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Logan Sekulow issues a critical examination of mainstream media’s portrayal of Christian motivations associated with supporting Israel, particularly in light of recent comments labeling some as ‘rapture preppers.’ The episode sheds light on the profound misinterpretations of evangelical beliefs while addressing the reality of Iran’s state-backed threats. Through candid analysis and listener interactions, the discussion underscores the gravity of ensuring safety for Americans abroad and fostering informed support for Israel based on both strategy and faith.
SPEAKER 07 :
back plans in iran keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo we want to hear from you share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110 And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome to Sekulow. This is Logan Sekulow. Will Haynes is joining me in studio. Will, sometimes, you know what? You end up running right into studio right before your last meeting, and that’s exactly what happened. And I hurt my calf on the way in, so Will’s texting me, you got 30 seconds. And I’m like, I’m trying, man. Okay, I’m an old man. I’m almost 40.
SPEAKER 04 :
You need to train some more. You got to train for those sprints.
SPEAKER 08 :
I know. I just sprinted bad, man. Sprint is bad. But you know what? There is some interesting news. And look, we’re going to talk about The headline that you’re seeing right now, if you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble, you’re seeing the headline of that President Trump has approved the plans, the attack plans. And that is true. Now. He has not said go ahead. But the plan is set. So we’re going to talk about what that means. My dad, Jay Sekulow, is going to be joining us. Who else is coming up today?
SPEAKER 04 :
We also have Rick Grinnell later in the broadcast who will be talking about a lot of these issues and giving his insight. But what we’ve seen, the reports are that President Trump has been given plans by the military, by the Pentagon, of how the U.S. would attack Iran in those nuclear facilities. And according to the press reports, President Trump has approved of the framework of the plan that the Pentagon has put together. Now, what he has not approved yet is the go ahead to carry out this strike.
SPEAKER 08 :
It wasn’t on a text thread that was released.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’m sure Jonah Goldberg is getting to the bottom of that, or Jeffrey Goldberg, rather, is getting to the bottom of that at the Atlantic right now. Let’s rank our Goldbergs. All right, number one, Bill Goldberg. Number two, hockey goalie Goldberg. Right, from the Mighty Ducks.
SPEAKER 08 :
Number three, of those two, I don’t even know. Probably Jonah Goldberg of those two. And then Whoopi Goldberg, I don’t even know where you’d put Whoopi Goldberg. If we were talking about 90s Whoopi Goldberg, I mean, number three.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, obviously.
SPEAKER 08 :
Current Whoopi Goldberg, maybe not as much. All right. We’re going to continue this discussion. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Also, we’re going to talk about this a little bit later in the show. You’re not going to want to miss this. You know what, Will? I hate to admit this publicly out loud, but I was watching CNN last night. You normally chastise me for doing that, Logan. Well, here’s what I’ll give it to CNN. Sometimes when it comes to international news, they seem to still have the most resources, right? So though I disagree with what they’re saying, a lot of times the live footage and those kind of things, I like to watch what they’re doing because I think they have a good swath of people that are in the Middle East covering this. So I find that interesting. But I flipped it on and it was middle of one of the commentary shows. Right. And I couldn’t believe, I mean, it became a little bit viral. I could not believe what I heard and what they were calling Mike Johnston and Ted Cruz and all of you, you know, conservative Christian MAGA Republicans, if you will. really going after people based on their faith. We’re going to play it a little later because I want you to just stay tuned for it because it was just one of those moments realize how far their finger is off of the pulse of the American people, how little they understand about the Christian faith, but they are so happy to throw it under the bus. You know, the Christians who were responsible for so much of the good work that’s been done all over the world. But of course, the reasons they support Israel can’t be anything but selfish and It can’t be anything but end times-ish. It can’t be that we actually can see right from wrong. And yes, the Bible has some commands in there that we do represent, we do support in terms of what right and wrong is. I want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, the U.S. Embassy has even been working to evacuate Americans from Israel. They sent out urgent notice. So a lot of this is happening right now. You’ll see that on the screen. That’s from Mike Huckabee. who said urgent notice American citizens wanted to leave Israel. We’re working on evacuation flights, cruise ship flights or cruise ship departures. I know that state of Florida has been paying for some of these as well to get a lot of Americans who live in Israel or spend time in Israel out if they so choose. Also, Mike Huckabee, Ambassador Huckabee, put out a great text that he sent to President Trump. I think we should pull that up. That was a couple of days ago, but I think it shows how important this is to him and how he was the right guy for this job to be ambassador of Israel and really the most important time. It is a wild time in this country and around the world. But I am thankful that we have certain people in certain positions. Phone lines are open for you, as I said, at 1-800-684-3110. If you want to continue to support our work and our work in Israel at the ACLJ Jerusalem, do it today. Go to ACLJ.org. Become a champion if you can. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. My dad, Jay Sekulow, is joining us in studio. Obviously, we are covering all, not in studio, via phone, but we are covering a lot of what’s happening right now. It seems like it’s wild because it is a very wild time. Of course, this also comes on the heels of an attack of an Israeli hospital by Iran. Of course, they’re using some of the reasons why they feel that that was necessary. Dad, I want to get your point of view as it does feel a bit more chaotic this morning.