The Christian Broadcasting Network

Browse Videos

Share Email

Living Among Lions

Authors and entrepreneurs David and Jason Benham share how Christians can transform their world by taking a stand like the prophet Daniel. Read Transcript


Well, David and Jason Benham are twin brothers

who have always stood united in their faith, even

when it cost them their own reality TV show.

Take a look.

NARRATOR: David And Jason Benham are

twin brothers and successful real estate entrepreneurs.

They're nationally known for taking a stand for Christ.

After voicing their faith based views

on abortion and gay marriage, they lost their HGTV reality

show, "Flip it Forward."

There is an agenda that seeks to silence men and women

of faith, who, if we want to voice our beliefs

or voice our views, then we shouldn't be afraid of losing

our livelihood.

NARRATOR: They say current day America

is similar to ancient Babylon where people who love God often

faced persecution.

In their new book, "Living Among Lions,"

they share how Christians can stand for their faith

daily, and even change the world by living with conviction,

commitment, and courage.

Please welcome back to The 700 Club, David and Jason Benham.

Jason, in blue.

That's right.

And you were about to say "Dason."

[LAUGHTER]

But that's OK.

It's happened before.

I'm David, the smarter--

You're David--

---one of the two.

---the smarter one of the two.

All right.

Well, what exactly happened you guys back in 2014 when

your show-- was it called "Flip it Forward"--

Yes.

--was about to go.

It's called "Flip it Forward."

And HGTV had given us a straight-to-series reality

television show contract.

And it was a big contract, no pilot or anything.

And they knew all about us.

They knew that we were pro-life.

They knew we were pro-marriage.

And unfortunately though, there's

a narrative that's out there now,

that if you believe these things that's

bigoted, intolerant, and hateful,

and all of these other things.

And HGTV was OK with that, because they even

told us behind closed doors, listen guys, that's

a narrative that's been developed.

But we believe in you.

We believe in what you've done in the real estate market.

We'd sold over 20,000 houses, and we had just serviced

a lot of different families.

So as a result of many of the activist groups that

were pressuring HGTV, they finally caved and fired us

and let us go.

It was in the LGBT community.

It's a very loud voice, a very small part of the population,

but a very loud voice.

And that was able to derail what was going to be a great hit.

Yeah.

That's exactly right.

JASON: David actually isn't very good for reality TV anyway.

So it's probably a good thing.

All right.

Well, the national attention, it almost

cost you your day jobs, your real jobs,

which is your very successful real estate.

Developers?

Yeah.

Well, we started a real estate company back in 2003.

It grew to 100 offices in 35 states.

And then of course, the production company

came, and then the HGTV saga.

And then we wrote a book called "Whatever the Cost."

It was detailing our story.

But then we wrote a second book called "Living Among Lions,"

which is why we're here today.

To really help people today to actually write their stories.

To how-- and it shows you how to thrive like Daniel in the midst

of today's Babylon.

And here it is, "Living Among Lions."

You know, I just interviewed Anne Graham Lotz last week,

and she's got a book out about Daniel, "Daniel's Prayer."

Daniel is making a big comeback right now.

He was doing something.

He was-- I guess the parallels between what he was going

through with being under all the pressure from the Babylonians--

That's exactly right.

We're feeling that as Christians in today's world,

aren't we?

That is exactly right.

Lesslie Newbigin, who was a renowned British theologian,

once said, "America is not shifting from Christian

to secular.

Today, she is shifting from secular to pagan."

And that was written several years ago.

And we're watching what's happening in America.

Most people are looking around saying,

you know what, America is changing fast.

Morally and spiritually, we're on the decline.

And so we have to ask ourselves, how

do we live faithfully in the midst of all of that.

And Daniel's life paints a perfect picture.

And we outline how Daniel lived with conviction and commitment.

And when the cultural winds began to shift

and no longer favored his convictions and commitments,

he stood with courage.

He was willing to face the lions.

And we can do the same today.

And Jason, you also talk a lot about reverence.

That's something we've lost sight of a little bit

in the church.

Why is reverence so important, and why was it

important to David?

Well, you look in--

WENDY: I mean--

--to Daniel.

DAVID: But David is sitting here.

It's important to him, too.

But in our book, it was important to Daniel.

Today in the Christian world, we hear

a lot about the term "relevance,"

but we need to be focusing on reverence.

Because when you focus on relevance, then oftentimes,

you begin to operate strategically in the mind

and no longer spiritually in the heart.

Daniel shows us that he focused on reverence, which is always

focusing on the person of God.

And then relevance becomes a byproduct of that.

You never have to focus on being relevant.

You just focus on reverence to God,

and then when the cultural storm begins to surround around you,

you're going to be the most relevant man on the planet

just like Noah was, who was building an Ark.

