The Eric Metaxas Show - Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

Eric reads aloud his book 'Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving: A Harvest Story from Colonial America of How One Native American's Friendship Saved the Pilgrims'.

Welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show. We'll get you from point A to point B. But if you're looking for point C, well, buddy, you're on your own. But if you'll wait right here in just about two minutes, the bus to point C will be coming right by. And now here's your Ralph Cramden of the airways, Eric Mattaxas. Happy Thanksgiving. Today is the day, literally today.

Chris Heimes, you're aware, today's Thursday. You're aware today's the day. I'm planning to eat something that used to be alive and was called a turkey. I feel so guilty. Yeah, it's rough. It's rough. Because when you get to know turkeys on a personal level, you realize, wow, these birds are dumb. They deserve to be killed and eaten.

And yet, there's still guilt. Today. I feel like 24, 2024. Maybe we can bring back the phrase jive turkey. Maybe we can repopularize that. I feel like. Well, you know something? trying for years, but I have never really made a concerted effort because jive turkey is,

it's so great. I mean, again, this reveals my age growing up in the 70s, but like that was the term to call somebody out. You're nothing but a jive turkey. So yeah, I'm going to bring that back. That is my New Year's resolution early, early, even before the new year, jive turkey. Right. So today's the day. All right. So a couple things, a couple things. In a couple of a couple of minutes, we're going to play my retelling of the Squanto story. So gather the children. You might want to provide them with popcorn. You can have bobbing for apples, whatever you want to do in the background. But on this special day, I'm going to tell the Squanto story. Some of you have copies of the Squanto Children's book that I wrote. Some of you, if you have a copy of you, if you have a copy of

of if you can keep it, that's my attempt to tell the story to adults. That's in if you can keep it. It's kind of a nice thing to do. If you're looking for something to do with the family, it's kind of like a 10-minute thing to, I mean, you can either listen now, you know, in a couple of minutes I'm going to tell, I'm going to tell it on the radio program, but you can read, if you have a copy of my book, if you can keep it, you can read the Squanto story. It's a mind-blowing story, as you'll hear in a couple of minutes.

It is absolutely, you know, it's the kind of proof. Is America special? Is God's hand on this country? When you hear the Squanta story, it's hard not to see that his hand is on this country, that he had a hand in creating this country for his purposes. This is not about chest beating. We're so awesome. No, no, no.

On the contrary. And the Squanta story, yeah, it's not a, you know, Saccharine sort of Disney, you know, Pocahontasy thing. There's a lot of, you know, pretty much everybody in his tribe was wiped out and God sort of preserved him as an almost sort of Moses, you know, Moses likes parallels of. It's an absolutely true story from our history. And if you're listening carefully, it'll change your view of this country. You'll, you'll see God has a plan. And it's kind of like Lincoln called us God's almost chosen people. In other words, if God choose, chooses you. It's not like yippee, we're chosen. No, it's a burden. It's a special burden. Bill Federer will play that again tomorrow. But yesterday, he talked about how the pilgrims did something that had not been done since pre-King Saul Israel, self-government, covenanting with God.

I mean, it's unbelievable. And that's the story of Thanksgiving. And if you don't know it, you can, as I say, I'll tell the, well, I'll tell the squanto story in the next segment, but I wrote a children's book about it. Bill Federer talked about it yesterday. He'll talk about it tomorrow. And then, well, in my book, if you can keep it, that's sort of the adult version. So if you have a copy of my book, if you can keep it, you can read that. But it's very moving. It's very moving because it's a true story. Speaking of true, Stories, folks, this is the weekend you have to see the Bonhoeffer film. It is playing at a theater near you. Don't say it's not because it is. You go to angel.com, you put in your zip code.

I've said it. I'll keep saying it. This is a once-in-a-generation kind of film. This is an evangelistic opportunity. This is a culture-changing film because it's not a once-in-a-generation kind of film. because it's not some Christian film. It's a mainstream film. You can take anybody, you know, bring your relatives, bring anybody. It's just a beautiful film. It's not some Christian film. You say, I don't know if they'll like it.

