In this episode of Sekulow, Logan Sekulow and his team delve into the pressing issues surrounding the ongoing Iran conflict. Join our discussion as we explore Pete Hexeth’s revelation about a final strategic blow, potentially putting an end to the war in Iran. We examine whether there’s room for negotiations with the Iranian regime and assess the American public’s stance on pursuing peace or complete regime change. Additionally, we spotlight the incredible work of ACLJ in defending religious freedoms and supporting pro-life centers amidst adversity. Discover how the organization’s international efforts are making a significant impact in safeguarding human
SPEAKER 05 :
We got breaking news. Pete Hexeth reveals a final blow to end the war in Iran.
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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 05 :
And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. It’s Thursday. We made it here so far. I want you to be a part of the show today at 1-800-684-3110. Once again, 1-800-684-3110. Will Haynes in the studio with me as well. We’re going to take your calls and comments. Currently, right now, as we speak live, President Trump and the Cabinet are having their Cabinet meeting publicly live. They’re taking questions right now. We are monitoring it. If there’s anything worth breaking into or clipping out to play for you, we’ll do that. So stay tuned. Make sure that you know that we are following it right now. We have our team making sure that there is nothing really of substance that we need to make sure you guys know. And if there is, we will certainly cover it. One of the things, though, that we were going to cover today comes from Pete Hegseth. It comes from the ongoing war in Iran. What does it look like? Are we actually headed towards an end date? We’re only a few weeks in. And of course, there has been talk since the very beginning that this was not going to be a long term effort. This was going to be fairly short term weeks, months, but not years. But it looks like and maybe it’s due to the American people already starting to wane a little bit with their want to keep pursuing it. As we’ve seen, troops die. We’ve seen things happen. Maybe there is pushback. What could it be? But also, this was never planned to be that long of a moment, and they are currently discussing the way it could end right now.
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You know, Logan, we’re talking about stopping the madness this week. That’s kind of the theme of a lot of the things we’ve talked about, even the work here at the ACLJ. But I hope this stops the madness of some of the war theory that’s been going along with this country, with the military commanders for more than 50 years, I’d say. The fact that on day one, February 28th, we’re not even a month yet. This is March 26th when we are talking to you today. that they were already calling it another forever war they’d already told us that the entire gulf region was going to break out in sectarian violence and that it was going to be this massive forever war started by president trump but what you’re seeing is that when president trump picked people like marco rubio as secretary of state and national security advisor when he picked pete hexeth to be the secretary of war That this is a different game now. They’re not relying on the old theory that placed America in these forever wars. They said at the beginning, four to six weeks, that’s what we’re looking at. What are we talking about now? We’re coming up on the end of the fourth week. And they’re already talking. Pentagon is preparing for a massive blow of the final blow of the Iran war. Basically saying that they are going to hit them with one final thing. There are options on the table they’re reviewing. But then it’s done. Then they pull out. Obviously, there will be things that continue as far as restructuring the ways, even negotiations with the Iranians. But this military operation was never meant to be another Iraq. And I think what you’re seeing is them being transparent this whole time, while Democrats and others on the right that have decided this is the end of American Republic, as you know it, are just going to have a lot of egg on their face, realizing that they know nothing anymore.
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Yeah, of course, there’s that debate of whether there will be a deal. President Trump even said today, you know, they may want a deal now, but that may be too late. What do you think? I want you to put in the chat right now. It can be very simple. Do you think we should be making a deal to end this war if that deal is with the current Iranian regime? Just put yes or no in the comments right now. If you’re watching on YouTube or on Rumble or Facebook, wherever it may be, let me know during the break. Also, if you want to put where you’re watching from, that’s always fun as well. We are going to hear, we have comments coming in from Pete Hagzeth and some of the others that are happening currently in this cabinet meeting. We got some bites to play for you in the next segment. But we are also now wrapping up. We’re now at Thursday, our Stop the Madness Week. You want to be a part of it as your donations can be doubled today. Go to aclj.org. aclj.org right now and every tax deductible gift is double dollar for dollar unlocked an incredible aclj supporter or champion and let me know if you’re a champion also in the chat or in the comments or call us always tell the phone screener because we like to take care we’ll be right back Welcome back to Secular. There are some phone lines open. I’m definitely seeing a lot of comments coming in right now. And I said, should there be a deal on the table with Iran to end this war? Overwhelmingly, you have all said no, that you shouldn’t be. Now, I think that honestly caught me off guard a little bit because I think the press would at least lead you to believe right now that even conservatives, those that we’re watching probably this show or those who are in general paying attention to what’s going on, do want it to be over and are willing to, say, make a deal to stop this current war situation.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, here’s also the thing, Logan. There may not need to be a deal ever with this regime. One, they are extremely weak. Even today, we saw they took out another Iranian commander. This was of their no longer having a Navy because all of the ships have been sunk, but this was the commander of the IRGC’s Navy. So they are able to take out leaders at will. But here’s the other thing. If we pull back and aren’t doing the daily bombings and they have accomplished what they sought to accomplish. Remember, Operation Midnight Hammer last year, that wasn’t an entire armada of American ships in the region. We’ll still have, we have bases in the region. We still have assets in the region. That will not go away. But the B-2 bombers took off from Missouri. flew to iran did their bombing mission hit their targets and came back home so just because we leave the theater and aren’t engaged in operation epic fury on the same way that it has been going for the past four weeks that doesn’t mean that if the threat pops up we can’t have b2 bombers there overnight bombing their sites and coming back home to the united states of america Go ahead. I said, I think we should hear from Secretary Hudson.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s what I was going to say.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, I took the words right out of your mouth, Logan.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, exactly.
