The 2 Most Important Truths You Can EVER Learn | Guest: Eric Metaxas | 5/28/26

Summary

Podcast Summary: Steve Deace Show — "The 2 Most Important Truths You Can EVER Learn"

Date: May 28, 2026
Host: Steve Dace (with Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre)
Guest: Eric Metaxas
Network: Blaze Podcast Network

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Overview

This episode of the Steve Deace Show delivers a sweeping examination of principled conservatism rooted in faith, honest self-reflection on political strategy, and an engaging interview with author Eric Metaxas about his new book, “Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World.” The core of the episode is a deeply theological discussion exploring “the two most important truths you can ever learn,” anchoring the conversation in Christian worldview, American history, and the necessity of spiritual authenticity in personal and national renewal.

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Key Segments & Timestamps

News Recap & Political Analysis (00:01–14:00)

Cabinet Updates & Iran Deal (00:01–05:29)

• Steve covers President Trump’s recent Cabinet meeting focused on the Iran situation, rising inflation, and international events.
• Summary of a proposed Iran deal:
  • 60-day negotiation window for Iran’s nuclear program.
  • Unrestricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz during talks.
  • Iran’s written commitment not to pursue nuclear weapons.
  • Sanctions relief and humanitarian aid as negotiation incentives.
• Steve stresses that such deals ultimately depend not on their specific terms, but the political will to enforce them, declaring:

  “We are not a nation of laws and never have been. We are a nation of political will and always will be.” (16:54)

Media and Cultural Highlights

• Commentary on cultural topics: social media's influence on riots, Mike Pence’s remarks about civility, and humorous policing anecdotes (e.g., a police stop with a suspect missing her right hand).

Conservatism, Coalition, and Internal Debate (10:17–14:00)

• Steve explains why he avoids airing certain political criticisms online:

  “I am not going to be used by Sims for Islam. ... I’m not going to be used to be a dispiriting OP against my own army, my own team.” (12:40)

• Emphasizes the importance of having tough but internal conversations within a movement, likening it to team sports and accountability:

  “There are conversations that at times need to happen internally within a team… but you don’t go to the microphone and just share your junk for all to see.” (13:19, paraphrased)

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In-Depth: The Iran Dilemma & Human Nature (14:00–27:19)

• Comprehensive breakdown of the proposed Iran deal and why its efficacy is secondary to the willingness to enforce it.
• Steve critiques “art of the deal” style politics, warning that some regimes (like Iran) are not interested in genuine negotiations:

  “Some people just want to watch the world burn. And there is not always a deal to be made.” (18:31)

• Draws lessons from history (Afghanistan, Iraq), highlighting the complexity, lack of clear succession, and the "resolve gap" between the U.S. and Iran:

  “We are superior to Iran… in every aspect… but one, and it’s maybe the most important one, resolve. They don’t care what they do to their people.” (22:24)

• Admits to no clear solutions:

  “All the options here are questionable to unknowable to bad. … There’s no way to have a way out here without trusting the Iranian regime to some respect.” (26:40)

• Concludes that enforcement—“mowing the lawn” repeatedly—is the only way to handle such regimes.

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Interview: Eric Metaxas on the American Revolution (30:45–47:27)

On “Revolution” and the Uniqueness of America

• Eric describes his new book as “an outrageous, epochal, unprecedented moment in the history of the world.” (32:08)
• Dispels the myth that the Founders were primarily Deists:

  “The big one, the monster [misconception], is that you could get a country like this from Deists or from French Enlightenment rationalists. That is lunacy.” (35:01) “Apart from faith in the God of the Bible, there is zero chance that a country like this could ever come into being.” (32:52)

• Asserts that America’s founding was “profoundly, inescapably Christian—but at the heart of that Christianity is religious liberty.” (36:00)

Inspirational Confirmations from Research

• Nearly all Founders and Revolutionary leaders depended on Providence, not Enlightenment ideas:

  “George Washington… depended on Providence, capital P…” (37:29)

• Contrasts American virtue with British barbarism during the Revolutionary War:

  “The British elites were barbarous… they mocked the religion of the colonials… we get a battle of good versus evil.” (38:10)

Message to Young (and Disillusioned) Men

• Eric addresses the epidemic of nihilism, urging the next generation to open their hearts to Christ and see the American founding as proof of hope:

  “Anybody who buys into hopelessness or nihilism… God knows what you’re doing there. You’re not honoring truth and beauty and love. These are dark voices designed to pull you away from God’s purpose.” (41:07) “He has a plan for you. … If you will honor Him, open your heart to Him… He will do that because He loves you. He won’t force you.” (41:32)

• Highlights the youthfulness and faith of key Founders:

  “Many very young men… were serious Christians… Nathan Hale, Dr. Joseph Warren, Henry Knox—all very young and leading.” (43:43)

Closing Reflections (Todd & Aaron)

• Todd: Modern Christianity in America is “functionally deist”—we recognize God but don’t allow Him to move our hearts or dictate our behavior.

  “Most conservative Christians… are functional deists. And that’s what they want to be.” (46:36)

• Aaron: The founding generation was distinctly different in character and expectation.

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Theology Thursday: The Two Most Important Truths (53:19–94:49)

Truth #1: God is God, and I Am Not (53:19–77:42)

• Steve unpacks what it means to confess God’s sovereignty and our own limitations.

  “Understanding that God is God and I am not forces you to recognize you’re not needed at all. None of us are. We’re owed nothing at all. … We deserve hell.” (64:42)

• Warns against “functional deism”—acting as if God is uninvolved except as a perfunctory observer, and relying on our own will and skills.

  “Functional deism: acknowledging there is a God, but then acting as if he can’t be counted on. … He’s just kind of waiting on us as opposed to us waiting on Him.” (59:10)

• Illustrates how this distinction changes everyday obedience, courage, and humility. Willfulness (will I do something?) vs. submission (can I, am I permitted?).
• Todd reminds listeners that idolatry is the root problem; God wants all your heart, not just a compartmentalized portion.

Truth #2: Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, For the Bible Tells Me So (77:42–94:49)

• Steve: Without the work of Christ, the best one can achieve is functional deism.

  “The best you can do, without Jesus, is functional deism. … We can’t do this on our own. We can’t.” (80:33)

• Christ’s sacrifice replaces our failed self-efforts (“filthy rags”) with His perfect work and gives us the power for real relationship and obedience.
• Christian life is not about feel-good deism, but about continual, authentic discipleship—discipline, change, and humble dependence.
• Todd and Aaron reinforce that walking in faith is simple, but not easy; requires real surrender and obedience.

  “It is hard, but it is also quite simple. And we keep making it complicated…” (89:31)

Memorable Quotes

• Steve: “Faithful obedience is not doing righteous things to move the heart of God. It is seeking the heart of God so you may know what those righteous things are—and then doing them.” (66:40)
• Eric Metaxas: “If you listen to [nihilistic voices], you're on the hook. And God knows what you're doing there.” (41:07)
• Eric Metaxas: “There is zero chance that a country like this could ever come into being apart from faith in the God of the Bible.” (32:52)
• Todd Erzin: “Most conservative Christians…are functional deists. And that's what they want to be.” (46:36)
• Aaron McIntyre: “There are a number of paradoxes…God’s standard—that obedience that I was talking about, striving to live a holy life for His glory—not for your own vanity, but at the same time always acknowledging you’re not perfect and you never will be this side of heaven.” (90:40)

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Notable/Impactful Moments

• Steve’s candid self-reflection on past political coalition-building failures and what it means for the conservative movement (59:10).
• Eric Metaxas’s direct message to disenfranchised young men, contextualizing hope, personal value, and the American story (41:07).
• The powerful summary of “functional deism” versus authentic living faith, with practical and theological implications interwoven throughout the episode.

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Final Thoughts

Steve Dace concludes by reiterating that the two truths—“God is God and I am not” and “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”—sufficiently answer the deepest questions of meaning, purpose, and hope. The show closes on a note of challenge, encouragement, and practical theology, with all hosts urging the audience to embrace both obedience and grace in Christ.

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For Further Reflection:

• “Duty is ours; outcomes belong to God.” (Referencing John Quincy Adams as a model of faithful obedience, 64:37)
• “Why am I here? Why am I like this? How could I be different? Why is the world like this? What can we do about it? It’s the only worldview that sufficiently answers all those questions.” (94:49)

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Steve Dace]

It's the Steve Day show and here's what happened while we were away. Brought to you by Cabinet Updates. President Trump had another Cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday. Of course, topic of conversation centered on Iran, mostly with Trump saying they're running out of economic Runway and that they want to make a deal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen says he still believes the various energy driven price jumps consumers are facing are temporary. I believe the prices are transitory. Oil will be lower than pre conflict levels when this ends. Natural gas is already down as you mean mentioned drug and pharmaceutical prices.

They are plummeting and rent is down.

