Transcript

Only 10% of evangelical churches have a truly biblical worldview, study finds

>> Tim Wildmon: Mainline Protestant churches have softened and even rejected the Bible, the gospel of salvation and biblical sexual morality. Even in evangelical churches, only about 10% of members have a truly biblical worldview. Satan desires to do to the Bible believing evangelical churches what he did to the mainline churches and he's made progress. Your financial support now is critical to AFA's efforts to defend and strengthen the church. Go online at afa.net equippedchurches welcome to today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. Hey, good morning everybody and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to AFR. Tuesday, July 7, 2026 and joining me in studio is Wesley Wildmon. Good morning, Wesley.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.

>> Tim Wildmon: Getting your chair adjusted over there?

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right, but we're settling in. We're going to be here for an hour and a half, hour and a half.

>> Tim Wildmon: And we're going to bring it, we're gonna bring it. Fred Jackson, you're gonna bring it, Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: I'm gonna try my best.

>> Tim Wildmon: Fred Jackson and Krish Woodward. Good morning, Krish.

>> Chris Woodward: Hello.

>> Wesley Wildmon: See, yeah, Enthusiasm.

>> Tim Wildmon: I like that enthusiasm.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Good enthusiasm. Over here we got honesty. Over here he said he's gon.

>> Jenna Ellis: Right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And we got all we can ask, right?

>> Tim Wildmon: We got a bright green shirt from you.

>> Wesley Wildmon: this shirt's 13 years old. There's one hole in it. If you can find it, let me know. One hole.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's a 13 year old shirt.

>> Wesley Wildmon: So, it's the first month I came on full time.

>> Chris Woodward: All right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Went and got some shirts made with our logo on and this is the old one.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, looks cool.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Original.

>> Tim Wildmon: Absolutely. Well, let's see. Dr. Ray Pritchard used with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But as we told you before, Ray's I don't know, he's having some kind of midlife crisis and so we're working with him. See if we can get him back on the team.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's better than last week. Last week he was having attitude, ah, problems.

>> Tim Wildmon: He had an attitude problem. I talked to him about it. so hopefully he'll be working out soon. Be back in, out of time out and be back on the team here. No, Ray's brother, Ray is he, he moved from Kansas City down to Florida and then he's teaching the Bible at different various camps around the country as he does each summer. So he said he'd be back with, home with us when, like a Couple weeks from now on a regular basis. And so, anyway, we look forward to getting brother Ray on.

Fred: Tyler Robinson could still get a plea deal in Utah case

Jenna Ellis will be with us at the bottom of the hour. We will talk with her most about the situation in Utah with the trial of the fella, accused of killing Charlie Kirk.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Tyler Robinson.

>> Tim Wildmon: Tyler Robinson. Fred, was that a, trial that started yesterday, or is it a preliminary hearing?

>> Fred Jackson: Preliminary hearing.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So not a formal trial.

>> Fred Jackson: Not yet.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Because he could still. Tyler Robinson could still plead, get a plea deal in this situation. correct.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. And looking. Looking at the evidence that has been presented, it is hard to believe that he will eventually enter a not guilty plea.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Fred Jackson: The speculation is there's going to be some kind of deal. Utah has the death penalty, and probably there's been a conversation already between his lawyers saying, you know, maybe we can work something out here.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right. Something to the effect if you want to escape the death penalty, you need to plead, try to work out a deal with the prosecution. Right. That's. That's. Anyway, Jenna is a lawyer, and, she's following this case closely. She'll have a lot to say at the bottom of the hour. Hour. And can answer them questions that we can't. We can't answer. Krish, before you jump into the, news of the day, and we have a lot of it. It's a good thing because it's a talk show and a news show. Right.

>> Chris Woodward: I brought in a few things.

Wes, your mom and me are doing two tours in 2027

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So we got some stuff to talk about. But, Wes, folks been hearing about our tours coming up in March, of, 2027. We're doing two tours. We're going to. You and Walker are going to Greece on the Footsteps of Paul tour. And then, your mom and me are leading a tour to Italy called, it's called. Well, we originally called it Make Lasagna Great Again tour, but somebody said lasagna has never been not great. If I can use a double negative. So, anyway, how can folks, And some folks are signing up to do both of them because they're back to back. And we do provide a, flight from Greece to Italy. We start in Venice for those who want to do both. So, if we don't have time to go into all the itinerary and everything like that. But if people want to read about these tours and, look at the itinerary, the cost and everything, what can they do?

>> Wesley Wildmon: They can go to tours.afa.net that's tours with an S T O, draw

>> Tim Wildmon: tours out A little bit longer. You did really good there. Did you say tours?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Tours. I try to get as many syllables in there as I could.

>> Tim Wildmon: I think that's a good Southerner right there.

>> Wesley Wildmon: So it's. And it plays. You would have thought I did it on purpose, to help everyone. But no, that was, that was just natural. Natural.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, that's, that's down on Mississippi Talk. Go ahead.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Tours.afa.net and there you can find the tours that dad mentioned. But also too, if you're wanting, if you're curious about some of the places that we're going to visit and what a daily, itinerary. Yeah. For the footsteps for Paul, which y'

>> Tim Wildmon: all did this last March.

>> Wesley Wildmon: We did it for. We did our first trip and it was, it went so well. Now we had great help once we got there. There is two local tour guides that, that live there. and so they helped us out obviously a good bit. But yeah, they it went really well. Great, great experience.

