The Eric Metaxas Show - Steve Deace (Encore)

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

Steve Deace of the Blaze joins the show to talk about his new book "Why Easter?: Jesus Died for Us So We Can Live Forever"

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. Welcome to the Eric Metaxis show. I shouldn't tell you this, but Eric hired someone who sounds just like him to host today's show. But since I'm the announcer, they told me, so I'm telling you, don't be fooled. The real Eric's in jail. Hey, the folks, welcome back. As you know, we're doing an urgent appeal for the Alliance Defending Freedom. This is an opportunity. People always say, what can I do? And I say, well, there's a lot of things you can do. This one is urgent. The Alliance Defending Freedom

is going to bat for religious liberty. So this is like on the nose. This is like we need the Alliance Defending Freedom to do what they do desperately. Take my word for it. I'm not exaggerating. They're doing great work. And to give you an idea, some of the stuff they're doing, right now I want to bring on Kelly Fedorik. She's a senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom. Kelly, welcome. Thanks, Eric. It's great to be with you. And you have a guest, a client of the Alliance Defending Freedom, Elizabeth Gillette. Elizabeth, you're here as well.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Well, listen, thanks for being willing to talk about all of this stuff. I don't know. Kelly, do you want to frame this case for my audience so they understand what the Alliance Defending Freedom is doing with Elizabeth's case? Certainly. We would be happy to, Eric, and we're just so grateful for you and your listeners that we can bring cases like this case against the FDA. You know, the FDA recklessly removed important safety standards for the use of abortion

drugs. And we sued them. We actually just had argument in the court. on Tuesday of this week, seeking to hold the FDA accountable for what it's doing to women and girls and endangering their health. And so ADF has the privilege of representing doctors, thanks to the support of your listeners. And then Elizabeth, her story really plays into why we're in this in the first place. Women, their FDA's own label for these drugs say that, you know, roughly one in 25 women will end up in the emergency room who take them. These drugs are high risk.

And Elizabeth experience just how painful and difficult chemical abortion is from her experience with one a few years back. And I'll let her tell that story. But it's just an honor to be able to represent our doctors, stand for women across this great country against the FDA's complete and total unlawful and reckless actions. Well, it's extraordinary to me that this is where ideology takes us, that the federal, the Food and Drug Administration, you know, with our tax dollars, they're making big decisions affecting people. And they've been pushed ideologically so far to be pro-abortion that they are willing to make more lax standards. Right. So anybody, you know, who's against abortion, we'd be against these pills. But the point is that they're legal in some states.

And now the FDA says, oh, yes, and we're just going to make it easier for people to get them. And by the way, if some of them go to the emergency room or whatever, we so believe in abortion that we're going to, we don't care. And so this is very medically serious. And this is obviously Elizabeth's story. And it's why you are suing, why ADF is suing the FDA. So congratulations on being willing to do that. Kelly, where is that case right now?

Well, so we just had arguments on Tuesday before the Supreme Court. And Eric, it was shocking some of the admissions that the FDA and Danko Laboratory, the abortion drug provider made. One of the concessions that just goes to your point that you just made so well, Danco, the pharmaceutical company, said women's health should come second to the pharmaceutical industry's profits. They said that their primary objective here is to line the pockets of drug manufacturers and they care more about money than they do about women's health.

And really regardless of what anyone's view, are on abortion, that should terrify all of us because women's health matters. They deserve to have excellent health care. And it was it was pretty shocking that they argued yesterday that women's health should come second to the pharmaceutical industry's profits. Well, this falls into the, you know, the bigger narrative. We've all seen it with the vaccines. We've seen it with the transgender demonic madness. All of these things. I mean, this is just one of the many things ADF is doing. So Elizabeth, can you just share your story with the audience, what you went through? Sure. I think it's important to share because a lot of people don't realize what the abortion

drug actually does to a person. I was pregnant and went to an abortion clinic looking for answers, went into that clinic and was very much on the fence and experienced a large amount of coercion. I finally did take the first abortion drug in the clinic and went home to completely abortion by myself. I did not receive any follow-up care or anything like that. What I experienced was not at all what they told me I would experience. They told me it would be like a heavy period, maybe a double period with some cramping and I'd be able to go right back to work, not a problem. But when I found myself experiencing this procedure, I was on the bathroom floor covered in blood, vomiting, nausea, tremors, wondering if I was actually going to be able to survive.

