In this episode of Sekulow, we shift our focus to domestic affairs, examining the spiking waves of protests and riots across major US cities. We contrast these destabilizing events with the efforts to defend street preachers facing legal battles, exploring the nuances between peaceful assembly and destructive unrest. Additionally, we’re joined by Steve Wiggins for an enlightening conversation about maintaining a biblical worldview amidst global chaos. Discover the insights emerging from scripture and how they guide our understanding of Israel’s importance and the rising tide of anti-Semitism.
SPEAKER 02 :
We got breaking news. Pete Hegseth issues an alarming military authorization.
SPEAKER 03 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110.
SPEAKER 02 :
And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Will Haynes is joining me in studio. We have some breaking news that is coming out of Washington, D.C., but also really has a major impact to what’s happening around the world. You may have seen some of the updates coming out of the Middle East. I woke up to a lot of them that were fairly alarming, as even in Israel, they’re saying, hey, if you’re an American in Israel, make sure you’re not traveling anywhere, uh, other than the major cities tel aviv jerusalem and you know obviously we got a team at aclj jerusalem so i’ve been in contact with them we got to make sure everyone stays as safe as possible as things have started to escalate and it looks like they’re escalating in iran along with other places around the world there is a lot also that the u.s has issued in this warning that came from pete hexes i’m gonna break that down for you but i want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110 uh we’re gonna take calls a little earlier today so go ahead and get on hold because uh at the very end of the show we’ll be joined by our friend steve wiggins uh who is a previously of the band, or I guess maybe currently still of the band, Big Tent Revival, but he has a great ministry out of Memphis, but a great podcast that helps you go through the Bible verse by verse, but also shows you he’s also a very strong supporter of the existence of the state of Israel and why it’s important for Christians to support it. So we’re going to talk with him a little bit later, give us some biblical understanding. of what is happening in Israel as we head towards some pretty rocky times that should be concerning to all of us, actually, as we head into this. There’s been obviously the fear of a major conflict of a World War III, if you will, but we’ll break down all of them coming up in the next segment, but why don’t we give a little baseline of where we’re at?
SPEAKER 04 :
Top line across the region with U.S. installations, whether it be military or diplomatic missions, you’re seeing the United States offer evacuations effectively saying that if you’re non-essential or non-emergency personnel or if you’re families of people that work at these installations we will bring you back to the united states on the government’s dime this is a big move this is hasn’t happened in this way since uh back in 2015 indicating that we may be heading into a real conflict That’s right. And what we know is that the Iranians have warned that even if it’s Israel that strikes them, that they will retaliate by trying and attempting to strike U.S. installations in the region, whether it be embassies and consulates or whether it be military installations. We have a lot of large military bases there. One of the largest air bases is in Bahrain, which is just across the Persian Gulf from Iran, the Gulf of Arabia, depending on what you want to call it, as well as you have situations in Israel, Iraq, and Kuwait. And we’re going to break down all of these because it’s all pointing to something bigger happening. This is also with the americans a meeting with the iranian counterparts in oman for another round of talks slated for sunday we’ll see if any of that changes with all this news but it’s something that we are keeping a big eye on a last ditch effort to try to stop this
SPEAKER 02 :
war from escalating we’re going to discuss that i want to hear from you we’re also going to talk about how the protests and the riots have spread from california now entering chicago what does that look like for our friends in chicago was looking for illinois and what does it look like for i don’t know some of those street preachers you may remember in chicago that we’ve been representing they’ve been there preaching the gospel what’s been happening to them they’ve been getting arrested but these are taking over the streets with little consequence bit of a double standard we’ll talk about that coming up as well i want to encourage you to support the work of the aclj as we head into the first break you can become an aclj champion i can give you all the great details of why you should be you know why so i encourage you right now be a champion of life liberty and freedom do it today if you are brand new i know a lot of people are tuning in right now if you’re brand new or you haven’t done it yet great free way to just help if you want to know a easy way sometimes we make it hard for you but today let’s do it easy If you’re on YouTube, hit subscribe. We have crossed 491,000 subscribers. I would love to see that hit a half a million here soon. Imagine the impact. That is so much more. Understand we have more people watching our YouTube channel because of you than watch a lot of the mainstream media. It is the future. We are there. Be a part of it. Hit that subscribe button right now. We’re live every day. Welcome back to Sekulow. I think we need a reset because a lot of you are just joining us right now with this breaking news as the Middle East has really amped up and it feels like we’re headed towards a very chaotic situation. And look, this has been coming for months and months. A lot of people have been concerned about it. But now it seems like we may be hitting a tipping point, so much so that the Americans… are pete hexeth and a lot of the groups and the embassies are starting will to issue warnings and evacuations telling people where they can travel to where they can’t travel to whether that’s in israel or also giving people an option to leave uh there’s also some security warnings coming out of the uk so it seems like this is strategic that this is planned they know something is happening and of course as you said this weekend there’s supposed to be another talk that is going to be happening between the u.s and iranian officials in oman now what you’d hope is that okay They’re prepping for if that meeting goes wrong. And hopefully it does not. I mean, look, I think you’re dealing with Iran. You’re not dealing with a normal government here. So what are you going to do? And we know what happened even last night in Israel. I don’t know if you paid attention to that. We’ll cover that a little bit later when they’re trying to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But again, destroying the narrative and the narrative that we have been saying, actually uplifting narrative we’ve been saying, which is it is Hamas that is keeping Gaza, keeping the people of Gaza, the Palestinian people from the supplies they need to survive. And it happened.