So give me a couple of the stops that you guys make on this tour

>> Tim Wildmon: So give me a couple of the stops that you guys make on this tour.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I've told people before anywhere, but I think It's Acts chapter 14 through 18 or 15 through 17. Somewhere in there we, we stop at every stop. Three or four or five chapters is where we stop. So some of those would be Thessalonica, Philippi, Lydia's Baptistry, Paul's imprisonment. you got Corinth, you've got Athens.

>> Tim Wildmon: Athens, you go to Mars Hill.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Mars Hill, that's. Athens is a, day and a half. That's a whole day and a half. And it's from sun up to sundown. As far as the stops that we go to. Yeah, so that's just a little bit.

>> Tim Wildmon: And Corinth.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Corinth, Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: Mention that Corinth ruins, or, you know, the archaeological dig there is fascinating.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes, it really is.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, that's where Paul was.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: So, like I said, we go to almost every place in the NewSong. A lot of almost every place in the NewSong Testament.

>> Tim Wildmon: You may or may not know this, but about 20 years ago, your mom

>> Wesley Wildmon: and I, I do remember.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Your mom and I, you weren't with us, but your mom and I took a tour group to Greece and we did go to Corinth M. And there was about it, they, they locked your mom out. Yeah. I don't know, I think she went to the restroom or something. The gift shop. And they closed the gates. Fred's looking at me, perplexed. And so pictures, See, we got pictures so, Allison came out, said, hey, they blocked me out here. So the group is outside the fence, walking to the bus. Right? So this is when my wife was much younger and more athletic. I'm not saying she's not young and athletic now. I'm just saying this was a different 20 years ago. This is 20. 20 years. 20, 25 years ago. So I have pictures her scaling the 12 foot, fence. Fred, I'm serious. She scaled it, and, it's like Spider Man.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Wow.

>> Tim Wildmon: Came down on the other side uninjured.

>> Fred Jackson: My.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, it's just pretty fascinating. But, she was determined. She didn't want. I said, you know, you're gonna have to get out because I cannot do about it. And the bus is leaving in 10 minutes. So, I, mean, so she. She. She went ahead and scaled it.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Hey, one other place that's not mentioned on here. I'm looking. I'm looking at our online, itinerary right here. We also go to the Valley of Armageddon.

>> Tim Wildmon: No, you don't.

>> Fred Jackson: Not in Greece.

>> Tim Wildmon: No, you.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Sorry, that's in Israel.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's in Israel. That's a whole different country.

>> Wesley Wildmon: My bad. That's why it's not your bad.

>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And you own it.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I'm going through all the visual stops that we've done over the last. Yeah, I know, but that's not right.

>> Tim Wildmon: If you go. If you're in Greece and you drop down to the Valley of Armageddon. No, that's a whole day.

>> Fred Jackson: That's a private jet now.

>> Wesley Wildmon: There's no way to recover from this. Yeah, no, there's no way to recover.

>> Tim Wildmon: No. We need to move on.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And that would explain why it's not on there.

>> Tim Wildmon: When we do go back to Israel, we will go through the Valley of Armageddon. That is a true statement.

Every day is one day closer to Armageddon, Chris says

All right, Krish. how close are we to Armageddon, Krish?

>> Chris Woodward: Well, every day is one day closer. Okay, if the Lord carries.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is that a good or bad thing?

>> Chris Woodward: Well, it's good for us as believers, because this is not the end. and we'll all be doing today's issues on the Good News Network. I'll finally do consistently good news on a daily basis. Until that time, I have to bring up, other things that people should know about.

President Trump says US will consider selling F35 jets to Turkey

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, let's get started. What's happening?

>> Chris Woodward: Okay, so President Trump is in Turkey for talks with Turkey and other NATO members. One of the things that might, get some headlines. well, one thing that's already getting headlines, I should say, is President Trump saying the US will consider sales of F35 jets to Turkey despite attempts by Israel to say, hey, don't do this. But here's, President Trump talking about the sales of these jets.

>> Tim Wildmon: Clip 12 we have a better relationship

>> Don Wildmon: with Turkey, and Turkey has been in

>> Tim Wildmon: many ways much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal. So, yeah, it's something certainly we would consider.

>> Fred Jackson: It's a great plane.

>> Chris Woodward: Now, yesterday, really for a couple of days now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been going on American news channels, to ask President Trump not to go this route. but Turkey, being a NATO member, is, somebody that apparently, we're in talks with to sell these American made jets.

>> Tim Wildmon: Fred, what do you think President Trump means when he uses the word loyal?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, he and, Erdogan, the President of Turkey, get along really well. He mentioned, they became really good friends. And I guess this was during, the President's first, four years in office. You remember the pastor who was being held in prison in Turkey, and, President Trump, succeeded in allowing him, the pastor, to be released from jail there. And the President brought that up this morning in his initial conversation with Erdogan saying, I really appreciated what Erdogan did in releasing this pastor from jail. And we've been good friends. So, that's, that's one aspect of this. The F35 that, Krish was mentioning there, it's been talked about this morning, is probably the most sophisticated fighter jet in the world. it has very super stealth capabilities and also has the capability of gathering a lot of data to help it, in targeting whatever it needs to target. Here's the thing with Israel, there, there are versions of this F15, pardon me, F35 Lightning. There are versions which contain the software that make it very sophisticated, and there are versions that the United States has sold that aren't as sophisticated. Prime Minister Netanyahu is concerned that Turkey would get the most sophisticated version of this, and that would be detrimental, according to the Prime Minister of Israel, to Israel's safety. As I think we talked about yet yesterday, Turkey and Israel are not on the best of terms right now. Netanyahu, even yesterday in an interview with Fox, pointed out that Turkey has been very friendly to Hamas terrorists and in fact has hosted Hamas terrorists. Turkey has people in their government, talk about a takeover of Israel. They had one guy, Turkish official, saying, I think I'll be the mayor of Jerusalem, or something of that nature. So there's A lot of tension between Israel and Turkey right now. And one of the things that's driving that is the potential sale of these F35s by the United States to, Turkey. Israel has about 100 of the F35s. And Israel has it, as it often does, takes what we sell them and makes them even more sophisticated.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, Erdogan. Is that how you pronounce it?

