RADIOJanuary 25, 2023

How Vatican City’s DARK SECRETS are relevant to YOU

The true reason why Pope Benedict retired from his position in 2013 — the first time it had been done in nearly 600 years — remains a mystery (though, the fact that Vatican City’s ATM transactions began working again right after his announcement leaves many to believe he was pressured into the decision). But now, an Archbishop who worked closely with Benedict is publishing a tell-all book that may expose several of Vatican City’s scandals, ones the Pope was investigating. Dr. Taylor Marshall, author of ‘Infiltration,’ joins Glenn to detail not only these dark secrets, but also how they represent a type of evil that is NOT exclusive to the Catholic Church. Rather, Dr. Marshall explains how this story relates to us ALL: ‘Ultimately, evil wants to take ownership and brand your mind and control your thoughts. And that's where all the tentacles are reaching.’

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Dr. Taylor Marshall is with us now.
The author of Infiltration.

The infiltration of the Catholic Church. The plot to destroy the church from within.

This is a universal story now. Doctor, welcome to the program. How are you?

TAYLOR: I'm great. Thanks for having me on, Glenn.

GLENN: You bet. So we follow your work a great deal because you talk about other things, other than Catholic things.

But I want to make sure people understand, right from the beginning.

We are not taking on the Catholic Church, and this is not a Catholic bash session.

TAYLOR: No. Not at all. And I consider myself a Catholic. I attend mass every day, sometimes more. I have a beautiful Catholic family. We have eight children.

GLENN: Jeez.

TAYLOR: And I love Christ. I love -- I love the church.

And that -- that bothers me, that there's these wolves in sheep's clothing. In shepherd's clothing even, doing horrible things to children, to bank finances, to all kinds of scandals.

GLENN: Right.

TAYLOR: And I think the answer is to just shine light on it, and expose it. So we can have true change. And get things back on track, the way we want them.

GLENN: And there will be a lot of Catholics that listen and will hear you, like Nancy Pelosi, who consider themselves Catholic. That will disagree, strongly with with some of the things that you're saying. But I think that's the point.

Because there is this kind of feeling among Catholics about Pope Francis. Is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy?

I don't know if we'll ever get to that question. But I want to talk about Pope Benedict. Because this was very bizarre, when Pope Benedict resigned.

I think it was the first time, right?
Where he resigned.

TAYLOR: Well, it's the first time in 597 years. So it's been a while. It's pretty rare.

GLENN: Yeah. Right.

And when he resigned, it seemed very odd. It was preceded by European banks, pulling the plug on the Vatican bank. Right?

TAYLOR: Yeah. That's correct. Well, actually if we go back a little bit more. A few months before the Vatican bank having a -- kind of a meltdown.

There was the butler of Pope Benedict. His name was Paulo HEP Gabrielli, and he was leaking documents to the press and to journalists. And no one knew how this was happening. And finally, he was caught.

He pled guilty. And he was sentenced to prison, in the Vatican. And Pope Benedict oddly pardoned him. And that led to the whole investigation, that was headed up by Benedict. A secret investigation. Three cardinals did it. They presented to him. The sources say one or two red binders, of all kinds of filth in it.

Bank scandals. There's rumored to be pictures of cardinals in drag, in those binders. All kinds of nasty things.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

TAYLOR: And that all happened in December of 2012.

And then January 1st of '13, the -- the Vatican museums cannot process money.

The ATM machines in Vatican City stopped working.

And shortly thereafter, we have the announcement of Pope Benedict, that he's going to resign. The very next day, all those banking problems were fixed. They were resolved. By the way, the night that Pope Benedict announced he was going to resign. That was the night that (?) which was a sign for a lot of people.

GLENN: So -- so this is right along the lines of what we're seeing in the Deep State in the United States.

We are seeing with World Economic Forum, which I know you are very well aware of.

Are you -- are you -- is there any evidence, that this banking thing was to put pressure on the pope, get out?

TAYLOR: I think so. And the reason for this. And you say Deep State. And I think we really need to. Everyone needs to put in their vote. (?) deep church. The same thing that is happening in state, is happening in the church. We can refer to Deep State and deep church.

GLENN: And it's not just the Catholic Church. These people have been working behind the scenes for years.

TAYLOR: Yes. And you have to remember that the Vatican is unique, in that the Vatican is its own nation. It's called a city state. It has its own sovereignty. Technical, Vatican (?) it's it's own micro country. And as its own micro country, it has its own bank. Now, I want (?) a mob boss. Your biggest problem, is what do you do with all this money?

GLENN: Is the bank.

TAYLOR: You have to launder. You have to get it into legit means and move it around, right?

And what if there were a bank on earth, that belonged to a micro nation, that was not regulated by the EU. That was not regulated or audited by anyone on the outside.

Well, there is that bank in the world. And that bank is called the Vatican bank. So err crony on earth wants a piece of that bank.

Because you can legitimatize legitimate money. That's why the Vatican (?) almost every five to ten years. Since the 1960s.

The temptation to use that Vatican bank is high. And the temptation for corrupt cardinals in the church, that led people to get their fingers in the pie. Is also very high. That's only one piece of this puzzle. But I think that helps people to understand why the Vatican bank is constantly plagued with scandals.

GLENN: Okay. So let me make sure I understand the good guy here. Benedict. Is it your thesis that Benedict was working to end all that corruption and expose it. And possibly his (?) was being used by Pope Benedict. To out all of this stuff.

And -- go ahead.

TAYLOR: Yeah. Those are questions that we're still trying to figure out. I want to be very careful not to say, Pope Benedict was the super saint mastermind playing (?) this is an old man, who is in his 80s. I mean, it's -- very few of us have had the experience of being old and tired and surrounded.

And so I don't think we could make it just as easy as the good guys and the bad guys here. But definitely Pope Benedict was doing investigations.

