RADIOSeptember 27, 2022

NO, Italy’s new prime minister is NOT a fascist. Here’s why.

The mainstream media is going into OVERDRIVE trying to convince the world that Italy’s newly elected prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is a fascist. In this clip, Glenn explains what Meloni ACTUALLY believes, breaking down her ‘radical’ views that have put the far-left into a tailspin. But if you know the real definition of fascism, Glenn explains, you may realize that Meloni actually is against fascism and has vowed to stand against it. So, who are the real radicals?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Have you guys noticed anything?

Because I have. The prime minister. The new prime minister of Italy. Yeah. That was a triggering event for the left apparently. Now, I want -- I just -- see if any of these sound anything alike. CNN has described her as at least most far right minister since Mussolini. The New York Times, the country's first far right leader since Mussolini. Variety, most far right minister since Benito Mussolini. See, it's completely different.

LA Times, she's the first far right leader since Mussolini. The Daily Beast. The first far right leader since Mussolini. The Washington Post. She's going to set up the first far right government since Mussolini. The Atlantic. The return of fascism in Italy. NBC News compared her to patriot front, and said her party, the brothers of Italy, can trace its roots back to a fascist party, founded by supporters, of Mussolini. The guardian called it a party with a neofascist origin.

Wow! She must be as bad as Mussolini!

Okay. Wow. What -- what exactly is she for? Because they hate her.

I mean, almost as much as they hate Donald Trump, who is just like, say it with me, Adolf Hitler.

The main characteristics of actual fascism, is widespread media propaganda. Okay?

That's one side. Widespread media propaganda. In the origins of totalitarianism. This is by Hannah Arendt. She describes fascism as a totalitarian organization, that is designed to translate the propaganda lies of the movement, woven around a central fiction, into a functioning reality. A society whose members act and react according to the rules of this fictitious world. I don't know what she's talking about!

I haven't seen anything like that since I don't know, this morning. Now, this isn't new to the media. They call Trump a fascist. They label Ron DeSantis a fascist.

Everybody is a fascist!

Unless you agree with the state. Okay. So what does she stand for?

Her slogan is, God, father land, and family. A-ha! The old father land creeps in, yeah?

In other words, God, country, family. In her words, I am Georgia. I'm a woman. I'm a mother. I'm an Italian. I'm a Christian. And you can't take that away from me.

Long answer is: She's concerned about saving the country from its energy crisis. And listen to this.

The government's high debt and avoiding dependence on the European Central Bank. There I said it.

Oh, my gosh. The central bank. You know what that's code for.

Jews! Yeah. That's what fascists always want to get rid of. The banking committee is always run by Jews. And all conservatives, and fascists know it.

Yet, that's not what she's saying. Surprisingly. Not what she's saying. She's saying, the central banks are controlling the world.

Now, I know that comes as a complete and total shock, to almost everybody. Well, it would as a shock to everybody, who isn't listening, and they're the people who get pissed off at me more than anybody else. All those people who don't listen.

So, anyway, the dependence on the European Central Bank, which is causing all sorts of problems. Just as, oh, I don't know. Our central bank, the fed is causing problems. She championed the promise to maintain fiscal discipline. She's opposed to increasing government spending. In other words, she's a fiscal conservative.

Italy has the third largest economy in the European Union. She wants to keep it that way. She is a threat to the EU, which is a threat to the New World Order. Klaus Schwab!

Oh, my gosh. Is that what she is? One of her biggest fights is to end Italy's recent history of technocratic governments. In other words, she wants to fight fascism.

How could she be a fascist, if she wants to fight fascism?

But you're not going to hear about these positions. The Wall Street Journal is one of the few sources, talking about the real reasons that she appeals to it's not. Like most in the sane world, they have shifted towards parties with clear pro-western stances. Huh.

Clear pro-western stances.

Do you mean the Italians are tired of hearing about how their culture is just humdrum?
How there's nothing really special about Italians? That they should ply the European Union flag proudly, and forget their little green and white and red. Flag Mexico has one. Why do you need one too?

People love that. Newsweek said, her victory is Putin's best-case scenario, which is kind of puzzling, considering she's pro-Ukraine. And has advocated sending aid to Ukraine.

She's against abortion, euthanasia. And radical gender ideology.

In -- according to a speech in Reuters, Reuters are described her -- her voice, raising to a crescendo of, you will comply!

Wow! In that speech, she was so angry, she said, let's say yes to natural families. No to the LGBT lobby. Yes to sexual identity. No to gender ideology. Yes to the culture of life. No to the abyss of death. Wow. She's a hater.

No to the violence of Islam. Yes to safer borders. No to mass immigration. Yes for work for our people. No international finance. Hmm. Sounds like another win for someone who is not a fascist. But is being called a fascist. So what it is fascism? Well, for one, it doesn't actually exist in any one form. It hadn't been in practice for about 40 years. It's starting to look a little like America.

But it hasn't held sway since World War II. The doctrine of fascism, from Mussolini, he called it the third way.

Fascism, totalitarianism.

It's a union between the spirit of the people, and the power of the state. So almost like a public/private partnership. With pronounced nationalism supported by a robust military infrastructure, where the function of a citizen and a soldier are the same.

Now, Mussolini describes it as everything in the state, nothing against the state, and nothing outside the state.

So let's see, everything is the state. So that would be like football?

Would be kind of run by the state. Or at least you would have to be, you know, for the state. Nothing against the state. So you couldn't say, hey. No, I -- I -- I don't hate America. I don't want to put, you know, a Black Lives Matter in every end zone.

