The Eric Metaxas Show - Rick Renner (continued)

Episode Date: December 16, 2022

Rick Renner returns to the show all the way from Russia with more amazing details from his discoveries revealed in "Christmas: The Rest of the Story."

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mataxis 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. Ladies and gentlemen, buckle your seatbelts and keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times. Here comes Mr. Thrill Ride himself, Eric Mattaxas. Hey there, folks. We're talking to Rick Renner. who, R-E-N-N-E-R, who has written a book called Christmas the rest of the story.

And some of the stuff is so rich that it really is difficult to skip past. I mean, I want to, one of the things you mention, and I want to come back to Egypt and all this stuff, but one of the things you mentioned, Rick, in the book, which was astonishing to me, is that Sephora was, what, about four miles from Nazareth. Now, we've got to think about, this. That is very close. You know, you can walk there for work and walk home to Nazareth.

And it was a magnificent city. We never think Jesus grew up in a place near a magnificent city. We think he grew up in the backwater of Nazareth. He did, but it was so close to Sephora that there can be no question that he would have been familiar with that world, a metropolitan, sophisticated world. And you know, his grandparents live. there. Mary's parents lived in Supportus. And that's where Joseph worked. There was no work in Nazareth. Nobody worked in Nazareth. There was nothing to do there.

What were you going to build in Nazareth? I mean, all there was, maybe 480 people in Nazareth. It was a sleeping community. There were five sleeper communities when Nazareth was one. And they were all employed in Sapphorus. And so when Jesus came there to see

his dad or came there to see Mary's parents, he saw the theater. Well, there was no theater in Jerusalem. He saw the rich people. He saw the banking system. He saw those that were what the Bible calls sumptuously dressed. He became affiliated with the beggars that were laying outside the rich people's homes, the lavish, lavish vineyards around the area, palaces and vineyards. And all of that was a part of the training that Jesus received so that when he began his ministry, Jesus was able to speak to the educated and the uneducated.

He could speak about the theater. Other Jews couldn't speak about the theater. They'd never even seen one. Jesus could talk about the banking system. God put him in a position where he was well-rounded in education, and there's a lesson for that for believers today. We need to get as much insight as we can

so we can speak to every person on every level. And Jesus was able to do that. There's just so much else in here. I mean, again, if you think of the word tecton, which for, you know, most of us have been translated, oh, Jesus was a son of a carpenter. And you realize, no, no, actually, that's not true. If you want to read what the Bible says, the Bible doesn't say he's a son of a carpenter. He says he's a son of a tecton, and a tecton is a craftsman, is a builder. It could be all kinds of things.

But when you think about, oh, he's in this little humble village in Nazareth, and they've got a carpenter there, and it kind of makes sense. But you think, no, it's a tiny village. You can barely make a little. living, even if you were a carpenter in Nazareth. But you begin to see that we've all kind of bought these ideas that are really not right or they're just half the story. When you talk about Jesus being born in Bethlehem, and you talk about, of course, Bethlehem is very close to Jerusalem and they dedicate the baby at the temple in Jerusalem. How many days after his birth, would they have done this? Eight days. Eight days. Again, we read this in scripture. We tend to

gloss over it like, okay, you know, but you think, wow, they took Jesus. People also say, well, they were poor. They were poor, and that's why they offered two turtle doves. Well, turtle doves were also offered by travelers because they couldn't carry bigger animals to be sacrificed. Mary and Joseph were traveling. So they fulfilled the law. And at the end of 40 days, after Mary's period of purification,

the very last verse in Luke chapter 2 says the entire Holy Family packed up and went home to Nazareth. They left. And the wise men didn't show up for two years later. Okay, so when they go, to the temple in Jerusalem, which, again, it beggars description. I mean, it's so magnificent. The idea that they travel there with Jesus, who is eight days old from Bethlehem, which is, what, 10 miles or something, and they encounter Simeon in the temple. I never knew who Simeon was. And in your book, Christmas,

the rest of the story, you talk about Simeon. And again, Rick, I was astonished. I thought, how have I never heard this before? I mean, I read what scripture says about Simeon and, you know, he sings the famous nunc dimetis, you know, now I can depart by, but who Simeon was? You're telling us that Simeon, in extra-biblical accounts was a very, very, very, very famous figure in Jerusalem at this time. I'd never heard this. He was the son of Hillil, who was the head of the great Sanhedron, and Simeon was not an old man. Everybody assumes that he was old because it says that he says, now I can depart. What was the equivalent to if I died today, it'd be okay. I've already received what I needed. He was not an elderly man

