Join host Tony Perkins as he broadcasts from the heart of Jerusalem, welcoming listeners to the new year with spiritual insights and encouragement. This episode dives into exploring how a deeper knowledge of God’s Word can guide us through 2025’s challenges and seize opportunities. Interviews with guests like Cheryl Chumley provide a window into the role of faith in media and politics, while Tony emphasizes the importance of understanding biblical teachings as we navigate moral and cultural decays.
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from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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Well, Happy New Year and welcome to Washington Watch. I do hope and pray that this new year is off to a great start for you. It’s just starting, so I hope it’s great. Well, for those of you who are watching, you can see I’m not in my studio in Washington today. I’m actually… overlooking the city of Jerusalem. If you’re listening on radio, you’re just gonna have to take my word for it. Well, on this New Year’s Day, I want to step back from the daily news cycle that we cover here on Washington Watch. It’s been an intense year, all right? This past year has been intense, and I’m just gonna have to tell you, 2025 is going to be intense as well. But I want to focus today on something that will… Well, frankly, it’ll guide us through the challenges and the opportunities of this coming year. And I wanna challenge you and I wanna encourage you to deepen your walk with the Lord in 2025. That’s what’s gonna help us grow stronger in this year and overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities. And the best way to do that is to get to know the Lord better. And how do we do that? We do that through His Word, the Bible. And what a more fitting place to dive into than right here, with what God has written in his word in Israel. I mean, I’m standing right here where the Bible was written and it is a fascinating place to be. I always love to come to Israel, but you know what? You might not be able to come to Israel, but you can dive into the word of God and you can read the truth that came forth from this land. And I’m pleased to be joining you from Israel. the studio of actually our first television broadcast partner, His Channel. And Dennis Swick and his team have opened their Jerusalem studio to us today, and we are very, very grateful. Every time we come to Israel and we broadcast, we do it from their studio, the His Channel, and we’re just grateful for them. Well, as we find encouragement in getting into God’s word in 2025, we have a great lineup of guests for you today. One of the more challenging places to openly embrace a biblical worldview in America today is in the traditional news media. I mean, it’s just it’s you don’t see that. It’s kind of discouraged even among conservative outlets But God’s Word instructs us to be salt and to be light and my first guest Cheryl Chumley has proven she is up to the task at the Washington Times where she wears a few hats and And she’s going to join me in just a moment. Later, Dr. Keenan Curitan, Vice President of Christian Resources at the Family Research Council and the editor of Stand on the Word will join me to discuss what FRC is making available for anyone that would like to dive into studying the Word of God in a very easy way. We’re going to talk about that. We’re going to talk about how you can get a copy of the Stand on the Word journal. In fact, I’ll go ahead and give you a head start. Text the word journal to 67742 to go along with the Stand on the Word Bible reading program. Then at the end of the program, I’m going to be joined by a special guest. Here on set, Daniel Cohen, the news director of Real Life Network is going to join me and we’ll get his perspective on how the Bible is literally coming alive here in the Holy Land. Not only does Daniel frequently share the news about what’s happening in Israel, he does it from Israel where he and his family live. So we’re going to hear from him what it’s like to be a follower of Christ here in the Holy Land. site tonyperkins.com and again let me give you a couple of things to uh you’re going to want to follow up on to join the bible reading plan you can text bible to six seven seven four two that’s bible to six seven seven four two and to get a copy of the journal that goes along with the reading don’t have to have it but it’s helpful text journal to six seven seven four two all right my first guest today Cheryl Chumley, who, as I mentioned earlier, wears a few hats at The Washington Times. She serves as the online opinion editor and commentary writer for The Washington Times, as well as the host of their podcast, Bold and Blunt. She’s also a bestselling author of several books, and her next book actually comes out in the next couple of weeks. It’s entitled God Given or Bust? Defeating Marxism and Saving America with Biblical Thoughts. truth. Cheryl, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining me on this special day.
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Good morning, Tony. It’s so great to be with you. Happy New Year to you all.
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Thank you and Happy New Year to you as well. In Matthew 5, beginning of verse 13, we read how God has called us to be salt and light here on the earth. We aren’t called to retreat to places where we only commune with like-minded people 24-7. Although we need to have that fellowship, but it’s kind of like a huddle. We get to plays and then we go out on the field of life. You know, as someone who’s been working in the traditional media, some compare your role to like living in the lion’s den. You have frequently expressed the importance of your faith in God and the role that that plays. So I just want to start off with our interview in talking about What role has the Bible played in you living out your life in a very public way?
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That’s a great question. And just to put a little context to it, I come at reading the Bible on a daily basis from a background of atheism, agnosticism, and not reading the Bible at all. So I’ve lived and seen both sides. And I can tell you, When you read the Bible, one of the first things you get is clarity, right? Clarity for your spiritual walk, but also clarity when you look at what’s going on in the world today, which is chaotic at best, more evil than anything. And you try and make sense of it. The Bible shows you clarity. how to deal with issues that crop up in your life every day. And insofar as using the Bible in my media coverage, it just basically shows me everything I need to cover that’s important to bring to light So readers and listeners and watchers of the news can make sense of what’s going on in the culture and political world. So first and foremost, it’s clarity. Second off, it’s peace. It’s peace to go forward and say what God wants me to say without fear of any type of consequences from humans that I need to fear.