SPEAKER 04 :
in a very violent destructive way we’ll discuss that a little bit later but let’s go through what I know a lot of you are tuning in for which is what are the warnings for Americans that’s right and normally if the State Department issues a warning to a consulate somewhere in the world that’s not abnormal right saying hey there’s there’s some tensions or some travel warning we’re taking care of our staff that’s not abnormal what’s abnormal is how broad these orders And all started to happen at the exact same time yesterday afternoon and evening. But in Iraq, the State Department has ordered non-emergency personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Orbil to depart immediately. Israel travel restrictions are placed on U.S. diplomatic personnel amid concerns tied to regional instability. What they’ve actually said is if you are in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, don’t leave the city. Yeah. And if you’re not there, go to a major city and remain there. Don’t just be going throughout the country. In Bahrain and Kuwait, very similar to what they issued in Iraq, they’ve authorized voluntary departure of U.S. government employees and family members at U.S. embassies. And then you have the military family evacuation. This is from the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth. They have authorized military families in Bahrain and Kuwait to… to very large military installations with a lot of Americans that live there because they work on the base and have their family there. The US government will voluntarily evacuate you from Bahrain and Kuwait and cover the transportation costs. There’s also this maritime warning. This is from the UK. Maritime trade operations issued a warning to commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. This is a very rare and abnormal warning issued on commercial shipping in these areas. And this all comes at the time when we see that the IAEA has done for the first time in 20 years, they have formally declared Iran in breach of its nonproliferation obligations. So things are heightening. We know that the IAEA says that Iran has enough enriched uranium for potentially making nine nuclear bombs. And the tone from our president has started to change as well. He was very optimistic he could cut a deal with the Iranians. But we’re starting to hear even that language change ahead of this Sunday meeting in Oman.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and I want you to call in and give us your questions or thoughts. I know there are probably a lot of swirling through your heads, swirling through our heads. You know, Will made this great piece this morning where he was able to kind of break down all of it. It’s so overwhelming, the amount of things that are happening in the Middle East. So we have to keep aware also of what’s still going on in our country. We know that the L.A. riots, like we said, have moved a little bit. They’ve moved over to Chicago. What does that mean? We’re going to talk about that as it starts to spread now. If there is a war in the Middle East, I think you’re going to see quite a bit of the news attention shift. And look, I don’t want there to be war. We pray for the end of war in general. But look, we live in a reality where war is real. War is happening. And at some point, there are all these tipping points. And these tipping points eventually could lead there. Now, the meeting that’s going to happen, Will, in Oman, maybe we need to give people a bit of what’s happening here. Because we’ve had these meetings before, recently, where the U.S. officials have sat down with members of the Iranian government and said, okay, let’s try to come up with some sort of solution here. In the background, as we know though, that they are funding what’s happening In Gaza. They are funding what’s happening to Israel. That’s right. And what these are, are direct talks. Including sending direct rockets.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s not like it’s all a shell game. Right. What these are, these are direct talks between negotiators from the United States, led by Steve Witkoff, who has done remarkable work in some of these high… level high risk negotiations with governments around the world and they are negotiating with their Iranian counterparts to try and reach a deal and not a deal like the JCPOA the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action under Obama where they gave lots and lots of money with no real restrictions and no real oversight on the Iranians they were trying to get to a place where they could monitor And restrict and ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon through these talks. The president and the team were optimistic. Obviously, you’re going into something like this. You want to be optimistic that you can reach an outcome. But that tone has shifted. And this is, I believe, the sixth round of these talks. They’ve met in Switzerland. They’ve met in Oman before. And they are trying to get to the end point. where there doesn’t have to be a war. And I think it’d be interesting. I know we have a lot of people that call in that may have served or have seen what happened with even the war in Iraq. And I think that’s where a lot of people’s fears are. And I think where President Trump’s fear is… that that pull is there right now right like it feels a bit like march of 2002. right and when we went in there we were in for a very long time to seek regime change from uh saddam hussein’s regime and it was on the premise of he had weapons of mass destruction Now, it seems like deja vu all over again. I know that there are people, many people within the regime, the regime of Iran that will never change, including the Ayatollah, but also within the Trump administration, including President Trump himself. They don’t want another forever war Iraq on their hands. People write in all their yearbooks. Never change. Never change. So that’s where I’m curious what our callers even think. We know that Iran is a real threat. Iran is probably a much more real threat than Saddam Hussein. We know that they have these proxy wars that are going on.