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I think the intensity of what’s about to happen is becoming… a reality. And in that regard, Logan, I think it’s important for people to understand that the attack on the hospital that took place last night is a violation of the law of armed conflict and violates the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court, Section 8 in particular, which states that hospitals are off limits unless they’re being used for military purposes. In other words, Sometimes Hamas and Hezbollah we know have utilized hospitals to launch rockets. That’s not, of course, what the Israelis do. Israel Defense Forces do not do that. So it is a complete violation of the law of armed conflict. It’s a complete violation of international law. I instructed our legal team this morning to prepare what’s called a protest letter that goes to both the United Nations and and the Security Council, as well as the International Criminal Court. They’re very quick, these entities, these international tribunals, they’re very quick to attack Israel and to bring charges against Israel. I mean, they currently have Benjamin Netanyahu under indictment, which is absurd, but there you have it. Here, you have an attack on a civilian hospital, clearly violates law of armed conflict in international law, And we’ve heard nothing from these international tribunals. And that’s why we activated this morning our international teams to work on preparing the necessary documents immediately. And I’m planning on filing tomorrow. And by the way, you mentioned Ambassador Huckabee. I’ve been in communication with him this morning and for about two hours back and forth. And Look, I mean, I told him, I said, you have been called to this kingdom for such a time as this. There’s no doubt in my mind that he was the right person to be the ambassador to Israel. None of us knew, of course, that it would be in this context of what we’re dealing with. But he said, look, on the ground, things are tense, as you can imagine. But, of course, he’s fully supporting the administration, a part of which he is. He serves in the administration and believes the president has the right plans in place.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think so, Will. You got something?
SPEAKER 04 :
I can tell you on the tip of your tongue. When you look at this strike on this hospital, and miraculously, no one was killed in this strike. And a lot of that has to do with the Israelis having the ability to warn and to try and prepare. But obviously, when a hospital is struck, that is a big undertaking of getting people to safety. There were 70 to 80 injuries, they’re saying. But this is the hospital, one of the main places that victims of October 7th were treated. And we know that the jihadis love symbolism, that you can’t lose the fact that when they strike civilian targets, it is to sow more terror. We know that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terror. And I think even that pointing that out to people makes it all much more important why we have to get this document to the UN and to these international bodies to try and point out what the Iranian regime is trying to do here.
SPEAKER 06 :
No doubt about it. And this hospital is in Beersheba. And of course, you know that those areas from scripture and these are the ancient lands of Israel. Here’s what you have, though. Don’t think for a moment that the Iranians did not target this hospital. This wasn’t incidental fire. This wasn’t something that wasn’t planned. They planned to hit a hospital. By the way, they did a lot of damage to that hospital, and that hospital is needed, especially in a time of war. So they have clearly violated international law. But let me tell you what you have to do here. We have to build… a support base for the legal side of this, because as much as you wish this wasn’t the case, but it is the case, the international tribunals are going to get in there and start, you know, doing what they always do, and that is go after Israel rather than the perpetrators of international crimes. So what we’re doing by setting this letter in immediately, this protest, It puts the U.N. on notice. It puts the Security Council on notice. We have standing through our European Center for Law and Justice, where Jordan is right now. We have standing to do this. And we’ll also do the same, of course, in the International Criminal Court, where we’ve actually appeared before on Israel’s behalf and on behalf of the United States and other proceedings. So, you know, we’re one of the few law firms in the world that have had that kind of experience. I’ve been on the floor of that at the International Criminal Court in the courtroom for weeks. back in 2020. I mean, so 20 in the end of 2019. So we know this tribunal, we know what happens, and we are taking the appropriate response legally to defend Israel’s actions, but also to put those entities on notice that there have in fact been violations of international law by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
SPEAKER 08 :
A lot of people, Dad, are watching this and they are seeing, and it kind of broke my heart last night, I’m watching all the coverage and realizing that the talking points from the other side are winning and they’re even winning in some of the conservative sector, maybe even more so with this. Because look, President Trump was pretty strong saying, I don’t want to drag us into new wars. I don’t want to get us involved in these kind of wars. But now what you’ve seen is sort of the traditional anti-Semitic tropes being now used and thrown in at a point where I even saw the, The hardest of anti-Trump Christians, I would say that the hardest of anti-Trump Christians or Jon Stewart saying, I want to give Tucker Carlson a hug. I really wish I’m sitting there nodding, going, oh, man, he’s saying what we’ve been wanting to say. And they’re saying this about someone who they probably were calling the devil just a few months ago. But now, because he is all of a sudden against this war in Iran. seemingly that’s enough for the other side and for those who are ready to be, I guess, more radicalized on the right to still draw up against Israel.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, the whole situation with some in the conservative movement, including Tucker and some of the others, Candace Owen, some of these others. The anti-Israel tropes and the anti-Israel statements and the end of the Trump presidency is ridiculous. President Trump’s lasting legacy, one of them, will be the destruction of Iran’s capacity to invoke nuclear weapons against my grandchildren. And that’s how I want our listeners to be thinking about this. Remember, these countries, these entities, the Islamic Republic of Iran, they don’t think in years. They think in generations. And we have to be that same kind of response. And I want this threat eliminated for my grandchildren, period.