I reached down and removed from my body the perfectly transparent back with a recognizable human baby inside. And no one told me that that was going to happen. They told me I would see some clotting, some bleeding. And in that moment, I realized the gravity of the situation and the trauma was so severe I ended up having to flush my baby down the toilet into a septic tank. And that trauma follows me to this day. I have post-traumatic stress disorder that I still suffer from today.

Well, I have to say, you know, when I was a young man before I gave my life to Jesus, I was involved in an abortion. And many, many people have been. And we know that there's 100% forgiveness. in God. And that's without that, I can understand why people can't bear to face the horror of what they've done because they don't know that there's forgiveness. So we need to say that. At the same time, you know, you experienced the nightmare of this. You can talk about it and you just did talk about it. And you give us a human picture of how ideologues in our own government do not care about people,

about women. They don't care. They're making a lot of money. And you know what? If a few people suffer, if a few people are in agony on the bathroom floor, well, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. They don't really, they don't care. And so we have to force them to care by taking them to court. And without the Alliance of any freedom, that wouldn't be happening. So I'm just grateful, Elizabeth, that you're willing, you know, to be to put yourself forward to tell this traumatic story to give the Alliance Defending Freedom the opportunity to go to bat for every American. And really what this does, too, let's be honest, the reason this makes them uncomfortable at the FDA, this reason this makes ideologues in our government uncomfortable is because it underscores the horror

of abortion. They want us to believe, like, take a little pill and you're going to have some cramps, and then that's all there is to it. That's a lie. What we're doing is, we're taking. taking human lives. And it is often bloody and horrible. And sometimes people suffer who've been told it's no big deal. And this needs to be public. They don't want it to be public. They just want this stuff to,

they make their money. And most people are not going to be like you lose, but they're not going to open their mouths. They're going to keep their mouths shut. Maybe there's shame or fear. They don't want to go forward with this. So God bless you for going forward with this. And God bless you, Kelly.

for being willing to represent Elizabeth. And frankly, every American is represented. When the Alliance Defending Freedom goes to bat, I say this over and over again, America is benefiting. Every single American benefits, which is why I say to my audience, folks, we owe these guys. We need people to participate. We need you, folks. This is about standing up for America, for what's right, for what's true.

The Alliance Defending Freedom are doing it. All they need is us to help them to do it, which means going to Metaxus talk. dot com, metaxis talk.com. Metaxistalk.com. You'll see the banner right at the top for the alliance defending freedom. I just beg you today to give generously, however you can give, whatever you can give. It doesn't matter, but just do it. Metaxistalk.com. There's a phone number. I'll give it. here it is. 855-385-0-5-96, 855-385-0-5-9-6. 855-385-0-5-9-6.

Kelly and Elizabeth, God bless you. Thanks for coming on today. Thank you, Eric, so much for having us. For 10 years, Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. And when I say only, trust me, they're the only one. Glenn and the team have been great supporters of this show, which is why I am proud to partner with them. Patriot Mobile offers dependable nationwide coverage, giving you the ability to access all three major networks, which means you get the same coverage you've been accustomed to without funding the left.

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Check it out. Folks, welcome back. As you know, there's a little holiday coming up. It's not celebrated by everyone. but it's celebrated by a lot of people. It's often called Easter. And a lot of people don't know what Easter is about. They think it's about chocolate bunnies.

Actually, it's not. It's about even more important things than chocolate bunnies. To break it down, we have our friend Steve Dase, who is the author of a children's book called Why Easter. Steve, welcome back. Good to see you, Eric. Thank you very much. And happy Easter to you.