SPEAKER 02 :
They at least want it. You know, they want to have these wars. They want to have these weaponry. We know what that looks like. And look, we have a lot of Iranian listeners as well. People that are Iranian Americans who have their families escaped or they came during the revolution. There’s a lot of that kind of talk happening in our chats. I would love to hear from you as well. at 1-800-684-3110 what this means for your family when you hear this brought up because i think there’s always been a hope that there could be a changing of the guard if you will and a switch back because when you look at the history of that country a very fruitful nation a very uh beautiful nation that has been overrun, and sadly we have seen that over the last 50 years or so. I do want to take quickly, this is a complete diversion call-wise, but I think let’s go ahead and take it for a moment, as I want to give you an opportunity to give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. Let’s go to Antoinette, who’s calling in New York on the radio. She had a question or a comment about one of our new ACLJ cases. Go ahead, Antoinette.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hello, and thank you for your work and love for our great country. God bless you. As someone in the community, how can we make our local community aware that this is going on? Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, we need, I think, a state of what we’re talking about here. Yeah, so Antoine’s… And I called in about one of our new Bible Club cases. Again, sounds like a case from the 80s, but it’s happening right now.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right, and we covered that two days ago on the broadcast. You can go back and watch it. Your dad joined us for the segment about… We are fighting back against a school that tore down a student’s posters for the Good News Club that was just advertising a school club that she fought to get authorized by the school. They didn’t want her to. And then once she did, they tore down her posters because it had Bible verses on it and there were – You know, things that they didn’t like about it. And then they forced her to change the name because the Good News Club was too Christian, apparently, even though there was a Supreme Court case about another Good News Club in New York, which upheld Mergen’s, which is the case your dad won at the Supreme Court. And the ACLJ is proud of that victory. So what Antoinette’s asking is how can we get people, especially in your area? Go to ACLJ.org and then click the News tab. There’s a blog about this case that we published on June 10th, and the title is ACLJ Prepares Lawsuit After New York School Outrageously Tears Down Christian Students’ Bible Verse Posters and Forces Student Bible Club to Remove Good News from Its Name. Take that blog, share it with all your friends and neighbors. Take that blog and share it. There you go. But share it with all your friends and neighbors. Put it on social media. Send it to the local news. And just say, hey, this is going on here. Get coverage. And that, in and of itself, will help spread the word and force the school to realize all eyes are on them on this, and they better follow the Constitution. So I think that’s a great way you can share it, Antoinette.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you, Antoinette. I apologize for my singing. It hit me. I was overcome by the spirit of Johnny Paycheck. Things happen, okay? Yeah. Phone lines are open for you, 1-800-684-3110. Like I said, we have a full-packed show today. We’re going to also talk a little bit more about some of the riots that are going on now, moving their way to Chicago. What that also means for our clients is our team is in court right now about street preaching. Because street preachers were being arrested in Chicago. But no, not these big riots that are happening. Later on in the show, Steve Wiggins is going to be joining us for the Big Tent Revival and his great new ministry. We’ll take a look. Welcome back to Secula. We do have some phone lines open for you, and I want to take those earlier in the broadcast today, because at the end of the show, we’re going to be joined by the head of Groundworks Ministries. You may know him from his band, Big Tent Revival, Steve Wiggins, great pro-Israel, great guy who helps you get a biblical perspective on the support of the Jewish people. and of the state of Israel. So we’re gonna talk with him a little bit later in the broadcast, but that means we’re gonna take calls a little earlier. We’ve already done some, so we’re gonna take some more. And of course you can do that at 1-800-684-3110. That’s 1-800-684-3110. I did wanna move our attention just a little bit for just a brief period of time. There’s obviously the riots that are still happening in California. I saw some interesting videos yesterday of people setting up hot dog stands, selling hot dogs on the freeway, making a business out of it. You know what? Good for them. That’s the American spirit right there. That’s what I’m talking about. I saw them and I was like, there may be riots in the streets, but they’re like, these people are going to get hungry. And guess what they probably have also? Cash. Because a lot of it is- They don’t want transactions. They’re getting paid. Oh, God, I thought you meant they didn’t want a record on their credit card. No, yeah, it’s true. That also. But no, I look at it and go, man, that’s where we’re at. That’s where the show part of it happens. And look, you’ve heard me. I’ve been very transparent about the fact that I do believe we need to calm down the rhetoric against our friends and neighbors who are even here illegally. And there are a lot of criminals. There are a lot of people who have done really bad things. I think they need to be- eliminated from our society, moved out, need to be deported. But when we’re talking about people that are here, families have always been that. But when you see that in LA, and then also you see Gavin Newsom’s wife having a good time in Rodeo Drive, where they did have a big Trump rally. You know, there is part of you goes, you got to remember what California is and California is very different. Now, Chicago and California are also very different. Chicago, you know, I feel like it’s maybe a little less performative. And now we’ve seen, well, as you were telling me this morning, that the riots have moved their way to the Midwest.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. So as we sort of expected that these will start to, as California goes, so go the liberal cities of America, that we will see these expand. And what we see now is in Chicago, they have popped up. Streets have had to be closed. They have had to suspend bus service in downtown because of the protest. This is local news in Chicago, says they were mostly nonviolent in the afternoon, but there were some brief clashes between protesters and police squad cars were vandalized. And one instance in which a car appeared to drive through the crowd amid rolling street closures and the Chicago Police Department did not have any information on the number of arrests made during the protest. So they are bringing the LA-style chaos to Chicago. And this is not unexpected. But here’s what we’re doing in Chicago today and tomorrow.