at all. And he was very well known for having the spirit of prophecy on him. And everybody knew that he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. He came into the temple right at the synchronized moment whenever Mary and Joseph came with Jesus, and then came Anna, who was a prophetess, who strangely lived either in the temple or on the temple grounds. And she came in at the same time, both of them being led by the Spirit prophesying that this was the Messiah. And Mary and Joseph, their mouths must have dropped open when Simeon, this celebrity in Jerusalem, began to prophesy over their son, even though the angel had appeared to Mary and Joseph had heard from angels, for Simeon to begin speaking about their newborn like this, it must have just left them speechless.

And if you think about it, I mean, what it struck me, or what struck me is that here you have one of the leading religious figures of that time. I mean, just one of the top, top, top, top figures in the Jewish world in Jerusalem, declaring this is the Messiah. Now, you know, fast forward three decades in change, and obviously they rejected the Messiah. How astonishing that this major figure, because again, when you read this scripture, you could get the impression, this was a little private event. This guy named Simeon shows up, and he prophesies, and you go, but then you find out, oh, no, no, no, no.

that guy was extraordinarily well-known and respected. You couldn't be more well-known and more respected in these circles. And so you think there's a disconnect there. I wonder what happened with Simeon. I mean, the son of Hillel, my goodness, you know, it's a big deal. The city of Jerusalem's population was not very big. It was very connected. You could know everybody in Jerusalem.

And later on was a famous teacher by the name of Gamiliel, who taught the Apostle Paul, and Gamalio was taught by Simeon. I mean, I was going to say it had to be, because when Paul references Gamaliel, you're thinking he's a big deal. So this is a small circles. But how crazy that Simeon declares this is Messiah, and then somehow all of that evaporates? Well, religious opposition is pretty strong. Yeah, I mean, but that's it, but I just never thought of who, you, you know, Simeon Wessa, thanks to you in your book, you make that clear. You also make clear

that the shepherds watching their flocks by night, we tend, I think a lot of times we tend to, you know, when we're creating a narrative, we focus on, oh, they're the humble shepherds, which is true, on the one hand. On the other hand, they were special shepherds. Talk about that for a moment. Well, those in the shepherds field were shepherds under Levitical care, and their job was to raise sheep for the Passover. Every year, about 260,000 sheep were sacrificed at the temple. And their job was to inspect the newborns, to wrap them in swaddling clothes, to put them in a manger where they would then be inspected by a priest.

And the priest would declare that it was a lamb without blemish, without fault. And so that's what those particular shepherd did. Now, why would they put the sheep to be inspected in a manger? that doesn't make sense because a manger is a feeding trough. It is a feeding trough, but that's what they had nearby. So that's what they would actually use, and it says that. Oh, yeah. In fact, there was a place near there called the Tower of Edgel,

and that's where most of the sheep were taken when they were born. Forgive me, I didn't realize we're going to a break. We'll be right back plenty more with Rick Renner. The book is Christmas, the rest of the story. Tell me why Relief Factor is so successful at Lerner, lowering or eliminating pain. I'm often asked that question just the other night. I was asked that question.

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Call Legacy at 866-5281903 or visit them online at legacy pminvestments.com. Holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night. We continue our conversation with Rick Renner. He's in Moscow, Russia. We're talking about his book, Christmas, the rest of the story. So you said that the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night, that they were particular shepherds doing a particular thing,

and that they were the ones charged with raising, the sheep that would be sacrificed in the temple, and they had to be without blemish. And you say that they would wrap the sheep in swaddling clothes. They would swaddle the sheep. That's right. They would wrap their legs. It looked like bandages. We illustrated this in the book.

