The Eric Metaxas Show - Raymond Ibrahim (Encore)

Episode Date: October 31, 2022

Raymond Ibrahim discusses important ideas found in his book, "Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam." (Encore Presentation)

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. Eric Metaxis show with your host, Eric Metaxis. Folks, welcome to the program. We've got a surprise for you today. It's not John Smirak. Yes, John Smirak is like in Paris, hanging out with, you know, other freakish super geniuses like Dr. James Tour, David Berlinski, Peter Thiel, three people that we're having at Socrates in the city. Actually, no, we've had Dr. Tour recently. We've had Berlinski some years ago.

And Peter Thiel, no, we did. We've had all of them at Socrates and City. But John Smirich's hanging out with them. And we thought, what are we going to do? A week without John's Mirac is like a week without sunshine. But then John said, Eric, I very, very, very, very highly recommend that you have on someone. Well, actually, he already recommended him many, many times before. And we thought perhaps we would get Raymond Ibrahim on the show. So sitting in for our friend John Smirak is Raymond Ibrahim. Now, let me explain to you, folks. Raymond Ibrahim is a really distinguished scholar and spokesperson on issues concerning the Middle East. He has a brand new book called Defend, this is a big deal.

I want to talk to him about this. It's called Defenders of the West, the Christian Heroes who stood against Islam. The forward of the book is written by Victor Davis Hansen. I think that tells you everything you need to know. Raymond Ibrahim, welcome to the program. Hi, Eric. Great to be with you. Thanks. Don't be nervous that you're sitting in for Johns Merak. Others have done it before. I'll try. Many of them have died, violent deaths, but I'm just saying, just put that out of your mind. But when John Zmirak raves and raves about someone, it's really not difficult to us for us to understand we need to get this person.

And so we're just really grateful to you for coming on. And tell my audience a little bit about yourself. I mentioned that you're the author of a brand new book called Defenders of the West, The Christian Heroes, who stood against Islam. What is your own background? I know you have an Egyptian background as well. Yeah, so my family's the Cops. Coptic, every time I say that word, Cops, I have to, you know, people ask me what, you know, precinct I come from.

But Coptic, of course, the indigenous Christians from Egypt. So my parents immigrated to the United States in the mid-60s, I was born and raised here. Because of that background, being coming from a Christian minority sect from the Middle East, surrounded by Islam, I was always interested in, of course, in those issues. But then in college, as you mentioned, Victor Davis-Sansson was my professor for many years. and, you know, I'm proud to say a friend and mentor and so forth, I naturally gravitated towards history, military history. And then, you know, long story short, in 2001, when I was writing my master's thesis with Victor Davis as my chair,

it was actually about the first military encounter between Islam and the West, or really Christianity, Christendom, because I was employing the languages I was studying Arabic and Greek and so forth. And anyway, long story short, and then that's when 9-11 happened, and I went to Georgetown University, studied there for a little bit in their contemporary center for Arab studies, which is, as I later found out, it was very ideologically charged. And I left there, despite stellar performance, I might add, straight A's, but I had to leave there just because of the political reasons. And then I got a job with the Library of Congress in the Near East section, where I dealt with Arabic materials and other Middle Eastern languages, found. writings by al-Qaeda in the early 2000s. And long story short, that got translated into my first book, The Al-Qaeda Reader, which came out in 2007 from Doubleday. And since then, I've just

really been involved in this nexus of Islam in the West. And I've also gravitated very much, again, to my own personal interests, which is the Christians, you know, how Christians fit into this. And so for the longest time, I write about the persecution that Christians encounter. that I did that in my 2013 book, Crucified Again, which I continue because I write monthly reports for the Gatestone Institute, collating all of the anecdotes of persecution that arise at the hands of Muslims, vis-to-vis Christians. Any of these, of course, if it was the opposite, if it was a Christian or a Western person doing this to a Muslim, would be all plastered all over the media, but of course, we don't hear about it. So I really get it from alternate sources,

small websites, Arabic language sources, and so forth. And most of the most of the recently, as you indicated, I'm going back to my original interest, which is the historical, including military historical setting. And so my recent book, Defenders of the West, the Christian Heroes, who stood against Islam, you know, I look at eight men that identify, really the warriors identify as heroes because they were. They were understood as heroes. And what's refreshing to me in writing that book, as opposed to what I've been doing is, for once, I'm finally now writing about Christians standing their ground, fighting back, and oftentimes actually becoming victorious vis-a-vis the jihad,

