date: December 1, 2022

Laurel Guillen has a fascinating novel that mixes a fun fact about the creche and St. Francis in her holiday book, "A Bellwether Christmas."

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Fans gentlemen, buckle your seatbelts and keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times. Here comes Mr. Thrill Ride himself, Eric Mattaxas. Folks, welcome back talking to my friend Chris Reed of Morning Star. ministries. So Chris, you're sharing some exciting things. I just read before at the end of hour one that on August 18th, so this is a number of months ago, obviously, you saw a tragedy befalling

the Pelosi family. So talk about that. Yeah, so I had another visionary trance-like encounter where I saw a news headline where it said a tragedy has befallen the Pelosi family. And I didn't remember the exact wording of it when I come out of the trance, but that's what I knew the message was a tragedy would befall the Pelosi family that would catch the world's eye, meaning it would make news. And then it said, and then I remembered the Lord said to me, you need to pray for her children or slash, you know, however many that is, because no matter how much you disagree with her, this will affect her family.

Well, that was August 18th. And then clearly what happened to her husband, I don't think we know the full story of what happened. But I think this was a limited judgment with mercy. God's judgments often come with mercy on the Pelosi family, the corruption in the Pelosi family. and so I think we've seen this happen and she is no longer the speaker of the house and so we see these kind of things happen together.

I forgot about that, the fact that she will soon not be speaker any longer, but of course the strange hammer attack on her husband. And again, you know, the lunacy that we don't know what happened, the absolute lunacy. it's despicable that journalists in America are not demanding the truth, are not broadcasting the truth, are not investigating what happened, what could be more significant than this kind of an attack on the husband of the Speaker of the House, and we don't know what's going on. We do know something happened.

We do know it was horrifying, but we just don't know the details. But in any event, it happened, I guess it was at the beginning of November, and you heard this on October 18. August 18. I'm sorry. August, August, August. And again, all this stuff, people can find it at Morning Star Ministries. You've been publicly on the record and looking into this. What else can we talk about? You mentioned a hurricane. I guess June 2021, you say I saw a hurricane. A year and a half ago. Oh, my goodness, a year and a half ago, right. You say I saw a hurricane hitting Western Florida. That would be historic. Directly in line would be Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg area. And this area would shortly be followed, this would be shortly followed by a move of God in that

area. So I don't remember the details of the hurricane, but we do know that that happened not many months ago. Yeah. Well, it was described as a once in a 100-year hurricane. It had been 101 years since the hurricane had hit that side of Florida. You know, people think, well, what's the big deal about a Florida, with Florida being hit by hurricane? Well, the fact is that side of Florida, the coastal side, doesn't get hit,

whereas southern Florida and eastern coast of Florida does. So the Lord showed me, Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, would be in direct hit. And it was, we began to pray after, and I had shared this back in June of 2021, One, shared it with Rick Joyner and several other leaders, and I saw it coming. And then when it came on the news, we'll begin to pray because if it would have direct hit Tampa Bay, that is a high population center. And it would probably kill a lot more people. But I went on record saying I saw 15 foot tidal waves, surge waves, and I saw people drowning.

And thankfully, it went a little bit south where there was less population in that area. and they could deal with it better. It's sad that it happened all together, but yes, this, once again, just like the Pelosi thing, just like these other things, I mean, these things are ahead of time. And so it's either consistently guessing it right or the one hurricane you prophesy about within a three or four year period of time happens, and it's a once in a 100-year-level hurricane. So we did disaster relief as a result of that hurricane. And then I would say the last one that I believe is significant.

