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Glenn: This is the weekend to change your life

April 18, 2014
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The Glenn Beck Program

On this Good Friday, Glenn delivered a deeply personal monologue about the ability to overcome obstacles and start fresh. “This is the weekend to change your life,” Glenn said as he discussed his own journey and a vivid dream he had in 1996 that changed his entire way of thinking.

Below is a rough transcript of the monologue:

Have you ever gotten to the point you just wish you could start over? ‘Like man, I just can't get there from here.’ That's the most amazing thing. And I still think many times, my first response is: You can't get there from here. How? I've got this going on in my life or this happening. I can't get there from here.

That is one of the biggest lies. I think there are a few things that are huge lies that our society teaches us now. That is: You're not capable. You're not able. You just won't be able to make it. You need somebody else or some other thing to complete you – whether that is another person in your life, a spouse, a boyfriend, girlfriend, children; whether that is a new job, a new car, a new house, a new career. Whatever it is, it just will not complete you. When Tom Cruise came in and said, ‘You complete me.’ No, no. She really doesn't. She was hot, and it was great. She helped. She was a great soul mate. But she doesn't complete you. Nothing completes you. You are born complete. The weirdest thing is that a baby is born with everything they need. A baby is born with the ability and the road map already in them. The plan's already there. All they have to do is start activating it. But somehow or another we get lost.

Today there's a lot of Christians around the world that are marking Good Friday. This is Passover week. I have been praying all this week that the destroyer, the Angel of Death would pass over our house – meaning not just our home, but our country – that the destroyer would not visit here, that they would see the mark on our door.

I was reading some things this week, and I wondered: What is the difference between faith and courage? A bunch of us talked yesterday afternoon, we got together after work, and I said, ‘Is faith and courage the same thing?’ And we went back and forth and debated that for a while. I don't think you can have courage, real courage, without faith in something – faith in yourself, faith in your ability, maybe misplaced faith, faith in God.

You have faith in God. You don't sit down. You don't stop because you know, no matter what, you're an unarmed 80-pound weakling. It doesn't matter. I watched the first Captain America with my son this week. We watched it, and here's the 80-pound weakling getting beat up in the alleyway, and the bully says, ‘You never give up. You don't give up.’ He said, ‘No. I could do this all day.’ And the reason why is because he had faith in something. He believed in something bigger. He didn't like bullies, and he wanted to stand up against bullies, and he had faith that there was such a thing as justice. And he got pummeled in the alleyways over and over and over again, but because this is a cartoon, because this is a Marvel comic, what happens to him? He's put into a machine, juiced up with serum and becomes Captain America. That's not the way real life works, unfortunately. Real life is a little harder than that.

So what is the difference between faith and courage? Is there a difference? I think there is, actually, as I have been thinking about it. I asked my daughter – just trying to work off that college education because she took ancient studies and Greek and Latin – and I said King James translates faith, hope and charity, but the last word is actually love. And I called my daughter and I said, ‘Could you translate this for me?’ I said, ‘What is the actual Greek word?’ She said, ‘It's agape… It is the highest form of love.’ There are different words in Greek for ‘love,’ but ‘agape’ is the highest form of love. It is love of God.

Then I realized, faith and courage are not the same thing because I could have faith that I'm going to win. I could have faith in my country. I could have faith in the principles. I could have faith in God, and I'll fight hard. But if I have love, I don't ever stop. If I love my country, if I love my family, I never give up. I never stop. There's never any question. I love it. I defend it. I think love and courage go hand in hand. Without faith, there is no hope. Faith gives you hope. Love gives you courage.

How could one guy, a normal guy change the world with faith, with hope, with love? And the greatest of those is love. And so today we mark the day that one man was given his cross to carry, but we look at this story always as just one guy who was the savior of the world, just that. He's just the savior of the world. Saves all of us. Wildly important, but why were they calling for Barabbas? When Pilot came out and said we have a custom where we can release one person… so who do you want? You want this Jesus guy, who I can't find any fault in, or do you went Barabbas? Why were they screaming for Barabbas? Why would people scream for a murderer? Because he wasn't a murder. That's not what they saw him as. They saw him as a liberator. They were looking for revolution. They were looking for a guy that would topple the government, the oppressive government. They were looking for a guy named Barabbas because he promised vengeance was his. He would kill them, and he would lead a squad to kill them.

