Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you're having a great Thursday morning. I wanted to read to you from, From Matthew, chapter 10 and verse 16. Jesus tells his disciples he's sending them out, and he says this. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. that's a tall order to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But, that's what the Lord commands us to do. And, he's telling us right off the bat, hey, this is going to be, a dangerous mission because you're sheep in the midst of wolves. But he's going to be with us. We don't need to be afraid. As the Lord told Joshua in Joshua chapter one, have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Now, what we like to talk about on Real Truth for today is we like to engage, Christians in a biblical worldview, looking at the issues that are taking place in our world and especially in America. And, look at it from a biblical lens. And, I have invited a friend of mine to come on today as we talk about, the culture and current events. And that's Rhyen Halfenbein. He is the Vice President of Communications and Public engagement at Liberty University and the founding executive director of, of the Standing for Freedom center that was previously, the Falkirk center for Faith and Liberty. Rhyen is a, fellow Texas Longhorn, got a BA in economics from the University of Texas, has an M. Div. From the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he served as an advisor public information officer for Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin. And so, Rhyen, welcome to the program.

Caroline: Hey, Jeff.

Ryan Helfenbein: Good morning. It's good to be on with you.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, okay, so I learned that this Morning. I didn't know you were a Longhorn.

Ryan Helfenbein: Yeah, so I am a Longhorn, hook em. But, now I serve an institution, obviously that, is in Virginia, and we are the Flames, so I say go Flames all the time. And, I'm very proud of Liberty University, and of course, the place I serve. but, yeah, I went to UT for my undergrad, and I still watch Texas football.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: When did you graduate?

Ryan Helfenbein: I graduated back in the 2005 year, and I was. That was the Mack Brown era, and we had Vince Young as our quarterback.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you. Were you there when we won the national championship?

Ryan Helfenbein: I graduated a year early, so I was already in seminary with. In the year that would have been my senior year. So all my buddies got to go to the Rose bowl, and I did

Pastor Jeff Schreve: not get to that.

Ryan Helfenbein: Oh, wow.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. So, I got to do a chapel for the Horns, when they played Arkansas in Fayetteville. that was the year they won, I think they won the Rose Bowl. So 2003, 2004 season, and got to know Mac and, great experience. My daughter was a Texas angel when, she was there during, the end of the Colt McCoy, Jordan, Shipley year.

Caroline: Yeah.

Ryan Helfenbein: So good era.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. So we're. I'm a big Longhorn fan. I married an Aggie, and so, not a rabbit Aggie, though. So she doesn't give me a lot of grief about things, but, Okay. So, Rhyen, want to talk to you today about what's going on in our world. What's going on in America. I know that you keep your, finger on the pulse of things. Lots of things going on.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: what do you take away from the Michigan vote on Tuesday where you have this socialist, Islamist that won the primary?

Ryan Helfenbein: Yeah. So, I mean, it's obvious to me. It signals to me, that there is a far more radical element of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Socialist of America, the dsa, they are being mainstreamed. and Chuck Schumer, who has been rather dodgy, as party leadership, more recently said that the Democratic Party is a big tent party. and if you're watching the races around the country, of course we saw Mamdani. No big surprise there. except for this is the first time that you had a candidate that was so outspoken, outspoken in his own Islamism and so outspoken in his socialism, and then now wants to enact policies. Fast forward. In Michigan now you have a primary where the, representative for the Democratic Party, is Islamic, is socialist, and is going to try and mainstream that message across America. The question is whether or not that actually will work, for the country. And the party could very well be split in Michigan. Of course, I'm not on the ground there to know exactly the situation, but the greater picture right now, this would be kind of a positive but then also a negative for conservatives in a sense on the positive side. So many of these candidates that are being run, state by state by state are absolutely radical. And for, for an independent voter, which there are many independent voters. If you say, if you look at you know, a mapping of where people line up, you've got your, your dogged conservatives that might be at 35, 40% and then you got more of your dogged Democrats that might be somewhere between 35, 40, 45%. That middle part is that 15 to 20, those guys have to be persuaded every time there's an election of which way they're going to vote. They don't necessarily have a party loyalty and they're the undecided voter. Those guys look at some of this stuff and they may not be comfortable with socialism, they may not be comfortable with, with, with Islamicism. They may not be comfortable with these radical elements. And so in many ways that will bode well for Republicans. But here's the flip side of all of that. The part that is very concerning for Republicans and is still the issue of affordability. And you know, I've had a lot of conversations about that.

