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What was the corporate culture like at Fox News? On radio today, Glenn shared an enlightening encounter from his FNC days, which now makes him question certain stories being reported in the wake of Bill O'Reilly's exit.
Enjoy the complimentary clip or read the transcript for details.
GLENN: All right. So we're talking about this audio about Kirsten Powers, who was complaining that Bill O'Reilly pointed out the fact that there were a lot of blondes that work at Fox News. And that was her experience with Bill O'Reilly, the nightmare, that he was a Neanderthal and said, "There's so many blondes here, I sometimes lose track and I can't keep you all straight." She wanted something done. He needed to apologize. Needed to make sure that that never happened again. Blah, blah.
This woman is -- you know, she's a liberal. She dated Anthony Weiner. And her -- I mean, how you could have spent two minutes with Anthony Weiner if your line is that --
PAT: If you're that sensitive.
GLENN: -- is beyond me. But -- so the trouble comes, as she is telling the story -- she said, so I went to Roger Ailes.
And what did Roger Ailes say, Stu?
STU: He --
GLENN: Nobody likes Bill.
STU: Nobody likes Bill. He likes to pin up pictures of hot women. He likes to talk dirty to hot women.
GLENN: Okay. Where does that come from? Where does the talk dirty come from?
STU: Well, I mean, it's coming from Roger Ailes here.
GLENN: Here. But what does that --
STU: He's referencing an old story that had been reported.
GLENN: Okay. Now, this is the big thing. This is the one where everybody said, well, he paid off. Okay.
Here he is. And it seems as though this was a consensual relationship, at least at one point. Bill thought that they were -- this is what it seems. I don't know if this is true.
STU: We have not talked to Bill.
GLENN: I have not talked about Bill.
STU: You're just saying, basing this on the reporting.
GLENN: Basing this on the reporting. I have not talked to Bill. And it's like, hey, Bill, so tell me about that lawsuit. No.
But this is -- this is my theory on -- on Bill. Consensual, and at some point, it stopped. He didn't know. Or he was just like, eh, I'm kidding. Whatever.
But she taped really inappropriate things on the phone. At some point, she knew, I can make a killing here. Okay?
And so she demand -- I think the word was $60 million, to keep those tapes out of the public. Do you want your tapes or your emails to your wife or your husband -- do you want bedroom talk of yours out into the public? Because I wouldn't. Would you, Stu? Would you?
PAT: Well, especially to my husband. I would say no to that.
GLENN: Your wife or your husband. Okay? Nobody wants that. That's not something that Bill O'Reilly or anybody wants.
Well, I have it. Okay. Settle the lawsuit.
Now, I think that -- I could be wrong. But the way I've read that story -- and I've looked at it, you know, for, what? Fifteen years that story came out. Fifteen years ago.
PAT: Been a while. Ten, 15.
GLENN: So I haven't thought about that story since then. But if you hear what she's saying here -- what did Roger Ailes do? Roger Ailes brought that story up, and her sexual smear, the reason why this is on CNN with the -- the headline, "Look at what she said Roger Ailes said about Bill," comes from that one story.
Now, why is that important? Let me share a story with you on what I know about working at Fox under Roger Ailes.
Roger Ailes was a genius. Sheer genius. I think there was a good side of Roger Ailes. I think the dark side of Roger Ailes won. But I think there was a really good side of Roger Ailes. And I think he was torn apart towards the end of his life thinking what he could have done, if he would have used his power for good as opposed to evil.
But at some point in his life, he became a dirty old man. And -- and one of the things that he did at Fox -- and I know it firsthand is, he would sabotage relationships.
Remember how I have said in the past that, you know, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin and I, we didn't get along.
Well, me personally, I believe that all came from Roger Ailes. And I know another one who was involved, who was also feeding that stuff. But they were being fed by Roger Ailes. Roger liked to be the kingpin. And he was the master manipulator of everybody's relationship. And he liked his shows and his talent not liking each other. Because he knew, if I keep them pitted against each other, A, they'll compete harder to beat that son of a bitch. And they would never join forces. If they joined forces, then we're in trouble.
I know this firsthand because Bill O'Reilly heard an argument in the hallway at Fox. I don't know if I've told this story before on the air. Have I?
PAT: I don't think so.
GLENN: I heard an argument on -- in the hallway about ACORN. And remember when we found that New Orleans was the head. There was something really bad. And it had to do with Van Jones and ACORN and SEIU. Well, I didn't have the money to go investigate that, but Bill O'Reilly's team did. Bill O'Reilly saw that story and was like, "Got to get on that story. That's great."
Bill and I had no relationship. Bill heard an argument in the hallway between my producer and his producer. And my producer at the time was yelling at Bill's producer saying, "You stole our story." And that's when I came around the corner. And I said, "Whoa, whoa, guys, what is up?" And he said, "Well, you know, Bill O'Reilly's people are stealing our story." And I said, "What story is that?" The ACORN story.
That's not our story. That's America's story. What are they doing?
And he said, "Well, they're going to send somebody down into New Orleans." And I looked at Bill's producer, and I said, "That's fantastic. We'll get you everything that we know. Can we have you after you break the news with Bill -- can we have you on the show and you further the -- he was stunned.
Yeah. Good.
And I looked at Grish and said, "Whatever -- whatever they need, get them. This is -- we're a team here."
That's when Bill walked around the corner, and he just looked at me and went, "Beck." Bill was sitting around -- standing around the corner. He was listening to all of it.
That was the first time that Bill knew, I'm not like -- I'm not cut from the rest of -- I'm not like that. I'm a team player. Let's work together for the good of the company. Let's work together for the good of the country.
We're allies. If you remember on my show, I used to promote Sean Hannity. And he would do specials. And I would promote them because I wanted him to know, I'm in your corner. You don't have to be in my corner. I'm in your corner. And I would promote.
I did that to every show because I wanted to show -- and nobody ever asked me to. I had to go track down the details. But I did it to show the other talent, we don't have to be enemies. Why do we have to be enemies?
So when that happened, Bill called me up to his office the next day. "Beck, can you stop by my office? I want to talk to you."
Okay.
