Tim Wildman: What's the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke

Steve Jordahl Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.

Tim Wildmon Hey, welcome back, everybody to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Thanks for listening to AFR. Our address, our email address is commentsfr.net, commentsfr.net I'm Tim with Fred Jackson and Ray Pritchard. Raised in, Florida. We're in Mississippi. And joining us in studio, by we in Mississippi, me, Fred and I here. And Steve is also.

Steve Jordahl Hey, Merry Christmas, everybody.

Tim Wildmon Steve Paisley Jordan joins us. How you doing, brother Steve?

Steve Jordahl I'm well, it's it's a good day here in Mississippi.

Tim Wildmon Yeah, go ahead.

Fred Jackson Ray is showing us the difference in time zones. He's having lunch right now.

Tim Wildmon Oh, yeah, Exactly.

Tim Wildmon Right, yes. 1205 where you live.

Tim Wildmon That's right. I'm having a ham sandwich and Coke Zero.

Tim Wildmon I like Coke Zero myself too.

Fred Jackson What's the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke?

Tim Wildmon The taste.

Steve Jordahl Yeah. Oh, is that different sugars, different fake sugars?

Tim Wildmon I think Coke Zero is better than Diet Coke.

Steve Jordahl Yeah, I agree.

Tim Wildmon yes. I've been a, I was a Coke, Coca Cola guy.

Fred Jackson Okay.

Tim Wildmon And then I got to be my age and the Coca Cola's, put on, what is it? Look on the side of a can. What is it, 200 calories. For a straight up Coke with just cane sugar or whatever you call it.

Tim Wildmon This one has zero.

Tim Wildmon So that's why they call it Coke Zero. It's got zero calories.

Tim Wildmon There you go.

Tim Wildmon So you can drink what we in the south call a Coke. Everything's generic, called a Coke. And you go to other parts of the country, it's called soda.

Fred Jackson right.

Tim Wildmon Or pop or pop. Soda or pop. Or in many parts of the south, any, any soft drinks called a Coke.

Steve Jordahl Yeah. What kind of Coke would you like?

Tim Wildmon I take Dr. Pepper. I don't know how that, I don't know how that happened, but that's just the way it is. But the Cokes here, you asked me a question, didn't you, Fred? You didn't expect a two minute dissertation on Coke, but I'm going to give you an answer. So. Because when you switch from Coke to Diet Coke, it's hard. Who's. Raise your hand if you.

Tim Wildmon No, I'm with you.

Tim Wildmon Because it tastes so funny. You're going, I don't like this aftertaste. I want to go back to Coke. But then your pants start stretching and you say, I'm going to have to give up the taste. But I still want to keep The Coke taste. Okay, so if.

Fred: I prefer the Diet Coke taste to the Coke Zero taste

Tim Wildmon All right, but let me interrupt you and ask this question. Have you ever had Diet Pepsi?

Tim Wildmon Yeah. let me finish one second, then we'll get to the Diet Pepsi then.

Tim Wildmon I got a question after that.

Tim Wildmon Okay, because this is important stuff.

Tim Wildmon This is the right.

Tim Wildmon If you look in the book of Revelation, this is covered.

Tim Wildmon It's right there.

Tim Wildmon Verse, chapter 17, how to deal with soft drinks in the end times.

Tim Wildmon That's right.

Tim Wildmon So, Fred, to answer your question, Fred, a code zero. You get the best of both worlds.

Fred Jackson Okay?

Tim Wildmon You get zero calories and you get the taste of, a Coke and not a Diet Coke. Does that help?

Fred Jackson Okay, that helps a lot.

Tim Wildmon But I've. But I like that. I've got. I've gotten you. You get like anything else. You get used to it. I've adapted to taste for Diet Coke. My wife, she prefers a Diet Coke over a Coke Zero. So, anyway, a lot of people are in that position. All right, go ahead, Ray. What were you going to do?

Tim Wildmon Okay, I put a quick word in, for Pepsi. For pep. Not for. I don't drink Pepsi, but I. Diet Pepsi is good. I actually like that. But do you ever go into a restaurant where they will have the. I, guess they call the Mexican Coke with the, With the different kind of the.

Tim Wildmon I don't think that's legal.

Steve Jordahl Cane. It's canes. Isn't cane sugar from Mexico?

Tim Wildmon Cane sugar? Right, Cane sugar. I mean, I've just heard it called Mexican Coke, but they imported.

Tim Wildmon Now we're bombing ships for that reason. Get your Mexican Coke coming in here. I don't think we want to be promoting that. Right. Really?

Tim Wildmon Hey, but you feel. I'm feeling no pain.

Tim Wildmon you're talking about,

Tim Wildmon President Trump talks about Coke in a bottle with. Help me out here, Steve.

Tim Wildmon Steve knows this. What are we talking about here?

Steve Jordahl Mexican Coke. I was researching some news, but, yeah, the Mexican Coke, it's just a different sugar Coke. I haven't been able to drink any of sugar diet things for years, since I was diagnosed with diabetes.

