BREAKING: Hegseth’s Alarming Military Authorization

We got breaking news. Pete Hagseth issues an alarming military authorization. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Will Haynes is joining me in studio.

We have some breaking news that is coming out of Washington, D.C., but also really has a major impact on what's happening around the world. You may have seen some of the updates coming out of the Middle East. I woke up to a lot of them that were fairly alarming, as even in Israel, they're saying, hey, if you're an American in Israel, make sure you're not traveling anywhere other than the major cities, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and obviously we got a team at ACLJ Jerusalem.

So I've been in contact with them. We got to make sure everyone stays as safe as possible as things have started to escalate. And it looks like they're escalating in Iran, along with other places around the world. There is a lot also that the U.S. has issued in this warning that came from Pete Hexes.

I'm going to break that down for you. But I want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. We are going to take calls a little earlier today.

So go ahead and get on hold because. At the very end of the show, we'll be joined by our friend Steve Wiggins, who is previously of the band, or I guess maybe currently still of the band Big Tent Revival, but he has a great ministry out of Memphis, but a great podcast that helps you go through the Bible verse by verse, but also shows he's also a very strong supporter of the existence of the state of Israel and why it's important for Christians to support it.

So we're going to talk with him a little bit later. Give us some biblical understanding of what is happening in Israel as we head towards some pretty rocky times that should be concerning to all of us, actually, as we head into this. There's been obviously the fear of a major conflict, of a World War III, if you will. But we'll break down all of them coming up in the next segment, but why don't we give a little baseline of where we're at? Top line across the region with U.S.

installations, whether it be military or diplomatic missions, you're seeing the United States offer evacuations effectively, saying that if you're non-essential or Non-emergency personnel, or if you're families of people that work at these installations, we will bring you back to the United States on the government's dime. This is a big move. This hasn't happened in this way since back in 2015. Indicating that we may be heading into a real conflict. That's right.

And what we know is that the Iranians have warned that even if it's Israel that strikes them, that they will retaliate by trying and attempting to strike U.S. installations in the region, whether it be embassies and consulates or whether it be military installations. We have a lot of large bases there. One of the largest air bases is in Bahrain, which is just across the Persian Gulf from Iran, the Gulf of Arabia, depending on what you want to call it, as well as you have situations in Israel, Iraq, and Kuwait. And we're going to break down all of these because it's all pointing to something bigger happening.

This is also. With the Americans meeting with the Iranian counterparts in Oman for another round of talks slated for Sunday. We'll see if any of that changes with all this news, but it's something that we are keeping a last-ditch effort to try to stop this war from escalating. We're going to discuss that. I want to hear from you.

We're also going to talk about how the protests and the riots have spread from California, now entering Chicago. What does that look like for our friends in Chicago? What's looking for Illinois? And what does it look like for, I don't know, some of those street preachers you may remember in Chicago that we've been representing, they've been there preaching the gospel. What's been happening to them?

They've been getting arrested. but these are taking over the streets with little consequence. A little bit of a double standard. We'll talk about that coming up as well. I want to encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ as we head into the first break.

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Be a part of it. Hit that subscribe button right now. We're live every day. Welcome back to Sekulow. I think we need to reset because a lot of you are just joining us right now with this breaking news as the Middle East has really amped up and it feels like we're headed towards a very chaotic situation.

And look, this has been coming for months and months. A lot of people have been concerned about it, but now it seems like we may be hitting a tipping point, so much so that the Americans. Are Pete Hegsith and a lot of the groups and the embassies are starting Will to issue warnings and evacuations, telling people where they can travel to, where they can't travel to, whether that's in Israel, or also giving people an option to leave. There's also some security warnings coming out of the UK.

So it seems like this is strategic, that this is planned, that they know something is happening. And of course, as you said, this weekend, there's supposed to be another talk that is going to be happening between the US and Iranian officials in Oman.

Now, what you'd hope is that, okay. They're prepping for if that meeting goes wrong. And hopefully it does not. I mean, look, I think you're dealing with Iran. You're not dealing with a normal government here.

So what are you going to do? And we know what happened even last night in Israel. I don't know if you paid attention to that. We'll cover that a little bit later when they're trying to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But again Destroying the narrative and the narrative that we have been saying, actually, uplifting the narrative we've been saying, which is.

It is Hamas that is keeping Uh Gaza, keeping the people of Gaza, the Palestinian people. From the supplies they need to survive. And it happened. Uh In a very violent, destructive way. We'll discuss that a little bit later, but let's go through what I know a lot of you are tuning in for, which is what are the warnings for Americans.

That's right. And normally, if the State Department issues a warning to a consulate somewhere in the world, that's not abnormal, right? Saying, hey, there's some tensions or some travel warning, we're taking care of our staff. That's not abnormal. What's abnormal is how broad these orders and all started to happen at the exact same time yesterday afternoon and evening.