as opposed to what I'm normally reading and writing about, which is what's happening today, which is Christians just getting annihilated. And Western Christians thinking it's making a virtue out of cowardice and basically becoming dormats and saying they're not doing anything, they're not judging because that's their faith. And again, so I wanted to contrast it with how actual other Christians in the preceding centuries, the preceding millennium, really,

how they understood it, especially in the course, context of just war theory. This is a big deal and I want to say that it's one of the things that bonds me to John's Mirac is that we both understand that biblically we're supposed to fight. Now the question of how and when, and that's another issue, but you're quite right that there is a modern strain of Christianity, which is kind of a feminized, really ultimately heretical idea that we are to be dormats, that we're to be passive, get the jab, do what you're told. There's something in the drinking water that has really destroyed the heart and the muscle at the heart of Christian faith, that we are to be warriors

for good. So we don't fight the way the world fights. But somehow, As I'm saying, and as you say, these ideas, these bad ideas have crept in, and we need to reacquaint ourselves with what is the historical faith. So you are doing that in your book. So the new book is Defenders of the West, the Christian heroes who stood against Islam. Let's talk about that. Who are some of these heroes? What is the context? Well, the context, in many ways, this book is actually a companion book to my previous book from 2018, which is Sword and Cimitar, 14 centuries of war between Islam and the West. And you may recall, we spoke sometime back about that when the War College had invited me to speak about it and then Care, the Muslim Brotherhood wing, the Council on American Islamic Relations, protested and called us Islamophobes and racist and, you know, pulled the rug from underneath me, the War College capitulated, so forth. forth. Anyway, they redeemed themselves eventually, but then they capitulate again. That's a whole different story.

So the first book, Sort and Sumitar looked at decisive battles and really eight of them and looked at the context and showed you the history of relations between Islam and the West and how it was really anchored in warfare and jihad and conquest and three quarters of the Christian territory was eventually was conquered and annexed and swallowed up. Some of it eventually was reconquered, as in the reconquista in Spain and the Balkans and so forth. In the new book, Defenders of the West, I look again at eight, but this time what I call not decisive battles, eight decisive men. And again, I thought this was important to just show people how Christians understood themselves vis-a-vis Islamic jihad. I can name a lot of them. So basically we have, and it's really three theaters of war that I look at, really, the crusaders, which is. is a just war, defensive war, and I get into explaining how, even though it was Europeans traveling to the Middle East, they were actually acting on certain commandments, including love your fellow

man, because the Christians of that region were being completely annihilated and terrorized, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands killed and enslaved by the Seljuk Turks at the time, especially Armenians, the Greeks and the Balkan region, and so forth. So that's really the context of the First Crusade. Then I also have the Rican Kisai. have two chapters there, three chapters crusade, and then three chapters, the Balkans. Hang on one second, Raymond. We'll be right back with Raymond Ibrahim, folks. We have him for the whole hour today. I want to remind you, we desperately need your help. The Alliance Defending Freedom, go to metaxistalk.com. Please, folks, metaxistalk.com, or dial 855-385-096, 855-385-05-05

nine six. 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. It is real, it is physical, it's always been valuable since the dawn of time. Legacy precious metals is the company I trust for investing in gold. They can help you roll your retirement account into a gold-backed IRA where you still own the physical gold. They can also ship gold and precious metals safely and securely to your house. Call Legacy at 866-528-1903 or visit them online at Legacy PM and

Investments.com. If you want to know what the left's real plan is for your kids, just look at the reaction to the work Patriot Mobile did in multiple school districts in Texas. The left is losing their minds over it. Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative mobile phone provider and a force for conservative values. That's because they take a portion of your bill and fund conservative causes and candidates who believe in the sanctity of life, freedom of speech, the Second Amendment, and they're winning. Patriot Mobile has affordable plans for you, your family, even your business. They offer the same nationwide coverage as the major carriers because they use multiple major networks. Plus, you're supporting conservative values with every phone call. Go to patriotmobile.com slash Eric.

Patriotmobile.com slash Eric or call 972 Patriot. Get free activation with the offer code Eric. Special discounts available for veterans and first responders. Join our movement. Make the switch today and a difference tomorrow. Patriotmobile.com slash Eric. Patriotmobile.com slash Eric. Or call 9.5.com. 172 Patriot. Folks, welcome back. Did you contact the Alliance Defending Freedom? 855-385-0-5-96, 855-385-0-5-9-6. Or go to Metaxist Talk.com.