Happy a show. Listen, I love children's books. I've written 30 children's books over my lifetime, and they're a good way to get the message out, because a lot of times when you're speaking to kids, you're also speaking to their parents. What was it that prompted you to write this book titled Why Easter? Well, a few years ago, when Rush passed on, my publisher came to me and said, hey, you know, Rush had a great run at the end of his life with these Rush earbooks, trying to bring real American history back to the next generation. What do you think about, you know, transitioning into something similar? And I'm like, well, first of all, no one can possibly wear those moccasins. But if we could maybe do something that's more unique to what I do,

I might think about it. And they said, what? I said, what if we did a series on America's Christian heritage? And we just started with a trilogy of books, of trying to recover that heritage of Americana, that comes right out of, well, America's Christian heritage. And so to my surprise, they thought it was a great idea. And so we did the first one, why Thanksgiving? We figured Eric, we would start with, you know, we're going to do America's Christian heritage. You start where it began with the Puritans, with the pilgrims on the Mayflower.

And so we wrote that, we did that book back in 2022, and it was the bestselling children's book. It was very successful. And so now we're on to book two, which is why Easter, to explain the real reason for the season. And then book three, which will be out for America's 250th birthday in July of 2026, will be Why Independence Day? And so that will complete the trilogy of books on America's lost Christian heritage.

Well, I think a lot of people would concur that Thanksgiving and Independence Day are undeniably American. And where do you, why did you pick Easter? In other words, I think that a lot of people would say, wait a minute, Steve. How do you link that to America? Great question. And in the book, we go through all of it. We go to the Old Testament, the law, the Ten Commandments. We get into sin.

And then we talk about what happened on Good Friday, the atonement, the resurrection. But then we parlay that into how that inspired the founding of this country. I mean, the idea of individual rights that come from God, the idea that you could have an individual relationship with God did not exist on this planet until the veil was torn in the temple. And now we can, as Paul says, we can all boldly approach the throne of grace without an intermediary because Christ serves as that intermediary now. The lamb slaying before the foundation of the world. He has torn that veil. The wrath of God is finished or a more precise term. translation of what Jesus finally said at the cross is it is accomplished. What is accomplished?

What is finished? The wrath of God, the justifiable wrath of God, as revealed by both our sin and then also the revelation of his law, which exposes our sin all the more, that wrath has been satisfied, the one sacrifice to rule them all, that all other sacrifices were foreshadowing to. And that now opens us up to an individual relationship with our creator. Without that cosmic acknowledgement, there's no such thing on this earth as individual rights or the idea that individuals' rights come from God because we had no individual standing with God. He had to initiate with everyone from Abraham on because of the sin of Adam. And so that's where that idea of America and individual rights comes from. I have to take my hat off to you for connecting it that way because that's beautiful. It's important. It's true.

it's unavoidable. I wrote a book, not for kids, but called If You Can Keep It, about the link between American Liberty and faith. And I had never really seen this clearly before myself. And once you see it, you say, look, this is not deniable. It's not deniable, first of all, everything you just said to lay this theological basis, but then the outworking of that theology in history, right? We didn't start America, you know, in AD 95. Somehow it takes centuries for these things to work their way like Levin through history without Luther. None of this stuff could have happened.

And then Luther and the Reformation lead to these concepts. And for me, it's just so fascinating when you think about the preaching of George Whitfield. I write about him because I was so astonished to see that it is the preaching of the gospel and the new birth, what you just said, a personal relationship with Jesus, not religion, not I go to church. I'm a member of the church of England and we go there and we sit there and, yeah, we're Christians because we're not Turks and we're not atheists or we're not. So this personal relationship somehow finds purchase uniquely in America and leads to the idea of no king but Jesus and leads to what we have today. These links are undeniable. But you know and I know a lot of people are upset by this. They don't want to hear it.