SPEAKER 02 :
We meet the team of the ACLJ. That’s right. Again, remember what Will just said. What’s happening on the streets right now? How the arrests have been happening? How the situation’s been unfolding? Well, at the same time, we know what’s going on sometimes in Chicago. Again, another lovely city. We have a lot of supporters in Illinois. We’ve got a lot of family there. Spent so many years in Chicago, but where they haven’t been friendly to, they’ve been friendly to the rioters, but maybe not to the street preachers.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. So we today have a status conference on a lawsuit, a federal lawsuit that we are filing against the city of Chicago to try and overturn an ordinance that they are weaponizing against those sharing the gospel in Chicago. We also, at the same time tomorrow, have an update where two defendants that the ACLJ represents were arrested and charged criminally for preaching the gospel. These weren’t widespread marches, shutting down streets, vandalism. These are individuals standing in Chicago sharing the gospel. We had a third client. that we were able to get the charges dropped. But shortly after his friends that were also evangelizing in Chicago were arrested and charged criminally. And we are fighting to have those criminal charges defeated for them. So if you’re preaching the gospel, they are going to weaponize their ordinances and arrest you and charge you criminally. But what we are now seeing is that they are shutting down streets, having to suspend bus service. Why aren’t they using the same ordinances to go after aggressively the protest in Chicago? I think you know the reason why. I think you do. But we’re not going to stand for it. I thought you said, we’re not going to say it. Oh, no, I mean, we’ll say it’s because they are targeting Christians with their ordinances. It’s very plain and simple.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know what? You got the Pope walking around with a white socks hat right now, you know, outside the Vatican hanging out. Maybe they should take a note. There are a lot of good Christian people, a lot of good Catholics who are Chicagoans. Chicagoans? chicagoites those of chicago yeah yeah all you midwesters let me uh let me know in the comments i’d love to hear what it is i i think this is right you can’t though they are two very separate issues they come down to very uh similar uh results which is how do you treat religious speech versus how you treat other speech and this has been a fight is why the aclj has been a first amendment first amendment first if you want to be first amendment focused law firm in our legal work because the first amendment doesn’t stop with religious speech. It doesn’t stop when you want to be on a public sidewalk talking about your faith and whether you are a, a, a bullhorn, uh, you know, old school, uh, wearing a, the end is near shirt or whether you are the person there who’s just trying to do sidewalk counseling or talk to people quietly about their faith. It doesn’t matter. Uh, as long as you’re not hurting anybody, uh, But of course, even when they are hurting people, even when they are starting to loot, even when they are starting to destroy, the delta is very wide in terms of how they’re treated. So I want to make sure you are up to date on that. Of course, we are still looking at what is happening in the Middle East. Actually, as we move into that for the next half hour, I want to take Brian’s call real quick to head into that. Brian, go ahead. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 09 :
God bless you guys. I really appreciate what you do. I actually called and talked to you yesterday, hoping that President Trump would help Israel in his fight against Iran.
SPEAKER 02 :
Last night, when all this started happening, I was like, Brian, I remember calling in and talking about this, and here we are.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and I just hope President Trump does support and help them in this endeavor to attack Iran, which, like I said yesterday, I voted for President Trump. I think his heart’s in the right place. But I think sometimes, you know, he built himself as like he’s going to end all wars. So I hope that doesn’t keep him from doing the right thing in this situation, because this would be a righteous war. And, you know, you think he always says he’s a dealmaker. I just don’t think he can make deals with people. That just, you know, sponsor terrorism. They don’t have our same values and they want to kill us and everyone else.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and Brian, the the vein of Islam that the Iranians have, the Shia sect of Islam is very apocalyptic. They are trying to usher in the apocalypse by doing things like annihilating Israel, which will bring the 12th Imam to the world. And then Islam will be dominated of the earth, according to their theology. So they are theocratic genocidal dictators that want to take over the world. And they want to use their religion and their might to do that. So in your comment, you said, you mentioned that we said this appearances could look like an Iraq 2.0. I think that is a lot of people’s concern. I think Iraq and Iran are vastly different, completely different scenario. But that’s why we’re asking for calls. Is that how you feel? Is that what your concern is? I think that Iran needs to be stopped in their nuclear weapon program knocked out. And we’ve been talking about that for years on this podcast.
SPEAKER 02 :
continue that discussion we only have a few seconds left here in this segment if you don’t get us on your local radio station for the next half hour join us live or later on at aclj.org on youtube on rumble we’re there broadcasting live right now and obviously if you can please become an aclj champion that’s someone that supports this show on a monthly financial basis know how much that means to us because we are not funded by major sponsors we are funded by you the champions
SPEAKER 03 :
keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Secular.