>> Fred Jackson: Erdogan.

>> Tim Wildmon: He's the, Is it president or prime minister? Do you know the. What's his formal title? of Turkey?

>> Chris Woodward: anyway, he is the head of state, whatever his title is.

>> Tim Wildmon: If my memory serves me correctly, he has made, open threats against Israel.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, yes, yes. No question.

>> Tim Wildmon: So Israel, I don't know how far they are apart. They're at least, You've got Lebanon. I'll look it up. What else do you have? You have Lebanon between Turkey and Israel. Is there another country? I don't know. I don't think so. But anyway, they're not too far apart, is my point. They're probably 500 miles. What are you saying?

>> Chris Woodward: in kilometers, it's 1,000, 284. They're 16 hours apart.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is that like in a Volkswagen? What is that, Chris? 16 hours?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. That's about 20, minutes in a jet.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Yeah. So, the point is, do you, as, a United States, sell fighter, sophisticated fighter jets to a country that has openly threatened Israel? So, we have sold jets to other Arab countries in the region, I think Egypt and. Yeah, there is something here. Here's the. There is something to be said. Now, you know what? There is something to be said about building a relationship with a country, like an Arab country, who maybe isn't friendly to Israel in hopes of building a good relationship with them.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Yes. But my first. I wouldn't sell any military equipment to any country.

>> Tim Wildmon: you mean to any country at all, ever.

>> Wesley Wildmon: But I'm a Southern. Remember, you mentioned I'm a Southern.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. So why would you say that?

>> Wesley Wildmon: You can give them money, you can give them gold. I would not give them. I wouldn't give any country any military. Any military equipment that could potentially be used against you.

>> Jenna Ellis: Any.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Even if they don't use it indirectly against. Directly against you, they can use it indirectly against you.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Here's the idea. If you get into a conflict, if Israel and Turkey were to get into a conflict, a military conflict, and then Turkey's using the jets that we provided them for sale to attack Israel, then you got problems.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. That's an easier one to go to. But what about the part where they potentially are in conflict with another country that has nothing to do with us and that we don't want to be a part of, but yet they're using our military equipment?

We have sold military equipment to other Islamic nations that surround Israel

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, you could just say, you know, we have. You could say it like this. You could say, well, we got a product. They got money, they buy the product. We don't really police how they use it in the future.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And I agree with every product under the sun, except for military.

>> Tim Wildmon: But, yeah, I know it's somewhat complicated, the whole issue. but Turkey is an Arab. They're Arabic people. True.

>> Fred Jackson: They're Islamic. Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: and they're Islamic. And they don't like. at least the leadership of the country doesn't care for Israel. I can understand. If I were Israel, I'd go. And if I'm Israel, I'm going. Wait a minute. United States, you're our ally. You're our top ally in the world. You're our friend. And you're providing jets, fighter jets, to people who have said they're going to. They might attack us. What kind of friend is that? Is that loyal?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: because the president's big on loyalty,

>> Fred Jackson: and we have sell. And it's this particular fighter jet, by the way.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's just. Excuse me for interrupting, but this is not conclusive.

>> Fred Jackson: No.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. I don't. President Trump didn't say yes or no.

>> Fred Jackson: No, we're going to talk about.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. Okay, go ahead, Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: This. It's this particular jet. We've sold fighters. We've sold fighter jets to Jordan. F16s, I believe it is probably Egypt's.

>> Tim Wildmon: Bought from Saudi Arabia.

>> Fred Jackson: Egypt. Saudi Arabia. So we have sold military equipment to other Islamic, nations that surround Israel. Yes, but it is the F35.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, gotcha.

>> Fred Jackson: That Israel is most concerned about.

>> Tim Wildmon: I got you. Yeah. Okay. All right, we'll see what happens there.

President Trump is in Turkey for a two day NATO meeting to win

but President Trump is in Turkey for this NATO meeting to win.

>> Chris Woodward: he's there for two days. He's going to be talking Turkey for two days.

>> Tim Wildmon: I see what you did there, Krish. Isn't he also going to meet with, Zelensky, the, president of Ukraine?

>> Chris Woodward: Correct.

>> Tim Wildmon: While he's there. Okay, yes.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, and the other big issue, of course, is, he's really pumping these NATO nations to put more money on the table, and they actually announced this morning that they are going to go through and put 5% of their GDP, into military equipment.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, he's right on that.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: President Trump, I mean he came into his, this goes back to his first administration. He's tired. The United States footing all the bill for NATO. And NATO is supposed to be European countries, including Turkey, which you could argue, I guess it is a European country, although it's kind of between Europe and Asia. So. And it's in the Middle East. But, you know, do, do, do. It's not fair for the United States have, you know, carry all the cost and risk, for providing defense for NATO, against primarily Russia. that's such a situation. So he's been right about that. President Trump has been right about that. To demand, that NATO countries, you know, pony up at least 5% of their budget to help pay, offset the cost of all this.