I don't know who wouldn't like it, frankly, if you actually see it. You'll see, oh, my gosh, what an amazing story. And it's a true story. It's like the Squanto story. It's true. It's a true story. And it's powerful. It's beautiful.

I just want to say that. the way the theater business works in America, it goes away after this weekend, unless it has a big weekend, unless you bring people and see it, share it on social media. It's just a magnificent opportunity to change the culture when a film like this comes out. But trust me, if enough people go to see this, Hollywood will, they want to make money. So they're going to think, oh, maybe we need to make films kind of like that. Yes, that's the goal of making a film like this, is not just to get people to see it, but to change the culture. So the Bonhofer film is front and center, and this is the weekend to see it. You can see it today. You can see it tonight. You can see it tomorrow.

You can see it Saturday. You can see it Sunday. But then it's going to be too late. So I'm begging everybody to please take this seriously. This is not, you know, just another. film. This is kind of a game changer. This is a $29 million huge film with Hollywood talent that you don't normally have in a film like this. Kevin Sorbo is not in the film. Okay, Chris, I don't mean to be harsh. I don't mean to be harsh because Kevin's a friend, but he's not in this film. This is not a Kevin Sorbo kind of film. Now, who's to say in the future Kevin may be in a film like this, but I'm just saying like this is not a film to, you know, that is like hardcore, you know, it's got, this is a mainstream film.

This is a calculation, folks. Can we put God in a mainstream film that everybody wants to see? They've done it. I've seen the film three or four times. Believe me, I'm more blown away than anybody. But this is the time to see the film. So in hour two, I will talk to the producers of the film. But this is it.

I just can't say it enough. is it. Tell your church congregations, tell your families, tell your, your small group, this is it. If we don't patronize something like this, this weekend, it's going to be gone. It's not going to be in theaters. You're going to check a week from now, and you can say, oh, no, it's not there. What are they playing there? Oh, some really horrible film that says, like, Lincoln is gay or some insane, stupid, woke film. Please do your part, support this film. Please, folks, I don't know how to to plead with you. I'm pleading with you. We want to remind you, we're doing a campaign with CSI. We'll be talking about that later in the program today. I also want to remind you folks about the

cruise. It is just, I am so looking forward to this. I can't even believe it that we're going to have, who knows how many people will be signed up by the end of this. But this is like a crazy idea for a Christmas gift. If you're looking for some extravagant Christmas gift, then you can afford it. This is 10 days going around the Greek islands on one of the most beautiful cruise ships ever. This is the Viva, which is Norwegian cruise ship lines, brand new ship. Albin's going to be there. Victoria Jackson will be with us. John Smirak will be with us. We'll all be there together. It's an amazing thing. Maybe you want to surprise your spouse, you know, on Christmas morning and say, hey, guess here's what I signed up for us or something

like that. You know, like, this is, this is kind of a big deal. It's June 6th through 16th. And they still have cabins available, which is why I'm talking about it, because at some point that goes away. So you've got to go to Ericmetaxis.com slash cruise, ericmataxis.com slash cruise. Okay, when I come back, I'm going to be telling the Squanto story. You can gather the kids around or you can do it on your own. You don't have to listen to me, tell it. You can read it. You can read it yourself.

The headline is, be thankful to God for all the ways he has blessed us. I thank God. I thank God that he called me to write the Bonhofer book and that there's a movie out. I am very grateful. Praise the Lord. So when we come back, I'll tell the Squanto story. Lots more. Happy Thanksgiving.

God bless you. Folks, it's Eric Conteatown. The Texas show, that's Larry Norman, in case you are wondering. I'm sitting here in the studio with Chris Himes. I have an amazing story that I need to get out. I tell this story every year at Thanksgiving. I wrote a book about it. In fact, the book is a children's book called Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving.

