00:00:01.000You get additional content from me and a whole host of other Rumble content creators.
00:00:06.000And remember, if you are feeling jaded, listless, like your life is falling apart, then for heaven's sake, consider our many glorious reborn products, not least of all Methylene Blue.
00:00:16.000I can't take any more today because as you can see and hear, I'm on the very precipice.
00:00:21.000Also, at the moment, you know, my book, uh, Russell Brand, How to Become Christian in seven days is available from Tucker Carlson Books.
00:01:09.000J. Johnston, whose new book, The Jesus Discoveries, is out now.
00:01:14.000And I'm reading it, and you'll be able to tell that from the questions that I'm asking Jeremiah or JJ, as he has insisted on being called Jeremiah Johnston.
00:01:22.000Thank you so much for joining us today.
00:01:25.000Russell, I love you, brother, my brother in Christ.
00:01:27.000And all I can think about is April 28, 2024, your baptism in the Thames.
00:01:34.000And my wife, Audrey, and I praying for you in that moment.
00:01:45.000And thanks for being so encouraging because as a result of some of the press that I've done for this book, of which I am most proud, I've had people question my Christianity and its, I suppose, veracity, its authenticity.
00:02:01.000And I suppose, though, in a way, I've always been questioned whether it's, you know, oh, you're not really a West Ham United fan or you're.
00:02:10.000Not a natural blonde, or I've had all sorts of accusations thrown at me, gosh, and some of them pretty serious, as a matter of fact.
00:03:30.000Now, like one of the things that this is, I guess, at the forefront of my inquiry when it comes to your work is because when you accept Christ, you're taking on board so much that there is an author and authority in this world that He incarnated, He came here.
00:03:52.000He performed miracles, that good and evil are real, that he encountered the devil.
00:03:59.000The angels, demons, there's so much sort of packed into it.
00:04:03.000I find myself often, often actually, like I think the last time was last night, I was reading C.S. Lewis' Miracles as I was sort of falling asleep.
00:04:12.000And something hit me again of like, oh man, I'm not sure I can believe in this.
00:04:22.000So, and yet though, with your work where you're dealing with, you know, artifacts, I'm talking about your Jesus discoveries, and I've read the first.
00:04:41.000But what do you think is the value of trying to substantiate and authenticate the historical Christ?
00:04:50.000Because sooner or later, you're going to hit the point where only faith, but that's true in neurology, that's true in quantum physics, that's true in biology.
00:05:00.000Every discipline, even materialist ones, in the end, you've Buttress up against this point of the inconceivable, the unknowable.
00:05:11.000So, what is it that this phase of your work is driving it, and what is the value of historical authentication, full stop, really, when it comes to Jesus?
00:05:21.000You know, I've interviewed with the best of the best, and why is it that you ask me the best questions I've ever been asked?
00:05:28.000So, thank you for asking such a great thinker's question.
00:08:53.000Like, see, in that moment there, I like that because I've seen it when it was dramatized in Chosen.
00:09:02.000The way that they used it dramatically is as if it was functioning, and it seems like that you're approaching it in the same way, is it functioned as a kind of verification, like a code, like it was a password.
00:09:13.000It's like John the Baptist, like I fucking need, excuse my language, I need verification here.
00:09:17.000But like at that point, but at that point, right, has our like, you know, I just mean chronologically, and how much would we lean into that?
00:09:36.000Like, how, what is our Lord saying there?
00:09:39.000Is he saying, oh, he raised his widow's son, right?
00:09:42.000In this one, yeah, he went to large towns, he approached.
00:09:45.000So, yeah, that's what, like, these are the signs, these are the indicators, these are the hallmarks and the signatures that the Messiah has come.
00:11:27.000And it also, even as when you first embarked on this answer, and I can see this is going to be one of those kind of conversations, you said that you referenced that John the Baptist is in a moment of crisis.
00:11:39.000You don't see, I think since I stopped wanting to be Jesus, which was when I accepted Jesus was real and that I'm not him, because before that I had the kind of Luciferian self idolatry that, that, like, we are our own God.