>> Fred Jackson: And Trump is, he's kind of irritated with some of these NATO nations right now. Yeah, you know, he was, he didn't

>> Tim Wildmon: get irritated much though.

>> Wesley Wildmon: He, he, he is going to get worse, guys.

>> Tim Wildmon: It get worse. You get more ornery.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. He said several times during the opening news conference this morning, hey, I didn't need these NATO nations like Britain, Italy, I didn't need them to help us in Iran. But it would have been nice if they offered to help. Remember they right away, they said, no, it's not our fight. M. We don't want to be involved with this. Maybe when it's all over, we'll come down and help you out. So there's a lot of tension going into this two day NATO meeting between Trump and these NATO.

>> Chris Woodward: Britain might want to help out now because Iran has started, going after commercial ships again in the Strait of Hormuzz.

>> Tim Wildmon: Color me shocked. Krish.

>> Chris Woodward: I know this just in.

>> Tim Wildmon: so Iran's, shooting at merchant ships.

>> Chris Woodward: Right? If I was Fox News, I would have breaking news underneath me. Iran attacks ships in Strait of Hormuz.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to Today's Issues. That's the name of the show on the American Family Radio Network. Tim, Wesley, Fred and Krish, go ahead. Krish.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow

>> Chris Woodward: Let's keep it with Israel for just a moment because former Clinton and Obama staffer, as well as former Congressman and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is going to be giving a speech tomorrow in Tel Aviv, one of the big cities, in the nation of Israel. And Rahm Emanuel, according to the Associated Press and a number of other news outlets, say that, Rahm Emanuel is going to really tear into Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow in his speech and blame him for a lot of Israel's problems. And those in the rest of the world. Rahm Emanuel, interestingly enough, is a Jewish man. I'm not sure where he is religiously, but his ethnicity is Jewish. so you've got a Jewish man going to Tel Aviv to rip. The current prime minister in the nation

>> Tim Wildmon: of Israel has, Israel has political divisions just like any other country, like we do, you know. So, not everybody's a fan in Israel of, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister. Of course they have a parliamentarian form of government. It's not like our government. It's like Canada's. Right, Fred? Yeah, basically. And the great Britons, I mean, so they. They can. They can. They can change leaders. They don't wait for, quote, Election day necessarily, on a calendar for every four years. They can change political leaders in a matter of a month or two. They. Right. I mean, they won't. So, anyway, we'll see if Benjamin Netanyahu, how much longer he remains. The,

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I think this speech tomorrow from Rahm Emanuel, it said that he would, He's considering running for president in 28. But it's part of a larger story that the Democratic Party and yes, some in the Republican Party are arguing that the United States needs to back away from, its. Its relationship with Israel. It needs to ease up. Rahm Emanuel, apparently in this speech tomorrow, is going to say we need to stop giving money to Israel. so this.

>> Tim Wildmon: He's going to do that in Israel.

>> Fred Jackson: He's going to do this in his speech to Tel Aviv.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I know Prime Minister Netanyahu said what a couple months ago. We want to get, in a situation where we don't have to have financial aid from the United States. Listen, we, the United States, we give foreign, aid and assistance all over the world.

>> Chris Woodward: We do.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Don't remind me.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I know.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Sorry.

>> Tim Wildmon: But, I understand the sentiment. No, no. No more foreign aid. And we are broke, so to speak, in America. But, there are. There are times when foreign aid serves a good purpose, I, think in keeping world peace. Or makes it. Makes it a lot more likely to have world peace. so listen, I don't like the fact that we live in a world that bribery is part of it, but it has been since the dawn of man. And. Yeah, and sometimes bribery works to keep a, greater evil from happening. for example, we give a lot of money to Egypt. Why do we give money to Egypt? Well, you keep the Suez Canal open, you remain friendly to the United States, and You don't go to war with Israel. Here's your check. Yeah, okay. So personally, I'm for that. Some people may be against that. in principle, I would say no, we don't need to pay people to do the right thing. But I'm just saying in the real world, sometimes that has to be done. We will take a break from this, for our bottom of the hour break. Jenna Ellis will be with us and we'll talk about the situation with Charlie Kirk's, accused assassin when we get back from the break.

Don Wileman: Sometimes jealousy gets into our system

>> Don Wildmon: It's my turn. Here is your host for my turn, Don Wileman. Sir Christopher Wren, the builder of St Paul's Cathedral in London, was a famous architect of the 17th and 18th centuries. Once he was building a church building in London when he was severely criticized by a group of jealous architects. He was told that his type of architecture would not support the massive roof he was putting on the building. After much debate and Sir Christopher's insistence that his architecture would easily support the roof, the officials ordered Sir Christopher to put in additional supporting pillars. Sir Christopher, reluctantly and insisting that they were not needed, did as he was ordered. Here was the story of a genius in his field who was forced to go against his own conclusions because of the envy of his competitors. Funny sometimes, the way jealousy gets into our system. Someone can do something just a little better than we can. Someone gets recognized as being just a little more capable than we are. Someone rises above us and we seek to pull them down. It seems that if Sir Christopher had found a new way to support a roof, that his competitors would rejoice with him and learn from him. But such wasn't the case. They turned against him, scorned and laughed and ridiculed him, and sold the public a, bill of goods that his way just wouldn't work. There are many cases like that in history. Someone comes along with something new, different, better, and we unloose our jealousy on him. We are so self centered that we will not allow ourselves to recognize greatness when it comes. Rather than paying tribute to, to greatness, we attempt and often succeed in pulling the other person down. Galileo knew something about this, and they treated the fisher of men that way. You know, he came with a new way, a more excellent method, a, clearer revelation of what God was like. And his fellow counterparts sought a way to destroy him. He won the hearts of a few men, but men in his profession turned against him. He was doing something new, something that he knew would work. He had full confidence in himself and in his work. But jealousy burned in the hearts of the recognized religious leaders. They sought to destroy him. Rather than listen to what this man had to say and see if it was true or not. They closed their ears and would not hear his message and prompted by jealousy and selfishness, set about to get rid of him. He was a threat to their position. Let someone get in front of us and rather than joining them, we try to pull them down. But life never lets anyone climb higher by pulling another down. Well, 50 years after sir Christopher had finished the church building, some painters were doing some repair work on the church. It was then discovered that the additional pillars that Sir Christopher placed in the building missed the roof by two feet. Greatness cannot be destroyed by jealousy. Greatness is always at least 2ft taller.