And he appointed a man who was becoming very famous in the last couple of years. Archbishop (?)

GLENN: I love him.

ADAM: Yeah, he's great. He's a good guy.

He appointed him, back in -- I think it was 2009. He appointed him, secretary general of the Vatican City.

And this is sort of a ruling body. And he wanted him to look into the financial accountability of the Vatican bank.

And as soon as he was hired by Benedict for this job, he found a -- a negative deficit of the equivalent of 10.5 million. And then found a surplus of random money that was in various bank accounts of 44 million. He did that in just 12 months. Viganò did. (?) which shows you that the people who were already in there, were playing fast and loose with accounting.

Viganò (?) some cardinals. I won't go into all the names. But if you want them, I can give them to you.

GLENN: No, no. That's all right.

TAYLOR: And he got in big trouble. So what did Benedict did? He took Viganò. (?) the apostolic, (?) the ambassador to America. Washington, DC. Now I want you toggle and do an audit on the American bishops (?) and the American Catholic Church. That's what Viganò did. (?) and guess, what he undercovered (?) archbishop of DC. Who was molesting children. Embezzling money. Just a wicked Judas of a man. Viganò (?) five years, pointing the finger at Francis for corruption.

So all these characters are woven together. It's a pretty small world, in the Vatican.

GLENN: So let me switch topics here and kind of go to what happened, what? Yesterday or the day before. Unprecedented. The pope writes a book. And it's held until after his death. And he just exposes some really nasty things. And I want to get into your thoughts on that. What did he say?

Why did he wait in and what is going to be the fallout (?) for everybody else in all of our churches that aren't Catholic?

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(music)
So it was a tell-all memorandum with our. And it was -- (?) it was a book of really unexpected Revelations. And it came from the Vatican. It came from the archbishop. Who was the right-hand man of Pope Benedict.

And it was supposedly written by the two of them. I think?

Or Pope Benedict. And it exposes all of the things pope been ticket wanted to expose.

And it's some nasty exposé.

Never really done before.

Am I right?

TAYLOR: Yeah. As far as I know, it's never been done.

There was a rumor, that Pope Benedict was going to release his final spiritual testimony after he died. And after he died, it came out. Everybody said, it was a nothing burger. Kind of reminisced about his childhood and family. Then (?) I actually have an advanced English copy.

I don't know if he's official or not. I'll read you a section of it. This is Pope Benedict.

Quote, in several (?) were formed. Which acted more or less openly. And which clearly changed the atmosphere in seminaries. In a seminary in southern Germany, candidates for the priesthood, and candidates fort (?) lived together.

And it goes on. He talks about also the American bishops. And how they sort of lost their vision for the gospel. For assisting the poor. For preaching the truth. Drawing people to Jesus Christ.

And instead, kind of just became -- not in his words. But sort of the chaplains to the Democratic Party. You know, the woke agenda. The Great Reset.

And this kind of makes sense. I mean, if you're Satan, you want to be in the highest corridors of power.

And that has to do with both religion and politics.

And there was a woman aliened bella Dodd. Who in the '50s said (?) she was a communist operator. She had a big conversion. And she said, she had placed over a thousand communist men in the seminaries. That was back then.

So this kind of thing was happening. And it's -- it's just like we have a Deep State. This is the Deep Church.

STU: Right.

GLENN: So Pope Francis recently came out and said, the devil is among us.

And he has talked about a great evil.

It sounds like this is what Benedict was also warning against.

But I don't think they see things the same way.

Or do they?

TAYLOR: Well, I liked your comment (?) evil. But they seem to be pointing at one another.

GLENN: Right.

TAYLOR: I think that's -- I think your observation there was a good one. I think there's definitely a war in the Vatican. And this kind of goes back to the '60s. There was this countless. You mentioned in the video, there B (?) third secret of Fatima. In the 1960s, or the second (?) from 1962, to 1965, it was super optimistic. You know, this is the era of color TV. And moon landings and all this.

GLENN: Yeah.

TAYLOR: And there's this idea, we need to make Christianity. We need to make Catholicism groovy.
(laughter)

GLENN: And that's exactly the right word too.

Because those kinds of churches are just as hip as groovy is. They work just as well.

TAYLOR: Yep. And so there's this idea, we can update and make things cool. So we'll change the liturgy. We'll change the hymns. We'll make things modern. And what we'll do is just give a face-lift to Catholicism, so it's not medieval.

And bells and ropes. And we'll just be really cool.

Well, there's been this battle for the past 60 years on whether that is an actual improvement. Or it's been detrimental.

And it goes hand in hand with the global political agenda.

Should wen on board. Should we be downplaying abortion? Downplaying gay marriage?

You know, and this has been the battle. And the lines are kind of drawn along that fault line.

And I think Benedict, the 16th, as a young man. Was a little bit liberal and more modern. As he aged, as he was a pope. He turned the wheel right. Francis has always been a South American liberation theology, radical, Jesuit. Modernist. And that's just who he is.

And he has -- if anything, he's only gotten more and more leftist, the longer he lives, and the longer he's pope.

GLENN: Go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, no. Go ahead.

TAYLOR: So by having these two catches. You see Pope Francis, for example, he's trying to ban the traditional Latin (?) the Gregorian chant. He doesn't likable the old stuff.

And he's very much (?) on board with like, the vaccine and the theology.

And the great reset.

And he sends representatives to Davos. I mean, this is his worldview. And so when he talks about the devil. I'm not so reason he's talking about the same person that Benedict is talking about.

GLENN: Right. So when I was at the Vatican, this is under Benedict. I had no idea why they did this. It was a surprise to me.

But I was allowed to go to the secret archives with the chief archivist. And the head of the university. Both of them were the -- you know, counselors to the pope, at the time.