But in Iraq, the State Department has ordered non-emergency personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Orbil to depart immediately. Israel, travel restrictions are placed on U.S. diplomatic personnel amid concerns tied to regional instability. What they've actually said is: if you are in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, don't leave the city.

And if you're not there, go to a major city and remain there. Don't just be going throughout the country. In Bahrain and Kuwait, very similar to what. They issued in Iraq. They've authorized voluntary departure of U.S.

government employees and family members at U.S. embassies. And then you have the military family evacuation. This is from the Department of Defense and Pete Hagseth. They have authorized military families in Bahrain and Kuwait, two very large military installations with a lot of Americans that live there because they work on the base and have their family there.

The U.S. government will voluntarily evacuate you from Bahrain and Kuwait and cover the transportation costs. There's also this maritime warning. This is from the UK. Maritime trade operations issued a warning to commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf.

This is a very rare and abnormal warning issued on commercial shipping in these areas. And this all comes at the time when we see that the IAEA has done for the first time in 20 years. They have formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

So things are heightening. We know that the IAEA says that Iran has enough e-rich uranium for potentially making nine nuclear bombs. And the tone from our President has started to change as well, who is very optimistic he could cut a deal with the Iranians. But we're starting to hear even that language change ahead of this Sunday meeting in Oman. Yeah, and I want you to call in and give us your questions or thoughts.

I know there are probably a lot of swirling through your heads, swirling through our heads. You know, Will made this great piece this morning where he was able to kind of break down all of it. It's so overwhelming the amount of things that are happening in the Middle East.

So we have to keep aware also of what's still going on in our country. We know that the LA riots, like we said, have moved a little bit. They've moved over to Chicago. What does that mean? We're going to talk about that as it starts to spread.

Now, If there is a war in the Middle East, I think you're going to see quite a bit of the news attention shift. And look, I don't want there to be war. We pray for the end of war in general, but look, we live in a reality where war is real, war is happening. And at some point, there are all these tipping points, and these tipping points eventually could lead there.

Now, the meeting that's going to happen, Will, in Oman, maybe we need to give people a bit of what's happening here because they've had these meetings before recently where the U.S. officials have sat down. With members of the Iranian government and said, okay, let's try to come up with some sort of solution here. In the background, as we know though. That they are funding what's happening.

In Gaza. They are funding what's happening to Israel. That's right. And what these are are direct talks. Including sending direct rockets.

It's not like it's all a shell game. Right. What these are, these are direct talks between negotiators from the United States, led by Steve Witkoff, who has done remarkable work in some of these high-level, high-risk negotiations with governments around the world. And they are negotiating with their Iranian counterparts to try and reach a deal. And not a deal like the JCPOA, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action under Obama, where they gave lots and lots of money with no real restrictions and no real oversight on the Iranians.

They were trying to get to a place where they could monitor. And restrict and ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon through these talks. The President and the team were optimistic. Obviously, you're going into something like this. You want to be optimistic that you can reach an outcome.

But that tone has shifted. And this is, I believe, the sixth round of these talks. They've met in Switzerland, they've met in Oman before, and they are trying to get to the end point where there doesn't have to be a war. And I think it'd be interesting. I know we have a lot of people that call in that may have served or have seen what happened with even the war in Iraq.

And I think that's where a lot of people's fears are. And I think where President Trump's fear is. That poll is there right now. Right. Like it feels a bit like March of 2002.

Right. And when we went in there, we were in for a very long time to seek regime change from Saddam Hussein's regime. And it was on the premise of he had weapons of mass destruction.

Now it seems like deja vu all over again. I know that there. There are people, many people within the regime, the regime of Iran, that will never change, including the Ayatollah, but also within the Trump administration, including President Trump himself, that don't want another forever war Iraq on their hands. That's what people write in all their yearbooks. What are they doing?

Never change. Never change. Never change. But so that's where I'm curious what our callers even think. We know that Iran is a real threat.

Iran is probably a much more real threat than Saddam Hussein. We know that they have these proxy wars that are going on. They at least want it. Right. You know, they want to have these wars.

They want to have these weaponry. We know what that looks like. And look, we have a lot of Iranian listeners as well, people that are Iranian Americans who have their families escaped or they came during the revolution. There's a lot of that kind of talk happening in our chats. I would love to hear from you as well at 1-800-684-3110 what this means for your family when you hear this brought up.

Because I think there's always been a hope that there could be a changing of the guard, if you will, and a switch back. Because when you look at the history of that country, a very fruitful nation, a very beautiful nation that has been overrun. And sadly, we have seen that over the last 50 years or so. I do want to take quickly, this is a complete diversion, call-wise, but I think. Let's go ahead and take it for a moment as I want to give you an opportunity to give us a call at 1-800-684-30110.

Let's go to Antoinette, who's calling in New York on the radio. She had a question or a comment about one of our new ACLJ cases. Go ahead, Annette or Antoinette. Hello, and thank you for your work and love for our great country. God bless you.