They need your help. We're fighting a war on many, many fronts. The Alliance Defending Freedom, they are defending our religious liberties in the court. We have to step up. we're in a battle. I'm talking to Raymond Ibrahim, who is talking about the same battle, but a different part of the battle. He is the author of a book, Defenders of the West, the Christian heroes who stood against Islam. And Raymond, you were just talking about the misunderstanding that a lot of people have fallen into with regard, I mean, just theologically about this idea that we're not supposed to

fight. We're supposed to be in a supine position. Somehow that's Christ's. like. And there's always truth in every lie. Yes, Jesus allowed himself to be crucified on the cross. And to some extent, that is a model for us. We are to die to self. There's always truth in every lie. So there is truth here, and we don't want to miss the truth. But to apply this, as widely as it has been applied, is just devastating. And so you talk about this. You talk about the moments in our Christian history when people understood it was their duty before God to stand and to fight. And in many cases, literally. So talk a little bit about the Crusades and the background of your book Defenders of the West because so many people, especially evangelicals today, have adopted this kind of liberalized false view of what it means to stand as a Christian. Oh, absolutely, Eric, I agree. And, you know, it's not just a theoretical point that I'm making or you're making. That's, I think, the whole point that the book shows you, and it brings it out naturally without me trying to do it. It's just there. So as I was saying, basically, there's eight chapters, eight men, three Balkans, two, three Crusades, two in Spain. And what's significant about all these men, and they include men like Vlad Tepis, okay, Count Dracula, the vampire, and, you know, who's very applicable today, since we're approaching Halloween. But,

But the reason I say that is because the book will also show you how these people have been manipulated and mangled in ways that we're familiar with, basically showing the Christians as the bad guy constantly, no matter what. So Vlad, for example, did he do impalement? Yes, he did. And I'm not trying to whitewash any of that. But what you don't understand is he was taught that actually in the Ottoman courts, Turkish Muslim courts, when he was a hostage to them as a youth. And he was essentially fighting fire with fire when the Muslims. were invading his native homeland, Wallachia, modern-day Romania. That's just one example.

Wait, so, wait. So one of the eight heroes who stood against Islam in your book is the so-called Vlad the Impaler. Right. Yeah, who's a national hero in Romania. And, you know, they have statues of him and so forth. But to us, thanks to Brian Stoker, who wrote a, you know, fictitious novel and just, you know, took his name and added it on. and he became a blood-sucking denizen of the night, flying about in the middle of the night.

That's not obviously the truth. Was he cruel? Yes. But again, you have to understand it in the context of the time and who he was cruel to and why. You know, he had a very traumatic life. He was thrown, he actually, even though he was the ruler of Wolakis, spent more time in prison than he did on the throne.

And, you know, he was betrayed by his own family. And there's, you know, it's very graphic stories. all of these actually. But what's significant, what I'd like to underline, which, you know, speaks to what you were talking about is all of these men, and this is what I found fascinating, posited and presented their crusade, their fight against Islamic terrorism and jihad as a Christian thing. That was first and foremost what they did, including Vlad. Okay. So even in Vlad's writings and in his speeches and in his logic and fighting, but not just them, all of them, the crusaders, first and foremost, and you don't get this in the secondary histories,

okay was that they saw this as acting on God's commandments protecting whether it was the holy sepulture whether it was pilgrims Christians who were being mauled and murdered and raped and destroyed it was seen as fulfilling the two greatest commandments loving God and loving your fellow man I mean I think we have to we have to clarify because I just I know we have such a disparate audience we want to say folks this is part of what we're dealing with now with the cancel culture. And others, when we talk about somebody like Vlad the Impaler, so called, right? We want to acknowledge that

some of these heroes in some ways were deeply messed up and did evil. Okay? So if we're talking about George Washington, or we're talking about Columbus, or we're talking about Jefferson, or they all did wrong. They were human beings. So we're not celebrating everything they did. But what we're trying to do is