We are more resilient to energy price fluctuations due to your energy dominance agenda, to regulatory efforts and we have never sold so much energy to the rest of the world. New inflation numbers. PC inflation, the preferred number by the Federal Reserve shot up to 3.8% in April, the highest level since 2023. This morning Central Command posted that Iranian regime forces engaged in a quote unquote egregious violation of the ceasefire agreement, launching drones and a missile at Kuwait. CENTCOM says they were all intercepted. Axios reports this morning the US And Iran have reached a deal to extend the cease fire and start negotiations on its nuclear program. That deal is reportedly awaiting Trump's final approval. Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico had one of his first major national interviews with CBS in 2021 in a speech during debate over transgender issues. You said God is non binary.

I was being intentionally provocative with that statement. But what it means is that God can't be defined by human categories. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians says that in Christ there is neither male nor female. There are some statements that I've made that I, that I certainly regret. There are some statements that I've made where I've missed the mark. I'll be the first to admit that. But Ken Paxton is intentionally clipping my cringy comments.

Also on cbs, Jill Biden opened up about her husband's infamous disastrous debate back in 2024.

[Eric Metaxas]

Were you horrified as you saw it unfold?

[Steve Dace]

I wasn't horrified. I was frightened because I had never ever seen Joe like that before. Or since.

[Eric Metaxas]

Never.

[Steve Dace]

Or since? Yes. Or since. I've never seen him like that.

[Eric Metaxas]

Never?

[Steve Dace]

No. Why did it happen? I don't know what happened.

[Eric Metaxas]

I mean, when I, as I watched it, I thought, oh my God, he's having a stroke.

[Steve Dace]

Of course we were all wondering the same or similar things in 2024. It's now 2026. Yet another reminder of the wicked people attached to or serving within that administration. By the way, Jill Biden was so concerned her husband had a stroke, she paraded him through a diner right after the debate. In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson is blaming the continued outbreak of youth street takeovers where unruly teenagers essentially perform a localized riot. Mayor Johnson says he has an interesting theory on who's actually responsible.

We prevent the vast majority of these from ever taking place. You know, there is an effort in city council to hold these social media apparatuses accountable. I believe that we should continue to explore that and I'm going to continue to work with Alderman hall around that. It's why we're actually tackling these big tech companies for the role that they have played in harming the mental health and well being of our young people.

Former vice president Mike Pence through a furrowed brow says, everybody's just too mean these days.

I can say that your ideas are really bad and they might be. I don't know you, but you might have really bad ideas without saying you're a bad person. Right? I mean, I think. I think negative personal attacks have no place in public life. And the American people want us to get back.

In completely unrelated news, the official account of the democrats is on a heater this week. Replying to a post from White House Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller saying, quote, shut up, you ugly. And finally we go to Florida where the Palm beach county sheriff's office engaged in a targeted enforcement operation on distracted drivers. This was back in February and one stop didn't go according to plan.

[Eric Metaxas]

Hello, ma'.

[Steve Dace]

Am.

[Eric Metaxas]

Hi.

[Todd Erzin]

Hey.

[Steve Dace]

Good morning.

[Eric Metaxas]

I'm the Palmist county sheriff's office. This is why you're being pulled over the city of Lagos today. We're doing an operation for distracted driver and you drove past me holding the phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone.

[Steve Dace]

For those of you listening, the woman the officer pulled over does not in fact have a right hand.

[Eric Metaxas]

I mean, I saw you.

[Steve Dace]

Obviously not. So you want to just call this a day?

[Eric Metaxas]

I don't want to call a day. You had a hand up manipulator.

[Steve Dace]

I said my right hand.

[Eric Metaxas]

I thought I told you right hand. You had a hand up the right hand. I saw you manipulate with the right hand. Perhaps not right, but I saw you.

[Steve Dace]

You didn't see me with my right hand. You saying that you saw me with.

[Eric Metaxas]

I know what I just said. I know what I said. I'm asking you now, did you, did you or not have your phone on your hand?

[Steve Dace]

I did not.

[Eric Metaxas]

You did not have your phone on your hand. Hand to God. You not have one of your hand of God.

[Steve Dace]

The other hand of God.

[Eric Metaxas]

You don't have one in your hand of God. Cool. You have your draw. License.

[Steve Dace]

Race. Race.

That woman was still issued a citation, but the citation was dismissed this week citing lack of evidence. That's what happened while we were away.

Goodness. All right, let's have an adult conversation about Iran and what seems to now be a pending deal here that is not possible to have online. And I'm going to talk about that, too and more next year on the Steve Day Show. And greetings. Happy Thursday. Welcome to the Steve Day show here live and on demand on Blaze TV, radio and podcast. I'm Steve Dase with Aaron McIntyre. Todd Erzin joins us. He's on location as the Erzin family continues their outstanding athletic exploits. He's down in Fayetteville, Arkansas over the next few days, but he is here with us now. Coming up on today's show, Eric Metaxas is going to join us. His new book coming out next week, pre sales available at this moment, revolution the Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. All right. He's going to join us to discuss that coming up later on in the program. And then for Theology Thursday, it dawned on me, you know, I kind of dropped something yesterday, maybe it was a couple days ago on the show now, talking about what the two most important truths you could ever learn are and that those two most important truths are that God is God and I am not and that Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. And it dawned on me as I was searching for this week's Theology Thursday topic that if I'm going to throw that out there casually, that those could be the two most important truths you ever learn in life, I maybe should explain myself further. So we're going to do that coming up for Theology Thursday. Literally everything that you need to know, I didn't say want to know, didn't even say have to know. Everything you need to know about yourself, why you are the way you are, why this world is the way that it is and what to do about it can all be answered in just those two statements. God is God and I am not and Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. And I will explain coming up in the next hour of the program for Theology Thursday. But speaking of of book sales, again, I you guys, this has been just an incredible opening week launch for why Independence Day America is Great, because God is Good. We've now entered into the top 500 books overall on Amazon out of 32 million books. So that's pretty good. Just two days into release, we're the number seven overall best selling new release children's book in country, regardless of genre. We're the number 8 overall Christian children's book in the country. We're in the top 50 overall of bestselling new release books in the country. This has just been incredible. And you guys have just, you guys have crushed the. The debut of my new book, the conclusion to my trilogy of children's books on America's Christian heritage. Why Independence Day? America is great because God is good. I mean, it kind of looks. Seems weird when I look at the Amazon charts and I'm ranked ahead of the Disney Pixar Toy Story 5 illustrated book for the new Toy Story movie. That just blows my mind. Let's just say Disney's marketing budget, it's going to be a little bit larger than my own. You're my marketing budget. You guys are, you're it. You're the marketing budget for this book. And you guys have been incredible. So thank you. And if you've received your copy and you loved it, if you guys, it's time maybe to start posting reviews for it as well because this is the kind of thing that'll get reviewed bomb by the demoniacs on the other side, right? When they see something like this trending particularly for kids, they don't want Satan's youth ministry that they've constructed over there infiltrated. So we are going to need you guys reviews as well about how much you love the book. So thank you guys so much. Available now. Why Independence Day? America is great because God is good. And you guys have just crushed this opening week debut. So just very blessed and honored and humbled. Thank you guys very much. So here's what I want to do, gentlemen. To lead off the show, I want to have a conversation about the, the Iran, my analysis of Iran. I've kind of hinted at some of these things, but I'm going to say I'm going to put them together in a package of analysis that I will never say online, never say. And I'm going to explain why that is too. Aaron. I also, you know, typically just let you do whatever you want in terms of what you and the AI says is the best messaging and branding for the shows when we post them. I would like no hint of this either. Okay. When we post the show, these shows a little bit later on. All right. If you're if you're okay with that.

I think, I think the title the two most important truths you can learn is probably going to be good enough.

Okay, good. In fact, let me start back to front and explain to you why I'm never going to discuss this online. Something happened a week ago that alerted me and I think I shared this with the two of you. So I posted a response to Trump saying we have to bring in hundreds of thousands of Chinese Communist students or the universities will go out of business. He said this before, but he said it again just like a weaker week and a half ago. And, and I, I posted something that said 77 million people voted for Donald Trump in this last election. I'm among them. I would venture a guess fewer than six of them agree with this statement. And let's just say I saw some folks who are nihilistic agents and either actively attempting to divide our coalition or it's just the unintentional outcome of their cancerous black pilling who have ignored me, who know me, but have ignored that I've existed for a minute and they suddenly now all want it. They suddenly, not all of them, but a few of them wanted to share this post. And I learned a bit of a lesson in that scenario that I am not going to be used by Sims for Islam. I'm just not. And if I am, then they're going to have to do way more work than just sharing my stuff on social media. They're going to have to dig through the show the hard way, look for clips that maybe they can use. I have my issues and disagreements with Trump in this White House at times, but I know of no other organized movement, no other organized movement that is standing up against the spirit of the age. Are the two of you aware of another front we could go and fight other than the MAGA front? Is there another organized front you guys are aware of here that is, that is doing at least anything to push back against the spirit of the age. Is there another front out there that I'm not aware of?

Mike Pence has a few things to say.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So the answer is no. No said front exists. This is the army we have. This is the king we have. These are the generals we have. So I am. I'm not going to be used to be an OP to be a dispiriting OP against my own army, my own team. Does that make sense? Do you guys have any thoughts on what I just said there?

No, that makes sense.

[Todd Erzin]

It's just being shrewd, wisest Serpents.