You see. You couldn't do that. In a fascist country, you couldn't say, no. This doctor is against masks, because he knows that this is complete and total bullcrap. See, in a fascist state, you wouldn't be able to have that. You would have those people eliminated or silenced. Yes? Yeah?

A little bit of silence for you. So let's see. I'm confused. We were nothing outside the state. Everything in the state. Nothing against the state. Okay. I think I have that. Fascism. Listen to this one. Makes everything political.

Huh. Huh. You mean like art and television, and sports?

And history? And sex. Wow.

It's almost like everything is political. Health, as a reason for an emergency.

Every part of society serves the state. Science, for instance, according to Mussolini, is only useful when it confirms fascistic ideas.

You mean like climate change and vaccine mandates and gender surgeries!

Oh, my gosh. This is crazy. Who would have known?

Fascism is partly motivated by a disdain for socialism. But Mussolini also saw democracy as a failure, because it equates a nation to the majority, lowering it to the level of the largest number. He believed the purest form of democracy, the nation is considered from the point of view of quality, rather than quantity. They have no time for individualism.

You know, that's a right-wing belief, isn't it? To them, what matters is the collective. But the collective led by an authoritarian in conjunction with the state.

Oh! FDR used to go by this definition. Fascism is ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any other controlling private power.

So if our government was owned by let's say, oh. A partnership between government officials in a party. And like big business. Then that would be fascism according to FDR. Oh, it's a good thing we're a long way away from that. Fascism doesn't believe in God given rights. Because they generally don't believe in God.

Oh, she does. I do. That's weird. Also, because rights are something they get from the state. I don't believe that. Do you? Does she?

And the state decides who gets rights. By the way, Mussolini was an atheist. Strangely, so was Hitler. So, in other words, Glenn, what you're saying, is that it's not really right-wing.

No. It doesn't really sound like it to me. It's also not really left-wing. Mussolini saw it as beyond left and right. Which is why it's called the third position or third way. An alternate path, between capitalism and Eastern bloc communism.

Now, here's the great thing: I'm going to wrap it up with this. Can you imagine living in this world. In fascism, there is no objective truth. What kind of crazy world would that be?

It's only their lived truth, which they then turn into law. They control the media, and they control it through a party of elites.
(laughter)
Oh, man. Wow. I can't even imagine a country like this. Or a party, that would be advocating for those things. You know.

Dodged a bullet in the head on that one. Because we're nothing like fascists.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

How God Helped ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Star Raise Her Kids | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 254

"Everybody Loves Raymond" star Patricia Heaton reveals how she avoided becoming a Hollywood divorce statistic by listening to the wife of one of the Beatles. Joined by her husband, David Hunt, to share the inspiration behind their movie “Unexpected,” the couple discuss marriage, infertility, IVF, abortion, adoption, surrogacy, and even how marijuana affects sperm counts. Considering how environmental toxins may be a factor in declining birth rates, Patricia says that “the jury is still out on RFK [Jr.],” but he is going in the “right direction,” and she admits that some aspects of the feminist movement have been “tremendously damaging for women.” Patricia critiques the “huge problems” with socialism, and David says our education system is in need of “massive reform.” After joking that “Hollywood values” are “kind of an oxymoron” and teasing David’s upcoming role on “The Chosen,” the conversation turns to Israel and the rise of anti-Semitism, as Patricia explains why she founded the October 7 Coalition after watching Hamas bodycam footage from the deadly attacks. She calls out the pastors who don’t speak out because they are “afraid to offend Muslims,” and she says that if you want to know where the Jews' land is, just read the Bible.

From Death to Life: The Miracle That Transformed a Skeptic’s Faith

Do miracles still happen? “Investigating the Supernatural: Miracles” host Billy Hallowell joins Glenn to tell some of the shocking stories he has heard while working on the CBN documentary: “What we found really blew my mind.” Hallowell explains what miracles are from a Christian perspective, tells the story of a man who was dead for 40 minutes and came back to life after a prayer, and how he believes we should deal with the miracles we don’t see.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I have -- when we started TheBlaze, we started with a bunch of people that were really unknowns. And we have seen so many people leave here. And go on to unbelievable things.

I mean, most people don't know.

Will Cane, he started his career here. Pete Hegseth began his career at TheBlaze.

Buck Sexton, started his career, at TheBlaze. And Billy Hallowell.

Billy worked with Dan Andros, who used to be a writer of mine. He was our head writer for a long time.

Just fantastic writer. All those years at Fox. It was Dan that was writing all those things. And he left to go to CBN. Oh, Christ needs me!

Whatever.
(laughter)
And Billy Hallowell used to work at TheBlaze, and he did the same thing. Oh, I've got to go. Christ needs me. And so he's working at CBN now as well. You can find. What is he going to be talking about, at CBN.com/supernatural. Billy, welcome to the program. Glad to have you here.

BILLY: Glad to be here. Thanks for having me. You bet.

GLENN: You bet. Okay. So why did you this do, and what did you find?

BILLY: You know, it's crazy. We went around the entire country, waiting sidelines not just minor miracles. But claims that tumors disappeared. Paralysis disappeared. And really, that the lie was this feeling. There's a lot of people out there who don't think miracles still happen.

Right? Even people who are Christians who think, eh. I don't know if God is still moving.

So we wanted to go out and test that. And we wanted to see, are miracles still happening? And I will tell you, what we found really blew my mind.

When we went into this project, I thought, okay. We are going to go into this. We are going to do this, and it will inspire me. It's not going to change me.