And I prophesied this on January the 2nd, 2020, here at Morningstar. It's on my Chris Reed Ministries YouTube channel. It's on Morningstar TV.com. I prophesied and said that Donald Trump would announce he would run again for president, but that wasn't the prophecy. I think everybody thought that. The prophecy was that he would announce right after the 2022 midterm. which is significant because very rare does someone announce two years ahead of time

they're running for office. In fact, his announcement this time is eight months sooner than his announcement was in the 2016 cycle when he announced in June of 2015. So I saw that and I have to believe the fact that the Lord showed me his announcement was one week to the day after the midterms that he would announce. he was running again for president is significant. And I believe it speaks to his destiny. God's not done with him. I think that that is right. I've been, you know, a little amazed at the level of attacks that have come against him and how people really do seem to feel that he's the guy

that we have to crush. We have to make it impossible for him to be president. Because I think that most people know that if anybody is going to deal with the corruption. I mean, he, even in his announcement speech, and I had the privilege of being there in the room in Marilago. But I was kind of amazed when he talked about how his family had been attacked, how they'd been subpoenaed and indicted and whatever verb you want to use, really, really, really attacked. and his son Eric, who was two rows in front of me because I had the privilege of being in the third row, he turned around to acknowledge the crowd because President Trump singled out his son,

who had just been so attacked legally for nothing. And he turned around and he had tears in his eyes. And it was clear that they have really suffered as a family. They've been put through hell. They have stood heroically against it. And I really believe that, you know, if God's hand is on somebody, they're not going to get him. They can keep going after him. They can keep trying to impeach him or to do this or to do that.

But it is going to continue to backfire. That's my sense of it. But their desperation in going after him is unquestionably unlike anything I've ever seen. Yeah. Well, a lot of people are counting him out because of all the stuff. But how many times did people count him out? 2016 and he said something or did something. They said, oh, he's done. The political laws of science says this. He's done. But I hope he can hear this message because I would say to him

that this woman of color that I've seen that will come alongside him will actually help bring some sense of validation. If he's lost any credibility with some people, the claims about the elections, the claims about the Hunter Biden laptop story and Chinese bribery, involved in corruption and involvement will come to light. It will come to light and he will be vindicated. So I hope he stays in courage because we learned to listen in 2016. Don't count him out. He's anointed. He has a political anointing. That doesn't mean God approves of everything he says it does. But when people think of the anointing, they think of, well, preachers are anointed, singers are anointed. Well, that's church anointing. There is a political, political anointing and he has it.

Well, and again, I want to remind people that he was, at least my interpretation is he was tremendously ignorant of the evil force as a raid against him. And he allowed a lot of bad people to get in around him, you know, up and down the line from Nikki Haley to Christopher Ray to all these kinds of people who really were not on board with him. And he rather graciously and to some extent naively allowed them in. I think he has learned that lesson big time. And I think that he is the man who is, you know, willing to fight for this nation, for liberty, for all those things. I'm sorry we're out of time. Chris Reed, it's always a joy to talk to you and to see you, my friend, folks, go to Morning Star Ministries. You can check this out.

And I hope to see you, Chris, in person at some point soon. Thank you for your time with us today. Bless you. Good to be with you. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed. And when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and shipping spikes leading the prices of goods to rise. And when we're already seeing record inflation, that's the last thing we need. Our economy is in trouble and you need to take steps to protect yourself. If all your money is tied up in stocks, bonds and traditional markets, you are vulnerable. Gold is one of the best ways to protect your retirement. No matter what happens, you own your gold.

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We may be in the Christmas season. And I get to have the fun of talking to friends on this program because I've made so many friends over the years. Sometimes these friends do really crazy, fun, interesting stuff like write novels. For example, some of you know my friend Michael. Gillen, he's a science genius. He's written many books, been on this program many times. You may not know his lovely wife, Laurel Gillen, who's done many things in her own right. But right now, I'm here to talk to Laurel because she's written a novel. Laurel, Gillen, welcome to the program. And why? Did you write a novel? What's going on?

Oh, yeah, this is something. I've always wanted to write a novel, but never thought I would. and then this idea came into my brain a few years ago. I call it a download from God and wrote it down. And then a book came out of it. And I looked at it and I said, you know, this book is kind of for children or adults, kind of for everybody. I was going to say, I want to be really clear that when we say novel, people are thinking of like, you know, some 400-page thriller or something. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is a book that you could easily see reading with your kids or your kids reading or you would read it yourself.