They don't like it. It rubs them the wrong way. I mean, whether they're, you know, globalists or secularists or whatever they want to call themselves, you know, atheist, Marxists, they'd like to think that we can have all these wonderful things in this wonderful country called America, if they consider it wonderful. Most of them don't, I guess. But without Jesus, without all these links that you and I know are central. Amen. And it's because, and I think we have to understand this. I think that a lot of people in our audiences of shows like you and yours and mine understand that we are at an existential cliff as a people.

and remember things like when the prophet Oseus says, My people perish for a lack of knowledge. Or remember things like Romans 1, where essentially what Paul is describing in a Romans 1 judgment is, in a cosmic sense, what happens in an earthly way when a child refuses their lineage of their father, of their parent, rejects it. And at that point, they're just given over as kind of an ingrate. That's what you just described.

The various groups of people you just described are ingrates. They have rejected. their true purpose and meaning for why they were put on the earth in the first place in exchange, and because they have given themselves over, given away the truth for L.I. Okay. But what is, why is this happening? This is happening because the social compact in America is broken. What is that?

It is that which binds us together that the Constitution then enumerates and itemizes. The Constitution begins with the words, we the people, in order to form a more perfect union. And so there is something binding those people together that then made them said, okay, here are the rules then for how we're going to live together, solve our differences, and work these things out in a practical way. That social compact that predates the Constitution, that social compact is broken. And this is why now we're constantly in the courts and not settling things in legislatures or with dueling executives, but we're constantly in the courts now.

it's because it requires a referee because there's another viewpoint now that doesn't want it that doesn't just have you know maybe in the 60s 70s and 80s it was a it was a different view of the constitution and so we were debating whether things were unconstitutional or not what we're debating now is and it's athetical to the constitution things are being presented that are anti-constitution meaning that they may not be constitutional but they're not intended to undermine the schema of the constitution what's happening now is things are being introduced with the expressed intent of undermining the Constitution because the social compact is broken. To use a really quick analogy of a marriage, you know, for a while the couple stays together for the children. But that's not, that doesn't last long. And eventually they turn on each other and say things about and to each other that would not say if they really wanted to be with each other. And that's exactly where we are with our social compact right now. That is heavy stuff. But it is all unfortunately exactly. Correct. It is true. And I just think it's a beautiful thing, though, that we can communicate the basics to kids. Meanwhile, we're communicating to adults. So often, you know, children's books that I have read or even that I have written, you realize they're making their way to adults because you're forced to put it really simply. You can fake out kids. You have to be clear as a bell when you're communicating with kids. And a lot of times that gets to parents. And they, they, they,

The penny drops. They go, you know what, I never got this before. I was reading this to my kid. So, folks, I want you to get a copy of this book, Why Easter. We'll talk more about it on the other side of the break. But it's called Why Easter. You can spell that. Why Easter?

Jesus died for us so we can live forever is the subtitle. So in case you didn't know that, it's right there in the title. Why Easter, Jesus died for us so we can live forever by Steve Dase. that's D-E-A-C-E. We'll be right back talking to Steve Dase. Again, the book is Why Easter. Get a copy right now. We'll be right back. Our God-given freedoms are facing unrelenting attacks. It's a battle for truth, and the only way we win is if we stand together. Thankfully, Alliance defending freedom has been defending our rights for 30 years and winning. Right now, they're involved in two critical cases before the Supreme Court. They're suing the FDA for endangering the health and safety of women and

girls. And in the second case, they're assisting the state of Idaho to defend its law protecting the lives of women and their unborn children against the Biden administration's attempt to override the law and force doctors to perform abortions. Think about it. They need your help. With your best gift, you courageously join ADF in fighting critical Supreme Court cases against government lawlessness and help defend our cherished freedoms. Call 855-385-096 right now or go to metaxis Talk.com, click on the ADF banner, Metaxistock.com. With your help, I've pledged to raise $35,000 by March 31st for ADF. Go to Metaxistock.com or call 855-385-096 to make your best gift now. Hey, this is Eric Mettaxas. For years, I've told you about Nutrametics, a professional supplement

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Again, Neutrametics, N-U-T-R-A-M-E-D-I-X.com. Nutrametics.com, use the code Eric for 15% off. Welcome back. We're talking to Steve Dease about his new children's book called Y-E-E-E-E-E-Ster. You wrote a book previously called Why Thanks-G. I know you have a book in the future called Why Independence Day, but let's talk about why Easter. I mean, we talked about the kind of the adult discussion of it. But when you're talking to kids in this book, what do you say to kids about why Easter?