Tim Wildmon: We are going to Italy and Greece in 2027

>> Tim Wildmon: This has been my turn with Don

>> Jenna Ellis: Wildmon, a production of the American Family Association.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hello, everyone. Tim Wildmon, president of American Family association and American Family Radio. We are going to Italy in March of 2027. We're also going to Greece in March of 2027. And we're doing those tours back to back. If you want to do both of them in Italy, we'll be going to Venice by, the gondola and see all the sights there. And we'll go to Pisa and walk on the leaning tower of if you fall off, we're not responsible. Also, we're going to Rome and see the Sistine Chapel and the Colosseum and all the catacombs. We'll see all the sites of Rome. And in Greece, it's the footsteps of Paul trip. So the places where Paul went in the Bible mentioned in Greece. If you want information on any of these tours, go to tours.afa.net tours.afa.net tours.AFA

>> Jenna Ellis: but don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away and forget what you look like. James 1:22 24.

>> Tim Wildmon: This is today's issues. Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts

>> Chris Woodward: of today's Issues are available for listening

>> Tim Wildmon: and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of, today's issues.

American Family Radio welcomes Jenna Ellis to discuss today's issues

Hey, welcome back, everybody, to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr. I'm Tim with Wesley, Fred and Krish. And, we're joined now by Jenna Ellis. Jenna is, on American Family Radio each Weekday morning from 7 to 8 o' clock Central time with the program Jenna Ellis in the Morning. And she's also host of the weekly On Demand podcast that you can find on afr.net Jenna, good morning to you.

>> Jenna Ellis: Good morning. Great to join you guys.

Are you in Colorado or Florida right now

>> Tim Wildmon: Now, are you in Colorado or Florida?

>> Jenna Ellis: I will be in both today, because I'm in Colorado currently, but heading home today.

>> Tim Wildmon: I gotcha. Well, how's the fam?

>> Jenna Ellis: Really good. It was great to be here. I got to bookend with being here for Father's Day and then also America, 254th of July. So great time, with my family.

>> Tim Wildmon: Absolutely.

Tyler Robinson is accused of murdering University of Virginia student Charlie Kirk

Well, let me ask you this. one state away from you is the, preliminary hearing, not a formal trial yet, of the, accused assassin of Charlie Kirk, your friend, your personal friend, Charlie Kirk. the guy's name is Tyler Robinson. So have you been following this, Jenna?

>> Jenna Ellis: I have, yeah. And I talked about it this morning on my show as well, and we'll be keeping, up with it throughout the week.

>> Tim Wildmon: I did get that. Right. You and Charlie Kirk were personal friends, right?

>> Jenna Ellis: Yes, and I'm glad you clarified that. I'm not personal friends with Tyler Robinson. I was friends with Charlie Kirk, and, yeah, had worked with him, closely on several projects. And, and actually, when he and Erica first started dating, I met her as well, and kind of got to see that whole relationship blossom.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, tell us what happened yesterday in the courtroom.

>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah. So what listeners really need to understand, despite what all of the peanut gallery on social media is commenting, this is not a mini trial, it's not a show trial. It is part of due process that when, an individual is charged with a felony and it's. It doesn't go through the grand jury process of presenting evidence and then having an indictment, that the jury found there were probable, there was probable cause to return an indictment. these were charges that were filed directly by the prosecutor. So the defense has the right to what's called a preliminary hearing, which is simply to establish that the prosecutor has probable cause to move forward with the charges of the defendant, which in this case includes. Includes aggravated murder that could carry the death penalty as a sentence. And so this is just about finding probable cause, which is a very low threshold on the spectrum of proof. If you have zero proof all the way to 100% probable, cause is just over a reasonable suspicion, which is what, police officers have to have when they, pull you over, for example, in your vehicle. So this is about the judge Not a jury determining that there is probable cause to, to bind over or force, the defendant to then, defend himself at trial. So this is a very low threshold. And all that has happened so far is that the prosecution has put on witnesses and some video evidence that the defense can cross examine, to show that they have probable cause. And I think they'll be able to do that easily. From the defense's perspective, this is an opportunity to, for them to basically test the evidence and maybe try to poke holes at some of this at trial. So for example, one of the key things that, that I thought was interesting from yesterday's hearing was that the defense established that students, any student, can carry at uvu, unlike some other college campuses. So just the mere fact that Tyler Robinson was present and if the prosecution can establish he was carrying a firearm, doesn't necessarily put him in a different posture than any other regular student. And then, the prosecutor would have to show obviously that he's the one that had the intent, actually pulled the trigger. And that's a little bit higher than just, well, you know, he's the only one on campus with a firearm. So all of those things, some of the videos, some of the testimony of the police officers that were there, security that responded, that's what's coming out, at trial. And I would encourage everyone listening to, not just listen to what the mainstream media is saying about this, especially some of these commentators that may not have a background in criminal law and actually understanding the purpose and the nature of this hearing and some of the judges rulings. so for example, as well, there was a lot of commentary on social media saying, well, the the judge isn't allowing some of this evidence that is being discussed at the preliminary hearing to be published or viewed on the live stream. Well that's for the purpose of not potentially tainting the jury pool later because the audience here is not the public. Yes, there's a huge public interest, that's why there's cameras in the courtroom. But the primary responsibility of the judge, other than making a determination on probable cause, is to protect the due process rights of the defendant. And so there's no reason to publish that to the public yet. And the judge even said, you know, we'll publish this when it's actually admitted into evidence under the rules of evidence and at a trial. So there's rationale, this isn't some big cover up. It's not, you know, the judge that's colluding with the prosecutors like some People are saying, this is the process in the courtroom. And a lot of people who are commenting on social media just simply don't have the background. And I've been a prosecutor and a defense attorney in the criminal law world. I've done preliminary hearings, both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. And this is just standard practice.