[Steve Dace]

But you know, this, Todd, from being in a family of athletic excellence, there are conversations that at times need to happen internally within a team. Right. And just. You just run out there and tell the media. Yeah, that was, you know, I'm sure Ainsley does this all the time. Well, you know, I ran my best, but the chick that was picking up the baton behind me just completely blew the thing that never happens. Right, okay, that, that, I mean, you might have seen it happen. Like she might have tripped and fall. Fall or fell, I should say. And I said fault. Tripped and fell. She might have blown the race. But you're not going to do that. And that's maybe a conversation that gets had a little bit later on in private, but you don't go to the microphone and just, you know, share your junk for all to see when you're on a team. Right. You don't do stuff like that. Right, Right.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, that's correct.

[Steve Dace]

So it doesn't mean that there doesn't need to be tough conversations had. It doesn't mean that there doesn't. There should never be disagreements aired. But I'm not going to be used as an unwitting tool by people who have a newfound respect for Islam. I'm just, no, no, I'm not, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna take part in that. So on social media, I'm gonna largely, you know, stay away from much of this kind of stuff after what I saw happen last week. But I, I think here on this show we do need to still have serious conversations. And you guys need to know what I really think, regardless of consequences, that's what you guys signed up for. That's what we promised to give you. And so that's what we're going to do. Now. I think we need to have a very adult conversation about this Iran war because. And the reason why I think now is the time to have it is it seems as if this is the closest to this thing coming to an end, or at least an end for now. This is the closest that this seems to be coming to an end that we have seen yet. Now, here are the details reported by numerous outlets of the deal that the President is considering. Whether or not to sign off on the ceasefire will be extended via a memorandum of understanding that MOU establishes a 60 day window to launch negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. All right, so it's a, it's a deal to get a deal. That's what it is. It's a deal to open up a deal or to potentially pursue a long term deal. During the 60 day period, shipping through the straight of Hormuz will be unrestricted. The US Navy will lift its blockade in proportion to the restoration of commercial shipping. Meaning that that would, what that means is that we will, we will re. Our, our blockade will be reduced tied directly to how much free flow of goods and services Iran allows. That's what that means. Iran will include a commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapon in the Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum of understanding will also state that the nuclear issues will be discussed first during the 60 day window. That meaning now that they go into this exclusive negotiating period for a longer term deal, nothing else gets discussed until Iran's seal for weapons of mass destruction is talked about. No diversionary tactics. That has to be discussed first. The US will commit to discussing sanction relief and the release of frozen Iranian funds. In response to that stipulation being honored. The Memorandum of understanding will also include a mechanism to help Iran begin receiving goods and humanitarian aid for the people. All right, so that is the deal. I'm not going to analyze the terms of the deal or whether it's a good deal or not because if there was ever a moment that this creed of our show was true, this is, this is, this is one of those moments. We are not a nation of laws and we never have been. We're a nation of political will and we always will be. And this is one of the reasons why we're in the situation that we're in right now. And these are things I've alluded to and distressed over since we first discussed as a nation going down this road. And it's this point right now, the point we're at right now is why I was against this. Despite my utter, I believe, righteous indignation and detesting of the Iranian regime. The details of this deal do not matter. Only the willingness to enforce them does. Let me repeat that. The details don't matter. Only the willingness to enforce them does. Because while I am not any kind of military strategist, nor did I stay to Holiday Inn Express last night, nor have I ever saved a bunch of money on my life insurance or car insurance from Geico, I am an expert on human nature. And the reason why I'm an expert on human nature is because I'm pretty informed as to what the, the handbook, the guidebook, the user's manual for the human species has to say about us. That's the word of God. And everything I don't know about military strategy, I know about human nature. And we are now at the juncture now that military strategy is not, is not the realm of confrontation we're in

now,

we're at the point of this now that human nature and worldviews and belief systems, matter and worldview is destiny. No one rises above their own worldview. Your worldview is your ceiling. Theologically, morally, it's the ceiling of who you are as a person is, is your worldview. And if there has been the. I think the greatest strength of this president is his understanding that a deal can usually be made. And I think the greatest achievements of this president have been, for example, his ability to be both. To be both. The most pro Zionist president I think we've ever had, but then also assemble the most comprehensive list of Arab allies I think we've ever had simultaneously is evidence to this. But I also think when art of the deal is your worldview, again, that's your ceiling. And I think from a worldview perspective, when we've seen this president falter, like Covid, for example, He tried to parlay the building of the wall into giving Dreamer amnesty to the Democrats in his first term. Didn't work. Another example. And I, and I, and I think that it's possible. I don't know if it's likely, but I do think it's possible that this mistake could be made again here. And I want to explain why, because I think there's one thing that this president struggles in his worldview to absorb. It is that some people just want to watch the world burn. And there is not always a deal to be made. There was never going to be a deal to be made with Fauci and Burks. They were there to end your presidency. They were agents of your opposition. There was never going to be. That's why you had to fire them. There was never a deal to be made. There was never. You know what, you guys go do your thing over here. No, that was never going to work. And I think I, I think when there is a deal to be made, Donald Trump's among the greatest presidents in modern American history. When there is not a deal to be made, he is susceptible to making historic levels of mistakes. And we saw that during. And the reality is, if they're any bit as close to the demoniac regime as our own talking points claim, and I would argue those talking points line up with 50 years of action. Reality, a tree by its fruit. Faith without works is dead. I think we know quite a bit the works of the faith of the Iranian regime. They have proven it time and Time again, it is very possible there is no way to negotiate with this regime and that we are unevenly yoked. From a resolve perspective, it's not that we are superior to Iran, dramatically so in every aspect of this fight but one, and it's maybe the most important one, resolve. They don't care what they do to their people. They don't care how many of their people they lose. They're on a mission from Allah. We do care about those things. They don't have to worry about elections. I know the President's getting criticized for what he said yesterday. I don't care about the midterms. You need to understand the President has to say that he's right to say that he's in the midst of a high tense negotiation. He cannot let the Iranian regime see that he, he is, he is internalizing the inflation news, the bad polling, Because that'll strengthen their resolve to stick it out all the more, just as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. It didn't take very long to remove the Taliban and it didn't take very long to remove Saddam Hussein. And if we really wanted to, we could uproot this entire Iranian regime and really their descendants to the fourth generation probably in about 30 days or less. But the problem, as we learned in Afghanistan and Iraq, is what comes next. And in Iran, you're dealing with a larger country than Iraq and Afghanistan and a way more complicated, sectarian one. You have the Kurds in the north who want their own country. You have a large secularized youth population that never existed in Iraq, couldn't, and never existed under the Taliban in Afghanistan. And we saw them hit the streets in the tens of thousands, the streets of Tehran this winter before this conflict began. You still have a very large Shiite Muslim population there. Even if you got rid of this regime, the branch of Islam that is still a millennia and a half old rival to the Sunnis would still be ascended demographically. At the start of this war, there was at least 150,000 Revolutionary Guard soldiers, hardened terrorists trained by this regime, some from Iran, some from other countries. This was essentially the ecosystem feedback loop for Iran's terror proxies. You're either serving in the Revolutionary Guard or you're serving in organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. We know that they will fight to the last drop of blood. What we don't know anything about is the at least 300,000 in the Iranian national army who did not. Who did not try to put down the revolts and protest this winter, but also didn't stand up and defend them either. Just kind of stood by. We don't really know much about them. We don't have a, a figure, an El Sisi level figure. We don't know who could subdue this country. We just know we can't. You have the grandson of the Shah, but he's been living in luxury for many years. Are all these factions truly willing to immediately submit to him? The answer is probably no. And so therefore, what would it take from us? What investment would we be willing to make to secure the, the establishment of his government? That's not a price I want to pay. I'm going to guess there's no one within the sound of my voice that wants to pay that price. I'm going to say exactly no one. I'm going to say straight up. If the choice was more Chinese college students or we secure the new Iranian regime on the ground for the grandson of the Shah, I'm going to guess people would probably vote for more Chinese college students. I know I would. I've got a son in law on the guard. He's got, you know, my second granddaughter on the way. I just don't think it's worth his life to go die to secure the, the, the, the gambit. That's not even a guarantee of securing the Shah's grandson as the new leader of Iran. All the options here are questionable to unknowable. Too bad. And so here we are. I think we've kind of hoped that we would degrade them enough that things might organically fall apart. They have not. We told the, we told the population to not go out into the streets and wait for a signal. So there has been no there there. The Iranian regime has been able to focus all of its energies on just us and not its rear flank at home because they're not facing a mass amount of uprisings on the ground there. And even if there's just a handful of these people, when this is over, they're going to shake their fist at the Great Satan, fire up the propaganda and say, see, we have more resolve. And I've never seen how, how we were going to get out of this reality. And the way that things have just transpired in the last few weeks have only confirmed my fears of this because again, some men just want to watch the world burn. There's a reason why God said to the Israelites, when you go into Canaan, leave nothing, leave nothing behind. You're the urban renewal program. Can't assimilate with this, so don't. Unfortunately, they didn't Listen, and it's one of the reasons why we're still sitting here having all these same arguments now for 3,000 years. It's also very possible we could get the deal here. They agree and for a few months they put on a great show