is trying to clarify that just because someone did some things that were wrong, in some cases, grievous, horrifying things, it does not negate the good that they did, which must be celebrated. And the reason I have behind me a bust of George Washington is because when I look at this man as a whole, he is one of the greatest heroes who has ever lived in the history of mankind. but there are people today who just want to point out what it is that he did wrong or the fact that he owns slaves, which I think we all agree was wrong. So when we're talking about the defenders of the West, the Christian heroes who stood against Islam by my guest, Raymond I want to be really clear about that, folks. When somebody's a hero, if we say somebody's a

hero, it doesn't mean we agree with everything they did. And that penchant in our own day to only find people who are perfect. It's preposterous. Only Jesus was perfect. And I really think in a funny way, Raymond, this is the battle of our time is to try to try again to do what you're doing in your book and what I've done in some of my books is to try to make the case for these people as heroes who were imperfect. I mean, we could be talking about Andrew Jackson.

There's so many people that in many ways we're talking. tremendous heroes, but their history is checkered enough that modern scholars can't bear to hold them up as heroes. They have to just throw them away. Yeah, I would agree with that wholeheartedly. And I'd also emphasize that in many ways that's being exploited. It's a pretext to do precisely that. It's a self-righteous kind of, oh, well, look at them, when in fact, them were in many ways more virtuous than the people today who are condemning them in different ways. Yeah. So I agree with you.

And yeah, I'm not trying to see. I personally don't even celebrate these men. I'm trying to do a historical, you know, delineation of who they were, what they did, and how to compare and contrast it. And certainly they engage in what we would call today atrocities, but what's left out in the vacuum. And this is the whole point. You hear about what they did, the violence, but you don't understand the background and what provoked and price.

prompted it. So let's go back quickly to the Crusades, which is, again, when you talk about, you know, Muslims and Christians fighting historically, it's the only thing that ever comes up in the Western conscience. Because here you finally have Christians marching onto Islamic territory. But really, that was a drop in the bucket of the overall warfare, which features Muslims invading Christian lands. And of course, in the crusaders' minds, they weren't marching into Muslim lands. They were going back to Christian territory that was conquered, which it was, in reality. So, but right before the Crusades, as I was, you know, to give you a little more context, the Armenians and the Greeks of Asia Minor, according to the contemporary sources, literally hundreds of thousands were killed, burned alive, crucified, many, of course, enslaved. In Armenia alone, thousands of churches were intentionally desecrated and burned. You know, one Arab recorded that he went to the capital of Armenia at the time, Ani, and he couldn't even walk because of all the corpses laying around. So that's the, the, That's the context of what provoked and brought out the ugly side of these Christian warriors.

So when you mentioned Armenia and what century are you talking about now? I'm talking about the 11th century, starting from right around 1020 up until, well, you know, the famous battle of Manzacurt in 1071, which really after that allowed the Turks to completely penetrate Asia Minor Anatolia, today Turkey, until the crusades in 1095, because they were now at the point of reaching Constantinople, and that's who called for the aid of the West, really, the emperor, Alexius. Because I grew up in the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek community, I know much of this.

And it is very tempting for us, you know, to forget about this history. It's just as tempting for us to become tribalist, right? In other words, the idea that I would say, I'm Greek and I hate the Turks and I'm a Greek. Christian, I hate the truck. It's like, no, no, no. If you know the Bible and you know Jesus personally, you don't have that attitude. But we've strayed so far in the other direction. And your book I see and what you're talking about is a corrective against this, that we need to really understand the breadth and depth of what we're talking about, folks. We're talking about people who endured

horrors at the hands of Muslims. You need to understand. It's like, talking about those who were tortured by the Native Americans in the United States. We've got to see both sides of this. Otherwise, you cannot see clearly. When you hold one up as a noble savage or you hold one up as a Christian conqueror or whatever, it's more complicated. And if you don't want to see that, you're being intentionally sloppy and careless. And that's why we're talking to Raymond Ibrahim.

The book is Defenders of the West, the Christian Heroes, who stood against. against Islam. We'll be right back. Tell me, Eric, why is relief factor so successful at lowering or eliminating pain? I'm often asked that question. The owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal. That's right, designed to heal. And I agree with them. So the doctors who formulated Relief Factor for them selected the four best ingredients, yes, 100% drug-free ingredients, each helps your body deal with inflammation. Each of the four ingredients deals with inflammation from a different metabolic path. and that right there approaching from four different angles may be why so many people find such wonderful relief. So if you've got back pain, shoulder, neck, hip, knee, or foot pain from exercise or just getting older, you should order the three-week quick start discounted to only 1995

to see if it will work for you. It works for me. It has for about 70% of the half a million people who've tried it and have ordered more. Go to relieffactor.com or call 800 for relief to find out about this offer. Feel the difference. Introducing vina, a new miracle superfood that's emerged from the Holy Land that is clinically proven to increase your blood circulation. For an investment of about a dollar a day, enjoy the health benefits of one bottle of red wine in each capsule of vina minus the alcohol, sugar, and calories. And echo the age old wisdom to take a little wine for your health sake. A clinical trial showed that vina significantly increased dilation of arteries for each person who took one capsule of vina daily for three months.

