The Eric Metaxas Show - Steve Strang

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

Steve Strang has a few thoughts about "God and Cancel Culture" and urges citizens to take a bold stand and pushback before it's too late.

to the Eric Mettaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hello there. Folks, today I hardly know where to begin except to say that we are in the midst of an international tragedy, what's happening in Afghanistan on a number of levels. A lot of friends of mine have different points of view on it, except everybody agrees that it's a fiasco, that what is happening there will be called the Biden caliphate. That's kind of where we are. I wanted to bring on an old friend, Dr. Jeff Myers, he's the president of Summit

ministries, to talk about this. Jeff Myers, welcome. Thank you, Eric. I'm good to be with you. And since you're an old friend, I can call you Jeff. Is Jeff okay, or you want Jeffrey or Mr. Myers? Now, listen, so you're in Colorado, Springs or someplace near there.

We are in Manitou Springs. Yeah, it's a little hippie town right at the foot of Pike's Peak, right next to Colorado Springs. Okay. Well, let me just ask you, though. A lot of people don't know what Summit Ministries is. So we're talking about Afghanistan and Biden and a divided nation, and you have some original polling, which we've not done on this program before, I don't think.

But tell my audience how you come into the subject to, I mean, what Summit is and how you come into the subject of Afghanistan. and the divided nation. Eric, as you know, Summit Ministries is equipping and supporting a rising generation to embrace God's truth and to champion a biblical worldview. So our programs are two weeks long,

students come here as they're headed off to the university. And we've started to really be intent on figuring out what kind of world our students are going into. What is it really like on the university campus? What is it really like in society? And of course, George Barner,

pollster helps us with that. He surveys our students, but we started to do a lot of national polling to figure out what is this divided America that we're hearing about and how can we help our students prepare for it. And what we found is pretty interesting that Americans mostly blame politicians, 58% say politicians are to blame for divided America, 54% are to blame, of news media are to blame, and then 44% say social media are to blame. So, So what's essentially happening is elites have put us in a position where they are dividing us. And sadly, it takes something like the situation in Afghanistan for people to come back together and realize, hey, we aren't divided. We all know Biden's a jerk. Isn't it beautiful when we can come together and we can agree left and right?

Biden is an incompetent fool. And I say that in love as a Christian. So let me ask you, Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries. What is happening right now with regard to, what is this poll that you're talking about? Well, the poll is something we did with McLaughlin. So it's a national polling company. And the question really was, are Americans really talking about important issues and how do they talk about them? So it's kind of some of the things we discovered are that Americans are having tough conversations that more than half of Americans say within the last week or the last month, they have had a difficult conversation on a top. with someone with whom they strongly disagree.

Now, when you say a conversation, I guess I want to be a little bit skeptical in that, I don't see that. In other words, I see people on the left and right divided in such a way that they may have an argument, but an actual conversation, what gives you evidence that these are conversations? Because, well, I'm just, I would like to think people are having conversations. Well, I think a lot of people are. We tend to look at social media to see whether they are or they aren't, but that's the right place to look. You want to be with people in their workplace, that you want to be with people,

you know, on the subway or when they're at a family reunion or something like that to see if they're having these conversations. That's the kind of context that they're thinking about. Now, most people are saying, hey, when tough conversations come up, I basically, I just listen respectfully. 60-some percent of Americans say that's their default impulse. 20 or so percent say they engage in conversation. conservatives is not surprising are a lot better at this than liberals conservatives are twice as likely to take a polite stance rather than a rude stance in a conversation that jeff myers look you're mr christian world view uh i have an answer for this but let me tee it up for you why is it because this is interesting this is really interesting you're saying polling data reveals that conservatives

are more civil or gracious in an conversation in which they're talking to somebody they disagree with. What is that? And what are those numbers again? Well, liberals were twice as likely to say that when they're talking with someone they disagree with, they're likely to ignore them, cut them out of their lives or become angry. Right. The conservatives impulse was to say that they're likely to listen respectfully and engage in conversation.