So I go into Bill's office which was the corner office and pretty darn sweet. And I'm sitting there. And, you know, he's got all these pictures of, you know, him with, you know, the pope and the president and Jesus. I mean, he's got everybody. And you're like, "Wow." And it was a pretty powerful office.
And I'm sitting there like a little no-nothing. Oh, is that the music? I'm going to have to pause in this story so we can pay some light bills. And we'll come back and tell you the rest. And I think it will begin to make sense, why I've said, "We're on a dangerous road in the media." A very dangerous road.
[break]
GLENN: So I'm sitting in Bill O'Reilly's office. And Bill calls me in, and he said, "So what are you doing here?" And I'm like, "Well, you called me to come up to your office." He said, "No, why are you here at Fox?" He said, "I used to watch you on Headline News." And he said, "I'd watch you." He said, "For a while there, I just thought you were nuts." And he said, "You might be. I'm not saying you're not. You might be nuts." He said, "But you're a hell of a television performer." And I said, "Thank you."
And he said, "You really believe this stuff, don't you?" And I said, "Yes, I do."
He said, "You need to slow down." And I said, "What do you mean?" And he said, "You're just going to burn through way too much." And I said, "Bill, I don't plan on being here for very long." And he said, "Why?" And I said, "I don't want to do this. I figure I'll be here for about two years, and that will be enough." And he said, "You could be here the rest of your -- look at me. You could be here the rest of your life." And I said, "I don't want to be." And he really didn't understand that.
And he was like, "Why not?" And I said, "Because this isn't what I want to do. This is what I feel like I need to do."
So the Bill O'Reilly in the hallway that heard me say basically, "We're partners. We don't even have to be friends. We don't have to be enemies. We're partners on furthering the news." That, coupled with him sitting me down and saying, "Why are you here?" And I said, "Because I believe it." He said, "You're going need to help." And I said, "Okay."
And he said, "You say some pretty crazy things." He said, "And people are going to need to hear the answer on what you really meant." And he said, "You know you're not going to get a fair interview anywhere." And I said, "Oh, I know. I just spent some time with Katie Couric." And he said, "I promise you, I will give you a fair interview. I'm not going -- I'm not going to be a Bill, but I'll give you a fair interview. I'm going to ask you the question that everybody wants to hear, but I'll let you answer it." And I said, "That would be tremendous." And if you're a long-time listener, you know -- people used to call me all the time and say, "Glenn, why do you go on Bill O'Reilly? He's not helping you. He's not your friend." Yes, he was. He was my friend. He was allowing -- he was asking the question the Katie Courics of the world wanted to ask me, without the agenda. He was a great friend. He was -- in fact, he and Anderson Cooper are the only two people in the industry that treated me like an equal, like a human being. And like I was intelligent. Only two people on the air that I can think of, that actually have been there. And really understand it. And may not agree with me on everything. But they know that I'm trying to be a decent human being.
I left Bill's office. When I left Bill's office, that didn't take long to get back up to the second floor, to where Roger Ailes was.
A few weeks later, I was in Ailes' office. He called me in for something. And he said, "Hey, listen, I know you're new here. I just want you to know, you've got to be careful of Bill O'Reilly." And I said, "Okay."
He's a user of people. And you just need to stay away from him and be very, very careful.
Huh. Okay. I didn't say anything. Okay. File it away.
A couple weeks later, I get another -- you know, another interview or time with Roger Ailes. And he plants another negative seed about Bill O'Reilly.
Bill O'Reilly and I are talking. And I said, "Hey, Bill, I think I've figured something out about this place." He said, "Yes." And I said, "I bet you're hearing negative things about me, about things I might be saying about you behind your back." And he just smiled. "Might be."
And I said, "Yeah, I'm hearing things that I shouldn't trust you because you're saying things behind my back." He smiled and said, "Might be."
And I said, "I tell you what, why don't we make a deal that we don't listen to those voices. And if we think that it might be true, we come to each other and we ask the other and we're honest with each other. Other than that, we dismiss them."
He said, "I think that's very wise advice."
Now, here's why I tell this story. Did you see what just happened with Kirsten Powers? She goes into Roger Ailes' office. She's new there. She goes to Roger's office, and she has a problem because he called her blonde on the air. And that's something that she even wrote a book about, you know, about what? Blondes. A non-blonde joke book. I mean, it was a book about how it's bad, and the horrible things that happen to blonde women.
STU: Well, I mean, a very standard criticism by the left was that there are a bunch of blondes working at Fox News.
GLENN: Yes.
PAT: The Fox News babes, they've been called. And that was something very common that the left was upset about.
GLENN: Yeah, but she's on the left.
STU: She was on the left, but worked at Fox News. So defended Fox News against that accusation and has written about how she did not like that people noticed the blonde hair.
GLENN: Right. Then you probably should have your hair -- you should stop lightning your hair because it's so blonde.
STU: I don't know what her natural color hair is, honestly. Personally.
GLENN: Yeah, I would say probably 40 percent of the people that are on-air at Fox are not naturally blonde. But that's, you know, a different story.
I'm, believe it or not, not a natural blonde anymore.
STU: Really?
GLENN: Yes. Yes.
So, anyway, you see what happened. She goes up and talks to Daddy Ailes. And what's Daddy say? A friend of Bill. A friend.
JEFFY: Uh-huh.
GLENN: You got to be careful. You know, Bill likes to -- he likes to talk dirty to people.
My guess is that Bill has made mistakes. But Bill mainly is old-school, as he says. He just -- come on. He's not going to play the politically correct, oh, I have to apologize because you were hurt by a blonde -- get over it. You're in the big leagues. Get over it.
I think that's old-school Bill O'Reilly. I also know Bill. We never had a problem because Bill knows that we're not only doing news, but we're also doing a show. And so he takes his business seriously. More seriously than anybody I've ever seen. And he has very high standards. Don't screw it up. Don't screw my show up. Don't waste my time. Don't waste my audience's time. Okay?
Very high standards. In the '90s -- in the '80s, this is the way I was, except I was much more of an animal. And if you screwed something up, I was pissed at you.
STU: You're not saying the sexual part of it.
GLENN: No, I'm saying the demanding exactness in your job.