But let's start with the title, which I want you to explain Laurel Gillen. The title is a bellwether Christmas. I love words. I've always loved the word bellwether. Most people probably don't know what it means. So tell us, first of all, what the title is about. Or if you just want to tell us what the book is about first and then work backwards to the title. Well, let me, yes, let me tell you what the book is about first.

It's about an orphaned lamb living in medieval Italy in 13-16. Medieval Italy. An orphaned lamb. No parents. Lamb living in medieval Italy. Okay. Right. Right.

And his name is Bart. He's very headstrong. He's very impetuous. He gets in trouble a lot. He doesn't feel like he fits in. And then he starts to hear about this. A mysterious stranger from a Sisi, who seems to be able to talk to animals and tells animals things about love and belonging and praise and honor. And the little lamb gets very curious about this.

And he becomes determined to meet this mysterious stranger. And that ends up with a kind of a climax on Christmas Eve when something is unveiled that has never been seen before and which has been going to. to become part of our holiday traditions until today. Okay, so obviously for people who are listening, you are talking about the famous Francis of Assisi, known to many as St. Francis of Assisi. He had this relationship with animals, which I've never quite understood,

because we've always been enchanted with people who have these magical relationships with animals. He's the first that comes to mind. But Dr. Doolittle, who was not an historical character and who did not live in 13th century, Italy also comes to mind. But what is your, I always want to ask people how they came to a story. You obviously made this up, but it's a Christmas tale, kind of a story for everybody for Christmas called a Bellwether Christmas. But how did you find your way into this, especially since it's your first novel? Well, there are three experiences that I kind of tied together, but they went over a span of 20-plus years.

The first was over 20 years ago when I took my little 80-year-old grandmother to a trip to central Italy. She'd never been out of the country. She'd always wanted to go to Italy. That was her one dream. Are you Italian by background? Somewhere in there, I'm a little Italian. But your grandmother always wanted to go to Italy. She was a devout Catholic and she wanted to see all the sites.

And it was a wonderful trip. She actually got to meet Pope John Paul II. By virtue of a surprise that her bishop. Just bumped into him at the CVS. How did that work out? No, we actually went to St. Peter's Square when he was speaking. And, you know, there are thousands and thousands of people and you have to have a ticket. And so we had a ticket.

and we kept showing it to the Swiss guard, and the Swiss guards kept going, go forward, go forward. Prima fila, prima fila. And what we ended up doing is we ended up on the stage, on the, you know, the little stage that they set up, sitting among all these Italian brides and grooms. And she's in her wheelchair, and I'm with her.

And then what happens at the end of the service, you know, the pope turns around, and all the little brides and grooms and dignitaries and whatever, get in the line and get to, you know, meet the Pope. And so we were in that line. And he, he blessed my grandmother, put his hands on her head. And after that, I used to tease her. I would call her the holy relic. But while we were there, I fell in love with, first of all, Central Italy is beautiful. So I fell in love with the setting. And then I also fell in love with the stories of Francis and his early companions. and when I came back from that trip, I started researching and reading everything I could about this.

And I felt like there was a book here somewhere that I could set in this, you know, I love medieval times anyway. So I was thinking, oh, this is a book. But nothing happened. So then a few years later, we adopted our son when he was four. And we found out very quickly that he had this incredible affinity for animals. We used to call him St. Francis. You know, we tease him. and, you know, vicious dogs would lick his hand.

And, you know, he could, he nothing, you know, he just loved them all and they all loved him. And along the way, he collected, he adopted these animals. First, he adopted this older gelding. Then he adopted two lambs. And then he adopted a wild donkey who was about to have her foal. A gelding is in a horse? Yes, a gelding just means a male. You just let your, you just let your kid adopt gigantic animals.

You are the nicest parents I've ever heard of. Well, if we let him, he would have adopted an entire zoo. So this was actually a limited number. So we ended up with two donkeys, two sheep and a horse. And it turns out when I ended up writing this book, I used the personalities and characters of these animals, which I know. And I've done some astounding things, you know, and I used their behaviors for the characters in this book.

