The Alex McFarland Show-132-Born to Be Brave with guest Kirk Cameron

The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. You know, over the years, it's been our privilege to interview a lot of people, politicians, people from the music industry, a lot of opinion makers and leading figures.

And the person you're about to meet, I really wanted to converse with for a lot of years. Kirk Cameron has been a Christian leader. You know him from television. You know him from films. He's been a public figure. And especially in recent years, he has shown himself to be truly a courageous Christian in the public square. He's a producer and actor.

I'm sure he would say that some of his greatest achievements relate to his family, his marriage, raising six kids. He's made a huge impact on our society through films like Fireproof. And he's got a new book out that releases in October called Born to be Brave.

And you can find that at Brave Books or Amazon.com. But he's got a lot going on. He's done a lot.

And he is just one of the Christian leaders that is truly exemplary in his faith and in his willingness to put himself out there really at the tip of the spear to stand for God and country. He's our guest now. We welcome Kirk Cameron.

Hey, Alex. So good to be with you. Well, those are really complimentary words.

And I think we've watched media and politics enough to know that you really shouldn't put much confidence in men, especially California actors. So I will just say that I am honored by your words and I'll try to live up to them. Well, you know, you're one that I don't mind putting confidence in.

I mean, people rise and fall, but you've been consistent for a lot of years. And I want to talk about the book Born to be Brave. I want to get some of your backstory, but for those just tuning in, give us kind of the synopsis of the book and what led you to write Born to be Brave. Well, I, like many others in this country, as part of the family of faith, are just horrified at what we see going on within our culture in our children's schools, in the halls of Congress, the economy, the border, what's happening with medical industry, what's happening everywhere. And we've got to decide what our response is going to be. Are we going to tuck tail and run?

Are we going to, you know, put our head in our hands, sit on the couch while we watch Fox News and cry in our Chick-fil-A soup? Or are we going to say, I'm standing up, I'm leaning in, we're going to turn on the lights, we're going to flood the darkness with beauty and truth and goodness. And we're going to get back into the leadership positions with our children and shape the world that they're going to live in. That's what Born to be Brave is all about. It's a call to Christian courage and recapturing a vision of victory for our families and for our culture.

Amen. And you know, the times in which we live really represent an opportunity, don't they? I mean, yeah, things are bad. There's a lot to be concerned about, a lot to really be grieved about. But I'm with you, Kirk. I mean, this is an opportunity to be bold, to step out and speak up and really to come out stronger, not only impact the culture, but come out stronger as citizens and Christians.

This season is an opportunity we really shouldn't miss. Yeah, absolutely. And I think we have moral obligation to engage. You know, I've been talking with people all day today about this topic. And some people, particularly older people who are maybe not on social media as much as you and I may be or younger people may be, they're really not aware of how bad things actually are. They're not aware of all of the riots and the protests.

They're not aware of states that have laws where child protection services are actually taking children away from parents because the parents thinks it's not a good idea for their little boy to have his genitals cut off in order to become a girl at eight years old. There's just insanity happening around us. And then there's some Christians who think, well, I've got an end times theology that says this stuff is supposed to happen, so we really don't have any opportunity to turn it around. In fact, it's going to inevitably get worse. And so I'm just sort of sitting and watching it happen, looking forward to the return of Christ.

So for whatever reason, when people fail to be salt and light in the culture, it rots. It gets darker and we create self-fulfilling prophecies, which our children will not appreciate when we explain to them why we sat back and did nothing. You know, I'm glad you bring up eschatology. I remember I was youth pastor and I took my youth to see you in the Left Behind series.

It was awesome. And I believe that. I believe in the rapture. I believe that the end times will play out like God's word says. And yet we're not to just cower away and do nothing. The Bible says that in Hebrews 10 25, we're to meet together and so much the more as we see the day approaching.

And I think you've exemplified that good balance. We know the Lord is coming back. Time will come to an end. But that's all the more reason to be busy about the Great Commission and the gospel and impacting our culture, isn't it?

Well, eschatology is a much longer, deeper conversation, and I don't buy into a lot of the hysterical approach of people watching the news and letting, you know, CNN and MSNBC interpret the Book of Revelation and Daniel for me. I like history to do that for me and the scriptures to interpret scripture, but I do agree that there is no time like the present to lean into the victory of the gospel, not only in our individual lives, but also in our families. I can I can have my own heart reformed by the gospel. And because of that, I begin to heavenize my home and we mustn't stop there. We've got to continue pushing the influence and the fragrance of life and the gospel to our churches, our communities, our public libraries and schools and all the way into the halls of Congress. I think it begins in our house, but it doesn't stop there.

I think it it goes all the way to the White House. That's called a great awakening. That's called a revival. We've had many of those in the past, and I don't think it is morally responsible for us to say things are so bad.