SPEAKER 04 :
And President Trump will do it. And as we were about to get to the end of the segment here, but one question coming off of that is that we have seen reports that President Trump, with consultation with the Pentagon, has approved the attack plans. So what the Pentagon would carry out, but has decided as of right now not to move forward with them. So they have the plan in place, but they are. waiting until the appropriate time or if the Iranians decide to completely surrender. But as we see this, it does seem that the president is clear eyed about this threat and is working appropriately with the Pentagon to move forward if necessary for the U.S. to engage.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, the Pentagon works for the president. He’s the commander. And remember, under Article one, he’s the commander in chief under Article two. And he has the authority to to do this. Now, here’s the issue. He has, you know, obviously they’ve war-gamed this, they’ve planned it. What the president hasn’t publicly stated is when and what time, if he would implement and when it would be. And let me tell you something, he is not going to tell the world when it’s going to be, except maybe our allies in the highest levels. He is not going to go on you know tv and say we’re doing it tomorrow at three o’clock so the president has the plan that was put together by the pentagon they’re confident in that but the decision of whether to utilize it he’s called for a full surrender of iran the decision to utilize his presidential authority an article to his commander-in-chief is up to him not congress not anyone else
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s precisely why we have also the ACLJ offices in Jerusalem. And while those will continue on, look, I know this is right now a time where Ambassador Huckabee is saying, hey, if you want to get out, you can get out, you can get back home. We do have Americans who live there, at least part-time, like Jeff Balaban, who is on the show every week. I was on the show yesterday, who do spend a lot of their time in Israel. And I think even Ambassador Huckabee’s response to this saying, essentially, I’m not going anywhere, is pretty strong because we need to have those voices. Yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and there’s hundreds of thousands of Americans. I think it’s 600,000 Americans or dual citizens in Israel right now that are American citizens as well. So Ambassador Huckabee, Mike’s got a big job that he’s dealing with, and he’s dealing with it with a reduced staff because of the situation. But he’s got complete command of his embassy and knows what to do. He knows the position of the United States. Obviously, he is an ambassador, which means through the State Department, but he works for the president. And he definitely was the right guy at the right time. And we need to hear his voice. I think it’s very important that Mike be able to speak on this. But I also want to thank our ACLJ champions and members. We can’t do this without you. And your support of this enabled me to make the call this morning to activate our teams on the legal side.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, right now I’m going to ask you, as you said, to become an ACLJ champion. We get back, and you can do that by going to ACLJ.org and scanning that QR code you see on the screen right now. I do also want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. And if this hasn’t irritated you enough, just wait until you hear what CNN said about you Christians. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. We are continuing our coverage of the war, but also, you have to hear this, okay? If you did see the headline, by the way, a lot of you maybe are tuning in saying, what is the Trump-approved plan? He has set a plan that has been approved by President Trump for an attack on Iran. Now… He has not given the green light to that plan, but the plan is set. It has been set in motion. So they are ready to go whenever they decide whether it is time or not. And it seems like as more time ticks on that that very well could happen. Now, I was watching television last night, Will, as some people do. And you know what? During wartime, these kind of things, I find myself actually going to traditional news, seeing what’s happening. I know that’s not the case. You guys should be watching here and all that. But look, we have people on the ground in Israel like Jeff Balaban, but they have people live at 4 o’clock in the morning. And I’m like, all right, I’m going to go flip it on and see what’s happening. When I flipped it on, it was on one of those panel shows where there’s a bunch of people talking. And I could not believe… The words that were coming out of this was Jennifer Welch on CNN. Now, of course, they are talking about Christians and Christians’ support of Israel. Some of this coming out of the conversation between Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson, where Ted Cruz said, I believe that we should support Israel, if you want to break it down the most simply, because the Bible commands us to. Now, again, you can go back and forth on what that conversation really looks like, what that is, but that is sort of the start of this. And she’s referring first to Mike Johnston, then throws Ted Cruz into this. And this shows you not only the fundamental disrespect for people of faith, also the fundamental misunderstanding of scripture and how Christians actually believe that we are not this way, that this is not the way. But of course, this is how they’re going to portray you as some wackadoo who is doing this support of Israel for your own good. Let’s listen, bite one, Jennifer Welch, CNN, last night.
SPEAKER 09 :
I mean, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, he’s a rapture prepper. This guy’s waiting for the rapture, just like Ted Cruz is. So you have this whole sect of MAGA that they support Israel because they want the Jews to be in Israel so that Jesus can come back for the rapture. And that’s a very real thing that’s in Congress. And that’s not foreign policy. That’s magical thinking.