I think it's like five bucks on Amazon. But I want to tell you, if you've not heard this story, and I'll bet my engineer Eric Hansen has never heard this story. This is one of the most amazing stories. And what makes it more amazing is that people don't know this. And you think there's no way we could live in America and not know this story. So this is the story. If you're listening, folks, listen carefully because this is huge. In 1608, before any ships, before any people settled in, you know, what's now Massachusetts,

I never knew this because we all know that the, that the, Mayflower landed there in 1620, right? Chris, you knew that. I did at one point in my life. Right. So 1620 is when the Pilgrims land in Plymouth, sorry, right? Plymouth Rock, yeah. Plymouth Rock. So, but I always assumed growing up that that's the first time that anybody came to like what's Massachusetts. But I found out, no, that's not the case. And the story of Squanto, which I'm going to tell right now, which, just wait, wait until you hear this.

it starts in 1608 and it turns out that English trading ships would travel, you know, from Europe, from England to Iceland, Greenland, make their way down, Nova Scotia, all the way down. And they would trade with the natives. Now, I never knew that. So the natives were familiar with English sailors coming and trading and giving them, you know, knives and pots and pans and they would, you know, give them pelts and whatever. and they would trade. I never knew this. Well, in 1608, a group, a group, a ship led by a captain hunt, lands or, you know, drops anchor off of what is today, Plymouth, Massachusetts. And the Patuxet Braves come down to the shore to trade with them as they've done before.

Well, just so happens that this Captain Hunt was a bad man. And instead of trading with the Braves, they whack them over the head, put them in the long boat, take them out to the ship. ship, throw them in the hold, sail to Malaga, Spain, and sell them into slavery. This is 1608. One of the Braves was a 12-year-old boy named Tisquantam. Now, this is true story. This is all documented. I've done the research.

Others have done the research. It's true. So he is bought by some kindly friars who seem to treat him well, teach him the Christian religion, and this is the part that we'll never know how this happened, but they arrange for him to be freed and to travel to London. Now, imagine from Malaga, Spain, to London. So this is an Indian from what is today, Massachusetts, a Native American, a Patuxet, makes his way to London with the idea, and this is where it's crazy, of getting back across the Atlantic to go back home. I know. It's like being on the moon and saying, so when's the next ship going back? There's no next

ship going back. What are you talking about? But I guess the idea was not insane. He worked in London from, what is it, around 1612, 1613 for four or five years with a family called Slaney. This is all documented, this Indian named Squanto to Squantum, learns the English language. He's there when, he's there when Queen Elizabeth is on the throne. We're talking. Shakespeare is writing his play. So he's in London, this Massachusetts Indian, and this is years before the pilgrims ever get to Plymouth Rock. Crazy, right? In 1618, I believe 1619, a ship is found for him to go back to his home. And he's going to translate, obviously, because he knows these languages.

He's going to be on the ship working with these English as they're stopping, you know, and he's going to be doing the translate. and so on and so forth. So somehow he gets passage on a ship. The ship ends up having to spend the winter in, I can't remember if it was Iceland or Greenland. It's in my book. What does it say? Newfoundland. No, hold on a second. Anyway, the point is that it took them quite a while to get there, right? So they basically, no, it was Newfoundland, sorry. They spend the winter in Newfoundland. And then the next spring, this is like 1619, they bring him to what's now the coast of Massachusetts, drop him off. Thank you very much.

Goodbye. This sounds crazy, right? This is document. This is a true story. So a year plus before the Pilgrim's Land, this Indian has made the journey from Plymouth to Spain to, London, spends five years in London, learns the English language, learns the ways the English, and then ends up back where he started. He finds his way on foot to the village, which is right where Plymouth is today, right? The Patuxet Village, where his Indian, where his family is.

So he comes home. Just imagine that you're sold into slavery and somehow 10 years later you make your way home. So now he's 21 years old, whatever, 22 years old. He's looking for his family. there's nobody there. They've all died. They've been wiped out by smallpox. One of these diseases brought by the white man, obviously, unintentionally.

So he goes to a neighboring tribe and lives with them. But the neighboring tribe, it's not like they're all like, hey, hey, we're all Native Americans. We're cool. No. This is like strangers. He might as well be in England. He'd probably prefer to be in England. In fact, he ends up living alone in the woods because he's heartbroken.

It's just one of these crazy stories. Meanwhile, what happens? meanwhile, a group of English people who are escaping the persecutions of James I, the King, travel to Holland. They're there for a number of years. Their kids start to lose, you know, the English, whatever, culture and stuff. And they say, we've got to go to the new world. So they get on a ship called the Mayflower. We've heard the story. And they travel to what ends up as Plymouth, Massachusetts. They land the ship there, a hundred people, very devoted to God, very serious about God.