I think it comes back to the whole battle over truth. Conservatives basically believe that there is such a thing as truth and that we can discover it, whereas people who are on the left, progressives say, believe that truth is completely up to the individual. So I'm speaking my truth. So if you disagree with me, it's not just that you're disagreeing with my opinion. It's that you're attacking me as a person and I will fight back. I think that's how people on the left tend to see it.

And this polling data reveals that that's true. By the way, Eric, millennials are the worst. 20-somethings are the worst. They are three times as likely as any other age group to. say that their response to conflict is to cut somebody out of their life or get angry. This is interesting. Unfortunately, I wish it weren't so interesting. It strikes me, Jeff, that we are in some kind of a civil war. It's a cultural civil war. It's an informational civil war because coming down here in the taxi this morning, the taxi driver has NPR or something loud,

and I'm able to listen to it. And I thought to my the people talking, he's talking to like New York restaurant owners or something or people who dine in New York restaurants, they're actually afraid of catching COVID. Like they have bought into this idea that it's like the bubonic plague. And they don't feel this way about the flu. They don't feel this way about, you know, STDs evidently. They don't feel this way about anything. But they're living in this incredible fear. And it's real.

And it leads them to want to shun in a kind of old-fashioned. puritanical, nasty way, anybody who's not vaccinated or not wearing a mask. But I thought they really do believe this. We have to understand. They're not being mean just to be mean. They believe this. But it's because they're listening to information and news sources that give them this point of view exclusively. So that's kind of the weird situation.

How can we be united as a nation when our sources of information are radically different? Well, this is especially plaguing the younger. adults that we work with. And I will answer the question, but I should point out, the Mental Health Association, when they screen young adults for depression, they're now saying that up to 90% of young adults are screening positive for moderate to severe depression. They watch the news media. They don't have the ability to filter out and say, yeah, they're probably exaggerating because they want to keep people tuned in so their advertisers can give them money. That's not what's occurring to a young adult. They're just thinking, oh, my goodness, this is what's actually happening. The

The answer that seems to be the thing pulling Americans together is actually biblical values. You might find this surprising. We asked, do you believe that the values found in the Bible are essential to a healthy American society? 72% of Americans said yes. 82% of African Americans said yes, which indicates to me that African Americans are not buying into the critical race theory, America is evil kind of narrative that we are being given. And what ties all of this together? People basically believe, according to this survey, that everybody bears God's image.

Everybody deserves dignity. If we forget that point, we'll fall apart as a society. If we remember it, we can heal. Where can people find you and Summit ministries? Because I know there are young people all around the country who would be interested in Summit. Yes, and anyone who reaches young people as well. Summit.org is our website. If you want a free ebook about this kind of issue and how to engage using questions and listening,

it's just summit.org slash cancel. It's called a cancel culture ebook, and you can take a look at that as well. We would definitely want to be in touch. And Eric, thanks for the time on the show today. This is a really important stuff. And I know this is going to be a hard day of broadcasting for you, and I'll be praying for you. Yeah, thank you. Well, it's just great to see a friendly face.

Albin, my producer, he's just not that friendly. And so to see you, an old friend, I really love what you do at Summit. And I just think it's fascinating that you're doing this kind of polling. And this is interesting. Some of the stuff you've revealed is actually it is eye-opening. So I just want to say thank you, Jeff, and thank you to Summit Ministries to be continued, my friend. God bless you. Thanks, Eric.

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cost of a cup of coffee, a day to stay at a pain. Go to relieffactor.com, relief factor.com or call 800, 500, 8384. Relieffactor.com. 800, 500, 8384. I use it. It works. Check it out. and cancel culture they're uh they're both kind of important but are they related yes they are related and you know how i know that because stephen strang my friend has written a book with the title god and cancel culture stephen strang welcome thank you eric i always enjoy being with you uh i enjoy being with you and you've written a this is an important thing because i think there are plenty of people who don't they they very sloppily uh push political uh political stuff for cultural stuff away from theological stuff. They don't seem to understand that God wants to be

in every single conversation we're having in the culture, wherever. So how are God, for those people who aren't yet sold on this, how are God and cancel culture related? Well, you know, you touched on it. God is central to everything, whether or not atheist or agnostics or just nominal Christians say so or not. And cancel culture has been going on for a long time. One of the best examples is the Romans tried to cancel Christianity in the first century, and they failed, and there are people trying to cancel God today. In fact, I make the argument in the book, God and cancel culture, that the real end result of all this cancellation, which has been going on for years, but it's gotten worse lately, is to try to cancel Christianity and try to cancel the influence of God out of our culture.