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Now, Cheryl, when you cover a lot of the news and things are happening very rapidly. There’s a lot of bad stuff happening all over the world. Would you say that the Bible, as you’re in the Bible, in your personal study and devotion, that it helps you make sense of what’s happening in the world around you?
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ABSOLUTELY. IF YOU LOOK AT WHAT’S GOING ON IN AMERICA WITH THE MORAL DEGRADATION, THE CULTURAL ROT, THE POLITICAL UPHEAVALS, THE HOT POLITICAL DIVIDE, AND THEN YOU EXPAND THAT AND YOU LOOK AT WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD, REALLY YOU CAN FUNNEL everything that’s going wrong in the world back to people straying from God. All roads lead back to God. And if you want to make sense of anything that’s taking place in the world, from the transgender issue to the to the rising tensions in the Middle East? The answer is that people have strayed from God and they’re not walking in the path that he laid for them in the Bible. So when you can see things that way, it really brings a sense of peace because then you know how to best fight the battle. If everything is wrong in the world because people have turned away from God, then the way to make everything right in the world is to lead people back to God.
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Right. And with that understanding, there is a, as you said, there’s peace. We lose the anxiety. And it’s not, you don’t have to be involved in the big issues of the world. It applies to your world. It applies to what’s happening in your world, what’s happening around you, whether it’s in the workplace, at the home. Just having that biblical understanding and guidance, applying those principles, you know, as Philippians 4, says, you know, we should be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known unto God. I want to go to what you just talked about, because really that sounds like that’s the heart of the book that you have coming out called God Given or Bust, Defeating Marxism and Saving America with Biblical Truths. And in fact, my good friend, Pastor Jack Hibbs has endorsed that book. And you’re talking about America’s way back. I mean, we’re all excited. There was an election. That election, though, from my perspective, and correct me if you see it differently, Cheryl, feel free to tell me, but I think this election has given us an opportunity. It hasn’t secured anything, but it’s given us an opportunity. And as Christians, this is the opportunity to take those biblical truths and put them into practice.
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Yes. So it’s not time to sit back and say, oh, good, we’ve got some conservatives now in the White House. We can all just go about our business and had our 401ks and buy that second car, third car or whatever. This is really the time for Christians to dig in deeper and look inward at what’s been wrong in America for so very long. And it’s not the THE POLITICAL WORLD. THE POLITICS HAS BEEN WRONG, BUT THAT’S NOT REALLY THE ROOT. THE POLITICS JUST REPRESENT WHAT WE HAVE ALLOWED INTO OUR COUNTRY AS A PEOPLE. AND WE HAVE ALLOWED SO MUCH EVIL TO TAKE OVER AND TAKE ROOT AND So now we have time because we have a president in the White House who is going to take care of things like the economy and foreign policy and even touch on the transgender madness and so forth. But we as Christians have time to really turn back to God. You know, we talk about every time there’s an election, the Christian community needs to repent and pray and God will hear us and heal our land. Well, we too often forget the idea of repentance, right? That’s the actual turning from our sin. And there’s still so much sin that goes forth in America that we as Christians have allowed to go forth without fight. Now’s the time to go back, revisit those sinful behaviors and sinful agendas, and actually fight to turn back from them. And one way we can do so is stop allowing the idea that gay marriage is actually a thing. There is no such thing as gay marriage. Males cannot marry males. Females cannot marry females. Marriage is defined by God. So maybe we could pick up the new year with fighting that narrative and actually fighting effectively to define marriage in America as between a man and a woman.
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You know, as you say that, Cheryl, I was thinking about in the next few weeks we’re going to hear a lot about reconciliation from a budgetary standpoint of Congress working with reconciliation to undo some of the things the Biden administration did as a new administration comes in. But You know, we can do all of the financial rearranging that we can do, and it’s important. I don’t want to diminish that at all, but it’s true reconciliation, the spiritual reconciliation of returning to God, as you said, repentance. That’s the kind of reconciliation America needs if we’re to get, if we’re to be great again, quite frankly.
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It is. We have to stand for the right things, even if the wrong things have become the trend and become the norm, right? It’s very easy for evil to seep in and then become accepted and then become normal, and then the next generation just accepts that as godly, even. So we need to look back at what’s going on in America from the LGBTQ agenda to abortion to… you know, the acceptance of immorality in our politicians even. And we need to take a strong stand on that and not just roll over and say, well, someone else will deal with it. If not the Christian community, then whom?