I hired a Russian Jew to illustrate the book because I wanted people to really see what I'm talking about. But they would wrap the little legs of the land. to make sure they didn't break their legs, they didn't hurt themselves, then we'd put them in a manger, which was not made out of wood, was made out of stone, usually carved right into the side of a cave. And then eventually a priest would come to inspect to say, okay, this is a lamb without blemish. So when the angels showed up and said to the shepherds,

this will be a sign to you. This is so powerful, Eric. It's the equivalent of saying, hey, guys, I'm going to speak in language that you especially, will understand. When you find the real lamb of God, he'll be wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger, which means you've been looking at the wrong lamb. The real lamb is over in Bethlehem, and you will find him. And the word find is even interesting because it's the Greek word heurisco, which means you've got to really search. Well, there are a lot of caves around

Bethlehem. And they probably went from cave to cave looking for where we're going to find this, then Churisco, which is also where we get the word urica, it was a eureka moment when they came into that cave and there they saw a baby. I mean, what would be the odds of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes like a lamb? That's one of the things that blew my mind is like once you get the context, you go, oh, I've never understood this before. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Babies aren't supposed to be wrapped in swaddling clothes.

it just so happens because of the situation that Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes and put in the manger. So when these shepherds go there and they see this, it is a particular sign unto them, which is what you say in the book, and you just said it. God is saying, I'm going to show you something, and this is just for you, because you understand why the lambs are wrapped in swaddling clothes and what it means. Now I'm going to show you something. And, you know, if I was a shepherd wandering around looking for a baby, what are the odds that the baby would be wrapped in swaddling clothes? I think approximately zero.

There's no reason for a baby to be wrapped the way a lamb would be wrapped. But God did this to blow the minds of these shepherds and to just mark them forever that they had seen an utter miracle. But the symbolism, again, it just couldn't be more dramatic. I mean, it's amazing. How God knew how to speak in the language of the shepherds. God knows how to speak to every one of us in terms and symbols that we understand. But when the shepherds left, the Bible says they begin to tell everywhere what they saw, and people were amazed.

And that's because who had ever heard of a baby being wrapped in swaddling clothes? But it means the first time we ever see Jesus in Scripture, the very first time, he appears as the Lamb of God that takes away the simple. of the world. And that explains why John the Baptist, who was Jesus' cousin, they grew up together, they grew up playing together. And John the Baptist had been prepared by his parents that he was going to prepare the way of his cousin. So when his cousin finally showed up, he said, hey, here he is. This is the one who appeared as the Lamb of God and is the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. It's, I mean, the biggest takeaway, Rick, for me,

is that I've not heard much of this stuff before and that God would allow, you know, roughly 20 centuries to pass before this information kind of comes out. In other words, it's, it's, you would think that we would, we would have all known this for all these years, but a lot of this information is, is lost or I'm, in a lot of my books, I'm fascinated with how information travels or, or why don't people know something that is true? Nobody knows that. And you know, you have to say, hey, here's the information. Look at this. Look at this. We're not making this up. That's effectively what you're doing. You're saying that there are all these ancient sources. They're not dubious. And even if you're not 100% sure, you know, you're 90% sure that this, it would have to be this.

And so the sources that you look at to give us all this information, these have existed, but they haven't been corroborated. We've kind of like been drifting along with the standard narrative. And I just find it interesting that now a lot of this information is coming out. I'd heard about the Shepherds a little bit. I'd heard about, you know, Jesus being visited by the Magi at age two, but only in recent years. And then you put all of this stuff together. I want to go back to the idea of Joseph of Arimathea being the uncle, was it? The uncle of Mary.

Okay, Mary's uncle is Joseph of Arimathea. Now, again, I'd never heard that. Now, there are some people who are... There are people who will argue that. Okay. And there are people who will argue against that. But the newest information shows that it is very, very likely that that's who he was. Okay, so let's say it's at least very likely.

Just that is huge information because Joseph Verenae is. These people appear in scripture, you know, they sort of appear and then they go away with no context. Same thing with Simeon. this information's all been available, but I just decided to take all the pieces and put it together. Right. That's why I call it Christmas the rest of this. I mean, there's so much to the story that you miss,

and we're not adding to the scripture, we're actually just marvelously filling it out. It just makes it more miraculous. Well, so when you talk about, you also talk about Mary's parents and her father, you said that they lived in Sephora. I don't remember, I know that that's not in scripture, but where do you get it from? Again, the early church fathers.

Early church fathers, they started in Jerusalem. Mary went to a school in Jerusalem when she was a little girl. She was dedicated to the Lord there and was raised to believe that she would be the handmaiden of the Lord. They moved to Sapphorus where her father seems to have worked in the synagogue. Sephoris was, had the biggest collection of sacred scrolls outside of Jerusalem. And in fact, it was so important that when Jerusalem fell in the year 70, the sandhid removed to Sephora. That's how important that synagogue was. But Mary was raised in an environment of the Word of God.

