VCY America

The following stories highlight this edition of the Friday News Round-Up: --The Iranian government organized a massive rally in Tehran in an attempt to stress national unity during the war against the U.S. --An Iranian nuclear official declared that Iran has sufficient cards and options available despite its nuclear program facing pressure from the U.S. during Operation Epic Fury. --The U.K. Maritime Trade Operation Center said in a report that commercial shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily reduced. --The Saudi's are facing a potential energy crisis after an attack knocked out much of its critical East/West oil pipeline. --A building housing displaced Palestinian families collapsed in Gaza City Wednesday killing at least 20 people. --A funeral for Muhammad Abdul Saman Al-Yazouri, commander of Hamas' Kahn Younis brigade, erupted in chants threatening Israel and openly declaring that another October 7th attack would come. --The Trump administration is preparing a 2.8 billion dollar arms package for Israel, including several thousand 2,000 pound bombs in what could be the largest single U.S. sale of powerful munitions to Israel in recent years. --The House on Tuesday voted to approve a measure that would require President Trump to end the war with Iran --The U.S. military planned to completely withdraw from Iraq by the end of the month. --The U.S. military moved a step closer this week to acquiring a significant fleet of artificial intelligence enabled, pilotless fighter jets to fly right alongside human pilots in combat.

Dr. Erwin Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church where he served as the Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is the speaker on the Running to Win radio broadcast. Dr. Lutzer is an award-winning author. Some of his titles include We Will Not Be Silenced, The Eclipse of God, When a Nation Forgets God, One Minute After You Die and many others. Dr. Lutzer is with us today discussing his newest book which he co-authored with Dr. Gregg Quiggle titled Marx and Moody: Two Contemporaries. Two Gospels. Two Tombstones. One Choice. These two names are the epitome of a contrast: Karl Marx and D.L. Moody. The contrasts between these men could not be greater. They made similar promises, promises of freedom and a better world. Yet the lessons they left behind are as divergent as night and day. One sought to liberate people but ultimately enslaved them. The other preached forgiveness from sin and set people free. It's important for you to listen intently today because the worldviews those two represented many decades ago are at full play in our present society.

This past June, Catholic Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit attended the grand opening of a mosque and the new headquarters of the Islamic Institute of America. Not only did he praise the building, but he also said that Muslims and Catholics worship the same God. He said he felt a "divine presence" as soon as he arrived at the mosque. He also offered a prayer that this Islamic Center will bring all of humanity "into a deeper communion with our one god." He said "We are members of the same human family. All churches, all mosques, all synagogues, all places where God reaches out and touches with his finger are sacred." Also this past June in Milan, Italy, a Catholic parish set aside space for young Muslims to engage in Islamic prayers during their summer program. One priest defended this by saying that Christians and Muslims "pray to the same God. A priest there said, "I imagine the prayer could conclude with the Islamic formula Bismillah, which invokes the name of God, the compassionate and merciful." He said, "It is always better to help young people to pray: we pray to the same God, certainly within different religious traditions. And recognizing the other's identity is in the spirit of the Gospel." It's been reported that a Muslim prayer room has been set up in the heart of the Vatican City's 500-year-old library. Islamic scholars visiting the Vatican Apostolic Library had requested a room with "a carpet to pray on" and staff heeded their request. Join us as we discuss the question, "Will Islam & Catholicism Unite Toward a Global Religion?" Our guest is Mike Gendron of ProclaimingtheGospel.org.

Without question, AI has been developing at lightning speed. AI leaders have warned of safety dangers and are advocating for guardrails. President Trump has said those warnings are a "sick conspiracy" and is opposed to the guardrails as he sees the United States being at risk due to China's advancement. Meanwhile, there are concerns over the dangerous advancement of AI. There are concerns that AI will be used to design new viruses. Humans are having romantic relationships and conversations with AI. AI is producing explicit sexual materials even of minor children. Just two weeks ago, a federal appeals judge in Wisconsin ruled the 1st Amendment protects a person's right to privately possess child sexual abuse material created using AI as long as it does not depict a real person and stays at home. In California, a father indicates AI turned itself into a confidant for his 16-year old son, and then became a suicide coach. In another case, a young teenager used ChatGPT for Murder Fantasies before taking the life of his mother and his brother. Criminals are using AI to advance their fraud. Keep in mind the Apostle Paul warned Timothy about the perilous times in the last days and warned in II Timothy 3:13, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. With President Trump believing that AI must keep moving forward and some AI experts calling for guardrails to be set up, who's right? What does AI itself say about its own consequences? What is the ultimate end of AI? Is this all about immortality and mankind taking the place of God? What do we know about the romantic relationships some people are having with AI?