I walked away. And you know this, Glenn. I'm a Christian. I've been a Christian my whole life. And I walked away completely transformed and challenged by the insane things that we encountered.

GLENN: Okay. So, first, define what a miracle is.

BILLY: Okay. So miracle, there is a wide range of that things miracles qualify as. Right? You have the small miracles, the things that we as Christians, or people of faith feel God doing in our lives.

Right?

Those can be miracles. But you can't really prove them. Then you have the big miracles. The things like, hey, this guy was dead for 40 minutes, and somehow came back to life. Which, by the way, that's one of the stories. That you talk about, that we encountered along the way.

You know, we were looking at miracles in this documentary, that were 30,000-foot huge things.

Things that have scientific backing. That have doctors involved. That have really evidence, right?

And so miracles, again, they could be a wide range. But we wanted to look at those big ones. And we could say, okay. Is there proof?

How close can we get to actually proving that these things happen? And, by the way, you have to go into these stories skeptically. Because I don't think any of us should just go out and say, oh, yeah. Whatever you say, we believe. We really wanted to provide the evidence along the way.

GLENN: Okay. So tell me. Tell me some of the things you found.

BILLY: All right. So let's talk about the guy who was dead for 40 minutes. This story, when it came across our desk. We did a ton of research. Dug into it.

Jeff Markin is a guy who wasn't feeling well. Went to the hospital. He had a heart attack.

He dies essentially inside the hospital.
They call a doctor. An emergency doctor room in.

They're trying to revive him. They spend 40 minutes, trying to revive him. They pronounce him dead.

This guy is on the gurney, on the way to the morgue. Dr. Chauncy Crandle, who is the doctor in the room that day.

He leaves the room. He assumes, oh, well, this is over. The guy dies. He will move on with his day.

As he's walking in the hallway, this doctor feels God say to him, go back and pray over that body. Go back into the room. And he ignores that, because he thinks that's insane.

He feels the prompt again. Coming back to that room. And he's like, well, I'm a Christian. I better listen to this. He goes into the room. You can imagine, the nerves from the doctors. They're thinking this guy is nuts. He's going to come in and pray over this dead body that we've already declared dead.

And so he starts praying over the guy. And all of a sudden, he starts saying to the other doctors, shock him one more time. And they're like, look, there's no way we're shocking him again. Because we tried for 40 minutes, and he's dead.

And so they end up doing it. Bays tells them to do it. And immediately, this guy gets a perfect heartbeat back.

Again, they tried for 40 minutes, and got nothing.

GLENN: Jeez.

BILLY: Now, the nursery is saying to the doctor, what are you doing? Now he's going to be brain dead after this. What's so crazy about this story, this man, Jeff Markin had a near death experience, which I'll hold off on that. You can watch it in the film. While this was going on. But he ends up two days later, waking up completely fine. We interviewed him in this film. And so it's those kinds of stories. I mean, there's multiple miracles in there, and again, these are not just claims. We have medical documentation. So that's the kind of stuff we were dealing with in this documentary.

GLENN: So you know, Billy, the amazing thing, we all have -- we all think that God doesn't talk to us. He doesn't talk to us.

I don't hear him. But he does. And it's those things, usually like that doctor, that we think, that's crazy. And you just dismiss him because you think it's you.

And if you obey them any of times. And then you realize, oh, wow. That was amazing. I tinder around and did that. Because I was told to. And that turned out to be an amazing thing. I mean, not as amazing as that usually.

But you start to discipline yourself to listen.

And it happens more and more often.

Or maybe you just notice it more.

But he does speak to us.

And it requires us, to not dismiss it as our stupid little voice in our head, saying, you know, go back and pray over him.

What?

That's stupid. No. Why would I?

Right?

BILLY: Well, and being open to it.

GLENN: Yes. Right.

BILLY: Because the thing that struck me in all of this. Right? And after we finished investigating the supernatural miracles, and we were looking at the story, all of these people, they had to fight for miracles. Like the other three stories that we cover in this film, none of them went to a prayer event and got healed on the first try.

It was ten years of praying and struggling. That opens a lot of interesting, theological questions, which we do deal with.

We deal with not getting the miracle. Because, look, we all die eventually. Right? Even Lazarus, who was raised from the dead. He died again. So eventually, the miracles run out.

But to your point -- I mean, I'll even share for me, and I think this was a miracle. I was really upset about a diagnosis my daughter had. Scoliosis. I was in my car. And I'm driving, and I'm crying out to God, what are we going to do? Give me a sign that this is going to be okay.

And, Glenn, you know I live in New York. There aren't a lot of Bible verses on this. I literally look up as I'm praying, and the truck in front of me has a verse speaking about God comforting us and how it will be okay. In that very moment, I would say that's a miracle. And I think that's more like what most of us deal with day in and day out. And I think that's how God will often communicate with us.

GLENN: Let me be real -- let me ask you something, Billy.

This is a very personal thing.

I have -- I had been praying really hard, over my children.

And there are some things that just -- I just don't understand.

And I'll pray.

And, you know, I'll see no result.

And it has really hurt my faith. At weak points.

It has hurt my faith.

Because I've thought. And I haven't thought about him.

I've thought about me.

I'm just not the in sync with him enough. I'm not worthy enough. You know what I mean? Have you ever felt that way?

BILLY: Yeah. Absolutely.