In Christian terms, we would say that it was a word believing family and they went to church. And Mary had been raised by her parents to believe she had a special purpose. So when Gabriel showed up, don't you think it's amazing? that she didn't say this is impossible, this can't be. She said, how can this be, which is a normal question? But she was very quick to surrender. And that's because her parents had put it in her from a child. Mary, God's got a purpose for your life.

You've been born for something special. So when the angel showed up, she said, here I am. Be it under me, according to your word. I've been waiting for this. Nothing is by accident. We've only got about two minutes left, Rick. I just, I'm amazed by what you have put in the book and that you've pulled this stuff together. And I think a lot of people are, I think a lot of Bible believing people, people who take the Bible seriously,

most people in the audience of this program, sometimes have an improper animus against anything out of the scripture. In other words, they're forgetting that, you know, if I read a history book, it's not script. but it's not contradicting scripture. Truth is truth. You know, math is math. And so the sources that you've used, these aren't apocryphal. These aren't, these are historical sources which the church has believed in over the centuries. But sometimes, you know, you could say after the Reformation, by focusing so much on the Bible,

one weird thing that happened is we somehow lost touch with a lot of the other information. So obviously we want to focus on the Bible. but it's so fascinating to me that the information about Joseph, Mary, and Jesus traveling through Egypt. We have the details. We have the details of who Simeon was. Abundant information. It's extraordinary. And I know that you footnoted this in the book in case people want to look it up. Well, I just want to say thank you for having me.

You know, I think about you, Eric, because you wrote your book on Luther and Bonhofer. I mean, you did your research. and you talked to people and studied people who knew that, well, that's what the early church fathers did. Yeah. They were like Eric Metaxus. Yeah. Well, I'm not kidding.

I think that sometimes the Lord in His mercy, you know, it's kind of like special dispensations. He just says, okay, now we need to pull this information together. It's always been out there, but now I want to put it in the front. And so a lot of what you've done in this book is that. And so I'm just, grateful to get to know you a little bit, Rick. I hope I get to travel to Moscow. That would be amazing sometime.

Come see us. No, I would love that. And obviously, if you ever get to New York, you've got to come here to the TBN Studios. But we're out of time. Folks, Christmas, the rest of the story, Rick Renner, R-E-N-N-E-R. Rick, thank you so much.

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Folks, welcome back. I wanted to talk to you more about our campaign with CSI to free slaves. It's just an extremely wonderful opportunity that we all get to participate. in this. I want everyone, you know, to hear the rest of the story and to get excited about participating if you haven't already participated. It's really key. So we have Todd Chapman on. He's a spokesperson for CSI. Todd, welcome back. Hey, thanks, sir. Good to be here. What should we tell my audience about this campaign? Because sometimes it seems surreal to me that there are people enslaved. We are so sheltered from that kind of evil in this culture.

As bad as things are, we can't imagine that this is really happening. And that CSI amazingly has connections to free slaves. I know that on this program, we've freed over 200 so far in this campaign, but we're only about a third of the way to the goals. I want to get everybody involved. So what can you say to help people understand this? Yeah. Well, first of all, I would just say a huge thank you because, you know,

Eric, you've been such a powerful advocate for the work of CSI, and more importantly, to encourage your listeners to join in, really, this is God's work, to flee these enslaved people. But, you know, this is a story that goes back all the way to the 80s and 90s, really. And it's a story that most Americans don't really know about. I know as I've, you know, began to work with CSI in the last year, it was really educational for me to find that what happened, what led these people into slavery, and the fact that there are. are still tens of thousands of people that have been enslaved since the 80s and 90s, basically because of religious persecution. And so it's been eye-opening for me, and I'm sure it has been as well for many of your listeners to find out what's going on.

But the long and short of it is, you know, way back in the 80s, because of religious persecution, the Arab Muslims were allowed to raid the villages along the South Sudan border. And anybody who didn't convert to Islam, they were allowed to kill them and take everything they had. take the women and kids into slavery. And those women and children who are now grown still enslaved today. And so CSI has been working since 1995 to free those slaves, to bring them into freedom, to reunite them with their families, get them back to their home village, give them a fresh start in life. And it's an incredible minister.