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Here’s what he just said in the cabinet meeting with President Trump just before we went on air talking about the objectives of Operation Epic Fury by 10.
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It’s a decisive campaign with clear objectives to destroy Iran’s offensive military capabilities and ensure they never obtain a nuclear weapon. This is stuff for the history books. This is stuff for legacy. Mr. President, you are acting now to ensure future generations do not have to live under the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that was from Pete Hegseth just moments ago, right before we went on air, discussing what the future implications are of this war in Iran. President Trump also is essentially saying that Iran is begging for a deal right now. Will there be a deal? We will see. Maybe we can pull that bite where he’s talking about that specifically, whether there will be a deal. He kind of definitely… Definitely made it closer to there would not be a deal on the table than he has over the last few days. Again, maybe reading the room a little bit. We know President Trump certainly pays attention to where the American people are. I want to hear from you, though. Give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. Let’s go to a call. Paul’s calling in Wisconsin on line one. Paul, go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I respectfully disagree with Hegseth because the Iranian regime that’s in power has proven over and over they have one agenda and they are not dealing. The alliance, anything including… mass amounts of people to stay in power. They’re dealing with the Chinese, they’re dealing with Russia, and if you leave them in place, they are gonna reestablish, go right back to what we had before, and we didn’t accomplish anything but waste a lot of bullets. So I think this thing has to go until you got a power in place that is trustworthy and different
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t disagree with you. I don’t know if Pete Hexeth disagrees with you either. I think maybe there was some Boston translation there. But no, in general, I agree with you that at this point we’ve gone this far. I want to see full regime change in Iran. I don’t want to see. I understand making a deal to end the battle right now, but that doesn’t mean those two things have to be.
SPEAKER 13 :
independent of each other. Well, here’s also the thing. The deal that the United States would accept, I don’t think that anyone that has any sort of remnant of the previous regime or the previous leadership would ever take. It is things like give us every single bit of your enriched uranium, dismantle all of these programs, get rid of your ballistic missile program, all of these things that I don’t think that if the leadership, whomever they may be that they are talking to, were able to agree with then they would also show other people within that leadership structure you’re weak we’re going to take over there be an internal coup and that person would no longer be around so i agree with you paul i think that you cannot make that kind of deal with this regime but president trump will keep offering it he’ll keep putting it on the table and they’ve also shown that they can back up that hey this is the strategic uh determent if you will not go along and make a deal we’re going to continue to take out your leadership so once again when you go to what pete hexis says saying this is a a legacy type thing it’s a decisive campaign their offensive military capabilities have been destroyed we know that their air defense systems destroyed It will take a long time for them to even start to recover what they have built up over 47 years being this Iranian regime. So I think that’s the other point here. We know also, and Pete Hexeth also had a sound about this, get bite nine ready, but Remember, one of the big things that we here at the ACLJ were very concerned about, and a lot of people were, during the JCPOA. You heard from Jake Sullivan yesterday, if you’re watching the show, talking about how none of this is good. They didn’t even understand the Iranians. We need to slow down. The JCPOA. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That was the Iran nuclear deal under President Obama that Jake Sullivan was the architect of. Everyone said… Hey, you can’t make a deal with the Iranians without targeting their ballistic missile program. We have seen their ballistic missile program in full force, now it’s completely degraded, but that’s what they were firing at all their Gulf region neighbors. Here’s the other thing that we warned about, a lot of other people warned about. They are building ballistic missiles. Their end goal is to build them that are intercontinental, that can reach the United States. But they are working towards that. You gotta make sure that’s a part of the deal. The Obama team and Jake Sullivan were so naive that they did not do that. They wanted a deal no matter what, sent them pallets of cash, and let them continue to build their ballistic missile program. They showed to us, the Iranians, last week, something that they had lied about. for a decade or more. They had missiles that they launched that we were able to intercept. One failed and one was intercepted. They could go 4,000 kilometers. You know what that would hit? London. That is an existential threat to the people of the United Kingdom, our allies in the European Union as well. So when they sat on their hands and went and get off the bench to come help us, realize that they were in the crosshairs of this Islamic regime. Let’s go ahead and play Bite Nine from Secretary Hegseth just moments ago.