[Eric Metaxas]

and

[Steve Dace]

then they decide, all right, yeah, your midterms are coming back, your economy's coming back. Our that menace Trump looks like he might actually win the midterms. What could we do? How could we inject ourselves in order to destabilize this, this momentum for our, our the Great Satan one more time? I just never saw a way that we were ever going to be able to, to negotiate in good faith with a demon possessed regime. And now we are here, but I don't know what other alternatives that we have. Because we simply cannot afford nor do we have the resolve. And that's, and it's, and it's why we don't have the resolve. We all know we can't afford to do this. We all know we lost way too many people who died for to essentially create an Iran proxy state in Iraq and in Afghanistan that had fewer Christian churches than it did before we toppled the Taliban. And then we left a bunch of, you know, we left a bunch of, a bunch, a bunch of our own behind in one of the most shameful moments in American history. We all know we cannot afford this. We also all know Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That's why I liked last year's approach of Operation Midnight Hammer. So what's the way out here? I do not know. There's no way to have a way out here without trusting the Iranian regime to some respect. And precisely because I think they are what we claim they are. That's going to take a lot of faith. Here's the other thing that's going to take though, a lot of fear from us. That's why the terms of this deal do not matter. Our willingness to enforce them does. You have to mow this lawn a few times. Don't just move your lawn once. Moving to a new house, maybe the previous people didn't take care of the lawn. It's full of weeds. You fertilize it. Pluck those weeds. You don't just do that once. You got to keep doing it over and over again, year after year, season after season. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to put a pin in this conversation right here. And then in the overtime today, Todd and Aaron, I want you guys to respond to what our audience just heard. From me because I've, I've put a lot out there and I'm sure you guys have some things you want to say and that'll be in our overTime today for BlazeTV subscribers at BlazeTV.com DACE code DACE for the big discount there at BlazeTV.com days. More in a moment, The steam day show. All right, back here on the Steve Day Show. And very much looking forward to this conversation because I've been hearing about this, this book from its author for like a year. Can't, I can't do this right now, Steve. I'm working hard on this book. Can't do this right now. Very important book. Maybe the most important one I've written. Been working a ton on this. Then he sent me a copy. I'm like, he's worked a ton on this because like 7,000 pages. Okay. Comes out on June 2nd. Revolution, the birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World from multiple best selling author Eric Metaxas. I love that cover. And anxious to dig into this one, my friend. Good to see you, brother. How are you?

[Eric Metaxas]

And it's only 600 pages.

[Steve Dace]

Only 600. Okay.

[Eric Metaxas]

And it's very readable. People have been telling me that that's of course your greatest fear, that people will be like, well, I'm excited that people are finding it like very readable. And listen, the story of the birth of America should be exciting, should be fun. By God's grace, I hope my telling of it is. It's certainly important.

[Steve Dace]

No doubt. In fact, I often like to start with authors with their subtitles because I think that tells us a lot about why they did what they did. So let's just go right to your subtitle. The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. Prove it.

[Eric Metaxas]

Well, that just says that I'm a MAGA lunatic and I don't know what I'm talking about. I think, you know, it's funny when I think about what was my assignment on this book? What was my job like, what did I want to do? Basically, Steve, I thought, you know, the 250th is here coming up. We need a solid accounting of how it all happened. And, and I look out there and I do not see. I mean, there's a million books on the revolution, but to tell the whole story, I always say I want to give somebody a book and go, here, it's all here. It's like I did that with Bonhoeffer. Like, you don't need to read 10 books or what, like, it's all here, what you need to know. And I got to tell you,

[Todd Erzin]

you

[Eric Metaxas]

cannot overstate the outrageousness of the birth of America. It is an outrageous, epochal, unprecedented moment in the history of the world. This is not just another nation. This is a new kind of nation invented by God and handed to, you know, the men of the revolution. It's like here you can govern yourselves the way the Israelites did@sinai 3,000 years ago. You can have no king but the Lord. That's a new idea in the history of the world. So I don't think you can overstate any of this stuff. And I think that part of the reason I have this urgency to get this book in everybody's hands, it's like, you need to know that this country is not just better than other countries. There's nothing like this country. There's never anything like it. We have the privilege, the honor of getting to live here. We need to know the story. We need to know that apart from faith in the God of the Bible, there is zero chance that a country like this could ever come into being. And I have to say that our way of governing ourselves, where we actually look to God, we don't just, you know, govern ourselves. We're under God's authority. That's all in the founding. And that wasn't not clear. That's not clear in a lot of books on the revolution at all. A lot of times they lean away from it. They're afraid of it. It makes them uncomfortable. This is true, and it is why this is the greatest nation in the history of the world. We always have to say, like, oh, it's flawed. Well, obviously you're flawed. I know you. You know me. I'm flawed. Yeah, we're flawed. But just because it's not perfect, we're not yet in the kingdom of heaven, but this nation is. You know, they want all of these founders. And again, I didn't really understand this until I did the research, but you're like, they all understood the narrative is we want to bring biblical principles into government. We want to govern under God. That was a wild idea. The British were not doing that. The British kind of leaned in that direction sort of in the previous century, and then they kind of batted it away. Nah, not interested. What happened 250 years ago is unprecedented in world history. We need to know the story. We need to know the players. Shame on us if we don't. Shame on me that it takes me to this point in life to really dig in and understand this. And so I am very excited if Americans can understand this. It's a new day. It is a new day. And this is the 250th year. This is the time. That's the assignment.

[Steve Dace]

Give us a couple of things that are misconceptions that maybe you had or that the average normie American has about this event, that in all the research you did to write this book, surprised you or you cleared up.

[Eric Metaxas]

Well, look, the big one, the monster one, is that you could get a country like this from Deists or from French Enlightenment rationalists. That is lunacy. And then when you look at the details, you realize there's zero chance. And by the way, none of them were Deists. I mean, the least religious men, which would be like, maybe Franklin and Jefferson even, they got the narrative that we're going back to the Sinai covenant, we're going to look to God, we're out of Egypt, we've gone through the Red Sea, and we're now in the wilderness and we look directly to God. And this, this is just not debatable. And that's kind of where I get, like, passionate. It's like, it's not even debatable. So the fact that we live in a country where most people can think, well, yeah, it was the French Enlightenment, that is complete baloney. It's a misunderstanding of all of this stuff. If anything, it's the Scottish Enlightenment, and if anything the French Enlightenment did was by criticizing Christianity kind of harshly, it forced the actual Christians to think about, yeah, what do we really, really believe? We don't just believe some fussy religious stuff. What is at the heart of it? And at the heart of it is religious liberty, freedom of conscience, which you get out of the Reformation. The idea that you cannot force people to buy into your faith. And that's the nature of the faith. That's the paradox at the heart of religious liberty, at the heart of freedom. And our founders understood this, and they were able to create a country that in many ways is profoundly, inescapably Christian. But at the heart of that Christianity is religious liberty, which means you can't force somebody to be a Christian, which means the government is. Is not going to weigh in on, you have to go to this church or you can't go to that church or whatever. So it is absolutely amazing and horrifying to me that most of us don't know this, that most of my life, I miss this, that we live in a culture that pretends like, yeah, they were kind of Deists, they were as Deist as Billy Graham. It's just insanity that we live in a country where you hear that parroted over and over on the PBS Ken Burns documentary. A few people say it. I thought, that's just insane. It's not even close. But we've heard it so much. It's like the propaganda that we hear about all kinds of stuff. It's just. It's garbage. We need to reject it and we need to know the truth and. And tell the truth to everyone else.

[Steve Dace]

Conversely, what was the most inspirational confirmation you received? Things that you suspected or knew that were confirmed, even more so as you were putting this book together?

[Eric Metaxas]

Well, I guess part of it is. I mean, it's kind of the same thing, except the flip side of it. These were mostly profound men of God. And when you see that, and when you see that George Washington, who's always presented as some kind of aloof Deist. Oh, no, no, no, no. He said enough and did enough that you realize this man was depending on Providence, capital P. He knew that if we do not honor God, God will not honor us. We cannot hope to win. We cannot begin to hope to win unless we honor God in how we fight. I mean, he knew that God acts in history and that all he could do is do his best and make sure that his officers and his men comport themselves in a way that's worthy of God, that honors God, that they would not stoop to the barbarism of the British. That's a big part of the story, is that the British elites were barbarous, in many cases. Monsters, raping, pillaging, hiring Hessians and Native Americans to terrorize civilians, to rape and torture. I mean, they just wanted to crush the Americans. Utterly godless. The British elites. I mean, I document that. I didn't really get that until I wrote this book. I was like, wow, these were godless. They mocked the religion of the colonies and the colonials. The Americans were largely Christian. I mean, even those who weren't dramatically Christian were culturally Christian. Everybody knew the Bible inside and out. It was just sort of like completely different cultures. So you get a battle of good versus evil. And the way the British treated their prisoners, the way, I mean, American soldiers would surrender and the British would bayonet them to death. They didn't believe in, you know, the rules. They believed in winning, terror. I mean, I didn't know that. So it's really very much a battle of good versus evil. So if you're just watching the movie, honestly, it's like, those are the good guys. Like, I don't know if they win or not, but they're definitely the good guys. That is something that I didn't know. And it made me see that this nation was born out of people of faith. There's just. It's not escapable, no matter how you look at it. It was really. I mean, even people that Henry Knox, John Hancock, all of them are just quoting scripture and appealing to God constantly. It's wild. I mean, it's wild that we don't know this, that this is who we are, this is our history.