I think -- I think in all of this, especially when we're not getting an answer. And, you know, I saw this in the film. I've seen it in my own life. There is this tension that we have to live in. And I think it's really hard because we're human beings. This tension of, I'm going to trust God, that I believe, until the day I die, if I'm terminally ill or my kid is struggling with something, you know, I'm going to believe for healing or for better decisions or whatever the issue is, because I believe it's possible. And God can do anything. I will believe that until the very last minute, while at the same time, and this is where this gets hard. Having the trust that if that thing does not happen, if the healing does not happen on this side of eternity, that I'm going to trust God and be okay with whatever that plan is. Those two things are really tough. It's really hard.

GLENN: Yeah, it's really tough. Really tough.

BILLY: But that's the death to self. That's the death to self, that we're called to kind of live in. And I struggle with that all the time. I think we all do.

And, by the way, I mean, if any of this actually helps. That doctor in that emergency room who brought that, who prayed over that body. His son died of leukemia, a couple of years before that.

And he fought for a miracle, and didn't get it for him. And now this guy, he's able to have those two things.

Right? That radical trust. That really helped me actually. Seeing that this guy didn't get a miracle for his kid. And yet, still believes it's possible.

GLENN: It's remarkable when you see people who are WHO can actually live with this happen.

My daughter, you know, she's been with all kinds of doctors. She's had brain surgery and everything else. And I've prayed over her, so many times, to get her seizures to stop, and they just don't. And they're relentless. And she'll say to me. Dad, I'm not worried about it.

I'm not worried about it. And she's really tired of them.

I'm not worried about it.

Lord will heal me when I'm in heaven. He is going to heal me. And that faith is just remarkable. Just remarkable.

BILLY: Profound. Wow. Yeah. It is.

No. You know, as a parent, you know. And something like that, scolioses. You know, what I mentioned with my daughter. That is not a terminal illness. And I kept saying, thank God it's not something worse. The struggle watching your kid go -- and by the way, we were going through this as this film was going on, and a lot of this, as I've been talking about it in promoting it.

It dawned on me. On how good God was, in this particular circumstance. But just watching your kid struggle in suffering. You know, my daughter went from a normal 6-year-old playing to being in a brace, 21 hours a day. And, you know, not being able to do certain things.

And you watch your kid suffer. And it is a profound challenge. And that is where we have to rest in that trust, right? In believing that the miracles are possible.

In knowing again, that we may not get them.

In the case of my daughter, you know, she's out of her brace, and they can barely detect scoliosis now. We had a real miracle, honestly.

You know, and I have been so grateful for that. But recognizing that there are other things that we haven't had that in our lives. And it is tough. It is really tough.

GLENN: I want to talk about some of the other things that you found in the documentary. And you started exploring -- thought it originally was going to be a three-part series. And I want to ask you why you didn't do that. Why you're focusing on the miracles. Because it was miracles, heaven, hell, angels, and demons. Which I find fascinating. But we'll talk about that coming up in just a second.

GLENN: I got out of my patrol car. And I slipped. I went from having a promising career as a neuroscientist to having a medical death sentence.

VOICE: I said, there was nothing else that we could do. There was no heartbeat.
(music)

VOICE: Are miracles real? Do they happen today? Let's investigate.

VOICE: A lot of skeptics will say, well, miracles are impossible. Why? Because it violates the lays of nature. You can't violate the laws of nature.

VOICE: People have prayed for me, and somehow I felt like this power had just zapped me.

VOICE: When I woke up, she says, can you do anything that you couldn't do before? I looked at my hand, it was clutched. I said, hand move. Another doctor came in, and he said, what's going on in here? He's dead. It's over.

I said, shock him one more time.

VOICE: Well, maybe it happens. Maybe it doesn't. Let's look at the evidence.
(music)

GLENN: So tell me the story about the -- the guy who apparently was paralyzed. Couldn't do anything. And how that miracle happened.

BILLY: Yeah. Yeah. That Bryan Lapooh. That story blew me away. They lived out in New Jersey. He was a cop. And it's so crazy how this story happens.

The guy is a police officer. He's walking on the ice. He slips. He breaks his neck. Slips and falls. Breaks his neck.

And ends up in a ten-year nightmare.

Basically, you know, he ends up paralyzed on half of his body. As a result of the injuries and the surgery that he needs to have.

The doctors says, oh, he will be fine.

He was not fine.

Had no hope of recovery.

Nobody had actually recovered from what he had. And the damage he had. So during these ten years. He and his wife Meg, they start going to prayer services. And they start trying to heal. Very similar to what we were just talking about.
They're not getting healing. Nothing is happening.

And he gets to the point to where he's like, look, I don't want anybody touching me. I don't want anybody praying over me.

I am done. And his wife says to him.

And this is why it's so important, that we encourage people.

You know, when people are no longer encouraged, and they don't want to move forward. The wife says, look, let's go to one more of these events. Let's just get them to pray over you one more time.

He says, no. She says, yes. Just do it for my birthday. It will be my gift. And so he says, fine. We'll go.

They go to this event. And it's at that event, that he gets his healing. That his hand opens up for the first time.

He walks out of that event, without his brace, for the first time in ten years. And we interviewed him.

He no longer has a brace. And his condition is completely healed. And it's remarkable bays it's on film. It's on camera. The moment he was healed on this conference.

Somebody captured it on a cell phone.

And so you see stories like this, and it just blows you away. Because the persistence in the faith. And the fighting, ongoing, grief, that this was possible.

And, you know, in this case, he got that healing.

GLENN: There's -- there's so many people that will capitalize on this. There's so many frauds. Did you cover any of that?

BILLY: Right. You know, we didn't get into that. Because when we actually did the vetting for these stories, we made 100 percent sure that before a camera turned on or we went anywhere. That we knew -- at least compelling stories.