SPEAKER 02 :
Give you a little bit of a reset here. This is Logan Secular. Will Haynes is joining me in studio right now. We do have one line open at 1-800-684-3110, but a lot are ringing. So we’ll see if we can get some of these screens. So if you’re on hold right now, stay on hold. Because in the next segment, I’m going to take as many calls as we can. Because the last segment, we’re going to be joined by Steve Wiggins from Groundworks Ministries. He’s going to give us sort of a biblical perspective. overview as he has a great devotional that he does every day. You can watch online, but also a great supporter of the Jewish people and of Israel. And he’ll give you a good biblical perspective of what all is happening. Can’t wait to be joined by Steve coming up here in just a few minutes, but call us if you can at 1-800-684-3110. Will, as we start to head towards the second half, as we’re in the second half of the broadcast, There may be a lot of people joining us just right now who want to know about this breaking news that we are covering, which is that just this morning, a lot of warnings were issued by Pete Hegseth, by the Trump administration, by embassies. It is a really long list, actually. And that’s what we talked about. Almost the frequency in this and the timing that they’re all together and all these warnings are coming in. I mean, I woke up, opened up my social media, and I feel like as someone who’s pretty connected to what’s happening in the Middle East and what’s happening in Israel, it was overwhelming, the amount of news that was coming in.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. So as for the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth, they have authorized that military families in Bahrain and Kuwait, very large military installations in the Middle East for the United States, they can depart, they can evacuate with transportation costs covered by the U.S. government. So not like, hey, maybe good idea. Go book yourself a plane ticket that the U.S. government will evacuate them from Bahrain and Kuwait. as well as the State Department with a fairly long list as well. They’ve authorized the voluntary departure of government employees in Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as family members at embassies. In Israel, they’ve placed travel restrictions on U.S. diplomatic personnel, basically saying stay in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Don’t travel about the country. Ostensibly to mean that the Iron Dome will be focused on protecting the larger cities and don’t be caught outside of them as well as in Iraq. Non-emergency personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil have been ordered to depart immediately. This all comes while the United Kingdom has issued a warning to commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf, citing this heightened risk due to regional tensions that shipping lanes may be disrupted. So this is a lot going on. This all comes also on the heels of the IAEA, that’s the International Atomic Energy Agency, that is the oversight from the UN that is supposed to be monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, has now formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. That’s the first time they’ve done this in 20 years. So situation is moving fast. There are reports in main U.S. media like CBS and the Associated Press that Israel is prepared to to attack Iran. We know that the United States has another bilateral meeting with the Iranians in Oman this Sunday. So it’s a lot to take in, a lot of moving parts, but signs are pointing towards something big happening in the Middle East in the coming days.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and phone lines are jamming up right now, and we are just going to try to take absolutely as many of these as we can. I’m looking at what people are talking about. There’s a lot of concern, and that’s understandable. I think a lot of us woke up going, you know, with that sort of pit in your stomach. There also was a story, Will, that we’re going to get to in the next segment that we should definitely talk about, definitely talk about with Steve later on, which was what happened with the humanitarian aid that was going into Gaza. As multiple people, looks like there’s multiple fatalities, As Hamas shows who they always are and disrupts, not only disrupts, but destroys, kills and steals that humanitarian aid that everyone claims Israel is not trying to get into the right hands or not trying to get into the hands at all. These aren’t talking points. This is just the facts. This is what’s happening. And you have to send this to your friends. You have to wake them up because it’s easy for it to get lost in the shuffle. And we have so much going on all over the world. When we get back, we’re going to take some phone calls. So Bobby, Terry, Gene, Bill, QC, Aaron, we’re going to get to as many of you as we absolutely can in the next segment. So stay on hold. Again, become an ACLJ champion. And hey, if you become a champion, you get bumped up to the front of the line always. No champions right now on hold. Welcome back to Sekulow. It’s time to take your phone calls. Usually we do this a little bit later, but we are going to be joined by a very special guest in the next segment. Let’s kick it off with Terry, who is watching on the ACLJ app in Missouri on line four. Terry, make sure you’re on the air. And hey, before I get to you, Terry, two lines just dropped. So 1-800-684-3110. If you want to call in, this will be your last chance. Do it right now. 1-800-684-3110. Terry, go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, sir. Thank you. Yes, and I forgot to mention I am a champion. I’m humbled to have the opportunity to be a champion with you. Thank you, Terry.