And the end result, I believe, is some kind of socialism, communism, and that at its base is atheistic and they have to get God, they have to get Judeo-Christian values out of the culture and everything. And I cover the waterfront. I mean, there are many aspects to this from COVID to Twitter and to my pillow. I covered all. But I think it comes back to the fact that people are trying to cancel God. Now, I have to be honest with my audience and say that I'm in this book, God and cancel culture. You wanted to interview me for the book.

I completely forgot about that. be honest. I mean, that was some time ago. But you talk about me in the book. I know you wrote an op-ed for the book in which you talk about me, and I'll put that out there for my audience. But this has certainly come for me, cancel culture. And I think there are two issues with how cancel culture is related to God. Number one is explicitly that cancel culture seems to want to push Christian influence out of the public sphere. So we're talking really about cultural. Marxism. But the other way is that cancel culture is anti-grace. If it's anti-God and anti-biblical, if it's pro-Marxist, it's anti-grace. And so to cancel somebody is the opposite of saying that one

sin you have that's covered by grace and we're going to look at the good you've done. This is exactly the opposite. I don't know if you know go into that, but it strikes me that it's important for us to say that just the idea of canceling somebody is graceless. I agree with you entirely. In fact, the one thing about the left in the cancer culture crowd or wokeness, I mean, there's different ways to say it, is that there's no redemption. If you sin according to what they say, there's no redemption. That's the opposite of Christianity.

And one of the arguments that I make is right out of the Bible, the story about where the shepherd left the 99 and went after the one sheep. That's what Christianity is all about, is actually the opposite. of what communism or atheism is, where the 99 are important and sacrifice the one lost sheep. And, you know, these things intertwine. A lot of Christians know this, or at least they should know it. And as far as you being in the book, you're a big part of the book. I have an old chapter called It's not cancel culture.

It's communism. And I tell your story, you know, which you told me, I already knew it. That's why I reached out to you and the story of your own parents. and how that has just set you on fire in terms of speaking up in spite of the fact that they have painted a big bull's eye on your back and are aiming and shooting at you. You know, it's funny, Stephen, I realize that when you go through trials, it's a good thing because it wakes you up to, what do I really believe? I mean, do I really believe Jesus destroyed death on the cross? Did he actually destroy death? Because if he did he did,

I shouldn't be afraid of death. I should be emboldened to live genuinely freely because I fear nothing except God. And I kind of think that when you go through the turmoil, a lot of us have been going through as a result of this bizarre cancel culture, you just think, wait a minute, what kind of life was I living? Was I living in half measures? Am I willing to really believe what I say I believe? I mean, think how many people go to churches with crosses in that church.

I mean, there are people all over this country, even mainline Protestants, Greek Orthodox, Catholics, whatever. So the question is, do you believe that Jesus defeated death on the cross? If you did, you will push back against against the cause. You won't be afraid. But there are a lot of people living in fear that they will get canceled. A lot of Christians. I mean, did you talk to Christians who aren't clear on this issue?

Or did the folks you reached out to, did they get this? Well, I mostly reached out to people. people who could help us know what's going on. But, you know, lukewarmness is, you know, how the Book of Revelation talk about the church in Laodicea. And so it's been around a long time. And we know that a lot of churches have been going liberal. You know, this has been happening, really, for the last several centuries since the Reformation. And one of the things that's good about this, and as Christians, we believe the scripture, and one of the scriptures is all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. And I believe that one of the good things that's happening out of all the

