This week's news was highlighted by the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis where 2 children were killed. Jim provided additional related stories as well as the following: --On Wednesday, the FBI said they're investigating the Minneapolis church shooting as domestic terrorism and a hate crime and that the person said to be responsible (Robert (Robin) Westman) was a transgender person born a male but who self identified as a female. --The issue of transgender mental illness and violence has quickly moved front and center in the media and online. In fact, the term trending on X is "trans terror." --Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced that there will be new studies launched into the effects of some anti-depressant drugs and their use by those who turn out to be killers. --Robert (Robin) Westman's mother is allegedly not cooperating with law enforcement. --Comments from the father of one of the two victims who died in the Minneapolis shooting. --Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki offered comments criticizing prayer in regard to the shooting in Minneapolis. --The University of Michigan hospital system is suspending its gender transition practices on minors. --On August 30th, Children's National Hospital, in the nation's capital, will become the latest institution of its kind to cease offering all remaining gender transition drugs to minors thanks to the Trump administration's rules for federal health dollars. --Parents are outraged after a Massachusetts school district allegedly forced students to take a survey that their parents had recused them from.

Fred Pry is Vice President of Administration for Child Evangelism Fellowship, an international, nonprofit, Christian ministry that is dedicated to see every child reached with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, discipled and established in a local church. Sadly, every 47 seconds, a child is abused or neglected. Also, every 3 hours and 33 minutes a child or teen ends their own life as suicide is the 8th leading cause of death among children ages 5-11. What is bringing such desperation to the lives of some children? Fred pointed to the loss of hope and the influences of the world that provide hollow answers that don't last. There's also the issue of social media. Fred indicated that 40% of children ages 8-12 use social media. This means that these children are impacted by peer pressure, the messages claiming they deserve certain things or that they should look or act in a certain way. Worse yet is the fact that social media can become an addiction and in the end, when the world doesn't deliver, anxiety and depression can set in. As a response, in partnership with local churches, Child Evangelism Fellowship offers its Good News Clubs. Fred described these as one day a week, high powered Sunday schools that meet throughout the school year. While there are over 4,000 such clubs in the U.S. operating in public schools, there are over 70,000 public elementary schools in the U.S. This means your help is needed so that many more children will hear the Gospel. As Jim noted, if we don't reach children, the world's system will.

William J. Federer is a nationally known speaker, historian, author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc. He is the speaker on "The American Minute" daily broadcast. Polls seem to show that Gen "Z" voters (age 18-29) are drawn to socialism and therefore it's this demographic that appears to be the source for the current popularity of candidates like Zohran Mamdani who is a New York State Assembly member running for mayor of New York. What's behind this appeal for socialism? William explained that there's two ways for people to give up their freedom: fear and free stuff. After WWII and the cold war, the communists couldn't defeat America from the outside so they tried doing it from the inside. It's the idea of making everyone dependent. He used the example of wild pigs. You put a post in the ground and throw some corn down. The pigs come and eat the corn and ignore the post. You keep adding posts and throwing down more and more corn. Eventually all you'll have left is a small opening for the pigs to enter the circle. The pigs will still squeeze their way in. Eventually, you shut the gate behind them and you've caught yourself some wild pigs. In other words, you've trapped them by dependency. Drug dealers use a similar approach in order to take over a neighborhood. They can cause fear by use of guns or they can be so nice that for a time they give away free drugs. They may do this until you are hooked at which point you are dependent upon the dealer as the source to supply your addiction. These examples are known as the Cloward-Piven Strategy, named after Richard Cloward and Frances Piven who were professors at Columbia University.