>> Fred Jackson: Fred, Janet, Fred here.

There was a video shown of the actual impact point of the shooting

what is being played this morning, video wise? You mentioned video. There was a video shown of the actual impact point, of the shooting, shown to the judge, shown to the prosecution, shown to the defense. The public didn't see it, but what the public did see was the judge flinching as he watched the bullet making its impact. So that, that is out there in the public. What kind of impact can that have?

>> Jenna Ellis: Well, I saw that video and it's a human response, right, to see, a murder live on video. I mean, often, we don't have that kind of video evidence. But, you know, Charlie's life was taken when, you know, there were thousands of people attending on various cameras, on people's phones and also security cameras. And so to see, see, that is just honestly horrific. And I'm sure that's not the first time the judge has seen that. I've seen some of the videos that were circulating around social media and they were awful. And I flinched in the same way. And so I think what the public is going to take from that is that this was a totally heinous murder. There's no justification for it. there was just simply hatred and it's downright evil. And I hope that the public is going to focus more on justice for Charlie and his family than they are anything else in some of these wild conspiracy theories.

Tim: The prosecution has a pretty ironclad case for guilt in this case

>> Fred Jackson: What about the fact Tyler Robinson turned himself in two days after this he turned himself in? I mean, what does that say about the accused?

>> Jenna Ellis: Well, that says that the prosecution has a pretty ironclad, case for guilt in this case. And I don't think it will be a surprise to anyone if and when a jury returns a verdict of guilty at this point, mainly the defense is likely trying to simply, not have the death penalty instituted and try to find some kind of mitigation to those aggravating factors. All of that, the confession, and, you know, turn turning himself in, the note that he wrote to his roommate that the prosecution has as evidence, I mean, all of that will come in to establish not only intent, beforehand. You know, this was not obviously self defense or any of those kind of common defenses. And, this is Going to establish guilt. And so the defense here, likely is simply going through, the motions of everything that they are doing to try to mitigate the aggravating factors here to try to take the death penalty off the table.

>> Tim Wildmon: you're listening to the radio program Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. I'm Tim with Wesley, Fred and Krish, and Jenna Ellis is joining us. we're talking about the, trial. Well, the. Not. It's not a trial yet. It's a preliminary hearing.

>> Jenna Ellis: A hearing.

>> Tim Wildmon: A hearing, that, involving the Tyler Robinson, the accused assassin of Charlie Kirk. And what went on in the courtroom yesterday. There was some reports that Tyler Robinson was laughing at some point. I found that appalling.

>> Wesley Wildmon: I saw the video that I saw that reference him laughing. I didn't see it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, you didn't see him laughing? Well, I didn't see it either. I just read about it. So I don't. Maybe he didn't. but I read. I read somewhere where he was, you know, on a situation like this. Jenna. And then, Krish, you can, comment on this. I know people are going to say, well, Tim, don't be so dumb and naive, okay? Well, you know, I'm rarely called dumb and naive. I mean, I get it at home, other than that, from time to time, but other than that, well deserved, probably. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I don't get called dumb and naive at home.

Jenna: I think Tyler Robinson deserves the death penalty if convicted

All right, so, Ed does, though. He told us he stole, but he's used to it.

>> Jenna Ellis: He said.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, so here's the situation, Jenna. a guy like him, Tyler Robinson, I mean, the evidence that we've seen so far says guilty of sin. Okay, somebody like him, he did this as a cause, right? He was doing the world a favor. If he's guilty again, I'll put that in there. Alleged. But, his motivation seemed to be to take Charlie Kirk out for. To stop his, whatever. Hateful, his hateful rhetoric, huh? rhetoric, Rhetoric. I mean, so Tyler Robinson, he was on a mission to stop in. What he saw was an, evildoer. Okay, so in that situation, you've accomplished your mission, by killing the man, Charlie Kirk. Why wouldn't you just say, yeah, I did it, and I'm proud of it because it needed to be done, and I'm willing to pay the price, whatever it cost me, because my, what I did, helped the world. So, I mean, am I overthinking this thing. go ahead, Jenna, comment on that. Maybe, maybe he'll do that.