They've never been so bad as they are right now. That means Jesus must be coming by Tuesday. That is a slap in the face to the martyrs. And I think a disservice to those who risk their lives, like the pilgrims and the Puritans and those throughout history that have been burned at the stake and fed to lions. If anyone thought they had it bad culturally, it would have been those guys. And instead of just giving up and throwing in the towel, assured that Jesus must be coming quickly. You know, they made 500 year plans, went across an ocean and built the greatest nation in the world that sent more missionaries out to more places than anywhere else in the history of the world.

And we wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation if they had the attitude that some Christians have of defeat today. You know, we've got to take a break here, but if you would, before we pull away, give us your website where they can pre-order Born to Be Brave. Where should we go online, Kirk? Well, you could go to kirkcameron.com.

You'll see all the stuff that I've got I'm working on. You can also go to bravebooks.com. They're a great company. We need to support companies like that that are all about our values. We're making a children's television show together, writing books together. They're publishing Born to Be Brave. And I'd highly recommend that people want to support our movement.

Just go there and join in on what they're doing. It's awesome. Hey, we've got to take a brief break. Alex McFarland here with our very special guest, Kirk Cameron.

We'll be back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. You know, I praise God for an amazing year, hands down the most fruitful year in the history of our ministry in terms of people coming to Christ, Christians getting equipped to defend the faith. And as this year winds down, let me ask you to please partner with us with a financial gift you can give securely online at alexmcfarland.com or mail a check to Alex McFarland Ministries P.O.

Box 10231 Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. He's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Hi, Alex McFarland here.

What an honor to meet the guest that you're about to hear from. Kirk Cameron for so many years has been not only just a very famous actor and producer and he's a writer. He's a bestselling author, but he's a Christian and he's a courageous Christian. He's making a big impact for God and country. He's going to public libraries across America and having story time hour, reading the children's book that he wrote and just being a great role model. And when he goes to public libraries, who shows up a dozen or two dozen?

No, like 3000 people. And he is someone for whom I just have immeasurable respect because he's doing what Christians do. He's making a difference.

He's loving and serving his family and he's being salt and light as Jesus Christ called us to do. Kirk Cameron, thanks for being with us on the show. But even more importantly, thank you for what you're doing for God and country. Well, Alex, thank you.

You are so encouraging to me and I thank you for having me on the show. Now you just recently, as you and I filmed this interview, you recently set a world record for the largest public library story time hour. Tell us about that. But tell us about what prompted you to lead the story hours in public libraries, Kirk. Well, you know, when I was a little kid, I never dreamed that I would grow up and be a children's book author and I would be mixing it up with drag queens competing for a world record. Here's how it all happened.

It's a crazy world. Christmas 2022, I wrote a book called As You Grow. It's about a little acorn that grows up into a big oak tree and he learns to grow the sweet fruit of the spirit.

Love, joy, peace, kindness. I wanted to read it in a public library. And I was denied by over 50 woke libraries that previously held drag queen story hours for children. And they told me our values don't align with theirs. I was told that I wasn't inclusive enough or that the color of my skin as one of their authors was not correct.

Well, I pushed back. We threatened to go to court, hold up the Constitution in their face and show them that you can't do that in a country like this. It's called religious discrimination. And when we arrived at the library downtown in Minneapolis, we had three thousand parents and grandparents and kids showing up singing God bless America, praying and wanting to read books of virtue to their children. We found this all over the country. And this culminated in what is now a grassroots movement called See You at the Library. It's our take on See You at the Pole, where people come to read books at libraries. And yesterday we had three hundred and sixty story hours in all 50 states organized by parents at the community level coming to sing and pray and read books to their kids. And this is what we did.

It's taken off and we couldn't be more excited. In my opinion, these are the rumblings of revival taking place in the hearts of moms and dads and the homes across America. Did some of the libraries that initially shut the door to you, did you ever get to go back to some of those libraries and read? Yeah, that was the first ones that we went to. We went to the ones that pushed back the hardest, downtown Indianapolis, Scarsdale, New York. We went to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington. We went to all of those places.

And guess what? Where you would think that nobody would show up is where some of the largest crowds materialized because people come out of the woodwork and say, you know, it's like it's like the who's in Whoville and that little Dr. Seuss book. We are here. We are here. We are here.

It's like they're just these little people who have been off in the corners, silenced and marginalized by the woke elites. And they're saying we want to be a part of something and return and celebrate the values that lead to blessing. And I believe that we are witnessing is a real awakening. And what we need is to take eyes open and combine it with backbones of steel.