SPEAKER 02 :
Look, you were first up, so you know what? It just worked out that way. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I was saying concerning Iran, I’m a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in 2005, when we would find weapons caches and IEDs and stuff, I mean, it was always Iranian money or propaganda we would find with it. So it’s been a problem for a long time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yeah. And number one, thank you so much for your service as well. And I grew up in that era. We were teenagers during the era of Iraqi freedom and all of it that led to that. And look, I think we don’t give you enough respect for everything that the troops went through during all of that time. transition time and dealing with post 9-11 world so i want to tell you first terry thank you now will in terms of of iran being an issue of course we have we learned that even then uh that iran was always involved
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. And the leadership of Iran is totally different than Saddam Hussein. We know their aspirations. They tell us their aspirations. Death to America, death to Israel. They have proxy wars going on all over the Middle East, whether it be the Houthis, whether it be Hezbollah in Lebanon, whether it be Hamas in Gaza, as well as other militias, even in Iraq, as Terry mentioned, that During the Iraq war, after Saddam Hussein was gone, one of the main reasons it continued so long was because of Iranian militias that were fighting Americans. Iranians have blood on their hands. They have American blood on their hands because they were fighting in Iraq against the United States. It is a completely different scenario. And when we talked about that earlier, for those that are… more against any sort of intervention. It’s a non-starter. I think that that’s where they could get out there and make headlines and say, look, this is another war about weapons of mass destruction with a dictatorship in the Middle East, and it’s all tied to oil. And they could try to make that argument to the American public. But I agree with Terry. It is… it is completely different of the leadership of iran and their aspirations and what they are currently doing in the region and i think that when president trump says they cannot have a nuclear weapon he means it president trump when he first got into office it wasn’t as if he said i am against using our military he just did not want to start long forever wars What did he do right at the beginning? He authorized aggressive military action to decimate ISIS. So I think that that is a little bit of the difference too. If it is our military leading something, I think the tactics and strategy and the people he has behind him are different in their mindset of not the traditional… Wave of airstrikes, boots on the ground, and then you’re in this protracted, bloody conflict that goes on for a long time. I think it would look different if we are the ones that are leading it. Right now, reports are it’s Israel that is getting out ahead. I don’t know that Israel wants a ground war in Iran either. So there’s a lot we don’t know. But what we do know is that the moves that are happening are signaling that something big may be on the horizon, as well as this that just came through. On the U.S. Department of State website, under their briefing schedule for their press briefings that are typically daily, like the White House. For Thursday, June 12th, today, they have a notice canceled. There will not be a department press briefing today. So they have canceled a State Department press briefing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Very interesting piece of news that’s coming out. Not normal that they would be doing that. But of course, there’s a lot happening right now. You also have President Trump, who, by the way, is still speaking live right now. So it could be that as well, that he is talking a lot currently. And they’re actually asking him about the Middle East right now. Let’s see if we can see if there’s anything worth pulling and playing here on the air as we are live. Let’s go ahead and take another call while we’re at it. Let’s go to Gene, who’s got a call about Trump. Question about the riots that are happening right now. You’re watching on the Salem News Channel. By the way, you should be watching us if you haven’t on the Salem News Channel. They’ve got a great lineup of hosts. Some you may agree with, some you may disagree with, but that’s sort of the beauty of having an online free news station is you’re able to have all these voices. And it’s really a cool place to find it. You can find it on Pluto and on, I think, Samsung Plus and a lot of smart TVs and, of course, on SalemNewsChannel.com. But go ahead, Gene.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hi, I’m calling, yes, about the riots. We are a, I’m in Arizona, so we are a border state. But what I’ve noticed is that there’s a lot of chaos going on in our country with each other. I think that, you know, Trump could do something to give the Mexican illegals a time period. to get things in order rather than having them automatically deported and get them out of the picture because there are a lot of people that are not even Mexican that are stirring those riots up pretending to be.
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, you look at celebrities that have shown up, you have looked at a lot of people who have made this their mission to go and cause chaos, not actually there to protest for the right reasons. Look how many Palestinian flags are being waved at these protests. That doesn’t really always have to do with the people who are coming from Mexico who are looking for a better life. Unfortunately, the PR battle is easy to lose when you have a media that is not being honest.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and to Gene’s point as well, you see videos of pickup trucks pulling up into the middle, people running and pulling out of boxes, you know, gas masks, face shields, other things that are not. It’s not someone just has that lying around in their pickup truck. trucks there are there is obviously groups that are helping the protesters and financially whether it be through providing them things like face masks and shields and things of that nature or if if there’s always the big question are people even paid to be there are they coming from out of state but what we do when you look at what we do know is that it is spreading and in chicago We are hearing it spreading there. At the same time, we’re having to go to court to defend individuals that are trying to share the truth, share the gospel on the street corner, not vandalizing police cars, not throwing rocks at law enforcement, not breaking into stores and stealing iPhones and things of that nature. No, they’re just trying to stand on the street corner and share the truth. And many times you can barely hear them because the traffic is so loud in Chicago. And so what we have to do is spend immense resources, to fight criminal and federal cases now, because we are defending them in court on criminal charges, but we’re also going after the ordinance itself that is weaponized against Christians. Why is that same ordinance right now not being used against every single person out there on the street? And you know what? If they were to equally apply it, it would be any protester that’s out there. Now that is not constitutional. They shouldn’t be doing that because people that are peacefully protesting and doing things that are within the right to peacefully assemble in the First Amendment. you should be allowed to do. But we’re seeing chaos break out, and what does Chicago prefer to go after? Christian street preachers.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, we’re going to take one more call. Let’s go to Bobby in New York. Look, Bobby’s got a totally different topic. Now we’re moving, trying to get through all of you guys today before we are joined by our friend Steve Wiggins here in the next segment. Again, which you need to stay tuned for. I think it’s very important to have a biblical worldview of what’s happening all over the world and how you can keep your brain fed with really good information that comes from Steve and his ministry.