As someone in the community, How can we make our local community aware that this is going on? Thank you.

Okay, we need to, I think, a state of what we're talking about here. Yeah, so Antoinette. We just called in about one of our new Bible club cases. Again, sounds like a case from the 80s, but it's happening right now. That's right.

And we covered that two days ago on the broadcast. You can go back and watch it. Your dad joined us for the segment about we are fighting back against a school that tore down a student's posters for the Good News Club that was just advertising a school club that she fought to get authorized by the school. They didn't want her to. And then once she did, they tore down her posters because it had Bible verses on it and there were things that they didn't like about it.

And then they forced her to change the name because the Good News Club was too Christian, apparently, even though there was a Supreme Court case about another Good News Club in New York, which upheld Mergens, which is the case your dad won at the Supreme Court. And the ACLJ is proud of that victory.

So what Antoinette's asking is: how can we get people, especially in your area, go to ACLC? ACLJ.org, and then click the news tab. There's a blog about this case that we published on June 10th, and the title is: ACLJ Prepares Lawsuit After New York School Outrageously Tears Down Christian Students' Bible Verse Posters and Forces Student Bible Club to remove good news from its name. Take that blog, share it with all your friends and neighbors. Take that blog and share it.

There you go. That's a blog. But share it with all your friends and neighbors. Put it on social media. Send it to the local news.

And just say, hey, this is going on here. Get coverage. And that, in and of itself, will help. Spread the word and force this school to realize all eyes are on them on this, and they better follow the Constitution.

So, I think that's a great way you can share it, Antoinette. Antoinette, I apologize for my singing. I didn't, it just hit me. I was overcome by the spirit of Johnny Paycheck. Things happen, okay?

Phone lines are open for you: 1-800-68-430-110, like I said. We have a full-packed show today. We're going to also talk a little bit more about some of the riots that are going on now, moving their way to Chicago, and what that also means for our clients: our team is in court right now. about street preaching. Because street preachers were being arrested in Chicago, but no, not this big riots that are happening.

Later on in the show, Steve Wiggins can be joining us from the Big Tent Revival and his great new ministry. We'll take a look. Welcome back to Sekulow. We do have some phone lines open for you, and I want to take those earlier in the broadcast today because at the end of the show, we're going to be joined by the head of Groundworks Ministries. You may know him from his band, Big Tent Revival, Steve Wiggins, great pro-Israel, great guy, helps you get a biblical perspective on the support of the Jewish people and of the state of Israel.

So, we're going to talk with him a little bit later in the broadcast, but that means we're going to take calls a little earlier. We've already done some, so we're going to take some more. And of course, you can do that at 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110. I did want to move our attention just a little bit for just a brief period of time.

There's obviously the riots that are still happening in California. I saw some interesting videos yesterday of people setting up hot dog stands, selling hot dogs on the freeway, you know, making a business out of it. You know what? Good for them. That's the American spirit right now.

That's what I'm talking about. I'm like, you know, I saw them and I was like, there may be riots in the streets, but they're like, these people are going to get hungry. And guess what? They probably have also cash. You know, because this, these, a lot of it is a lot of transactions.

They're getting paid because they don't have cash. You mean they didn't want a record on their credit card. Yeah. No, yeah, it's true. That also.

But no, I look at it and go, man, that's where we're at. That's where the show part of it happens. And look, you've heard me. I've been very transparent about the fact that I do believe we need to calm down the rhetoric against our friends and neighbors who are even here illegally. And there are a lot of criminals, there are a lot of people who have done really bad things.

I think they need to be, you know, Eliminated from our society, moved out, need to be deported. But we're talking about people that are here, families have always been that. But when you see that in LA, and then also you see Gavin Newsom's wife, you know. Uh having a good time in uh Rodeo Drive, where they did have a big Trump rally. You know, there is part of you that goes, you got to remember what California is, and California is very different.

Now, Chicago and California are also very different. Chicago, you know, I feel like it's maybe a little less performative. And now we've seen, Will, as you were telling me this morning, that the riots have moved their way to the Midwest. That's right. So as we sort of expected that these will start to, as California goes, so go the liberal cities of America, that we will see these expand.

And what we see now is in Chicago, they have popped up. Streets have had to be closed. They have had to suspend bus service in downtown because of the protest. This is local news in Chicago says they were mostly nonviolent in the afternoon. But there were some brief clashes between protesters and police squad cars were vandalized.

And one instance in which a car appeared to drive through the crowd amid rolling street closures. And the Chicago Police Department did not have any information on the number of arrests made during the protest.

So, they are bringing the LA-style chaos to Chicago. And this is not unexpected, but here's what we're doing in Chicago today: and tomorrow. The team of the ACLJ. That's right. Again, remember what Will just said: what's happening on the streets right now, how the arrests have been happening, how the situation's been unfolding.