And the third thing is that, while we you know I because I'd researched the Franciscans and the early Franciscans so much I knew that Francis was connected to this uh the beginnings of this great holiday tradition which is the living nativity manger scene Christmas crush that we just think just you know has always been but it wasn't it was something that Francis had an idea about and decided to do uh in a little village in and in a little town called Gratio Italy and and it happened in 1223, which was, as of next year, it will be exactly 800 years ago. And it was Christmas Eve, and he had the townspeople process with candles,

and they came upon this cave that the brothers had turned into a manger scene. And they had services. They had singing. And it was a huge hit. You know, there was an ox and a donkey and the whole night night. I can't believe that I'm learning this. because I thought I knew everything. And I cannot believe that I did not know.

I think I know all the five things. And Suzanne, my wife, she knows those five things. Between us, we've got it all covered. But I did not know this. This is fascinating to me. I love, obviously, I love history and I love learning things. And when you tell me this, I, as most people, probably, you know, they're going to be some people listening to this program,

they're going to be like, oh, Eric, you should have. known that. Honestly, I don't think most people do know what you just said, that the tradition was begun intentionally. In other words, this wasn't like it just, he had this idea, St. Francis, and in 1223, basically does this, and you're saying it found its way from there into our Christmas traditions over the centuries. I did, I mean, if obviously it's out of scripture. There's, you know, this is not an unscriptural idea, but the idea that Francis, in, intentionally in that year, decides to create this tableau and it kind of catches on, I did not know that. Now, where did you find that? That's amazing to me.

Well, that's just, as I said, I've read dozens and dozens of books and did a lot of research when I thought I was going to be writing a novel. So I really, I've read, you know, the, the, the, the, what do you call it, the early Francis contracts, the all, you know, I've read a lot. And so this was just something I happened to know, but my brain didn't even, you know, put two and two together until just one day it all just came, boom. You know, I was around Christmas time and I thought, oh my goodness, here's a wonderful Christmas story and that people don't know about it. And oh my goodness, in a couple of years, it's going to be the 800th anniversary of this tradition. And of course, you know, after he did this, Francis had a real flare for the dramatic. He was really, he was

was really good. He was a showman in that sense. I didn't know that. He was just very, you know, he was just so exubering. He was larger than life character. And he wanted, I think, to point out to people, you know, the great miracle of this, this humbling of God into, you know, a poor, coming down as a poor child being surrounded by dumb beasts. And, you know, he, I think that was what he was also trying to get across to people. It's a pretty compelling theological idea, but to have it brought to life in the world. this way, that takes a medieval saint, usually, or a showman like PT Barnum or some combination. We'll be right back talking to Laurel Gillen. The book is a bellwether Christmas. Don't go away.

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Yes. And now there are only a few details about that event. We know what happened. There were very few details. So I kind of flesh it out a bit. But we do know that it did happen. And of course, if you go to Gresh Italy, there is a museum of the crib. It's basically because they consider themselves the, you know, the place where everything started. And after this happened, by the way, everybody wanted to do this. It spread like wildfire. So it became a tradition very quickly across Christendom. So, and did St. Francis also invent the petting zoo? Probably. Pretty close. Pretty close. Yes. So Stu Leonard stole that from him. All right, I want to say The title, Bellwether Christmas, explain what is a bellwether because a lot of people aren't familiar with that term.

I love that term, bellwether. Well, it's kind of a double entendre in this case because bellwethers are things that lead others. They're leading indicators. Say, if you were in business, you'd say Bellwether stocks, which show which way everything's going to go. So that's the traditional definition of bellwether. But a bell weather is actually a weather who is belled. And a weather is a male sheep who is the equivalent of a gelding. He's never going to be a ram.