They're praying that God would lead them. They get there, and they begin dying like flies. 50 of the hundred people die the first winter. Now, we can't even imagine this. I mean, you've got six kids. Can we even imagine what it would be like to lose, have to lose your wife, to lose your kids too? I mean, they were all dying, burying their brothers.

their sisters, their spouses, their kids, their parents. It's a nightmare. So spring comes, and they are, of course, wondering, do we go home? Because this is not working for them. And they really were wondering, what do we do? And out of the woods walks an Indian called Squanto. They happened to have settled on the very place where he grew up, Patuxet Village, the place where he grew up.

He walks out of the woods speaking perfect English. Think about that for a second. An Indian walks out of the woods speaking perfect English. He was in London for five years, more recently than they were. And he basically says, I have nothing to do with my life. My whole tribe, my family has been wiped out. You have settled on my home. Here I am.

How can I help you? The pilgrims recognize this. as an outrageous answer to their prayers because they have been weeping and praying to God. Why have you let us hear? What, you know, this is. Squanto just happens not only to know English perfectly. He just happens to know everything about that area because he grew up there. So he shows them how to get, where to get lobsters, where to get, how to get eels out of the mud,

how to fish, how to fish. He shows them how to plant corn and how to plant squash so that the squash grow up, the vines grow up around the corn stalk. He shows them to put how to put a dead fish in when you plant the corn as fertilizer. He shows them everything and allows them to survive. There's no doubt. This is history. Okay. And in fact, the pilgrim fathers, William Bradford, who is the governor, wrote in his journal that Squanto was a special instrument sent of God. He had no doubt. It's just one of those things that it was to them a miracle, that he shows up out of nowhere. He has nothing to do except to say, this is my home, I'm here to help you.

Not only that, but he brokers a deal with the surrounding tribes so that these people, so that these pilgrims have peace with the surrounding tribes. So these Englishmen that have come, the pilgrims, the Puritans, had a peace that lasted 50 years, an incredible an incredible accomplishment, and Squanto basically helped them to do this. It's one of the most outrageous stories from our history that there's a miracle at the beginning of everything that happened in America is this outrageous miracle. The Pilgrims didn't just happen to hang out because they wanted to. It all happened because Squanto appears out of the woods and miraculously happens to speak English, miraculously happens to know everything about England, miraculously happens to have nothing to

do because his whole tribe was wiped out and they adopt him. And he just happens to know everything about that area to show them how to survive. I wanted to tell that story because we need to be thankful for God's hand in American history. I don't know how else you see it. If you see this as a coincidence, it's the craziest coincidence I've ever heard in my life. It doesn't make any sense. So I'm thankful for Squanto. We'll be right back. It's the Eric Mattaxas show. Our website, go to metaxis talk.com. You can download the recording of the Squanto's story. I'm just so happy to share it every year, and we'll be right back. Hey there, folks. We've been talking about it. We are kicking off a new campaign with our dear friends at Christian Solidarity International, that's CSI. We do this every year. We're kicking it off right now. This is about freeing slaves, ladies and gentlemen. This is a an amazing thing that we get to do. So right now, let me welcome Todd Chapman with CSI. Todd,

welcome back. It's always great to talk to you. And this is always just good news, pure good news, that we get to do this. Derek, we are so thankful for the longstanding partnership we have with you. And so grateful for the difference that your listeners have made across so many years. I was actually looking back at how many slaves were freed in our year-end campaign last year. and it was north of 800 people slaved for, or freed from slavery out of North Sudan and returned to their home country of South Sudan, set on a whole new life and equipped to thrive and become self-sustaining for the first time ever. So thank you, God bless you, and we're hoping for and praying for another big response this year. Well, I think, you know, a lot of people think this