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Right. And it starts with the word of God, because that is truth. That’s our source of strength. That is the standard by which we live and we measure things. Cheryl Chomley, thank you for joining us. Happy New Year. May the Lord bless you in this year to come.
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God bless. Thank you.
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All right, folks, stick with us. We’re coming back with more of this special edition of Washington Watch on the other side of the brick. Dr. Keenan Curitan joins me as we talk more about Stand on the Word and how you can join us on this journey through the Word of God.
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During these challenging times for our nation, Family Research Council continues to serve as a watchman on the wall for faith, family, and freedom. And together, thanks to your support, we’re making an eternal impact. 2024 has been another year of shining the light for biblical truth in Washington, D.C. This fall, over 1,000 spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives gathered for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit. to pray for our nation and ensure that the issues impacting sage cons were understood and advanced. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins marked a major milestone this year, its 900th episode, and added the Washington Watch News Desk, a new production that presents the top news each day from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand published 2,000 articles of news, commentary, and podcasts in 2024, garnering over 5 million views. FRC’s outlet for news and commentary continues to pursue the truth on the issues that matter most to you and your family. And with the launch of the Stand Firm app, you can listen to, watch, and read our content in one simple place. Pray for current issues, stay rooted in the scriptures, and engage the political sphere with a community of believers on our new platform. In 2024, FRC shaped public policy and culture, organizing the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, where members of Congress and Christian leaders came together to seek God’s intervention in America. In May, FRC called upon believers to pray for and stand with Israel by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel’s peace, prosperity, and protection. With Pray, Vote, Stand Decision 2024, FRC and Real Life Network led a powerful evening of election night coverage to analyze the election results and pray that our nation would turn back to God. We also filmed a transformative educational course, God and Government, Launching in January 2025, this series will explore the biblical and historical foundations of our government, empowering you to stand confidently in your role as a citizen of heaven and earth. Family Research Council thanks you for partnering with us for another year of standing for faith, family, and freedom.
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Looking to grow closer to God in the new year? FRC’s Stand on the Word spiral-bound journal is here to help. Dive deeper into Scripture with thought-provoking questions, note-taking space, and context for each book and author. This second edition, covering Isaiah 2 Revelation, will guide you in tracking your journey through God’s Word while deepening your faith in Christ. Order now at frc.org slash store or text journal to 67742. Perfect for you and your loved ones.
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Welcome back to this special Washington Watch as we begin the new year 2025. We are delighted to continue journeying together through Family Research Council’s Stand on the Word Bible reading plan. This is actually our third journey through the Bible at FRC. I’ve done it multiple times with my family prior to that. But this two-year reading plan was created here at FRC. We launched it back in 2020 to encourage people. to read through the Scriptures daily and begin kind of a new habit of intentionally abiding in the Word of God, knowing God better, hearing from God, and then obeying God. You can’t just hear it. You’ve got to actually do it. The Lord said, if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments. You know, and it’s never too late to start. We’re halfway through this journey, but we’re starting into the second half this month. You can be a part of it. It’s never too late to join. And joining me now to talk about this is Dr. Kenan Curitan, Vice President for Christian Resources and Editor for Stand on the Word. Kenan, welcome back to the program.
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Happy New Year and great to join you, Tony.
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Well, so I’m here in Israel. Behind me is the city of Jerusalem. And, you know, talking on this program, I get Daniel Cohen’s going to be joining me in a minute. We’re going to be talking about, you know, how the Bible has really just come to life when we look at what is happening around the world today. I want to talk about how we can have confidence and peace in these times by being in the Word of God. But before we get to that, let’s talk a little bit about the mechanics. How can our listeners join us on this journey?
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Well, we’ve got a lot of tools, Tony. You know, we started out, you know, back in 2020. It was amazing that God gave you the vision to do this right before COVID started and what a godsend it was. But we started out in 2020 with a calendar, just a simple downloadable calendar app. that is available as a PDF for download and print or for purchase and can be sent by mail. And we’re still offering that Bible reading calendar at frc.org forward slash Bible. But then we developed the website, the web property. And when you go to that website, already mentioned the site there, frc.org forward slash Bible, you’ll find a user-friendly format that offers the verse of the day, the reading for that particular day, including an audio version for those who want to listen to the Bible in a distinguished voice. And of course, you can scroll back or you can scroll forward if you need to catch up or if you want to look ahead. And then also on that page, you’ve got a couple of questions for daily discussion. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a Bible scholar to answer those questions or a theologian. All you have to do is read the text and the answers will be pretty obvious. But these are great accountability tools, especially when you’re reading the Bible together as a family. And of course, you’ll notice on Sundays, though, that we have a debrief day. And that’s where families and friends can gather and have a conversation about what God said to them over the past week. And I think that’s one of the best things about the whole plan. But, you know, the truth is a lot of people get bogged down when they get to say Leviticus or Chronicles. And so we’ve got a couple of encouragements to help people continue on that journey. And they can sign up for help to stay on track. And one is, you know, simply text the word Bible. to 67742. And if you sign up for the text message, you’ll get a weekly text message on Sunday evenings with a link to the entire week’s worth of readings and questions. And another way is to sign up for the daily email on that same webpage. And when you sign in, you’ll receive daily emails with a link to the reading and a couple of questions for daily discussion. So we’ve got a number of tools and we’ve got more if you want to discuss them.