Andrew Arthur is Resident Fellow in Law and Policy for the Center for Immigration Studies. He began his legal career as a clerk to an Administrative Law Judge at the United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. Crosstalk receives daily updates from the Department of Homeland Security listing the arrests of what they call: The worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens. Jim listed a number of recent offenders originating from South Korea, Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Laos. Supporting such individuals are governors and mayors who are "digging in their heels" and who apparently would rather sacrifice the safety and security of their residents than remove those individuals who are here illegally. In addressing this issue, Jim had Andrew comment on a wide variety of concerns. For example: The legitimacy of asylum claims and whether this is overwhelming the judicial system. What we can learn from the news story of the illegal alien who made a U-turn that took the lives of 3 people while driving an 18 wheeler in Florida. How the Biden administration's border policies had border patrol agents so overwhelmed, personnel were very limited in terms of what they could do to stop illegal drugs from crossing the border. The latest on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, obstruction attempts such as those to shut down "Alligator Alcatraz," unaccompanied alien children and much more.

So many of us have not only one copy of the Bible, but several, with some of those often doing little more than collecting dust. We go to church and most everyone has a copy or one is available. Bookstores regularly have them as well. We take this for granted yet in other parts of the world, many people long to have their own copy of the Scriptures. In such places, sometimes their pastor doesn't even have a copy! Jason Woolford is out to change that. He returned to Crosstalk to reacquaint listeners with information about Mission Cry where he's president. It all began about 70 years ago when a junk dealer found a Bible in the garbage and didn't want to throw it out. He kept collecting used Bibles and before long he had a box full which he sent to India. All these years later, Mission Cry has sent nearly 500 million dollars worth of donated Bibles and Christian books to over 180 nations around the world. You may be wondering what good could possibly come from sending used English Bibles to a foreign nation? What things can you do in order to obtain used Bibles to send to Mission Cry? Can you hold a Bible drive at your church? Are there testimonies that show the effectiveness of this ministry? These and other questions are answered on this exciting program, showing how you can be a world missionary without even leaving your area!

In today's internet and media focused world, the news cycle can come at us like a flood. This is why it's important that we sift through it all from a Christian perspective. Jim does that each week on these News Round-Up broadcasts. Here are several examples featured from the first quarter hour: --Jim began with a number of audio clips. The first dealt with an individual openly admitting that Muslims must destroy empires such as the U.S. Next, an Islamic scholar spoke on why he believes that no sane person can love the U.S. A third came from a Muslim civil rights attorney and former director for the Florida chapter of the Council on American/Islamic Relations who discussed the role of Muslims in America on the issue of dawah. This involves converting people to Islam. --Top Trump administrative officials are drafting plans to restrict both temporary visit and legal immigration by Muslims affiliated with the revolutionary Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups. --President Trump said that Ukraine would have to continue attacking targets inside Russia if it hoped to win the war, even as Moscow unleashed a massive, new bombardment on Ukrainian cities. --Russia disavows every advance anyone thought was made in Alaska and the D.C. meetings. Russia has vetoed the idea that European troops could be used as peacekeepers. Beyond that, Russia demands that they be given a role in guaranteeing Ukraine's security and deciding how violations are dealt with. --North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un today appeared to acknowledge for the first time that the troops he sent to fight Ukraine for Russian President Putin have suffered losses en masse.

Karen England is the Executive Director of the Capitol Resource Institute. They educate and strengthen families and engage in public policy. There have been numerous attempts to usurp parental authority here in the U.S. through the years and Crosstalk has kept listeners informed regarding such efforts. This Crosstalk looked at another such threat that's coming from the state of California. The concern deals with an act proposed by the California Assembly. It's AB495, the so-called Family Preparedness Plan Act. Karen describes it as the "Pedophile Protection Act," something that redefines the family by, for example, expanding the definition of what a relative is. This legislation is being sold as a way to help immigrant children. However, Karen described how it would allow anyone to print off a caregiver's authorization (including the child's name), sign it, check a box indicating you weren't able to get a hold of the child's parents and that you assert all medical, mental and schooling authority over that child. According to the legislation, no parental signature is needed. Although this is California legislation, this would also affect children traveling to California as well. This legislation is thought to be dangerous by some individuals and organizations. For example, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) says this puts parental rights at risk. California Families says this will bypass and sidestep parents. Save California indicates that this strips parents of their parental rights and allows for kids to be stolen from their parents. The Center for Arizona Policy warns that this would produce legalized child trafficking.