Caroline: This.

Ryan Helfenbein: I'm, I'm on a college campus, I'm with Gen Z. you know, I hear them all the time. And you know, it is not, it is not something where you say, quit your complaining about $20 burritos. Right? You, know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you know, stop, stop spending so much money on coffee. You're not going to be able to Starbucks, save your way towards being debt free out of college. You're not going to be able to Starbucks save your way in order to own a home. The average age of a new homeowner in America is around 41 years of age. we have a huge problem. I think it's of the poorest, only four in ten can actually afford a starter home of young Americans. I mean it's bad. a number of people, I think under the age of 35, and I forget the exact number, are moving back home, to live with their parents. And it's not because they're jobless. They actually have work and they're working multiple jobs. They can't afford it. I, heard this statistic the other day, Jeff. one in four Americans, one in four Americans have defaulted on their credit cards. They are paying for things at the grocery store, at the gas pump. and, and they cannot afford it, let's be honest. So as I say this, I don't look at this and say, oh, that all of that can be blamed on Iran. All of that can be blamed on what just happened the last 90 days or 100 days or something like that. That, of course, that's ridiculous. This is the Biden era economy. It lags. There's a lead and a lag. The choices you make today will reap either benefits or punishments years from now. The choices that were made during the lockdowns with Anthony Fauci running the country, is what printed 8 to 10 trillion dollars in national debt. That's why you have inflation. And the way back is a crawl. It's not a leap, it's not a, it's not a brisk walk, it's not a jog. It is a crawl to get us back there. And we have to do the right things. Today, the biggest concern for conservatives heading into the midterm is going to be tackling affordability. And you cannot give this boomer message of, quit your complaining, quit whining, go to Taco Bell. You know, we have to have safety, sensible solutions that are believable, that are practical. This is where Democrats, especially Democratic socialists, message so much better. They take that grievance and they turn it immediately towards. That's why you need to vote for me, because you can't afford burritos and we have to wake up. And I, and I think, where Trump was messaging in 2024 was so much better, especially among the younger generation, and that he's kind of lost that mojo and got to get it back.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I agree with you. you know, the thing for me is I look at a businessman like Donald Trump. Obviously he understands economics. Zoram Mamdani does not understand economics.

Ryan Helfenbein: Exactly.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And he doesn't read history because his government runs grocery store is going to be an unmitigated disaster. Those people, I mean, he's going to turn that thing into a garbage dump in no time. and I don't understand. So you're dealing with college students. do they study about socialism? Do they understand that socialism doesn't work? It's never worked. It cannot work. It's just doomed for failure.

Ryan Helfenbein: No, actually, you hit on a great question. Okay, so let me. This is perfect. No, they don't. In fact, they don't study Western literature, they don't study Western history, they don't study math, they don't study science. So much of our institutions are Borgoi institutions where nihilism is being promoted, where everything is about identity. everything is about grievance, everything is about victimhood. Most colleges and universities across the country, unless you come to a place, place like Liberty University, most of them are indoctrination centers. I'm not kidding. And not only that, but you're going into debt for it. And so, no, they haven't learned this. And then secondly, the problem is in an election cycle. An election cycle is not the time in which you become professorial. It's not the time in which let's become Ron Paul and be this college professor trying to school the country and how dumb they are about economic policy. Yes, all of that is true. But in. In an election cycle, it is 100% raw emotion. And you have to be able to inspire people or make them angry, either way, but motivate them to vote. It is 100% raw emotion. And. And that's the problem. And so the time for teaching is not exactly right now. Right now is you're trying to persp.

Caroline: To.