And they talked about a war, in the Vatican. And it -- it was described to me, later by a cardinal, as really, truly a Civil War. And they were saying, it's the soul of the church. And we kind of hope Benedict wins. And it's not clear at all. It was shortly after that, that Benedict retired.

And it seemed like almost in retrospect, almost as if the cardinals knew, this could be a possibility. That he would either be killed. Or he would have to retire.

I would like to have you talk about the actual -- it's almost did a vast majority of codish. I hate to say that. But it's almost Da Vinci Code. There is a group inside. (?) how real is this. And does this play at all, into prophecies. Catholic prophecies about these days.

Back in just a second. If you want to hear more from Dr. Tailor marshal. Go to you get.com. (?) Dr. Tailor marshal. He has all kinds of videos up there. And he doesn't just talk about the Catholic Church.

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(music)

STU: Head over to BlazeTV.com/Glenn. Use the promo code Glenn. You'll save ten bucks. More with Taylor marshal, coming up.
(OUT AT 9:28AM)

GLENN: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program. Today, we're talking to tailor marshal, author of infiltration. Also, host of the Dr. Tailor marshal podcast you can find on YouTube. He talks about (?) a lot of things.

But he is -- he is a very strong Catholic, and this week, we are talking to him about what Pope Benedict did after his death, just a book -- a book just came out. No one in America is talking about it.

And I don't know if anybody in Europe is really talking about it. But it is earth-shattering. And it's all about evil. And evil is becoming more and more clear. At least to me, it is. And before we go on to the war that is going on in the deep church, archbishop Viganò, (?) at one point here recently called out, George Soros, Klaus Schwab, and Bill Gates. And this is the guy who was calling out all the pedophiles, and the banking scandals. Why did he call those three out?

TAYLOR: Well, as time goes on, we see that the deep church and the Deep State, the puppet strings all lead back to the same fingers. So, of course, Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab. The usual suspects. Because you have to realize that the most powerful people in the Deep State, the most -- the billionaires, and the -- the technology giants. They have a strategy, not just for politics. But also for economics. They have a policy -- and they have a policy for religion.

I mean, all the great tyrants also have to control religion.

I mean, that has to be done. This is thought control. And the most powerful thoughts that people have. The powerful feelings they have, is almost always associated to their religion. To their faith. To their convictions.

And so this has to be controlled.

GLENN: Correct.

ADAM: And the biggest united religion on earth is Catholicism, with a very centralized nervous system in Vatican City. So, of course, they will go after that. And archbishop Viganò (?) who exposed corruption in the Vatican vein. Who worked in Washington, DC. He knows the Clintons. He knows the Obama's. He knows all these people. And he's met every single Catholic bishop in America. And all the cardinals in America.

He has the receipts. And so he's a in a very unique position, perhaps more than anyone alive. To have worked in the Vatican, in DC, and to see all these things at the time.

GLENN: He's very clear on good and evil. And he -- didn't he say this is a one world government, that is being built by those people in the WEF. And it's one world religion and everything else.

That's what he's really warning about, isn't he?

ADAM: Exactly (?) during the campaign. In fact, he even sent a message during one of the major rallies, that I read from the Supreme Court steps, on behalf of archbishop Viganò. (?)

GLENN: Would you please put a good word for me? I've tried to have him on a billion times. We don't get a response. I would love to do a podcast with him.

TAYLOR: Well, he's in hiding.

GLENN: Well,ening --

TAYLOR: For obvious reasons. But, yes.

GLENN: Okay.

TAYLOR: We can work something out. But he is really one of the most dynamic voices on earth, in particular within for -- for Catholics. Or you could say Christians, who have just had enough. You know, who have just had enough of basically politicizing our faith, so that the likes of Bill Gates can grab up more land. And push more experimental medical procedures on the world.

GLENN: So day before so let me -- let me ask you the -- the third secret of Fatima. And if people don't know what Fatima is, it's -- it's a miracle that happened, what?

Right before the --

TAYLOR: 1970s.

GLENN: Right before the war. And the Virgin Mary came. And appeared to the children. And said, look, there's going to be a war. It's Russia that's behind a lot of this error.

And Russia needs to be turned over to the Lord.

And their hearts changed. And gave, I think three secrets.

And the last one was kept secret

And it's confusing now, because it supposedly has been revealed.

But then I think Benedict hinted that it really hadn't been revealed.

But it talks about the last black pope, if you will. And I don't mean it as color of your race. I mean as a dark figure, that he's on the wrong side.

Is that true? And do you and others, does very good no believe this is those times? (?) or we're approaching them?

TAYLOR: Yes. I think that the Fatima mystery, and the three secrets of Fatima. In my book, infiltration, it's the very first part of the book. I won't get into all the details. People can look into it, themselves. There's tons of literature on it. (?) maybe since Moses crossing the Red Sea. I know that sounds sensational (?) that was witnessed in a place, a little tiny place.

Fatima, Portugal. And, yes, there were three secrets that were revealed. Just quickly, (?) and people were going there.

Don't listen to people who tell you, there's no hell. Number two, Russia needs to be consecrated.

Russia, the errors of Russia, are about to spill into the entire world. Over the -- this was documented in 1917.

GLENN: Right.

TAYLOR: And what did we see? We saw the rise of communism, (?)

GLENN: National socialism. All of it.

TAYLOR: Cuba. Latin America. What happened in 1917? Either these little kids were just drilling it, you know -- politicians who can see the next hundred years. Or this was really a message from heaven. Then the third secret was written down.

And was supposed to be opened and read to the world, in 1960. Sixty. It's a special message to the world.

And everyone. Even the New York Times was publishing, orientation my goodness, we're go B to have the secret of Fatima. (?) it was a really big deal.

A lot of people forgot it. It was a really big deal.

GLENN: Nobody (?) seemed to release. And you're like, why?