00:11:58.000Yeah, that, and I see now that that's precisely the function of the culture.
00:12:02.000Indeed, like my church the other day, the pastor did a good sermon on Romans 13, but I say that the, Government almost in its entirety now exists in that margin that is that calls us to disobey.
00:12:21.000Like that, the government and state are operating as a kind of a false idol, primarily as a false idol.
00:12:28.000That they want control of your ideology, they want control of your body, they want to control how you think.
00:12:33.000Yes, consciousness itself, consciousness itself, attention and thought itself.
00:12:38.000They want control of consciousness and thought itself, and they can do that through via food, via medicine.
00:12:44.000It all one scarcely dare imagine the nefarious.
00:12:47.000Nefarious ways that the frequency of neurology could be disrupted and likely already is.
00:12:53.000Can I share with you something, Russell?
00:12:55.000What, yes, to your point, do you mind?
00:14:33.000The governments, not even governments, companies are running the world now.
00:14:37.000Look, remember, I came to Christ after having lived a long time in, like, my own Saul of Tarsus dedication and devoutness to the law comes from being a member of the priest class of the establishment.
00:14:52.000The Pharisees these days are not in the Roman Catholic Church or in the Protestant Church or in any denomination.
00:15:00.000They are the proselytizers of the culture as king.
00:15:05.000Now, like, I would posit that we're, and so the idea that there's a nexus of power that's extra governmental to me is an idea that I've lived with long before coming to the Lord.
00:15:15.000My own training and my own preparation has given me deep experience in that dialectic.
00:15:21.000I've got insight when it comes to Hollywood power and insight when it comes to governmental power, and I understand how media operates because I've been operating inside media for a long, long time.
00:15:33.000Discourse around power outside of Christianity is that there are sets of global bureaucracies, one of them being the WEF, the WHO, the International Monetary Fund.
00:15:45.000These bureaucracies pose as neutral, indeed, as a scholar of the world.
00:15:50.000They fund the greatest evil in the world.
00:15:54.000My point is that the etymology of the word sin, in addition to the Mr. Mark component, has that sort of metastasizing neutrality component.
00:16:05.000Now, bureaucracy is ex Presenting itself as neutral.
00:16:22.000That pose of neutrality that you get from the WHO, WEF, IMF is where that secondary, ulterior, near invisible power is executed through it.
00:16:40.000And global entities are much more powerful than any national government.
00:16:43.000Indeed, we are living right now through the kind of collapse of that new priapism, like that sort of excited engorgement of when Trump became president, of like, oh, wow, man, we've got a bull in the china shop.
00:16:57.000We've got this guy who's willing to stand up.
00:17:00.000And, you know, and of course, now it seems because of certain geopolitical events that there is a different power that whether you're Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, it doesn't matter who you are.
00:17:10.000And, like, you know, like I, I think maybe I might even be quoting you back to you that everything is downstream from spiritual warfare.
00:17:21.000But what I want to say to you is John the Baptist, he's the last great prophet before our Lord.
00:17:28.000St. Paul, the sort of first independent teacher and evangelist.
00:17:32.000But I'm trying to sort of hold on to these forces the wildness of the prophet in the wilderness, the academic excellence and communicative brilliance of St. Paul.
00:17:44.000I'm wondering what you think our evangelism is going to look like in 2026, 2027, this wave of apostleship or this wave of prophecy.
00:17:55.000I wonder what you feel like it's going to look like.
00:17:58.000And again, what the importance is of being able to historically authenticate Christ.
00:18:03.000I know I've asked a lot there, but I'll show up for as long as you want.
00:18:07.000It's the greatest question you could ask because we have here's what I want to say, Russell, to you we have an evidence based faith.
00:19:03.000I care about Lily, Justin, Abel, Ryder, and Jackson.
00:19:11.000Everything I'm doing right now is about making sure my kids have faith in Christ.