terrible things, and there are a lot of terrible things, is that people are doing exactly what you're saying, Eric. They're waking up. This is separating the sheep from the goat, so to speak. There are so many passive Christians, and I interview some pastors who just stayed out of the political thing, hey, I don't want to offend anybody in my congregation. I may be a conservative, and I believe in biblical values, but I don't want to speak up. Somebody will shoot at me. Some of these people like Rob McCoy in California, or Cheon in Pasadena, or Greg Farrington up by Sacramento,

and there are just a few of many who have gotten spines of steel standing up to Gavin Newsom and all of the, you know, there's lots of examples, but Gavin Newsom seems to be the poster boy for, you know, how bad it could get, where he was actually persecuting the church. We're losing our religious freedoms. even though we have the First Amendment. Well, I have been amazed. I don't know when we air this interview,

it'll be a few weeks from when we're talking right now, but I learned this weekend that there are Christian colleges requiring vaccine proof to attend. And I thought to myself, this is Christian, overtly Christian colleges. Biola was mentioned. I thought, what world? have we entered when the basic ideas of freedom have been thrown out the window.

There is so much fear. I mean, again, I didn't mean to talk about COVID, but it's almost funny to me. People act as though it's the bubonic plague. It's polio. It's something. I know so many people who've had it and recovered quickly. And yet we have Christian colleges kind of participating in this because their idea of freedom doesn't seem to. It just doesn't seem to reach into these things.

And I think that's part of the cancel culture is that people don't really have the, they don't have the American values deep in them where they understand we can't do this. We can't do that. But it has entered the churches. I could give other examples. Well, people are wishy-washy. They don't really know what they believe. They go along to get along.

I'm absolutely against vaccines. I mean, I read recently and you don't know what to believe. had a chance to research it, that 12,000 people have died from the vaccine. I had a very, very mild case of COVID that I got on an airplane some when I got absolutely exhausted and ran down my immune system, but I was better in two days. So now I have the immunity. You know, for me, I say people can make a decision that they should have control over their own body. They ought to be able to decide. I'm concerned that the government is just imposing everything and they're using health to try to push regulations on us that before they would not have gotten away with.

This is not the bubonic plague. When it first happened, we didn't know. But within a week or two, we could tell it was bad, but it didn't even come close to being that bad. In fact, as it goes through the population, you know, the death rate is really very, very small. And the people who die probably would have died. A lot of them are very old. They would have died within a matter of months of something else.

anyway, but the thing is that even to say that is being canceled. Some of the doctors that are saying, listen, we can give you hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin, which I take myself as a propylactic. If you say that, you're terrible. You can't say that on Facebook. We're going to cancel you. We're going to say that you're a quack when it's not a quack. Hydroxychloroquine is, I'm told, is as safe as Tylenol and not much more expensive. Yet they treat it like, I mean, if there was even a possibility, it would help. If it was just 50-50, wouldn't you try it?

There's nothing, it's not going to kill you like the vaccine is. But yet there's a group think, we call it political correctness. It's been around for a long time. It's just gotten much, much worse. And it's time for Christians and other conservatives to stand up. and say that's enough. We'll be right back talking to the author of God and cancel culture, Stephen Strang. Folks, I'm talking to the author of God and cancel culture.

Stephen Strang. Stephen, we were talking earlier about vaccines and all these things. And it's a weird moment in America where, you know, I just always say, look, I want to be rational, right? So there's some people who think the vaccine is a good idea. I think it's a horrible idea. But we can disagree. But the point is we have people like Lemmings saying we can't disagree. Shut up.

Don't talk about that stuff. Those people are crazy. Just get the vaccine. Get the vaccine. And I think I was out, okay, wait a second. If I get the vaccine, is there any downside potentially three years from now, five years from now? We don't really know.

Probably not. And I say, okay, so probably not. But you're not really sure. So I'm not going to get it. Okay? And people like, no, no, no, you got to get it. You can't eat at restaurants. You can't go to college.

You can't go to Biola. And you think, wow, what happened to Americans thinking for themselves, making their own decisions? Some people are trying to enforce a certain kind of thinking. And even if they're right, they have no right to enforce thinking. That's basically what cancel culture is, isn't it? It's to use the culture and peer pressure to bully a group. You want to go to a restaurant, you want to walk around without a mask, you better do this. That's, it's fundamentally un-American.