We've freed over 100,000 people since 1995. But it's tragic that there are still people left there. And so that's why we're just inviting me to be a part of this amazing work. and a gift of $250 will buy, in essence, buy the freedom of a slave, not through cash, but through a cattle vaccine, and then get them set up to have a productive and bright future. It's amazing what you can do today. I want to help us make this point. If somebody says, we always get emails from people saying, like, I don't understand, if I give $250,

am I not encouraging this? because we're giving money to these people. And that's not, CSI has been very, very careful not to do that because they're aware of that danger. So what they do is they kind of barter because these people are tribes people. They have herds of cows that are suffering from diseases. And CSI will barter a vaccine to help them with their herds, but not give them money. And it's important we understand that. folks. That CSI is very sensitive to this issue. So when you give your money, don't think, oh, I've got some question if I'm, you know, perpetuating the problem. Thank God you're not.

Yeah. Yeah. Actually, Lindy from who listens in England and Colorado, she said, hey, my husband and I were talking about this. And our concern is if we buy the freedom of a slave, are we basically, you know, creating an unintended market for this to persist? The short answer is no, as evidenced by the fact, but again, CSI's been doing this way since 1995. So if it were going to create an increased market, you know, we would know it by now. But second of all, we continue to this day, you know, after 30 years, to have the absolutely unquestioned support of political leaders, church leaders in that part of the world because they know that this works. This is, in fact, the only way to get these slaves freed. And again, no cash changes hands. It's a barter for the cattle vaccine. Most of your $250 gift will, in fact, go to provide a goat and food and blankets and food to get this, you know, this freed slave on a path to having a sustainable future life.

But it's a great question. It's a legitimate question. And I'm grateful that you asked that because I'm sure a lot of people have that same question. Well, yeah, that's the point. I think that there are people who said, well, wait a minute. How do I know? And it's like, well, we want to address that because I want people to know also that, you know, we say it's about freeing a slave. It's actually freeing a slave and getting them set up in a life beyond slavery.

And that is what the lion's share of the $250 goes toward, to it's setting them up with food, with a goat, with a sustainable lifestyle that follows their release. Because it's not just enough that somebody's released from slavery, then what? So CSI has thought this through. And it's just a, it's a beautiful thing, Todd. And I want my audience to understand. Again, people say, well, what can I do about all the evil in the world? Well, there's a lot you can do.

But sometimes somebody, and in this case, CSI, they tee it up so beautifully that this is one of the worst evils on the planet. And we, by the grace of God, with a relatively small amount of money, can participate. in actually literally freeing slaves. It's just, I mean, to me, it's an amazing thing that CSI gives us this opportunity. Yeah, you know, the things I love about working with CSI, and again, I'm new to the party. I've been working with CSI for about a year.

So I'm kind of like a kid in a candy store too. But, you know, as I talk to people and explain the work, it's so interesting because people, the light, you can see the light go off in people's minds. It's like, I had no idea this was a thing. And then you tell them how they can make a difference. And they're all in. It's sort of crazy.

I want to give the phone number as we go out. It's 888-253-3522. 8-88-253-3522. Let me spell it. 888-253-3522 or go to Metaxistalk.com right at the top of the page, folks, you've got to do this. Thank you. As hard as it may be for us to comprehend here in America, there are people in other parts of the world whose very lives are being threatened simply for believing in Jesus. In fact, people are being enslaved for their faith. Some have been in bondage for 25 or 30 years. If you've been listening for any period of time, you know I'm passionate about the work of Christian Solidarity International, a ministry that sets these captives free. There are hundreds of thousands persecuted and enslaved in the Middle East. Together, we can literally buy their freedom and save the lives of some precious brothers and sisters this Christmas, giving them the joy and hope that we celebrate freely. For only $250, you can provide life-saving aid this Christmas. You can buy a believer's freedom and provide them with much-needed food, a goat,

and other goods necessary for their very survival. These are brothers and sisters who are enslaved and fearing for their lives. Just $250. Maybe you can give more. Maybe a portion. Every gift helps. Imagine buying a fellow believers freedom. Call 888-253-3522.

888-253-3522. Christian Solidarity, providing lifesaving resources for persecuted Christians for almost 40 years. 888-253-3522 or Metaxistalk.com and click on the Christian Solidarity banner. give someone the gift of their freedom for Christmas. Thank you. Hey, folks, you've all helped build My Pillow into the incredible company it is today. Now, Mike Lindell, Inventor and CEO of My Pillow wants to give back to you, my listeners. So right now, my Pillow is offering exclusive offers on their bed sheets, their six-piece towel set, and even offering an extended 60-day money-back guarantee.