00:19:15.000And do you know what gets their attention?
00:19:18.000Because they're smart, amazing kids, is when I show them evidences.
00:19:22.000Like a crucifixion nail, or like these Bethlehem thorns you did a YouTube on or an Instagram about, or when I show them coins that are like, you know, the social media of the first century, they realize that their faith is real, that when dad and mom are gone, they can hold on to something that's real.
00:24:05.000But then after that, I suppose in my own way, Jeremiah, I did then start reading scripture.
00:24:12.000Now, the first thing that really hit me after that was Acts in the message, Eugene Peterson's.
00:24:17.000I was reading Acts on my way to go see Tucker actually for the First interview I did after all the allegations and stuff, and I was reading Acts, and there was something about them, you know, just men, you know, I'm like, oh man, this happened.
00:24:30.000And I'm reading Acts again right now at the moment, and I'm getting the same feeling of their kind of craziness, their passion, their brokenness, like that, like, you know, they're wielding this unbelievable power all of a sudden, like all of a sudden, there's something very familiar and real about it.
00:24:49.000Personal experience, I did go about authenticating it.
00:24:54.000So, but the thing I did, you know, the video is because perving on the resurrection is because it's so corporal, I suppose, because it's so corporal, because it is so much about the flesh and the punishment and the masochism and the sadism of the brutality.
00:25:09.000Like, you know, so yeah, but, you know, I hope I didn't offend you.
00:25:12.000I can see I didn't because you're on here and you're cool about it, but you can tell me more.
00:25:17.000I immediately prayed for you because I know your heart.
00:25:19.000And then, secondly, I messaged you according to Matthew 18 and said, I hope we can talk someday.
00:27:03.000Now, again, I read it in the Greek, but I'm going to read it in English.
00:27:08.000It says, but God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
00:27:21.000And Russell, that verse, I don't want to geek out for a minute, but it's the one of only two verses in the entire New Testament, which is in the continuous.
00:27:46.000God is constantly showing us how much He loves us when we look at the cross.
00:27:50.000When you think, I've sinned for the 7,000th time, I've screwed up again.
00:27:55.000What does God want you to do, Russell?
00:27:57.000He wants you to look at this and He wants you to say, But God demonstrated His love and that when you were at His worst, He sent His best for you.
00:28:07.000It should have been my head, Russell, in this.
00:28:10.000Yes, as you said in your Instagram about me, these are Bethlehem thorns, they're three inches long.
00:29:17.000Now, I'm not saying they were the ones used at the crucifixion, but here's where I want to caution you as a pastor and as a brother in Christ.
00:29:23.000And I caution myself, by the way, as well.
00:29:26.000We can get so desensitized to what Jesus did for us.
00:29:30.000You've heard the gospel a thousand times.
00:30:45.000Listen, I'm making all sorts of new content.
00:30:48.000In a way, I want you to understand and appreciate the nature.
00:30:51.000Of Christ in a different way, not the Christ that you met even through your church, particularly if you had a negative experience of church or through the culture.
00:30:58.000I mean, it's not South Park Jesus that I'm talking about, it's not a blonde Jesus.
00:31:02.000I'm talking about a potent psychedelic ever-present Christ elevating your consciousness present with you now.
00:31:08.000I'm talking about a death of your false constructed self, your shame-based, fear-based identity, and the resurrection of a living, live, light-filled Christ within you.
00:31:19.000Check out Angel Studios over the holidays.
00:31:21.000You can watch stuff like Testament, The Case for Christ, Sound of Hope, King of Kings, or Family Entertainment like that new David animation movie.
00:31:28.000If you go to angel.com forward slash Russell, they'll know that I sent you, and then when I'm pitching them ideas and documentaries and I've got some good ideas, then it will be good and favorable for me.
00:31:37.000So if you're sick and tired of watching adrenochrome soaked entertainment from the Satanists in Hollywood, go over to Angel.
00:31:44.000Download the app or watch it wherever you watch all your content.