Better blood flow enhances the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your brain, heart, and other tissues providing you with improving physical energy and mental alertness. So order your VINIA today and get 10% off using Salem 10 at vina.com slash Salem or call 800-4508503. That's vina.com slash Salem using promo code Salem 10. VINIA, better blood flow, better life. Vinya.com slash Salem. Folks, welcome back talking to Raymond Ibrahim, spelled with an I, I, B, A, I-B-R-A-H-I-M, Abraham. Raymond, your book Defenders of the West, let's keep going.

Who are some of the characters that you talk about in this book? Well, actually, so the first one, chapter one, actually I wanted to mention right now, is God-free of Buoyan, and he becomes the, so he's part of the First Crusade. He's one of the leaders of the First Crusade. And I don't want to give too much. I don't want to make a spoiler because a lot of this book actually is written in a very exciting narrative to just show you know, show you their life and adventure. But anyway, what was what's interesting about Godfrey is oftentimes you hear the Crusaders, they were the second sons, okay, who were denied land or whatever. And so they decided to go and carve out whatever territory and get money and become rich and landholding in the Middle East.

Okay. well, he was a second son, but as it happened, he actually was a landowner and a noble, and he was a Duke. He's known as the Duke. He actually sold everything to fund the crusade, and then the rest of the money he gave to charity, to monasteries and so forth. He gave up everything, essentially, to just spend several years of torture and fighting and warfare. And when you look at why he did it, it's again for his faith. It's for helping Christians and so forth. And I understand what you're saying. You know, we have to counterbalance, you know, the love. with the whole idea of just war. But I think many of these men actually did that, at least in the context of the times, as much as you could. People forget just how wild and savage, you know, the pre-modern world was.

That's the point is people act as though you're living in America in the 21st century. No, ladies and gentlemen, the world has been unbelievably brutal and painful. And we need to get that. We need to understand the context. So tell us, When did Godfrey of Boulogne live again? What was the context? Yeah, he's one of the first leaders of the First Crusade. He's born, I think. I have his date. I want to say 1040 A.D. He actually dies very young. He becomes the, so this is one little spoiler, but he becomes the first king of Jerusalem. And he didn't even want to be the king. And it's interesting because when they offered him the crown, he said, I refused to wear a crown where my lord wore the crown of thorns. So he wouldn't even take the, the

title king and he became the defender of the sepulture, basically. But he didn't even want to do that because his goal was to help liberate Jerusalem from Islamic control, which at the time was very suffocating and full of atrocities against Christians in the Holy Land. He wanted to go back home. And he knew he wouldn't last. And he actually just, and he spent one year surrounded by obviously a hostile sea of Islamic terrorism and eventually died from it. But he's just one of so many. And, you know, just give you a quick breakdown. the second chapter deals with the famous El Cid, okay, Rodrigo or Roderick Dave Avar, D.

Roderick, I always confuse his, you know, Spanish name with his anglicized name. Rodrigo V.S. Dave Avar from Burgos. Anyway, he's, we know him, of course, is Charlton Heston from the, you know, 1960s movie. And again, you know, you see the political correctness going way back to that time because they portray him as a very sort of, you know, ecumenical man who just, you know, he likes Muslims, just as much as he fights against Christians and so forth. And there's a, you know, kernel of truth to that based on the real politic of the time. But again, you dig in the sources as I do, and you find out he was an avowed crusader vis-a-vis the Islamic Jihad, which was, again, very atrocious. One of the battles in his times, you know,

features about 2,400 decapitated Spaniard Christian heads with Muslims standing on. on top, calling the faithful to prayer, you know, screaming Allah, Al-Aubbar, and so forth. And in his fight again, it was in a context of just war because he's trying, and the other Spaniards, to reconquer their territory from, in Spain, which was taken very violently, beginning in the 8th century, by Muslims. And then the third chapter, of course, is the famous King Richard, Richard the Lionheart. And, you know, he's a very, now, you know, if you read that chapter, I didn't know, I didn't really appreciate why he got the name Lionheart.

