Jim had much to report on, including an update on an important missionary outreach to the Middle East. Here are some highlights from the first half of the broadcast: --VCY's "Central Asia Project" is now complete and Jim was pleased to announce that the campaign raised $46,141.55! (For more information, review the Crosstalk program from October 8th.) --A U.N. Security Council voted 13-0 on Monday to adopt a sweeping U.S.-drafted resolution that codifies President Donald Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza and endorses a new international stabilization force and formally recognizes the establishment of a Board of Peace to be chaired by President Trump. --Hamas has been stockpiling weapons in African nations sympathetic to them. --Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged the targeted elimination of senior Palestinian Authority officials whom he described as terrorists in every sense of the word. --Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed Israel's opposition to a Palestinian state and committed to demilitarize Hamas during his opening remarks at the government meeting this past weekend. --The IDF announced Thursday that it has uncovered one of the most extensive and sophisticated Hamas tunnel systems discovered to date. --Iran says it has terminated an agreement signed in September with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Cairo that paved the way for renewed cooperation and relaunching inspections of its nuclear facilities. --The Pakistani jihad leader Masood Azhar has claimed that he is richer than both Elon Musk an Mark Zuckerberg and that they have no shortage of money for jihad.

Alex Newman is an award-winning international freelance journalist, author, researcher, educator and consultant. He is senior editor for The New American. He is co-author of Crimes of the Educators, author of Deep State: The Invisible Government Behind the Scenes and author of Indoctrinating Our Children to Death. He is founder & CEO of Liberty Sentinel and a national syndicator of radio and TV programs including Behind the Deep State which airs on WVCY Television and VCY.tv. The 30th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference is underway in Brazil. It brings in eco-zealots from around the world. Keep in mind it was at this type of conference that just 10 years go some 195 parties signed the so-called "Paris Agreement" which was really a treaty to set emission standards. President Trump has pulled the U.S. out of this agreement. Jim states that this conference is steeped with rank hypocrisy and poses a significant threat to the sovereignty of nations as well as to personal liberty. The shorter name for this event is COP30, a Conference to the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Our guest has been attending this conference, which by the way, has within the last few hours been evacuated due to a fire that broke out.

Our Christian Heritage goes "On Location" with Tim Schmig in Plymouth, MA. Learn how a skeptic became a missionary!

Many people avoid studying Bible prophecy thinking it's just too difficult to understand. Frustration can form over competing claims as to the timing of certain events or the arguments over what to take or not take literally. With this broadcast, Crosstalk hopes to provide a clear picture and timeline of what will happen during the end times as Todd Hampson (with Jeff Kinley) has produced a wonderful resource called, A Visual Guide to the End Times. This book is a comprehensive survey of the end times, presented in a visually stunning and easy to use format. Todd is an author, speaker, illustrator, animation producer, and co-host of the Prophecy Pros Podcast. Todd's award-winning animation company, Timbuktoons, has produced content for many well-known ministry organizations. He has a burden to reach the next generation with the Gospel through the convincing proofs of Bible prophecy and apologetics, the very things that led to his salvation as a teenager.

Major school districts around the U.S. are reporting an eye-opening decline in the number of students in their classrooms, with the impact being felt due to falling birthrates and expanding school choice programs. What's going on? The guest on this Crosstalk finds this exodus heartening and she hopes it accelerates. She believes government schools continue to fail our children and don't deserve to stay in business. The guest we're referring to is Sheri Few. Sheri is president and founder of United States Parents Involved in Education. It is their mission to end the U.S. Department of Education and all federal education mandates. She is a nationally recognized leader on education policy. She served as executive producer for the documentary film, Truth & Lies in American Education. Jim led off this broadcast with two audio clips. The first was from Michigan Interim State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Sue Carnell. When directly asked how many genders there are she said, "Different people have different beliefs on that." The second clip featured President of the Chicago Teachers Union, Stacy Davis Gates. As of October, she's also president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Her quote communicates that children don't belong to the parents but instead are their (the educators) children. These two quotes highlight the underlying problem in the public schools today.