is too good to be true. Like I give $250 or some part of that or some multiple of that. And you're telling me, first of all, I think people have to say, oh, wait a minute, there's slavery in the world. Ladies and gentlemen, yeah, yeah, there is hard for us to fathom. But then the amazing news that I could give money and everybody has some money, everybody has something, and I can do something that's an unmitigated good. It's just extraordinary. And it's because you guys at CSI have been there forever. I mean, since what? It's 1977, you know, kind of doing, doing what you do. Yeah. Yeah. So CSI, it stands for Christian Solidarity International, founded in 1977, and really we're a human rights organization, and we work to stop religious oppression

and free people that have been imprisoned for their faith in countries all over the world. We work in Africa, which is where this effort obviously is in Sudan, also work in the Middle East and in India. And Eric, you're right. There are more slaves today in the world than there have been at any other time in human history. And a lot of times we here in America, we're really kind of shielded from that reality. But the reality is there, people are enslaved all the time. You see in Pakistan people having to make bricks for slave wages to try to buy themselves out of debt. And, you know, India, the same thing is going on. In Africa, in Sudan, this slavery, the slaves that you're freeing as you partner with CSI, many of them have been

held in captivity since the 1990s. They were taken captive during the Sudanese Civil War, and they were allowed to be taken into North Sudan, and they've been there ever since. Many of these slaves have actually had children in slavery, and so CSI since 1995 has been committed to freeing them, and every year we do what we call slave liberations five times a year. We have slave retrievers that negotiate the release of these slaves, and then five times a year we march two or 300 back down into South Sudan and into freedom. We've actually got one more slave liberation coming up between now and the end of the year. So I'm really excited to have you as an Eric Metaxus listener give your very best gift right now so that we can finish this year freeing more than

1,500 slaves. That's our goal. You know, this brings up some big questions, Todd, and I feel like I want to address this up front. I think there are people probably who ask rightly, how can God allow this? How can God allow people to be literally enslaved, to be raped by masters, not in the distant past now? How can God allow this? And that's a big question. And it's a good question. But then I have to ask the follow-up question. God is allowing everyone who can hear my voice right now to do something about it. And if you don't do something about it, let's be honest, you're allowing it. We allow evil to flourish. God gives us free will. So this is just an amazing opportunity. I mean, if somebody tells you about slavery, you know, in 1775 or 1840, there's nothing you can do about it,

but advocate politically for its end and obviously pray for its end. But today, we have the ability through CSI actually to do something. And this is something that I've been talking about for a long time. It's faith in action, folks. God, some somehow he allows evil and then he allows us to participate with him in overturning evil, in undoing evil. Faith is not enough. We've got to put our faith into action. That's God's will.

So I want to say right out of the gate, there's a banner at metaxis talk.com. Metaxistalks talk.com. It's all there. You click on the banner and it leads you through to you'll see everything there. Metaxistalkis talk.com. There's a banner. There's a phone number 888. 253, 3522. I'll be repeating it throughout the show. 888-253-3522 and the banner Metaxus talk.com.

But we do this to enlist you who are listening to this program to say, please be part of the solution. There's real evil in the world, but God has given us the ability, in this case, to do something about it. And it's just a magnificent opportunity before we go to our break. I want to say it again, folks, the phone number, and I really hope folks will do this today. When we have an opportunity like this, I mean, every year, it's amazing we get to do this. The phone number is 888-253-3522. Please write it down. 888-253-3522.

Everyone listening to my voice has the ability to do something. You can do something right now, anything, right now. You can give monthly, if that's better. 888-253-3522. This is a glorious opportunity to participate with God in standing against evil, in helping real people who are suffering right now. The website, metaxis talk.com, right at the top of the page. You'll see the banner, metaxistocotocotcom.

Metaxistalk.com. We'll be right back. I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, but is there because he's a victim of the time. I wear the black for those who... Folks, welcome back. I'm excited. We get to participate again with CSI, Christian Solidarity International, in doing something extraordinarily beautiful and good. freeing slaves, literally freeing slaves, and putting them into a life of freedom,

setting them up in a life of freedom. So we have our friend Todd Chapman from CSI to kind of give us the details on that. So Todd, what is involved? I mean, we're asking people to give $250. And again, folks, whatever you can give, if you can give $25 a month or many people can give $10,000, we need everybody to participate at whatever level. But the question is when CSI says, okay, $250 does this.