Well, at the same time, we know what's going on sometimes in Chicago. Again, another lovely city. I know that we have a lot of supporters in Illinois. We've got a lot of family there. My dad spent some many years in Chicago.

But.

Well, they haven't been friendly to. They've been friendly to the rioters, but maybe not to the street preachers. That's right. So, we today have a status conference on a lawsuit, a federal lawsuit that we are filing against the city of Chicago to try and overturn an ordinance that they are weaponizing against those sharing the gospel in Chicago. We also, at the same time, tomorrow have an update.

Where two defendants that the ACLJ represents were arrested and charged criminally for preaching the gospel. These weren't widespread marches, shutting down streets, vandalism. These are individuals standing in Chicago sharing the gospel. We had a third client. That we were able to get the charges dropped.

But shortly after, his friends that were also evangelizing in Chicago were arrested and charged criminally. And we are fighting to have those criminal charges defeated for them.

So if you're preaching the gospel, they are going to weaponize their ordinances and arrest you and charge you criminally. But what we are now seeing is that they are shutting down streets, having to suspend bus service. Why aren't they using the same ordinances to go after aggressively the protest in Chicago? I think you know the reason why. I think you do, but we're not going to stand for it.

I thought you said, we're not going to say it. Oh, no, I mean, we'll say it's because they are targeting Christians with their ordinances. It's very plain and simple. You know what? You got the Pope walking around with a White Sox hat right now, you know, outside the Vatican hanging out.

Maybe they should take a note. There are a lot of good Christian people, a lot of good Catholics who are Chicagoans. Chicagoans? Mm-hmm. Chicagoites?

Those of Chicago. Yeah. Yeah. All you midwesterns, let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear what it is.

I think this is right. You can't, though, they are two very separate issues. They come down to very similar results, which is: how do you treat religious speech? Versus how you treat other speech. And this has been a fight.

That's why the ACLJ has been a First Amendment, First Amendment first, if you want to be a First Amendment-focused law firm. in our legal work because the First Amendment doesn't stop with religious speech. It doesn't stop when you want to be on a public sidewalk talking about your faith. And whether you are a bullhorn, you know, old school wearing the In Disney shirt, or whether you are the person there who's just trying to do sidewalk counseling or talk to people quietly about their faith. It doesn't matter as long as you're not hurting anybody.

But of course, even when they are hurting people, even when they are starting to loot, even when they are starting to destroy, the delta is very wide in terms of how they're treated.

So I want to make sure you are up to date on that. Of course, we are still looking at what is happening in the Middle East. Actually, as we move into that for the next half hour, I want to take Brian's call real quick to head into that. Brian. Go ahead, you're on the air.

God bless you guys. I really appreciate what you do. I actually called and talked to you yesterday hoping that President Trump would Yeah. Pope Israel Oh no, when all this started happening, I was like, Brian, I remember calling in and talking about this, and here we are. Yeah, and I just hope President Trump does support and help them in this endeavor to attack Iran.

Which like I said yesterday, I think I voted for President Trump. I think his heart's in the right place But I I think sometimes he built himself as like he's going to end all wars.

So I hope that doesn't keep him from doing the right thing in this situation because this would be a righteous war. And you think he always says he's a deal maker, and I just don't think he can make deals with people That just sponsor terrorism, they don't have our same values and they want to kill us. And everyone else.

Well, and Brian, the vein of Islam that the Iranians have, the Shia sect of Islam, is very apocalyptic. They are trying to usher in the apocalypse by doing things like annihilating Israel, which will bring the 12th Imam to the world, and then Islam will be dominant of the earth according to their theology.

So they are theocratic, genocidal dictators that want to take over the world and they want to use their religion and their might to do that.

So, and in your comment, you said, you mentioned that we said this appearances could look like an Iraq 2.0. I think that is a lot of people's concern. I think Iraq and Iran are vastly different, completely different scenario, but that's why we're asking for calls. Is that how you feel? Is that what your concern is?

I think that Iran needs to be stopped and their nuclear weapon program knocked out. And we've been talking about that for years on this. We're going to continue that discussion. We only. Have a few seconds left here in this segment.

If you don't get us on your local radio station for the next half hour, join us live or later on at aclj.org, on YouTube, on Rumble. We're there broadcasting live right now. And obviously, if you can, please become an ACLJ champion. That's someone that supports this show on a monthly financial basis. Know how much that means to us because we are not funded by major sponsors, we are funded by you, the champions.

Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Secular. Give me a little bit of a reset here. This is Logan Secular.

Will Haynes is joining me in studio right now. We do have one line open at 1-800-684-3110, but a lot are ringing.

So we'll see if we can get some of these screens.

So if you're on hold right now, stay on hold. Because in the next segment, I'm going to take as many calls as we can. Because the last segment, we're going to be joined by Steve Wiggins from Groundworks Ministries. He's going to give us sort of a biblical overview as he has a great devotional that he does every day. You can watch online, but also a great supporter of the Jewish people and of Israel.