[Steve Dace]

Eric, talk to the young man right now who is concerned that the age of a first time median home buyer in America is 41.

[Eric Metaxas]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Can't afford to fill up his gas tank, is struggling to find a girl that doesn't have multicolored hair and three abortions, or is at least contemplating a willingness to do so and is attracted to some of the more nihilistic voices within the, the, the social media digital world. Right. And he's attracted to this because he's thinking that this legacy that you're describing is no longer accessible, it's no longer attainable, and that they're being that. And that if they're boomer grandparents, you work forever to pay off their Social Security and Medicare. But if you want your college loan debt retired, you're a socialist and suck it up, kid. Right. That, that young man is the, is essentially the RSS feed for the Nick Fuentes of the world. Right. Okay.

[Eric Metaxas]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Tell. Explain to him why this book by you is an important read for him in particular.

[Eric Metaxas]

Well, first of all, I mean, I have to say anybody who buys into hopelessness or nihilism, anybody who's listening to siren songs of really vile people, Nick Fuentes and others, these are vile voices. If you listen to that, you're on the hook. Basically. God knows what you're doing there. You're not honoring God. You're not honoring. Even if you don't know God, you're not honoring truth and beauty and love. These are dark voices designed to pull you away from God's purpose. And the number one thing I would say, especially for young men, you need to open your heart to Jesus. You need to say, lord, I do not have the answers. The odds are stacked against me. But you say you're real. You need to lead me and guide me in my career, in everything. And if I don't, if I'm not led by you, I will fail. And I speak as somebody who was once one of those young men. I remember what it was like to be totally lost and to say, I don't know how I'm going to do this. I don't know. Listen, you don't need to know. You need to open your heart to God. Obey God and ask him to lead you. And in his timing, he will lead you. And if you don't believe that, you're dead. If you don't believe that, you will fail. And you know you'll hang out with people that are telling you what you want to hear in your misery. God has a plan for everyone, every single one. He's got a plan for you, but he's not going to force you to take it. But if you will honor him, open your heart to him and say, you tell me what to do. Tell me how to behave and tell me what to do. And please lead me and guide me. He will do that because he loves you. But he won't force you. He will let you wander as long as you feel like wandering. But I wouldn't recommend it. Wandering is ugly. I have wandered. It's not good. We've got to give our hearts to Jesus. He has a plan for every person. Forget about statistics. Forget about that. It's about you in God. He has a plan for you. And that's just. I've lived that, and I know many people who've lived that. And it's the only way to live. He created us to live that way. And so you know the story of the American Revolution. It's a beautiful story, and it's a story, by the way, of many very young men. I mean, it's astonishing how young some of them were where they were men, even though they were very young and they were leaders. I mean, I think of Nathan Hale. What a hero. I wrote a chapter on him. Ken Burns, PBS documentary gives him 10 seconds. It's sick.

[Steve Dace]

He's the one who said, the only regret that I have is I only have but one life to give for my country. Correct. That's who Nathan Hill is.

[Eric Metaxas]

I mean, it's. Yes. One of the most amazing young men you talk about. A role model. Wow. Dr. Joseph Warren, killed by the British at Bunker Hill at 34. He was like a Charlie Kirk. They couldn't even believe it when he was killed. Like, where do we go from here? He was 34. Henry Knox was 25. When Washington gives him to head up the artillery for the army, there are all of these figures, young men, all of whom were serious Christians. It's really amazing. And I could go on and on and on very young men who kind of stepped up. And I really think that, you know, it's wrong if we don't understand that that's God's will is that when we're young we would turn to him and step up and listen. If it's tough, it's tough. God is with you when it's tough. Because most people who have lived understand sometimes life is tough. Sometimes marriage is tough, sometimes raising kids is tough, sometimes paying the bills is tough. That's life. But if you do it with God, it's a whole other thing. He is with you in it and you can have joy in it, you can have hope in it. That's the way he calls us to live. And I really feel like part of telling the story of the revolution is that we need to know this story. It will give you hope for your own life, frankly, because they never should have succeeded. They never should have succeeded, but they put their hope in God. Washington did. Clearly John Adams is one of the great heroes of this story. I mean it is a story that, you know, if Americans though, if we don't know our story, we cannot possibly succeed. I mean that's, that's clear to me. And we've drifted in my lifetime. We drifted away from where everybody, everybody used to know this. Put a microphone in somebody's face in 1960, Main Street, America. They all knew all these names and they could tell you the stories. We need to get back there. And I wrote the book so that pretty much everything you need to know is in here. And you can't help but be inspired. There's just no way when you read these stories, this is true, this is real, this is how the birth of America happened. And in our 250th year, like we can't really go on without knowing this. And at the heart of it, God is at the heart of it. And you know, that's the way it was then. And that's the only way it can be that if you want liberty, you need to understand who is the God of liberty. And they got that like crazy. We pushed it out of our schools. We need to get this.

[Steve Dace]

Amen. That's a pretty good pitch, so pick it up. You can pre order it now. Releases on Tuesday, June 2 Revolution the birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World by best selling author Eric Metax. It's good to see you again, brother. It looks like a fantastic book. Can't wait to dig into it. I hope it sells a million copies. I do.

[Eric Metaxas]

Thank you, God Bless you. Thank you, my friend.

[Steve Dace]

You bet. Take care. Gentlemen. We got about a minute left. Any thoughts on that? I think I've given the book to you, Todd, to read first because I've got a list of stuff I've got to get through. So I'm anxious to get to the initial report from you on this one.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, I can't wait. A lot of overlap with what I've been talking about in putting your book out, Steve. Listen, Eric mentions very important words there. Obey, how to behave. And that has everything to do with why this modern generation thinks they were deists. It's because those are the ears we have here. Because quite frankly, most conservative Christians, Catholic or Protestant, while they argue with themselves, most of them are functional deists. And that's what they want to be. They don't want to behave. They say they don't have to. They don't want to do because they've got other concerns. So that's why I have my anan account. We have to look at NAI as Christians, Protestant and Catholics. We basically are functional deists and we lie to ourselves about what we must do, how we must behave, how we must obey all the time.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah, Todd is invoking that moralistic, therapeutic deism that's basically much of the church in America these days. And, you know, as you were taking us through your tour of the Capitol and I remarked at one of the paintings of the. The signing of the Declaration of Independence, wondering about all of the stories of the men in that room. It sounds like Eric did a wonderful job of detailing some of the most fascinating stories in the founding of our nation. And I. I can't read the rate. Wait to read this book as well.

Well, this is actually a great segue to where we're going next, so stay tuned. All right, back here with hour two, live and on demand here on Blaze tv, radio and podcast. I'm Steve Dace. We're brought to you by our friends over at Patriot Mobile. Don't forget, one of the best ways that you can celebrate America's 250th birthday is to align with companies who do excellent work, provide excellence in goods and services, and then, and then, and then it's not support us because, you know, we share your values. When I put together why Independence Day, we didn't just make sure to put in the book that lined up with our values. We wanted to do an excellent book that just so happen to line up with our values. And I can personally testify, after being with Patriot Mobile now for six years, they do excellent work. They have served our entire family capably now for more than half a decade and we are never looking back. Outstanding US based customer service team. 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You can also let us know what you think about what we think via the stevedace.com inbox by emailing the show [e-mail] d e a c e like us on Facebook me we and Gab. You can follow me at Steve Day show on x Instagram and TikTok. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel at DACE show on YouTube and then finally make sure to subscribe to the podcast as many of you have. So thank you for that. You're the biggest part of our audience. You're why we have the best podcast rankings we've ever had right now. So thank you guys for that. All you got to do, hit subscribe or if you're an Apple, itunes follow to ensure that every time you get a new episode, it'll be right there in your podcast feed. And then tens of thousands of you have left us five star reviews. Thank you so much for each and every one of those. We would appreciate adding even more because that helps the show to grow too. So thank you. And that brings us to Theology Thursday this week which is brought to you by our friends over at Ghostbed. You know, most people think waking up in the middle of the night just a part of life, but you know what? Yeah, that could be because you've got too much inflammation, your bed's not comfortable. That can impact your long term health. That's why you want to try Ghostbed. This is not Just a mattress. It's health equipment. Ghostbed's engineered cooling helps prevent overheating. That's a major cause of nighttime wake ups, particularly this time of year. And precision support keeps your spine aligned so you're not tossing and turning or waking up stiff. When we gave the Ghostbed to this to our son Noah to try, he noticed. Noah noticed the difference immediately. Right away, he was very excited about it. In fact, just when I was beginning to think, he's grown up and we'll get up now in the morning, I'm. We have to wake him up sometimes again because now he's sleeping better than he was before. So you can try it by yourself and give yourself 101 night. Ask risk free. Try it at home. Guarantee if someone's giving you 101 nights to try something, they're probably pretty confident you're gonna like it and not give it back. Because that's, that's one heck of a long trial period, right? And right now Ghostbed is still having their Memorial Day sale plus an extra 10% off for our audience. When you go to Ghostbed.com Steve, use that promo code Steve for that extra 10% off. Ghostbed.com Steve. Promo code Steve for that extra 10% OFF. So this week on Theology Thursday, I decided this morning that we were going to talk about something. I just kind of casually interjected into the program the other day that the, the two greatest truths you could ever learn in your life are the following. God is God and I am not, and that Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. And I think it was. I, I think a great way to launch this discussion is to follow up exactly what was just said by Todd on the show. Todd used a term, functional deists. Functional deists. Let me, let me define Todd's term. And Todd, if you don't like the definition I'm about to give it, tell me, because I'm going to define it in a way that will feed into the conversation that I'm about to have. So if I'm hijacking your definition for my narrative, let me know, okay?