We put this in the book.

And he was building an Ark.

He was the most irrelevant man on the planet at that time

because rain had never-- nobody knew what rain was.

And so he's building an Ark, but he stood in reverence.

And when that first drop or rain hit,

he was the most relevant man on the planet.

Both of you can answer this second--

what's the key to having the courage that both of you had?

And you didn't get bitter at HGTV.

And God has promoted you.

More people probably know you now

than if you'd had that show on HGTV.

But what's the key to having that courage to stand?

Well, it all starts with conviction and our identity

in Christ.

And we have two chapters on identity, knowing your identity

and thinking your identity.

But we have to understand, as Christians

we have the lion of the tribe of Judah inside of us.

We are the light of the world.

The problem today is not the presence of darkness.

It's the absence of light.

We don't go to bed at night and flip the darkness on.

You actually turn the light off.

Darkness only prevails when the light is turned off.

And so we have to understand who we are as Christians, that we

have the light of Jesus Christ inside of us,

and flip it on, and walk in that identity,

and we'll be incredibly courageous.

Can I follow that up with one quick statement?

Sure.

And what you'll find in the life of Daniel,

as well as the life of David and so many other warriors

in the Bible, is that boldness precedes the miraculous.

WENDY: Wow.

I like that.

And when you turn and face your fear, God takes over the fight.

So now is our time.

WENDY: I'm going to tweet that.

All right.

Boldness precedes the miraculous.

OK.

Well, what's your focus today?

What are you guys doing?

You wrote a new book.

This is your second book.

Yes, that's right.

And we were flying--

He's not going to let me answer that question.

No, I want to answer this.

I was going--

We were flying through the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

And several folks have noticed us now.

And this one man was looking over both shoulders.

And he walked up, and he whispered ,

are you guys the Benham brothers.

And we said, yeah.

And he looked over his left and his right.

And he said, thanks for your stand and then just

took off the other way.

And we know there are millions of Christians

just like that man in the airport.

So our focus is to strengthen that man.

And the same rising tide of evil that makes cowards run,

makes champions rise.

Now I'm going to follow that up again, because I always

have to make it better.

But what we're telling people today, as Christians,

is we need to be the chocolate chips in the cookie

dough of culture.

We mix in.

We don't blend in.

We keep our distinct form, even when put into a furnace.

WENDY: Now I want a chocolate chip cookie.

Is that your second tweet?

(LAUGHING) That's my second tweet.

She's not tweeting anything you say.

Whatever.

Have you guys thought about taking this show on the road?

You know, this is pretty good.

Well, what about your day jobs.

Are you still in real estate, you still doing that?

Yes, ma'am.

And it's still going great, right?

Yes ma'am.

We have multiple companies.

We have nonprofits.

We actually have an organization in the Philippines

that we started that we call our "missioneering" concept.

But God has really blessed us, and we just really want

to encourage Christians.

Hey look, first let's wake up.

Then let's get on our knees, and then let's stand strong.

And can I say something now that I

need to make that even better.

A lot of people-- Jason and I, we

have taken a stand in Charlotte against the radical bathroom

bills and all this stuff that's happening, especially

with the Supreme Court now striking down the Texas law.

WENDY: Because you're from North Carolina.

That's right.

And we're watching now-- with life, and marriage,

and human sexuality, and these stronghold issues-- and Jason

and I have been speaking and trying

to speak with both courage and compassion.

And that's what God calls us to be,

is courageous against the agenda,

but compassionate with the people.

People are saying, well, you're going to lose your business.

Your business is going to go down.

Our business is thriving.

God is taking care of our business.

And you know what, even if our business goes down,

we still have an obligation to stand up.

Right now in America, we still have religious freedom.

We still have the freedom of speech.

Let's be salty Christians and stop

worrying about what we're going to lose

and watch Jesus Christ transform this nation once again.

Although, I think Jason wants to be a sweet Christian

with a chocolate chip.

So we can be that.

He can't stop eating them.

Yeah, I know.

Listen, guy's, we could be-- this is tough.

These guys are hilarious.

They're amazing.

All right, the Benham's book is called "Living Among Lions."

It's available wherever books are sold.

And for behind the scenes footage with David and Jason,

you can go to our Facebook page that's on your screen.

Facebook-- I can't read.

You guys have got me all flustered.

You're so handsome, and you're so amazing.

So anyway, God bless you.

Thanks so much for being here.

Thank you for having us.

WENDY: We just really appreciate both of you

and what you're doing and your stand for Jesus.

We appreciate it.

Now we can go knock out some push ups.

EMBED THIS VIDEO

Related Podcasts


CBN.com | Do You Know Jesus? | Privacy Notice | Prayer Requests | Support CBN | Contact Us | Feedback
© 2012 Christian Broadcasting Network