Don’t let ‘Disclosure Day’ doom you to spiritual death by discourse



Steven Spielberg this week will drop “Disclosure Day,” his long-awaited engagement-bait alien movie. On cue, the internet is abuzz — with soyfacing and fangirling, dunking and slop farming, chin-stroking and opining, opining, opining. Somehow, therefore, more, but also dramatically less, needs to be said.

I was early to the disclosure discourse. Five years ago, as the topic began to heat up in earnest, I tried to get ahead of the conversation by focusing on the religious dimension. Back then, that wasn’t center stage. The alien thing was still mostly Joe Rogan- and "X-Files"-coded, disclosure a cause célèbre for freedom-minded individualists sure that the evil secret government was hiding the TRUTH that only heroically skeptical intellectual rebels could force to come to light.

In the coming age, many — even believers — will be deceived.

To me, that felt incomplete. At best. The American experience with “alien encounters,” I underscored, had always been depicted and acculturated religiously — not just as a matter of “having a religious experience,” good or bad, but of actual theology.

Its manifestation as popular culture belied not secular origins but spiritual ones: When your religious belief is that “organized religion” is bad and the only authority you can really trust is your own, you’ll see what’s at stake in the alien debate as the ultimate nature of the universe, one where perhaps everything we thought we ever knew about God and our relation to Him could be completely debunked.

The desire to overthrow the authority or even the existence of the unbroken Christian church, that is, doesn’t stem fundamentally from secular principles. It actually stems from a desire to actualize a much different, ostensibly higher or ultimate, spiritual order.

Among us

That is why in 2021 I emphasized that aliens are so often interpreted as proof that Christianity is not the truth that will save us — that the Christian era is over, Christianity is defunct, a new religion is not only “needed now” but has arrived, whether we like it or not. “The invaders are here,” I summed up the claim, “and they impose on us the responsibility of accepting a new age from which there is no turning back. Humans are but one organism, a weak and inferior one, whose only hope of salvation is in satisfying whatever it is the aliens herald and demand.”

I went on to push back on this master narrative by way of Father (perhaps soon to be Saint) Seraphim Rose. He got ahead of the disclosure discourse decades ago, citing key scholars who showed the overwhelming pattern among “alien encounters” is of experiences impossible to distinguish from encounters over the millennia with spiritual entities — specifically fallen angels. Demons, in other words.

“Aliens,” Rose explained, do not behave like angels, who appear as holy messengers cautioning people at once to not be afraid. Instead, like demons, they zoom around at will, produce terrifying illusions, and violate and persecute victims in their bodies and minds.

Nevertheless, as anyone knows who grew up in the spiritual anarchy of the 1980s — where the lines blurred dangerously between “progressive” Christianity, New Age cults, and straight-up demonic occultism — there was already back then a huge and growing swath of alien believers who nursed a kind of syncretism with Christianity or some kind of “biblical” religion.

That was what troubled Rose the most. Today, many people speak of the Antichrist and the apocalypse, topics very close to Christ’s warning that in the coming age, many — even believers — will be deceived that He has returned or the end is nigh.

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ANDREAS SOLARO/Getty Images

Yes, millions of people may now be catching up to what counted as the frontier of the disclosure debate in 2021. X is full of eager, Spielberg-fueled arguments over whether aliens are compatible with Christianity, with both sides producing scripture, doctrine, lore, and receipts in the now-familiar style of the “global public square,” where every question is debated until it has been pulverized.

Even alien-skeptical Christians, or those aligned with Michael S. Heiser-style caution, can find serious authorities noting that the cosmos exceeds human comprehension. The existence of other rational created beings somewhere in that vastness cannot simply be ruled out.

But that is precisely the point. Some matters are best left to God. The human mind can crack them open with curiosity, only to find itself wandering a vast mental labyrinth — and once there, easy prey for delusion, pride, and disbelief.

Take, for one example making the rounds today, the question of whether He has perfect knowledge of all possible counterfactuals — a question that first made the rounds centuries ago thanks to Luis de Molina, a Jesuit theologian who touched off a furious and protracted round of discourse and debate, an effusion of energy that might well have been better spent in other ways.

What other ways? Well, here is where the new frontier of the disclosure debate appears.