SPEAKER 08 :
So again, I’m going to reiterate that for you. What is Mike Johnson? Other than the Speaker of the House, what is Ted Cruz? Other than a respected senator, someone who’s been around for a long time. These aren’t trusted sources. These are rapture preppers. These are people, and I’ve never even heard the term rapture prepper in my life until last night. And I’ve been involved in evangelical Christianity my entire life, and I haven’t heard a lot of people throw in there the term rapture prepper. So, of course, they do this as an insult. They say this is an insult that you only would support Israel because you believe the Jewish people have to return to Israel so then Jesus can come back and you can have the second coming. As if the Christian faith, some ways we can control the hand of God, that we can move the hand of God to bring the end times on earlier. Now, there’s a lot of Christians also, by the way, and I don’t know about Mike Johnson’s plans. I don’t know about Ted Cruz’s theology. They’re not even sure if the rapture is part of their biblical text. I don’t know for sure. I don’t sit around time worrying about it. What I worry about is my children. What I worry about is my Jewish children that can’t walk the streets of America right now displaying their heritage. That people have told me, people you’d be shocked to hear, have told me to put away my necklace, to put away my Star of David and cross, because it could incite certain people who watch this show. But they have the audacity to go on and call us Christians rapture preppers. You know what, Will? I’ve said this before, and it’s just true. They throw these horrible terms at you, and you know what? Embrace them. Embrace it. If you want to be a rapture prepper, bring it on. You want to call me a rapture prepper? That’s fine. I am waiting for the second coming of Jesus. That’s correct. So much so, well, I don’t know, maybe some of y’all want to go over to raptureprepper.com and see what happens. Maybe I was having a little fun last night because I do think when they throw these insults out at you, You have to be able to, number one, take it, but also understand how fundamentally backwards they are because as a Christian, they have no idea what they’re talking about.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. And when you have someone on your show Newsnight, this is Abby Phillips’ show, that is a panelist that is an interior designer and a podcast host. And she is speaking into foreign policy commentary. Be very clear what that wasn’t. It was not commentary on foreign policy. It was anti-Christian bigotry. It’s what we’re seeing around the country. It’s what we saw the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the FBI and the previous administration against people of faith. But one thing that she missed because she was so focused on thinking that the Speaker of the House and a senator from Texas don’t have real foreign policy. They have, quote, magical thinking about this ushering in the apocalypse. What she’s missing and what she doesn’t understand is that is the exact theology of the Ayatollahs. The Ayatollah in Iran and the IRGC, they have a form of Shia Islam called Twelverism. where what they can do, a part of their theology, is usher in, they can control, ushering in their messianic 12th Imam, where they will rule the world if they do simple things like destroy Israel and commit genocide against Jews. So when they are chanting in the street, death to America, death to Israel, that is actually their theocratic doctrine, right? where they are trying to usher in the end times. Her mistake and misunderstanding about theology and differences in different denominations of Christian churches fails to see the forest for the trees because the bigger issue is the real theocracy, the real dictatorship in Iran. that is working towards the elimination of the state of israel so even if you aren’t a religious person at all where can you thrive in the middle east if you’re a christian if you’re a muslim if you’re an atheist israel where will you be put in jail and beheaded iran and what does iran want to do kill an entire people group To bring about the end of the world in an apocalyptic fashion. She has no clue what she’s talking about. That’s what happens when CNN has unserious people on their shows to talk about serious topics.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and to just anger the people who are watching. I flipped on CNN, not out of hate watching. I flipped it on because, look, I’ll give them their credit when the credit is due. A lot of times they have better international coverage than a lot of the other networks. They have the cameras there. They have the crews there. They’ve been there for 50 years, it feels like at this point now, with CNN launching in the late 70s. This is not something new. So when I flipped it on, I was expecting to see some live coverage, 4 a.m., see what’s going on in Israel. It was starting to be daylight in Israel. I think it was around 6 a.m. Israeli time, and I try to follow what’s happening. And to flip it on, and not only to just be insulted about my faith, but to take someone who is the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, Out of nowhere, by the way, because Ted Cruz, they at least could have a reason. It was in the zeitgeist in the moment. Right. He’s a rapture prepper. He’s someone that’s there prepping for the rapture saying, hey, let’s get involved in this war because that means Jesus is going to come back. Again, not only a fundamental misunderstanding, but an insult to all of us who do believe that Jesus will come back, but also understands that that’s not something that’s within our control. But there are certain things that we can at least stand for and fight for. And as I said, if you want to label me a rapture prepper, bring it on. I am more than happy to be one. Like I said, I was having some fun. So if you find your way over to raptureprepper.com, maybe you’ll see a coffee mug, maybe you’ll see a t-shirt, maybe a button or a sticker you can throw on your car. I don’t know. I was fired up last night, okay? I was just, I really do think this is something that everyone needs to hear. They need to hear this is what’s coming out of your mainstream media. A lot of this country identifies as Christians, but no, we’re just a bunch of rapture preppers. So with that, I encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ. because we’re going to be there for you. We know what it truly means to be a Christian who believes in life, liberty, and freedom all around the world. So right now, go to aclj.org. We have a second half hour coming up, and I want you to join us. Again, aclj.org.