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Two days ago, they shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000 kilometers away. For years, they told the world that their missiles could only range two kilometers. Surprise. Yet again, Iran lied. And to the world, I say London is 4,000 kilometers from Iran. Washington DC is 3,300 kilometers from Venezuela. Another country President Trump did something about that partnered for a long time with Iran. So you’re telling us that Iran is not a threat to the world or to the U.S. President Trump knows better. And here’s what success actually looks like right now. You mentioned it, Mr. President. A-10 Warthogs, if you know them, you love them, and Apache helicopter gunships are flying strike missions inside Iranian airspace and throughout the Strait of Hormuz at will. See, you only send these slow, low-flying close air support platforms when the enemy has no meaningful air defenses left.
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Yeah, of course, that is Pete Hagsworth. Again, this is happening right now. I believe they just maybe wrapped up the cabinet meeting where Pete Hagsworth was doing this. And look, you may like the way they speak. You may not like the way you speak. But I think there is some clear plans being laid out here. And I think that’s important for the American people to know. Again, I started this show saying maybe the support for this war in Iran was waning. And look, I felt that way from some of the way even President Trump and the administration was talking. Now, the chat would make me believe otherwise. The calls we’re getting say, no, finish the job. We don’t need to be stopping right now. I do want to hear from you. And in the next segment, look, we’re Stop the Madness Week. And every day this week, I want you to see what’s going on also on the local level in the world of the ACLJ. So there’s going to be a bit of a pivot here coming up. But it’s actually the perfect time to call in and to get your comments in. Because we’ll take them following up after that. 1-800-684-3110. Because in the next segment, we’re talking about what’s going on in Iran. And then we’re going to talk about what’s happening in our homeland and even the state of Massachusetts. Because again, the ACLJ has such a wide scope. We deal with situations like what’s going on in Iran. We’ve been dealing with what’s happening in Nigeria. We deal with Israel and Gaza. And all of these things are the ACLJ work. And then there’s the individual street preacher. and then there’s a pro-life pregnancy center being targeted by the state of massachusetts all of this is happening simultaneously because people like you support the work and of course we are in this special week stop the madness your donations are doubled and look you’ll see in the next segment firsthand how we were able to get this done how we’re able to continue our fight currently a fight that is ongoing with the state of Massachusetts over its multi-million dollar ad campaign that we were able to respond to in many, many different ways. You’re gonna hear about that coming up in the next segment. But I need your support today. Go to aclj.org, be a part of Stop the Madness Week, have your gift, your tax-deductible gift doubled right now. Listen, when we get back again though, I wanna hear from you. And a bunch of you are joining us right now. Do you support the end of this war or do you want us to keep going? Do you want there to be a deal, yes or no? Welcome back to Seculo. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We are going to take your calls and comments over the next half hour. Be a part of the show today again by calling in as well as getting your comments in on YouTube or Rumble, wherever you’re watching the show, however you get your podcasts. We’re live, by the way, each and every day. If you listen to this later on or if you don’t know, we’re live every day, 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern time. That’s at ACLJ.org. That’s however you get streaming YouTube, Rumble, Facebook. We are there always. And of course, you can get this show at any time on demand, however you get your podcasts. Just search for Sekula or ACLJ. We’ll pop right up. That being said, the work of the ACLJ, if you’re unfamiliar, maybe you’re brand new, or maybe you’ve been following us for years. It continues on such a big scale. Like I said, we deal with situations like what’s happening in Israel, what’s happening in Iran. We’ve been working on cases for Iranian citizens, for Israeli citizens, for Americans. We’re there at the UN Human Rights Council. We are so involved in this giant international scale that it’s hard for me to describe all the work that we do. However, the ACLJ started and was founded to support your religious freedom on the individual basis. A lot of it happened in the public school system. A lot of it happened with people protesting in front of abortion clinics. A lot of those original cases… We’re settled law for so many years, but we’ve seen a rise in them being questioned and pushed back upon. Whether you heard about the street preachers, again, that should be something that we don’t even have to think about anymore. But the ACLJ team has to be there to support the rights. Same with what’s going on in a very different scale in the state of Massachusetts. This happened, we’ve been talking about this for the last almost two years now, I believe, year and a half now, where I was in Boston. I was in Boston. And I noticed that the state of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was running not just pro-abortion campaigns, were running ad campaigns specifically targeting pro-life pregnancy centers. If anyone’s ever