Haunted halls

In theaters right now is a film called “Backrooms.” It’s close to being the opposite of “Disclosure Day,” at least in the sense that “Backrooms” is about the danger, and ultimately the tragic horror, of today’s deepening temptation to understand on our own terms the things that confuse and weaken us the most — things of our own flawed and falsely independent mental constructs.

Today the foremost of these false realities — what the ancient monks called logismoi — is the creepy combination of depression and pride that makes people curious to know “for themselves” what is really good and what is really evil.

Rather than trusting God on this matter or trusting God to sort it out and seeking refuge in humble self-denial of what even secular medicine calls the call of the void, we are all being carried along on a massive wave of belief that we somehow must subject all things to intellectual processing in order for us to function.

Increasingly, we treat human beings as if our only real function is intellectual processing. Everything becomes reducible to intelligence, or optimized as an operation of intelligence. Intelligence becomes the only thing that matters because it is treated as the only thing that truly exists. Everything else — the body, the soul, love, worship, suffering, memory, family, place — becomes merely an expression or construct of intelligence.

Under this view, nothing remains for us to do except intellectualize everything. We keep refining thought, language, and computation until we produce an intelligence so pure and complete that it no longer needs the rest of the human person at all, except perhaps for a time as fuel.

RELATED: ‘Backrooms’ is horror for a self-justifying age

A24

This insane belief has become compelling because it fits the modern mind. It is becoming a new “organized religion,” even among people who most loudly hate organized religion. We entered the current stage of technological development already convinced that spiritual truth could be uncovered, created, or replaced through endless discourse: talking, writing, printing, disseminating, propagandizing, discussing, debating, and filling the world with more and more words.

Eventually, we looked around and saw only language. Not merely spoken language, but language as thought itself. Reality had been swallowed by interpretation. And once everything became words, it was only a matter of time before we mistook the processing of words for the fullness of being human.

In 1962, Beat Generation drug hellion William S. Burroughs, author of “Junkie” and “Queer,” wrote that language is a virus from outer space — in other words, an alien. Any Christian must know that, in reality, the Word, the Logos, is the opposite of a deadly xenomorph. But severed from the divine Word, the merely human word swiftly becomes something alien, monstrous, devouring. (“Time to leave the Word-God behind,” Burroughs wrote in his final doped-up years.)

That is why the frontier of the disclosure debate now expands from the recognition that being sucked into the disclosure debate, by the “Disclosure Day” debate and all the alien debates, is a labyrinth with a minotaur inside our own delusional creation. This is the not-too-cryptic message of “Backrooms,” a message most strongly conveyed in the film by what’s also the cure for our servile and self-destructive yapocracy: silence. Holy silence.

'Despicable': Woman accused of posing as grieving parent of dead Camp Mystic girl to bilk donors



Deadly flash floods swept the Lone Star State's Hill Country region on July 4, killing at least 135 people, including 27 people at Camp Mystic.

Among those who perished at the Christian camp outside Hunt, Texas, was Chloe Childress, an 18-year-old counselor remembered by her family for her "contagious joy, countless friends, unending faith, and unimaginable energy."

While Wendie and Matthew Childress were dealing with the sudden loss of their daughter, a Florida woman was allegedly impersonating the bereaved parents online in an attempt to make a quick buck.

'This is bottom feeding.'

Maitlin White, a 28-year-old with ties to Crestview, Florida, has been charged with two felony counts of online impersonation. White allegedly pretended to be Matthew Childress and created SpotFund and GoFundMe pages where she solicited public donations to support the fallen teen's family.

"Using a young woman’s tragic death to scam people is despicable," wrote Harris County Precinct One Constable Alan Rosen.

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Maitlin White. Courtesy of the Office of Harris County Constable Pct 1 Alan Rosen.

Dane Schiller, a spokesman with the constable's office, told MySA that Childress' family reported the accounts, which first appeared on the crowdfunding platforms on July 8.

"Right out the gate, they [the family] called it to our attention and said, 'We have nothing to do with this,'" said Schiller.

Rosen announced on July 11 that his office had launched an investigation into a case where a scammer was pretending to be Matthew Childress. While the fraudulent pages were promptly shut down, Rosen indicated the GoFundMe donation page had already brought in approximately $1,500.