But when you read that chapter, you will. I mean, this is, his chapter is one that could, you know, you hear that truth is stranger than fiction. That's the case. You want to make a very exciting movie and you don't want to exaggerate. You know, the script is right there. And then, anyway, fourth, and then the fourth chapter would go back to Spain with Ferdinand, the third Castile, also known as St. Ferdinand.

And he, and he in chapter five, who's his cousin, which is King Louis of France, the ninth, St. Louis. So you got two sainted kings, and I think each one's the only sainted king in their countries, who were at the same time wild warriors, okay, fighting Islam. So again, that sheds a little light on the thinking of the time. And people today, of course, will say that's insane, and it just shows you how bad the Catholic Church is, that they would saint men who actually fought and killed. But again, it really underscores this different and much older and longer-lasting kind of Christianity than what we have today, okay, which is very capitulating and, you know, built on, you know, not judging and turning in the other cheek and so forth. And I'd add, you know,

this turning the other cheek thing, the one recorded instance where Jesus actually was slapped, he did not turn his other cheek. So there is obviously some symbolic significance to this. He actually challenged the man who slapped him, why he slapped him, and, you know, he put him on the spot. He was assertive with him. And, you know, and to go back to this just word, because I think it's very important. You know, when the one man that Jesus really praised and did not tell him to repent and said he was a great man of faith, it was a centurion. And this man was responsible for, you can imagine how many people being killed constantly. But did he tell him to repent? Did he say quit the Roman army? No, because it was understood that there is, you need justice to ensure peace and tranquility. It's so important, folks, that we get this right. And we're only beginning, really. to see these problems and to begin to undo the bad thinking that has led us to this horrifying place. I am talking to Raymond Ibrahim, The Book, Defenders of the West, the Christian Heroes, who stood against Islam. We'll be right back.

With the overturn of Rovi 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 401Ks, IRAs, and other investment accounts? Folks, this is a huge problem, and we need to do something about this to send a message to Wall Street through our investments.

You need to go to inspireadvisors.com slash Eric and get a free Inspire Impact Report. This biblical investment analysis will educate you on what's really in your investment accounts like companies paying for abortion travel. You need to go to inspire advisors, com slash Eric to connect with an Inspire Advisors Financial Professional Professional who can run your report and help remove companies paying for abortion travel today.

Go to inspireadvisors.com slash Eric. That's inspireadvisors.com slash Eric. Advisory services are offered through Inspire Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor with the SEC. My Pillow is having their biggest sheet sale of the year. You've all helped build my pillow into the amazing company it is today. Now Mike Lindell, inventor and CEO wants to give back exclusively to my listeners. That's you.

The per kale and Giza Dream bed sheet sets are available in a variety of colors and sizes, and they're now all on sale for as low as 2998 with our listener promo code. Order now because when they're gone, they're gone. The per kale and Giza Dream sheets are breathable and have a cool, crisp feel. They come with a 10-year warranty and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Don't miss out on this incredible offer because there's a limited supply, so be sure to order now. call 1-800-978-3057 now and use the promo code Eric,

or you can go to Mypillow.com. Click on the radio listener square and use the promo code Eric. This offer will not last very long. They're known to sell quickly. So order now with promo code Eric at mypillow.com. Promocode Eric at mypillow.com. Folks, this is our final segment with Raymond Ibrahim for now, because obviously there's so much more.

to talk about. We're talking about undoing decades of misunderstanding, Raymond, about what it means to be a Christian, how we're to be in our faith, whether we're to fight, how we're to fight. And I feel books like yours are helping us really undo the deep misunderstanding and heresy by showing us the other side. The book is Defenders of the West, the Christian Heroes, who stood against Islam. I'm thinking a lot of homeschoolers should read this book, Defenders of the West by Raymond Ibrahim.

So you were talking about Richard the Lionhearted. These are figures from history. These figures are lost to history today. In other words, even when we were kids, people would know who these folks were. But in latter decades, in a sense, this history has been ignored.