00:31:47.000Angel Studios is the one streaming platform that will leave you better than it found you.
00:31:53.000Instead of like you come off Netflix or Prime or whatever, you feel sort of like all quivering and infected, like spike proteins are moving through your vital organs, destroying you from within.
00:32:32.000I find, in fact, that I almost need a reverse inoculation.
00:32:40.000Like a reverse weaning, like the same way that, you know, like milk instead of food type stuff.
00:32:46.000Because I find the acceptance of love, I'm afraid to get overwhelmed.
00:32:54.000I'm afraid to get overwhelmed by love.
00:32:56.000There's something unfamiliar about it that I find very, very difficult.
00:33:00.000Also, from a more, for that's emotional and one might say psychological using sort of a modern analytic.
00:33:07.000But also from an intellectual perspective, I feel that if we're like that, I don't want to use materialism, individualism, and sort of post enlightenment rationalism in order to access what is the mysterium tremendum.
00:33:27.000You know, that's something that is not actually can't be contained in human consciousness, like by definition.
00:33:46.000Jesus is continually saying to those in his orbit, those chosen, that I sometimes think he could have just closed his eyes and pointed to anybody.
00:33:55.000And, like, you know, how am I going to put this that you're going to understand it?
00:33:59.000He's grappling with the gap between the mind of God and the mind of man.
00:34:07.000And however much must be lost between Greek and English, nothing compared, surely, to even though we are his image and we bear his image.
00:34:17.000Nothing compared to what can't be contained.
00:34:39.000Because it's, you know, I know that it's about faith.
00:34:41.000I know that there's never good, like, the one of the things I get from the miracles is, you know, on Monday, you know, water's turned into wine.
00:35:20.000We don't have faith in faith, we have faith in evidence.
00:35:24.000And I want to make this very clear you're not doing anything wrong when you say, okay, it just clicked, so now I can believe.
00:35:32.000You're not giving in to any postmodernism there.
00:35:35.000I want to make this very clear, very, very clear.
00:35:39.000There would not be a shred, Russell, of the New Testament written.
00:35:43.000Had they not had, you're reading Acts, remember Acts 1 3?
00:35:47.000Jesus showed himself to be alive by many convincing proofs.
00:35:53.000Had those proofs not been so tangible, had Peter not seen Jesus on the Sea of Galilee, which, Russell, I truly hope to take you to Israel, to the very spot where he says, Do you love me?
00:36:10.000Had not Thomas said, unless I see his, you know what, his scars on his side and his, his, his, literally, I have a six inch crucifixion nail.
00:36:22.000I'm not saying this is the one used by Jesus, but this was used to crucify criminals of Rome and Judea.
00:36:28.000It's bent, Russell, because they would often, they would actually move the nail to maximize torment, but minimize movement in the crucified victim.
00:36:40.000We have 21 victims of crucifixion under the Roman Empire.
00:36:47.000And Thomas comes along and he's known now as doubting Thomas, but I love him because he says, Hey, unless I see the nail prints, unless I see the wound in the side, I won't believe.
00:37:01.000And Jesus does not shame him or say, You don't have enough faith.
00:37:05.000He says, Bro, check out my side, check out my wrist.
00:37:12.000And he says in Greek, my Lord and my God.
00:37:19.000My favorite appearance, though, which I talk about in the Jesus Discoveries in my book, is his appearance to his brother.
00:37:24.000Do you have any brothers, Russell, by chance?
00:39:45.000Jesus showed himself by many infallible proofs.
00:39:47.000And remember, we're all in that tension of Mark 9, the dad in Mark 9, Russell, who right after Jesus is transfigured, I believe his body was still glistening, and yet his son is possessed.
00:40:05.000And he said, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
00:40:08.000And that was enough faith to activate Jesus.
00:40:11.000So, my prayer right now for you and for everyone watching us right now is if you're willing to have that amount of faith, which is precious little, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, that's enough for Jesus to change your life right now.