Ryan Helfenbein: You're trying persuade somebody who has the power of that vote to vote for this candidate and not that candidate. And that's. That's where we are. But, yeah, you. You hit the nail on the head. College students, by and large, today are not trained in classics. They don't have basic economics. They don't know micro macro. They don't know any of this stuff. And they, have been indoctrinated.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, it's, it's sad to see it. And then we all pay for it. It. Because if you have, an unintelligent, ignorant electorate, then. And you vote for somebody like a Zoram Mandani or like this guy in Michigan, those guys aren't stupid. They know what they're trying to do. And you're, you know, as the scripture says, you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. That's not a good thing to do.

Ryan Helfenbein: No, absolutely not. You do reap what you sow. There are consequences. And of course, and this is, you know, again, I'm reminded what Jon Stonestreet said, you know, all ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have victims. And the problem with the victimology today is that actually it produces more victims. So the more socialism you get, the more victims it will create. And the more victims it creates, the more socialism you're going to get. And so this is a downward spiral. And that is why we must stop it. We must end it in America. And I think that's why this election is so important, even for a state like Texas M, for sure.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: We're talking to Rhyen Halfenbein. He is the vice president of communications and public engagement at Liberty University and the founding executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center. And, I love Liberty University. I've never been on campus, but, love the place. I think that, one of the few, few schools that stands for truth doesn't waver. Jerry Falwell Sr. Would be so pleased to see how the school is doing. And so, Rhyen, it's a privilege to have you as my guest today. We're going to talk more with Rhyen Hofenbein when we come back from the break. You're listening to Real Truth for today on American Family Radio. I'm your host, Pastor Jeff Schrieve. We'll be right back.

 : Candace talks about finding out she was pregnant. Thankfully, an ultrasound provided by PreBorn allowed her to hear her baby's heartbeat.

Ryan Helfenbein: The sonogram sealed the deal for me. My baby was like this tiny little spectrum of hope. And I saw his heart beating on the screen and knowing that there's life growing inside, I mean, that sonogram changed my life. I went from just Candace to mom. Thank you to everybody that has given these gifts. You guys are giving more than money. You, you guys are giving love.

 : Preborn currently has clinics that do not have ultrasound machines. Would you consider a leadership gift and sponsor a machine today? These life Saving machines cost $15,000 more than most centers can afford. Your donation will save countless lives for years to come. Dial pound250 and say the keyword baby or go to preborn.com afr. This is Real Truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. We're talking to Rhyen Hofenbein. He is the, vice president of communications and public engagement at Liberty University and the founding director, executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center. He's also the host of the Give Me Liberty podcast. Rhyen, you wear a lot of hats there. let me ask you. Yeah, including that one. Liberty University, what's the, feeling on campus, concerning Trump and politics and the, midterms and all that. What do you feel from that?