What is this, Todd? Tell us about that. Yeah, so first of all, I want to be really clear because this is a question that comes up every year. Well, are you, you know, buying the freedom of these slaves? Are you using some of the money that I give to, you know, to pay cash to free them? And no, we're not. We have never paid cash for any slaves. We've been doing this since 1995.

And because the concern obviously would be, well, if you're creating a market, you know, by paying, you know, these slave owners cash, they're just going to take more slaves. Well, the fact of the matter is they're not taking more slaves. There are fewer Sudanese slaves than there were when we started this work 20, you know, 30 years ago. And every year, the number of them continues to decline because you give. Now, what we do do is we take some of the money that you donate and we procure a cattle vaccine because many of these slave owners are cattle ranchers and they can't get these vaccine that they need to keep their cows alive. and so we barter, you know, a slave in exchange for the vaccine.

So there's that. And so the majority of your gift actually goes to providing a fresh start for these Sudanese slaves. They're mostly women, but we do have some men as well. And now more and more we're actually able to negotiate the release of children along with their moms who have been slaved and slaved for a long time. And so we give them what's called a bag of hope. We marched them down into South Sudan, about two, 300 at a time, a few times a year. and we have a camp there. We capture all of their information that we can get from them.

We take photographs. We document their story. If they know their name, and many of them don't, because they've been held in slavery since they were young children. But we try to capture that information so that we can ultimately reunite them with our family. That's our goal. But we also have to give them the resources that will need to start a new life. So they get a tent.

They get some bedding. They get grains. They get a mosquito net. We give them a female goat that they can use for milk. and also for breeding and fishing supplies. And so they get a whole new start of life through that bag of hope. And then, of course, all the love and care and attention and counseling led by our pastoral staff in the community right there that we bring them back into.

And so, Eric, it's so much more than, you know, just all of that stuff. It truly is setting them on a path to freedom. And story after story, we hear from these women. They have said, I never thought I would be free. I've never known anything other than captivity my entire life. I was taken as a child or I was actually born into slavery. I never knew what it meant to be free. Didn't even know my name.

It was taken from me and I was forced to convert to Islam, given a different name. And so this is literally a whole rebirth, if you will, into freedom in the name of Jesus that you're providing with your gift of $250 or whatever God lays on your heart. Well, this is what's amazing to me is that we have the ability to do something. But God doesn't force us. And I say this over and over to people that I think in the American Church people are so focused on faith. I faith. It's like it's all about your salvation. It's not all about your salvation. That's a myopic anti-Christian view of the Christian faith. We are saved by God and then deputized now to live according to his will and to do his will. We're to be an army

of people sold out to God's purposes. It's not about going to church on Sunday. And and singing songs, that's a little piece of it. But then we have to live out our faith in every sphere. And this is a classic example. We just had an election. Well, there's nobody to vote for this month or this, you know, season. What can I do? How can I get involved?

God calls us to do many things. This is something that by the grace of God on this program, we get to do. And I want to say, folks, nothing could be a greater Christian. Christmas present to somebody than to say, hey, dad, in your name, we all got together and we freed a slave. And here's the information on that. Trust me, as a father, nothing would touch me more than getting a gift like that, getting a sweater I don't need or whatever gadget that's going to be in the garage in six months. Really and truly, this is an opportunity to do something beautiful for God that's meaningful.

This is also something we can teach our kids about the meaning of life. Tell your kids, here's what we're going to do. We're going to do for Grandpa this year. We're going to all pull together and make a part of your balance and we're going to do beautiful thing. There is nothing more beautiful in this. This is meaningful. And it teaches our kids and it teaches us about this is the meaning of life.

We get to participate in God's purposes, in working again. against evil. And God has given us the privilege that we get to do that. We have money. We have freedom. We have this radio program. We can talk about this. It's not oppressed. It's not suppressed speech. We get to talk about this. We get to do something. But then God doesn't force us to do it. He gives us the invitation to do it. And so, folks, I think this is just a beautiful, a beautiful opportunity. And I want everybody who's listening to participate somehow and to participate ASAP. This is really just an amazing opportunity. I can't say that enough. What an opportunity that we get to do this. We hear about this evil and some fix it. So the phone number is 888-253-3522. 888-25-3-35-22.

