Louis IX was a legendary king

He served the poor, led the crusades, and died a hero’s death

He even became a saint… but none of this compares to his best achievement

Believe it or not, he saved a holy relic that belonged to none other than Christ himself…🧵 Born in 1214, Louis was groomed for greatness since birth

He was educated in government and military affairs, and by age 12, inherited the French throne...

His mother’s wisdom guided him early:

She had one demand that shaped Louis' destiny forever

The Iliad is a nightmare of a read:

Eyes gouged, skulls crushed, heads chopped — it depicts the horrors of war like nothing else

But there’s a deeper meaning to the story too:

It teaches you how to find true meaning and glory, even in a world of cruelty, death and despair…🧵 The Iliad follows the Trojan War:

It begins with Paris (a Trojan Prince), kidnapping Helen (a married Greek)

He brings her home to Troy, and the Greeks pursue in a fury

What follows is 10 years of bloodshed and terror

Dr. Peter Kreeft is a genius philosopher

After 50+ years of study, he says there’s one work that’s better than all the rest:

“The greatest book ever written outside the Bible”

Here’s the book, its genius, and how it will change your life…🧵 Kreeft calls Augustine’s “Confessions” a work of profound genius

It details Augustine’s life from a miserable wretch, to a Saint who changed world history

But it’s not just a personal story of piety:

It’s a universal story of how you can achieve greatness…

Tolstoy warns lust is more evil than you think

It doesn’t just ruin marriages — it’s a self-eating, suicidal demon

He wrote a whole book about how it can eat you alive

Here’s the book, the horrors it reveals about lust, and how you can escape them…🧵 “Anna Karenina” is a novel about a woman ruined by lust

It follows Anna — a rich aristocrat in a loveless marriage

She begins a casual fling with another man:

It’s fun at first, but by the end, she suffers one of the most gruesome fates in all literature…

The Divine Comedy has a wild origin story:

Dante spent 20 years in exile — facing heartbreak, death threats, and homelessness — to write it

His story teaches you how to conquer Hell itself, and why your greatest pains can lead you to ultimate happiness…🧵 Of all things, The Divine Comedy’s origins begin with... teenage romance

The poet's author, Dante, had an ordinary upbringing in Florence

Then at age 18, he had a chance encounter with a pretty lady that changed everything

One man’s genius saved the West from annihilation:

2,500 years ago, Persia nearly sacked Greece

As they ransacked the country, all hope seemed lost... but one man was ready for them

He laid a trap that not only saved Greece, but Western Civilization as we know it today...🧵 Born 524 BC, Themistocles was nothing special

He was middle class, but his mother’s foreigner status brought him stigma in Athens:

No one would’ve expected him to rise to power

Yet as child, there was also something strange about Themistocles

For 300 years, Christians were slaughtered and persecuted

Then one battle changed everything:

2 Pagan Emperors went to war, and one saw a strange vision in the sky

What he saw changed the course of history, and turned Christianity into a global superpower…🧵 Christianity had a rough start in its history

Christ was killed in 33 AD, but the violence didn’t end there

A mere 30 years later, Nero would lead a mass killing of Christians after the fire of Rome

From there, things only got worse...

Tolkien’s villains were terrifying

Sauron was bad enough, but there was someone even worse

He was so twisted critics compared him to Satan himself

Here’s the villain, his satanic ambitions, and what they reveal about the nature of evil…🧵 To understand this villain, we have to go back to the beginning… literally

Tolkien actually made a full creation story behind “Lord of the Rings”

This story tells the birth of the universe, and the evil that nearly ruined it all

Tolstoy had it all — family, fame, fortune — you name it

He was a beloved novelist whose wildest dreams came true...

Then he nearly killed himself

Here’s what made Tolstoy suicidal, how he cheated death, and the secret he found to living a meaningful life…🧵 Tolstoy wrote about his misery in his work “A Confession”

He described being raised a Christian, but becoming an atheist at 18

Having renounced God, Tolstoy would spend his life worshipping one thing

If God exists, why doesn't he show himself to us?

CS Lewis has the answer to this question

He wrote a book explaining why a good and loving God hides from mankind

Here’s the book, and what it reveals about God, human nature, and finding faith in a fallen world…🧵 CS Lewis called his novel “Till We Have Faces” his greatest work

The book is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche

Why was Lewis so proud of it?

Its genius has to do with its protagonist, who makes a chilling accusation against God

One battle changed world history like no other:

A ragtag Christian coalition took on a foreign superpower… and won

Their victory was so unlikely, it’s said an actual miracle took place

Here’s the miracle, and the victory that saved Europe from total invasion…🧵 Christian Europe was in crisis in the 16th century

The Protestant Reformation and Catholic in-fighting led to disunity throughout Europe

Everyone was demoralized, but worse yet — a foreign superpower was threatening the continent

How can a good God let you suffer and die?