SPEAKER 07 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. If you didn’t catch the first half hour, you may have seen me a little bit more fired up here in that last segment. My dad, Jay Sekulow, was also on the show earlier. And if you are just joining us right now, you may have seen the title on our show that was the evacuation plans as President Trump approves the attacks on Iran. Now, I think, well, let’s give a… Before I go back into CNN and start talking about my issues with their rapture prepper statement… Let’s reset why people are maybe tuning in right now. They want to hear about this. President Trump has approved a plan that would get America involved.
SPEAKER 04 :
However, approved doesn’t mean the green light. That’s right. So what is being reported is that President Trump has, and we know he has been meeting with National Security Council, the Secretary of Defense, multiple times over the last few days, multiple times a day even, and talking about what’s going on. We now are seeing reports that he has approved the plan that has been presented to him by of how america would get involved we don’t know the details of that plan and we do not know when that plan would occur and according to reports he is not given the go-ahead to execute the plan just that this is the plan we will use should we use it we also are seeing that the ambassador to israel from the united states former governor mike huckabee has put out a statement that the embassy there is working to evacuate Americans that want to leave the country. This is one of the biggest jobs of an ambassador in such times of conflict is to help get Americans safely back home should they want to go. The embassy there has been closed for multiple days because of the threat of the incoming ballistic missiles. But they are working to get flights as well as use cruise ships to get people to places where they could get other flights back home to the United States. So that is in place right now, as well as we are seeing that the United States has a plan should they choose to use it against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, let’s go ahead and take a phone call related to this. I’d like to go to Bobby, who’s calling in New York, listening on the radio. And if you’d like to be on the air as well, we’re going to take more calls coming up. Next segment, Rick Grinnell joining us next segment? Yes. So next segment’s a perfect time. This is a great time to call. You can get in line, and we’ll take all the calls towards the end of the show. But Bobby, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi, Will. Hi, Logan. Logan is cool, isn’t he? My theory is that if Israel would have been allowed to take out the supreme leader five days ago or however long ago it was that they wanted to do that, my theory is that the war would have been over by now because it seems to me that your supreme leader is pushing all of this to go forward and is pushing all of these atrocities that are happening. I’d like your comment on that, and thanks, guys.
SPEAKER 08 :
Bobby, thank you for the kind words since I got paid you because Logan is cool. It’s not something I’ve heard a lot in my lifetime, but I appreciate it. But Bobby, I don’t know about that. I do think that you have to, that’s the last straw. And if you’re willing to pull that trigger, if you will, You have to expect the global consequences of it. And you have Iran, who is in major relationships with a lot of other superpowers that are scary, to be honest. So when you start talking about, look, they took out all the leadership around him. But when you’re talking about going in for the Ayatollah. It is a different scenario that could end very differently. Not saying it’s not going to happen, by the way. I’m just saying they have to be very strategic with that move.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and there were reports that Israel had that on the table early last week on Friday and that it was actually vetoed by the United States saying don’t do that. There’s a lot of intelligence that goes into that as well. The son of the Ayatollah is seen as the next in line and he’s younger, more radical, more Sometimes when you’ve been the Ayatollah for long enough, there is a little bit of pragmatism, even though you’re a genocidal state. But it’s what comes next is always the enemy you know is sometimes better than the enemy that you don’t. So I think that that could be in play. But now Israel’s rhetoric, especially after this hospital bombing, I think the time of the regime may be coming to a sunset pretty quickly. That would be nice.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, hey, phone lines are open for you. As I said, Matthew, Mary, stay on hold. We’ll get to you. We got a few lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We’re going to get Rick Grinnell’s thoughts and feedback as well. Well, all you rapture preppers out there, CNN called you. All those Christians who support Israel, you’re just wanting to do it because you want Jesus to come back. Well, you know what? We’re planning on it. Phone lines are open for you. As I said, support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo, former director of national intelligence and good friend of ours, former ambassador. Rick Grinnell’s joining us, special envoy Rick Grinnell. And look where Rick is joining us from. I have no idea where you are right now, Rick. It’s not the orange glow of California, it looks like. I thought that was D.C.
SPEAKER 02 :
D.C.’
SPEAKER 04 :
‘s normally so gorgeous this time of year, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yeah. Yeah. This is the orange glow of Manhattan Beach, California. I’m at my home.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wonderful, beautiful. Look, Rick, I’m going to play you this segment because we’ve talked a lot about people that grew up, including us, and sort of the evangelical movement, everything that’s happened in the world of… really christians and christians relationship with israel over our entire lifetime and really since i’d say the you know the 80s kind of is when everything started to really become that part of that conversation you know johnny cash was largely to do with that you can look up that’s interesting story but that being said this is on cnn last night and yes i hate to admit i was watching uh a bit of their international coverage i flipped it on and The verbiage that were coming out of their commentators in reference to Mike Johnson and Ted Cruz and the reasons why they say, oh, well, this is why these people are supporters of Israel. It has nothing to do with the Jewish people. It has nothing to do with, you know, it’s selfish because here’s why. Take a listen to this, Rick, by one.