Why hasn't it been released?

TAYLOR: And the secret, talking about a world war, and a worst one after that. Everything that was revealed. Did come after it. So everybody wanted to come in the envelope, what in the envelope (?) John the 23rd opens it. Reads it. Puts it back in. And says, this is not for our time. I'm not releasing it to the world.

And everyone was ticked. Everyone was upset. Exo. This is perhaps the greatest prophetic thing that happened in the last 700 years. And you won't reveal it.

So that was 1959. 1960.

Then something was released in the (?) allegedly the third secret.

As soon as it came out, people questioned it. Because it describes a vision of what seems ton some kind of post-war dystopia. But it doesn't explain what it is, or what should happen. Or what we should do. Like, there's the explanation part that we had in the first and second secret. Is missing in the third secret. This has led to a unanimous agreement by scholars, even people who weren't Catholic. What they gave us in the year 2000, was maybe part of it. But it wasn't the full secret. And why don't we have the full secret. There's people who have speculated. There are people who read it, (?) it has to do with the bad counsel.

With a bad mass.

GLENN: And with -- and with a meeting in Russia, that the pope will go to Russia.

And not to consecrate Russia.

TAYLOR: Yeah. It's hard to know. Because we don't have it. We just (?) kind of get drippings of what it could be. But we do know that Russia is at the center of this whole thing. And we're still living in 2023.

It would be great to get the full secret. To know what it actually says. But my worry is that they put it into a filing cabinet, called trash can. And we may never see it.

That's my concern.

GLENN: I -- I -- Dr. Marshall, we could talk for a long time. I have so many questions for you. But we're almost out of time.

Tell me how this relates.

What's going on in the Catholic Church. Which is a real, true Civil War for the soul.

Just like we're battling for the soul of America in the country. And the West. Everything is being split.

How does this relate? What's going on in being exposed in the Vatican to all of our other churches?

TAYLOR: Well, I think at his it goes back to thought control. They want to control our actions. They want to control our words. You know, if you say certain things, you will be canceled. Just look at what Elon Musk was exposed to in the last several months. And then they ultimately want to control your thoughts.

People want to (?) 666 on the forehead. All of that. Think of the significance of the forehad he. I mean, that is branding. The sign of the devil, upon your mind.

You know, the -- yes. There very much could be a physical manifestation of a sign on your forehead. But ultimately, evil wants to take ownership, and brand your mind. And control your thoughts. And that's where all the tentacles are reaching. This complete thought control.

You will own nothing. You will have nothing of your own. You won't even have your thoughts. And allegedly, we will be happy. Is what they tell us, at the great reset.

GLENN: It's actually -- it's actually in one of their videos. That even your thoughts. Your dreams will be known. So you really will not control your thoughts or be in charge of your thoughts. You will not know which are your thoughts or their thoughts.

It's really spooky.

TAYLOR: That's ultimately, the mark of the beast there. You have 666 on your forehead, literally. Whether it's a contraption. Whether it's a tattoo. We debate that all day. But the significance of that, is that your mind belongs to evil.

GLENN: And is there any doubt in your mind, that this is actual evil. Like we probably haven't seen since maybe the 1930s and '40s? Any doubt in your mind?

TAYLOR: There's no doubt in my mind. No doubt.

The powers. Back then, they have machine guns and planes. Now we have technology.

Now we -- people can spy on you through your phone.

They can control so much. And that hasn't yet been tested by tyrants. And so now we're starting to experience it.

GLENN: Thank you so much, doctor. I hope we get a chance to meet soon. I would love to get you on (?) and things you know about that, that I might have missed. You spread a lot of good, in the world, with your -- with your podcast. So thank you so much. At which time likewise.

GLENN: YouTube (?) really, really reasonable.

Well thought out man. His name is Dr. Tailor marshal. He is the author of the book (?) Taylor marshal podcast. You can find his podcast at YouTube.com/Dr. Taylor marshal.

Why Biden's Corrupt Pardons CANNOT Stand... And Why it STILL Matters!

A new wave of sweeping “pardons” has triggered one of the most urgent constitutional alarms Glenn Beck has ever raised — not because the individuals involved are controversial, but because the actions themselves may not even qualify as pardons at all. Glenn Beck breaks down how these broad, immunity-style declarations can bypass investigations, rewrite laws by fiat, and push executive power into territory the Founders explicitly warned against. With mass clemency increasingly used as a political shield and executive actions replacing the legislative process, America is drifting toward a model of governance that no longer resembles a constitutional republic. This episode exposes how the pardon power is being stretched beyond recognition, why Congress has surrendered its role as a check, and what must happen before the nation crosses a point of no return. The question now is unavoidable: Who will stop this before the Constitution becomes optional?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

CALLER: I wanted to talk about the pardons. Hunter's pardon was legitimate. He was actually accused of a crime. I know you're plugged in with the president. I haven't heard anybody say this anywhere. I have been watching everything.

These pardons. Forget the auto-pen. The auto-pen doesn't even matter. Because these were immunity deals. These were not pardons. None of these people were under investigation. None of these people had any crimes they were accused of.

So you can't pardon somebody for something they may have or may not have done. That's an immunity deal.

Again, I've watched everything. I don't hear anybody bring that stuff -- I don't think the auto-pen matters. I just think those things are null and void from the jump.

GLENN: Who --

CALLER: Like I said.

GLENN: Who do we have besides Mike Lee? Because Mike is always hard to get a hold of at this time. He's like, I'm working on Senate stuff, Glenn.

Who do we have that is a Constitutional scholar that we can call real quick, and see if we can get an answer on that before the end of the show? At least put a call out to Mike Lee, will you?

But I would like to know that happen at that. Because the president has. And Stu and I have talked about this for a while. This has gotten out of control. These pardons are out of control. Out of control.