00:40:23.000Even though he never shamed them in their resurrected Christ, many times throughout all four gospels, he's like, Oh, man, you idiots, you have little faith.
00:40:32.000That's one of the things I like, actually, is the How often he tries and chastises them for it.
00:40:41.000Again and again and again, he says it to them.
00:40:43.000See that around John 17, the prayer in Gethsemane, and I think in John it's just before the arrest, where it's him, I in them, you in me, them in us.
00:40:54.000I think somewhere in there he says, like those that are coming down the line, those that are coming down the pipe, they're not going to see all of this stuff.
00:41:03.000So there's something around that, and I think it's in Paul as well, that idea.
00:41:06.000So I wonder though, About the value of faith that isn't verified, both theologically, I'm asking that question, but also personally, because what I feel like I'm being called to do a lot is, you know, I'm under a lot of pressure, man.
00:41:41.000Double down on the old faith, and while things progressively get worse and harder on the outside, I want some material bam shazam stuff, too, right?
00:41:51.000Because, like, you know, that's what I'm asking for a lot of the time.
00:41:54.000And but, like, you know, where am I in the line, you know, when there's when there's Gaza, when there's war, when you know, where do I stand in that line?
00:42:02.000Um, and I'm aware of that, you know, my kids in hospital a bunch, and like, so whenever you're in a kid's hospital, you're seeing so much that it just immediately just switches your bullshit off.
00:42:53.000First off, I'm so sorry that you've experienced having your child in the hospital.
00:43:01.000I don't want to reveal anything personal, but I've been there as well.
00:43:05.000And my book is dedicated to my son Abel.
00:43:08.000And can I just encourage you for a minute?
00:43:10.000I haven't shared this on any audience, but it says for Abel, our firstborn triplet, and my dear son, we experienced a physical healing of my son Abel's scoliosis two weeks ago.
00:43:23.000And You can't tell me it's a coincidence that this book hit the New York Times number one list on the day that we found out my son was healed.
00:43:32.000Because last May, you can pull this up on social media, his spine had a 16 degree curve.
00:43:39.000He's had to wear, I haven't shared this on any other show, Russell.
00:46:11.000And he said, I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel.
00:46:14.000Faith will grow through these evidences.
00:46:17.000And that's what my prayer is that my faith keeps growing.
00:46:20.000But remember, faith is always only as strong as its object.
00:46:23.000So as long as your faith is directionally, if you're using walking faith, even if you don't feel it, which we don't feel it half the time, so often we're like, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
00:46:35.000Even if you don't feel it, if that faith is Jesus centric, that's all you need.
00:46:41.000And so evidence comes along and it encourages us, though, in those moments of doubt, those moments when we're really going through a crucible of adversity like, God, do you really have this?
00:46:50.000I have in my Bible, the Bible I'm using right now.
00:46:54.000I don't know if you know this, but I went through a horrible period of anxiety, Russell, where God was blessing me with great success, but nobody would have doubted it or guessed this from the outside.
00:49:06.000I'm on this program to speak to you now.
00:49:09.000I'm happy to speak to your massive audience, but the Lord told me to speak to you, and you need God's peace all over you right now, as we all do.
00:49:21.000Lean into the fact that you can pray going into the worst situation, the prayer of Gideon, my God is peace, and then you can go slay all the Midianites before you.
00:50:38.000And so, Jesus, when these morons, when these apostate Bible scholars who are true apostates say Jesus never claimed to be God, he referred to himself as Son of Man 69 times.
00:50:50.000If anyone who had read the book of Daniel, that would be like saying, Yes, I am the Messiah.
00:50:58.000When he quotes Isaiah 6 2, what I love about Jesus is he takes all these Old Testament passages, he messianizes them, and he applies them to himself.
00:51:05.000Hosea 6 2, on the second day, you will revive us.
00:51:10.000On the third day, you will raise us up that you may live before him.
00:51:13.000Jesus messianizes that in his messianic predictions, Mark 8, 31, Mark 9, 31, Mark 10, 33, and 34, that the Son of Man must die.