I mean, forget un-Christian. It's fundamentally un-American. I agree with you 100%. And that's the point I try to make in the book. Now, I live down in Florida where things are relatively normal. And I don't personally face that kind of thing. And in the book, I research everything. There's footnotes.

I'm very careful. What I'm going to tell you now is anecdotes. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I went to a wedding. There were about 60 people. They only invited people who had had the vaccine. They made a couple of exceptions for my wife and I who had the antibodies. Since then, 20 people of the 60 have come down with COVID. At the table, we said at, say that again.

20, 20 people out of 60. Now, at our table, there was a couple. They were friends of ours. We talked about the fact they'd had the vaccine. they got COVID. My wife and I, who have not been vaccinated, but had the antibodies, didn't. Are vaccines supposed to keep you from getting the disease? That's what a vaccine does.

That's right. But, you know, someone said, and again, you don't know who to believe, but someone said it should not be called a vaccine. It should be called a shot. It's not a vaccine. It's not a real vaccine. No, no, no. Look, it is not a vaccine. So they're calling it a vaccine, but it's not a vaccine.

It is a shot. it's experimental RNA therapy. Here's the point. The people who got the vaccine then get the disease, but that's not the worst part. The worst part is now they can spread the disease. So they're walking around saying, I'm vaccinated. They can spread the disease. So you got an experimental shot.

And not only do you get the disease, but you can spread the disease to people. We're living in crazy times. You know, you spread the flu, the common flu. Right. When I had COVID, it was a. very mild case, as I said, I have been much sicker with the common flu and the common cold in years past. For me, it wasn't that bad. I realized some people die. But I had a friend recently, my age, who died of the flu. This was a couple of years before COVID. I didn't even know people

could die the flu. But apparently there's thousands a year, every year, depending on how bad the flu season is. Interestingly, this year, nobody's dying at the flu. I mean, they label everything COVID. I think they're lying to us. I really do. But my point of the book is not to make that argument so much as to just talk about how the end result is communism. I'd like to tell your listeners about your story. I'm not sure how much you've talked about it, but you know how your mother came from East Germany. Your father came from Greece, which came very, very close to being communistic. Your mother took you over there when you were a little kid. You saw with your own eyes what it was. you came home loving liberty like most Americans don't because we take it for granted.

We're like fish in the water. We don't even know what water is because it's all we know. I think somebody wrote a book kind of a lot with that imagery. I'm guilty. I wrote a book called Fish Out of Water. All this stuff you're talking about is, of course, in my book, Fish Out of Water. But you're right. It's what woke me up to the horror of communism.

My mom and dad lived this. And so growing up with them, I just heard their stories over. and over and over and over again. And so you realize, wow, that is bad. That is why you've written this book, God, and cancel culture, because cancel culture leads us slowly and sometimes not so slowly toward big state, socialist, communist, Marxist thinking. That's exactly what it is. Anybody who lived through the Chinese cultural revolution, much worse than anything my parents saw. That was the cancel culture on proverbial steroids. It was a nightmare. If you defied the Marxist thinking during the Cultural Revolution, they humiliated you. They did things to those

people. Anybody who's lived through this stuff knows we don't even want to go near that. Cancel culture is going near that. Well, it's still really bad in communist China, North Korea. There's lots of examples. If you don't agree with the government, they cancel you, including putting you in prison and in some instances killing you, which is the ultimate cancellation. And, you know, this totalitarian dictators have always done this. Why can't we wake up and see that the government and it's not just the government, but it's the media, it's academia, and now it's businesses with big tech and others? You know, why would you? Why would you? It's not just the government, but it's the media, it's academia, and now it's would Coles care about selling a pillow? It's because they're trying to punish Mike Lindell for the

audacity of saying maybe. We got to go to break. We're going to talk about Mike Lindell when we come back. God and Cancel Culture, Stand Strong Before It's Too Late. We'll be right back. Welcome back. I'm talking to Stephen Strang, my friend, who's written a book called God and Cancel Culture. The subtitle is Stand Strong before it's. It's too late. The forward is written by Mike Lindell, who has become the most canceled man alive. He's still standing. He's a hero.