worked with a pro-life pregnancy resource center, you know. We’re talking about what used to be called crisis pregnancy centers. You know what they do. They provide incredible prenatal and a lot of times postnatal care. whether that’s ultrasounds, whether it’s baby formula, clothes, diapers, or, you know, counseling for future fathers and mothers. They do incredible work often on a volunteer basis. And the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was trying to shut it down. And the ACLJ got involved in a very multi-product effort because we know it’s an uphill battle when you start taking on these very, you know, liberal states that have, again, the people aren’t this way. I met so many amazing people during this campaign that we were running in the state of Massachusetts. Again, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but you understand what I’m saying. Who are amazing pro-life people, even those who probably vote Democrat. You got a lot of pro-life Catholics, a lot of great people in Boston. And they were seeing their pro-life pregnancy centers being attacked by their own government. So the ACLJ decided to get involved in many different ways, including our own media campaign. I want you to take a look at this video presentation our team put in. While you’re doing that, I want you to consider supporting. I want you to pray about it, think about it, and if you feel so obliged, please do it right now, supporting the work of the ACLJ financially during this week, during Stop the Madness week, because when you help us, all your donations this week are doubled because another great group of ACLJ supporters are ready to unlock their pledges. We’re going to get back to what’s happening in Iran coming up. So don’t worry, that’s going to be the next, you know, segments. We’re going to discuss that, including some more stuff later on. But I want you to see the incredible work the ACLJ is doing. Take a look.
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many of these women come later in pregnancy some of them are coming three four weeks into their pregnancy and they just really don’t know what to do they don’t know what what options are available to them many of them are are coming to us with no support from family maybe they have a hunger need or they’re still in school or they have a boyfriend that’s pressuring them or a family member that is pushing them towards a choice that they’re not fully informed about or comfortable with. So we really just allow her to stop and to take a moment for herself and to tell us her story. It’s a welcoming space, it’s a warm space. Our clients often tell us that anywhere else they felt like a number, but here they feel like family.
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Massachusetts launching this $1 million taxpayer-funded campaign.
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The campaign by Governor Maura Healey tells women to avoid what it terms anti-abortion centers, calling them unsafe. The governor’s office says the taxpayer-funded ads which began running this month are supposed to help women understand their full range of options. But there was no state investigation and no prosecutions after pregnancy resource centers were vandalized in the wake of the Dobbs decision and pro-life workers say this new campaign puts their lives in even greater danger.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was walking around Boston, all of a sudden I saw all of these billboards from the state, from the government, saying avoid anti-abortion centers. And then you go and it’s essentially a smear campaign against pro-life pregnancy resource centers. provide food, provide clothes, provide ultrasounds, a lot of different care that these pro-life pregnancy centers do offer. But the state has decided to make them the enemy and we are taking it to the state. We’re going to do a massive counter campaign.
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My ex told me to take care of it. I felt so alone. And then I found a pregnancy resource center. When things have been tight, they’ve provided formula, diapers, and even clothes. They become a part of my family, our family.
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To find a pregnancy resource center near you, go to choicebeginshere.org. We are representing one of the PRCs, Your Options Medical Centers, and we are filing today in the District Court of Massachusetts.
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We brought a lawsuit in the District Court of Massachusetts, and unfortunately, in the middle of that fight, the court decided to throw out our case. The fight is not over, and we are not done. We appealed to the First Circuit Court just this week, and we are preparing a brief arguing for all of the reasons why that court was wrong. And we are going to fight this to the bitter end because everyone deserves the chance to know about the child in their womb. Everyone deserves the chance to have free ultrasounds and healthcare to help that child grow. And Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics are not the only option. We want a choice. And yes, that choice is to bring lights. We just filed our notice of appeal last week, and we are going to be filing our appellate brief on April 27th. Once we start that process, it can take a very long time. Some appellate courts could take months, even up to a year, to make a decision after we hit oral argument. We don’t have an exact date for when our oral argument will be, but we are strapping in for a long fight that could take a year or two before we can even get back into the district court for a trial. So this is a long haul fight and we need your help to support this.