>> Jenna Ellis: I mean, that would be more consistent with the worldview that he apparently told to his, his roommate and all of those things. but clearly, you know, he, at least according to the prosecutor's evidence, he ran away from the crime scene, he tried to hide the gun. I mean, he wasn't wanting to take responsibility even at the very beginning. but one of the things that I learned as a prosecutor that has kind of always stayed with me is that when you see some of these absolutely just unfathomable evil crimes, and it's really hard, honestly, being a prosecutor, because you are just around the most evil people who commit the most atrocities, imaginable by human beings. There's no way that a normal, rational, moral, reasonable person, because we all have the law of God written in our hearts. I mean, even if we're not Christians, human beings in general know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. There's no way to explain how these people can commit these atrocities and then don't take responsibility for it or don't exhibit some kind of remorse. But it's because they are not thinking the same way that we are. They don't have the same moral compass. They don't have, the same view of right and wrong, good and evil. And you're absolutely right that if Tyler Robinson were actually consistent in his worldview, he would take responsibility. He would, he would stand up before the judge and say, I thought I was doing a public good, that, you know, this person, Charlie Kirk, was spouting hatred, according to me.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Jenna Ellis: And I'm glad that I got rid of him. But of course, he's not doing that because self preservation kicks in and he wants to retain his life, even though he was willing, allegedly, to take Charlie Kirk's life. And that's the problem with evil, is that it is never, ever consistent. Because Tyler Robinson still, while fighting for his own life, actually does understand the value of life. And that's. That's the most hypocritical part of it, is that he was willing to take Charlie's life, take him away from his wife and his children. But now he is still not taking responsibility for that and trying to preserve his own. And that's why I think, overarchingly, he deserves the death penalty, if and when he's convicted. Because a life for a life is exactly what the Bible calls it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, if he's guilty and he doesn't, if he confesses and Trey Says, well, I can cut a plea deal here. I don't want to. Don't, execute me. If I confess to the, that would be. Sounds like, to me, that would be his best route to go. If he wants to doubt. The prosecutors will do that if he wants to live. If not, they would want to say no. They probably. Oh, you're saying the prosecutors would not accept that they would say no. M. We've got a. Yeah, I don't

>> Jenna Ellis: think the prosecutors are offering a deal here. They're going for the death penalty. And, generally, every state has, a victims rights amendment. And I'm sure that, his parents and Erica have given, their opinion to the prosecutor, who's taking that into consideration, doesn't have to go with that, whatever their opinion is. we don't know that, but the prosecutor has said from day one, Utah prosecutor's, office has said that they're going to seek the death penalty because of how public and heinous this crime was. So I don't think they're even offering a plea agreement. So the best case scenario is that he would just plead what's called open, meaning open sentencing, and then it would be up to, either a judge or jury. I'm not exactly sure how Utah's criminal, code in the county system works in that. In that scenario. But then it would simply be arguing for the sentencing, which, frankly, sometimes is actually in the best interest of the defendant to do what's called pleading open, because then you don't have the judge and the jury seeing the entire scope of the evidence, already having in their mind how heinous this crime is before they go to sentencing. You only have the sentencing part of it. So it wouldn't surprise me if before it gets to trial, Tyler Robinson ends up simply pleading guilty and going to sentencing on the death penalty.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. All right. well, Jenna, what's coming up tomorrow morning on Jenna, Ellis in the Morning?

>> Jenna Ellis: Well, we're going to be talking about Graham Platner and the continued, hypocrisy of the Democrats who simply, you know, me, too. Their. Their candidates, whether, you know, valid or not, just to get them off the ballot. That's a, topic that's been interesting. We're still going to be covering Charlie, Kirk's, preliminary hearing in this case, and, you know, we'll see, what else happens. We're still in the midst of production meetings.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. All right, Jenna, take care. Safe travels back home. See you.

>> Jenna Ellis: Thank you so much. Thanks, guys.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, bye. Bye.

Tim Wesley and Chris Wesley weigh in on Tyler Robinson conspiracy theory controversy

That's Jenna Ellis joining us from Colorado. Tim Wesley, Fred and Krish Wesley. You and Krish weigh in here. You go first. What do you think about what we just discussed here?

>> Wesley Wildmon: I can't help but to think about with listening to the preliminary and reading what we read and talked about in the show prep this morning, I can't help but to think back to those two and three, four weeks where

>> Fred Jackson: over

>> Wesley Wildmon: half of social media was made up of some. Some people on our side, some people not made up of. This is not Tyler Robinson. This is a hoax. he was the fall guy. He had nothing to do with it. All that and then that, and then that spiraled out, spiraled out of control to a whole other different types of, conspiracy theorists, that Israel had something to do with it. And then, the FBI, they blame Cash Patel. Cash Patel had something to do with it. All this, and here we are. I just, I always remember things like that. Like, are those people, you know, one day, if we have to, we can get a list of them. I don't have them off the top of my head.

>> Tim Wildmon: You tell me there were people on the conservative side who were making up these, these conspiracy theories.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Are they every. Where's the accountability here on those people's part? Go ahead.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. That's the thing that we have to watch right now. There are a lot of people out there, and this has been the case for a long time, centuries. But especially in the last few years, there's a lot of people, in the podcast realm and in other forms of media that have made a business for themselves, praying off the fear, anger, and ignorance of people on things. And there are podcasters that are pretty much out there that have blamed everybody except for people from Atlantis and Wakanda, for the death of Charlie Kerr. And they're never going to back down from those things.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, I'm just going to give my opinion here. Okay. And my opinions. a majority opinion. This guy is guilty of sin. Okay. He's got caught.