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And every now and again, I bump into somebody who has done something that I think particularly wonderful. And I always say, if we ever have the room, I would like to talk to that person. on my program because we need to be encouraged that people are out there doing crazy, beautiful things for God and for truth. And not long ago, I met somebody who heads up what's called seven weeks coffee. And when I heard the story, I said, yeah, I got to get you on the program to tell my audience what you do. So here is the man behind seven weeks coffee. Anton, how do we pronounce your last name. I'm not even going to try. Cressick. My last name's Creswick. It's a tough one.

Are you sure? Are you sure? Can you check with your parents? Well, yeah. Cresc. Okay, look, you're 26 years old. You're originally from the Cleveland, Ohio area. You are the man behind seven weeks coffee and better that you should tell the story than I should. But tell my audience, what is seven weeks coffee? Yeah. So thanks for having me on, Eric. So I'm happy to be here. Seven Weeks Coffee is a pro-life coffee company with a simple mission, have a tangible impact supporting life-saving services at pregnancy care centers. And we do that by donating 10% of every sale, which is a huge portion of our profits. And it's all about making a difference to support

life-saving services. But why is it called seven weeks coffee? So this is a fun part. When I had the idea for a pro-life coffee company, I was trying to figure out how to tie it in. And then I realized at seven weeks a baby is a size of a coffee bean and it's the same time a heartbeat is usually detected on ultrasound so the mission um kind of wrote itself in the beginning support ultrasound services at pregnancy care centers it is i mean what i love about it and time person a few times because we've met more than once but the idea that it's called seven weeks coffee and people want to know well, what is that? What is that? Seven weeks. I mean, the idea that a human being, which is to say you and I were once, when we were seven weeks into our journey, which we are in the middle of the journey now, but at the beginning of the journey, seven weeks in, with all of the DNA that you and I have this minute, this same DNA, everything was there. at that point we were the size of a coffee bean.

It's just an amazing mnemonic device to remind people every single time you look at a coffee bean, folks, that there are human beings that big. And if they're left alone in their mother's womb, they grow up and out and they have lives and they have children of their own and grandchildren. It's just such a beautiful, it's a beautiful idea. Now, Anton, now I know you started out in Cleveland, but I've met you more recently at Cornerstone Chapel. I was there with Pastor Gary Hamrick, who interviewed me about my new book, Letter to the American Church. And I've been to Cornerstone Chapel many times. And there are a lot of really wonderful people at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. How long have you been going to Cornerstone?

I've been going there for just over two years, my wife. It's funny, we started going there because it was the only church open in COVID. And that says a lot. Yes. We wanted to go to church. And I didn't feel comfortable about having to register for church. I wanted to walk in and sit down and Cornerstone was open. So we went there.

We have some great friends there now. And it was great seeing you. And the other night we were speaking there. And Cornerstone's amazing because they speak up for truth. And it's kind of like what you talked about. the letter to the American Church. It's speaking up. We can't be silent on these issues, including what we're doing, which is speaking up on the pro-life issue. I don't think we need businesses now that are silent on these issues. The left is never silent being pro-abortion

and their very radical policy. So for us on the right, we need to stand up for what we believe. And that's what we're trying to do at seven weeks of coffee, stand for biblical truth, stand for a pro-life worldview, and really have an impact supporting pregnancy care centers, which has been awesome since we got started. We've raised over $40,000. So it's been really cool. Well, so people who go to seven weekscoffee.org, is it dot org? 7weekscoffee.com. Seven weeks coffee.com. Obviously it's a business. Okay. You give 10% of your

profits to pregnancy care center. Seven weeks coffee.com. When they go there, what will they find? What can they order? Yeah. So we have a whole variety of products. It's all organically farmed coffee. It's called direct trade coffee too, which means we're directly benefiting and supporting local farmers from Ethiopia, which is the home of coffee. So we have a great line of coffee. It's really delicious. And yeah, we donate 10% of actually every sale. So it's actually a huge portion of our profit. So when you buy through us, you get to support a life-saving service at a pregnancy care center. We say we don't ask for donations. All we ask, if you drink coffee, maybe consider using us and let your coffee serve a greater purpose. It's just beautiful. I've talked about this on this program many times, many times is that how we spend our money is power. You have tremendous power, ladies and gentlemen, and how and where you spend your money. And I want to tell you, whether you go to seven weeks coffee.com or another place, you're making choices when you spend your money. So where you buy a pillow, where you buy coffee, where you invest your money, how you invest. We've got to think about this. It's important that we, We take that really seriously. Now, you sell coffee beans on the site. And so I hadn't tasted the coffee until I was at Gary Hamrick's church in Leedsburg, Virginia, Cornerstone Chapel.