Ryan Helfenbein: Yeah. So I will say this candidly. our students are out right now. We're coming back to school in August. I have, of course, at the Freedom Center, I've got young guys that work for me. And then we, we have, we have, student workers as well. So I get to poll these guys. But once, once, here in just a few weeks, if you were to ask me that question and I were to ask most of the students, here's what I think I would probably hear. you know, most of our students, most. All of our, students represented here are very, very conservative. And I would, I would define that, of course, biblically first, speaking not to the political question, but of course to just faith and how faith and morality inform our understanding of politics, what it, what it means to be an American, to be a citizen, what our responsibility and stewardship of that citizenship is. They're taught these things, and many of them come to Liberty already believing many of these things. we, we, we host here at. Jeff. At Ah, ah, Liberty. So many speakers. You know, we've had Senator Josh Hawley, we've had Senator Ted Cruz, and I mean, I could go on and on and on. We had Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage come to our university. you know, we've had, you know, the Israeli ambassador come to Liberty, just more recently. and so our students, by and large are very supportive, primarily as Christian conservatives who believe the word of God, but then also recognize that, this Bible is not disconnected with how we think about public policy. so the question in terms of the more finite things, I, would say by and large, many of them are going to be supportive, generally speaking, of the president and of various policies. But in terms of how they think maybe the economy is going or how they think the war in Iran is going, I don't, I don't yet know. But I would be curious to find out. I think that the general thing online that we're seeing, especially among Z, is that this is needless. Why are we getting involved in this kind of conflict? This seems like a potential quagmire. Hey, we've seen this movie before. You know, didn't w do the same thing. And of course I would give huge pushback on those ideas, but that is the general reaction. And the question is, is what's going to happen next? And I think none of us know if we're being honest. We need to be humble in all of this. But, but I do. I will say this being a older millennial and being in between the boomer generation and also the zoomer generation. You know, I look at this, and I have a lot of sympathy for how Trump views Iran, because. Yeah, you know, growing up my entire life, I've only ever known about the threat of Islam, and they are the leading sponsor of terror, and they've created havoc all over the world. And I'll say one more thing. I was a college student when we went into Afghanistan. I was a college student when we went into Iraq, and I was a big supporter of President Bush. But then things kept going, and they kept going. And the question was, if we're going after terrorists, why aren't we going after the Ground Zero? Why aren't we going after the Mecca of terrorism? Why aren't we going after the big guerrilla, the chief leading sponsor of terror in Iran? Why are we going after them? that kind of made no sense. It seemed like a proxy. Proxy, proxy. And the real bad guys were kind of left alone. And that's, I think, where Trump is trying to handle what should have been done back when we had political will to do it, should have been done 25 years ago, and it was never done.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right. Well, it is one of those things. It's hard to see an end to it, because I've used this illustration before, Rhyen. You know, it's that Monty Python situation where the guy's fighting, gets his arm cut off, another arm cut off, a leg cut off, another leg cut off, and he's like, it's just a scratch. I can keep going.

Caroline: Right?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: You know, it's like, okay, unless I just totally. Unless we send troops in there or unless we drop nuclear bombs on them, it's like, how do you get them to quit?

Ryan Helfenbein: Right, yeah, you're dealing with an ideology. I mean, they're looking for, what, the 12th Imam? they're looking to set up a caliphate. the entire state is run by. I mean, you think about Old Testament Israel, you think about a rabbinical system, you think about the Sanhedrin and the ruling class. Their entire structure of government is ruled by. By radical Shiites that have been to Islamic, schools, and their entire eschatology is built into their politic. There is no separation of mosque and state. Your. Your average American cannot even begin to conceive of this sort of hardline religion. And it's manifestly, you know, present in every policy decision they make. Now, you know, that doesn't mean that every single, person in that country is a radical, but Those in leadership certainly are. And they are not going to go quietly into the night. They will fight tooth and nail to the end. they promote terror against their own people. There are over 40,000 people they've killed this year. They still run state executions of high profile people. You know, we saw more recently, I mean, they executed one of their more famous athletes who was a protester. And they do this to scare the nation, they do this to terrify the people. And so, yeah, going in there to know you could bomb a bunker tomorrow, you could kill another 20 of those guys. And there's new guys that will come right up into the ranks and they're hard, just as hard line, they're just as much of an ideologue, they're just as radical, and committed to doing the same thing those guys were doing. And so that's the problem that I think we're up against.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, Rhyen, do you think that President Trump understands that?