So Bill gets a bad rap because, look, if you're not good at what you do or you screw up or you're lazy -- screw up once, he's going to be mad at you. Screw up twice, you've made an enemy. Not on his show. Not on his watch. Don't screw it up. Okay? That's one reason why Bill and I never had a problem because I understood that about Bill.
He takes it very seriously. Those who don't, you've got trouble. So he has that going for him. Or against him.
He is old-school, not going to play political correctness. He made a mistake I think in a consensual relationship.
And the worst part of it was Roger Ailes was feeding poison to everybody. So how much of this was right about Bill O'Reilly, and how much of this is poison that everybody knows that because -- I mean, even Roger Ailes who we know is a predator, Roger Ailes says he's a predator, right? I mean, he's got to be a predator.
JEFFY: Nobody likes him.
GLENN: Nobody likes him. That was one of the first things, Glenn, there is a reason that nobody likes Bill O'Reilly. Really? Because I didn't take everybody else's word for it. I just got to know him. And it started with me knowing that he's got to be the most guarded man in the world because either everybody wants something from him or everybody is knifing him in the back for his position. So I showed him support. And that broke down a wall. And so I found out who he really was, or at least who he really was who he showed me.
How many people just took, oh, yeah, he's -- watch out. Watch out.
STU: And, you know, it's tough because you get into these situations. And there is nobody who will even say things that are positive. Whether they're judging the case or not -- you know, even if they like you, they don't defend you. You're not the only one, apparently, though defending Bill O'Reilly. In a world exploding in violence, we've now identified a naval closer to home: Bill O'Reilly. Sexism is a serious problem and a serious accusation. It's true there are many people who dismiss a woman as unserious and out of their depth, not because they are, but because they are a woman. Bill O'Reilly isn't one of them. If disagreement is violence and everything is sexist, then eventually nothing will be.
GLENN: Who said that?
STU: Oh. The headline is Kirsten Powers: Bill O'Reilly is not sexist.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
PAT: Oh, my gosh. When did she say that?
JEFFY: What!
STU: Written in 2014. Written in 2014 for USA Today.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. And she is the one that had -- CNN is using now as the big smoking gun.
PAT: What! Oh, my gosh.
JEFFY: She must have forgotten -- forgotten when Bill thanked her for her --
GLENN: Unbelievable.
PAT: Jeez.
STU: I mean, that's incredible. Literally the headline in USA Today: Kirsten Powers, Bill O'Reilly is not sexist. That's the headline of the story. It was a column.
JEFFY: Unbelievable.
PAT: I mean, it was shocking that she survived the initial attack about her being blonde.
JEFFY: Right. I know.
PAT: You know, that she could even speak after that is a tribute to her. And then for her to completely forget about it in 2014, what an extraordinary person. Extraordinary person.
STU: We all have days where we forget things.
GLENN: Unbelievable. I have to tell you, is there anybody else that is defending -- I saw Eric Metaxas say something nice. Is there anybody saying anything nice about Bill O'Reilly?
STU: Other than Kirsten Powers in 2014.
GLENN: Yeah, other than when it was popular to say something nice about Bill O'Reilly. Look, I'm not judging the -- I don't know any of that. So I don't know. And I think you should -- you need to take people seriously on that stuff.
And I don't like if he's treating people, you know, poorly on the staff. I don't like that. Shut up, Jeffy. No, I don't like it. I think it's -- when you're rude to people, it's wrong. Shut the fat mouth. And close the --
JEFFY: That's a surprise to me. I didn't know you would feel that way.
GLENN: Close those -- close those lard-ridden eyes.
JEFFY: Is that a new policy coming from Glenn Beck?
GLENN: Yes, it is. It is. But I don't -- you don't stand for that. It's not right. It's not right.
PAT: No.
GLENN: And in a world where there are contracts and stars, it sometimes lasts longer than it should.
But also, let's look at facts.
PAT: Have we seen any? Have we seen a single fact? Have we seen any proof? Have we seen evidence of any of it? I don't think so. We have somebody's word against his.
GLENN: I haven't. I haven't. And nobody wants to -- nobody wants to stand up because it's unpopular. And we are -- we know -- I will be painted as a guy who is dismissing sexual assault or, you know, sexual impropriety or any of that. I know how that's going to be -- but that's not what I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying there is real. And there is fake. I don't know which this is. But I haven't seen the real stuff. I'm only seeing things that make me say, well, he called her blonde. And then Roger Ailes said something about him. That's not the same as sexual harassment. What are we doing?
Right is right. No matter what it costs you personally, right is right.
Renowned Christian author Lee Strobel joins Glenn Beck this Christmas season to discuss the new updated version of his book, "The Case for Christmas." Plus, he dives into the REAL history and facts about the nativity story, including some parts we may have gotten wrong...
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Lee, welcome to the program. How are you?
LEE: I'm doing great, Glenn. Great to be with you again.
GLENN: Yeah. I love talking to you. I'm really excited to hear the case for Christmas. Now, you were an atheist?
LEE: Yes.
GLENN: And we've talked about this before. Your eyes opened up. And how did you get to the place to where you're like, okay. Let me see if I can make the case for the baby Jesus in the manger?
LEE: Well, yeah, being an atheist. My wife became a Christian. So I decided to try to rescue her from this cult that she had gotten involved in. So that launched me on to an investigation into the historical reliability of Christianity.
I did it that for two years, until I became convinced that in light of the evidence, it would take more faith to become a Christian. So I became a Christian, ended up believing journalism and so forth.
GLENN: Amazing.
LEE: And written many books about it. But I wanted to do a book on Christmas. Because in the Christmas season, there seems to be a more spiritual openness, than any other time of the year.
GLENN: Yeah.
LEE: Even when I was an atheist, I felt more spiritually sensitive during the time of Christmas. I don't know why. I guess because it permeates the culture.
GLENN: Yeah. I think it's because we see hope. We see goodness in one another.
LEE: Yeah.
GLENN: It's different.
LEE: Yes. Exactly. But how do we know if it's based on reality?
How do we know? We can all enjoy the parties and the gift-giving and so forth. But how do we know it's really based on historical reality?
That's what really intrigues me as someone who is a history buff.
GLENN: So take me through that. How do we know?
LEE: Yeah. We have two really early, independent, but consistent reports about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.
