VCY America

Another very active news week has passed. Listen to Crosstalk to get caught up on what you may have missed. Here's a sample of what Jim had to offer: --Sparks flew during a discussion in front of media between President Trump, VP J.D. Vance and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy over a cease-fire deal with Russia. --President Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House as a press conference and lunch was canceled. The critical minerals deal that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday was a done-deal was not signed as planned. --Zelenskyy said this past Sunday that Russia launched more than 200 drones in an overnight attack, the largest of the war. --President Trump said that a lot of progress has been made in ending the war in Ukraine after French President Macron joined him at the White House for a call with G7 leaders. --The U.N. adopted a resolution, despite opposition from the U.S., that voted against the European-backed measure demanding Russia's immediate withdrawal from Ukraine, reaffirming Ukraine's territorial integrity and also strongly condemning Russia's invasion on the war's 3rd anniversary. --Israeli decision-makers plan to resume the Gaza war in 4-6 weeks with overwhelming force, sending in tens of thousands of troops to conquer the entire strip in a single, coordinated offensive against Hamas. --Hamas released 6 living hostages last Saturday. --In Buenos Aires there is a street named, "State of Israel" and another named, "State of Palestine." Following the murder of the Bibas children, Argentina has decided to rename the street, "State of Palestine" to "Bibas Family Street."

This Crosstalk featured guest Dr. David Brown. Dr. Brown is Pastor Emeritus of the First Baptist Church in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He has a Masters in Theology and a Ph.D in History specializing in the history of the English Bible. The United States Supreme Court has upheld that the Second Amendment to the Constitution is an individual right, yet there are many questions that people have. So if you're wondering, for example, if you can be pro-gun and pro-life, you'll want to review this important edition of Crosstalk as Dr. Brown brings clarity on these and other points of concern. For example: -Was Jesus a pacifist? -How do we deal with "Thou shalt not kill"? According to the Bible, when is killing not murder? -Does Romans 12:19-21 mean that we're to just leave things up to God for vengeance every time? What is the place of law enforcement in this? -What is the difference between self-defense and vengeance? -Does carrying a gun show a lack of trust in God? Listeners had Dr. Brown answer additional questions to round out the broadcast.

Dr. Andy Woods is the president of Chafer Theological Seminary and senior pastor of Sugar Land Bible Church. He's contributed to numerous theological journals and Christian books and has spoken on a variety of topics at Christian conferences. He's the author of The Middle East Meltdown, The Falling Away, as well as other books. Dr. Woods spoke at a VCY America spring rally in Southeast Wisconsin in April of this year. Dr. Woods began by describing how Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day because they should have been able to recognize who he was based on the signs of the times. In spite of this, they refused to pay attention. They completely failed to recognize the messianic time period they were living in. Dr. Woods reminded listeners that throughout history we see that when God sets something up, there are signs of the times that people are to be aware of and to pay close attention to them. This is especially important in our day because there are more signs pointing to Christ's second coming than his first. In this broadcast, Dr. Woods analyzes numerous signs that point to this return, beginning with the regathering of the Jews to Israel, the nation that's the modern miracle and focal point of biblical prophecy. He also looks at the third Temple, the red heifers, an invasion by Turkey/Russia/Iran and much more.

Dr. Lonnie Polson is Professor of Communications and Chairman of the Division of Communications at Bob Jones University. He's taught numerous communication classes in speech, acting, performing literation, advanced stage directing and more. He has acted in or directed over 50 stage productions including the film discussed on this broadcast. He also serves as a pastor in Greenville, South Carolina. There are many Christians today, including pastors, who are denying the Lord, maybe not in word, but in their actions as they compromise with this world. This kind of activity is portrayed in the powerful production of the remastered film from 1990 called, The Printing. This movie is based upon real life experiences of people in the former Soviet Union in the early 1980's. The Printing dramatically demonstrates the risk taken by Christians, not to merely smuggle Bibles into the Soviet Union, but to print the Scriptures there. Hear the excerpts that Jim presents while Dr. Polson follows up with his comments. Dr. Polson also discusses his acting role in the movie as a KGB officer, how the movie impacted him and how important the theme of this movie is to our current generation.