And I want to ask you, you talked about Coles canceling him, Bed Bath and Beyond canceling him. They said, we don't like your politics. We don't like you speaking up. We don't care if you're right or wrong. We don't like you. We disagree. We're shutting you down. That's where we are in America.

that big tech and big stores, corporations are going along with this, it really does feel like what happened in Germany in the early 30s. They said, if you don't play along, you're out. That's what cancel culture is. The subtitle of your book, God, and cancel culture is Stand Strong Before It's Too Late. Talk about that. Stand strong before it's too late. Well, Christians as a group are rather passive. Generally, they're nice people.

They go along to get along. You know, they hope it won't affect them. Some of us like me live in kind of a bubble. Most of the people in my life are Christians. I recognize that. A lot of this nonsense doesn't affect me, but we cannot ignore it any longer. They're going to come and get all of us sooner or later.

And you're right. Mike Lindell is a hero. I don't know that he's been canceled as much as Donald Trump has, but they're right up there together, and he's like Donald Trump and that he doesn't seem to care. You know, he just seems to thrive. on it. And, you know, there's a very important and serious thing when it comes to economics. You know, we talked about communism, you know, at the final, at the end of the day, it's economics

and it's atheism. And they're starting to, when people are canceled, they lose their job or they lose whatever, they're losing the right to make an income with Mike Lindell. You know, why doesn't one of the retailers say, hey, you can't buy it if these other retailers come over here and I'll take all the extra business to sell you a pillow. But it's not. It's like group think. Like we're bad people if we don't go along with the woke crowd. It's very concerning.

And Mike Lindell is going to, you know, these people wouldn't take his pillow to start with when he was just starting until it became famous. He'll survive. He just will. People can go direct to MyPillow.com and buy a pillow. I have a lot of his products. And I'd buy more if I could figure out who I could give him.

to his gifts. I want to support him as much as I can. But there's other ways that they cancel us economically. I go into this in the book, God, and cancel culture. It has to do with credit card processing. This is something that those of us who aren't in the banking or credit card industry don't know anything about. But when you submit your credit card for payment, they accept it or rejected, and then it goes into this way that the banks transfer money and they finally put it on your bill and you pay it. But there are some of these places. that have canceled conservative and Christian organizations because they don't like the fact that they go against the woke feeling that LGBT is okay. They stand for biblical values. They're not necessarily

hateful. They're not pointing their guns at anyone. They are just saying what they believe, and their credit cards won't be processed. It's becoming a real problem. And if people can control you like this, they're controlling your ability to buy and sell. And for those of us who study any kind of Bible prophecy at all, it sounds a lot like the beginning of the mark of the beast, the Antichrist. You know, this is stuff I never thought I would see in my lifetime. But you've got to believe that it's building up towards something, one world government.

I mean, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and maybe it'll happen generations from now. But it sure looks like it's building up to something and cancer culture. is part of it. I just hate the fact that I agree with that. I hate it. It's sickening to me. But unfortunately, if you're paying attention, that's exactly what it looks like. If you really are paying attention, there are a lot of people who either they're not paying attention or they can't bear the thought. So they have to, they have to, you know, brush it off as conspiracy theory or exaggeration. I wish it were. But I have to be honest and say that one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you about this book is because I feel like this is front and center in our lives.

Here's the issue. Your book says, God and Cancel Culture stands strong before it's too late. If we don't stand strong now, if we don't push back now, if we don't fight now, we will go down this path that you and I have been talking about. And so the question is, will we stand up? Will we fight? There are many people listening right now. They're not fighting. They're not doing anything. Well, hopefully my book will cause them to wake up, and people are speaking up. I think there is hope. I try to end the book with hope. We haven't lost yet, but it's like leaning back at a chair.

You can lean back, lean back, and you can write it, you know, put it back on all four legs if you want to. But at some point, you lean back too far. You get to a tipping point where it's impossible to put it down. You just fall backwards. That's where the term tipping point came from. and we're getting pretty close to that tipping point, I'm afraid. But we can speak up.