We went in skeptically. We tried to poke holes and look. But we knew that these were people. These people can't even get through their story, by the way, crying.

You see this through the film.

They are so overjoyed and moved and transformed. So we made sure that we tackled those stories.

But you're absolutely right. I mean, there's a lot of people, when it comes to near death experiences. All these things. They will make things up to make money.

But none of these people were in that camp. And we made sure of that.

GLENN: So you were going to do it as a series, and you were going to do into demons and angels and everything else. Are you still going to do that? Why did you not pursue that? Why did you just go with miracles?

VOICE: Yeah. Yeah. You know, so CBN. Christian Broadcast Network. It was greenlit as a three-part series, thirty minutes each.

And when we started filming miracles, which is episode one. Like day one. We knew. We were like, you can't tell this story in 30 minutes.

I mean, these stories need to be told, and we need to spend time on them.

And with culture, what is happening right now, in this culture. We have college students flocking to hear about God.

GLENN: It's crazy.

BILLY: We have these moments. Despite the culture crumbling, right? At the same time, we wanted to write proof to people. And so we ended up shipping this into a three-part film series. So the second film will be investigating the supernatural. Angels and demons.

And that is underway, right now.
We've started work on that.

We started filming that, and it's going to be the same approach.

You know, we want to go in, and show people. Is this real?

What do Christians believe? What does the Bible say? Is this true?

And it's obviously a difficult topic.
Angels and demons. It's a little hard. But, yeah. We are planning on doing it. Yep.

GLENN: Billy, thank you very much.

I appreciate it. Billy Hallowell. I went you to see this special. You can find it at CBN.com. CBN.com.

That's a Christian broadcasting network. CBN.com/supernatural. Kind of a perfect thing to watch this weekend with your family.

Hidden Agenda in SNL’s Gay Parents Sketch?

Saturday Night Live recently aired a sketch where Jon Hamm and Bowen Yang played gay parents who recently took in a baby as other cast members demanded to know where they got it from. Is SNL’s willingness to question this, as well as mock personal pronouns, a sign that they’re abandoning wokeness? Or is it just an attempt by SNL to normalize surrogacy? Glenn and Stu debate.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: It's amazing.

STU: It's funny. It's actually a funny sketch.

GLENN: Very funny. So is this a sketch that is opening up comedy to do things?

Is this a sketch about a gay couple being able to -- the -- how do I say this?

Is this a sketch that shows us that things are changing. And that political correctness is going away.

Or is this a way to mainstream gay couples having a baby and adopting a baby? That's the argument, that I've read.

STU: Really?

GLENN: And I think it's more of the first. But there are people that are saying, no, no, no, no. No, don't be fooled.

STU: Oh, my God.

GLENN: John Roberts has a plan.

STU: No one has any fun anymore. Can we just laugh at a sketch.

GLENN: I know. That's very funny.

STU: Honestly, it makes much of a point either way, to encourage or discourage gay parenting, or anything like that.

GLENN: No.

STU: What it is, it's pointing out a very obvious thing. Which is, there is tension around saying something blatantly obvious. And there shouldn't be. And, by the way, one of the guys in the sketch, is gay. In real life. John Ham. The other guy is gay.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. I didn't see the marking on his clothes.

STU: I know. It's shocking.

I don't know why they allowed John ham to culturally appropriate the gay role.

GLENN: Why he couldn't.

STU: Just pointing that out.

GLENN: Maybe he slept with somebody. To justify --

STU: Maybe he did, to justify the appearance.

But like, all that is, we -- this is an uncomfortable thing to say. And it is a -- a thing that society has made uncomfortable.

GLENN: That is --

STU: They're saying it out loud.

That's the basics comedy.

GLENN: And they're saying, you can't say that happen.

STU: Right. They're noticing how bizarre it is. That you can't question it.

When every single person on earth is aware, that asking, hey. Where did the baby come from, from two men?

Is a reasonable question. Because, of course, two men can't produce a baby by themselves.

GLENN: Especially when you didn't have one or talk about it the night before.

STU: Yeah. Two gay men cannot have a baby by mistake. That's a really good point.

GLENN: So I don't know. You think that's signaling a change?

I think a lot of companies put all of their chips on the table, betting it's going this way. I think Donald Trump -- I think you'll see, if Donald Trump is successful and you keep the Republican Congress and the Senate and a Republican is voted in as president, in the next election, I think you're going to see massive change.

Right now, I don't think you look at any of the changes like this. And think, it's anything, but hedging your bet.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Just, it's not -- I don't think anybody has woken up and went, oh, my gosh! We were so wrong!

We were canceling speech, and that's not what comedy is.

I don't think anybody is waking up to that.
I think, at best, maybe some did. But at best, it's the group saying, this is not going to work. And we don't want to be on the wrong side of which way this falls out.

Let's just -- let's just go make fun of things that we made fun of.

No harm, no foul. And without articulating this. If it turns around, we're right back, where we were.

STU: Yeah. And I don't think you're going to start seeing all these conservative things going on, on Saturday Night Live. The point is, that can you find comedy wherever it is? We went through a period I think through the Barack Obama era, and into the woke, you know, Biden era. Where basically, you weren't allowed to find comedy in things that were funny.

GLENN: Oh, no.

STU: And that's always been the way that comedies worked.

GLENN: It went for clapter for years!

STU: Yeah. And still is like that on a lot of shows.

GLENN: Oh, I know. It's for over a decade. Over a decade.

STU: Yeah. Jimmy Kimmel is doing that still. Seth Myers.