These heroic figures, what it would mean to be, lionhearted. David, of course, was lionhearted. And we don't think of David as, well, you know, that's before Jesus came. And we praise David for his heroism and their figures in scripture. And we need to understand when that is right, when that is wrong. And even when it's wrong, why, given the context? And of course, that's what you do in your book Defenders of the West. Talk a little bit about Richard, the Lionhearted. Give us his story. story. Sure. So Richard

Lionhard, he's, I think, the great grandson of William the Conqueror of the Norman Conquist of England. And you know, it's interesting because, and I talk a little bit about this in the conclusion of the book, but Richard is interesting because he's of the eight men that I talk about. He's one of the

more famous. We kind of know his name. We've seen some movies and so forth. But it's, you know, it's so kind of now, it's almost like what I want to say is today they've taken, let's say, these eight men. The ones that we don't know about who are from the Balkans, you know, and I'll talk about them, Scanderberg, from Uniadi and so forth, they don't even talk about them because, you know,

it's better let, you know, let sleeping dogs fly. The ones that are sort of famous in our minds a little bit, like Richard, they've completely devastated and turned him into just, you want to talk about toxic masculinity and patriarchy. Okay, it's him and it's actually the rest of these guys. And so if anything, they are now the bad guys. They are intolerant. They're just, you know, womanizers or murderers and so forth, but there's zero context in it. So Richard anyway goes to the Holy Land. He spends only about two years. He could have actually done a lot more progress, you know, very impressive progress. He already did anyway. But if it wasn't for he got betrayed by his brother, John, of course, and we all know the famous stories of Richard and John,

and King Philip also stealing his lands and so forth and trying to, you know, take over power. So there's a lot of machinations in that as well. And the book really also shows you the disunity of Christians and how they oftentimes undermine each other and ally with the common enemy and so forth. So there's a lot of continuity with that as well. Anyway, because each of these chapters, by the way, is about 40 pages.

And it's a dense book. But at the same time, I think the narrative is pretty quick pace. So I'm just trying to go fast as well. So after him, you have St. Louis, who I call, you know, Christ's tragic hero. Because this is a man who had everything. He's considered probably, you know, he was probably, he's considered the king of France at its most glorious point. You know, I think he was behind the building of Notre Dame. And this, and now you want to talk about piety.

I mean, this man, the way he lived and the things that he did. So this man would take, would not eat his, he would first feed beggars and lepers with his own hand and then eat the leftovers because he didn't want to waste the money. This is a mighty king, okay? And he sold so much and he gave away so much just to fund two crusades. Okay, and, you know, I don't want to get into the details. But if you read the book, you'll see why he's the tragic hero. But at the same time, he was engaged in warfare. And he would tell you he loves Muslims.

So when he would meet them, he would actually preach Christ to them because he was even more concerned, as he said, about their souls than about, you know, what was happening in the current political climate. And it's just that I know it's something. hard for modern-day Christians understand this, you know, but it's, I think, significant to bring it out, and it makes sense, you know, how a man like that thought, and that's why he became a saint, and even till today in scornfully secular France, when they do polls about who's their greatest kings, he often comes up in the very top, is very well liked. After him, however, the last three

chapters deal with the Balkans, and there I look at John Huniadi, the Hungarian governor, and eventually regent. And then the most famous of them all, really, and probably the one that no one's ever heard of, George Castrioti, Scanderbeg. And then we mentioned Vlad. Juniadi, of course, is very interesting his story. It's actually, it has parallels today, as you'll see.

He was a very self-made, wealthy nobleman who fought constantly and was loved by the people, and his enemies were actually the elites who continuously would side with the enemy, the Turks, just to see him fall. And, you know, that obviously that reminds me of someone, reminds me of Trump and, you know, what's been going on with the elites and so forth

and how he's a populist. So you had that going on with someone like John Huniadi. And again, I don't want to get it to too much detail because they're just very impressive and I don't want to spoil her, but how he dies and how he lived. And then Scanderberg, okay, so this is an Albanian man, a nobleman who was abducted by the Turks as a youth and was trained to become a janissary,

which basically they would take the strongest, healthiest, best-looking, whatever. Christians in their youth, force them into becoming Muslims, and then trained them to be jihadist extraordinaire, and then unleash them on their former kin and continue this cycle of depopulating the Christians of their best and bravest

and augmenting the ranks of Islam. Anyway, they did that with him, and he rose to the highest echelons of the Ottoman army, and he was loved by the Sultan. But the moment he had, had a chance. He actually broke free and ran back to Albanian, chose a life living as a fugitive and leading a rag-tag band of Albanians, which his army at most, number 10,000, vis-a-vis 100 and 150,000 Ottomans that would continuously come, wave after wave attacking his land. He's known actually as the

Albanian Braveheart. He's familiar, of course, with William Wallace and his story. Scandarbeg is, to me, actually, if you read from the primary source, is even more impressive and how he spent about a quarter of a century doing this. And he just sacrificed everything. But then again, you dig in. And it's interesting because Albania today is a Muslim nation, majority. And the reason for that is because he was a staunch Christian, and he gave up everything to maintain his Christian identity.