SPEAKER 09 :
The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, he’s a rapture prepper. This guy’s waiting for the rapture, just like Ted Cruz is. So you have this whole sect of maggot that they support Israel because they want the Jews to be in Israel so that Jesus can come back for the rapture. And that’s a very real thing that’s in Congress. And that’s not foreign policy. That’s magical thinking.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Rick, the magical thinking of us rapture preppers. I mean, I could see your reaction on the side camera because when you hear this, you go, how fundamentally wrong do they not even understand at all who they’re talking about and really just decide, let’s just insult these people to their face, the speaker of the house.
SPEAKER 02 :
Look, as an evangelical Christian, as somebody who believes in revelations, I think that Jennifer is totally offensive in her comments. I think we should invite Jennifer on here to have a nice debate about it. We can talk about what our beliefs are for the end times, but that has nothing to do with the protection of Israel. The protection of Israel, by the way, is in the Old Testament. to talk about Jerusalem and protecting the homeland. And it is just so offensive and so ignorant for her to pretend like we’re pushing revelations along, like we have anything to do with it. Like we can control that somehow to convince people. Let me tell you one thing. Let’s just be clear. If we could push the end times, my mother would have already done it.
SPEAKER 08 :
greatest comment you’ve ever made but i think that’s true people don’t like that we’re not sitting here being like oh how can we get this to work how can we how can we trick god that’s really how how christianity works well but even uh rick just the the fact that they have someone on that is is willing to say these things as if also
SPEAKER 04 :
supporting the middle east’s only democracy the only place where people that are jewish muslim christian atheists can practice how they want to their faith or lack of faith uh the fact that they are a strategic ally with the united states all the technology that’s come out of israel the fact that they are willing to boil it down to that someone who is the speaker of the house of the united states uh not a fringe member of congress the speaker of the house and a senator that has served for a long time and that this is pervasive through republicans in congress that they have no idea about foreign policy and don’t even care about foreign policy they only care about uh magical thinking i i i am shocked that they didn’t have a correction issued already, just it’s so absurd that that would be on CNN.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, it’s such a great point. Well, because someone, an editor or a producer or an assistant producer, someone has been trained in the Bible. There is someone should be able to speak up and say, wait a minute, what Jennifer Welch just said is literally crazy talk. And we should probably have somebody correct that. Look, I’m not for silencing Jennifer. I don’t know who she is. She can say as crazy talk as she wants. But I think CNN has a responsibility to speak up and say, no, actually, that’s not true. Evangelicals are not trying to trick God into bringing about revelations a little bit faster. They’re trying to protect Israel, which is a biblical absolute for all Christians.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and they had someone speak up and say sort of a mild version of, hey, I’m a Christian. I believe in Israel. I support Israel. Yes, it’s biblical. And they did kind of like caveat it, but it was such an extreme. Again, I’ve never heard even the term rapture prepper until last night. I don’t think that’s something people say. So I did go by the domain. You can go to raptureprepper.com because I’m proud to take that on.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s fine with me. But Will- Well, I mean, you even think about that. First, they called Republicans deplorables. That worked really well for them. Then we were clowns, as Kathy Hochul said. Now, I mean, the DNC, I know they’re strapped for cash, and Logan already bought the domain, so they can’t go there. Can’t protect it, yeah. Is this the Democrat Party? Are they going to get behind this and try to rally and be like, oh, wait, now we can figure out how we can mainline our anti-Semitism and our pushback and just insult Christians openly and just say, if you are a Republican, you are a rapture prepper fundamentalist and we can’t have anything to do with that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Can I just state the obvious here? I’d like to get in on the T-shirts that we’re going to sell that say Rapture Prepper.
SPEAKER 08 :
I can cut you in on that. You know what? They may already be up. Because I was furious last night. Someone asked last night, they go, I saw the comments going, Amanda must have been. having a heck of a night and i was like you know what she was at home last night for a few hours and that’s when i was in there fuming going when she gets home she’s gonna see this comments settle you down and say maybe don’t add another domain in my house so it’s just like solving and solving and solving all night long so you know there’s that plus cnn yelling about this i couldn’t take it anymore now i we only have a few one more point logan can i just say yes please as a young evangelical if you’re worried about someone not being home and they’re talking about the rapture don’t you immediately think wait a minute oh
SPEAKER 02 :
Did it happen?