I got to tell you, I'm not as prolific of a writer as you are, brother, but these children's books are challenging. Okay. I mean, the amount of edits and stuff we go through on these children's books, it's dozens more than I go through when I write a book for the big people. You can't fool kids. That's right. Yes. You can't blow smoke. Kids will, they're going to tune out in two seconds.

Yeah. You've got to be clear as a bell. And the minute you put up a word, they don't know what it means. They're just going to ask, what's that mean, all right? They won't assume you know what it means. They want you to tell them what it means. And so, you know, it was hard enough with why Thanksgiving to take this history because it's a very complicated history.

Hundreds of people died on the Mayflower. Hundreds more died the first year, that first winter that they landed at Plymouth Rock. So there are some things that, you know, young minds maybe can't absorb and aren't ready for, but they still need to be communicated to gravity of the situation. This was much more difficult now that we're dealing with things. I keep using this word, but this is cosmic stuff now. We're beyond the historical. We're literally in the realm of the supernatural now.

And so they communicate this in a way so that the children will understand as much as they can, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but also won't have a, maybe they don't understand the nuance of what, cowering and reverential fear means. And so to communicate that to them in a way that doesn't also turn them in at a young age to the last servant in Jesus' parable of the talents who says, I hid from you. I thought you were a wicked taskmaster.

I didn't take the talent you gave me. I didn't want to risk losing it. So I did nothing with it. I don't want them to be broken either. And so to figure out how to go through that and to put it in ways that they would understand the amount of edits that it takes. I'm very proud of how it turned out. I actually got a chance to read it to.

a group of Christian school kids here in my central Iowa community, about 40 kindergartners. And I was just really pleased with how well they absorbed it. I've had notes from parents, especially grandparents, you know, who maybe whose parents, whose children grew up and became prodigals. And now they're trying to find subversive ways to inject this into their grandchildren's bloodstream and jet stream and have used this book as a means to do so. But you'll see when you go through the book, it goes through from the very beginning that there is sin, that there was a lawgiver named Moses. And I explained the Ten Commandments as simply as I could.

There's certain things, you know, trying to explain what does adultery mean to children that you probably don't want them to be sexually aware yet, you know? And so to go through all those very difficult nuances took a great deal of time. But I think when you read the book, you'll see that we did about as good of a job trying to distill it down as much as we could as possible. I mean, I'm sorry I don't have a copy of the book, but it gives me an opportunity to ask you to share, you know, some of what's in the book. I mean, obviously you're sharing, you are sharing about what's in the book,

but on a simpler level, how is it illustrated? And, you know, because I think there's something beautiful, subversive is a funny way of putting it. It is subversive, but it's also beautiful, the idea that we can communicate to kids in a way that there's a transparency there. You don't have to make great arguments. You're just laying things out. And as I said, a lot of times, Parents, I mean, if you're a grandparent and you give this book at Easter, there's something about Easter and Christmas, you get an open door. You can just go, hey, here's a book on why Easter. Hard for them to object to that, right? Because it's Easter, and the kids want to know, yeah, and what is Easter?

And the parents, many of them are kind of thinking, like, you know what? I got questions there, too. I don't want to admit it, but when I'm reading the book, I'm curious, what does it say? It's an open door to share things. So there's something beautiful about the idea of children's books. And then again, the idea of these holidays where people are looking for something. Kids have questions and stuff. So how did you, you know, find the illustrator?