It's something Constitutional. It's been there since George Washington. The President has always had this right, and it's a privilege of his. But you're right.

These things where, wait. I can't investigate this? What that does is if you're as a president doing something that you shouldn't be doing, all you have to do then is say, I pardon everyone in my administration for anything that they might have done wrong.

That can't stand. You're absolutely right on that.

STU: Yeah. You have the immunity deal. Which again, I think is -- I don't see -- I don't see how a pre-pardon is even possibly covered.
Like, it's just such an insane concept.

The way that Biden. He's right that Hunter Biden actually committed a crime and pardoning him from that in theory, obviously, outside the family interest was the way that that was supposed to work.

But they also pardoned him for multiple years of question marks, whether he committed crimes or not. Right? That was all included on that.

To go a step farther on this, I am on a bit of a personal jihad against the pardon. I'm done with it. I'm done with it personally. There's reasons the Founders were very, very smart. But the Founders were smart enough to also have a process for Constitutional amendments. And I would support one, getting rid of the part in power completely. I'm done with it.

GLENN: Wait, may I just interrupt for a second. I just want to point out. We now have verification, not only is Stu a Canadian spy, but he's also a hidden Nazi. Noticed the word he used, jihad, which translates to my struggle. Hitler's book, My Struggle, Mein Kampf. I just want to point it out.

JASON: Exposed.

STU: Just to be clear, I'm not planning a genocide on the power of pardons.

But I'm against it, strongly. But the other part I would say that I think is every worse and is never discussed, are these types of pardons where they say, you know, all marijuana crimes. They're -- everyone -- there are 17,000 people.

That is just you legislating. If I wanted to New Jersey and say, hey.

I think marijuana should be legal. I could theoretically be president.

Saying, everyone convicted of a marijuana-related crime is now pardoned.

And that's just you making laws. It's you going completely around Congress. And the entire process we have there.

At the very least. It should be massively restricted from the way it's being utilized. Not only -- several presidents in a row, I would argue.

But it's -- it should just -- I think it should just go away completely. It's the most king-like power the president has. And it doesn't make any sense to me.

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

So I'm looking this up here.

Barack Obama did this.

He gave clemency for anybody who was convicted of a non-violent federal drug crime.

With no significant criminal history, while serving extraordinarily long sentences. And anybody who was a violent offender was not eligible.

And it was -- it wasn't a -- a true mass pardon. But it was pretty close to it. You know, it was -- it was mass in scale, but not blanketed.

STU: Right.

GLENN: And I think there were like 2,000 people that he parted on that.

STU: It was a law. Creating a new law.

GLENN: Yeah. You're saying, oh, by the way. That law that I personally disagree with.

We're not going to -- it's gone.

STU: The whole law doesn't count at him. We have a whole process to make laws. When someone -- when they pass a law, you can't say, eh. And shrug your shoulders. And say, I don't particularly like it.

And for some reason, that's the way the pardon power has been translated.

GLENN: The problem is the President can. The President has just always had the restraint not to do that.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Because it was bad for the country. And bad for laws.

You know, you don't just -- you don't do this. We're becoming more and more of a king. In our administration.

And it's not Donald Trump.

This has been about to go for a long time.

Barack Obama I think got really, really bad.

But this was going on before him. Obviously.

But Barack Obama kind of set something off.

And then because we couldn't get any legislation passed. We had Donald Trump try to do executive orders, to combat Barack Obama's executive orders.

Then Biden did it. And Trump. It's got to stop.

Because here's the problem. One of the things I said in our special on Wednesday.

Which was, biggest stories of the year.

And predictions for next year. I said, you will start to see rolling brownouts in places like Texas in 2026. Texans, wake up. Wake up.

But you're going to start to see rolling brownouts. But I also made another prediction. And I've just lost what I was going to say was the prediction.

Oh!

This massive swing. We're getting whiplash.

You can't -- you can't run a country like this.

You can't run a country where it's all being done by executive order.

Because look, we were all the way over to one side. When Trump was here. Then we swung way farther than that. With Biden.

Now Trump is bringing us back this way. If you don't pass laws, it's just going to swing.

And you can't -- you can't run a country like that.

This has got to stop!

We have to pass laws. Congress must do its job.

Why the Australia beach shooting should terrify EVERYONE

Two shooters opened fire on Bondi beach at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration. Glenn Beck reacts to this horiffic act of evil and also to the heroic act of a man who tackled one of the shooters.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So let me just cover the headlines really quickly: Brown University, yesterday, there was a shooter. Two are dead. The only one that has been named so far is the Republican Club Vice President Alec Cook. There have been nine that have been injured. They thought they had the shooter. But turns out, it's not him. He has been released. And there's just some questions on this one that are weird.

Also, al-Qaeda struck and killed US soldiers over the weekend in Syria. There will be a military response to that, I am sure. And yesterday -- yesterday, on the beach, Sydney's eastern suburbs. Sydney, Australia, it's summer there. There's locals. There are people that are coming from all over the country, all over the world, for the warmth of summer and the community celebration of the first night of Hanukkah. The rest of the world is the darkest days of winter. On the other side of the globe, it is still sunlight because it is in the middle of sunlight. But it was a dark, dark day yesterday despite the sun being up.

There were families with children. They were chasing the waves. The smell of grilled food that was drifting across the sand. Music, conversation, laughter in the air. And then around 7 o'clock, laughter was replaced with screams of terror. Two men dressed in black and armed with high-powered firearms positioned themselves atop a small concrete pedestrian bridge. It arched over the Campbell parade near the Bondi pavilion. They stood on top in the center of this bridge and rained bullets as they fired into the crowd. Shots rang out. Astonished the crowd.

VOICE: Get down. Get down. Boys, get down. Oh, my God.