That's history. He doesn't have the parts anymore. But he, so there are, yous, there are rams and there are weathers. But we have to be clear. The term bellwether stock, the adjective bellwether, comes from the animal. story. Right. It was a bell weather, as you've just said, is a male sheep, which is a ram, a gelding, which has the bell on it, and all of the other sheep follow the bell. So the bell weather is the leader. And I didn't know that the term weather referred to the actual animal, but the bell

weather is the one. Right. If you'd been in 4-H, you would know that, but that's okay. I grew up in Queens, all right? Enough. But it's interesting because when we talk about the canary and the coal mine, all of these things, you know, these are real things. The canary in the coal mine comes from the idea that they would go down into the mines and they would take a canary because canaries are so fragile that if there was poison gas, the miners wouldn't know it, but the canary would keel over. And so the canary in the coal mine is the one that tells us, you know, it's, all these terms that, you know, come from rural life or come from more simple life. But Bellwether is a classic term. So can you tell us why the title of the book is a Bellwether Christmas or would that spoil it for us? I think that would kind of spoil it.

All right. So then don't tell us. Nope. Don't tell us. Don't tell us. You sure? Don't tell us. No, I'm not going to.

Okay. Now, you know, what I find fascinating is that characters like Francis of the Sisi, kind of like, I mean, he's living, of course, in the early 13th century. But the same thing with Joan of Arc, who's living in the very early 15th century from so long ago, we have historical information, direct primary sources. So these aren't, they need not be mythical figures. We can actually know who they are and what they did. I know, for example, Mark Twain wrote a brilliant, brilliant biography of St. Joan of Arc. Mark Twain, of all people. And then, of course, G.K. Chesterton wrote a beautiful biography of St. Francis of Assisi. Did you use Chesterton's biography as a resource? That was one of the ones I'd read, but I read a bunch of different biographies. And as I said, you said there are primary sources because the church at that time, you know,

were very keen on, on, on, on, on Francis and making him a saint rather quickly. So they gathered together everybody who knew him and got testimony about his life. Um, so that's why there, you know, there, there are so many things that are clear. The, where it gets a little murky is that, you know, sometimes, you know, I don't know back then where there was the medieval imagination when people would say things about him communicating with animals and such. It, it seemed to them that that's what was, was going on. Um, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, And that was also documented in that sense. One of my favorite stories is about the Wolf of Jubio, which was a Guibio, I'm sorry,

who was a wolf who was terrorizing this little mountain town. The Wolf of Guibio? Wolf of Guibio. I believe he's played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Am I getting that right? He could be. I believe so. And he was terrorizing a town, and Francis showed up.

and walked over to the wolf, and, you know, the wolf kind of put his head down, and then Francis walked back to the villagers and said, here's what's going to happen. You guys have to feed this wolf because he's been hurt, and he can't, he can't, you know, he can't get animals on his own. You're going to feed him, and then he's agreed to not bother you anymore. That sounds exactly like a medieval legend, but it might not be. When we come back, this is called a cliffhanger, folks. This is show business.

This is a cliffhanger. When we come back, Laurel Gillen, the author of a bellwether Christmas, will tell us the rest of the story. Don't go away. With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, lots of companies are coming out saying they'll pay for employee abortion, travel, and expenses. Most of you've heard about some of these companies. You've decided to stop shopping or doing business there, but did you know that you most likely own stock in those companies? through your 401k's IRAs and other investment accounts.

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Laurel Gillen, who has written a book called A Bellwether Christmas, is telling us about one of these legends of St. Francis, who's featured in the novel of Burlough of Burlough. all weather Christmas. So wait, it's the wolf of what? Guibio. Guibio? The wolf of Guibio. So let me guess. Francis goes up to him, he makes him an offer, he can't refuse. Yes. And the wolf says, I agree. And according to

what the townspeople say, you know, or have passed down, the wolf was fine. He would come every few days, get fed, never heard anybody else again. And people thought, okay, well, this is a legend. Well, in the the 1800s, they were re-renovating a church or a square in the town of Gubio, and they unearthed a large skeleton of a wolf that dated from the 13th century. So, as far as a good job. That's pretty, that's actually very interesting. I love this kind of stuff because one thing I don't like is legends, because legends generally,

I think, undermine people's faith, you know, people, rational people, just go, that's just preposterous, you know, St. Francis didn't chase the snakes out of Ireland, whatever. These things become so mythical and so legendary that they really undermine the historical reality. But I love it when we can find proof or at least evidence. And so you're saying that we found some evidence that there may have been more truth to the story than we'd be inclined to believe. Exactly, exactly. So, you know, it still doesn't prove it, of course.