And because there's so many different ways you can tell a story for kids. So how do you begin, you know. The great question. Let me give you one example. We took essentially, we gave a harmonious. on Romans 7. This is where Paul says, the good I want to do, I don't, the evil I don't want to do, I do what a wretch of I who will save me from this, meaning that even though he is a Christian and one with a unique apostolic calling, mind you, he is still wrestling with his flesh,

the paradoxical nature of Christianity, that Jesus is Lord of all the universe, but the fulfillment of his lordship is not yet recognized, all right, that we die to self to gain life, all right? this is all the paradoxical natures of Christianity that are very difficult for adults to absorb. And Paul is, you know, working his salvation out with fear and trembling right there in Romans 7 trying to figure it out for himself. You know, I'm writing scripture. The Lord is literally downloading his word to my pen. And yet I want to act out. And yet I want to sin.

What is wrong with me? And so we drew an illustration like this in the book. And we talked about there are two things that you, it's two types of sin. There's the kinds that you actively look to. do. You actively look to disobey your parents because you don't trust them and don't think that what they think is best for you is. And so you go out and make your own mistakes, then you feel very sorry for them when you do. But then there's the moments you can't explain. Why am I just mean to my parents? They didn't do anything wrong. Why was it just mean? Why did I just say that nasty thing to

my best friend? Or someone in school that I really, really like. Why did I do that? Why did I snap like that? I can't explain it. And it's because there's a nature inside of us that even at times, on our own, on our own, when we want to do the good and right thing, we can't do it. Okay? And it's because, and we point this out with one of the illustrations in the book, God did not make us as NPCs in a video game. We're not non-playable characters. We're not robots.

All right. He gave us a will. He gave us an ability to think and to make choices. And so that sometimes creates attention between the things that we want to do that are good and the things that we don't want to do that are bad. And we end up doing the bad things, even when we think we don't want to. And so that's a problem that only God within us can solve. This is so important.

We'll be right back. We're talking to Steve Dase, the brand new kids' book, Why Easter? As you know, Mike Lundell has a passion to help you get the best sleep of your life. After he invented the world's best pillow, he created the famous Giza Dream Sheets. They're the best sheets you'll ever sleep on. The best night's sleep just got even better. For a limited time, you'll get a queen-sized set for 59-98. King's size just 69-98.

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Folks, go to Mypillow.com and use the promo code Eric. Great Bargans. Mypillow.com. promo code Eric. Welcome back. We're talking to Steve Days, who has a brand new children's book out. It's called Why Easter? Jesus died for us so we can live forever.

Steve, I'm delighted as I hear you talk about this book. And I'm also laughing inside because I've, having written 30 children's books for decades, people have asked me, how do I, I have a book for children's idea for children's book? How do I get a book published or how do I do it? And it just struck me that you gave the best answer. You start with a hermeneutic on Romans 7. I think if I would say that to people, they would just back away. So you know what, I'm not interested in a running kids' books.

A hermeneutic on Roman 7. It is funny because that's the challenge, right? I mean, you hear this over and over again, if you're a writer, where the short. order something is the harder it is, right? And then it said that to write a short story or to write a poem is way harder than writing a novel because a novel can be baggy and sloppy and you get to it eventually what you want,

the point you want to make. But when you're writing a kid's book, you've got to go right there. And, you know, you want illustrations. You want it to appeal to kids. And yet, you are really putting forth some tough stuff in here. This is

not chirpy, happy, you know, marshmallow pears. and chocolate eggs. No. Now, it's a very uplifting book. Kids will come away inspired, that they were uniquely and wonderfully made, that God counted every hair on their head, that God has spared no expense to connect with them and to love them and to know them forever, none.

And so those things are hallmarks of the book. So there's just enough in there to prick the conscience of a child to get them to begin to ask to plant that little seed, you know, one plants another waters and then God gives the increase. That this, well, frankly, Eric, what you and I are describing are the kinds of seeds that Sunday schools in this country planted for centuries. And now youth ministry basically is where, you know, exegesis and hermeneutics goes to die in the modern evangelical church. Okay. And so that, basically what I'm trying to do with this book, and you know me, it's go bigger, go home. I'm basically trying to undo 40 years of purpose-driven youth ministry in one children's book. And one of my favorite characters from my all-time favorite show, Lost, Jack Shepherd.