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Yeah, there’s plenty at the website, frc.org slash Bible. Lots of resources there. Plus we have the journal. And if you, maybe you use the journal in the first part, you might wanna use the journal in the second part. You can text the word journal to 67742, 67742. And we’ll send you a link so that you can get that. I wanna go back to the structure for just a little bit. You brought up the Sunday. So the readings are Monday through Saturday. It’s broken down into a two-year reading plan so that these are bite-sized chunks, 15, 20 minutes a day. But Sunday, the reason I wanted to focus on that is because I’m here in Israel as we’re recording this in advance of January 1st. That idea came to me as I was having Shabbat dinner here with some Jewish folks a number of years ago. And it was just fascinating, the conversations that were taking place around the table. And so to facilitate that in this Bible reading plan, there are no readings on Sunday. It’s simply a conversation as a family around the dinner table about the readings for the week, what the Lord may have shown. We’ve got questions that will kind of prompt that conversation about how did the Lord speak to you? And Kenan, I’ll just have to say, as I started this number of years ago for my own family, that has been one of the highlights of just having the conversations about the application of God’s word and watch my children over the years grow in their understanding of the word and its application.
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Absolutely. I think that’s one of the great things about this plan. You know, there are a lot of different reading plans out there. This one is unique. As you pointed out in other broadcasts, it’s chronologically prioritized. In other words, it takes you through the Bible as events happen in history as far as possible. But it is, as you point out, a two-year plan. And one of the things that we found out and gotten great feedback on this is And advantage of that is that people are reading the Bible in these bite-sized chunks, and it only takes about 10, 15 minutes. And actually, people are sticking with it, which, you know, with a one-year plan, you got this huge chunk that they have to bite off. And then that Sunday, you kind of get that breathing moment where you can just kind of pause. And then you gather around with either family or friends and have that discussion and go deeper. And that’s really part of the power of this plan to me is there’s great spiritual synergy when you have a group of people who are going through the same section of Scripture and God is telling each of them different things. and it’s great to learn from one another. I mean, you grow and you get deeper, not only in your relationship with the Lord, but also with one another.
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Right, and it could be as a family, maybe you’re single, it could be a small group, but it’s designed to encourage one another in this journey together. Kenan, we’re up against a break, so we’re gonna hit pause for just a minute. I’m gonna come back to Dr. Curitan. as my guests will continue our conversation on the other side of the break. But if you would like to join us in this journey, text the word Bible to 67742. That’s Bible to 67742. Or go to frc.org slash Bible and join us in this journey through the word of God. Don’t go away. We’re back after this.
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So if you like to think and you like to pray, FRC is the place for you.
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I think it is the best program out there.
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Yeah, I’ve absolutely loved my experience interning at FRC.
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They really are making waves out in the political world and doing it from the light of the Lord.
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It’s really humbling for me as a college student who has been involved in the life movement for only a couple of years to be able to witness it alongside of some of the people who have spent their entire lives fighting. A huge thing that sets FRC’s internship apart from others is they are looking for what they can pour into you instead of what they can get out of you.
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I have talked to so many of my friends who have interned other places and they’re responding to emails or taking phone calls and doing things like that, but here we get real hands-on experience and get to talk to important people and do important things that we get to see the impact of.
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The throne of Jesus Christ is unchallenged. His name was never on the ballot to begin with, and it’s never gonna be on the ballot. He’s the King of Kings, and He’s the Lord of Lords, and nothing’s gonna change that. And so our mission stays the same, preach the gospel, make disciples, get ready for heaven. In the meantime, that we’re to advance the concerns of the kingdom of God here on earth.
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america has entered a critical and vulnerable period from now until january the 20th join family research council for operation prayer shield a 10-week prayer initiative for our nation from now until january 20th our country faces global challenges a transition of leadership and a lame duck session of congress This season calls for heightened spiritual vigilance, discernment, and prayer. Text the word SHIELD to 67742 to join us. You’ll have access to prayer points, scripture, prayer calls. Text SHIELD to 67742. Unite with us and pray for our nation. Welcome back to this special Washington Watch New Year’s Day edition. As we’re focusing on the word, you know, there’s a lot of things you can do in 2025. But I’ll tell you one thing that will make a huge difference in your life, and that is to go deeper in your knowledge and understanding of the Lord. And how would you do that? Spend time with him. How do you do that? Prayer. and in the Word, abiding in Christ. And we do that through our prayer, through times of prayer, dedicated, committed times of prayer and study of His Word. So we’re talking about that as we talk about Stand on the Word, our journey through the Word of God. And helping me in this journey, this conversation about the journey, Dr. Kenan Curitan, Vice President of Christian Resources here at the Family Research Council. Kenan, thanks for sticking around. Absolutely, Tony, my joy. So let’s talk about the journey. Let’s talk a little bit about some of the feedback we’ve got. You made a little bit of reference to this earlier, but we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from how this has impacted people’s relationships, it’s impacted marriages, it’s impacted lives. The Word of God is powerful.