SPEAKER 05 :
Bobby in New York, go ahead. Hi, Logan the Rascal. Listen, I’m just very disappointed and shocked about Tulsi Gabbard. I don’t know what she’s doing to us. I heard she said the other day that there’s no evidence that Iran is close to having a nuclear war.
SPEAKER 02 :
weapon can you comment on that and thanks very much i also put out a video yesterday warning of nuclear war and fallout so you know what i’m not so sure i’ve not spoken to tulsi about this obviously she’s a friend of the show she was a member of our team for many years uh and we are very uh grateful to have her in the position she’s in uh she’s someone who i trust and i trust her opinions and thoughts doesn’t mean i have to agree with her in this i think she would say that that iran is isn’t at least wanting this. So the, what Bobby is referring to is she, she spoke to the Senate intelligence committee.
SPEAKER 04 :
It was a testimony before the Senate intelligence committee where she said the intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon at this time. So, uh, Tulsi is very against going to war and preemptive war. And I think that also speaks to President Trump bringing different voices, different opinions in. I think that she is probably against a preemptive strike on Iran. I think that is a lot of what that video was, which was extremely ominous, trying to maybe discourage war against Iran. There’s obviously a lot she knows we don’t know and a lot that we don’t know about what’s even happening.
SPEAKER 02 :
Someone who, again, we’ve been friendly with. I tend to defer to her for that. So I appreciate you, Bobby, for calling. Not that we have to be.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I was going to say also the fact she says there’s they’re assessing they’re not currently building a nuclear weapon. If they haven’t gotten it to the threshold of enrichment yet, even though they keep enriching. So I think there also could be some semantics there.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yep, absolutely. Hey, 25 seconds before we get to the next segment, I want you to join the ACLJ, become a member, become what we call an ACLJ champion. That’s someone that gives on a monthly basis because it takes immense resources to do all the work we do. Not just this broadcast here, but obviously our incredible legal work. And we want you to stay tuned because we have a great guest coming up. You’re not going to want to miss this. Stay tuned. Again, go to ACLJ.org. We are back in just a second. Welcome back to Secula. We are very happy to have special guests now. It’s guests with an S in the studio today. Not just Will Haines, not just my buddy right here. We got Steve and we have his wife, Misty, who are here to promote and talk about, because look, I think it’s very important. you were coming in for totally different reasons. We work also, you know, you may know my wife and I do the CCM magazine stuff. We’re going to talk about that in your history in Christian music. But as today we have seen sort of some uptick in what’s going on in Israel, what’s going on around the world. I thought, Steve, this is a great time to bring you in because your ministry, Groundworks ministry, I’ve been following it now for a number of years that you both do. Uh, You really are giving people that biblical worldview of why, not only should you be studying your Bible, obviously, but even why Israel and why the Jewish people are important into the story.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s exactly right. You know, we’ve seen such an uptake in anti-Semitism. And has it been an uptake or has it been that October 7th has been the MRI? It’s been like an MRI to show us that the anti-Semitism was already there. It didn’t cause anti-Semitism. It exposed that it was already there below the surface. And so in that sense, it was good that we could see it. But the thing that was most concerning was that it was an uptake of anti-Semitism among Christians. Among evangelical Christians, even. People who in the past, it’s like, well, if you’re an evangelical Christian, obviously you support Israel because you know the word. Oh, it’s in our comments.
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, I have to remind people what we’re dealing with here and to not kind of buy into a lot of this because it’s in the comments, it’s in the churches.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s exactly right. And so, you know, the best way to combat anti-Semitism is just get people into the word of God. I think as we talked a week or so ago, you know, I’ve led people day by day, chapter by chapter through the entire Bible. I’ve never had a single person finish the Bible having actually read it cover to cover and say, I know one thing, God hates the Jewish people. Yeah. They never say that. They always say, well, I mean, they have a heart for the Lord. So they have a heart for Israel and they have a heart for all nations. all non-believers, you know, they just develop the heart of the Lord.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that’s what you are doing on a daily basis, both of you, not just in Memphis in your own ministry work that you’re doing there, but for people everywhere. And I think that’s great. I think it’s great to give someone a resource and also knowing both of you and knowing this whole story is really helpful. And a lot of people know you from Big Tent Revival from back in those days, but also that also should give them a little bit of a trust to where you came from and where you’re going. Because I think there is also that problem of, of you follow someone like you said who you think is just oh this is an evangelical program i’ll follow them or a conservative program and then all of a sudden the tone starts shifting and it starts to get in your brain but knowing that you are there it’s pretty clear where you stand and i think that’s good when people are looking for a place that they can trust
SPEAKER 01 :
1 John 2, verse 27. But the anointing which you’ve received from him abides in you, the Holy Spirit. And you need no man to teach you, for he teaches you in all things. And as he teaches you and is true and not a lie, so you will abide in him. And all that it has to do is if you’re abiding in the Word of God, taught by the Spirit of God on a daily basis, you develop faith. you know, the mind of God, the attitude of God. And also you’re tuning your ear to the Holy Spirit as he leads you through life. Go here, do this, speak to this person. I’m sending a person to you. Now you don’t necessarily get an audible voice, but you do get that sense of knowing I am prepared, as the Bible says, always to give reason for the hope that’s within me. And you know what? I feel like that’s been missing. It was missing in my life for so many years. Speaking of lives, and before, you know, I don’t want to just hog all the talk and everything. No, it’s why you’re here. Misty’s here because she’s not only my right-hand person. I can’t live without her. Of course. She’s the part of my brain that I think Elon Musk wished he had right now. Yeah, we all need that. That would say, hey, bro, slow down. Today’s Misty’s birthday. Yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, man.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s her birthday today. So we brought the pretty one with us.