>> Wesley Wildmon: turn himself in.

>> Tim Wildmon: Turn himself in.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Good start.

>> Tim Wildmon: He, he hasn't said, hey, I was on vacation, in, Boston. Yeah, you can check it. I have an alibi. He hasn't said that. Right. He hasn't said, you know what? I did this because somebody, paid me to do it, and I thought I'd cash out now. He hasn't said that yet. So that would have been discovered by some media journalists. So I just think it sounds like, to Me, it just is as plain and simple as what it appears to be. And this guy was just deranged. and he had a hatred for Charlie Kirk for political reasons. And he knew he was coming to a town near him. He said, well, I'm going to kill a guy. I'm going to assassinate him and get rid of him. And that's what happened. He got caught. So that's what I think happened. But of course, that hasn't been proven yet. But that's, what I think happened. Go ahead.

>> Fred Jackson: Here's what I find troubling. Tyler Robinson's story seems very similar to the guy who's been charged with assassinating the CEO of United Healthcare.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Luigi Mangione. Same thinking that we're seeing. You know, I'm doing the world a favor, right, because these big insurance companies are really bad. So I'm going to take it upon myself, you know, that's where the allegation being made. I remember when Mangione first appeared in court, he had a fan club. People came in, cheering him. But we're also seeing it in other venues. There was another one. I think they're calling them takeovers. A bunch of people get together and take over an area. There's something happened in Raleigh, North Carolina, just a couple of days ago, and people started shooting each other.

If this had been a left wing activist, Charlie Kirk would have been assassinated

This idea that I have a right to take other people's lives, and it has something to do with, and I think Jenna may have touched on this, the value of human life, but also the egos that are manifesting themselves out there, that I'm going to be the savior of the world. I'm going to assassinate somebody.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, also, if this had been a left wing activist, Charlie Kirk was considered a right wing activist. although I would consider Charlie Kirk. I don't know, I'm just saying that's how the world describes, it. I would say he was conservative and a Christian and he was teaching on worldview and trying to challenge people's thinking. I mean, he was open to debate and discussion. That's the thing. That's what he was doing on his college campuses. He, he wanted to debate issues. Okay. but if you, if this were to been a left wing Charlie Kirk type and he would have been assassinated, or she would have been assassinated like Charlie Kirk was. You talk about the news media and the, left wing, pop culture world, they would be all over there. They'd be saying, oh, see what, see what right wingers do. They're a threat to democracy. They kill people.

>> Wesley Wildmon: They would want to change policy and legislation. Everything.

>> Chris Woodward: We'd have a holiday.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, yes. So, anyway, we'll see what happens with the rest of this, case. But this is a preliminary hearing. Go, ahead, Chris. next story.

President Trump says Walmart is lowering prices at his request

>> Chris Woodward: Well, grocery, prices may be falling at various, retailers. some. Some stores are already, announcing lower prices.

>> Tim Wildmon: Have you checked strawberries or corn, flakes or anything, Krish, to make sure this is happening?

>> Chris Woodward: Well, across various sectors, there are prices coming down due to the fact that gas has become cheaper in recent weeks, although that could go up again if this conflict, with Iran continues. Walmart, has announced some price cuts. I've got the story. I'm going to share it on our Today's Issues Facebook page. But Walmart is lowering the price on, various things, including ground beef, and various other staples. President Trump is taking the credit for this. he, called Walmart a truly patriotic company, but said he, was in talks with Walmart and, they have agreed to lower prices per his instruction.

>> Tim Wildmon: On ground beef?

>> Chris Woodward: On ground beef and other staples.

>> Tim Wildmon: Did he get. Did he get. What about van of sausage?

>> Chris Woodward: Well, those are already.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, no, I'm talking about did Trump negotiate, with Walmart on bringing down the cost of buying a sausage?

>> Chris Woodward: I cannot confirm, more than it is possible. It is possible. Likely is another question. but he did say that he talked to them about, meat.

>> Fred Jackson: It's funny, the announcement from Walmart on these price cuts did not mention Trump.

>> Chris Woodward: No, it did not.

>> Tim Wildmon: It didn't. So, well, the story is President Trump, said on Monday, at his administration's request, Walmart was set to reduce grocery prices, calling it a patriotic, truly patriotic country, stepping up in a big, bold way. Oh, how big?

>> Chris Woodward: Away bold and other reasons.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know what, Krish? I would say nobody's ever seen anything like it.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, yes, it's huge.

>> Chris Woodward: Trump's trying to make Walmart great again.

>> Tim Wildmon: Raise your hand if you like Vienna sausage.

>> Chris Woodward: It's good on a cracker with some hot sauce.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I haven't eaten any in a while, but I grew up on those things.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, somebody call them vitamins.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know what they're made of.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, you probably don't want to know.

>> Tim Wildmon: The great rv, you don't know what they're making.

>> Fred Jackson: Mystery meat. Mystery meat.

>> Chris Woodward: I'll look into it and come up tomorrow with an analysis.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wesley, you know what? You. When's the last time you had a vinyl sauce?

>> Wesley Wildmon: When I was 10 years old in the woods, and I cracker hot sauce. Had one and never again.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, you're not a big one.

>> Wesley Wildmon: And done.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Wesley Wildmon: You can't grill them up.

>> Tim Wildmon: Fry.

>> Wesley Wildmon: you can't. There's nothing you can do with them. There's nothing.

>> Tim Wildmon: Just pull them out of the can and let m them slide down for these.

>> Jenna Ellis: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.