[Todd Erzin]

I'm confident you're going to nail it.

[Steve Dace]

All right, so a functional D. Who are deists, right? Deists were. It was essentially a, a post enlightenment philosophical fad in Europe by, you know, the academic upper crust people that, that thought, well, yep, there is still a God, but essentially he's an observer. He's a dispassionate observer. Maybe a kid with an ant hill. You know, he's Just kind of casually following along what goes on down here. But he, he really is either disinterested or not interested enough to intervene. And he just kind of leaves it up to us from here to figure it out. He made us, he made us in his image. But then he's just kind of observing what goes on. He's on the sidelines. And the reason that you can tell that your founders were not, were not by and large deist, as you were told, is because one of the words they use the most frequently in all of their writings is Providence. Providence would be deism, would be anathema to Providence, because in their age, what Providence meant was the hand and will of God. That's what it meant, that God was specifically and supernaturally intervening in order to guide and direct events. Furthermore, the final paragraph of the Declaration of Independence says that they appeal to the supreme ruler of the universe to judge the rectitude of their actions. And rectitude is a synonym for motivations or righteousness or correctness, meaning you have the are these. Is what you're doing righteously or correctly motivated? And they are saying to God, hey, if what we're doing here is wrong, does not align with your will, then don't let it succeed. Stop us. We hold ourselves open to your judgment. We invite it. In fact, if you believe that God is a passerby, he's an observer only, he's a kid with an ant hill, you're not writing and saying things like that. And then, and then you're, you're, maybe you might do it as a rhetorical flourish or to, you know, kind of front that, that's, you're about that, you know, life, you're about that faith. But here's what you're certainly not going to do if you're a deist, you're not going to say that and then say, and unless God says no, we're going to launch a war with the most powerful army in the world and just pray that we're doing what God wants us to do because we couldn't possibly win this thing without him anyway. So these are not the actions of those who view God as a disinterested cosmic, you know, gallery sitter. These are the statements and actions and proclamations of people who believed and trusted and hoped that God was anything but, but very active in the guiding and redeeming of his creation, which is why

[Todd Erzin]

they were put in charge of artillery at the age of 25 and not playing video games and using a non account.

[Steve Dace]

There it Is there? It is. I want America to know that we got to eight minutes after hour two, mainly because I did most of the talking before Todd dropped that in. So take a drink. Right. It is. You know, it's five o' clock somewhere. Right.

[Todd Erzin]

But you nailed it. So you inspired me. I blame you.

[Steve Dace]

I appreciate it. Yes. I am your muse. You bet. Yes. So then, when we are functional atheists, what does this mean? Let me give you an example of functional. Or functional deism, I should say. Let me give you an example of functional deism. And I was, I was in a meeting many years ago. This would have been. Yeah, about 15 years ago. And it was before the Iowa caucuses and a bunch of Christian leaders got together and there'd be several names in this room that you would know, and a bunch of Christian leaders got together here in Des Moines, asked me to come, and they all agreed that Romney would be a terrible nominee. And they all agreed that he wasn't with us and would likely lose to Obama and depress our base. All things that proved to be prophetic. So the agree. So the discussion was, is there somebody here that we could get behind? And I thought that I was brought along for my understanding and analysis of what goes on, on the ground in Iowa, except they never really asked me that. I'll tell you what role they. They, they asked of me here in a few minutes, and I just kind of listened. People from major organizations and the candidates at that time, Michelle Bachman, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul. Am I forgetting anybody? Guys from that, that 2012 cycle feels like I'm forgetting somebody, probably.

[Todd Erzin]

But, wow, that's new.

[Steve Dace]

Gingrich was in there, too. Yeah, Newt Gingrich was. Herman Cain was in there. Right. And all up until now, all these candidates, except for Santorum, had all kind of, I think they were being called flavors of the month. There had all been moments where they had either gotten, you know, second behind Romney in the public polling or ahead of Romney in the public polling. And then they surged to the forefront. They got vetted. They, they got, you know, investigated from an oppo perspective and kind of collapsed.

[Todd Erzin]

Did you say Rick Perry? Wasn't he like, the early front runner?

[Steve Dace]

He was one of the other ones. I did say Rick Perry.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah. Okay.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah. And. And so the, the one that had not had his moment yet was Rick Santorum. And it's because he was known at the time as well. This is the guy that sold us out to endorse Arlen Specter in that primary. And, and he had had A heck of a time, despite an outstanding Senate record gaining any traction. And so everybody kind of came together and this is how the meeting went. And again, I'm, I'm a lot younger than I'm, A lot of these national organizations had never really acknowledged me before. And so this was kind of like the first time I'd kind of just been like a lone gunman, you know, doing my thing here. This was the first time I was brought into one of these, you know, Christian versions of a smoke filled room. And the way it began was everybody went around the room and essentially credentialing themselves and giving, you know, here's my name, here's who I am. And of course, you probably know most everybody knows everybody else's names. And, but we got to figure out who's got the largest organization and mouthpiece and platform here because that's going to be the person that's the alpha, that's going to lead the thing. Right? So we had to do that. All right. I think you chicks call this a measuring contest, right? Yeah, that's, that's what was going on here, right? On the money. Yes. And so I'm just sitting in the back kind of just watching all of this. You know, I'm kind of fascinated. It's the first time I've been in, I've been invited to something like this. And, and then once everybody had credentialed themselves, we were now going to have a prayer and a scripture reading before we got into the conversation. And so the prayer was given and then I was asked to do the scripture reading as the radio guy. And the story they asked me to read for this group was David and Goliath. The idea, again, the, the that we're extending here is that, you know, we, we're going to be outfunded, we're going to be outraised and named ID by name, ID'd by Romney. But if we have someone that's faithful to God, then God will reward that. And I thought this was, you know, what this meeting I thought is going way better than I had hoped it was going to go because I was kind of cynical going in. You know, I talked to some of the, some of these exact same Christian leaders were the ones that couldn't give me good answers as to why they supported Romney over, say, Mike Huckabee in 2008. So I was kind of cynical coming in. But now in the middle of it here, I'm like, okay, yeah, we're praying before we talk. That's good. You know, and then we're going right to the word, you know, to kind of set the, the metric and the framework here for us and the, and, and what the blueprint we're looking for here is we're trying to see as God sees and not as man sees. So I read that with passion, as much as I could. And then the rest of the meeting was just all about fundraising numbers and technocratic stuff. And again, stuff that's not unimportant. Okay, but that wasn't the tone that we set in this meeting. Right? Just because God is, is active in the world doesn't mean, you know, he's going to do everything, right? I mean, you have. I mean, if he does everything, then how would, you know, how would you. We. There'd be no need to argue over whether good works lead to sanctification or result from it. We're just automatons. After I read that scripture, we never went back to anything faith based in the conversation ever again. We never again, the rest of the way, tried to discern whatsoever where the, where the providence of God might be. Not surprisingly, we came out of that meeting with nothing. Eventually, Rick Santorum ended up winning the Iowa caucuses thanks to my buddy Bob Vander Plaats and his organization, in a huge upset by the slimmest of margins. I mean, like literally dozens of votes over Mitt Romney. But we never really had any kind of united front as a movement the rest of the way. And Romney went on and won. And then everybody's fears of what would happen if he was a nominee ended up being fulfilled that fall. That's an example of functional deism, acknowledging there is a God, but then acting as if he can't be counted on. He's disinterested. He's just kind of waiting on us as opposed to us waiting on him. He's totally cool just figuring out what we want to do. And then blessing. That as opposed to the blessing is, is. Is knowing the will of God and then doing it. The faithful obedience is the blessing. The fruit it produces in our lives. Love, Joy, peace, hope, etc. Etc. That, that's the blessing that. I played you guys. That plaque the other day where Samuel Adams died. I'm sorry, John Quincy Adams died as a member of Congress at 80 years old, where he had a heart attack right at his desk, pounding his desk cycle after cycle for abolition and having it go nowhere until he literally preached that message to his grave. And one of his young pages came up to him and said, why are you doing this again? This session, we're not going to win. Duty is ours. Outcomes belong to God.

[Todd Erzin]

So.