Ryan Helfenbein: I think he does in a sense. I don't know if, look, our intelligence of course is reporting on stuff all the time. I'm just going to say one thing about some of this. I saw, you know, something last year where clearly when we went in, in June of 2025, with, with our B2 bombers and we bombed the Iranian uranium enrichment facilities and places where they were, you know, doing all kinds of development of a nuclear bomb, we did all of that stuff, it seemed as though, even internally, his own hand selected guys were not with him. And obviously more clearly Joe Kent was one of them. he was more of a libertarian type. he was even leaking information. It was very clear what was going on. If you were kind of watching that thing unfold over the next year and then he resigns in protest in April, insisting that there's going to be boots on the ground, et cetera, et cetera. And clearly that has not happened yet. But you know, in terms of the day to day, what information is he getting? I mean you've got, it appears you've got a Rubio that's a little bit more supportive. he's carrying a lot of water on this. You've got a Vance, who obviously is very loyal to the President. there might be some, you know, healthy disagreement in terms of approach or to what degree this is important, why are we doing this now, etc. Etc. and then you've got, of course, you've got Israel and, and there's, there's all kinds of complications right now, when it comes to the American people, public sentiment and opinion about Israel, Democratic Party just absolutely is fomenting hatred, suspicion, conspiracy theory, et cetera, et cetera. You even got the far, far radical elements on the right, the fake right that are doing the same. and this puts Trump in a weird situation, in terms of intelligence gathering, in terms of, you know, conducting military operations. How closely do we align ourselves right now with Israel in order to handle this stuff in Iran? What information is he getting at any given moment? I don't know. I've always ever, you know, seen Trump as a more pragmatist type.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Ryan Helfenbein: And that has been one of those things that has helped him in business. he doesn't get caught up. He's not a philosopher. you know, and I wouldn't even, you know, peg him as the guy that is the, as a, as a true conservative. But I do see him as a deal maker and I think he's principled in his deal making, actually, far more principled than other so called conservative presidents that promised us so much but didn't give us any of it. so I think Trump is actually a much better leader because of that pragmatism. but I do know this. You go back and you watch Jeff, these interviews in the early 80s that, you know, this, this mogul, in NewSong York City is giving, and he's giving these opinions and he, he talks about the price of Japanese electronic consumer goods. he's talking about Russia, which at the time was still the Soviet Union. And then. Oh yeah, and he mentions Iran and he talks about, Khomeini and how terrible they are and that somebody's got to do something to stand up against them. And he still had memory, like many did, Jimmy Carter and just what an embarrassment all of that was during the hostage crisis. So I think, I think that he actually sees them as the real threat that must be dealt with. And I appreciate that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right, well, let me, let me shift gears a little bit on you as we talk about what's going on in Iran and we think about the radical, Muslims. Well, that is not, that's not an ocean away. That's coming here. It's gaining. This is something that Charlie Kirk said. This was, being circulated just recently on, the X platform. Charlie Kirk, his warning before he died.

Ryan Helfenbein: Islam is not compatible with Western civilization. Islam is at odds with all the freedoms that we enjoy. They do not believe in any separation between mosque and state. They do not believe in freedom of speech. Or freedom of expression. They do not believe in the freedom to criticize the government, the practices that we enjoy so great here in the United States of America. And here's the one thing that's the kicker. You have this axis again, the red green axis, this Marxism, Muhammadan act, Mohammedism axis. What do they have in common? Even though a lot of the Marxists are lesbians or gays or transgenders, they get along with the Muslims. They get along because they hate us. They hate the west, and m. They hate the United States of America.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: All right, I, think he hit the nail on the head. What do you say, Darlie?

Ryan Helfenbein: Was. Was almost never wrong. Okay. He was almost never wrong. You know, I knew him well, so there are a couple of moments where I'd say, ah, not quite so right. But, no, he is spot on. And in fact, was saying this much earlier than many politicians. And, this is why, of course, I miss my friend and miss him dearly. But he, By the way, you know, we're just talking about this Iranian conflict. Charlie is the guy that would talk to the president. I mean, Charlie had a phone where he was talking all the time, and giving advice and giving counsel, and also had the ear of the president and saying what the American people thought because he was on the ground all the time on college campuses and can say firsthand, these are what people think. but. But on this issue of Islam, you know, it's here, it's in America. We allowed for this to happen. The question is, is what is the way forward? And one of the things that has to be so abundantly clear to every single person listening is that Sharia law is completely 1, 100% incompatible with the US Constitution. It is a direct threat. we outlawed actual communism in the 1950s because it would supplant our Bill of Rights. It would take away your right to private property. It would take away your free speech. It would. We did that in the 1950s. And so there are many people that have. You know, this is my. You know, I'm a communist, whatever, but the idea of actually enacting laws that are communistic are unconstitutional. It's the same way with Sharia law and setting up Sharia courts, that run as sort of parallel institutions that have binding authority on what people do, when it comes to women in particular, in Islam, Sharia law does not afford them equality or equal protection under the law when it comes to men. They have to. They have to have special trials in which elders are deciding the fate of a young woman or a teenage girl. Imagine a rape case. Sharia law has honor killings. It's. It's completely 100% medieval. but it is completely incompatible with the Christian west and the Constitution. And many secularists today, they look at Islam as like, what's your problem? They're just praying on a rug. What's the. What's the deal with that? Why are you so bigoted?