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Again, it’s the incredible work of the ACLJ legal team. You’ve heard about it. I mean, look, it is an uphill battle. But we’re able to do, when we put together these teams, like I said, the media team, the broadcast team, they’re in tandem. We’re able to do things like that media counter campaign. We’re able to run ads only because people like you support. All of that is supported financially by you. We had to buy that billboard space. We had to run that space physically. Those are the kind of creative endeavors we want to keep doing here at the ACLJ. Because when even things go slow or don’t go as planned or as hoped, let’s just say, in the courtroom there are new ways we can reach people and that only happens because people like you support so again as we had to break here this is the end of the first half hour it flew by i want you to be a part of the aclj team a couple different ways you can do that if you’re brand new All I ask is that you subscribe on whatever platform you’re watching on or listening on. I understand some of you may be on terrestrial radio, but if you’re on a YouTube or rumble or Facebook, whatever it may be, I ask you to follow or subscribe right now. If you’ve been with us a while, I want you to think about supporting the work of the ACLJ right now by going to ACLJ.org. So we have a second half hour coming up. Not all the local stations carry it. You can always find us though, live or archived at ACLJ.org, the ACLJ app, or again, on whatever your favorite podcast player is. We’re there. But right now, for the next 20 seconds, scan that QR code if you can. Go to aclj.org or directly aclj.org slash madness to have your tax-deductible donation doubled. Again, we’re fighting that case in the federal appeals court. Our legal team is currently preparing our brief, which is due in just a few weeks.
SPEAKER 04 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo.
SPEAKER 05 :
And now your host, Logan Sekula. Welcome back to Sekula. We’re going to reset a little bit. Second half hour coming up. I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. C.C. Heil, Senior Attorney here at the ACLJ. Going to be joining us, I believe, in the next segment. So you’re not going to want to miss that. And then I always like to wrap up the show taking your calls and comments. Now, I have presented you a question because Pete Hegseth, And the team, this morning, cabinet meeting, they were talking about all the ways that the success is happening right now with this war in Iran, but they have also started to discuss what the future will look like. Not only the positives of the future, but also wrapping up the current campaign. What that looks like. Is there a deal on the table? President Trump pushed back a little bit on the idea that a deal, they said that Iran wants a deal. Whether they’re going to get one is very, very different. And I asked you, what do you think? Should there be a deal with Iran? Let’s take a call real quick. Deb’s calling in Oregon. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
I believe scripture says never deal with the treacherous because you will only suffer from that if you do.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, Deb, I think you’re spot on there. One, especially the leadership of this regime. We know what happened when President Obama made that terrible deal. What did they do? They spent money to finance terror around the world. We talked yesterday about the sleeper cells that they had in Europe that they’ve activated. We talk about their role in October 7th. That was all funded. They didn’t use those sanctions relief under President Obama to help their people. They don’t care about the people. They care about power and wielding terror around the world. Why? I say it all the time. They’re a genocidal apocalyptic death cult. Their theology, their Twelver Shia Islam, that specific brand is all about ushering in the 12th Imam so that they can rule the world. And it includes killing Americans and killing Jews and Israelis. That is their entire theology. So, yes, I think when you make a deal with the devil like President Obama did, you see what they’re going to do. They’re going to continue their terror regime. They’re not going to help their people. They’re going to lie constantly saying we’re not building longer range missiles, but we can’t talk about this. We can’t talk about our missile program. What do we find out they had? Oh, well, you know, we had some that could hit London. If we were to position them in Venezuela, which until recently we were big allies with, we could hit Washington, D.C. with these missiles.
SPEAKER 05 :
By the way, I want to speak up to that as well. Maduro, the hearing has started. It’s underway right now. We start to forget that these things have happened. When was the last time you heard the word Maduro referenced on the news until today? I think about it often. You wear his sweatsuit often. okay you need to clarify i don’t wear his sweatsuit we happen to have the same outfit and look maybe he’s a stylish guy okay why you put me on blast here will some people like a nike track suit okay all right phone lines are open for you because will just you know decided to do that to me he started comparing my appearance to that of a dictator i mean he was a successful guy for a long time terrible person yeah but you know we also never look to pivot back president trump president trump does love making deals and we know he sits down with world leaders that are less than savory he has sat down obviously with putin many times he has sat down with kim jong-un this is not uncommon for president trump to make deals with people to make sure we have safety security in America, but they’re not necessarily always with the most upstanding people. This is a little different because we went to war with them. Now they’re going to say we didn’t go to war, but you know what I mean. We are bombing them. We took out their leadership. So what’s that future look like? I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. I’ll be honest with you, folks. We have five lines open right now. Five big ones. Give me a call. 1-800-684-3110. Support the work of the ACLJ if you can. We get back CeCe Heil, Senior Attorney here at the ACLJ. He’s going to be joining us. And then a little bit later, I want to hear from you. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. Phone lines are still open for you. Get on hold right now. You may take some calls in this segment. We’re definitely going to take them in the next one. So 1-800-684-3110. Again, I always want to talk about the work of the ACLJ and things that are going on in sort of that world and that continual fight for religious freedom, not only in our country, but also worldwide, but specifically what’s going on in our own country as well. With that CeCe Heil senior attorney here at the ACLJ is joining us but let Will set this up a little bit.