And he'll give you a good biblical perspective of what all is happening. Can't wait to be joined by Steve coming up here in just a few minutes. But call us if you can at 1-800-684-3110. Will, as we start to head towards this second half, as we're in this second half of the broadcast, there may be a lot of people joining us just right now who want to know about this breaking news that we are covering, which is that just this morning, a lot of warnings were issued by Pete Hagseth, by the Trump administration. By embassies.

It is a really long list, actually. And that's what we talked about. Almost the frequency in this and the timing that they're all together and all these warnings are coming in. I mean, I woke up, opened up my social media, and I feel like as somebody who's pretty connected to what's happening in the Middle East and what's happening in Israel, it was overwhelming the amount of news that was coming in. That's right.

So as for the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth, they have authorized that military families in Bahrain and Kuwait, very large military installations in the Middle East for the United States, they can depart, they can evacuate with transportation costs covered by the U.S. government.

So not like, hey, maybe good idea, go book yourself a plane ticket, that the U.S. government will evacuate them from Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as the State Department with a fairly long list as well. They've authorized the voluntary departure of government employees in Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as family members at embassies. In Israel, they placed travel restrictions on U.S. diplomatic personnel, basically saying stay in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

Don't travel. Travel about the country, that ostensibly to mean that the Iron Dome will be focused on protecting the larger cities and don't be caught outside of them. As well as in Iraq, non-emergency personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil have been ordered to depart immediately. This all comes while the United Kingdom has issued a warning to commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf, citing this heightened risk due to regional tensions that shipping lanes may be disrupted.

So, this is a lot going on. This all comes also on the heels of the IAEA, that's the International Atomic Energy Agency, that is the oversight from the UN that is supposed to be monitoring Iran's nuclear program, has now formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. That's the first time they've done this in 20 years.

So, the situation is moving fast. There are reports in main U.S. media, like CBS and the Associated Press, that Israel is prepared to attack Iran. We know that the United States. States has another bilateral meeting with the Iranians in Oman this Sunday.

So it's a lot to take in, a lot of moving parts, but signs are pointing towards something big happening in the Middle East in the coming days. Yeah, and phone lines are jamming up right now, and we are just going to try to take absolutely as many of these as we can. I'm looking at what people are talking about. There's a lot of concern, and that's understandable. I think a lot of us woke up going, you know, with that sort of pit in your stomach.

There also was a story, Will, that we're going to get to in the next segment that we should definitely talk about, definitely talk about with Steve later on, which was what happened with the humanitarian aid that was going into Gaza. As multiple people, it looks like there's multiple fatalities. As Hamas shows who they always are. And disrupts, not only disrupts, but destroys, kills, and steals that humanitarian aid that everyone claims Israel is not trying to get into the right hands. We're not trying to get into the hands at all.

These aren't talking points. This is just the facts, this is what's happening. And you have to send this to your friends. You have to wake them up. because it's easy for it to get lost in the shuffle when we have so much going on.

all over the world. When we get back, we're going to take some phone calls.

So, Bobby, take a call. Terry, Gene, Bill, QC, Aaron. We're gonna get to as many of you as we absolutely can in the next segment.

So stay on hold. Again, become an ACLJ champion. And hey, if you become a champion, you get bumped up to the front of the line always. No champions right now on hold. Welcome back to Sekulow.

It's time to take your phone calls. Usually, we do this a little bit later, but we are going to be joined by a very special guest in the next segment. But let's kick it off with Terry, who is watching on the ACLJ app. In Missouri online for Terry? Make sure you're on the air.

And hey, before I get you, Terry, two lines just dropped.

So 1-800-684-3110. If you want to call in, this will be your last chance. Do it right now. 1-800-684-3110. Terry, go ahead.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Yes, and I forgot to mention I am a champion. I'm humbled to have the opportunity to. Be a champion with your stuff. Look, you were first up, so you know what? It just worked out that way.

But thank you so much. Yeah, I was saying concerning Iran, I'm a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in 2005. when we would find weapons cachets and IEDs and stuff, I mean, it was always Iranian money or propaganda we would find with it.

So it's been a problem for a long time. Oh, yeah. And number one, thank you so much for your service as well. And I grew up in that era. We were teenagers during the era of Iraqi freedom and all of it that led to that.

And look, I think you don't give you enough respect for everything that the troops went through during all of that trip. Transition time and dealing with post-9-11 world.

So, I want to tell you first, Terry, thank you.

Now, Will, in terms of Iran being an issue, of course, we learned that even then, that Iran was always involved. That's right. And the leadership of Iran is totally different than Saddam Hussein. We know their aspirations. They tell us their aspirations: death to America, death to Israel.