After shutting down the pages, authorities reportedly tracked banking and online records back to White, who Schiller indicated admitted to the fraud scheme on a phone call with officials.

"This is bottom feeding, seeking to exploit people’s emotions and abuse the memory of a young woman who died in such a horrific tragedy all to make a quick and illegal buck," stated Rosen. "Such cruelty to the family, as well as our entire community will not be tolerated."

GoFundMe said in a statement obtained by KRIV-TV that it has "zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform and bad actors who seek to take advantage of the generosity of others," adding that they "acted quickly to remove the fundraiser back in July, refund donors, and ban the account from future fundraising on GoFundMe."

The crowdfunding platform indicated that the alleged fraudster was unable to access the funds.

White, who is reportedly not yet in custody, is hardly the only person who allegedly exploited the tragic flood.

For instance, a number of liberals tried to put a political spin on the deaths of American children, in one case insinuating that the parents of the dead were racists.

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Riot, repeat: How America’s unrest became a bad rerun



History doesn’t just move forward — it echoes. Karl Marx once said history repeats itself, “first as tragedy, second as farce.” He meant it as a jab at 19th-century France, where Napoleon’s nephew attempted to replicate his uncle’s revolutionary drama not on the battlefield but rather through bureaucratic spectacle. Nevertheless, Marx’s insight fits modern America. Our cycles of unrest and outrage have become predictable theater — each act beginning with moral panic and ending in absurdity.

The summer of 2020 was a national trauma. The killing of George Floyd was a tragedy that radicals turned into revolution. Riots swept through more than 2,000 cities, torching businesses, destroying neighborhoods, and leaving dozens dead. Egged on by the race-baiting activists at Black Lives Matter, mobs looted stores, assaulted police, and terrorized communities.

The line between tragedy and farce is thinner than ever — and this time, we can’t afford to play the fool.

Media outlets downplayed the carnage as “fiery but mostly peaceful.” Political leaders joined the chorus, afraid to confront the mob. Corporate America rushed to signal its virtue by taking the knee, pouring billions into “racial equity” schemes that enriched activists but divided the country.

The real tragedy wasn’t just the damage — it was the betrayal. Spineless mayors and governors surrendered their cities. Police were handcuffed, budgets gutted, and criminals emboldened. The riots hollowed out public trust, replacing civic order with cultural resentment. America’s guardians became scapegoats, and justice itself became negotiable.

From riot to parody

Five years on, the rebellion has devolved into a pathetic sideshow. Antifa’s latest “resistance” — a handful of masked agitators harassing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they carry out long-overdue deportations — feels less like revolution and more like performance art.

Their vandalism is designed for TikTok, not for change: laser pointers at officers, graffiti on walls, choreographed scuffles for social media. It’s a boutique insurgency — staged in deep-blue enclaves, broadcast for dopamine hits, and forgotten the next day.

The chaos of 2020 burned cities. The tantrums of 2025 barely dent a precinct wall. The tragedy has become farce.

Still, both movements spring from the same poisoned root: a left-wing ideology that despises America’s foundations. BLM targeted police as enforcers of “white supremacy.” Antifa brands border agents as fascists for upholding immigration law.

Both rely on the same tactics — decentralized mobs, anonymous online organizing, and emotional manipulation amplified by social media. Both seek power through grievance, not through persuasion. And both reveal how progressive rage, unmoored from reality, becomes self-parody.

In 2020, rioters burned precincts and seized city blocks. They demanded “defund the police” and got it — along with record crime rates and broken neighborhoods. In 2025, their heirs spray-paint slogans and livestream tantrums. Their only victory is visibility.

The digital theater of rage

Social media turned riots into content. In 2020, doctored clips of “police brutality” fueled nationwide hysteria, empowered anti-cop lunatics, and enriched grifters. Today, the same algorithms push Antifa’s posturing, turning vandalism into viral spectacle.

These platforms profit from outrage. They amplify emotion, suppress context, and reward hysteria. The result is a feedback loop of performative politics — activism as cosplay.

After years of indulgence, government crackdowns have finally returned. ICE operates under firm executive backing. Local police departments no longer hesitate to enforce the law. The radicals, once protected, now find themselves exposed and outmatched.