One comes from the Gospel of Luke. Now, Luke, was -- I love this guy. He was an investigative reporter.
There was a companion of St. Paul, and Luke said -- he didn't say, well, I'm going to tell you about something that happened in the distant past once upon a time. No, he said, I carefully investigated everything so I could write an orderly account about the certainty that took place. He's claiming, I'm writing about what actually took place.
I believe he writes from Mary's perspective. I think he may have interviewed Mary. If he didn't, I think he interviews Hosana and Joanna, who were friends with Mary, who he mentions in his gospel. And then we have Matthew. Matthew was also -- he was a disciple. Matthew was -- was right there in the first century setting. He later became a leader in the church of Jerusalem. And one of the other leaders was a guy named James, who was the half brother of Jesus.
So James, I think communicated to Matthew, kind of the male perspective. For the birth of his brother Jesus.
GLENN: Hmm.
LEE: By the way, I was talking to a woman the other take. And she has a young child. I was talking to her about this.
And she said, yeah. If you ask my husband about the birth of my child and you ask me, you will get two different perspectives.
(laughter)
GLENN: Yeah. Yes.
LEE: It's the same birth. We're talking about the real situation.
So we've got this two really early reports. That are independent, that are consistent with each other. And then we have a very interesting report in the gospel of Mark. Now, Mark is writing based on the recollections of Peter, who is one of the inner circle with Jesus.
And he starts his gospel later in life. So he doesn't have a birth narrative. But interestingly, in Mark 6:3. He refers to Jesus as Mary's son. Now, in first century Jewish culture, you would never do that. You were always your father's son. It would have been Joseph's son.
Even if Joseph were already deceased, he would always refer to him as Joseph. And, no. He referred to him as Mary's, and I think there's a wink, that says, yeah, yeah, I know.
Joseph wasn't his biological father. And then we have John, who writes the last gospel.
He doesn't repeat a lot of the historical stuff in the first three gospels. He writes from a grand theological perspective about the incarnation. And with him was the word, and the word was with God. And the word was God.
And then the word came into our world and dwelled among us. So it was very theological. But interestingly, John had a disciple, who he mentored.
And that guy wrote the letter. And in that letter, he says, Jesus was, quote, really and truly born of a virgin. Where did he get that idea?
I think it was from John, who wrote the gospel of John.
GLENN: So is it concerning at all. Because I've heard this argument before. You know, when -- when the gospels all same say the same thing, it's pretty clear. But they can't even decide. They can't even agree on the last words of Christ when he's on the cross.
And is it -- is it -- does it matter. Should we be concerned that only two of the four gospels talk about the birth?
LEE: No. I don't think so. Because first of all, those are two solid sources historically and very early. Mark gives us a reference to the fact that Joseph was not the biological father. And he also portrays Jesus as being the Son of God. And John, of course, was a theological take on the reincarnation. He's basically saying the same thing. So, no. I don't think are a problem. And the differences in the gospels I don't think are a problem either. Because as someone trained in law, if you're in a trial, and the witnesses get up. And they all say the exact same thing, you object. And say, Your Honor, collusion.
They got together, they worked out the story, and you can't trust it.
But when you have different perspectives, people emphasize different things. There's, for instance, a technique that was used in ancient literature, that was used today.
That was called literary spotlight. What that means, somebody will focus on what one person is saying or doing. And other purpose will focus on other people who are involved in the same scene. But it's not contradictory. They're just focusing on different aspects of the same scene. So when you look at what the -- yeah.
GLENN: No. I'm sorry to interrupt. Finish. And then I have a question.
LEE: Sure. When you look at the literary techniques that were used in the first century by (inaudible) and so forth. These historians. And you use those literary techniques in writing the New Testament. These discrepancies between the gospels virtually disappear.
GLENN: So let me take you here: And I believe in the story. So, but I want to push back as hard as I can on this.
LEE: Sure.
GLENN: You know, the virgin birth is so hard for people to accept. And especially once you look at Greek mythology. This is the same story. They're just plagiarizing. This is half man, half God.
LEE: Right. Right.
GLENN: So how do you respond to that?
LEE: Yeah. I actually deal with this in my book. This is totally bogus. This was invented by German theologians in the 1800s. In the early 1900s, the Christians responded to it.
They refuted it. But now, it's come up again. I think as the internet has dredged up these old arguments. For instance, you have the most famous example is Dan Brown in his book and movie the Da Vinci Code. Where he says, oh, well, you know, crusades just copied all this stuff. He said, there was an ancient myth called Mithras. And Mithras was born of a virgin on December of the 25th.
He had 12 disciples. He tied for world peace. He was resurrected from the dead.
So now Jesus is just kind of plagiarizing. The story of Jesus was invented by people and plagiarized from Mithras. Well, I investigate that. And what do you find?
You find in the actual myth of Mithras.
Number one. He was not born of a virgin. The myth was he emerged fully grown, naked, wearing a hat out of a rock.
(laughter)
GLENN: But, I mean, it's the same thing!
LEE: Yeah, I guess you could say the rock is a virgin. But, I mean, secondly, born on December the 25th. So what. We don't know the date Jesus was born. It's not in the Bible, where the ancient records are recorded. Ancient Christians did not care about birthdays. Third, he didn't die for world peace.
He was known for killing a bull. Fourth, he didn't have 12 disciples. According to one version, he had one disciple. According to another version he had two disciples. He wasn't resurrected from the dead. There's nothing in the myth -- it's about him dying. And so nothing about a resurrection. So all of these parallels, supposed parallels disappear when you investigate what actually took place. You know, people say, well, Alexander the great. You know, there was a myth that he was conceived by Zeus.
Well, even Alexander the Great's own mother, Olympias said, it's not true. It's crazy. It's a story. It's not true.
So every one of these supposed myths that predated Christianity, none of them are parallels to the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem.
GLENN: All right. Let me take a break, and then I want to take ask you about one word, one Greek word that shed new light on the traditional Christmas story.
More with Lee Strobel here in just a second.
So tell me about the one, the one Greek world that opens things up.
LEE: It really does say he went about the common perception of Christmas. The common idea of Christmas that people have is it's Mary and Joseph because of a census had to go to Bethlehem to register.