GLENN: Still. And they will be in the dustbin of history. Those guys will be --

STU: I don't think that's going away, per se.

GLENN: No. But it's not going to be as mainstream as it was. Or tolerated as it was.

STU: It's boring.

GLENN: Look, you see what's happening to Snow White. Disney is still doubling down. So Disney is still going, we're going that way.

Okay. Well, go ahead.

Here's what I find fascinating about this. Is that the left, those like Disney. Who are continually doubling down, Disney is -- I mean, Disney has always been the number one storytelling company. Right?

STU: Sure. Yeah.

GLENN: And what is it that the right does horribly, for -- forever in my lifetime?

Tell stories.

We're not good storytelling people.

We -- you know, just conservatives.

They capture the heart. We try to capture the mind.

And you've got to go to the mind through the heart.

And so that's how they can move so many mountains, that we just can't seem to move.

Because they're good at storytelling.

What are they doing now?

Look at the Christian movies, and how good they are.

Okay?

They're fantastic now. Not all of them.
But some of them are really because they're just telling a story.

Have you seen House of David? Have you been watching that at all?

STU: No.

GLENN: Oh, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And I don't feel preached at. I don't feel anything, except that's a great story. Okay? And you don't have to believe the Bible to look at it and say, it's a great story. It's not screaming at you.

And this is true, and I'll burn in hell, if you don't buy every single word of it.

You know, it doesn't do that. That's what Christian movies used to do.

It's so fascinating to me, that right now, we're learning the lesson that no matter how hard people screamed at Christian movie making people. They never seemed to get it.

I want to bring my friend to go see this.

I want my friend to experience a moment, where they're just filled with the love of God!

But it -- if you -- if you beat them over the head with it, they're never -- how many times did you ever take a friend to a movie, because you really wanted to see them. And you were trying to help them find a path, or whatever. And everybody said, oh, you've got to bring your friend to this. And so you did.

And then you're sitting like five minutes in, and you're like, oh, dear God. And you just want to look at your friend and go, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Because this is so transparent, that it is just trying to make these guys look bad. And that's -- you might actually hold that point of view.

But you're not like that. You're not like that.

And all the people that believed differently. Don't believe in God. Are not all of a sudden, working for Satan.

You know what I mean?

And we just beat people over the head. And now suddenly, we've gotten it. And we've learned how to tell great stories.

And so now, what's -- what's growing like crazy. God stuff.

Religious programming. And it's just because it's good!

It's a good story. And they've left the preaching for Sunday.

And what's happened?

Look at Snow White. It's all about a message. You don't even think about Snow White anymore.

You think about what everything -- what everything means, in that movie.

Don't you understand what that means? Well, I know. You probably missed it. That's why Snow White tells you exactly what that means, off-screen and on the screen.

And they just beat you over the head with it. And they're failing. I find it fascinating, that we've switched places. Because for them, it should be easy to see.

Somebody should be sitting in a boardroom at Disney going, hey, hey. Hey. Hey. Wait. Wait. Remember all those Christian movies that we used to make fun of, because they were so bad, because they were just about messages.

And they made -- they made decent people who just disagreed, look like they were in league with Satan?

Remember that? And we used to make fun of it. Has anybody noticed here at the table, we have become those people?

STU: And do those conversations even happen? I wonder. You would think --

GLENN: You would think.

STU: -- it would happen. I think there has to be people who agree with those types of questions. Whether they have the bravery to say it in those meetings, is another question.

GLENN: Because, look, what was it? The message was more important than money.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Okay? And that's the way Christians used to be. They would be like, no. We have to get this message out. And they would be like, but no one is going to come and watch this movie. Yes, but if we could only get one person to understand.

Wouldn't it be better to get millions of people to come in, and hope that maybe we could save a handful of them. Just open their minds a little bit. And the next movie, open their mind a little bit.

STU: Right. Maybe 25 conversations down the road, something good happens. Who knows?

GLENN: Yeah. Just plant the seed.

STU: This is, of course, one of the miracles of the market, by the way.

It doesn't require you to be a good person. It doesn't require you to have the best intentions.

Oftentimes, it leads to really good conclusions anyway.

And by the way, speaking of that. We've been talking about the King of Kings. The movie from Angel Studio, which is out right now.

GLENN: Yeah. How did that do?

STU: Number two in the box office, only behind Mindcraft, which is one of the biggest movies of all time.

Is going to wind up -- already 300 million in the box office.

King of kings. Already, they did 20 million in the first week.

Of course, this is Easter weekend. This is what I'm going to see this weekend with the kids.

GLENN: I'm going to see it, just to support.

I mean, I've seen it.

I just want to support it.

STU: Yeah. For sure.

And I think there is part of that. Right?

But like, they always try to demean some of these things. These are message movies. People are buying tickets. They're buying tickets for other people.

You can do that at angel.com/Stu. You can go there.

You can check. I want to pay it forward for other tickets. That's great, if you want to do that.

These are movies that people like, and they're interesting. And enjoy it.

GLENN: You don't get to be number two.

You might get to be number two. But next weekend, you would be off the chart, because the word-of-mouth would be so bad.

And the word-of-mouth, on King of Kings is great.

STU: Yeah. Still number two, even yesterday.

Increasing, because obviously, Easter helps. But it's a good movie, that people really like.

And that's much more important than, you know, some purity test. Where you're going to wind up wasting millions of dollars at a movie that nobody cares about.

GLENN: Look at. Look at what happened with the Melania Gibson movie. What was the one?

STU: Passion of the Christ?