[Steve Dace]

Much of the way that we live our lives is like this as a people, And it's in violation of the first and most important rule. God is God and I am not. If we don't have a limiting principle for ourselves, we're going to limit God. We're going to say God's not involved here. Or God just has kind of, just. He's kind of left this one up to me to do without wilt. And I'm just so important, and my talents and skills are just so useful to the kingdom, or my motivations are just so pure that God will just kind of come along and sprinkle some blessing dust and make it happen. See, understanding that God is God and I am not forces you to recognize you're not needed at all. None of us are. We're not needed at all at all. We're owed nothing at all. Nothing we have transgressed against a holy God. We deserve hell, and we deserve it, like, instantly upon transgression, let alone giving those he knows will never repent and ask forgiveness for their sins. Giving them the joy of experiencing love, marriage, family, accomplishments, significance. God doesn't have to do any of that, let alone give you air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat. Nothing. Nothing. And you're going to have one of two reactions to that. You're going to. You're going to recoil at it, which means you have heart. Your. Your soul is in peril. If that's you right now, you need to know your soul is in peril and you're going to be dead a lot longer than you were ever alive. Or you're going to take a deep breath and say, that might be the most freeing thing I've heard all day long. I needed that. Right now. I'm in a situation in my home, I'm in a situation in my family, I'm in a situation in my marriage, a situation at work, situation in my culture, my kids, school with my kids. I don't see the way out, man. I don't see how we. I don't have a plan for this one. I got nothing on this one. I bring you glad tidings of great joy. If that's your reaction, then you are very, very close to the heart of God. And then ultimately saying, God, move in your life in ways you never have before. Faithful obedience is not doing righteous things to move the heart of God. It is seeking the heart of God so that you may know what Those righteous things are. And then doing them, God moves. God, initiates, has to. He had to come to earth. We didn't provoke him. We didn't ask for the word of God. He gave it to us. Abraham didn't walk out of his. Of his pagan father Terah's home one day and say, I wonder about. I'm kind of just thinking on my own here that all these pagan gods just really don't have it. And maybe there's this, like, mysterious force out there and just called out to him. No, God had to call him. And I believe if you're listening to this right now, God wants to call you. Might even be trying it right now. Might be doing it. Are you listening? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If you will open it, I will come in. I will. I will eat with you. I'll commune with you, Emmanuel. God with us, it's not. I'm out of options. And so the only thing left to do is pray. And I can't tell you how many times I've said that, guys. Goodness gracious, I've said it a million times. And now as I grow and more and more in my faith, as I get older, I'm like, ashamed of every single one. But as I get older, I realize that's the first thing I need to do. We had some people close to us are having a difficult time with one of their children right now. And I was thinking about it when I went to bed last night. I got up this morning and I just realized, you know, the first thing I got to do this morning before I do anything else, before I jump online, before I get caught up on what's going on, check the rank of my book. I need to stop and pray for these people first thing this morning. First prayer I need to say is for them. It's not the only thing you have left to do. It's the first thing you should look to do. But when we live as functional deist, we have a tendency to not do it. And then we're really good at when we go off on our own, just saying to God, hey, can you clean this one up for me, Pops? And there'll be times, frankly, because he is a benevolent God, that he'll do it. But you need to be warned, there are also plenty more times he's going to let you stew in that for a bit, maybe all the way to the end of it, so you learn your lesson. And if you're struggling with things that you're tempted by, as we all do when you understand God is God and I am not, you'll look at your temptations differently. I can tell you every time I succumb to temptation, it's because I've made the following mistake. I wrestled with whether I will do that thing as opposed to whether I can do it or I will say that thing as opposed to whether I can say it Will puts the onus on me. And again, it makes me a functional deist. God's just kind of sitting around waiting for me to see if I'm going to choose the right path or not. You know, punish me if I choose the bad one and reward me if I choose the good. That's karma. That's paganism. Ken is a different word. Ken denotes permission. And so you might, you might really hate that someone you know, cut you off rush hour in your local freeway. But chances are, unless you're a sociopath or you're just having a very bad day and this was the last straw to turn you into one. Chances are, though, you're gonna, you're not gonna drive like a maniac to then run them down off the road later into a ditch that may cause them great harm. Because you understand you can't do that. You don't have permission to do that. The consequences of doing that will be too steep. Will puts the onus on you, Ken. Puts the onus on a force above you. You don't want to face the consequences of the police, the prison system, so you don't do it. Can I do this to my Lord? Can I do this to my testimony? I'm just going to tell you every single time, every single time I go back to an old sin pattern, an old haunt. It's the same thing every single time I wrestle with will I rather than can I? And I'm a functional deist, to use Todd's term. I have the Holy Spirit within me. I hope and trust you guys see evidence of that if you listen to this show 240 times a year. I hope and trust my wife and kids have seen evidence of that. But I just kind of set it on the shelf like elf on the shelf for a few minutes and, and focus on my will as opposed to his will for me. And we all do this. This is why we have to die daily. That's why we have to finish the race. We'll be at war against our own flesh this entire time. Well, you know, my, I, I need this job. And this boss I work for, he was sleeping with his assistant and wants me to fire her because she's getting too handsy and nosy into up in his business and now his wife may find out. So he wants me to fire her. You know, will I do that or not? It's a tough call, man. I mean, I don't think it's the right thing, but I really need this job. I've got a family to feed too, you know? Or can I do this? I can't do that. Because the God that told me I can't do that is also the God that I know will provide for me and doesn't need you to do it. You know what else you get from can as opposed to will? Courage. Get courage from that. The limiting principle of God's boundaries provides courage. Can't do it. You'll say no to the things that you were tempted to say yes to before. You'll stand up for yourself stronger. I, I, I'm not able to do that. My, my life is not my own. I was bought at a high price, doesn't belong to me. I'm to now offer myself as there's no more sacrifices now to please God instead. Now because the wrath of God has been satisfied in my life, I am now a living sacrifice for him. I just can't, no, I can't do your DI stuff. I can't. Nothing personal, just can't do it. Nope, nope. I, I can't do your pride month stuff. I can't. No, I'm out. I know. I, I, I. Something tells me, you know, the Lord will have to give me another job then. I guess if that's how you feel about it. But no, I can't do that. Because now you're aligned with the right accountability structure and if you live as a functional deist, you'll think that this world that's not your home is your accountability structure. And you'll live timidly in accordance to that. You'll live courageously if you understand that this world is not your accountability structure, God is. And that's why the first and most important truth you could ever learn is God is God and I am not. Gentlemen, you have any thoughts on that before we get to truth number two in the next segment?

[Todd Erzin]

Well, there's second Timothy, Timothy 1:7. We are not given a spirit of timidity, but a power and love and self control. There's John 12, 25 and 26. He who loves his life will lose it. And he who hates his life in this world for my sake will gain it in heaven. For if we serve God, we will follow Him. And if we follow him, the Father will honor us. This is why I harp on idolatry so much. Everything Steve said is ultimately brings us to that point, and I'm absolutely confident. And when we are ultimately judged and we have different versions, Catholic, Protestant, you know, if this conversation comes up, that probably means we're going to hell or it's going to be part of our purgation, our sanctification process, on our way to heaven. But there's going to be a very stern conversation about, tell me about your idolatry. Because there's all kinds of functional deists out there. They believe. They believe in this thing that, like Steve said, it's on a shelf, it's over there. But it does not move the heart. And God doesn't want just 80% of the heart. He wants it all. The number of idols we are allowed in our life as Christians is a very low number, but probably lower than you think it is.

[Steve Dace]

This is a terrible analogy, but if I tell Ben to go pick up his room, there's what it sounds like to him, and there's what it actually means. What it sounds like to him is to pick a few things up off the floor and call it good. What it actually means is, no, everything is off the floor. Everything is put away. There's the matter of what God is God and I am not. Sounds like. And what it actually is. And what it actually is is the reason why it took a half an hour to lay it out. Because what it sounds like. No, I'm. What it sounds like is, yes, amen. God is God and I am not. What it actually is, though, is. Requires you to obey. Yep, that is what it is.

That'll preach right there. All right, let's talk about truth number two. Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. We'll get to that here in a moment. The steve day show. All right, back here on the Steve Day show, powered by our friends over at Chirp. You want to take as much of your health in your own hands as you possibly can. Chirp lets you do that with a lot of great preventative health mechanisms and tools. The kind of stuff that will help you get active, stay active as you get older and healthy is absolutely possible. Kinds of things that I take these things with me, whether we're talking foam rollouts, whether we're talking the rolling power mini massager. Uh, Todd can tell you he goes on the road with me at times. He. He can tell you I take these Chirp tools with me. So I'm not just telling you that it's for real. That's part of my regular routine to stay as active and healthy as I can as I get older. These are doctor trusted FDA cleared devices. They work just like clinic treatments but without the expensive appointments. And by the way, almost every one of their products is also FSA or HSA eligible. That makes relief more affordable and accessible than ever before too. Probably the the grand item is the chirp contour. That's their decompression and massage table. It provides professional grade relief right there from the comfort of your own home as well like spinal decompression, soothing massage and more. So they've got a whole menu of these kinds of things you want to take a look at right now and get 10% off your first order when you go to go chirp.com Steve C H I R P Go chirp right like a birdie. Chirp chirp go chirp.com Steve Code Steve for 10% off your first [e-mail] Steve Code Steve we want to thank you guys again for the outstanding launch of my new book, why Independence Day. America is great Because God is good. And because simply I I just can't get enough of it. Here's a preview.