And they get there. And she's about to give birth. And they go to a lodge or an inn, and they meet an old entity who says, sorry, no room, dear. And throws the door in her face. So they go off to a stable. And she gives birth among the animals and puts the baby in a manger.
Well, what that comes from. Just a second in the gospel of Luke, where he says, the baby was placed in a manger because there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the katalima.
That's the Greek word. Katalima. So the question is, what does that word mean?
Does it mean an inn? There's no room at the inn? I don't think so. And most scholars don't think so. That's how it was translated in the King James in 1611. But it's probably not the best translation.
So let me explain something. How a house looked in the first century Bethlehem. There was one large room, broken down into two parts. The larger part was the living area.
That that's where people would live, eat, sleep, and then there was a couple of steps bound to a smaller area where the animals were brought at night.
And they were like pets. They may have a couple goats, a couple sheep, and there was a manger there, but because there was a couple of stairs up.
They would sometimes come you up in the living room area. You know, how cute are they?
They're like little lambs, like pets. And so there was a manger also, in the living area. While some of the more wealthy people had a katalima, a guest room. It had a separate entrance. And it made their house bigger.
What apparently happened, is that Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem. And they went to a home of a relative and knocked on the door. They said, hey. We're here for the census. And they said, oh, that's great. But you know what, we have a lot of people here for the census.
There's no room for you in the guest room, the katalima. But you can give birth in the living room. And, yes, there is a manger there, and, yes, some of the animals may have come up the stairs because of the commotion of what was going on. And, yes. There was -- the baby was probably put there in a manger.
Now, in the year 1395, John Wycliffe, who did a translation into English, in the Greek Bible.
GLENN: Right.
LEE: Translated it as a guest room.
The New International version, which is probably the most popular translation in America today, does not use the word "inn." It uses "guest room."
Now, in writing this account, he knew what word to use. Katalima. He uses it one other time. And in that other instance, it was also a room in a house. There's another word he uses, andohayan (phonetic), which is a Greek word that means an inn. And he does use that word when he talks about the parable of the good Samaritan. So he knew, if he wanted to use the word inn, he would have used andohayan, but he didn't. He used katalima.
And the conviction of most scholars, it gives me a guest room. There probably was no inn.
GLENN: Wow.
LEE: Yeah. It's kind of mind-blowing after everything we've heard. And, yeah.
LEE: The other thing is, in first century Jewish culture, the value of hospitality was so high, that -- it would have been impossible for an innkeeper to turn away a pregnant Jewish woman. I mean, he would have been ostracized. He would have been run out of town on a rail. It would have destroyed his business. You could not do that because the value of hospitality was so high.
And we don't even know there were many inns in Bethlehem. It was a small town. Five hundred people. It wasn't on a main crossroads. There may or may not have been an inn there in the first place.
So I think the majority of scholars, I think would agree, that the word really means guest room, and not an inn.
GLENN: That changes everything!
That changes your whole vision of that. You know what I mean?
That's -- that's mind-blowing. That's just totally mind-blowing.
LEE: It is! And not only that, the image we have is that Mary is on the verge of giving birth, as she's arriving. And makes it urgent.
That's not in the text either! It just says that while they were in Bethlehem, she gave birth. It doesn't say they were in Bethlehem five minutes or five days or five months. Now, where the idea, the urgency comes from is the book of fiction that was written in 200 A.D.. A lot afterwards. No real historical connection. In that fictional account, Mary Joseph are approaching Bethlehem, to get 3 miles away from Bethlehem.
And she had to give birth. And so they went into a cave. And she gave birth to some animals in a cave. That's the idea of where a cave come up. Because people to envision her giving birth in a cave. That's really fiction. That doesn't have historical reality written -- you know, way, way later.
GLENN: I have so many questions, Lee. Can I have you back next week?
LEE: Sure!
GLENN: I have so many questions on this. I would love to have you back next week on this.
Because I want to talk to you about the Old Testament. Because people say, well, they just wrote that in later. Because they knew, he was the fulfillment. So they looked, and they just jammed this story together.
But you have the answers to -- to all of that. I would love to have you back next week.
LEE: Absolutely. Just let me know.
GLENN: You've got it. Lee, thank you so much. God bless you. Merry Christmas, we'll talk to you next week. You bet. It's a fascinating book. You've got to read it. The Case for Christmas. It -- while, I mean, you just did. It will turn everything upside down. And I love those kinds of things that make you think and look at things in a new and different way.
Lee Strobel, I think he's one of the best.
He's an author for the case for Christ.
But his new book is the case for Christmas.
How you can know for sure, what was laying in that manger. And where was that manger?
Was it in the kitchen, apparently?
I don't know.
The Department of Energy is preparing to finance up to 10 nuclear power plants to help the development of AI. Glenn Beck is both thrilled and furious. Glenn explains why this energy issue reveals who really rules the world.
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: So Chris Wright, our energy secretary, told an exclusive interview with the Free Beacon. That the Department of Energy, under Donald Trump is preparing to finance up to ten nuclear power plants, to give us a renaissance of nuclear energy. I have to tell you, I am both thrilled about this, and a little pissed. And maybe it's just me.
But we've been talking about nuclear energy since I was a little kid. We've known that nuclear energy was the answer since the 1950s. But we've not wanted to do it. And there's been all kinds of protests. And you all kinds of lefties that are out. Saying, oh, you can't do that. You'll kill everybody on the planet. In the meantime, we've not built nuclear energy plants. Okay? Haven't built them. We have reinvented them.
We have -- we have reinvented them. We made them small. There's no China Syndrome. Nothing else.
But they've been there for a while now. Still can't do it. Oh, the planet is going to catch on fire soon! It's going to be so hot. We're all going to die. Nuclear energy, which has zero emissions. No, can't do that. Because maybe. Possibly, what if? Even though, it's the safest energy man has ever produced. Let me say that again.
It is the safest energy man has ever produced. But you can't have it. I can't have it. I need energy for my house. I need energy for my office. No. You don't get it.
Sorry, try a windmill. But that doesn't work. Well, it worked when it was windy.
Okay. But now that AI -- now that these giant corporations need the energy. And there's no way for them to make the energy fast enough, and big enough, all of a sudden, green lights are everywhere.