But even as law enforcement regains its footing, the left’s playbook remains unchanged. The grievances are repackaged, the slogans recycled, the media coverage predictable. It’s cultural Marxism with a TikTok filter — ideology as entertainment.

Farce doesn’t mean harmless. Every protest turned stunt still corrodes civic life. Each viral act of defiance feeds distrust in law, borders, and the rule of order itself.

The radicals thrive on illusion: fake oppression, fake urgency, fake rebellion. Meanwhile, real Americans bear the cost — higher crime, divided communities, and institutions too timid to defend themselves.

RELATED: The left’s costume party: Virtue signaling as performance art

Photo by serazetdinov via Getty Images

The lesson we refuse to learn

The tragedy of 2020 proved that surrendering to the mob invites ruin. The farce of 2025 shows that ridicule alone isn’t enough to defeat it. Both demand resolve — the courage to confront lies, restore order, and defend the institutions that safeguard freedom.

History doesn’t stop repeating itself; it stops being repeated. Whether America ends this cycle depends on whether its citizens choose firmness over fear, enforcement over appeasement, and truth over spectacle.

Enough with the doctored outrage porn. The burning question is whether we’ll tolerate this clown show recycling into catastrophe or crush it with resolve that honors real American values.

The line between tragedy and farce is thinner than ever — and this time, we can’t afford to play the fool.

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266
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Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Whenever The World Mocks Prayer, Christians Should Pray Twice As Hard

It’s become increasingly fashionable for people to say, 'Now is not the time for prayer – it is the time for action!'

If Your Response To Tragedy Is To Mock God, Repent

Those scoffing at Christians' prayer after Wednesday's tragedy repeat the folly of the crowds who dared the crucified Christ to save Himself.

Sometimes the most Christian thing to do is shut up



I didn’t want to write this. I still don’t.

The push notification lit up my phone while I was working out — campers swept away as the Guadalupe River surged dozens of feet in under an hour. I walked out of the gym and teared up in my truck.

Now I’m stuffing sunscreen and swimsuits into two trunks. My older two kids head off to sleepaway camp next week. How do I tell them the adventure they’re so giddy about just turned fatal for other families? What can a keyboard jockey like me offer when other parents are living a nightmare? My first instinct was to close the laptop, whisper a prayer, and stay quiet.

But silence isn’t always the faithful response.

Entire campsites — from Kerr County to the back roads of Texas Hill Country — have been wiped away. Parents who expected mosquito bites and ghost stories are now scanning riverbanks for anything recognizable. They don’t need punditry. They need the rest of us to witness their grief without turning it into the next battleground in the culture war.

That’s the part I dread most.

Within hours of the first siren, the internet erupted in blame. Was it climate change? Outdated flood maps? Local negligence? Federal failure? Pick your camp, rack up your retweets, move the score marker. The bodies weren’t even identified before the hashtags started trending. It’s as if we’ve forgotten how to mourn without also trying to win.

'Where was God?' feels like the only honest question when the water rises. But storms don’t mean vengeance, any more than sunsets are God’s apology.

Then there’s that phrase believers lean on — “thoughts and prayers.” “Ts and Ps,” as Gen Z sneers. If I lost one of my kids, those words would feel like a whispered lullaby in a room suddenly emptied of breath — tender, well-meaning, and painfully inadequate.

Not because prayer is pointless. Because the cliché is.

When calamity struck, Job’s friends “sat with him on the ground seven days … and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.” No carbon emissions debate. No X threads. Just presence. Silence. Solidarity.

Maybe that’s the posture we need now — especially along a river whose name, Guadalupe, traces back to “river of the wolf.” Creation still has teeth. Even waters we picnic beside can turn predator in a single thunderstorm. Wolves hunt in packs. They also protect their own. Maybe that’s the symbolism: The same river that devoured so many calls the rest of us to move as a pack — toward the survivors, not away.

Real faith doesn’t show up as a hashtag. It comes in the form of casseroles and chain saws, spare bedrooms and Venmo links. It hauls soggy photo albums into the sun. It listens more than it lectures. When Jesus met Mary and Martha at the tomb, He wept before He preached. Maybe that’s the order we’ve lost.