We can be strong. And even programs like this and everything you do. You said Mike Lindell was a hero. I think you're a hero too for all that you've done. And you have really been attacked lately. And so bravo for standing strong yourself. Well, thank you. We've just got about a minute left.

But I just want to say that, you know, I have my parents to thank. because my parents, they really made me see. They grew up in some cases living hell, no food. They saw the evil. And so they made me understand this is real. Because I haven't seen it in my lifetime. That's because I'm ridiculously blessed living in America. But around the world, most people know there is evil.

There's a potential for terrible, terrible things. The question is, will the people with the power, with the freedom, in this country, will they wake up and fight now? And again, that's the title of your book, God and Cancel Culture, Stand Strong, Before It's Too Late. We've got 40 seconds. Do you think people will push back? I believe they're starting to, and you're right, this is a wonderful country. Why do you think people are pouring over our southern borders if this is such a terrible,

racist country or whatever else the left says we are? It's a wonderful place. We're still the land of the free and the home of the brave. Well, that's a beautiful way to end it. Folks, the book is God and Cancel Culture, forward by Mike Lindell. But the book is by Stephen Strang. Stephen, it's just a joy to know you're in the fight with us. And I hope your book in this interview wakes people up.

They need to wake up today. Stephen, thank you. Thank you, Eric. Folks, we do every year we do a fundraiser for Food for the Poor. Why? Because we all know that we've got to give back. We all know that there's something we can do, but what? Where do we give?

So Food for the Poor is one of a number of organizations that we partner with because they've been vetted. We have a history with them. We know how they work and we know how far they can stretch your dollar. So if you give $37 to Food for the Poor, one kid can be fed for six months for $37, folks. That's astonishing. I hope you're astonished. But anyway, what I wanted to say that we haven't said, because this is tough stuff,

it says that children under five years old in Honduras, that's one of the places where we're giving to right now, it says that chronic malnourishment causes over 25% of, these kids under five years to be stunted in their early growth so we are talking about serious effects serious effects can you imagine that in our hemisphere not many miles from america we have this going on so this is food for the poor is tackling early childhood hunger that's what we're asking you to give to $37, feeds a kid for six months. Obviously $11,

blesses three kids. This is a real tragedy, but it's something we can do. And it's up to us actually to do it. I'll give you the phone number in just a minute. But I want to say that Marcus Frisch is a project manager at Food for the Poor. We had a clip. I wanted to play that so we can hear from him.

Let's play that. These families are in need. We've heard how people who have never found themselves in a position of begging are now asking for assistance. And if that is happening for the middle class in these countries, you can only imagine the impact that's happening for the poorest. It's amazing. I mean, people like Marcus Frisch and others, they see these kids. And if you, if you go to places like this and you see these kids and then it hits you that $37 could feed that kid for six months. Wow.

So I'm just hoping that your heartstrings are being tugged down a little bit because frankly, this is real, this is happening. And we on this program have made a commitment to food for the poor to reach out to you on their behalf or on behalf of these kids. There's a phone number. I'll give you the phone number, 844-863 Hope. If you prefer the phone, 844-8663 Hope, 844-8663 Hope, or to translate that into numerics, 844-8663-4-6-7-3, or you go to metaxistalk.com. If somebody out there could step up and donate $1,000 to food for the poor, that would feed, think of this, 27 kids for six months.

27 kids for six months. It's just crazy, $1,000, which to some people is nothing. Obviously, we keep saying that if you give $10,000, we would love to have dinner with you at a place of your choosing with as many people as you like, it's on you, so you can invite 20 people or just the two or three of us or whatever it is. Make it a party, yep. Yeah. We can do it here in New York, where I live, or we can do it in your town if I travel to your town.

But honestly, I know there are folks out there who can do that. It's tax deductible. Obviously, that would be 270 children for $10,000. $270 children are fed for a half. half a year. That's amazing, ladies and gentlemen. I want you to take advantage of it. Go to metaxistock.com. You'll see the banner or call 844-8663 Hope. 844-863 hope. We really do need your help. Thank you.