GLENN: Yeah. Passion of the Christ. The whole thing was in Aramaic.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Like four people on the earth speak Aramaic.

But it was such powerful story-telling. That it just cleaned house at the box office. And it wasn't just one week or two weeks. It went on and on and on and on.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: It's interesting to watch and see how we're now finding ourselves in the driver's seat with storytelling. And they're still out in the parking lot, kicking rocks, going what the hell just happened?

Why did Snow White fail?

I actually hope that they don't catch on for a while. Let's get some space in between us before they catch on.

Glenn's POWERFUL Easter Message for the Lost & Lonely

This Easter and Good Friday, Glenn speaks to the lonely, those in despair, those who have dealt with pain for far too long. He was once in that same place. But the message of Easter, he says, isn’t just history. It’s our story, if we surrender and come to Christ. Glenn ponders the weight Jesus must have felt on Thursday night as he knew what was coming on Friday. As he walked through the garden, as he was betrayed, as he was beaten by the Romans, abandoned by his own people and disciples, and nailed to a cross. But he had a purpose for all of it. And just like he called Mary’s name at the empty tomb on Sunday, he calls to you today. “He’s alive and He’s waiting, scars and all, arms open,” Glenn says. “Give it up and walk away from all that haunts you. Surrender. Live.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So last night, Jews all over the world gathered for Passover. So I want you to picture Jerusalem 2000 years ago, at Passover. And the air is heavy with the aroma of unleavened bread. And the streets are buzzing. Because people have come from all over Israel, to be there.

The sun sinks. It's casting a golden glow. But a shadow is hanging over one man, because he knows what's coming.

Jesus. What must his -- what must the weight of last night have been like?

For the man, Jesus. Because he knows what's ahead. The nails. The thorns. All of it.

Yet, he presses on.

Why?

Because that's the deal he made.

That he loves us. He was the one that could bring us back home.

That's tremendous love.

And a love so relentless that it defies death itself. So it's Thursday night. Passover meal. Jesus gathers his 12 disciples in an upper room. Oil lamps flickering casting long shadows. They eat. They laugh. They're unaware of the betrayal that is sitting at the same table with them. And Jesus breaks the bread. His hands aren't shaking. His voice is steady. His eyes are heavy.

And he says something that must have been very odd. This is my body. Broken for you.

They each have some of the bread. Then he lifts the wine. This is my blood, shed for you.

What was going through their mind?

Remember, they're looking for the messiah.

They -- some of them believe that he is the messiah. The Son of God.

You know, I can't speak for Judas. But they're expecting a warrior. And they -- they're not expecting this.

They're waiting for something big to happen, that not this.

The weight of it, must have been crushing to him, being there alone.

Nobody understands. So he goes to Gethsemane. It's an olive who don't have to. And it's right on the top of the hill, overlooking the Temple Mount. And he leaves the Apostles, just says, pray with me.

And he leaves them. And goes off himself.

And he collapses to his knees, under the twisted branches of these trees. And the moon is hanging low by now. The night, silent. Except, perhaps for his silent and ragged breathing.

And that's when he says, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

You know, it says that blood came out of every pore.

And I never understood that. I thought maybe it was a metaphor or something when I was younger.

It's actually, it's not a metaphor. It's a real, very rare condition, where extreme stress will rupture all of the capillaries right underneath your skin, so you actually sweat blood. That's the pressure he was under.

His body had to have been trembling and racked with anguish and pain. He's not just sweating. He's bleeding all of us clean. He begs for escape. And then he knows.

And he says, your will, not mine.

Why? Because he knew we were going to need it. And here we are with our secrets, our shame. He saw us, and he chooses the cross.

And Judas slinks in, his kiss, he knew.

He said somebody, earlier. Some -- one person at this table is going to betray me tonight.

So the soldiers swarming, torches are blazing, swords are drawn. Peter grabs one of the swords, and he actually cuts the ear off of one of the soldiers. And Jesus stops him. Stop it!

That's not my path. And he picks up the ear, and he hears. He heals the soldier.

They bind him. They drag him through the streets. Sanhedrin's trial. Just total farce. False witnesses.

You know, spit, fists, everything else.

Caliphas nears. Are you the Son of God? And Jesus says something that seals his fate: You have said it yourself.

Truth, not blasphemy. Truth. That saves us. Not him. So my -- he's before Pilate.

Bloodied and silenced. This happens. Back and forth, until this time of day. And the crowd is beginning to gather. And they're screaming crucify him.

And Pilate washes his hands.

But no water erases that stain. Jesus is then scourged.

Whips, studded with metal. Just shred his skin.

I'm on my way, in two weeks, to see the shroud of Turin.

The actual shroud of Turin.

And I believe that to be actually the burial cloth. After you study it, a little bit. Just even a little bit.

You see what has been done to prove or disprove. And the best they can say is, you know, on the -- on the negative side is, I don't know.

I don't know how it happens.

They mock him. They drape him in a purple robe.

His back is just shredded. His legs, on both sides, his chest.

They jam a crown of thrones into his scalp. And these aren't little roses. I think they're called Bethlehem thorns. And they're like three, 4 inches.

And they just push it into his scalp. Blood is streaming down his face now.

But he still has burning eyes, purpose for you. The cross -- part of the cross, lay across his shoulders. Splintered. It's heavy. He stumbles. Every single step is a testament to love. Somebody is pulled out of the crowd, Simon is pulled out of the crowd. He's forced to carry it.

But Jesus is still bearing all the weight of what's coming. At Golgotha, the place of the skull, nails are actually put through his wrist. And then through his feet.