Notice, nobody is talking about, we can't have all these nuclear power plants. We can't do that. Ten nuclear power plants.
Are now being green lighted and financed by our Treasury Department. Okay? Which is a good thing. If we don't have energy, we lose all of it. All of it. These -- these server farms have to have energy. And I warn you, gang, if we don't build them, what's going to happen?
Do you really think that you're going to get the power, that ace hardware is going to get the power over a Home Depot?
Do you think your house is going to get the power over a Google server?
Nope. They will start rationing for everyone else, to put all of it into the server farms. I guarantee you, that's what's going to happen.
So this is really, really good for the American people.
But, again, like I said, I'm kind of pissed. Because my whole right after, I've believed in nuclear energy.
And everybody has been against it. How many Chernobyl movies do we need to make?
How many lies about Chernobyl do we have to hear?
How many lies do we have to hear about what happened in Japan?
Or, my favorite: Three Mile Island.
No one died! No one died! Stu, wasn't that just steam that was let out, with such low emissions that it didn't affect anything, in Three Mile Island.
People quoted that forever.
STU: Yeah. The maximum radiation released was the equivalent of a chest x-ray.
Maximum exposure.
GLENN: And that stopped everything. That stopped everything!
That happened, and that movie, by Jane Fonda, the China syndrome. Which, by the way, was really good. The China syndrome came out, at the same time.
And everyone said no, to nuclear energy. And can you imagine, if we had nuclear energy, right now. How far ahead we would be?
Can you imagine? I can guarantee you, we would be using hydrogen cars right now. Because hydrogen can be made in the off hours. You have these nuclear power plants. When everybody goes to bed. They just keep the plant running. Instead of turning it down, they keep it running at a high level. And you can make hydrogen for cars, all night long.
Oh, my gosh. It's so frustrating.
It just -- it just goes to show you, who actually rules the world.
Is it you?
Or the giant corporations?
It's the giant corporations.
And it's really -- I hate -- I hate coming to that realization.
You know, I would like living in my little utopian world where everything was happy.
Everybody was like, oh, you know what, you know what, we're really good. No. We're the Constitution, republic, people listen to us.
Our politicians react to us.
GLENN: No. They really don't. They really don't.
But they can. They can. We just have to say, enough is enough. Enough is enough.
And believe me, anything that they can do to be able to shut you down and control you, and what is the best way to control people?
What's the best way to control people?
What's the absolute positively, I can control everything you do?
If I can control three or four things.
Your food. Your medicine.
Your energy. Hmm. And your money.
Because if I have your money, I can control where you buy food. What you buy. I can -- I can control where you travel to, how you travel. Oh, sorry. You can't go on an airplane, too dirty for you.
Leonardo DiCaprio needs that. Because he will give a speech about global warming. So we'll give him your credit, so you don't have it.
They control your money. If they control your food. If they control your medicine, are you -- are you noticing a trend?
I mean, everything that is happening here. They're killing our farmers.
There's your food.
They're just slaughtering our farmers. You know, metaphorically. Our farmers are going out of business. Our ranchers.
There's no reason.
We used to be the breadbasket of the entire world.
Why aren't we still?
Well, because we had to play in the global atmosphere. I don't want to play in the global atmosphere anymore.
I don't believe in all that crap.
I'll sell it to the globe. But why are we taking it in the shorts? Our people are hurting. We're buying our food, which we used to make here. We're buying it for overseas. And our farmers are going out of business. All this farmland, and who is gobbling it up?
Who is gobbling it up?
People like Bill Gates!
These giant industrial farms, okay.
And if they can control your electricity, already, I think it's in Mexico.
I know it's South America. I think it's in Mexico. They're already having problems. Some of these server farms. They're already having rolling brownouts in some towns in Mexico, just to keep the servers going, and if your servers run everything, can you imagine, you're on the east coast. Your servers start to go down. Do you think that because our entire economy -- our -- our whole system of money, banking, the stock market. Everything. It's all on server farms. No. It has to have. That's priority. That's priority.
It will be priority for that. Maybe hospitals, unless they just want to continue to reduce the surplus population to quote Scrooge.
But it will all go to the server farms. Before it goes to your farm and your house. Guarantee it. So good news, I guess, on that one.
The New York Times. This makes me so nervous. Wait, Stu. Why did you make that face?
GLENN: I mean, I get what you're saying, in theory, this electricity might go to sources that, you know, benefit from, but problem is nuclear energy.
It's basically unlimited.
You know, it is --
GLENN: These are smaller. These are smaller plants. These are -- these are designed for the server farms, not for the public.
STU: I -- I -- I agree with that. But I -- I don't know. I kind of take it as closer to proof of concept than anything else.
GLENN: Me too. Me too.
STU: If they dump money into these things, and they're successful, and there aren't massive problems, which all of these things I think would be the expectation, I think that there's a chance -- we might -- we might have a world that is not that far away. We have relatively cheap energy in perpetuity.
I mean, that's a massive promise and worth a little bit of risk of some of this stuff going to the wrong sources.
GLENN: I think you're absolutely right. But what time is it?
Oh, it's 2025. Next year is an election. Let's see how that works out. You know what I mean?
I talked to the president about this. I've said, you've got to get those power plants deep in construction.
You've got to find a way to make sure those things are bulletproof. Or it won't happen!
You lose the election in 2028, they're not going to -- they're not opening.
They're not opening.
It won't happen.
Because you've got the left.
And maybe it will happen. But it will never, never then be transferred to you.
You won't get one.
You will have a windmill.
And just to make it super efficient, it might be like one of those windmills from Holland with the wood pegs in it.
I don't think -- you may not get a real modern windmill. You'll get one that also doesn't work, but is really, really super old.
One of the things that bothers me, Stu. And I want to take a quick break. And come back to this. This is the New York Times. Why the AI boom is unlike the dot-com boom. Wall Street Journal. Wall Street is shaking off fears of an AI bubble.
Okay. And just to make it even a little scarier. Yes, Jim Cramer just came out. And said, keep your money with the stuff. Whatever he says seems to go the opposite.