And you were there. And there was some coffee there. Finally, I said, I get to taste this coffee because we haven't ground the coffee here yet. And of course, it's spectacular. So congratulations, not just on creating a wonderful product, but then on taking the money that you're making and using it for God's purposes in our time. And beyond that, Anton, I just want to say for caring enough about the unborn to want to do something like this. I'm just proud of you and I'm excited. And I said, I've just got to get you on the program to get people to understand who you are, what you're

doing because this gave me hope when I heard you tell me about this the first time we met is at the ball it was at uh either at the ball for life or it was yeah it was at the in Washington D.C. So I just want to say folks, um, how you spend your money is very, very important. So now you know of another organization that is just at the top of the heap seven weeks coffee.com. Anton. Yes. Thank you. God bless you. I appreciate. Thanks for having me on, Eric. Folks, toys in every store. But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door. Folks, welcome back.

Albin, because it's Christmas, I keep wanting to throw out Christmas gift ideas. Now, listen, maybe people think it would be self-serving for me to recommend my own books as Christmas gifts. But believe me, folks, I didn't write the books to make money. I wrote the books because God created me to be a writer and to tell all these stories. I'm very proud of them. You can get most of my books. Well, you can get them anywhere, but you can get them at my store.com, which is Mike Lindell's website. There's all kinds of wacky products there.

But my store.com, you can get my books. you can get a Bonhofer poster, which, by the way, it's glorious, it's beautiful. It really is amazing. So I just want to recommend my books because I, listen, if I could give them away for free, and sometimes I do, I want to get the word out to people about the heroes I've written about, about, you know, the substance of our faith being, how rational it is to believe in the God of the Bible. and so I wrote his atheism. So anyway, those are my books.

But if you do go to MyStore.com and you decide, well, maybe I don't want to get Eric's book today. There are a zillion other crazy products. Alvin, you and I are like laughing ourselves sick looking at these. They have the Tick Patrol tick remover. Yeah. Who doesn't want a tick remover? Who wants ticks? Let's be honest.

Very few people actually desire ticks. Well, the Tick Patrol Tick remover, you can get it at my store.com, use the code Eric. And I'm not going to tell you about it because it's just too, it's too real. It's too real. But it's, is it, is it, is it tweezers maybe to get rid of the ticks? No, it's, it works. Stop ticks in their tracks with the tick patrol tick remover.

Freedom four pack removes ticks head and all. A lot of these tick removers, you know, they, they just give you the semblance of tick removal. This removes the actual. entire tick head and all. So, you know, if you're a camper or you're you're on tick patrol, you know, this is, this is important stuff. But there's all kinds of other stuff. They've got, they've got so many products.

They have the, the breathtakinger tongue cleaner. Oh. They also have an amazing temporary tooth replacement. Did you know that? No. Yeah. If you're missing a tooth, it's, this is, you have to go to. my store.com browse around.

Just don't forget to use the code Eric when you buy these things. But it says with amazing temporary tooth, that's the title, with amazing temporary tooth, it's easy to fill that missing tooth with a realistic looking tooth that is comfortable and will give you the confidence to smile again. This is not made up. They're 15 to 20 temporary teeth in every product. I think you have to look into this. All right.

Now we need to get serious first. a minute. We keep saying this because we believe in it. If you really want to give a gift that is not goofy or not practical, but that's just beautiful, you can participate in freeing a slave. We are partnering with CSI Christian Solidarity International. If you go to the link on our website, metaxis talk.com, whatever you give helps free slaves. This is real. We've talked about it on program. I keep saying I want to I want to encourage everyone please to participate. Whatever you give, your name goes into a hat and we're going to send eight. We're going to draw eight grand prize winners. So if you just are a kid or you just want to, you know, they want to give $10.

We want to put all your names in a hat. Anybody who gives $10,000, I want to have dinner with you or spend the evening with you. I keep throwing that out there. Anybody gives a thousand dollars, which will free for slaves. We want to reward you and thank you in person when you come to the radio studio, we'd be delighted to have you there. But you have to go to metaxistococococ.com. This is just the greatest Christmas gift, folks. Anything, any amount you give, metastastalk.com, you'll see the banner right at the top of the page. Please be generous.

This is an amazing, amazing, amazing thing. God bless you.