SPEAKER 08 :
Where am I? Yeah, exactly. She did it right. I was wrong. I didn’t want to get moved a little bit more serious discussion here, Rick, because this is I mean, we’re talking about wartime. I know this is silly. We’re having fun here because it is. a fundamental misunderstanding of how we have a relationship with Israel. But you also do have President Trump taking the right steps, even today, saying, hey, we’ve approved a plan. That doesn’t mean we’ve greenlit a plan. But we are there, if necessary, that we will get involved where we feel America should be. And of course, reading the room and reading even his voters.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, look, I think what we have to do is ignore comments like this. We have to live our faith. We have to be involved in politics. We have to be involved in world affairs. We know that we can believe one way and work in politics and another that it’s not an absolute. We have the First Amendment right in our country. to believe in any religion that you want and so the idea somehow that just because we’re fighting for the the only democracy in the middle east right israel and we’re trying to make sure that we protect israel but also be thoughtful in making sure that we’re looking at this from a political standpoint for the united states what’s best for the united states I think it’s a conversation we all need to have, but we don’t need comments like Jennifer’s that are clouding what’s actually happening.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and Rick, quickly, that also was a question we had from a caller in an earlier segment. There were reports that Israel had at least maybe an opportunity or sites on the Ayatollah early in their operation and that the reports are that the administration said, don’t do that yet. Obviously, you can take The New York Times reporting with a grain of salt, so not quite sure what the reality is there. But we also know that there has to be intelligence assessments. You have to know who comes next after the Ayatollah if the people aren’t ready to overthrow the regime and the son of the Ayatollah takes over. So even those considerations… are what the administration is doing right now when they’re having National Security Council meetings, when they’re consulting with the intelligence community. It is all seeing how this plays out, not just in the next few days, but in the long term and for not just the people of America and Israel, but the very people of Iran as well.
SPEAKER 02 :
Look, I think we should be clear is that the United States does not have a policy of regime change. I don’t believe that we’re considering that. I don’t believe that’s a discussion. I don’t believe Donald Trump is going to do that. Israel is. They are having that discussion and they have every right. They’re in that neighborhood. It feels a little bit more. more pressure for them, I’m sure. But for President Trump, he doesn’t do regime change. He wants to solve this peacefully. He’s offered the Iranians a way out peacefully. But I think we have to assess through intelligence assessments. Remember, that’s the key. It’s all an assessment. It’s not absolute. And so we have to look at this and figure out what’s best for the United States.
SPEAKER 08 :
Rick Grinnell, thank you so much for joining us as always. Always love your feedback and give our love to Mama Grinnell, you know, and let her know that we’re with her on that. And look, we got a lot of phone lines full right now. We do have two that are open at 1-800-684-3110. Look, you’re not going to get this kind of show anywhere else. Okay. Let’s just be honest here, folks. You’re watching this. You’re like… Man, these guys, as one person said, are very cool. They’re speaking my language. You know what? That’s what’s important also, that people who actually understand what they’re talking about. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. But I wanted to give you a minute. You’ve seen where my brother is currently at the ECLJ working really hard at our European Center for Law and Justice because that’s a lot closer. Look, it’s a lot closer to the Middle East and what’s going on there. So you’ve got to be always there, always prepped, always ready. That is at, again, the ACLJ, ACLJ Jerusalem, and our ACLJ offices throughout the United States. When we get back, we’re going to hear from you. But if you could, in the next minute, become an ACLJ champion, someone that gives on a recurring basis, someone that says, hey, I’ll give $5, I’ll give $50 a month. Whatever it is, you’re a champion. All right, welcome back to Secula. We do have one line open for you at 1-800-684-3110. You can call in, of course, as I’ve said. I encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ at aclj.org. And if you consider yourself a Rapture Prepper, maybe lean over to raptureprepper.com to see some funny stuff that I put up there last night personally just to get my own. I did it for me, but maybe you’ll want some as well. Let’s go take these calls. We’ll take some of these in order. A lot of you on hold for a while. Let’s go to Matthew watching on YouTube in California. Matthew, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hi, guys. I’ve got just a couple of quick questions for you guys. Number one, why is President Trump waiting so long to blow up those nuclear facilities and kill Khomeini? And also, will you guys be talking to President Trump and asking him if he would be so kind as to do that as quick as possible?