Can you imagine what that he felt like to just have the -- the -- the vibration of that hammering? And I've always seen when they slide the cross into the ground. And it settles. You know, his shoulder was dislocated, they think, in the streets. So, you know, the only way you breathe, on a cross, is you have to force yourself to stand up straight, as much as you can. Because once you start to sag down, your lungs start to collapse.

And so with a dislocated shoulder. He's pulling himself up, so he can breathe.

Jeez. The sky is darkening now. He's -- he's executed with two thieves, one on each side.
One mocks him. The other one says, remember me!

And at that moment, Jesus is offering grace. Can you imagine? Today, you'll be with me in paradise.

He's dying, and he's saving. He sees his mom, standing below.

John is beside her. Praise again. Jesus looks down and says, woman, behold your son.

Love, even in agony. The crowd cheers. Save yourself! Save yourself! If you're God, save yourself! He doesn't, because of us. Because of me. Because of you. He saw us. He knew we were going need to this. He takes it. For him to really be man and suffer, he had to be separated from God at this point. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Jeez. God didn't turn away from him. He turned from the sin that he was bearing, our sin. And at the ninth hour, he just says, it is finished! Victory, not defeat. The debt is paid.

The temple veil tears. God's presence is unleashed. The earthquakes. Rocks split. Centurion stands at the foot. Says, surely, this was the Son of God.

They pierce his side, just to make sure that he was dead.

Joseph of Arimathea lays him in the tomb. And they sealed him up. Sealing hope, away. Disciples have no idea what's going on. No idea. They're hunted now. Are we going to die like that? I thought he was the savior? What is happening? Now he's dead. Nothing more humiliating than being crucified to a tree. That was the most humiliating thing that could happen. That's clearly not the savior. The disciples scatter, broken, the world falls silent. Is this the end? No. More in a minute. You know, selling your house used to be simple. You mowed the lawn. You vacuumed all the carpet. Shoved everything into a closet, and hoped nobody noticed.

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(music)

GLENN: So imagine, just on Easter. On Palm Sunday. He's riding in triumphant. And everybody is so high. And saying, wow. This is going to be great.

Now he's dead. Now he's in a tomb. Now it's sealed. Silent.

The apostles are like, what just happened?

It's only been 24 hours!

Disciples are -- they hide.

Hope buried with Jesus. Mary Magdalene weeps. Her heart is just raw. Her world now feels empty.

But there's a pulse in the air. There is a pulse in the air. Mary has been sleepless, broken. She walks to the tomb, sits pre-dawn. She has spices in her hand to anoint his body. Final act of love, and the ground quakes as she gets close. She falters, her breath catches. What is it? And the stone is rolled back.

Now the tomb's mouth is gaping open. And her heart lurches. Oh, grave robbers?

She runs to Peter and John. She says, they've taken him! They race. John outruns Peter.

Pierced inside the linen cloth, folded. The head cloth, separate, but empty.

Peter barrels in. Baffled. The tomb is hallow. No trace of Jesus anywhere! They leave. Days.

Mary is just stunned. She just stays there. She doesn't know. She can't abandon him. Where is he?

She's sobbing, and the sobs are echoing off the stone, and then there was movement.

Two radiant figures are sitting where Jesus was supposed to be laying.

Woman, why are you weeping?

She turns. She thinks it's a gardener.

She says, sir, if you have moved him. Just tell me where.

It's not a gardener. It's Jesus. And he just says one word. Mary. Soft, alive. Her breath stops. Those eyes that voice. It's Jesus.

Rabbi! Teacher! He's alive. Flesh and bone. Scars and all.

He says, go tell the others.

She runs, bursting, I've seen him!

The disciples have locked themselves away, fear choking them. Suddenly, you know, Jesus is amongst them.

He shows them the hands, the feet. The nail marks remain proof of his love. How could he live?

This is a very rough and short telling of probably the most story -- not probably. The most important story in all of human history. But it's our story.

It's -- the only story, probably that matters. He's already done all the hard work. He bled, literally from every pore, carried our sin, faced the cross, shattered the tomb.

Death couldn't hold him!

Nothing can!

And just like he said, Mary. He's calling your name.

I don't need it. I'm fine.

And perhaps, maybe that's try for you right now. But there will come a time, in all of our lives where despair will overtake us. Where our mistakes will just seem to be just too overwhelming.

Lay it down. Lay down all of the lies that you now believe about yourself, that you're not enough, that your mistakes define you, that your pain and loneliness are yours forever. Because that's who you are, really.

They're not with you forever. It is the strangest thing. Everything true with God is usually the opposite.

Don't fight. Surrender.

Surrender. It's hard to let go of the shame that you've carried your whole life. Or the wounds you've nursed. The voices that you whisper to yourself.

Because at least it was in my life. That's all you know. They probably have been with you for so long, that you believe that that's all you are. And without them, what are you?

Nothing. There's nothing else inside. I'm not good enough.

There's nothing else good inside.

I'm just this. Lies.

This Easter, I just want to leave with you this message: I've made that awful, awful journey. And it is not easy. But it is so worth it. This weekend, I encourage I to listen to hear his voice. Soft as it was for Mary. Fierce as it was on the cross. Let it go! Come to me. Step out of the shadows. Lay down the weight. It's not about being perfect. It's about being his. And he's already paid the price. He's fought the battle. Won the victory. Now all you have to do is surrender, because he is alive. He is waiting. Scars and all, open arms, come to him. Give it all up, and walk away. Surrender. And live.