We have to go back, all right? We have to go back to the way things, the way we did things before when things were working. It's not complicated. It's just that human nature is. We want to think that things are always going to be better in the future. When reality, many of the answers and hopes for the future are found in the past. We have to go back. That's what we have to do.

There's no doubt about that. And I see that. In other words, my hope for this nation and the world is that we would be able to go back, that we would be able to sluff off some of the horrors that we have accepted in the last decades. I mean, you referred to purpose-driven youth ministry. That you're referring to the book by Rick. Warren. There's this kind of seeker-friendly open arms. And listen, there's some value there. And that's how we get into the trouble that we're in because he say, hey, there's something here. And then we just go whole hog and we forget everything else. We throw the baby out with the bathwater. And then we find out, uh-oh, we're in big trouble. A number of decades of this approach has created maybe converts, but no disciples. It's destroyed the fabric of the nation.

It has done a harm that only God can undo, really. We need miraculous. We need God to come in and do miraculous, and we have to do our part, but God is either going to use us or it's over. We're not going to be able to do this on our own. In the natural, it's not possible to go back, but we have to do everything we can and we have to ask God to help us. But, you know, when you talk about purpose-driven youth ministry, talk a little bit about that. Because there's so many people that naively thought, hey, this is it. We've got to figure it.

We're just going to be really friendly now. And we're going to invite the kids in and we're going to show them where they're friends and everything. Those are some nice ideas there. But if you take them to the logical, you know, extension, they end up not being so nice. That's the problem. If you go to the first line of Rick's book, it's not about you. Should have just stopped right there. because everything else that came out of that ministry made it about you.

All right? And so essentially, you know, there's an ages debate, Pelagius, Calvin, Arminius, do we choose God? Does God choose us? What's the ratio of God divine sovereignty and human choice and freedom and everything else? And whole tombs and volumes and debates have been done about this from the dawn of Christendom and won't be settled probably this side of eternity. Okay. But what we have done, though, is we've taken that same sort of Pelagian, Armenian, and I'm not conflating Arminius. They were two different characters in what they believe, but they still believed in some form of self-empowerment, okay, in salvation.

Pelagius believed human beings were basically good. Arminius did not, okay? What we've done, though, is we've taken that Pelagian-Arminian debate into sanctification error. Okay? So let me tell you what I mean by this. the night that Jesus is going to be arrested, he sits in the garden of Getsonemite now, and he's fully God, but he's also fully man. And he's sweating blood, you know, a medical condition of extreme stress, right?

Why? Because as God, he knows what he is about to endure. As man, he is not sure he can endure it. And he says to his father, take this cup from me if it is your will. The father doesn't take the cup away. What does he pray next? Not my will, but your will be done. When the disciples say to Jesus teach us to pray, what is he?

say, our father who are in heaven, hallowed be in thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Once we are saved, our desire, our greatest desire should be to give up our own will. Our life is not our own. We were bought at a high price. We will be a bond servant or a slave to something, either this world or Christ. For me to die is gained, and for Christ to live, the hope of glory, Christ and me. What we've done now is we've taken the debate about how much freedom we exerted in our salvation and applied that now to our sanctification. So post-salvation, it's all about us now, okay? It's about your purpose.

It's about your mission. You're uniquely gifted. You're a snowflake. That my church, if we didn't do things my way, I saw a clip of elevation church, one of the biggest in the country last week, their digital director talking about how they're going to bring people in for Easter. And she said, well, we're not going to talk about the blood. We're not going to talk about atone and Iraq to talk about the cross.

So you're not going to talk about Easter. You got a lot of people there. But it's not a worship service for Easter. All right, that's not what it is. And ultimately, this idea that if we don't do things our way, if God's cake won't be, people won't choose it if we don't frost it with our unique formula. All right? The sanctification process now is exalting our humanity as well at the very stage of our relationship

when we should be dying to ourselves. And that's how we've got purpose-driven youth ministry. And we have purpose-driven small groups. We sit around and read our Bibles. What does this mean to you? No one cares what it means to you, do you? You're a sinner. Okay?