And he so irked to the Ottomans that after he died, everything was done to Islamize that nation, more so than any other European nation. We're out of time. But just for today, Raymond Ibrahim, thank you, folks. The book is Defenders of the West, the Christian heroes who stood against Islam. I think we need to be familiar with these stories. So we will have Raymond Ibrahim Beck again. The book is Defenders of the West.

Get a copy. I'm going to read it soon. Defenders of the West. Raymond, thank you so much. God bless you. Thanks very much for having me, Eric. God bless you. My goodness, I am so excited.

We have much more coming up on the program today. I want to remind you, folks, we've just got a couple of days left in our campaign. We haven't even reached half of our goal for our campaign with the Alliance Defending Freedom. And so I just want to ask you in our final days, if you haven't given, would you please give? Would you please go to metaxis talk.com, click on the ADF banner. some of you know the background here what it is that ADF does now for the past 10 years Jack Phillips he's the Denver area baker okay he has been under brutal attack legal attack this is a baker okay who's going through hell why because he has values he has Christian beliefs and he says

you know I can't bake a cake or create something that celebrates something that I don't agree with Now in America, most of us would say, yeah, this is America. But people are challenging that. People are challenging religious liberty. They sneer at it. They're like, shut up. You'll do what you're told. They don't seem to understand that we live in a free country.

And so where does somebody like Jack Phillips go? And he's one story, okay? Where does he go? He goes to the lines defending freedom. So ADF goes up to bat. They win a major case at the U.S. Supreme Court on his behalf. Okay, they do this. How do they do this? Well, through generous donations from folks like you, okay? But now there's another lawsuit against Jack Phillips because these people are relentless. They're trying to force him to create a cake celebrating. You ready for this? The seventh anniversary of his transition from a man to a woman. Some guys transition. It's been seven years. He wants to celebrate it. Now, of course, they're playing a game. They're doing. this just to force people like Jack Phillips and like you and me to abandon our beliefs.

All right. So this is, many other bakers would be willing to bake this cake. So Jack Phillips is saying, well, so why are you insisting that I bake it, right? It's a free country. Find somebody who wants to do it. So let's play the clip that Jack Phillips has recorded. You know, I don't know the motivation, but the Constitution clearly protects my right. Colorado is trying to take away the right for me to decide which messages I create and which messages

I declined to create. And again, I serve everybody. I will serve everybody, but I can't make every cake and promote every message. And Colorado just wants to change that. Folks, it's amazing. This is 10 years of legal harassment, okay, that's happened to Jack Phillips. He's a baker. Do you understand? This guy, he's not an activist. He's not in the public eye. He's a guy plying his trade. People have come after him. So if it can happen to him, it can happen to you. It will happen to many of you listening to me right now. And so that's why we need to fight now.

We need your help now. Alliance Defending Freedom never charges a dime to its clients. That's because their legal costs are defrared by generous folks like you. Tax deductible donations from folks like you. We've only got a couple of days left. Your gift in any amount can be made by calling our phone number. Remember, you can go to the website, MetaxistalksTalk.com and click on the banner. But I want to give this phone number because I know many of you haven't given.

You can pick up the phone right now. It is 855-385-0-5-9-6. That's 855-385-0-5-9-6. Whatever gift you give will be doubled because somebody has made a donation. They want to double it. It doesn't get doubled unless you make your gift. Yes, and let me jump in here, Eric. It's the weekend.

Go to SalemNow.com. You'll see two great films there, border battle. That's a continuing series. And also, no vacancy, starring Superman, Dean Kane. Wow. SalemNow.com. Check it out. And don't forget, folks, Neutrametics, 30% off only in October.

You got to use the code, Eric, 30% off. only this month, a couple of days left, but go to metactustalk.com. Click on that banner today. Please thank you.