RELATED: Liberal women quickly learn what happens when you say vile things about little girls killed in the floods

Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

So what can we do from a distance?

Give until it pinches — money, blood, bottled water, even unused PTO if your workplace allows donations. Relief crews will need support for months, not days.

Go if you can. Student ministries, church groups, skilled contractors — this work doesn’t end when the cameras leave.

Guard these families’ dignity. Share verified donation links, not drone footage of recovered bodies. If you wouldn’t show the image to your child, don’t post it.

Grieve aloud. Let your kids see adults who don’t numb tragedy with mindless scrolling.

And yes, pray— not as a substitute for action, but as its source. Prayer is oxygen for those on their feet. When the apostle James said, “Faith without works is dead,” he might as well have been looking out the window of a rescue chopper.

I get the temptation to shake a fist at heaven. “Where was God?” feels like the only honest question when the water rises. But storms don’t mean vengeance, any more than sunsets are God’s apology. Scripture calls Him a refuge and redeemer, not a puppet master yanking strings to break hearts. Turning away from God now is like fleeing the only lighthouse in a gale.

If grief makes prayer sound hollow, answer the hollowness with action — and with the stubborn belief that the Creator remains good, even when creation feels cruel.

I still don’t want to write this. I’d rather tuck my kids in tonight and pretend rivers respect property lines and holiday weekends. But if this piece offers anything, let it give permission to mourn without politicizing. For one day — one hour even — let grief be grief. Let dads hold their kids tighter. Let moms remind us that safety doesn’t come with a zip code. Let the church prove it’s more than a Sunday address.

With the sparklers of Independence Day barely cooled, maybe the most patriotic thing we can do is recover the lost art of compassionate presence. No monologue — including this one — can fill a bunk bed left empty. But through gifts, sweat, silence, and prayer, maybe we can shoulder a sliver of the weight.

If you’re reading this in a dry living room, remember the families whose furniture is floating somewhere downriver.

Before you post, pause.

Before you debate, donate.

If “thoughts and prayers” still feel hollow, add two more words: “Here’s how.”

Then go do it.

Leftist calls Christian Camp Mystic ‘whites only,’ compares tragedy to deportations



The death toll continues to climb after tragic flash floods struck Central Texas, particularly in Kerrville, where the Guadalupe River surged and claimed over 100 lives.

Of those lives missing or taken, some of the most devastating have been the young campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp.

The aftermath is undeniably horrific for all involved. And while help is offered, heroism is plenty, and prayers are being sent around the globe, the left sees not just the lives lost and homes destroyed but an opportunity to spread blame.

Rosie O’Donnell wasted no time doing just that, pointing the finger at President Trump for the disaster.


“These are going to be the results we’re going to start to see on a daily basis because he’s put this country in so much danger by his horrible, horrible decisions and this ridiculously immoral bill that he’s just signed into law as Republicans cheered. People will die as a result, and they’ve started to already,” O’Donnell said in a TikTok video.

“The people most likely to complain in situations like this are the people least likely to help. The people most likely to pray in situations like this are also the people most likely to help,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” says.

However, even worse than O’Donnell’s sentiment — which is heavily reflected by those on the left — are those who are blaming the Texans whose lives were lost to the flood.

Texas pediatrician Dr. Christina Propst said in a post on Facebook, “May all visitors, children, non-MAGA voters and pets be safe and dry. Kerr County MAGA voted to gut FEMA. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for. Bless their hearts.”

“So as children are dying, as people are losing their lives, the first thing in this Democrat’s mind is, well, they get what they voted for, because they voted for Donald Trump. Again, cuts to FEMA had nothing to do with this,” Stuckey comments, disgusted.

Propst has now been fired, but she’s far from the only one who has let party politics destroy her sense of kindness and morality.

A former Houston appointee who served on the Houston Food Insecurity Board, Sadie Perkins, claimed on TikTok that Camp Mystic is “whites only.”

“You have carved out an all-white, whites-only enclave in East Texas for your white children. Yeah, I have a problem with that. I have a big problem with that. Once again, this is no shade to the girls. I hope they all get found. But once again, y’all have to understand the climate that we’re living in,” Perkins said.