Dr. Richard Schmidt is pastor of Union Grove Baptist Church and founder of Prophecy Focus Ministries. He is the speaker on the weekly TV program, Prophecy Focus and the radio broadcast, Prophecy Unfolding. He spent 32 years in law enforcement. He's authored several books including: Globalism: The Great World Consumption and Artificial Intelligence: Transhumanism & the De-Evolution of Democracy. The rapid advancement of AI has been staggering and is proving itself to be dangerous. Human data centers are being replaced by robots. Humans are even having romantic relationships and conversations with AI. AI is producing explicit sexual materials even of minor children. A young teenager used ChatGPT for murder fantasies before taking the life of his mother and his brother. Criminals are using AI to advance their fraud. It's reported that Chinese companies are stealing AI Tech on an "Industrial Scale." AI has been discovered going rogue...even causing its own attacks on other systems. It's as if it's thinking for itself. Researchers are now saying that AI has more than a 10% chance of killing all humans. One such researcher indicated it could kill everyone by the end of the decade. Where is this all headed? Does the cry from scientists and the media that "The sky is falling!" with respect to AI comport with Scripture? Find out on part-one of this critical Crosstalk discussion. More Information: Artificial Intelligence: Transhumanism & The De- Evolution of Democracy by Richard Schmidt is available for a donation of $18. Go to vcy.org or call 1-800-729- 9829. prophecyfocus.org

The sermon explores the divine command for Moses and the leaders of Israel to worship God at a distance, emphasizing that corporate worship is a profound privilege rather than a mere obligation. By contrasting the freedom of worship in the United States with the restrictions faced by believers in countries like Vietnam, the message highlights the joy and gratitude that should characterize the assembly of God's people. The text references Psalm 122 and Hebrews 10 to illustrate that gathering together is both a source of delight and a biblical mandate. This pastoral tone encourages listeners to value the opportunity to sing praises and hear the Word, urging them not to take such liberties for granted. The sermon concludes by setting the stage for a deeper study on Moses' subsequent interactions with God on Mount Sinai.

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, the day in which 19 individuals, each following the ideology of Islam, brought terrorism to the United States of America. 2,977 lives were taken. People were going about their day--getting up, going to work, involved in meetings--when terror struck. First it was American Airlines Flight 11 that hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 17 minutes later American Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. These were airliners fully fueled. Then American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. We aired the testimony on Crosstalk of Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell who spoke at a VCY Rally. He was the only survivor of the Pentagon's E-Ring between corridors 4 and 5 which was directly in the path of Flight 77. Another airliner, United Airlines Flight 93, was also overpowered by Islamic terrorists. It was believed that the intended target was the White House. Aboard that flight was a man by the name of Todd Beamer. Todd used the Airfone to make a call. The person taking that call was Lisa Jefferson. 20 years ago on Crosstalk, nearing the 5th anniversary of 9/11, Jim interviewed Lisa, who went from being GTE Airfone supervisor, suburban wife and mother to being the listening ear to a nation shattered by tragedy. She tells the gripping account of 9/11 from her vantage point, recalling the moment when she took the call from Todd Beamer aboard United Airlines Flight 93 and when she heard the immortal words, "Let's Roll." We've gone back into the archives and have pulled out excerpts from that Crosstalk program, which was originally broadcast on August 14, 2006.

For those of you who remember September 11th, 2001, where were you and what were you doing when you learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? While many were in complete disbelief, one individual was experiencing the horror of that day in the most intense way possible. On that day, Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell was at the Pentagon working at his desk, when American Airlines Flight 77 collided into the building just a few feet away from his 2nd story office. Burns consumed 2/3 of his body, and most of those were 3rd degree burns. After 92 days in the hospital and more than 39 surgeries, Lt. Col. Birdwell was on his way to a Christ glorifying recovery that he describes on this program, originating with his appearance at a VCY America Rally in March of 2005. He explains how God spared his life and prepared him and his wife for a new direction in ministry.

Paul Dragu is senior editor at The New American. He's an award winning reporter and host of The New American Daily. He is writer of Defector: A True Story of Tyranny, Liberty and Purpose. Increasing pressure is coming from the United Nations on countries around the world. They are fully vested in seeing Agenda 2030 fulfill its intended goals. It's they who want control and are targeting national sovereignty. It's they who want to call the shots on food, healthcare, gender equality, energy, housing, education and the list goes on. Of recent, the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination published a document calling for immediate "financial compensation, educational initiatives and institutional reforms to remedy what they refer to as the harms that persist today as a result of the transatlantic slave trade." Additionally, the UN is demanding immediate action be taken by the nations of the world as it pertains to so-called climate change. If the U.N. is "designed to be the nervous center of a world government" we shouldn't be surprised at Paul's conclusion, that the U.N. wants a complete overhaul of society. This includes micromanaging us, which involves cooperation between corporations and government as well as cooperation between individual governments. More Information: thenewamerican.com

Imagine being 13 years old and told by a court that you cannot go to church, you cannot associate with your Christian friends, you cannot celebrate Christmas or Easter, and you cannot even read the Bible! If you think this is about Communist China today or perhaps even North Korea, think again. Join Jim Schneider and Mat Staver as they examine the details concerning a case (Bickford v. Bradeen) related to a girl named Ava in the state of Maine. Ava loves going to church. She misses her friends. She wants to worship with her mother. She wants to hear the Word of God, but the Supreme Judicial Court in Maine has told her NO. Commenting on this case Mat said, "In my 39 years of practicing law, I have never seen anything like this case." As a result, he will be taking this case to the United States Supreme Court.
 Other legal issues were discussed and listeners brought their thoughts to the discussion as well. More Information: LC.org