Hold on. This is so important. This is so important. And ladies and gentlemen, don't let Steve Dase fool you. He's written a children's book called Why Easter. We're going to be right back. Welcome back talking to Steve Dase about everything that matters, including his brand new children's book called Why Easter. But like everything you do, Steve, you know, you don't keep it light.

serious. There's nothing more serious. I was a fun loving guy once, Eric. But no, but think about it for a second. How funny this is, right? We say Easter. Easter eggs and, you know, spring and happy and you think Easter. Yeah, Easter is happy.

But we deal with the death of God on a Roman cross for your sins, which should carry you to eternal hell. I mean, so unless you go through the. the darkness, unless you're willing to deal with that, there is no Easter. There is no resurrection without the crucifixion, without the death and the tomb. And that's what we're talking about here. And that's what you're getting at when you talk about the kind of ministry that has evolved in the last 40 years, this kind of seeker sensitive. And again, I get it. Everybody who's ultimately wrong, they're making some good points along the way. But then they go wrong entirely.

And they cease to see the seriousness at the central, at the core of what we're talking about. So when you just talk about elevate church, where are they? Charlotte, North Carolina. That they are, you know, doing this big happy, clapy Easter service, but they're avoiding Easter. They're avoiding the center of what it's all about. You understand, Steve. They actually believe that at some point they're going to suck these people in. with the happy stuff and at some point they'll be able to deliver the truth i know you know and uh listen

the the head of of willow creek admitted it highbles that all of this stuff in the end it doesn't work it doesn't lead people to it it's all charred they never they never bring the stick eric they never do and but and here's the reason why they're not going to preach the resurrection there is because in the end there's no resurrected power there you know in revelation three Jesus says, go back and do the former things, the things you once did. Otherwise, I will come to you and I will take away your lampstand. And I think collectively, that is what's happened to the church in America. And until we reform to go back and do the former things we once did,

the reformers in many respects were just saying, we need to go back to an Augustinian understanding of Christianity and its role in the world and the role of the scriptures. We have to reform. We have to go back. We have to go back to what we used to do before, or whatever it is, this stuff that we're doing now. All right, we've lost our way.

We've lost the plot. That's what Reformation meant. That's why they didn't call for a replacement nation, but a Reformation. Go back and do the former things. You have to do that in America, too. And until we do, you know, we won't learn things like, you will not have resurrection power in your life without your own Good Friday. There is, Christianity is not the avoidance of struggle or suffering.

It is the conquering of it. I mean, when you think about it, Dietrich Bonhofer said, when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Now, if you know what's on the other side of death to self, you're running to die because you will never get to true life unless you die to self. And when you die to self, God's life is on the other side of that. The greatest thing imaginable. That is the meaning of Easter, ladies and gentlemen. Steve Days, again, congratulations.

The book is called Why Easter. Jesus died for us so we can live forever in days to spell D-E-A-C-E. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Eric. God bless me. Appreciate you. Dare to challenge the status quo with the movie The Real RFK Jr. Watch it for free for a limited time now at the RFK Movie.com. The real RFK Jr. movie is based on the in-depth biography by New York Times bestselling author Dick Russell, brought to life by award-winning filmmaker Jeff Hayes. Explore the highs and lows of life dedicated to making a difference.

witness the fearless advocacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Don't miss your chance to watch the untold story of a modern day hero free for a limited time at the RFKmovie.com. Go to the RFKmovie.com. Today, some truths are worth fighting for. For a limited time, watch the real RFK Jr. movie free at the RFKMovie.com. RFKMovie.com. Portions of the Eric Mattaxia show are brought to you in part by Jeff Hayes Films and the real RFK Jr. movie. To be clear, the website is rfkmovie.com, rfkmovie.com.