GLENN: It just went on and on and on. Thousands had been gathered for Hanukkah by the Sea. They're now ducking for cover. Some trying to push children to safety, others frozen in disbelief as friends and strangers alike fell all around them.

The carnage was unbelievable. For ten minutes, these guys fired off this bridge. The beach, usually alive with surfers and sun seekers, just transformed instantly. Bodies were trampled. Frantic dash for some sort of shelter and protection, as the waves just continued to lap innocently at the shore while people were screaming for help.

Now, in the chaos, there were acts of individual courage. A fruit vendor, later named by the media as Ahmed al-Ahmed. He saw one of the gunmen firing his weapon. And in a moment of pure resolve, he vaulted from behind a nearby car, tackled the shooter from behind, and wrestled the rifle away. It was an unbelievable scene. Witnesses say -- and it was all captured on tape. There he is. Witnesses say, his bravery likely saved countless lives.

Police arrived, they started shooting at him. They shot at the two that were up on the bridge. They wounded both of them.

15 people had been killed by the time it was over. Dozens wounded. Young children to the elderly. Cherished members of the Jewish community, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a British-born assistant rabbi. He helped organize Hanukkah by the Sea.

The beach won't be looked at the same ever again. As the suspects went down, people from Australia just ran up on to the bridge.

And what I thought was an amazing, amazing moment that spoke volumes of our culture! The police were on top of these men, trying to administer care to keep them alive. While citizens, understandably, came up on the bridge and just started kicking them.
Police jumped on those people and pushed them away. And said, stop, stop, stop. And they did.

Because we're not a culture of death. First suspect, 50 year old, Sajid Akram, 50 years old. He's a dad. The second suspect is his 24-year-old son. Both in critical condition. Now in the hospital under police guard.

Let me ask you to imagine just for a minute, what it must feel like to be Jewish today. Not in theory. Because we -- we had an incident stopped in Amsterdam over the weekend, in Germany over the weekend, in LA, somebody, a drive-by just shot at a Jewish home with the Hanukkah candles in the window, screaming, "F the Jews." You want to know what -- you want to chant, "Bring the Intifada here," this is what it looks like.

It is here now. So what does it feel like to be Jewish today?

I don't know. I can't relate. But I want you to imagine, not as a talking point. But in quiet moments, when the phone would light up with another alert, another headline, another synagogue guarded by concrete barriers, armed police.

There's a particular fear that comes with memory. Jewish people carry history. Not as abstraction, but as inheritance. And it lives in names that are whispered at dinner tables, and photographs rescued from ash. And stories that begin with, "And we thought it would never happen here."

Europe told itself, that very thing once. So did Germany. So did France. So did polite society, everywhere, right before it happened.

And the world has been saying that for decades now. It would never happen here. And here we are again. And here we are, the worst we've seen in America.

Shadows that all of us hoped were buried forever. Hatred with organization, ideology. Hatred with teeth. Violence. Justification.

They're no longer whispers. They're shouting it now in our streets. They're shouting it in the streets of Australia. They're shouting it in the streets of Germany. And England and France. And Norway. They're burning flags. They're firing guns. They're chanting not only death to the Jew, but death to the West, death to Canada, death to the US. Death to Europe. This is no longer confined to the margins anymore. And the West is tolerating it. The west has explained it away. We have minimalized it. We have said it was a lone wolf. Sometimes we even excuse it.

Just for the day, let's just stop and look at Australia for a minute. For years, Jewish communities are warned the officials.

Anti-Semitism isn't theoretical. It's here. We're living it. We're seeing it. It's not just graffiti or angry words.

It's metastasizing into something ideological and organized and deadly. And in Australia, the officials told them, calm down.
Trust the institutions. We've got it.

Somehow or another, multi-cultural harmony would manage itself, but it didn't. Because it doesn't.

Ideology doesn't dissolve when it's ignored. It consolidates. It grows he has and it has across the Western world entirely. Europe, Britain, Australia. Canada. The United States. It's the same pattern!

Violent anti-Semitism rising Jewish schools like fortresses. Your families wondering whether visibility itself is now a liability.

And yet, all across the West, officials hesitate, to name the problem. Clearly!

So let me do it. Precisely. Precisely.

Truthfully.

Islamism.

Islamists. Not Islam. Not Muslim. If you're a Muslim, you want to live peacefully, worship freely. Raise children. Continue to, you know, live and contribute to a society. You know, and you're not an enemy of the West. I'm totally good with that. Look at the fruit cart guy. He apparently didn't hate Jews. He wasn't part of the culture of death.

He stopped it.

And millions do that every single day. But Islamism, Islamists, that's something entirely different.

Islamism is a political ideology.

It's not about faith. It is about power.

It's the belief that society has to be governed by religious law. Sharia law.

That freedom of conscience is illegitimate. That women are subordinate, that dissent is heresy, and that the world and everything in it has to submit. And it's very clear about all of this. It writes it down. It teaches it. It shouts it from the public square. For the love of Pete, it's everywhere. It chants it. It doesn't hide its ambitions. It doesn't hide behind anything. But here's what it doesn't do: It doesn't co-exist with open societies.

It replaces them and has been replacing open societies for centuries.

Any culture built on individual liberty, freedom of speech, equality before the law, it can't survive alongside an ideology that views all of those principles as sins or as an affront to Allah! In that scenario, one side must yield, or one side will be destroyed!

And history is very clear on which one does. You know, we're very different people. Even the difference between us and Canada. And us and Europe.

It might be seemingly starved. It might be we're very different. But when you look at us as a civilization, we're very different. Together, we're very different from the rest of the world.

We don't understand these things. Because we project our values, on everybody else.

We assume that everybody ultimately wants to live. And to compromise. Live side by side. We assume violence is accidental. We assume that it's a lone wolf. We assume that words like to do and dialogue mean the same thing to everybody.