They have proxy wars going on all over the Middle East, whether it be the Houthis, whether it be Hezbollah in Lebanon, whether it be Hamas in Gaza, as well as other militias, even in Iraq. As Terry mentioned, that during the Iraq war, after Saddam Hussein was gone, one of the main reasons it continued so long was because of Iranian militias that were fighting Americans. Iranians have blood on their hands. They have American blood on their hands because they were fighting in Iraq against the United States. It is a completely different scenario.

And When we talked about that earlier, for those that are. More against any sort of intervention. It's a non-starter. I think that that's where they could get out there and make headlines and say, look, this is another war about weapons of mass destruction with a dictatorship in the Middle East, and it's all tied to oil. And they could try to make that argument to the American public.

But I agree with Terry. It is. It is completely different of the leadership of Iran and their aspirations and what they are currently doing in the region. And I think that when President Trump says they cannot have a nuclear weapon, he means it. President Trump, when he first got into office, it wasn't as if he said, I am against using our military.

He just did not want to start long. forever worse. What did he do right at the beginning? He authorized aggressive military action to decimate ISIS.

So I think that that is a little bit of the difference, too. If it is our military leading something, I think the tactics and strategy and the people he has behind him are different in their mindset, not the traditional. Wave of airstrikes, boots on the ground, and then you're in this protracted, bloody conflict that goes on for a long time. I think it would look different if we are the ones that are leading it. Right now, reports are it's Israel that is getting out ahead.

I don't know that Israel wants a ground war in Iran either.

So there's a lot we don't know, but what we do know is that the moves that are happening are signaling that something big may be on the horizon, as well as this that just came through. On the U.S. Department of State website, under their briefing schedule, for their press briefings that are typically daily, like the White House, for Thursday, June 12th, today, they have a notice canceled. There will not be a department press briefing today.

So they have canceled a State Department press briefing. A very interesting piece of news that's just coming out. Not normal that they would be doing that. But of course, there's a lot happening right now. You also have President Trump, who, by the way, is still speaking live right now.

So it could be that as well, that he is talking a lot currently. And they're actually asking him about the Middle East right now. Let's see if we can see if there's anything worth pulling and playing here on the air as we are live. Let's go ahead and take another call while we're at it. Let's go to Gene, who's got a call about question about the riots that are happening right now.

You're watching on the Salem News Channel, which, by the way, you should be watching us if you haven't on the Salem News channel. They got a great lineup of hosts.

Some you may agree with, some you may disagree with, but that's sort of the beauty of having an online free news station is you're able to have all these voices. And it's really a cool place to find. You can find on Pluto and on, I think, Samsung Plus, a lot of smart TVs, and of course, on SalemNewschannel.com. But go ahead, Gene. Hi, I'm Colin Yes.

Bucky Riots. We are a I'm in Arizona, so we are a border state. But what I've noticed is that there's a lot of chaos going on in our country with each other. I think that if Trump could do something to give the Mexicans Illegals. a time period to get things in order rather than having them automatically deported.

and get them out of the picture because There are a lot of people that are not even Mexican that are stirring those riots up, pretending to be. Absolutely, Gene. I mean, you look at celebrities that have shown up. You have looked at a lot of people who have made this their mission to go and cause chaos, not actually there to protest for the right reasons. Look how many Palestinian flags are being waved at these protests.

That doesn't really always have to do with the people who are coming from Mexico who are looking for a better life. Unfortunately, the PR battle is easy to lose when you have a media that is not being honest.

Well, and to Gene's point as well, you see videos of pickup trucks pulling up into the middle, people running and pulling out of boxes, you know, gas masks, face shields, other things that are not. It's not someone just has that lying around in their pickup trucks. There is obviously groups that are helping the protesters and financially, whether it be through providing them things like face masks and shields and things of that nature, or if there's always the big question, are people even paid? To be there, are they coming from out of state? But what we do when you look at it, what we do know is that it is spreading, and in Chicago.

We are hearing it spreading there. At the same time, we're having to go to court to defend individuals that are trying to share the truth, share the gospel on the street corner. Not vandalizing police cars, not throwing rocks at law enforcement, not breaking into stores and stealing iPhones and things of that nature. No, they're just trying to stand on the street corner and share the truth. And many times you can barely hear them because the traffic is so loud in Chicago.

And so, what we have to do is spend immense resources. to fight criminal and federal cases now because we are defending them in court on criminal charges, but we're also going after the ordinance itself that is weaponized against Christians. Why is that same ordinance right now Not being used against every single person out there on the street. And you know what? If they were to equally apply it, it would be any protester that's out there.

Now, that is not constitutional. They shouldn't be doing that. Because people that are peacefully protesting and doing things that are within the right to peacefully assemble in the First Amendment. You should be allowed to do. But we're seeing chaos break out, and what does Chicago prefer to go after?

Christian Street Preachers. All right, we're going to take one more call. Let's go to Bobby in New York. Look, Bobby's got a totally different topic.