00:51:23.000And then on the third day, he will be risen from the dead.
00:51:27.000And make no mistake, Russell, this was a physical body.
00:51:37.000And I used to be the biggest skeptic of the Shroud of Turn, and I was conditioned in Oxford at Keeble College to be that way, that we don't believe in the miraculous.
00:51:47.000And Russell, I don't mean this with any pride.
00:51:49.000I had published 300,000 words on the resurrection, even Body of Proof, which I love that book.
00:51:56.000I didn't believe it until I actually bothered to look at the evidence.
00:52:00.000And I actually read the fact that 102 academic disciplines have looked into what you brought up the shroud of Turin, which think of it like a sheet that covers the body of Jesus.
00:52:12.000Remember, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus do something powerful.
00:52:16.000They ask Pilate for the body of Jesus, they have to bury him quickly.
00:53:24.000Just the heroism of these two old guys to get it's not like the wrong, there was no Uber you could call to help you get a guy off the cross.
00:53:56.000But when you read John chapter 20, this shocked me.
00:53:59.000And I'm going to go to John 20 in my Bible.
00:54:02.000You know, you read the Bible a thousand times, and the Holy Spirit always reveals new truth.
00:54:07.000When you read the chronology of it, I love this.
00:54:12.000It says, When they go in, they saw the shroud, the linen cloth lying there, and the sudarium that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
00:54:24.000Then the other disciple, that's John, who came to the tomb first, he went in also.
00:54:29.000And Russell, this is my prayer for you on this broadcast.
00:54:38.000He was the only disciple that stayed at the cross.
00:54:41.000But let me tell you, he believed more when he saw the shroud.
00:54:46.000The shroud is the only burial garment we have from antiquity that is the image of a crucified man that matches with one to one correspondence the brutality that Jesus experienced on the cross.
00:57:19.000We can overcome any adversity that we're facing.
00:57:22.000And that's why when John sees this amazing shroud, he believes.
00:57:27.000So then his body has new capabilities to answer your question.
00:57:31.000I don't want you to think it's like Lazarus.
00:57:33.000It took me a while to understand this because in John 11, you know, Lazarus, remember, Jesus raises him up and he's like, hey, take his grave clothes off.
00:57:43.000No, Jesus' body emanates through the shroud.
00:57:46.000I sent you a video on text about this.
00:57:50.000His body literally emanates through the shroud.
00:57:53.000His body has new capabilities where he doesn't need to use doors.
00:58:03.000Every shred of evidence for Jesus' resurrection, Russell, is evidence for your and my resurrection.
00:58:09.000This is probably why this may be the most important conversation you've ever had on your channel, not because of me, but because of the application of it.
00:58:18.000John 14, 19, Jesus says, Because I live, you will live also.
00:58:23.0001 Corinthians 15 says, Your body will have deathlessness.
00:58:34.000The glory of not having to deal with sin anymore, to be able to worship our Savior in spirit and in truth without any sin, to be able to love and forgive our brothers, to wipe every tear from our eyes.
00:58:49.000That is the promise that took the Roman Empire by storm.
00:58:53.000And it's why the Christian movement is now the greatest force for good on planet Earth.
00:59:00.000Yes, I like the new light, the light by which all light is seen.
00:59:07.000That it is in fact a new creation, almost like a new Big Bang.
00:59:13.000That the resurrection of that singular body is like a second molecular compound, an instantiation of a new physical reality, almost extra electromagnetic.
00:59:26.000Like at the edges of the light range that's visible, ultraviolet and infrared, there are presumed new hieroglyphs of light, new photons that belong to an alphabet of light.
00:59:39.000Inaccessible to the limitations of our sensory instruments.
00:59:45.000And maybe then I'm thinking of in heaven, there is no man, no woman, and like you said, no sin.
00:59:55.000I'm thinking, I felt during that that the transcendent, the martyr fuel that was disseminated through that event is the feeling of inspired.