Barabbas was released. Did he change the world? Barabbas was released. Did he topple the government? No. No, he didn't. Jesus was not released, and Jesus died on that day. Did he topple it? Oh, yes, he did, with faith, hope and love.

You can't get there from here. Yes, you can. ‘I made too many mistakes in my life.’ No, you haven't. ‘I'm not worthy.’ ‘You don't know me.’ Yes, I do. You didn't know me. Takes five years to really change a man's life. If you're like me, done so many things and had all those moments back, you would change, but you don't think you can. And then you start to, and then something happens, and you fall into a pattern. And it takes five years to truly change, to really wash yourself clean of those patterns. And it takes five years of every week bathing in that water again and saying, ‘Okay, one day at a time, one week at a time.’ And when you really change is when you really love.

Pat will tell you my slogan I used to say it all the time? Pat, what was my slogan, when you first met me?

PAT: I hate people.

GLENN: Any part of me now?

PAT: No. Not even close. I would say it's the total opposite now. Yeah, it was pretty sincere then.

STU: To the point you like people you should hate. You came to the point --

PAT: And have been very forgiving of people who have done you wrong. It's a total change.

GLENN: There's only one reason that that has happened, and it wasn't that I needed it. It wasn't that I wanted it. It was I was given that. I worked for it, but I could never earn it. And I was given that because of the one guy who died 2000 years ago.

If you happen to be struggling, ‘Well, nobody knows me.’ Listen to me: I do. I know how hard it is. I know how dark it is. I know how alone you feel. I know how insignificant or how guilty you might feel. How tired you are. I get it. There's no such thing as a coincidence, and you are listening to this broadcast for a reason. This weekend is the weekend you're supposed to change your life. This is the weekend that you are supposed to say, ‘Okay, I'm starting all over.’

I had a dream in 1996. I changed my life in 1994. In 1996, after I had done so much work – remember, it takes five years – I had done so much work, but I still hadn't really looked into everything. I wasn't going to look into my family, any of that stuff, because I was comfortable. I had a dream, and an old man came to me in a dream. In this dream, I'm standing in a broken corn field that is gray and brown and everything was seepy and dirty, and it was snow and the corn stalks were broken on their side. And I was standing on the black top that was broken and crumbling and gray. And the sky was gray. And as far as I could see, there was nothing but destruction. Everything was dead, dead of winter. And I started turning around in a circle there, trying to figure out where I was going to go, and I saw behind me was this storm, this massive storm. And it was black and undulating and almost a black hole, drawing me in. And I looked at that, and I turned from it.

That's when I heard the voice of an old man. And he said, ‘Where are you going?’ And I said, without looking at him, ‘I don't know. Anywhere but there.’ That's when I turned to him and looked at him. He had like a beard, but it was all like the smoker color, all yellow, and he was all tattered and dirty, wearing tattered clothes. He looked like a bum. And he said, There's nothing to that.’ He said, ‘That's all in your making. There's nothing to that. There's nothing there.’

And I said, ‘That will kill me.’ And he said, ‘No, you have to go through the storm. Let me show you what's on the other side.’ He reached out his hand. I don't know how we got there, but we had gone through the storm and on the other side we were flying. We were up above everything. I could see the other side of the road that I couldn't see because the storm was blocking it. We were now on the other side of the road. Everything was in technicolor. I had never seen a dream so vivid as this, and the grass was super-green, and the flowers were reds and purples and yellows and the blues, deepest, most beautiful blue I had ever seen.

And I didn't look at him. He was behind me again. He said, ‘This is what's on the other side.’ I said, ‘It's so warm here.’ He said, ‘There's nothing to the storm, but you have to go through it.’ As I turned, I woke up. I saw only for a fraction of a second, only saw about a quarter of his face, but now he was pure white, and his beard looked like fiber optics. He was made of light. I woke up.

I painted a picture of that storm. That dream changed my life. I had faith. I had hope. And I had witnessed love. This is the weekend to change your life and begin again.

Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.

Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.

You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.

Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.

I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.

Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.

What Lee actually proposed

Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.

Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.

That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.

It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.

The Biden land-grab

To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.

His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.

In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.

Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?

  Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images

As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.

That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.

Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.

Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.

Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?

American families pay the price

The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”

BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.

That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.

I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.

Divide and conquer

This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.

More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

  

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

   USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

   Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

 

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.