SPEAKER 13 :
That’s right and we also if you’ve followed the ACLJ for a while but if you’re new you may not know we have a very great office in DC that deals with government affairs so it’s not just the attorneys but it’s also those that talk with the members of congress their staff and are able to help craft legislation sometimes or give advice But here what we see is Senate Bill 3679 that we have sent a letter to Senator Budd from North Carolina in support of this piece of legislation he’s put forward. It’s co-signed by Senator Blackburn, Senator Moody, Senator Cotton, Senator Banks, Senator Kennedy, and Senator Lankford, as well as Senator Cruz. And CeCe this is actually I think a very important piece of legislation at a time when we are in a global conflict like we are because this specifically amends the Immigration and Nationality Act and go ahead and tell the people what this piece of legislation would do.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sure so Senate Bill 3679 is actually the title is the Banning of Perpetrators of Religious Persecution Act. And it does exactly that. It denies visas. You cannot come to the United States if you’re responsible for any significant violations of religious freedom. And it’s a very good deterrent because a lot of these people live in foreign countries. And as we’ve seen in Nigeria, which has been in the news a lot, We have people that are literally slaughtering Christians for their faith. And so this act would say, if you do that, not just as a foreign leader, but as an individual, if you participate, if you fund, if you take part in religious persecution, you will not be allowed a visa into the United States, which is great because once again, the United States is being a global leader of liberty. And we absolutely have religious freedom as one of our foundational freedoms and believe it should be respected worldwide. And this is a great way for us to take that global leadership and say, if you engage in religious persecution, you are not welcome in the United States.
SPEAKER 05 :
Is it pretty broad of what religious persecution is? Because there is, I’m sure, some people concerned about what’s happening worldwide and go, well, what is the definition of persecution? Should the ACLJ or how should we respond? Because obviously limiting free speech, those kind of things. But we’re talking about, of course, murder, genocide, those type of issues. Yes. A little different.
SPEAKER 07 :
They do have definitions in the act itself where they define violations of religious freedom and what they would be. But then it does go to individuals that people that significantly supported, participated in, responsible for, carried out particularly severe violations of religious freedom. And again, it’s defined in the act of what those violations would be.
SPEAKER 13 :
And that’s actually pulling from other law on the books. Its definition is taken from 22 U.S. Code 6402, Section 16, which defines in our law already. what violations of religious freedom are. And it is things such as violations such as arbitrary prohibitions on, restrictions of, or punishment for assembling for peaceful religious activities such as worship, preaching, prayer, including arbitrary registration requirements, speaking freely about one’s religious beliefs, Changing one’s religious beliefs and affiliation, so forced conversions. Not professing a particular religion or any religion, so punishing people for that. Possession of or distribution of religious literature, including Bibles. Or raising one’s children in religious teachings and practices of one’s choice. And then there are other things as well about… the forced violation of one’s conscience, the religious practices, as well as enslavement, murder, execution. So it is pretty broad, but it is defined already in the U.S. code. So it’s not creating a new definition. It is something that is already relied upon for many other things within U.S. business and such. Yes. Verify that a little bit, because look, exactly it’s not it’s not just a vague if you’re a violator of this and then it can be used yeah by the next administration if it’s a democrat administration we don’t like israel that’s my concern exactly yeah you took the words out of mouth i mean that’s my concern is that this could be used against you but it sounds like that is not the case
SPEAKER 07 :
right and again you know typically as the international legal director here what i’m doing is is protecting and what we do is protecting and defending persecuted christians around the globe but just like you said will we have you know our governor government affairs office in dc and it’s always great when the united states takes a stand and stands up for international religious liberty and that’s what this bill does and so we are very happy to see it be introduced and we support it wholeheartedly And hopefully it will pass with no problems.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, I think what’s also interesting about something like this is that it is using the example and the model of the United States, our First Amendment to say, hey, we know that there are people from many countries that are. big in persecution that also make a lot of money from the United States so why why are some people coming here maybe it is for a vacation maybe it is for travel but when you talk about a country like Nigeria specifically there is a lot of big business between uh businesses and and different resources and and things in Nigeria that they are trying to make deals with big American companies yeah And what do they have to do? They have to come here to do business. And we’re saying, hey, we understand. That’s a part of it. But if you are participating in this, in this place where more Christians are killed for their faith than anywhere else in the world. then if you’re participating in that, we don’t want your business and you’re not allowed to do business here and things of that. So that’s why this visa thing is such a big thing to hold up. This isn’t even going after and creating laws that would go in contrary to our first amendment rights, our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion. It is showing that if you want to come here, you cannot be violating what we believe is so precious and God given the first amendment.