Tolkien said a 600 year old poem had the answer to this question

He spent over 25 years reading, studying and teaching it to students

Here’s the poem, and what it taught him about God, grief, and finding hope in the face of death…🧵 “Pearl,” was a 14th century medieval poem

It follows a father’s grief — his 2 year old daughter, Pearl, just died

Her loss has devastated him and made his life seem meaningless

Even worse, his grief is no ordinary grief

CS Lewis said real men are a dying breed

He warned society bought into a “pernicious lie,” that destroyed masculinity

Here’s the lie, how it ruined manhood, and Lewis’ solution to raising strong, healthy, virtuous men…🧵 Lewis discusses manhood in his work “The Necessity of Chivalry”

He said modern manhood was destroyed by a horrid lie

The lie — warriors cannot be gentlemen, and gentlemen cannot be warriors

Why did Lewis hate this?

The Sexual Revolution was a disaster:

60 years ago, they tried to redefine sexuality to "liberate," mankind

Everything they said was a lie, yet their lies have ruined millions of lives

Here is the worst lie of the Sexual Revolution that is still plaguing society today…🧵 The Sexual Revolution became prominent in the 1960s

On the surface, it advocated “liberation,” through sexual freedom

In practice, however, it sought something sinister — societal destruction

It sounds crazy at first, but let’s meet one of the movement’s leaders

Adultery doesn’t just ruin marriages — it destroys your entire world

The English knew this, and built an entire mythology around it

Here’s their 1,000 year old tale about the cuckoldry that ruined an empire…🧵 Thomas Malory’s work "Le Morte d’Arthur" — the mythology of King Arthur — warns against adultery

The myth follows King Arthur's rise to power:

He builds a mighty empire, but at the height of his power, he gets betrayed by his closest ally...

Can any good come from the horrors of war?

Hemingway thought so

He wrote a book about how the evils of war can bring out the goodness of man

Here’s the book, and what it says about finding redemption in the midst of death and despair…🧵 Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls takes place in the Spanish Civil War

It follows protagonist Robert Jordan, an American who joined the Republican cause

He specializes in dynamite and is given a dangerous mission:

Blow up a fortified bridge

How do you convince a suicidal man that life is worth living?

Cormac McCarthy’s saddest book asks this very question:

It follows a janitor who saves a stranger’s life, but the stranger still wants to die

The janitor has one night to change his mind. Here’s what happens…🧵 Cormac McCarthy’s work The Sunset Limited follows two characters named “Black,” and “White”

Black is a Christian. He lives alone in squalor

White is a well-off professor and a nihilist:

He spent years working up the courage to kill himself

Dostoevsky wasn’t always a genius writer — he used to be a radical socialist

Then he got sentenced to death

Staring down the barrel of a gun, he had a sudden awakening

He denounced his politics on the spot, repented of his old ways, and found God. Here’s why…🧵 Growing up, Dostoevsky was a radical socialist

He was a member of the Petrashevsky Circle — a revolutionary group that sought to tear down Russia’s Regime

Many members were extremists. Some even advocated terrorism

Soon, the government caught on...

You know The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

But there’s one Tolkien work you’ve never heard of

It’s about how one treacherous foreigner destroys a civilization

Here’s what happens, and why you must heed Tolkien’s warning…🧵 Numenor was a prosperous island kingdom in Tolkien’s Middle Earth

Its inhabitants were virtuous and moral, enjoying favor from the gods

They were gifted wisdom, long life, and were master craftsmen

Unfortunately, their greatest gifts were also their greatest curse…

How did a book-nerd defeat a military superpower?

He had no experience in war, yet sacked a city of 10,000

Here’s the story of how a simple colonial bookkeeper saved the day and sent the Brits packing…🧵 Knox was born on July 25th, 1750 in Boston, MA

Tragedy struck him early — his father died when he was 9

Knox dropped out of school to support his family, apprenticing at a bookstore

Despite a rough start, the job would be the best thing to happen to him

Vladimir Lenin hailed him as “The Titan of the Revolution”

Dostoevsky warned he was a genocidal maniac

Here’s the story of the most evil communist of all time — the man who sent Russia into an uproar…🧵 Sergey Nechayev was born on Sept 20, 1847 in Ivanovo, Russia

He was raised in poverty, and as a teenager, supported himself as a waiter

His career didn’t last long — he despised poverty and the powerful

Aged 18, he moved to Moscow, vowing to wreck society and eat the rich