 : Why.

Ryan Helfenbein: Why are you, discriminatory against people practicing religion? No, but it's a. It is a totalizing worldview that. That has everything to do with not only prayer, but literally what happens in the political world. And what we see, actually, is that most secularists that are, you know, living in Europe right now today, they are terrified of Islam. They do not want to confront Islam. Secularists are not afraid of Christians, but they are terrified of radical Islam. And when that happens, when that comes for America and finally unmasks itself and rears its ugly head, I tell you, right now, the secularists and liberal politicians will roll. They will absolutely fall over. They will not fight.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, that's so true. We're talking to Rhyen Halfenbein, and, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. When we come back from the break, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589. That's 885-898-8440. If you have a question for Rhyen or a comment, we would love to hear from you. So pick up the phone and let's talk.

 : If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeff from hisheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back. We're talking to Rhyen Hoffenbein, and he is the vice president of communications and Public engagement at Liberty University, the founding executive director of the Standing for Freedom center, and also the host of the Give Me Liberty podcast. And we're talking about current events. You know, Jesus said, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. He never told us it was going to be easy to be his witnesses.

Caroline: We.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: We're called to speak the truth in love, as Jesus said in Revelation, chapter 2, verse 10. To the church in Smyrna, be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. And so we need to know, that our job is to be his witnesses, to be a faithful witness, to stand up for truth. And as Christians here in America, what do we do? We seek for the welfare of the city. Jeremiah, chapter 29. And we do and, conduct ourselves in a way and get involved politically, in a way that would benefit society. Okay, so, Rhyen, I want to play you a clip. I played this yesterday on the program from Scott Jennings because I think it, I think it's a great word and it's a great word to pastors especially, and I want to get you to comment on it. So this is about 40 seconds.

 : We don't need.

Ryan Helfenbein: You know, the trouble with, subtlety is that not everybody gets it. We need unsubtle communicators, people who will tell the truth in an unsubtle, plain spoken fashion because there is a market out there. People are desperate for people who will dump the Pablum and get serious about the crisis and the emergency that this country is in. That's why Trump won. And when he's gone, the people who win again, they'll never be able to emulate or replicate it. But the one lesson is, do not be subtle, do not pull your punches, and do not let them pull the wool over the eyes of the American people when it comes to the crisis that we face.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Rhyen, we're seeing a lot of guys in pulpits that want to be nuanced, want to be Tim Keller, want to dance around things and just, I don't want to offend. There's this third way. There is no third way. There's black and white, there's good and evil, and we need guys to stand up and speak, speak up so everybody gets it. This is, this is right and this is wrong. So comment on that, if you would.