We need a vision, a victory that it is possible and we need courage to move forward. That's what my new book, Born to be Brave, is all about. Before we get into so much that you've got going on, I want to hear about your story. I remember I remember you on Growing Pains and you were a name that was just, you know, ubiquitous. You were very, very famous. And then it was said that you had become a Christian. And I've got to tell you, you know, some people make a profession of faith and you never hear any more about it.

But you for decades now, brother, you've lived it. You have been from everything I know. Everybody knows this, that you've been faithful to Christ.

I want to hear about how you found the Lord. And because at one time when you were a teenager, did you consider yourself an atheist at one time? Yes, I did consider myself to be an atheist.

In fact, pretty good evidence for it. I didn't believe in God, never went to church. I thought that Christmas was all about getting gifts. And Santa Claus had no idea what the nativity was all about. And I thought it was silly that grown adults pretended like there was some invisible being out there behind the clouds, keeping track of the good and the bad, kind of like Santa Claus. You know, if you did good and you're on the right list, you got gifts like heaven.

And if you were bad and you got on the bad list, you'd get coal in your stocking and he would punish you. So it was a big shift in my life when I came to faith in Christ at 18 years old. And let me say this. I respect your hesitancy to want to get excited about people in Hollywood when they make a profession of faith in Christ. It kind of reminds me of eating Chinese food. You know, you eat Chinese food and half an hour later you're hungry again.

Wasn't really all that filling, wasn't all that lasting. And some Hollywood celebrities or politicians or whatever, they make a profession of faith, maybe for pragmatic or political reasons. And then, you know, two weeks later, they're right back into their porn and right back into their paganism. So I thank God that he saved me. My pastor told me years ago, Kirk, if anybody asks, how did you find God in Hollywood? I said, remember, you didn't find God. He wasn't lost. You were.

And he found you. Amen. Amen. Well, and yes, you gave your life to Christ. You became a born again believer, but you've been into apologetics. You've been one of the clarion voices for biblical worldview.

I mean, you did what Christians are to do. You matured in the faith and have walked it for years and years. What led you into apologetics? So many of my own doubts and questions about that which I believed. Why do I believe what I believe?

Is this just pie in the sky optimism or is this stake on the plate reality here and now? What's the evidence for the Bible? How do I know the resurrection actually happened? I mean, my goodness, we're talking about worshipping a man who claimed to be God and rose from the dead. If that's not true, then, as Paul even said, we're of all men most to be pitied. This is ridiculous in our faith.

It means nothing. Well, I didn't want to be outed as a fake and a fraud or an idiot. So I wanted answers to the difficult questions about Christianity, the Bible, the resurrection. I wanted to understand other religions. And so I dove into apologetics and read a bunch of books and talked to a bunch of people and got my own questions answered. So it wasn't so much to answer other people's questions, although I wanted to do that. I was really wanting to find out if I had any skeletons in my own closet theologically. I wanted to find out if there really was an argument that could unravel the message of the gospel.

And apologetics helped me to get to the end of that road of curiosity. Hey, we've got to take a brief break. Alex McFarland here with our very special guest, Kirk Cameron.

We'll be back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely.

Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Kirk Cameron has been a Christian leader. You know him from television.

You know him from films. He's been a public figure, and especially in recent years, he has shown himself to be truly a courageous Christian in the public square. If you would tell us, how did the realization come to you that God had orchestrated your life, your position, your voice for his purposes?

I think I've understood that more and more in hindsight. You know, sometimes we forget that God doesn't need anyone or their platforms. God is not impressed with celebrity or power. There are no giants in God's world.

He is so big and comprehensive and powerful and almighty that he makes everyone and everything look like a midget next to him. So I understand now that I am not a, you know, an exciting asset on Heaven's team. Although I'm grateful to be on the team, I am a recipient of God's grace and his mercy and his kindness, and I am a willing volunteer who would rather be doing nothing else than what I'm doing right now. And that all came about when a pretty girl on the set of Growing Pains invited me to church. I wasn't interested in God or church. I was interested in the pretty girl, and I heard the message of the gospel.

Chuck Swindoll was the pastor of this church. I didn't know who he was at the time, but I started asking this girl's dad a bunch of questions. He answered many of them for me, and then he encouraged me to talk to God, to repent of my sins and believe the gospel. Well, I figured if I died one day without talking to God and what the Bible said was true about Heaven and Hell, I knew I wouldn't be going to Heaven. So I bowed my head and I asked God to change my heart and make me who I'm supposed to be. And that began a spiritual journey for me that has resulted in a lot of confidence and gratitude. And I think that my faith in Christ, rather than putting my faith in myself or in some other wacky ideology or myth or fairy tale, has been well placed. Amen.