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It is. You know, I’ve been encouraged. I’ve got like 13 pages of small print feedback here. And I know you have even more than that. But I’m just I’m looking at some of this. And, you know, it’s interesting, you know, the different ways that people are using the plan and the impact it’s making. I love this one of this young family, you know, thank you so much for your ministry. Our family is ages six through 16, or the kids are, and they’ve been reading through the daily readings and we like having Sundays to catch up. FOR A NIGHT WHEN THE TEENS ARE BUSY AND WE LOVE THE FAMILY TIME AROUND THE BIBLE. IT HAS UNITED US. WE LOVE THE QUESTIONS AND EVEN OUR SIX-YEAR-OLD TRIES TO ANSWER THEM AND WE READ THREE VERSES APIECE AND THE SIX-YEAR-OLD READS JUST ONE VERSE AND I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW REWARDING IT’S BEEN. SO THAT’S A YOUNG FAMILY THAT’S READING THE BIBLE TOGETHER. AND THEN HERE’S A CHURCH GROUP OF SENIOR ADULT LADIES. I’M READING ABOUT THEM. THEY STARTED A SMALL GROUP AT THEIR CHURCH. senior adult ladies that are reading through the two-year plan, and then they meet every Saturday to discuss. And then we also know about pastors who are taking their entire church through the Stand on the Word Bible reading plan. And the testimonies have really been encouraging to me. You mentioned growth. And, you know, I’ve read about a number of people who have basically said, you know what, I’ve tried to do this a number of times and just got frustrated and stopped. And yet, you know, they’ve done it now. They’ve been able to go through the plan. And, you know, one guy, 69 years old, says, I’ve tried several times to get through the Bible, but stopped because it seemed overwhelming. And, you know, thought I had to be special or blessed to be able to do it, but having a plan like this to do it in bite-sized pieces is the key. But, you know, one of the things that—one of the ones that I saw that was just incredible, Tony— This lady named Paula said, you know, I’ve struggled to truly meditate and apply God’s word during the week. Now I wake up every morning eager to get out of bed, read God’s word. I make notes, underline verses, gaining understanding from the truth each day. And I can feel God’s presence with me as it’s like he’s sitting in a chair right beside me. She’s writing, his presence brings a warmth to my heart like nothing else can do. The word is becoming deeply engraved on my hard drive and intimately intertwined in my heart. And the Holy Spirit reminds me of things when it’s time to speak up, strengthens me when I’m being tempted, helps me lean into him when things get tough, comforts me in anxious moments, and compels me to pray and share him with others all during the week. You know, that’s just, that’s one snapshot from Paula there that’s just so encouraging to me that the way that they are, people are walking with us in this journey through the Bible and deepening in their relationship with the Father. It’s so encouraging.
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And as we’ve kind of modified this over the years as we’ve been doing it, it’s designed to encourage, and we’ve got many tools available, including the daily devotional that’s online that I do that is not designed to replace, but simply to complement the reading itself.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely. I know one thing you really stress in these devotionals is don’t just watch the devotional. You know, read the word first. But that devotional has been the source of a tremendous amount of encouragement for people as well. And, you know, I think it’s a real sacrifice, I know, on your part to do it daily. But, you know, there are about 10 minutes They offer essential commentary, some really insightful explanation, and some timely application from the Bible. Monday through Friday, people can read the Word and then hear the commentary. I kind of compare it to when Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch on the road down back home, and he’s reading Isaiah, which is where we are right now, and he came up on Isaiah 53, and he’s reading, and he says, I’m really not getting this, and Philip asked him if he understands, and he said, how can I unless somebody explain it to me? And those devotionals, Tony, I think, are serving that purpose. They’re helping give that explanation, which is tremendous, so thank you for doing that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, thank you for your help on editing all this and keeping it moving. And folks, if you’d like to join and be a part of this text Bible to six, seven, seven, four, two, and you can join us keen. And thanks so much for joining us and good to see you from here in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Tony, and happy new year to you.
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Happy New Year to you as well. All right, folks, don’t go away. More to come from here in Jerusalem. Daniel Cohen joins me next. Don’t go away. Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But do you know the Bible talks about four institutions of government? Do you know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing, separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
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Let’s not be discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let’s stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
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The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don’t defend it, who will?
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Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don’t say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You’re naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
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Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we’ve relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we’ve relied too little on the power of God and God’s ability to open doors that we can’t open and do things that we couldn’t even hope to begin to do.