Ryan Helfenbein: Yeah, no, absolutely. look, Jennings, by the way, we had him at Liberty University just this last year for one of our conferences. And, I could not agree with him more. We are not in an era right now. Things have changed so much culturally. and we talked about the education of the general populace, America and the truth. And the reality is that nuance doesn't land in a time like this. Most of the time, people are confused by it, by the complexity of what people are trying to do. They're trying to be artful or have decorum. You know, I delivered a talk in D.C. just yesterday about the twinfold challenges or crisis of both Gnosticism and nihilism as it applies to politics and culture. I was talking to some Hill staffers and I said, you know, Gnosticism, if I may. Gnosticism is this whole idea of secret knowledge and defined the WOKE movement for such a long time. you can't know or understand it creates victim ideologies and victim groups and identity politics are around Gnosticism. And it's basically also a certain element of the Republican Party that kind of defined Mitt Romney, kind of defined Jon McCain. and it's this idea of, you know, loser Republicanism. Quite honestly. you know, there's a certain kind of decorum. You can kind of go a middle way, but you don't advance the ball when it comes to abortion, when it comes to the issue of marriage, protecting the family, when it comes to education and having educational freedom. None of them ever would move the needle on any of those issues whatsoever. Trump did. But what's interesting is that Gnosticism gets you to arrive at this kind of conclusion, that you can just kind of be a philosopher and you don't ever have to have any pragmatic solutions. And, and so there, there's that. And then what happens is the youngest generation is succumbing to this idea of nihilism. Nihilism is that nothing matters. Everything's a meme, everything's a joke. And we have this disaster, but it's not going to get better. It's only going to get worse. It's doom and gloom. Let's just burn it all down. The burn it all down Zoomers are coming behind the trail of the Gnostic Boomers. And I'm saying that I'm not laying that charge on anyone. I don't want to offend anyone on this program. But what I am saying is there were Boomer politicians for such a long time that sat on third base. They never hit a triple, but the greatest generation did. And they sat on third base and they squandered this national inheritance, drove up the national debt, voted for their own interest, voted for the oldest part of the population at the expense of the young. The youngest generation is now saddled with debt. They're upset. They have not been educated. And by the way, who sent them to the public schools and the government schools, who did that? Right. Mom, dad, and they're jobless and they're hopeless, and they need a message that actually makes sense. Jennings couldn't be more right. He could not be more right.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well said. Well, we're going to the phone lines. 888-589-8840. And we have Thom on the line from Arkansas. Thom, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Caroline: Hi, good morning, Pastor. And again, another great program. just a quick comment on the baseball analogy. That is a really great analogy, but I can promise you my wife would not understand one word of it. So, that being said, I'm curious, are there any courses at Liberty on the pastoral track that incorporate what we're talking about today on the program into how to. And I guess the follow up would be given that question. Are there any, like, if you're a dental hygienist, you have to take continue edge, CEUs every year? Are there any follow up courses that pastors take to stay current, to stay up to date on what's going on in the world? so these are issues that are so important to be addressed. Yeah.

Ryan Helfenbein: Well, you ask a great question. And first of all, I'd encourage anyone listening go to Liberty Edu to find out more. we have over 15 colleges, including a divinity school, actual seminary, Liberty, Theological Seminary, where we train up pastors, missionaries, church planters, you name it. as to your question, we have biblical worldview courses, we have courses on biblical theology, we have NewSong Testament, Old Testament, Greek, Hebrew. All of those things are offered. I would. I am not one of those admissions counselors that could walk you through exactly what those are. but there's entire degree tracks. And what's really cool about it is that, we were the ones to pioneer this so long ago. 40 years ago, distance learning was something that Dr. Falwell had pioneered. So one of my encouragements to anybody listening, you want to continue or further your education, look at Liberty online because, so much of what. And it's fully accredited, guys. That's the other thing. But so much of what we do is enable you to stay in your job, continue working, serve your church, be in your community. you don't have to uproot and leave and move halfway across the country, but you can have the convenience of all of this stuff, and that's really important. So I would just. Great question. I probably didn't answer it directly, but go to Liberty EU to find out more.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, good question. Thanks. Thom. We have Paula on the line from Oklahoma. Paula, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Caroline: Good. morning. can you hear me?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.

Caroline: Okay, I had a question on the best organizations you would recommend other than Liberty. And I am a graduate in the master's program of Liberty. Great program for education. I only got mine in education. but, I, had a question about, the fact that I keep hearing people talk about Islam and Muslims, but they never mention Sharia law, which I know is in complete violation to the Constitution of the United States. And our students are not taught the Constitution. And I am looking at Patriot Academy, that teaches the reasoning why our founding fathers wrote the Constitution. And it's a draw out of the biblical text of exactly how the Lord Jesus and God set up his government. The three at the front, you know, education. Anyway, I would love, you know, I love it to be educational. And we had a superintendent here that was really putting in the biblical text and they apparently there was some individuals that evidently didn't want. I don't know what happened and it's very hush hush what happened. But he was not, he was silenced and took out. And he probably chose to be taken out because they was probably doing something other than that. But anyway, I wanted to put in the Patriot Academy even as a volunteer to the public schools here in Oklahoma. And that's one thing. But I want, I want you to recommend if you will organizations, that you think would be best for the citizen to be in like act for America, Brigitte, whatever. How do you pronounce your name? Or even maybe the Patriotic Academy, parents teaching as a volunteer.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Paula. Let's let him comment on that. So Rhyen.