Some of the most powerful people on earth believe that one day they'll be able to "upgrade" at least some human beings through genetic engineering and technological schemes such as brain implants. They're so confident in their schemes they're touting benefits as wild as eternal life and the ability to evolve into gods. Returning to bring listeners details on this issue, Crosstalk welcomed Alex Newman. Alex is an award-winning international freelance journalist, author, researcher, educator and consultant. He is senior editor for The New American, co-author of Crimes of the Educators and author of Deep State: The Invisible Government Behind the Scenes. He's also founder of Liberty Sentinel. Alex pulled no punches in his opening comments. He described this as a diabolical agenda. This doesn't mean that everyone involved is evil or even understand the implications. However, if you listen to the leaders of this movement, people like Ray Kurzweil, Yuval Noah Harari and Klaus Schwab, they explain how they feel they'll become gods and will achieve immortality without Christ by merging with technology through things like brain implants, genetic engineering or uploading of their minds with computers systems. Christians realize how blasphemous this is and how it's the oldest lie in history if you go back to Genesis 3 where Satan told Eve she could be like God and that she would not surely die. Klaus Schwab, the head of the World Economic Forum, has touted what he calls "The Fourth Industrial Revolution." Alex noted that Schwab first mentioned this in Foreign Affairs magazine published by the Council on Foreign Relations. It comes down to two simple choices.

Why did He do it? Why did He die?

News from around the nation and the world. Crosstalk looks at it all from a Christian perspective and reports as much as time will allow each Friday. Here's a sample of stories from this week's broadcast: --*Breaking News*--Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has fired the fire chief who said the city failed residents as it pertains to the wildfires. --*Breaking News*--U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is saying the Jeffrey Epstein client list is "sitting on my desk right now." --In response to a blood parade by Hamas where they celebrated the deaths of hostages, including young Jewish children, President Trump said, "I want to see Gaza wiped out. I don't want to see even one building standing." --At the end of an incredibly hard day of mourning, Israelis had to deal with a series of mass transportation terror attacks. Bombs exploded on 3 public buses on Thursday evening. Miraculously no one was injured in the explosions that police believe were coordination terror attacks, most likely carried out by Hamas. --Argentina's president, Javier Milei, is declaring a national day of mourning following the return of the remains of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons who were kidnapped by Hamas back on October 7th, 2023. --The Republic of Fiji, known as one of the friendliest nations toward Israel, has decided to open an embassy in Jerusalem. --The IDF confirmed Monday that troops will stay in 5 strategic locations in southern Lebanon beyond Tuesday's withdrawal deadline under a cease fire with Hezbollah, despite Lebanon's government expressing frustration over the delay. --Lebanon has indefinitely extended its flight suspension to and from Iran.

Usama Dakdok is founder of the Straight Way of Grace Ministry. He is the speaker on the daily radio broadcast, Revealing the Truth About Islam. Born and raised in Egypt, Usama learned about Islam just as every other student does in a Muslim country. He also studied for a university degree in Egypt which included the study of Sharia, which is Islamic law. He first came to America in 1992. With his knowledge of Islam, he founded The Straight Way of Grace Ministry. Usama speaks fluent Arabic and has translated the Qur'an into English. He is the author of Exposing the Truth about the Qur'an and Exposing the Truth About Jihad and the booklets, The Violent Truth about Islam and The Straight Way to Eternal Life. For many years Usama has traveled the country to equip the church to minister to Muslims and to warn Americans about the deceptive methods being used that lead many into the cult of Islam. Long-time Crosstalk listeners know that on past programs, Usama Dakdok has issued warning after warning concerning the growing influence and possible takeover of America by Islam. More proof of this has come forth as there's been the announcement of the formation of EPIC City near Dallas, Texas. EPIC stands for: East Plano Islamic Center. This city is where developers claim they will serve the evolving needs of Muslims. In fact, it's being called a game-changer, not just for Dallas, but for the Western world. The goal is not simply a bunch of neighborhood homes but instead they'll offer a full school facility (pre-K through high school), a community college/university, grocery stores and elderly assistance facilities.

Tom DeWeese is president of American Policy Center. Tom is one of the nation's leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy and back-to-basics education. Tom began by explaining non-governmental organizations, otherwise known as NGO's. They're experts at pushing various policies and issues along with the grants to tell recipients to apply for. They pressure city council members, county commissioners and even state legislators to put whatever policies the NGO's have in mind, in place. Jim noted how even the media gets involved in this so that when a community or a state rejects one of these offers, they tell listeners/viewers how certain funding has been turned down, making it appear as though it was a bad decision. What they don't explain is the part about how that community or state has their hands tied if the money is accepted. In other words, that community or state has now lost control at some level. The latest trick has to do with getting citizens to voluntarily surrender a level of control of their land. It involves land trusts such as the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy and others who are pushing for farmers to sign what are called, "conservation easements." These are being offered with the promise that if they sign, the farmer will no longer have to worry about developers taking their land. It may sound good on the surface, but one problem is that the land trusts have the farmers sign these easements in perpetuity. Conversely, the land trusts aren't tied to the perpetuity clause. They can buy, sell or trade these conservation easements with other organizations or even with the government.

Historian Bill Federer talks about God's work in American history.