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This may not be an easy task, But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that His Spirit empowers us and protects us. and that he could do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
SPEAKER 14 :
Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen. Welcome back to Washington Watch. If you’re watching Washington Watch today, watching on TV, you can see that I’m not in the studio. I’m actually here in Jerusalem, and I’m here with a good friend of the program, Daniel Cohen. Daniel is the news director of Real Life Network, and he is a frequent guest on Washington Watch, and he often joins us here from Israel. He also joined us stateside back for the election night coverage, the 2024 election. But now it’s great to be on your turf, Daniel.
SPEAKER 08 :
Some home turf, some home cooking. Have you had some, have you eaten a little bit while you’re here?
SPEAKER 14 :
I’ve had a little bit of everything. A little shawarma, a little falafel, right? A little bit of everything. That’s good. But just a little bit. Good. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. Well, this is a beautiful day here as we overlook the city of Jerusalem. And Daniels, we’re moving into the new year, encouraging people to be in the Word of God. And you and I have actually talked about this on the program a few times, how we’re watching the Word of God God come alive.
SPEAKER 08 :
They’re leaping off the pages, what you just said. Isn’t that right? Yeah, 2025, I think this is the time of, this is right now the time of year when people are thinking about sort of a reset, right? I want to do this. We make resolutions. Oh, I want to eat better. I want to work out more. I’m going to lose weight. Why not add more Bible reading, right? Why not add that? You know, I would admit, and I want to say, I’ve never read the Bible cover to cover the one-year plan, but my wife and I and our family, we said, we’re going to do that this year. We’ve started, we’ve kind of done that this year, but we’re kind of laying that down saying, this is the year we’re going to do it. And there’s a plan that we’re joining with our local congregation. So, you know, when you say the words of the Bible are leaping off the pages, I mean, look at what’s going on in Syria. Just literally, not long, miles that way, right? Look at what’s happening in Damascus. And when we talk to people here in Israel, some people have, you know, limited knowledge of the Bible. Some people that are, they say… Is this revelation? You get that, right? Is this revelation? And my wife and our family, we say, well, what does that mean? Just revelation. Do you know what the Word says? Do you know? Isaiah 17 says that Damascus will become a heap of ruins. So you have to know specifically what the Bible says because right now, I think this is a prophetic moment that we’re living in, a historic moment, and I don’t think anybody out here should miss it.
SPEAKER 14 :
In my time in Israel, a number of meetings with government officials and others, and there’s some me, this is my sense, and you’re here more often, you live here, but my sense is there’s a growing understanding among the Israelis of the Bible and their special place in the Word.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. And that should reinforce the fact that as Christians and as evangelicals, we have to know the word because there are people here in Israel, there are Jews, it’s a Jewish book, right? The authors of the, it’s a Jewish book, but they don’t know what it says. And when you point out to them, hey, did you know that Isaiah says such and such? Did you know that the Hebrew prophet Micah says the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem? Did you know that Zechariah says he would ride into this city that we’re standing in front of right now on the back in the fold of a donkey? It says that? Yeah, it says that. Right. And so it’s important for us to know that because I think Jewish people are going to be looking to Christians, to evangelicals, not just for how they love to love. You know, we should be loving Jewish people well, but so that we can affirm. And so we can also kind of be a voice of reason, say, guess what? Israel is going to be OK. Exactly right.
SPEAKER 14 :
Absolutely. And for us as well, be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God. How do we know to do that unless we’re in the word? That’s what the word of God says. It’s very interesting. I was in a meeting with my friend, Mayor Yossi Dagan, who is the mayor of Samaria, that regional council. And his team was giving a presentation to the group that I was with. And there was in the group, this was just a friend of someone in the group and was joining us for dinner. She’s an Israeli, grew up here, went to school here. And after he made the presentation of Judea and Samaria and all of the things that occurred there, Mount Ebal, Mount Gerzim, the tomb of Joseph, all of these different elements, she goes… I had no idea that was in the quote unquote West Bank. Right. And this was someone in Israel. And as you pointed out, they don’t, there are some that do not know the rich history of this land.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. And, you know, something that God’s really been putting on my heart, a real simple phrase that I know you’ll know and recognize, keep your lamp lit. Yeah. Keep your lamp lit, especially right now. I’m very hopeful for what’s coming. Obviously, there’s a new administration that’s going to be taking over on January 20th. President Trump is coming back. And just the initial moves that he has made right after the election, the first week, two weeks after, we get Governor Mike Huckabee, who has been tapped to be the Israeli ambassador. He chooses his words so carefully. I’ve heard him in an interview. He doesn’t say the West Bank. He says Judea and Samaria, right? He says he’s for a two-state solution. Create another Palestinian state anywhere in Jordan or anywhere outside of Israel. I mean, he’s very careful about what he says. But Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, he even spoke from the King David Hotel, which we can see almost, yeah, right here as well, talking about how he could foresee the temple, a temple on the Temple Mount. Wow. I mean, these are big prophetic things. This is not a small thing. And I’m encouraged to see. I’ll just say this, Tony, that I don’t think President Trump coming back will make everything right. But I think he will set something straight between Israel and some of the neighbors here and not bring about necessarily peace, although he could. But I think things will become more peaceful.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. A managed peace, but it’s an opportunity. Yeah. But the opportunity is afforded to the church, to Christians, to believers, to be praying into this situation. But to pray, we need… The Word says when we pray according to the will of God, we know that He hears us, and if He hears us, He answers us. How do we know the will of God? Unless you’ve read the book. You’ve got to be in it.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, you have to read it. If you’re not reading and if you don’t know what it says… I know a lot of people… will get on Facebook or on Instagram or on YouTube. You have to be very careful with those things. My kids have a phone, right? And they’ll watch something on YouTube and my son will say, hey, daddy, did you know that Ezekiel said such and such? And I said, oh, really? Oh, maybe you saw that on YouTube. You better back it up and you better know. And you shouldn’t take your pastor’s word for it. You shouldn’t even take mine or Tony’s word for it. You should know what the word, I’m holding up my Bible app on my phone, but you should know for yourself what the word says so that you can be discerning.