But they don't! And so we tolerate politicians and newscasters and everything else that explain things away. They explain the stabbings and the truck attacks and the shootings and the riots. It's isolated incidents. They're not! We talk about finding the root cause. But we won't -- we won't name the root itself!

We call it extremism, as though it sprang out of nowhere, as though it was a weather event, instead of a worldview that's been around for centuries! I ask you to think about what it feels like to be Jewish today because of the Jewish people.
But also because, you're next. Jewish communities always pay the price first.

They always do. And believe me, you're on the list. You!

Your freedom. Your children are on the list!

And history shows this, with brutal consistency.

When a society begins to rot, from ideological cowardice.

The Jews are always the early-warning system.

They're the canary in the coal mine.

When they're targeted openly. And the state responds with hesitation.

That society is already sick and in the hospital.

It's already in trouble.

And make in mistakes.

The science is not far away.

It is already here.

Synagogues attached. Jewish students harassed on campus. Jewish neighborhoods guarded like war zones. Public celebrations requiring armed protection now. This is not normal, and it's not sustainable. And the West likes to believe and understands freedom.

But freedom is not a five! It's not a comfort. It's not the absence of conflict. Freedom is costly! And it requires moral clarity, and it requires the courage to draw a line and say, this doesn't belong here! And if we refuse to do that work now, our children will have to do it later under far worse conditions! They will have to fight, not to preserve freedom, but to recover it. And history always shows, that's much more costly. America, you're closer than you think to losing not only our country, but countries that took centuries to build!

Not through invasion. But through erosion. Through silence. Through the polite refusal to speak uncomfortable truths.

If not you, who?

If not now, when?

You're running out of time.

"You're being PLAYED": Glenn Beck exposes the TRUTH about Illinois' new MAiD program

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed a bill legalizing "medical assistance in dying" (MAiD) for certain terminally ill patients. Glenn Beck rages against this "culture of death" that is sweeping America, even after it ravaged Canada.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So JB Pritzker in Illinois signed into law a bill on Friday, that will allow doctors in Illinois to prescribe the deaths of their own patients. First, do no harm. I'm having a hard time with that, doctors. Maybe you can tell us how you're getting around this. First, do no harm.

That is a very important concept, that our doctors are to buy into. And that we all believe.

First, do no harm. If you don't have that, all kinds of things can follow. Especially when they're couched with compassion.

And that is exactly what this is always couched in. Compassion.

Okay. So this new law goes into effect in September of next year. Terminally ill patients over the age of 18 are going to be able to get a suicide drug from their doctor. This is the 12th state in the country, that is allowing assisted suicide. And there are about 25 others that are standing in line for it. What a surprise.

Illinois is the -- is the one -- the first of this -- this batch of them coming in to say, I want to kill people!

It is a culture of death. And we are -- that's what we are battling. No matter what anybody tells you, we're not battling the Republicans or the Democrats.

It's not politics.

It's not Marxism.

It is a culture of death, that we're battling. It is evil. It is evil. A culture of death.

When you look at -- when you look at what people are saying about global warming, what is the solution?

Fewer people. How do you do that? Well, culture of death takes care of that. Right?

When you look at -- when you look at, you know, just about anything now, health care, abortion, culture of death.

Islam, culture of death. Marxism, honestly, it is a culture of death. Why would I say that know.

Well, because it eliminates people who disagree with it. And first, it just pushes them off the sidelines.

But eventually it ends in camps. But also, look what's being taught to our kids. They are killing themselves, because they're so depressed. Because it has no meaning. It completely rejects the you human aspect of humanity.

Culture of death. That's really what we're fighting. Make no mistake.

Now, Illinois and Pritzker, they're saying, well, no. No, no, no. This is going to be -- we're going to be very, very careful. You have to have two doctors. Okay. That's good. That's good.

Germany had three doctors, to give you permission. You're not even up the line of Nazi Germany, but congratulations on that. And they have to be diagnosed with having six months or less to live.

Okay. Okay.

I want you to know, Illinois, America, Western world, you're being played. This is not compassion.

I'm going to be real clear with you.

This is preparation for when the system can no longer afford to fulfill its promises, that's what this is.

They are preparing the system to be able to have the way out. And they're preparing you, so you look at this as compassion and so when it gets worse and worse, up until the very end, you don't recognize it. I mean, they're beginning to a little bit in Canada, to see what's coming their way. And why is it happening? Because they can no longer afford socialized medicine. They can't afford to fulfill the promises.

Let me just say, can America afford to fulfill its promise, that it's made for generations on all of this socialized everything?

No. In fact, there are people now, trying to double down. We can't afford anything. They're trying to double down and expand those programs, which will only collapse us faster.

When they collapse, you know, nobody likes. Well, rich people can get surgery. And as I've said to you before, I don't like that either. I really don't like that. But how else do you do it? How else do you do it? Well, we have a committee. And we -- we ration things. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Here's where you're not going to like that. You're not going to like that, because that's not the way humans work. When they ration things, either people with money or the people with power, always find a way to short-circuit so they can get to the top.

So the one that you're saying now is the poor, helpless waif that's not getting anything because of the rich people, when the system changes, that poor lonely waif is still not going to get any help because the powerful, the ones that are connected, they'll get the medical care, and the waif won't get medical care. People will find a way to short-circuit the system because people generally suck.

And when you give all the power to people, it's not good. It's usually not good. So you may not like the, you know, pay for it kind of system, but it is the best one out there. And you really don't want to give a bureaucracy the -- the ability to kill you if you become expensive or inconvenient.

Now, I know that's not what they're saying. That's not what we're doing. We're giving people out of compassion, help them end their lives. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's exactly what happened in Canada. Let me just tell you. It was called C14. Let me just look up the facts here. C14 in Canada. It happened in 2016.