Every 4th of July we light up the sky. We wave our flags. We celebrate. But if your kids asked you why, could you tell them the real story? It's a story that starts 3,000 years before 1776. A story most people have never heard told. This a miracle in the desert, A miracle on Christmas night. Commandments carved in stone, a constitution written on paper. What's the connection? This 4th of July, give your family the story they've never been told. The one that explains everything.

And again, right now, we are in the top 10 of all best selling children's books, new released children's books in the country, regardless of genre. We're in the top 10 of all Christian children's books in America as well. We're in the top 500 overall. You guys have been incredible at the launch of this. Thank you guys for each and every one of those of you that have agreed to purchase this book. I hope it blesses your family if you've gotten your copy and you love it. If you wouldn't mind going to our Amazon page and leaving reviews there as well. Those come in handy too. So why Independence Day? America is great Because God is good. Available now. And thank you guys so much for such a successful launch. So let's continue on here with Theology Thursday So the two most important truths you could ever learn. All right? And the first one is God is God, and I am not. Now the second one, Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. All right, because here's the thing. You're not going to be able. You can't possibly do it. You cannot avoid the trap of falling in. In fact, I would argue without Jesus, functional deism is the best you can do. The best you can do without the work of Christ in your life is functional deism. You'll acknowledge that God is God. At times, you'll be able to do what he wants, but not nearly at the level he expects or that you hope that's the best you're gonna do. That's the best you're gonna do. Because we're sinners. We're not capable of reaching and pleasing God on our own. If you're Jewish, that's what all those sacrifices were about. That's why you let that scapegoat go every year. You know why you had to commit all those sacrifices your ancestors did? Because they were going to commit all those sins. We can't do this on our own. We can't. That's why we need to know that Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. Because that. That tells me the following things. Tells me one, that Jesus loved me enough to pay the penalty that I. I could not pay. That all of those sacrifices that went on for hundreds of years, beginning with the Lamb's blood over the door so that the angel of death would pass over, all of those were omens and foreshadowings of what Christ would ultimately do for us. The Lamb slain before the foundations of the world. That all of that talk of a suffering servant who would be bruised and beaten for our transgressions and iniquities, that was all the prophet Isaiah pointing to Christ. But now that debt is paid, then what kind of people ought we to be? Well, Jesus is more than just your Passover lamb. He's more than just your scapegoat. He's more than just your ultimate and final sacrifice. He's now your Lord, and he gave us his word. In fact, Jesus himself is the word of God made flesh. That's who he is. When he says to. When he says to his fellow Jews, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The Jews of the first century would often refer to their religion as the way. He is saying to them, I am your law, I am your prophets, I am your psalms. Everything you've studied everything you've been as a people. The point of your people to preserve this line, to bring the Messiah, the Son of David, into the world. I am he. I'm what you've been waiting for. Without that power at work in our lives that comes when he sends the helper, the Holy Spirit. Without that power at work in our lives, the best we can do, the absolute best we can do as a species, is the functional deism. And, and back to that prophet Isaiah. What does he say in response to our functional deism? All of your attempts at this are like filthy rags. And the word filthy is actually a translation of menstrual Jews. It was adamant could not touch blood. The blood was the life. They couldn't eat meat with blood in it. Blood was sacred, holy. It also desic. It would desecrate you if you didn't recognize that and treated it casually and cavalierly. Cleanse yourself if you came into contact with it. And so that is the prophet Isaiah saying, every attempt that you make on your own to please God, at best is a filthy, desecrated object. And instead we're saved by the blood of Christ, who spilled every ounce of his blood for us. And that is what takes you from, at best, functional deism into a real and right relationship with God. And that is what now helps you to fulfill the potential and destiny that God put into you. Because the best you can do without understanding Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so, is become the very thing for the last 30 minutes I just told you won't cut it. That's the best you can do. It's the best any of us can do. And since Jesus is the Word made flesh, the best way. I didn't say only. But the best way to have an intimate relationship with him is to know His Word, because it's who he is. Every word, Genesis to Revelation, it's for us, but it's about Him. And if you learn these two truths, see notice the first one took a lot longer to unpack. Kind of how the Old Testament's a lot longer than the new one. Okay, Unpacking what sin has done to us is a. Is a grueling, complicated process. Telling the story of that within the nation God called unto himself took hundreds of years and most of those 66 books. The next part, though, becomes very simple. Now, I didn't say easy, but simple. To whom do you belong? Why do you call me Lord if you do not do what I say? It is having a recognition that God is God and I am not, that allows me to truly want to understand what it means that Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. And then it's. It's understanding that even at a fundamentally basic level, that will give. Will put at work in my life the power. So I don't become a functional deist, but I become a follower instead. I become a disciple instead. And the root word of disciple is discipline. I'm living a new way of life. I'm not the same person that I was before. And now changing your disciplines can be a clumsy process. Maybe a few of you could quit smoking right away, cold turkey, and it never returned. Maybe a few of you could just be, you know, I woke up one day and I just realized I had to lose 50 pounds and you did it, man. And you've kept it off. Cool. Maybe a few of you, like, I'm drinking too much, I could do something about that and just. You were done. There's a few of those stories, but for most of us that have to overcome those things, those self medications, those things we put into our lives, when we recognize that or when we practice that functional deism that Todd talked about, for most of us, though, that's not an easy process. Maybe it might even be a lifelong process to completely detangle from those things. But the power to do so comes from understanding what Christ did for you. More importantly, why he did it and then what it now means he wants to do in your life because of it. And that's why those are the two most important truths you're ever going to learn. Gentlemen, I yield the balance of my time to the two of you.

[Todd Erzin]

Well, the Bible tells me Colossians 1:24, I rejoice in my fantasy. No, it doesn't say that. It says, I rejoice in my suffering and I fill up in my flesh all that is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the good of his church. Now that ought to make your head explode, because we do believe, Catholic and Protestant, in the finished work of Christ. But that line right there, all that is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the good of his church. He's looking right at you. Walk in his ways. I am the way, the truth and the life. Will you follow me? It's like Steve said, it's hard, but it is also quite simple. And we keep making it complicated with our Jenga Towers and our Rube Goldberg machines of this is who I am, this is what I like. Meanwhile, the world burns over there and Your kids are getting trans, but you've got excuses.

[Steve Dace]

So I ended the last section, the first Truth, by saying God is God and I am not. It sounds just like a philosophical ascent. It sounds just something that you would say if you heard that in church, if you're in a Baptist church in particular. Amen. Amen. What it sounds like could not be further from what it actually means. I think in most cases what it sounds like is just like a truth. Yeah. Amen. Let's go on. What it actually means should change your life if you actually believe it. Because what it means for God is God and I am not, is that you better obey God because you're not God. What does that look like? That has to be life changing. But the reason that we have to that that phrase must produce obedience if we truly believe, must produce obedience is why we need what we just talked about. Jesus loves me so for the Bible, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. That's why we need a savior, because the standard is high and we can never meet it. And yes, obedience is always required, but we're not going to be perfect. In 2 Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the Revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh. A messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, hardships, hardships, persecutions, persecutions, calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. That is again I think, Why is Paul writing there? Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. That is a conclusion that you can't do this on your own. You can't, you cannot, you cannot earn your way into heaven. You cannot meet God's standard on your own. But we do have a Savior, and we can boast in him through our suffering, through our hardships, through our infirmities, through our insults, calamities, all of the things Paul mentions there. That is the tension. Tension, I think, that every Christian will find themselves in, because it is in many ways, there are a number of paradoxes that you just have to accept what is demanded called of me, expected of me, God's standard, that obedience that I was talking about, striving to live a holy life for his glory, not for your own vanity, but at the same time always acknowledging that you're not perfect and you never will be this side of heaven, but even within that imperfection, because we have a perfect Savior, you can boast in him through those hardships. Unfortunately, because of the deism, the functional deism, or the moralistic therapeutic deism, instead of embracing those hardships and heeding the words of Paul, when I am weak, he is strong, his strength is made perfect. Instead of embracing those hardships, those struggles, we try to run away from them. And that's where we get the moralistic therapeutic deism. We just want to dip our toe in the water. We want to get the feel goods, but not the real deal. But we're always going to be walking in that tension. As a Christian, I believe.

Well said both of you. I sincerely hope that you guys were all of you listening today, watching today, we're blessed and encouraged and inspired, convicted, and hopefully we did a good job explaining why. I think that these are the two most important truths we'll ever learn. God is God and I am not. And Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. They answer all the most profound questions of existence. Why am I here? Why am I like this? How could I be different? Why is the world like this? What can we do about it? It's the only worldview that sufficiently answers all those questions. Not saying those answers are simple and easy and fun. You'll even agree with them. But they, but they're answers. And they're answers you don't get from any other worldview on this earth. We're back at it again Tomorrow noon to 2 Eastern, right after Glenn Beck, right here on BlazeTV. Until then, go hard. Romans 8:28, Sam.