Now we're moving, trying to get through all of you guys today before we are joined by our friend Steve Wiggins here in the next segment. Again, which you need to stay tuned for. I think it's very important to have a biblical worldview of what's happening all over the world and how you can keep your brain fed. With really good information that comes from Steve and his ministry. Bobby in New York, go ahead.

Hi, Logan, the rascal. Listen, um I'm just very disappointed and shocked. about Tulsi Gabbard. I don't know what she's doing to us. I heard she said the other day that there's no evidence that Iran is close to having a nuclear weapon.

Can you comment on that? And thanks very much. She also put out a video yesterday warning of nuclear war and fallout.

So, you know what? I'm not so sure. I've not spoken to Tulsi about this. Obviously, she's a friend of the show. She was a member of our team for many years.

And we are very grateful to have her in the position she's in. She's someone who I trust, and I trust her opinions and thoughts. Doesn't mean I have to agree with her in this, I think she would say that, that Iran isn't at least wanting this.

So, what Bobby is referring to is she spoke to the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was a testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee where she said the intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon at this time.

So, Tulsi is very against going to war and preemptive war. And I think that also speaks to President Trump bringing different voices, different opinions in. I think that she is probably. Against a preemptive strike on Iran. I think that is a lot of what that video was, which was extremely ominous, trying to maybe discourage war against Iran.

There's obviously a lot she knows we don't know, and a lot that we don't know about what's even happening.

Someone who, again, we've been friendly with, I tend to defer. To her for that.

So I appreciate you, Bobby, for calling. Not that we have to be, yes, I'm not sure.

Well, I was going to say also, the fact she says they're assessing they're not currently building a nuclear weapon, they haven't gotten it to the threshold of enrichment yet, even though they keep enriching.

So I think there also could be some semantics there. Yep, absolutely. Hey, 25 seconds before we get to the next segment, I want you to join the ACLJ, become a member, become what we call an ACLJ champion. That's someone that gives on a monthly basis because it takes immense resources to do all the work we do. Not just this broadcast here, but obviously our incredible legal work.

And we want you to stay tuned because we have a great guest coming up. You're not going to want to miss this. Stay tuned. Again, go to ACLJ.org. We are back in just a second.

Welcome back to Secula. We are very happy to have a special guests now. It's guests with an S in the studio today. Not just Will Haynes, not just my buddy right here. We got Steve and we have his wife, Misty, who are here to promote and talk about.

Because look, I think it's very important. You are coming in for totally different reasons. We work also, you know, you may know my wife and I do the CCM magazine stuff. We're going to talk about that in your history in Christian music. But as today, we have seen sort of some uptick in what's going on in Israel, what's going on around the world.

I thought, Steve, this is a great time to bring you in because your ministry, Groundworks Ministry, I've been following it now for a number of years that you both do. You really are giving people that biblical worldview of why, not only should you be studying your Bible, obviously, but even why Israel and why the Jewish people are important in the story. That's exactly right. You know, we've seen such an uptake in anti-Semitism. And has it been an uptake, or has it been that October 7th has been the MRI?

It's been like an MRI to show us that the anti-Semitism was already there. It didn't cause anti-Semitism, it exposed it, it was already there below the surface. And so, in that sense, it was good that we could see it. But the thing that was most concerning was that it was an uptake of anti-Semitism among Christians. Among evangelical Christians, even people who in the past it's like, well, if you're an evangelical Christian, obviously you support Israel because you know the word.

Oh, it's in our comments. I mean, I have to remind people what we're dealing with here and to not kind of buy into a lot of this because it's in the comments, it's in the churches. That's exactly right. And so, you know, the best way to combat anti-Semitism is just to get people into the Word of God. I think as we talked a week or so ago, you know, I've led people day by day, chapter by chapter, through the entire Bible.

I've never had a single person finish the Bible having actually read it cover to cover and say, I know one thing, God hates the Jewish people. They never say that. They always say, wow, I mean, they have a heart for the Lord, so they have a heart for Israel, and they have a heart for all. All non-believers, you know, they just develop the heart of the Lord. Yeah, and that's what you are doing on a daily basis, both of you, not just in Memphis and your own ministry work that you're doing there, but for people everywhere.

And I think that's great. I think it's great to give someone a resource. And also, knowing both of you and knowing. This whole story is really helpful. And a lot of people know you're from Big Tent Revival from back in those days, but also that also should give them a little bit of a trust to where you came from and where you're going.

Because I think there is also that problem of you follow someone, like you said, who you think is just, oh, this is an evangelical program, I'll follow them, or a conservative program. And then all of a sudden the tone starts shifting and it starts to get in your brain. But knowing that you are there, it's pretty clear where you stand. And I think that's good when people are looking for a place that they can trust. 1 John 2, verse 27.

But the anointing which you've received from him abides in you. The Holy Spirit. And you need no man to teach you, for He teaches you in all things. And as He teaches you and is true and not a lie, so you will abide in Him. And all that it has to do is if you're abiding in the Word of God, taught by the Spirit of God on a daily basis, you develop.