And it -- what it -- what it meant was, you could get compassionate care, if you had doctors. Three doctors approved.

You had a terminal, I don't remember what they called it.

But basically, you could see the end in sight. Okay?

There was -- there was no way for us to repair your body and heal you.

So we could see that.

Basically, you know, you were terminal.

We could see that.

In the future. Near future.

And three doctors agreed.

And then you had a waiting period after you requested it, the doctors would approve.

And then there were ten days, before you would administer. Ten days before you would back out.

That's what it started as, okay?

That's not what it's become. 2016, that's what it was. And you had to be 18 years or older.

And you had to have full capacity. So you couldn't listen to, you know, friends or family.

You had to make the decision. And you needed full capacity.

Okay.
Then things started to fall apart.

Then we had COVID. Then we had all these expenses. Then we had people move into the country.

This is Canada. Same thing happened here. COVID. Hospitals are overwhelmed.

Medical care goes to hell.

And then you start bringing in people from all over the world.

And now you don't have hospital care. Everybody is crowded. The doctors are overwhelmed.
And so in 2021, they decided the Quebec court decided, well, you know, death in the foreseeable future. Is that really necessary?

Excuse me?

I mean -- I mean, the reasonable foreseeable natural death requirement. Do we really need that?

The court said, no, we really don't.

There are two tracks! Those who have natural death in the foreseeable future. We're going to make it a little easier for them. So beyond the request, the three doctors and the ten-day waiting period. We're going to get rid of some of that because it's not necessary.

I mean, if you're in the reasonably foreseeable future, you don't need all those safeguards. And then people whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable. Well, we're going to make them do all of those things. Oh, okay.

And, by the way, we're removing the ten-day waiting period too. Once the doctor says, you're good, you're good.

Okay. All right.

That wasn't far enough. Now, they have a new bill, C7.

Canada bill seven.

When they -- when that removed the foreseeable requirement, they added a temporary exclusion for people whose sole medical condition was a mental disorder.

Oh, wow. So now we're into mental illness.

So your death isn't in the foreseeable future.

But you really want to die.

So does this apply to mental.

People with mental problems?

Oh, no, no, no. No. We're not going to ban it. We're just going to put a temporary ban on that one?

Why would you put a temporary ban on that?

Why would you put a temporary ban on something like that?

Let me give you the answer and you tell you what else it's done and bring it home for you here in just a second.

Okay. So why would you -- why would you remove the restriction on the mentally ill?

Remember, the first thing was -- the first thing was, you've got to be -- you've got to be fully there.

You have to be competent and aware of what you're doing.

Then they said, well, the foreseeable future thing.

Your death is inevitable. We're going to take that away.

But we're going to put a temporary restriction on mental illness.

The only reason why you would make that a temporary restriction, is because you're just trying to get the rest of the society to catch up with what you're going to do.

That's the only reason.

And that's why, it has been extended.

Okay?

It was supposed to end in 2023.

Then it was extended to March 2024.

And now, it has been pushed to 2027.

Okay?

So you're not eligible for MAID until March 2027, if you have a mental illness.

Hmm.

Huh! Now, they may push it forward again, to give it more time to convince everybody that that's what they have to do.

And how do you convince people?

Well, you convince people, because there's shortages and be that person doesn't have the capability to think they're mentally ill. They might want to tie. They're very, very depressed. They're very depressed, and so they want to die anyway.

They want to die. I need the doctor. Okay?

That's what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen.

Unless we remember who we are. Unless all of a sudden, we -- we're like, you know what, that's -- you know, that's not who we are.

That's not the West. The West is not defined by its technology.

Even by its freedom or its wealth.

Everybody thinks, oh, the West. They're wealthy.

No. That's not it.

What makes us unique in the West. The entire West Canada, included. All of Europe. This radical idea that the individual has inherent value.

That nobody is expendable.

And not because they're useful, not because they're productive, not because they're convenient.
They have an inherent right to exist, to live.
If you look at the past, you look at Athens and Rome.
Oh. I mean, they just put you -- you this put babies that were not boys, that were girls. Where they were deforming.

They throw them on a garbage barge. These barges would go down the river. With screaming babies on them. They just let them die, okay?

That's the way it does. But West through Judeo Christian ethics taught us, that's not right!

And we build hospitals before skyscrapers.

We put limits on -- on force. We teach doctors to heal. Not to calculate.

When a society like ours stops choosing life, it does not become more compassion.

It becomes more efficient. Not compassionate! Efficient!

And efficiency has never given birth 20 moral virtue.

Efficiency kills it. If that's your goal. It kills it.

Fighting this culture of death, it is the most important thing we can focus on.

A lot of people will focus on politics and everything else.

And what JB Pritzker is doing here, there, and everywhere else.

I don't even care about politics.

We have to convince one another, we have to start standing up for the principles that made the West, the West.

Because without the choice to protect life at its most fragile, we are no longer a civilization worth saving! We're just another system deciding, eh, I don't know, is that worth the trouble? And history is very clear where that society ends. That's why, last week, to me, it was so personal, and so important.

To help this woman, not just because it's the right thing to do. And because every life matters. And this happened to be a life that came across my path.

And I'm like, we've got to stop that! But because, this goes to something bigger! And it is infecting us right now. And if we buy the lies, that this is for compassion. Look! I understand. I understand pain. I understand end of life. I don't want to be in that situation.

I know, you don't want to be.

I mean, I know what it feels like with my dog, putting my dog down. It kills me. It kills me to put my dog down. So I get it on the dog level, let alone, you know, a parent level or a spouse level. I get it.

But you cannot as a society go down this road. Because once you open this door, all the other doors just start to swing open. When there's trouble!
The first sign of shortage, all those doors open up. And guess what we're headed for. Shortages.

Lee Strobel: We got this WRONG about the Christmas story

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...

Transcript

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.