SPEAKER 14 :
So let’s talk about what’s happening in this region of the world. I mean, so much has happened in the last year. And you’re here reporting on it. So you’re very informed on what’s happening. And as we, you know, we’re recording this ahead of New Year’s Day. So we don’t know. I mean, stuff happens so quickly here. We don’t know what the world is going to look like on New Year’s Day. But given what we know and what is unfolding, how… Should we be looking at Scripture? You know, where should we be looking and what should we be praying?
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s a great question. Look, I think that you should be praying for the peace of Jerusalem, and that’s Psalm 122. And I know that, okay, that’s almost a given. Almost. Because I know a lot of people will ask, just start there. You know, if you live in the United States somewhere and you say, I love Israel, maybe you’ve been here, maybe you’ve never been, at least you can send up prayers to the God of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because this is his land. He made a covenant. He didn’t make a covenant with the United States. He didn’t make a covenant with any other nation except the covenant that he made with Israel.
SPEAKER 14 :
I’m going to stop you at that point because I think that’s so important. And I’ve told this, I told it to the prime minister when I met with him. I’ve told this to other Israeli officials and just friends here. I think America’s future is dependent upon Israel. Israel is not dependent upon America. Wow. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
And when I hear and when other Israelis hear prominent people, even in the United States, but there are Christians and evangelicals around the world that say that Israel has been replaced, that there’s this replacement theology going on. Listen, if you go to a church and your pastor is telling you that, leave that church. Leave that congregation, leave that church today because they’re leading you down a path I promise you don’t want to go on. I can point over and over to scripture where God again says, this isn’t the nation, this is a covenant nation. Jeremiah, he said, unless the moon, the sun, the stars, when those things cease to exist, that’s when I’ll break my promise to you, Israel. It’s not going to happen. Israel has not been replaced. He will fulfill the promise. He will keep his word because he’s God. He can’t lie. But your question about the dynamics here, Tony, and what’s going on, be praying for Israel. But there’s been a shift here. Let me tell you what that shift is. Hamas has been decimated. Hezbollah has been devastated. Syria fell in a matter of, it was November 27th, and it took two weeks’ time.
SPEAKER 14 :
And no one anticipated it. Right. In fact, in speaking with some of the high-level officials here, they said, we were surprised.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. They did not know this. Right, exactly right. So in just that little time, so Syria has fallen, but there has been a shift in the defensive mindset in Israel. There are Israeli forces that are operating on the Syrian side of the Israeli border. They’re controlling about 370 square kilometers or so. Why is that a big deal? To me, that tells me, and I’m hearing other people in Israel talk about how Israel doesn’t trust the UN anymore for security. They aren’t trusting these international, the ICJs that are calling Netanyahu and trying to arrest him. Israel has said, you know what? We’re good, rest of the world. We’re going to handle ourselves. But they have the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his hand of protection. And what could be better than that?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, look at the evidence of what has occurred in the last, just say eight months. When I was here, and I’m not saying it’s prophetic, it’s just the word of God, but when I was here in March, I met with the prime minister, and I just happened to be in our Bible reading plan in the Old Testament, in one of the accounts where Israel was attacked, and so they responded and they took land. And I said, if you go through the scripture, it looks like every time that Israel is attacked, unnecessarily, unprovoked, that they take land. I mean, look where Israel is today. That is the right response. Sorry, did you want to say something else? No, I mean, just look at where they’re at today. I mean, Hezbollah is decimated. Hamas is decimated. And then, you know, Yemen, the Houthis that were attacking, you know, they’re smoldering. And look in the north where, as you were just talking about, they’ve taken back some of that land up there.