Amen. You know, I get a fair amount of correspondence from atheists and skeptics, and we love it. And by the way, folks, keep the emails and the letters coming, all of you that have questions. And, you know, I guess I would ask you to say this, Kirk, to the person out there, and they might be thinking, Yeah, well, that's Kirk Cameron's story, but if there is a God, he's not interested in me. You know, salvation, this life in Jesus, that's for somebody else, but not for me. What do you say to the person out there who maybe only one percent of their heart is even asking, Does God care about me? Could this life Kirk Cameron and Alex are speaking about, could it be mine as well?

What would you say to that person? I would say you're closer to becoming a Christian than you think you are. If you have one percent of you that wants to know who God is, that is the Spirit of God working within your heart. Listen, the scriptures, the Word of God says there's no one who seeks after God, not even one. In fact, God is the one who seeks his children, and he's the one who grants you all the things that you need to come to him in faith.

Apart from him, we're not even wanting those kinds of things. And I know that was my case as an atheist, and what I would say to you is this, God didn't come for bad people to make them good. Jesus didn't arrive in Bethlehem to clean you up. He came to make dead people alive. He came to make you and me brand new creations, altogether transformed human beings.

And guess what? He already knows that you and I can't earn our way into heaven. This isn't about whether or not you deserve it or whether or not God would be interested. God has given you the offer of forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life. If you want it and you're willing to come to him on his terms, and you don't have to pay for it, Jesus paid for it for you.

His terms are humility and faith. Come and say, Oh God, forgive me. What have I done? I've rebelled against you in my words, my actions, my thoughts. I've got this wake up of disaster behind me in my own experience and what I've caused to others. Change my heart. Please forgive me.

Show me the way. Make me who you want me to be. And I believe that you will find yourself a follower of Jesus Christ. And as you trust and obey him and lean on his promises, he will change you from the inside out. Amen.

That is absolutely true. And folks, on my own website, which is AlexMcFarlane.com, there's a tab, What Does God Say About My Relationship With Him? That tab will explain how you can become a born again believer. We often say this, Jesus is as close by as a prayer. And so if you feel the Spirit of God calling out to you, look, as Kirk said, it's not you seeking God, but it's God drawing you. Don't ignore the calling of God today.

Brother, before we run out of time, and I just wish I had so much time to talk with you. You've got a new children's TV show coming out, I believe. Would you tell us about that? Yeah, it's called The Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk, and it's an adorable, wonderful TV show. Think of a modernized version of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood meets a Bible-friendly Sesame Street. So this is a show that is going to be something parents can trust. They can sit their kids in front of it.

It's going to entertain them with wonderful stories, with biblical values, beautiful animation, a hilarious dialogue, high energy. And it's Mr. Kirk who's raising his five-year-old iguana in the treehouse in Mr. Kirk's backyard. And this little iguana deals with all the things that five-year-olds are dealing with today, from gender confusion to understanding the sanctity of life, all life, unborn, disabled, and elderly life, and warning children about the dangers of socialism and communism. Parents may think, oh, I don't need to talk to my kids about that stuff at five years old.

Oh, yes, you do. If you don't talk to them about those topics, Disney already is. Nickelodeon is already in their head if they have an iPad or a phone or they're going to school or preschool. And so we need to teach our children these things. When they sit in our house, when they walk along the way, when they go lay down at night, and when they rise up in the morning. And if we don't disciple our children early, other people will be happy to do that for us.

So I'm making this to be a tool in the toolbox for every parent. It's called Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk. And when does it roll out? It rolls out this fall and you'll be able to see the first few episodes everywhere on YouTube and everything else. And if you want to get access to the show indefinitely, you can go to BraveBooks.com. They had this wonderful Book of the Month Club. And if you join that, you get access to the TV show. You get a new book sent to your house every single month with a new Pro-God, Pro-America value.

Couldn't recommend them more. BraveBooks.com. Well, you're doing great work. You're doing a lot of great work.

We commend you. We're just about out of time. But your book, Born to Be Brave, it rolls out October of 24, right? Fall of 24.

Yeah, that's right. October this year, just in time for the election where we need more bravery, more courage, more faith and compassion than we had in a long time. And where may people order this?

Amazon or Books a Million or Barnes and Noble, wherever books are sold. And what's kind of cool right now, if you join me on my live stream on Facebook and YouTube, it's called the American Campfire Revival. I sit in my backyard in Tennessee at a campfire and teach through the principles of this book that are going to help you to boldly engage your friends, family and community with gospel truths that will bring heaven to earth. Indeed. Hey, we've got to pull away right now. Hey, Kirk Cameron, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for all that you're doing for God and country.

And I look forward to when we can visit again soon. God bless you, my brother. Thanks, brother.

God bless you, too. Alex McFarland ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmcfarland.com. You may also reach us at Alex McFarland, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404, or by calling 1-877-YES-GOD and the number one.

That's 1-877-YES-GOD1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland Show. Are you planning to vote in 2024?

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