You know, the mind of God, the attitude of God, and also you're tuning your ear to the Holy Spirit as he leads you through life. Go here, do this, speak to this person. I'm sending a person to you.

Now, you don't necessarily get an audible voice, but you do get that sense of knowing, I am prepared, as the Bible says, always to give reason for the hope that's within me. And you know what? I feel like that's been missing. It was missing in my life for so many years. Speaking of lives, and before, you know, I don't want to just hog all the talk and everything.

No, that's why you're here. Misty's here because she's not only my right-hand person, I can't live without her. Of course, she's the part of my brain that I think Elon Musk wished he had right now. We all need that. That would say, hey, bro, slow down.

Today's Misty's birthday. Yes. Oh, man. It's her birthday today.

So we brought the pretty one with us. And there's thousands of people watching right now, even just on YouTube and Rumble. Put in a happy birthday to Misty. It's always nice. See all the hundreds of people.

Of thousands of comments that will come in because we look, I love seeing that too. Also, that you have this family connection to what you're doing. I think that's very important. My wife is somewhere right now setting up for our next thing that we're going to be doing with you guys.

So, I get it totally. Will.

Well, and you brought up that October 7th was like the MRI. And I think another point to that, that for those of us that have studied scripture, we know that this isn't new. That from the entire story of redemption, that the enemies of God have hated God's people.

So, anti-Semitism isn't a new phenomenon. It's not something. But what is the new phenomenon is seeing it. Within our churches, seeing it within the messaging, buying into the lies that are. Thousands of years old, but are somehow infiltrating.

And I think guarding yourself through things like your ministry, taking people through the Bible is what can be our biggest fight against it. Obviously, we can come on here on air and we can speak out against it and point to the lies, but really the only way to get to the truth is by being in the truth. That's right. And that's why the daily appointment, not just in the Bible, it's really a daily appointment with a person, the Holy Spirit, right? In the daily appointment with the Holy Spirit in the Bible, you develop that personal, ongoing relationship.

They say you become like the five people that you're around the most.

Now, look around you and say, okay, is this good for me? Because they're looking at you going, is this good for me? No. But you become like those people that you're around the most. If you only have an appointment, which is a weekly appointment with the Holy Spirit and just a church service, and that's all that you do.

Um It just barely moves the needle in terms of a personal relationship. And but if you move from the weekly event mentality to the daily appointment, Mentality.

Well, now that turns church into a whole other thing, or, you know, when you gather together to worship with other people. And that's really the level of transformation that we need personally and that our nation needs. Hey, look, I think it's easy also for parents with young kids to get out of that routine. I will say this: as my kids headed into summer, I woke up this morning and realized that, oh, yeah, my hour that I had, my time that I had to go get up, have a cup of coffee, and actually, you know, get into the word or read my daily devotions or listen to what you were saying was gone for the last few weeks. And it wasn't anything intentional.

It's just we got out of our routine. We got out of our habit. And I'm like, oh, so what I'm seeing now when I wake up immediately is war, chaos, fire. And it's, I turned to my wife this morning, I go, this is horrible. And she's like, that's why my algorithm is not yours, you know, because it is so troubling.

And you got to make sure you stay in that. And I want to make sure people have the opportunity to know where to go to see what you all are doing. And we'll make sure we share all of this and we'll continue to have. You all on because I think this is excellent. It's excellent for people.

But let's do the promo side of this right now. Groundworksministries.com. I always say, does this groundwork? Yes, it works. Groundworks Ministries plural.com.

And that's at least, at the very least, go check it out. And that is a place where you could, there's a little, you know, a text bar there, and you could send Misty a birthday greeting. Yeah, please do that. That would be amazing. We're seeing hundreds go in.

We're in the middle now of. of developing a software which will hopefully be finished by the end of October. and hopefully to launch at the first of the year, which is a group making software, so that anyone anywhere at any time could launch their own Bible study groups. And on the day that they launch, Uh we would start sending them daily content. To help.

And the purpose is to be day by day, chapter by chapter, through the Bible. And then once a week, they meet together with the friends that have all been personally. meeting with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, and then talking. about we're a generation that doesn't talk much anymore. You know, they we my kids will text me.

I'll call them and it rolls to voicemail and I'll text them and they'll go, Yeah, what do you want? I'll be honest, that's me too. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry, Steve. Maybe I've ignored a few of your calls.

I apologize. But go to that's okay, don't worry, that's blasting across the street. Go to groundworksministries.com. We're going to put all of this up. There's audio versions of this, there's written versions of it.

That's right. I found it to be an excellent resource. I hope you do as well. And then there's going to be new content that we're going to be releasing with both of you all soon. Not necessarily through what we're doing here, but through some of my passion projects.

I'll make sure those get shared as well. Talk to you tomorrow. Mm.