Frank Gaffney is president of the Institute for the American Future, President & CEO of Save the Persecuted Christians and Vice Chairman for Committee on the Present Danger: China. He's the speaker on the Secure Freedom Minute. Frank acted as an Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Pentagon. He is author of The Indictment: Prosecuting the Chinese Communist Party & Friends for Crimes Against America, China, and the World, Sharia: The Threat to America Abridged, Guilty Knowledge: What the US Government Knows about the Vulnerability of the Electric Grid, But Refuses to Fix and additional other titles. In just a few days we'll be at the three and one-half year mark since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last Friday, President Trump met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss ending this war. Then on Monday, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with a delegation of leaders from Europe, in an attempt to bring about bilateral meetings between Putin and Zelenskyy in order to restore peace. Have you noticed who was absent in these meetings? It's a key individual that Frank believes green-lit this conflict: Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. As Frank noted, due to this war, the Chinese have received large quantities of cut-rate fuel, arms sales, and they've also created chaos that has distracted America while at the same time depleting our financial and military arsenal. All of this has allowed them to act aggressively in their own area of the globe as they seek to pursue their own dominance on the world's stage. Can we assuredly say that China is the source that's keeping this war going? What would a world reordered by China look like?

Pastor Artur Pawlowski is pastor of Street Church in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is a Canadian who was born in Poland and grew up under a Communist regime seeing soldiers with machine guns and tanks on the streets. People rose up in 1981 to fight for their freedoms. Soon after, he watched the end of communism. In 1995 he immigrated to Canada and went through depression, suicidal moods and heavy drinking. He lost all his money from his escapades in traveling through Europe. As he was married in 1997 his wife introduced him to Christianity. He later became known as a street advocate and started "Street Church Ministries" which took the Gospel into the middle of the worst places for drugs and prostitution in the city of Calgary. He became the recipient of many threats in his advocacy of getting people to leave the lifestyle of drugs and various individuals have sought to shut him down. He stood up during the time of the COVID lockdowns and has faced many trials for his stand for the Gospel and for human rights. He's the author of Lions Do Not Bow: The Unbreakable Courage of Canada's Pastor. Having lived under communism, an existence that is so foreign to most of us, Pastor Pawlowski described what it's like to live in an environment where every aspect of your life is under government control. A key point from his comments is where he notes 2 Corinthians 3:17: "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Is it possible the reason we're seeing an erosion of liberties in America (and other Western nations) is because in many respects God is not welcome here? You decide how to answer this question after hearing this warning from Pastor Pawlowski.

Shahram Hadian is the Founder of Truth in Love Ministry. He is a Christian pastor and a former Muslim. Shahram was born in Iran and came to America in 1978 to escape an oppressive Islamic regime. He committed his life to Jesus Christ in 1999. He has an extensive background not only as a pastor, but also as a former police officer, teacher, coach and servant leader in his community. This past Saturday pro-Islamic and anti-Israel protesters flooded Manhattan calling for "a global intifada." New York City is nearing an election in which an Islamist Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is perhaps on the verge of being the mayor of the largest city in the United States. Further just recently exposed are Islamic city councilmen out of Hamtramck, Michigan being accused of election fraud. Minneapolis may be electing a Muslim mayor. In Illinois there is body camera footage of an arrest of a Muslim woman for reportedly assaulting a man she claimed was "Islamophobic." She also indicated the police should "bow down to her and listen to her orders." In Tennessee a man by the name of Mohamed Mohamed is being charged for allegedly raping an unconscious woman in front of a church. In Boston a member of a Palestinian group was arrested for vandalism and possession of a hoax device. His mother was also arrested for assaulting a police officer. Meanwhile there are significant endeavors underway to bring peace with a number of Islamic nations. What is going on? It's important for us to understand Islam's advancement.