Ryan Helfenbein: Yeah, so by the way, I know Rick Greene. He's a good friend of mine. We're actually going to have Rick Greene. He's the, he's the executive director. Executive director or the, the president of Patriot Academy. we're hosting him actually in October at our conference here at Liberty University. And so I'm very grateful to them. I've actually been out there near Austin where their campus is. They do so much when it comes to biblical citizenship training. you know the other organization is Wallnua Builders. I really appreciate what the Bartons are doing. Dave and Timothy Barton. Timothy Barton's actually going to be here this fall as well. listen, Turning Point, I love what Turning Point is doing. Turning Point and Turning Point Faith. Very good friends with Lucas Miles and, and they're serious, they've about developing curriculum. They've also got an educators component. I saw more recently where Erwin Lutzer was Moody Bible for so long. Al Mohler. They're speaking now at Turning Point education conferences. And this thing is developing. We're getting better at having resources available for parents, even grandparents having resources available for young students. So many alternatives exist, more today than probably ever before. but there are a lot of organizations. There's an organization right there in your neck of the woods, Jeff called ah, Counteract usa. These are young sort of College age girls that are reaching out to the next generation. Christian Evangelical, I think they're based out of Bentonville, Arkansas. But there's so many organizations. Young Women of America, I would say Students for Life, White Rose, Resistance, Seth Gruber is a good friend of mine. and so there's a lot of organizations that are reaching young people. And I would just say pick one and support it. they need your support, because they are doing the Lord's work.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Thank you, Paula. We have, David on the line from Michigan. David, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Caroline: Thank you, I appreciate it. We have Liberty University, Hillsdale, Wallnua Builders, all of these, Turning Point, all the groups that you've mentioned. But practically we have three months until voting at the midterm. We need a nationwide, you know, wake up sleeper, Wake up Church. If the church voted, we would change the world. What can we practically do in three months? I mean AFA is, is big in this, but how do we reach all of the pastors? How do we, how do we become Paul Revere's. I felt so futile. Like I am, I am powerless to do anything. But I started a Bible study this summer with about 10 young men between 25 and 35. And we're working on marriages and accountability or we're working through the book Fighting Shadows. That's something I can do immediately. But this is a wake up call and taking a semester's class this fall, it's not going to cut it for what we have to do.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, great question, David. Rhyen.

Ryan Helfenbein: Yeah, yeah, so we were talking earlier and I could not agree more. this is not the time in an election cycle to be a professor, to, you know, become a.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, we hopefully get him back, but yeah, he's exactly right. So it's not the time to pontificate or to become a philosopher. It's the time for action. So here would be my answer to that, David. we need to get people, pastors especially because they have, you know, week by week they have an opportunity to speak to their congregations and let them know what's going on. Now obviously we, don't preach America, but we do preach the scripture and we do preach the morality that is found in the Bible. And we preach that, hey, the Bible intersects with all these things. you know, so many issues that people say, well, that's of part political. Well, it's become, it's encroached into the area of biblical and so we can speak to homosexuality, we can speak to transgenderism, we can speak to abortion, we can speak to the future of America and, what we want to pass on to our children and our grandchildren, because we have that stewardship. And we're commanded one generation shall, share with the other generation. We're commanded to pass that baton, and we want to be able to pass the baton of freedom, to pass the baton of faith. And we preach the gospel. And the second greatest thing we do is make it, easy, legal, free for us to do the greatest thing, and that is preach the gospel. If we lose that, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Well, thanks for listening to Real Truth for Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Go out today, shine for Christ, and share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.

Talking Curren

Matthew 10:28
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 

Pastor Jeff Schreve begins by examining Jesus' command in Matthew 10:28 to fear God above all else. The program explores what it means to have a biblical fear of the Lord, why reverence for God leads to wisdom and courage, and how Christians can stand firm in a culture that increasingly rejects biblical truth. Through Scripture and practical application, listeners are encouraged to trust God's authority rather than the opinions or threats of people.