The website is metaxistococ.com. You see the banner right there, metaxis talk.com. The banner's right at the top metaxis talk.com. What an opportunity. So, and Todd, do people give monthly as well? Do people sometimes want to do that? Yeah, absolutely. You can, you can give monthly. You can give a one-time gift. Obviously, you know, it's $250 per slave that you free. And one of the things I love about, say, your listeners, Eric, is every year, you know, I see some of the names that have given for a number of years now. And we see people coming back and making this a part of their annual giving. And we love that. And also what we see over time, people tend to give more and more because what you said, you know, when you participate in anything that you do in the name of God, yeah, you're bringing

good in the world and you're doing, you know, you're showing God's love and transformative ways, but it also changes you. It changes our heart. That's why Jesus talked about giving and showing love. And so if you want to change the world and also I have God change you in the process, be in part, and it's not just giving to CSI, give to his work anywhere that you've feel led, but I'm just a big believer and lover of what we do at CSI, freeing human beings in the name of Jesus. I am with you. Freeing human beings, literally, freeing them from slavery, the website, metaxis talk.com. The banner is right there. The phone number 888-253-3522. Dial it today, call it today, give today 888-2533522, 888-253-2522. And the banner, metaxis talk.com. Do it.

you. You're excited about this, the, the, the kickoff to CSI. This is honestly, I say it over and over. It's just one of the privileges that we get to be a part of this. So I want to encourage you to do it today. What would I need to do to do it today? Just to say, I'm going to do it. Let's do it today. The phone number, I'll give it again, but the banner is at metaxis talk.com. The phone number is 888-253-3522. I really, I want to crush this. This is just exciting. It's just exciting. 888-253-3522. I want to encourage folks to do this as a way of giving a gift to somebody, a dad, a mom, a grandparent, to say that in your name, we've done this. That's a beautiful idea. And you know, you can do a monthly thing if that's easier for you.

The website is metaxis talk.com. But to free a slave, that is so meaningful and so beautiful. So I just want to say that. I also want to remind you of our friends at the Herzog Foundation. The homeschooling thing, you know, if you listen to me, this is the way to go. This is the way to go. But how do you do it? Well, the Herzog Foundation, they're there to give you free resources to help you think it through.

it's just it's a wonderful thing we just had chris de gaul on the other day talking about it herdsog foundation dot com i think it's dot com or dot org we always get this confused i always have to like look it up herzog foundation herdssock foundation um but they're heroes and they're also at the forefront of christ-centered k through 12 education really they're there to help this is a foundation so check out the herzog um foundation And before we go, I'm going to be doing a lot of media this week, trying to get folks to see the Bonhoeffer film. It is such a beautiful film, such a meaningful film, you know, because a lot of these other films, oh, it's just entertaining. This is a great film, but it's also a powerful film about would you stand in the face of evil and what does it mean to be a real Christian?

What does it mean to be a good person in an evil world? than what is required of you. So I don't know if they still have discount tickets, but it's in 1900 theaters across America. So wherever you are, you can go see it. I want to encourage you, if you don't see it now, it's going away. I've been saying that, that if they don't do big numbers, they just, they'll give the theater to, you know,

for another showing of Wicked or something like that. So you have to go see it. So I want to encourage you to go see it. But the discount tickets, if they're still available, you can get them at angel.com slash Eric. That's angel. com slash Eric. And almost all of my books, you can get them at Socrates and the city.com or at

Eric Metaxus.com. We've got some great deals at ericmetaxis.com. and at Socrates in the city.com. You can get autographed books for gifts. But before we go, there was one other thing. I'm forgetting something. What was I? I wanted to add that you in the past for CSI and the other campaigns have offered,

someone can give a gift of $15,000 or more to have dinner with them. And so that's something. I have done that. And it becomes a greater and greater. sacrifice because I have no time, but it's something I put out there, that if somebody can give a gift of $15,000, I will figure out a way, we'll get together, spend the evening together, just did that recently. It's always a joy when I get to do that. But the website, you can find the banner at metaxistalk.com. Metaxistocot.com. Thank you.