SPEAKER 08 :
Now, Matthew, I don’t want to create some sort of false narrative where I am in constant communication with President Trump. So you know what? Maybe he’s listening. I mean, no members of their team do listen to the show every day. So when you guys call in, it’s one of the reasons I say you’re one of the most important voices in the room because there are people we know… The HHS went to ACLJ.org, found out some information and went to town on it. It’s crazy. Matthew, so you never know who’s going to be hearing your voice right now. Hearing my voice, of course, but hearing your voice as well. When you say, I want this done. I want this war over. I want the United States to get involved, use those bunker busters and finish the job. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. I think President Trump is not necessarily hesitant, but is making sure the plan is appropriate for America.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. And there are a lot of factors that the president would have to weigh when looking at that. One, the safety of troops in the region. We know that these mid-range ballistic missiles, these hypersonic missiles that Iran fired at Israel were able to hit in the heart of Tel Aviv. The early ones were able to get… past some of the defenses because of the early barrage. Now, Israel is doing the smart thing and taking out the launchers so that the capability of Iran to launch is greatly decreasing. But the president has to weigh the safety of our troops, of Americans abroad, the safety of the pilots that would carry out this attack. So knowing when the right time, I think that the commander in chief has really good advisors, has a great cabinet, great National Security Council. I understand the anxiousness that some of us have to see the final end of the Iranian nuclear program. But Matthew, I think at this point, trusting the advisors and the president that they will be doing this at the right time if they choose to do it will be the right call.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, thank you, Matthew. Let’s go to Warren, who’s an ACLJ champion. And when you’re an ACLJ champion, one of the little perks, you get popped up to the front of the line. So, Warren, you are on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thanks for being the champion. Thanks, guys. As a Rapture prepper, I do want a T-shirt, medium husky. And also, you know, my belief is I believe they’re ramping up their centrifuge for enrichment because they want to bomb before we take it out. And I believe time is of the essence to stop that for our generations, like your dad said, for my grandkids, because they will use it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Warren, one segment we did about two days ago on the broadcast where we went through that enrichment program. I encourage people to go back and watch that about why we know that the actions of the Iranians are moving towards weapons grade uranium. There’s no other use for what they are. They have one nuclear power plant in Iran, and they use zero of their own enriched uranium to fuel that power plant. They get it from Russia. So their peaceful purposes and civilian use is just a lie. But I also think, Warren, what Israel has done of taking out the top scientists, taking out the top military leaders, and hitting these sites even if fordow has not been taken out completely you’re dismantling they are dismantling their ability for them to get that 60 to 90 for weapons grade and then to affix that to a nuclear warhead and i think that they have put a big pause button on them being able to do that even if it’s not completely wiped out yet i think that was part of the strategy
SPEAKER 08 :
with this is hit that first so they can’t quickly turn the 60 into 90 percent enriched uranium all right thank you for calling let’s continue on mary who’s calling on youtube you’re on the air mary maryland mary you there let’s put mary on hold because i just want to check on her because i’m she’s been on hold for a long time i want to get to her if i can uh then can we go to melissa who’s calling watching on aclj.org melissa hello go ahead
SPEAKER 10 :
For some reason, I can’t hear you.
SPEAKER 08 :
I can hear you. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 10 :
OK, great. So my question, I’ll just ask it and you can let me go. It’s please donate between the Pentagon’s proposal to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program and a declaration of war on Iran. And what does the U.S. Constitution say about these matters? And if you had a bumper sticker, all it would have to say is raptorpepper.com and I would buy it.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, we’ll work on that. You know, Melissa, if you go to the website, maybe you’ll see some fun stuff. Melissa, thank you. I believe the question, it broke up a little bit there. She was saying, what’s the difference in the strategy versus the plan, I guess, in some ways?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so the president… can take military action without a formal declaration of war, which would need to go through Congress. And we’ve seen that throughout the past decades on a recurring basis. There was never a formal act of declaration of war against ISIS in both the Obama administration and the Trump administration fought against that. That kind of went under the generalized global war on terror. There’s the authorization of use of military force, the AUMF, that has been used for decades since 9-11. So there are members of Congress that want to sunset a lot of these things and do that, but the president has the authority, no matter what, if He believes that it is the interest of the United States to protect our military assets, our personnel and our citizens can do limited military engagements without even going and asking permission for a declaration of war. That’s just kind of the times we live in. And it wouldn’t necessarily be a formal declaration of war because I don’t believe that President Trump’s airstrike or whatever that plan is would be an ongoing operation. It would be more limited in scope.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, thank you so much. Hey, Mike, we’re just not gonna be able to get to you today. I apologize. Anyone else calling in? I love all the calls that have been coming in today. Please call back tomorrow. Let’s keep this conversation going. I love to hear from you and I love to hear from your voices. So again, we appreciate all of you have called in. I did wanna take though this last minute, encourage you to become an ACLJ supporter, whether that is a one-time donation you can make. If you like this show, if you like the legal work we do, if you like our support of Israel having offices around the world, the European Center for Law and Justice, or at the ACLJ Jerusalem, or you like what we do here domestically, whether that is for a church that needs to meet or a street preacher, or it’s for fighting these big global threats, including what’s going on in the DRC or any of our international work, it’s all important. And it’s all in the name of Christian values and support. And that’s why maybe it got under my skin so much last night to hear the insults being thrown our way from mainstream media for just being someone who is a believer. But that’s where we are. And that’s why it’s really important to have shows even like ours. Because you don’t hear this. You don’t have a lot of these shows that kind of mix news, faith, politics, the law. Where else are you going to hear this kind of coverage? Where else are you going to hear some of these top names? Only here. So if you take a minute, if you hear sponsorships and ads on this shows, other than like a little bit of money that maybe comes from YouTube, we’re not funded by major sponsors. We’re not funded by major donors. We have some great major donors. That’s fantastic. But our bread and butter, the backbone of the organization is people that give $25 a month, $75 a month, $10 a month, or one time, a couple hundred bucks. So do that today. Become an ACLJ supporter. Become an ACLJ champion if you can. Go to ACLJ.org, scan the QR code you see on the screen. It has been a packed show, and we will keep it rolling. Again, ACLJ.org. We’ll be back tomorrow.