Mat Staver is founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. Mat is a constitutional attorney with three landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is an author and the host of the radio broadcasts Faith & Freedom and Freedom's Call and the TV broadcast Freedom Alive. The first quarter hour dealt with the case of Kim Davis, the former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, who refused to have her name on a marriage license for a same-sex couple. Mat provided an update telling listeners that the Supreme Court decided not to take up this case. Mat went through the very compelling set of facts that show it's not a matter of if, but when, the Obergefell v. Hodges decision is overturned. Other cases/issues noted by Mat included: The State of New York informed employers that they can't accommodate the requests of religious workers, even remote workers, and if they do, they will be fined daily and lose their business license. A case in January involving fairness in women's sports. A Maine mother who's been barred from taking her 12 year old daughter to church, the girl is not allowed to associate with her church friends and can't even attend a wedding or funeral there (Bickford v. Bradeen). The re-energizing of the Liberty Counsel "Friend or Foe" Christmas campaign.

Pastor Lutzer, in Wittenberg, describes Martin Luther's life, teachings, and theology. He emphasizes Luther's wit, focus on Scripture, understanding of the devil, commitment during the plague, and message of grace and faith.

Dr. David Saxon, professor of Church History at Maranatha Baptist University, tells the story of the Lone Star Revival to Randy Melchert. In 1853, a mission in India was marked by a very small congregation, marked on a map with just a lone star. Should it be disbanded?

The news of the day and how it affects you as a Christian. It's the Friday News Round-Up and Comment broadcast. Here's a sample of what host Jim Schneider presented for listeners: --The longest government shutdown in our history ended with the stroke of a pen by President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday evening. He signed a spending package into law that will fund the government through the end of January. --Members of Congress collected more than $20,000 apiece during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, as millions of Americans went without pay and essential services. The White House estimates that the shutdown inflicted roughly 15 billion dollars in weekly economic damage with 60,000 private sector jobs lost. --Leftists, including some elected officials, reacted with rage Monday after 8 Senate Democrats caved to Senate Republicans by agreeing to vote to end the lengthy government shutdown. Despite voting against the deal, Chuck Schumer is emerging as the top target for not containing the defections. --Paychecks to federal workers reportedly will be going out tomorrow. --Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that the full SNAP benefits would be restored by Monday, November 17th. --Rollins said that SNAP benefits are ripe with fraud and abuse. --Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem handed out $10,000 bonus checks November 13th to thousands of frontline TSA officers who stayed on the job during the government shutdown. --Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania surprised CNN's Dana Bash as he explained how much crueler the political left has treated him compared to those on the right.

The Trump administration has done various things to protect our safety, one of which includes meaningful border control policies. Such policies are helping to stop the free-flow of illegal drugs in the U.S. and keep illegal immigrants from committing very egregious crimes. Returning to Crosstalk with an update on this subject was Mark Krikorian. Mark is a nationally recognized expert on immigration issues serving as the executive director of Center for Immigration Studies. They are an independent, non-partisan research organization examining and critiquing the impact of immigration on the United States. He has testified numerous times before Congress and has published articles in many outlets. We're 10 months into the Trump administration and according to Mark, by the end of the year we could see as many as 800,000 deportations. In addition, we are at the lowest levels of encounters at the border since the 1960's, and while some individuals may be released on bond by an immigration judge, no one is being released into the country at the border. That's the good news. However, there are still issues to be noted and watched. For example, Mark also reported on the following: What is the current status of the border wall? What's the latest concerning the drug cartel tunnels? California's admittance of issuing 17,000 CDL licenses to foreign nationals. Why are some cities fighting the use of federal help to protect such areas? What about the children that went missing under the Biden administration? How have illegal aliens affected our healthcare and the SNAP program? Should we get out of the U.N. refugee treaty?