“They want you to have sympathy for these people. They want you to get out of your bed and to come out of your home and go to find these people and to donate your money to go find these people. Meanwhile, they are deporting your family members. Meanwhile, they’re setting up concentration camps and prisons for your family members,” she continued.

“And I need y’all to keep that in mind before y’all get out there and put on your rain boots and go find these little girls,” she added.

Stuckey is disturbed, noting that while these women have said horrible things, there are men and women out there helping find the missing.

“This is showing the best of humanity in the rescue efforts that we have and the courage that we’ve seen — and the very worst of humanity who just cannot understand what it means for an image bearer of God to lose their life,” Stuckey says.

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Horror and heroism in Texas as search for flood survivors continues



In the early hours of Independence Day, West Texas and the Hill Country received nearly nearly a foot of rain, which triggered flash floods and sent the Guadalupe River surging 20 feet above flood stage and well over its banks. The rushing waters — fed by continued downpours over the weekend — swallowed homes and vehicles and claimed the lives of scores of Americans.

The death toll rose to 70 on Sunday afternoon, the New York Times reported.

'It doesn't surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers.'

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said as of 9 a.m. Sunday, 59 victims were confirmed dead in his county — 38 adults and 21 children.

At least five of the 750 girls attending Camp Mystic — the Christian camp in Hunt that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said was "horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I've seen in any natural disaster" — are confirmed dead. Eleven girls and one counselor from Camp Mystic were still missing as of Sunday afternoon.

Those numbers might have been much higher were it not for the camp's 70-year-old co-owner Dick Eastland, whom U.S. Rep. August Plufger (R-Tex.) indicated "no doubt gave his life attempting to save his campers."

Texas Public Radio reported that Eastland was among the dead. His co-owner and wife Tweety Eastland was found safe at their home.

Paige Sumner paid tribute to Dick Eastland in a column for the Kerrville Daily Times: "It doesn't surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers. He had already saved so many lives with the gift of Camp Mystic."

Campers also benefited from the heroism of 400 first responders and 20 agencies at work in Kerr County, including the U.S. Coast Guard, which conducted at least 12 flights near the Kerrville area.

'It severed his artery and his arm — almost cut it clean off.'

While an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew worked to whisk away 15 campers on Friday, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer reportedly remained on the ground, providing medical assistance and helping with the evacuation efforts of 230 victims into assisting agencies' air assets.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem later singled out Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and Petty Office Scott Ruskin, noting he "directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas."

"This was the first rescue mission of his career, and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene. Scott Ruskin is an American hero," said Noem. "His selfless courage embodies the spirit and mission of the USCG."

Photo by Eric Vryn/Getty Images

President Donald Trump, who declared a major disaster for Kerr County, Texas, on Sunday afternoon, indicated in a corresponding statement that U.S. Coast Guard and Texas first responders have "saved more than 850 lives."

'He died a hero.'

About a half hour east of Camp Mystic, Julian Ryan lost his life in a similar exhibition of American greatness and virtue, trying to save his mother, his fiancée, and his 6-year-old and 13-month-old sons from drowning when the Guadalupe River rapidly poured into their trailer home in Ingram.

Ryan went to bed after finishing a long night shift as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. But both he and his fiancée, Christinia Wilson, had a rude awakening, finding that ankle-deep waters chased their 6-year-old into their bedroom along with Ryan's mother.

Shortly after powering through the front door, the river sealed the family inside Ryan's bedroom, where the water quickly began to rise above their waists, reported the New York Times.

When the mattress began to float, the parents put the boys atop it then looked for a way to get everyone out.

Desperate to get his family onto the roof of the trailer as the waters rose, Ryan smashed a window with his bare hand, mortally wounding himself in the process.

Wilson told KHOU-TV, "It severed his artery and his arm — almost cut it clean off."

"He had lost all of it, all his blood," said Wilson. "He looked at me and the kids, and my mother-in-law, and said, 'Sorry, I'm not going to make it. I love you all.'"

Wilson, her boys, and her mother-in-law managed to survive, even though the trailer was torn in half.

Connie Salas, Ryan's sister, tearfully told KHOU, "He died a hero."

The GoFundMe for the family, which had raised over $71,000 as of Sunday afternoon, emphasized that "Julian gave his life for his family, passing as a true hero."