So the wolf eventually became respectable citizen. Yes, and it lived for another two years. Yes, lived for another two years, they said. He became a daily communicant, and he repented of all of the sheep that he'd eaten before that time. And we do know that Francis would preach to birds at times. He's been known to, he loved the larks in particular, and he would sometimes get up and preach to them and, you know, basically tell them to just go on being, you know, giving praise and honor to God by flying around and being larks.

And it was actually kind of a deep thing there. when you think about it. It's like go and be who God created you to be and you're kind of giving glory to God. Well, there's something powerful in a lot of the Catholic tradition and in the Eastern Orthodox tradition that those of us like me who are more evangelical, we've lost some of that. We've made it all so rationalistic that we've lost. There's some mystery and some beauty there. And I don't think we want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. So that's why I think, stories like this and figures like Francis are actually very important. There was no Protestant church in the days of Francis. And so, you know, he didn't know enough to realize

he really should be Dutch reformed and live in Michigan. He didn't know that at the time. He couldn't have known. So God only judges you on the basis of what you know. But it is, there is something beautiful about these stories. And I'm just so glad that you went back and you resurrected it for us today. What? What else should we know about this book of Bellwether Christmas about the story? Well, in terms of the book itself, I've already gotten a couple of awards for the book. Congratulations. That's fantastic.

Yes. And as I said, it's written. It was actually professionally leveled. So it is in the fourth to sixth grade reading range. But I wrote it specifically so that older children. could read it. I mean, I wrote the kind of book I would have loved to read when I was 10 because I loved all animal stories and I loved, you know, everything medieval and, you know, a wrinkle in time

and C.S. Lewis and things like that. That's so wonderful. Those are pretty good antecedents. Yes. I've never used the word antecedent on the program before, so I get $20 for that. But you just said that it's won some awards. Every chapter of court. There's a lot of detail if you want to learn about Medeeds.

life and that kind of thing. And that's what I love about some historical novels, especially for kids. And there are woodcuts, medieval woodcuts beginning. Yes, yes. There was a beautiful. An illustrator. An illustrator I knew from some work I'd done for science fiction magazine years ago. I was an editor.

And I knew Courtney and I looked him up and I knew this was just the type of illustration he would enjoy doing. And he created these kind of medieval woodcut style that was really kind of fun. and I was thrilled by that. So, you know, and altogether, that also helps make it kind of a book that both kids and adults, I think, will really enjoy. Was it challenging for you as a writer? Because I'm a writer who's been thinking for many decades that, oh, I will write fiction. But other than stuff for kids, nothing as long as this, I've never really written fiction.

So, but structuring a story, not having done that before, was that particularly challenging? or did that just seem to suggest itself to you rather easily? Well, that's the thing. It all kind of came down in about two minutes. I hate you, Laurel, Gillon. I hate you. I like what people say that. I wrote it, you know, in a weekend, no problem.

That's pretty cool. No, that's wonderful when that happens. That's never happened to me. But so it came to you fairly cleanly and quickly that this is, this story. And now there were certain things I had to work out because, you know, you can, you can get an overall plot, but you still have to figure out how things come together. And so that, you know, that took some work. And but I also knew which parts of history I really wanted to include.

And the rest of it's fantasy, of course. But that was, that was something that, and it was difficult to find the time to do the writing and, you know, as busy as I am. But I really felt carried through this whole process. I really did. And I felt a lot of love for all the characters. And that, I think, comes through in the book. Well, I want to be clear. If people want to get the book, normally people know how to get books, but you did want to share something specifically because sometimes there are these weird issues.