So I don't -- I don't know. But how are we in an AI boom or a bubble? Well, while we talk about that, maybe it keeps us from talking about the real thing that is coming with AI. And that is the employment bubble. Because I think the employment bubble is going to pop soon. And that's when you're going -- that's when people are going to come with pitchforks and torches. To the government. And to these giant companies that are -- that are pushing AI.
This is something that I've been talking about since probably 2005. It's going to happen. It's going to happen.
And I'm really super excited that I started working on an AI project.
But we're not firing anybody. We're still hiring people. We're just tripling our output to do more.
But when joblessness really starts to hit, that's a problem. That's a problem.
A listener recently called Glenn Beck out for something related to his new project, George AI. And he THANKED her for it...\
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Rebecca, in Texas, hi, Rebecca. How are you? Hello. How are you?
GLENN: Good. That's all right.
Good. I was calling because I -- I was showing him George AI the other day. And when you were speaking -- it looks great, by the way, well done.
GLENN: Yeah. It's a long way from being right, but thank you.
CALLER: Well, it was great. You had mentioned, and you referred to it as a "he."
GLENN: I know.
CALLER: And I was just curious how -- how it kind of evolved, to where you're calling it a "he." Is it because you're intimate with the algorithm? Almost in a sense you trust yourself so much that --
GLENN: No. No.
CALLER: Okay. So just kind of how you -- are you -- are you struggling with that?
GLENN: Oh, big time wrestling with that. I've said on the air, don't ever refer to it as anything but "it." And I do.
And I -- I don't know what's causing that, other than it can respond in a human way.
It can respond in a way that a human would. And so it is natural. And I'm glad you caught me on that. And I -- I have to ask all my producers, when you catch me on that. And if I'm saying he, instead of it.
Correct me!
Because this is a big problem.
I don't refer -- I might refer to it, as he. Which is a problem.
But I don't think of it as a person, or anything else.
I know -- when I think about him, I know exactly what it is.
It's just -- and it's a bad. It's the beginning of the slippery slope I think. It's a bad habit because when we're talking about an interview. I'm talking about an interview with him.
I'm never using. There's no other case where I'm saying, I'm doing an interview with it. And I need to. I need to.
But you seem very concerned about that, Rebecca.
Why is it? I agree with you. But what is your concern?
CALLER: Well, I thought it was -- you know, you told us, really -- I knew it as well. But just -- kind of just fear what it could be. And already, we're having a hard time believing our own eyes.
And so I just thought more of an interesting -- interesting note.
And just how easy it can be to fall into that.
GLENN: Oh, I know. I know. So you are -- you are the perfect mom. You are so great at being aware of all of this. It's why we had a discussion because people have said, Glenn, you don't want to call it George AI. Because everything is going to be AI eventually. And it will look outdated. And my view was George AI, we're not to that point yet, where everybody understands AI. And I wanted to always. You know, when we get into the video releasing of this. Next year. And this is not something that you'll even be able to recognize. But everything we create, beginning next year, everything is watermarked. So I'm going to know what's live, and what is AI. You can't take any of my videos and manipulate me, because there will be an invisible watermark that we know about, and we'll be able to go, not Glenn. That's AI. And the same thing with everything that we produce that is AI. It will be watermarked. And an invisible watermark, that we'll be able to say, no. That's not true. That's AI.
And everyone who is producing this kind of stuff needs to do that. And one of the reasons why I call it George AI, so everyone understands it's AI and not a person. You know, you said it looks great.
It's out of sync. The voice isn't right. The features aren't exactly right.
But it's amazing. But in a year from now, it's going to be remarkable. And that's when it is really important that people understand.
I was talking to somebody who just gave a talk at the White House yesterday. She called me for some -- you know, some AI talking -- you know, some thoughts on this. Because she represents families and moms.
And she was asked -- the president to speak to all of these producers of AI. And she said, Glenn, what do I need to know? I said, you need to know, anything anthropomorphic must be marked and parents must know and have a choice. So, you know, any of these plush toys that have AI capabilities, I think they should be banned.
I don't think anybody should be able to make any kind of AI doll plush anything.
That represents. Like a talking animal. Or anything else.
Because the AI is going to get so good. And it is going to be gathering stuff from your children.
And unless you have control of that, you know, on our AI. When we actually release the you full version of it.
You will have an opt out.
Do you want it to be able to you discuss things with your children and learn from your children on their educational stuff?
Not any personal stuff. Just educationally. Do you want it to evaluate educationally or not? And learn from that. So it can help your children learn better. Or not?
And then, all of that information goes into a vault, that you would control.
You could say, purge it. And we would never use it for anything else, but that. That requires a great deal of trust.
I don't know how many people would sign up for that. But that would give us an ability to help your child learn a little bit better.
But it also requires us to learn. Or the system to learn about your child.
When you're dealing with corporations that you don't know. You don't trust, that information is going to go everywhere.
And that's the kind of information that is going to go into these plush toys. And they're going to learn everything about your kid. And they're going to map everything about your kid.
And it's not good. And your kid will start to associate that cute little teddy bear just in a way that mom and dad don't understand, it's extraordinarily dangerous. So you -- thank you for calling in. Thank you for correcting me. I urge you as an audience to help me learn this. Correct me if I'm saying this.
I know Stu will, he loves to hammer me.
You know, if I make this mistake to correct me immediately, because that is a deprave, grave danger. It is a tool. It is a machine.
Period. Thank you for that phone call.
Earlier this week, Glenn Beck made his biggest prediction for 2026: the AI boom will start to cause major power issues, including blackouts and brownouts, for average Americans. But to his surprise, the strain on our grids has ALREADY begun...
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Let me go to Alex in New York. Hello, Alex. Alex, are you there?
CALLER: Hi, Glenn. Yes, I am. Hi.
GLENN: Hi. Go ahead.
CALLER: Sure. So I'm calling in from upstate New York. Where we definitely have a situation on our hands here with the solar farms that the governor is pushing very, very hard.
They are absolutely using it as a land grab to take our best farmland. And in the case of near my farm here, they're trying to put in a solar farm on a protected grassland habitat, that New York State already designated as an important habitat except when solar comes to town. And we're currently fighting that up here. I meet with a coalition of people across the state. Really amazing people. Who are battling this, in every village in upstate New York here right now. And we definitely have a situation on our hands. I call it a runaway train.