SPEAKER 02 :
And there’s thousands of people watching right now, even just on YouTube and Rumble. put in a happy birthday to Misty. It’s always nice to see all the hundreds of thousands of comments that will come in. Because we, look, I love seeing that too, also, that you have this family connection to what you’re doing. I think that’s very important. My wife is somewhere right now setting up for our next thing that we’re going to be doing with you guys.
SPEAKER 04 :
So I get it, totally. Well, and you brought up the October 7th was like the MRI. And I think another point to that, that for those of us that have studied scripture, we know that this isn’t new. That from the entire story of redemption, that the enemies of God have hated God’s people. So anti-Semitism isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s not something. But what is the new phenomenon is seeing it within our churches, seeing it within the messaging, buying into the lies, uh, that are thousands of years old, but are somehow infiltrating. And I think guarding yourself through things like your ministry, taking people through the Bible is what can be our biggest fight against it. Obviously we can come on here on air and we can speak out against it and point to the lies, but really the only way to, to get to the truth is by being in the truth.
SPEAKER 01 :
that’s right and that’s why the daily appointment not just in the bible it’s really a daily appointment with a person the holy spirit right in the daily appointment with the holy spirit in the bible you develop that personal ongoing relationship they say you become like the five people that you’re around the most now look around you and say okay is this good for me because they’re looking at you going is this good for me no but but um you become like those people that you’re around the most if if you only have an appointment this is a weekly appointment with the holy spirit it’s just a church service and that’s all that you do um it just barely moves the needle in terms of a personal relationship and uh but if you move from the weekly event mentality to the daily appointment mentality Well, now that turns church into a whole other thing. Or, you know, when you gather together to worship with other people and that’s really the level of transformation that we need personally and that our nation needs.
SPEAKER 02 :
And look, I think it’s easy also for parents with young kids to get out of that routine. I will say this as my kids headed into summer, I woke up this morning and realized that, oh yeah, my hour that I had, my time that I had to get up, have a cup of coffee and actually, you know, get into the word or read my daily devotions and listen to what you were saying was gone for the last few weeks. And it wasn’t anything intentional, right? It’s just, we got out of our routine. We got out of our habit. I’m like, oh, so what I’m seeing now when I wake up immediately is war, chaos, fire. And I turned to my wife this morning. I go, this is horrible. And she’s like, that’s why my algorithm is not yours. Because it is so troubling. And you’ve got to make sure you stay in that. And I want to make sure people have the opportunity to know where to go. Absolutely. To see what you all are doing. And we’ll make sure we share all of this. And we’ll continue to have you all on. Because I think this is excellent. It’s excellent for people. But let’s do the promo side of this right now.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I was ground. I always say, does this groundwork? Yes, it works. Groundworksministries.com. And that’s at least, at the very least, go check it out. And that is a place where you could, there’s a little, you know, a text bar there, and you could send Misty a birthday greeting. Yeah, please do. That would be amazing. We’re seeing hundreds go in. We’re in the middle now of… of developing a software which will hopefully be finished by the end of October and hopefully the launch at the first of the year, which is a group making software so that anyone anywhere at any time could launch their own Bible study groups. And on the day that they launch, we would start sending them daily content to help and the purpose is to be day by day, chapter by chapter through the Bible. And then once a week, they meet together with the friends that have all been personally meeting with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. And then talking about, we’re a generation that doesn’t talk much anymore. My kids will text me. I’ll call them and it rolls to voicemail and I’ll text them and they’ll go, yeah, what do you want?
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll be honest, that’s kind of me too. I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry, Steve. Maybe I’ve ignored a few of your calls. I apologize. But go to, that’s okay. Don’t worry. That’s Blasting Cross Street. Go to groundworksministries.com. We’re going to put all of this up. There’s audio versions of this. There’s written versions of it. That’s right i found to be an excellent resource i hope you do as well uh and then there’s gonna be new content that we’re gonna be releasing with with both of you all soon uh not necessarily through what we’re doing here but through some of my passion projects i’ll make sure those get shared as well talk to you tomorrow