What's the easiest way for folks to find a bellwether Christmas? I think the easiest way is to go to the publisher's website, which is faithfultext.com. Faithfultext. There's a website. Faithfultext.com. All right. And you can get a 15% off discount, and you can certainly get it by Christmas if you go to that website. Well, I love it.

It's very, very modestly priced $14 for this beautiful little hardcover. Well, Laurel, give my love to Michael. Yes, he sends his. It's early, but in the spirit of the season, Merry Christmas. Congratulations, really, on this. I think we need more of this. kind of thing. So when I discovered that you had written this, I was excited about it. And now having heard about it, I'm even more

excited about it. So, folks, you can go to faithfultext.com. The book is a bellwether Christmas by Laurel Gill and Laurel. Again, thank you, and God bless you. Great to see you. Thank you, Eric. Merry Christmas. We didn't mention it earlier today, I don't think, but there was a gay marriage decision that 12 Republicans made possible. At the head of the pack of dogs is Mitt Romney. I want to tell you, this is not about gay marriage, as much as it is about religious liberty. you're going to see people with a biblical worldview. People have been warning about this for a long time.

People with the biblical worldview of marriage are going to be persecuted and pushed around. And it's because of 12 Republicans, obviously the Democrats have sold their souls to the devil on this and some other issues, 100%. But when folks like Mitt Romney make it pay, possible, that's where your jaw drops. And that's when you need to know, we need to be involved because this strikes at the very heart of liberty. Religious liberty is at the core of who we are

as Americans. This is not about live and let live. This is about people claiming to want to do something under the live and let live, but then turning around and using it against people who have biblical values and shoving it down their throat. Here's some good news for the pastors who have been sitting on a sideline. Yeah. So when they come and they demand that you do a gay wedding, you just say, I don't get involved in politics. That covers you.

That's brilliant. Albin, that's brilliant. Yeah, I don't get involved in politics. No gay weddings. It really is just, it's an amazing moment in American history. But as I said at the beginning of the program, hour and a half ago, we really, we need to be alive to the moment, that we have an opportunity to see where people. people stand. We have an opportunity to see what we need to do, what we need to fight against,

whom we need to champion, because there are people out there who are fighting for us. To some extent on this program, we try to do that as well. So I will say if you want to support this program, I have a give, send go page, which is more of a general thing. But also if you want to support this program. Help out our sponsors. If you use the code Eric at my store.com, you can get coffee,

you can get my books, you can get all kinds of stuff at my store.com with the code Eric. You can also get Bonhofer posters, gorgeous stuff, really, tremendous, tons of stuff at mystore.com. As you know, mypillow.com, tons of stuff there that you can get for Christmas.

And today is the last day, literally that you can get 35% off at nutrometics.com if you use the code, Eric. Let me also say, speaking of Christmas gifts, if you go to Metaxistalkis talk.com and you click on the store, there's all kinds of stuff you can get signed books and everything. But when you go to Metaxistock.com, we want to remind you, we want everyone who possibly can participate to go to Metaxistock.com and to help out our friends at Christian Solidarity International. This is like the ultimate Christmas gift. If you can give a gift of $100 in the name of somebody on Christmas morning,

instead of giving them the sweater they don't need or whatever piece of technology they don't need, give them something really beautiful and valuable. Teach your kids about this, that there's actual slavery happening in southern Sudan and that Christian Solidary International, with our help, and I say our help, because I'm involved in this, we're all involved in this. We need to step up. go to metaxis talk.com, help them to free slaves. These are Christian people who have been enslaved by Muslim radicals. It's hard to process that this is real, but I want to tell you, folks, as real as it is,

there's something you can do about it. You can go to metaxisotot.com, give generously. This is the ultimate Christmas gift for somebody. This is as meaningful as it possibly gets. Go to metaxistalk.com. Please do it today. Think of people that you can bless. by doing this. Thank you.