GLENN: I got to tell you. Yeah, just keep fighting.
I don't know how you fight it in New York. But just keep fighting because there are -- there are communities around the country, that are fighting things like this, that are winning. I don't -- I don't know about New York, but we've got to have our farmland. And it kills me.
You know, I talked about this the other day. It absolutely kills me that we -- the people could not have nuclear energy.
No way we can have nuclear energy. But the minute tech needs nuclear energy. Oh, we're going to -- yeah, build as many as you want.
It's so disgusting. I want to talk about energy on something else. The solar thing does not work. And as a man who has spent maybe -- maybe a million and a half dollars on -- on alternative energy for the ranch I have up in the mountains that has no power to it. And over a 10 or 12-year period, I have just poured money into it, and it's a nightmare.
It does not work! It doesn't work. You can't -- you can't run anything of any significance. You know, running my -- just my studio alone, has been an absolute nightmare in there. It's not -- it doesn't work, okay? Solar and wind. It might be good for a little add-on, if you live in Phoenix. Or, I don't know. On the sun!
But it doesn't work, at least to the scale that we need. But just the other day. Do we happen to have the clip from the prediction show, where I made a prediction of what was coming next year on energy?
Can we play that happens?
I think in 2026. 2025 was the year, as I said, that we started really understanding AI.
And what was coming to some degree.
And we understood, oh. Energy is going to be a problem.
I think 2026 is going to be the first year that we see things like Texas having rolling brownouts for a week at a time. I think you're going to start to see the strain on the grid, by the end of next year, in ways that you would never have expected in the United States.
It's just growing exponentially.
I think -- I said that on show. We had a prediction show of what -- what the biggest stories are, and what are the predictions. When I said that, I'm like, you know, at the end of next year.
Let me give you this. From the Associated Press today: The amount of ERCOT's large load interconnection request ballooned to more than 230 gigawatts this year, a massive increase. Now, last year, December 2024, ERCOT needed 63 gigawatts. A year later, this December, the load that is required is 230 gigawatts! That's a lot more than they needed to go back to the future! This -- you're going to see the grids are not built for this.
More than 70 percent of the large loads are for the data center.
The data centers are just beginning to be built. We don't have the energy. And I'm telling you, this is going to be the Achilles' heel of this administration. And believe me, it will only be worst with a Democrat administration. This is going to be the Achilles' heel. Because we can't build these power plants fast enough, is -- and while Donald Trump is fast tracking these nuclear power plants, it's not fast enough!
Because as we build these data centers, what's going to happen is your energy. You're going to start having rolling brownouts. Also because of these data centers. You're also going to see the unemployment go up.
If you start to have high unemployment, high prices. And rolling brownouts, to where you're having a hard time with electricity yourself, but the data centers for the Silicon Valley companies, they're getting your power. I'm telling you.
The Bubba Effect is just the beginning. This will be an absolute nightmare for all politicians.
JASON: I'm so pissed off. This was -- I was on this show. They were like, hey, you want to be on a prediction show? You'll be squaring off against the guy who predicted Osama Bin Laden, the financial crisis, the caliphate, good luck, buddy.
And I'm like, I just knew it. I didn't know that it was going to happen that quick. But like, two days later --
GLENN: Two days later! Look, Texas is in trouble. And, you know, as goes Texas, so goes America. And so goes America, so goes the world.
Texas has got to get serious about -- and I know they are, to some degree. But the president has got to get rid of all of these restrictions, and Texas has to get all of these, and we have to concentrate on electricity. And not just electricity for the average homes. Or, I mean, for these data centers. But for the average homes.
The grids are already under strain. They're not -- you know, the problem is, if they start taking this electricity. Out of -- off of the grid, the old grid, you -- you can't pour more electricity into that grid. The grids are already at the breaking point. They're old!
They're brittle. They're not prepared for what we have to do. That's why, they have to build these nuclear power plants, at the server farms. Because they -- they cannot go on to the system because the system can't handle that much power. We're in real trouble. And everybody is still talking about solar power and everything else.
You're out of your freaking minds! Nobody has any idea. Stu, I'm sorry. Stu is like, "Watch your language, Mister."
STU: That F you hit really hard at the beginning. I was wondering what road we were going down.
GLENN: I mean, you're out of your mind. People have got to wake up to between now and 2028. I can't emphasize this enough. If you've listened to me for a long time and you've heard me say, "I'm telling you we're going to have a financial meltdown. And it's going to be the worst. It's going -- you know, you'll lose your 401(k), you'll lose everything. Get your money out of the system."
I was saying that in 2006, 2007, and no one was listening. Thank God a lot of the listeners were listening, and they saved their money and got it out in time. I'm telling you now, with just as much surety in this, the world is going to change in such profound ways between now and 2028.
In ways you cannot even imagine at this point. That you have to be -- forget your money. Forget everything else. You have to be spiritually in tune. You have to be rock solid in who you are. What it means to be human. What it means to be alive. What's important! What's not important.
You can't -- and this is so hard. I'm a guy who is in this business. I'm telling you, this is why in this last week, I've spent more time on that woman in Canada than I have on really important things that are happening politically.
Because the most important thing we can do is realign ourselves with truth!
Universal you truth. Humanity must be preserved. Your life is worth saving!
Your life is worth living.
Don't go down the road of madness with the rest of society.
Because right now, these gigantic corporations, you know, in Silicon Valley, they're promising us the only way out.
Listen to me carefully. The only way out to pay off our debt, or to survive our debt is to have something that takes our country and pushes it, our GDP up, you know, by ten points.
All of a sudden, if that happens, then we're starting to make more income, tax revenue, and we can pay the debt and afford the things that we've already spent money on.
If we don't have that, we're into -- into a different bad scenario world.
So they're promising us that.
But at the same time, they're promising us, we can pay the debt.
We can -- we can lead the world on this.
But we also are not going to have a lot of jobs.
Oh. And, by the way, to do that, we're also going to have to take energy.
And maybe for a while, take it from the people! People who can't afford food. Don't have jobs. Don't have meaning. Don't have power.
That doesn't lead to any place good at all. Warning! It's coming.
Please, please, pay attention to those things that are meaningful.