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha indicated that those wishing to support relief and rebuilding efforts should donate to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund.

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'Haunt me the rest of my life': Father reportedly kills family and himself in murder-suicide on same day as son's graduation



A Nebraska father reportedly killed his entire family and himself in what authorities suspect was a triple murder-suicide. The dad allegedly murdered his wife and children on the same day as his son's high school graduation — and just days after being released from a mental hospital.

Around 9:45 a.m. Saturday, deputies with the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office reportedly responded to an emergency at a home in Johnson Lake.

'But my husband tries to kill himself ... a lot.'

Deputies found the dead bodies of four individuals "with fatal knife wounds," the Nebraska State Patrol said in a press release. Police allegedly also discovered a knife at the grisly crime scene.

Police identified the deceased individuals as 42-year-old Jeremy Koch, his 41-year-old wife, Bailey Koch, and their sons, 18-year-old Hudson Koch and 16-year-old Asher Koch.

RELATED: Boy, 15, claims brother killed 'whole family' before killing himself. But sister, 11, survives — and tells different story.

Marccophoto\u00a0via\u00a0iStock / Getty Images Plus

Just days before the tragedy, Bailey Koch launched a GoFundMe campaign titled "Jeremy’s Battle: Mental Health Support Needed."

"But my husband tries to kill himself ... a lot," Bailey wrote.

She noted that Jeremy attempted suicide four times, including a near-fatal collision in 2012 during which "he drove straight into a semi on the highway."

Bailey said her husband was diagnosed with severe depression in 2009.

The wife said Jeremy went seven years "without experiencing dark thoughts" until July 2024.

She said that because of her husband's mental illness, he could not consistently work at the family's landscaping and greenhouse services business.

RELATED: How teacher's alleged grooming of student led to marriage-ending affair, chilling suicide pact, possible 105-year prison term

D-Keine via iStock / Getty Images

Bailey wrote, "In March, just a couple months ago, I woke to Jeremy shaking me awake saying, 'Something is wrong.' He was standing over my bed with a knife ready to end his life."

The mother said she was able to "talk him down and into accepting help."

Jeremy was admitted to the Richard Young Hospital for inpatient mental health treatment for the fourth time.

She said her husband refused to eat or drink while at the hospital and was "slowly completing suicide."

Bailey said Jeremy was released from the hospital on Thursday so he could attend his son's high school graduation.

"But it appears Jeremy is reacting negatively to our attempt with a new mental health med ... one he's been on for a whole three nights," she wrote.

Bailey continued, "And yes, he's having suicidal thoughts, so he had some tears of frustration and sadness."

The wife noted that she was not going to bring Jeremy back to the mental hospital until after Hudson's graduation.

Bailey thanked those who had donated to the GoFundMe campaign.

"Oh my heart, you guys!!! I cannot thank you all enough for the support ... financial, through messages of support and suggestions, and through prayers," she wrote. "We feel you holding us as we fight this battle and know God placed you in our lives, so we feel His presence."

The crowdfunding campaign ended on Sunday after raising more than $20,000.

RELATED: Death of Hollywood actor's daughter ruled suicide, parents suspect something far more sinister: 'Her body tells a different story'

gorodenkoff via iStock / Getty Images Plus

News Channel Nebraska reported that Lane and Peggy Kugler — Bailey's father and mother and the grandparents of the two teen boys — said in a Facebook post: "What I saw will haunt me the rest of my life."

The Kuglers said they were the first to discover their loved ones dead — "lying in their beds."

Bailey was a special education teacher with Holdrege Public Schools.

"Our Holdrege school community is grieving after a tragic event that has deeply affected us all," the school district stated. "Our hearts are with everyone impacted."

The sons attended Cozad High School, where Hudson was supposed to graduate Saturday.

"Cozad Schools was made aware of a tragic situation that will deeply affect our Cozad community," the school district said. "Our thoughts are with all those impacted during this incredibly difficult time."

Bailey also said Hudson was supposed to move to California for a "three-year bonsai apprenticeship" after graduating high school.

Asher was a freshman in high school and a "rockstar golfer on the varsity team."

Bailey said, "Proud parents here."

You can watch a local newscast from KLKN-TV here about the tragedy.

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