SPEAKER 08 :
That is exactly the right response to radical jihadi Islamic terror. That is the response, because Hamas, they don’t care about civilians in Gaza. They hide weaponry in mosques, they hide them in children’s bedrooms, they hide them in UN facilities. But when Israel responds, Israel doesn’t respond and doesn’t attack civilians. They try to kill civilians. Israel responds, and the Israeli response should be, okay, We’re going to take this dunam. It’s kind of a comparison for an acre, right? We’re going to take this many dunams. Oh, your launch missiles. That is the response because what they care about is the land. That is what they care about more than human life is the land.
SPEAKER 14 :
Do we see patterns through Scripture, like when you read the Old Testament, patterns that we see emerging that are historical with Israel that are unfolding today? Wow.
SPEAKER 08 :
Great question, Tony. I’d have to think on that a little bit. I would say this. that what we’re seeing here and the battle between Israel and its neighbors here, it is from the Old Testament, there is a spirit of Amalek, and that is the war that’s going on. And in case you’re wondering, and maybe it sounds like you’re shaking your head, you know, Amalek was the… Abraham had a son named Isaac, Isaac Jacob, right? And so Jacob… Amalek is basically, look, God promises in the Bible, Amalek, the Amalekites attacked the Israelites when they were fleeing of Egypt, when they were coming to the promised land. And God said, remember the Amalekites. He told King Saul to annihilate all of them, even babies. And King Saul didn’t do it. He lost his crown. He lost because of that. But the Bible says that the Israelites will be at war from generation to generation. Do not forget. And it’s because of disobedience. Why do I say that? We have to obey. So if you’re asking a big question about patterns, we have to be obedient. Not everyone is obedient, but there is a cost. There’s a high cost of not being obedient. And that spirit of Amalek and what Israel is fighting with these multi-front wars, it’s demonic, it’s satanic, it’s evil. But we see that pattern.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, we do see that, Pat. And when we look at—I watched the raw footage of the Gaza invasion, Hamas coming in from Gaza, and this was footage taken by the terrorists, security camera footage that caught it. And when you hear what they said, because there’s audio with it, and you watch what they did— I’ve been in the Marine Corps, I’ve been a police officer, I’ve been in many crime scenes. When you see this, you see it’s demonic. There’s no other way to explain this unnatural hatred for Israel, for the Jewish people, and what’s taking place over this land apart from the spiritual understanding. And that’s why it’s so important that we’re in the Word, because the Word tells us this narrative from start to finish.
SPEAKER 08 :
Exactly. Oh, by the way, Amalek was the grandson of Esau. Sorry, it was on the tip of my tongue. I was just like, what’s Esau? It’s the son up here. Yeah, that’s right. But what you’re saying, Tony, I was in the first group of international journalists that were invited to see that Hamas massacre footage. I walked out after watching that 40-plus minute video. You know, it’s actually worse. It’s actually worse. And I know you’ve seen it too. I heard you say, right? IDF, my contacts and my friends said, Daniel, we didn’t even show you the worst of it. And I said, what could be worse than chopping a baby’s head off and baby’s bodies? You know what? I don’t have to repeat all that because I know that you know. I’ll just tell you, it’s actually worse than we know. But I picked up a microphone to do a live shot for Newsmax immediately after. And I could barely hold it together. I have kids, you have kids. And as a father, as a human being, no one deserved to die the way they did. But I got banned on Facebook. My Facebook has been banned even right now. I refuse to call Hamas anything but terrorists. I don’t call them freedom fighters like some of my colleagues here. It’s ridiculous. But it’s worse. And I get called, oh, you’re an actor. It’s fake. It’s AI. I can’t believe this. You walked around the Gaza border. I mean, you were there this week. So it’s like there are two realities going on. And all I can say is I think there are people that are open to the truth that maybe haven’t been here and seen it with their own eyes. And then there are people that I think are just deceived.
SPEAKER 14 :
To not be deceived. Jesus warned us in the end days when he was describing to his disciples, when would these things be? Exactly. You don’t need to know all that, but this you do need to know. Don’t be deceived. Yeah. And he repeats that over and over because deception is so prominent today. With all the social media and with AI, all of that, we’ve got to be in the work. Daniel, we’re out of time. Coming up at the end of the program, I’ve got to figure out how your hair doesn’t blow and mine does.
SPEAKER 08 :
More hairspray. All right. More hairspray. Yes, Tony, it’s the birth pains. And so I think there’s a contraction and then there’s another pulse and there’s another contraction. Where are we now? I’ll just say this and I’ll leave it with this too. Pick up the word. It is the sword. It is how we fight. You have to know what the word says. And we have to expect that these labor pains. So right now it feels like there’s a little bit more of a peace and a calm, but there’s going to be another contraction. And so Israel, we have to be ready. Christians, evangelicals, the church, you have to be ready as well. How can you be ready?
SPEAKER 14 :
You have to know the Word. That’s right. We’ve got to be in the Word. Be in the Word. Join us in the Word. Text BIBLE to 67742. Folks, that’s all we have time for today. Happy New Year. Have a great year. May the Lord bless you as you abide in Him.
SPEAKER 09 :
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