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And again, I want you to think about the work that we’re doing here, because like Cece said, we have this international team that is continually working, and we have our government affairs team, of course, the media team. All of that’s happening. And yes, we are in the middle of one of these big fundraising drives. You know this. I’m talking about it pretty openly, pretty publicly right now. And I see sometimes your comments come in. But understand, these months are when it’s most important, because we are able to offer, when we say the donations are doubled, they are. There is other ACLJ supporters ready to unlock your donation. So if you’re used to giving $20 or $10 here and there, it’s totally fine. Most people do. Most people give on a one-time basis or they’re not subscribing. They’re not ACLJ champions. They give when they can and we appreciate that. But during these special months or these special weeks even like right now, we’re able to unlock donations that have been pledged. And that can go up to as much as you pretty much can be given because we have such an incredible group of people And if we ever reach the point where we have topped out what can be matched, that will be a glorious day. And I will let you know. But right now, that match is wide open. I need you to be a part of it today. I need you to go to ACLJ.org. Make your tax-deductible donation if you can right now. I know a lot of you are thinking about your taxes right now. And I know, look, that that is not as big of a push as it used to be. Because what’s deductible, of course, but what does it matter? I understand that. So that’s why I say, you know, we don’t push make your donation because it’s tax deductible. We say make your donation because we’re doing important work here. And look at this team that we have, not just in Washington, D.C., not just here in Nashville, Tennessee, not just in France, in Israel, around the world in places we can’t talk about. The ACLJ is always hard at work. And again, we do have in the next segment of the show a moment where we’re going to hear from you. And I think that’s always important to offer that because you do control a lot of what we get done here. A lot of what’s important. And look, I was able to do some good intel today. I asked you a question, and to be honest, you gave me the opposite answer of what I was expecting. Because the media narrative right now is that everyone is ready for the encouragement, whatever’s happening right now in Iran, the war in Iran, to be over. And for us to make a deal and to call it a day. And I would understand that. But that’s not what you guys told me today. And the calls we have lined up right now aren’t telling me that as well. But maybe you feel differently. I want you to call me at 1-800-684-3110 because we give a voice, not just to our team here at the ACLJ. You’re part of the team as well. Because again, we are 100% funded by you all, the supporters of the ACLJ. And then the next segment, I want to hear from you. So that’s at 1-800-684-3110. We got two lines open right now. You can be a part of it today. We only got one minute left in this segment. Any final words here, Will, before, or Cece?
SPEAKER 07 :
I just reiterate everything you said. We cannot do this work. without every single person who supports us. And that means if it’s $1, if it’s $10, if it’s $100. And like you said, in this matching challenge, if you give $10, you’re actually giving us $20. So we can’t do it without our supporters. And I thank every one of you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, absolutely. None of us could do this without you. So make a donation if you can. Again, if you can’t, pray for our team. Do the free things. Subscribe, go to the website, share the content with your friends. That is incredibly impactful as well. So don’t think just because you can’t give financially. Look, I know financially times are tough for a lot of people right now. Go to ACLJ.org. I want you to do it today. Think about it. You can see the QR code that’s on the screen right now. ACLJ.org. Make your donation today. We’ll be right back with your calls and comments. Call lines are completely jammed. They’ll open up. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are completely jammed right now, but they may open up as we try to get through as many calls as we can. Some of you might hold for as much as 30 plus minutes, so I appreciate that. But I do want to take some calls right off the bat. Will, I know you got a question you want to answer as well. Let’s take a call, then we’ll answer that. Sounds good. Let’s go to Guy in Pennsylvania. Guy, go ahead.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hey, Jay. Hey, so good. Thank you for taking my call. I definitely believe we should not stop this war in Iran until this regime is completely obliterated. There’s a great quote that I love that says, the only thing that evil needs to be successful is for good people to sit back and do nothing. We’ve seen this under the Obama administration. We’ve seen it under the Biden administration. And unfortunately, they dumped this into President Trump’s lap. but he’s doing a great job of cleaning it up, and he should continue to go until it’s totally done.
SPEAKER 05 :
He was aggressive there. You know what?
SPEAKER 13 :
He said what he needed to say, and Guy was like, I’m done here. I haven’t heard dial tone in a long time. Quite some time. I know, but… It’s refreshing a little bit.
SPEAKER 05 :
A little bit, yeah. It’s like I picked up a pay phone in the 80s. Right. We do have a couple lines now open. No, I appreciate your opinion, Guy. I think a lot of people feel that way. I guess there is, Will, that determination of what is finished.
SPEAKER 13 :
That’s right. And once again, there are the military objectives for this operation. Also, once the military phase is done from the United States military, does that mean that the engagement with Iran, with trying to see if there’s a regime change, whether it’s using other militia groups like the Kurds, are those things going away? no i don’t think it’s just like we’re done we wash our hands of this and we’re gone so i think that is also something to think about as well this is operation epic fury that may end does that mean that also there’s not another operation if uh they’re not contained and that’s those are kind of other things to look at as well do i believe or do i want the islamic republic of iran to continue do i want that government and that leadership to continue no but i also understand what that pete hegseth is saying what the president is saying as well as some of the other limitations on the president where uh you know you have the 60 days based off the war powers act then can that change into something else we will see But once again, I think that for the world, best case scenario is there is no longer the Islamic Republic of Iran as it stands. And we will have to see how that pans out as well. All right, continuing on. Do we want to take this YouTube question real quick? Before we go, I’ll do it quickly. This was from Scott on YouTube. He said, so far, no one has answered my question that if we are energy independent, why do we care about the Persian Gulf and also the Strait of Hormuz? So when you talk about something that is a commodity like oil, yes, we care. We definitionally are energy independent. We are a net exporter. We produce enough here in the United States to create… We produce more than we consume energy-wise. We also take in oil from other people in other countries as well, even though we are technically energy independent. But when it’s a commodity, and we are also exporters, when you talk about the global marketplace… if there is not enough supply to meet global demand that will increase the prices naturally everywhere because we are exporters other people are buying it and if the demand is still at a certain level that supply can’t meet because oil coming out of the persian gulf can’t meet that you know that you supply 20 of the world’s oil then that is going to naturally drive up prices globally We are not only producing oil for the United States market. We produce it for other countries. They buy it from our refiners. It’s also not our government producing that. It’s individual companies. So I hope that clears it up. We care because it’s a global marketplace and supply and demand still affect our prices here at home.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, hey, some lines opened up. I think we may have had a glitch there with the phone lines. If you did call in and hang up, give me a call back 1-800-684-3110. Still got four minutes left on the show. Let’s go to Jim who’s calling on line one. Jim, go ahead.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you very much for all you’re doing at the ACLJ. You guys are awesome. God bless you. Um, this, this has kind of been covered, but I, but I want to say one thing that I hope a lot of people will listen to. And that is this, unless you’ve read the Quran, you, you don’t understand the worldview and the position that these people come from. And, uh, as far as negotiation goes, you cannot negotiate with Islam. And as far as the continuing effort, President Trump and Secretary of War Hegseth, they understand this perfectly. And this is going to be a battle that is going to continue until the end of time. but we need to keep these people in a position where they cannot hurt us.
SPEAKER 05 :
Jim, I don’t disagree with you entirely. I think what’s interesting about, you said, if you studied the Quran, if you’ve ever read the book, I’m currently reading a book, not the Quran, but a book on sort of the history of it. Well, I’ve studied a lot of this. We’ve spent time in the Middle East. And again, it’s not to put all people that follow Islam into the same category. There are radicals in every religion. That being said, When you do read the Quran, you will probably find as a Westerner, not even as a Christian, but maybe just as a Westerner, American or European, you will find a lot of the messages that come out of it to feel very foreign. to what we’ve kind of adapted as the Judeo-Christian messages that we’ve heard. Yes, does it exist in the same timeline, a lot of it? Do you hear a lot of some Bible stories that are obviously in the Quran, just like there are some stories in the Torah that are in our Bible? Yes, there is some of that. But there is a worldview shift that is very different that can be found in those texts. And I think what you’ll start to realize is how much your own perspective, even not as a religious person necessarily, is through the mindset of those that were brought up in Judaism and Christianity. And it is a very different world.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, and what I’ve had this conversation with people recently as well is what separates our faith, our Christian faith, apart from many of the other world religions, a lot of times after their central character, the rest of the story is about vengeance. It’s about getting back and trying to restore something. The… after christ is resurrected the story is about him it is about the redemption and that is very different from a lot of other religious texts yeah those that go and share it and then also still get persecuted for it exactly so i think that instead of being persecutors like you see the wars that that was happened in the quran and the history of the spread of islam it is very different than what the redemption is that we have in in our christian story so is it
SPEAKER 05 :
Do your study. Take a look at all the world religions and what they’re saying and what they’re preaching, and it will give you a better perspective on what you’re dealing with on the world stage. We are pretty much out of time for calls today. Matthew and Martin, call me back tomorrow. I think you both have really good comments, but unfortunately we have 55 seconds left and it’s just not enough time. So with that, I’m going to encourage you to just take this last minute of the broadcast. You’ve heard incredible coverage today. Our team has done an amazing job. You’ve heard about the work the ACLJ is doing worldwide. And I need you to help continue that. We are starting to wrap up Stop the Madness Week. We are starting to wrap up Double Your Impact Month. I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. You heard of the Pro-Life Pregnancy Resource Centers? They’re incredibly important, and we are fighting for their right to exist when organizations, states, governments are trying to shut them down from doing the great work that they do in your community because they support life. Go to ACLJ.org today. Have your donation matched. Have it double dollar for dollar at ACLJ.org. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