Tim Wildmon What do you drink?

Steve Jordahl Drink diet Diet Coke. And, I tell you what, I am used to the Diet Coke taste, and I kind of prefer. Actually, I changed my mind. I prefer the Diet Coke taste to the Coke Zero taste. But we got a doctor, Pepper Zero out in the lobby here that when I'm going for a soft drink, that's what I get. So it does.

Tim Wildmon It tastes a lot more Pepper Zero.

Steve Jordahl It's the diet version of the sugared drink that tastes Just like it.

Tim Wildmon Yeah. You know, they say that. They say that stuff they. They use for sugar substitutes are bad for you.

Tim Wildmon Everything's bad for you.

Tim Wildmon Well, I'm kind of. I'm kind of into sarcasm like you are on this.

Tim Wildmon I don't even know how sarcastic.

Tim Wildmon Well, maybe it is sarcasm. It's, It's a. It's a realistic view of the world.

Tim Wildmon Thank you.

Fred Jackson RFK Jr. Has made us feel guilty about everything.

Tim Wildmon Well, I don't think. Ah. Is it safari? What is it called you got. Anyway, it's. It's sugar.

Tim Wildmon Nutella. But everybody knows Nutella is good.

Tim Wildmon Yeah. Sugar substitute.

Steve Jordahl Yeah.

Tim Wildmon You can also buy these, Stevia.

Tim Wildmon Excellent.

Talking about stevia, the sugar substitute

Tim Wildmon I got stevia in my car. because, you know, he was a great singer.

Steve Jordahl Yeah.

Tim Wildmon You know, that guy, he was blind.

Fred Jackson He was a wonder.

Tim Wildmon He was a wonder.

Tim Wildmon He was a wonder.

Tim Wildmon Wait a minute. We talking about two different things.

Steve Jordahl We might be.

Tim Wildmon Not, Stevie. A wonderful. Talking about stevia, the sugar substitute.

Fred Jackson Uh-huh.

Tim Wildmon Now, that's supposed to be okay for you right there.

Fred Jackson Yeah. I go.

Tim Wildmon I got a squirt. A little squirt. You put it in your iced tea, or water. You put it in water and it flavors it.

Fred Jackson I go with honey.

Tim Wildmon In what?

Fred Jackson I make my coffee.

Tim Wildmon Like, real honey?

Fred Jackson Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Tim Wildmon Like five, ten seconds to drip off the spoon. Honey.

Fred Jackson Well, you can. We have local stores here. Local honey, you know, bee producers.

Tim Wildmon Yeah.

Fred Jackson And, they say it's good, for allergies. Local allergies.

Tim Wildmon You talking about. You put that in your. But you don't put that in a soft drink. You put.

Fred Jackson No, I put it in the coffee and.

Tim Wildmon Coffee.

Fred Jackson Coffee. Yeah. Okay.

We can see Ray on a video screen that people listen to us on

Tim Wildmon All right. Wow. Anyway, we got all this started because Fred said Ray's having fun.

Fred Jackson I just saw Ray having a sandwich.

Tim Wildmon We can see Ray on a video screen that people listen to us. Can't see. And he's having a ham sandwich and a diet.

Fred Jackson Having a good time.

Tim Wildmon Coke Zero, Feeling, no pain, friends.

Tim Wildmon By the way, the. The new set you've got there. I know, again, people can't see you like we can, but you got a new set. is that so you can do interviews.

Tim Wildmon That's interviews. And do some Bible teaching.

Tim Wildmon And I got you Believing dot com.

Tim Wildmon That's it.

Tim Wildmon Keep Believing dot com.

Tim Wildmon That's us.

Tim Wildmon All right. You're listening to Today's Issues. And now that we've covered some real deep stuff here, we're going to pitch it over to Steve for the news.

Russell Brand accused of sexual assault dating back to 2009

Steve Jordahl I have to. I think. I feel like I Have to. I just saw this, and I think I have to mention it. So Russell, Brand has been on the, kind of the circuit, the conservative circuit. He has made a profession for Christ. He opened Amfest, with prayer, and everything you see from him lately has been about God and about his relationship with Jesus.

Tim Wildmon Amfest is the Charlie Kirk event.

Steve Jordahl Right? Right. So Russell Brand has come out very publicly as a Christian, as a Christ follower. He was just charged with new rape and sexual assault offenses from 2009, well before he became a Christian or he claimed Christ, and he is going to be facing those charges. so, prayer for Russell, everything I see about him, he.

Tim Wildmon You don't know if this stuff is true when it comes to celebrities of all stripes, because you got. First of all, you got a lot of gold diggers out there and you got a lot of people who. I don't mean it sounds like I'm disparaging people who are sexually assaulted. I'm not in reality. I'm just saying you always have to wonder when it's a rich, powerful person, are they being targeted by, women who just want money and they make a false claim against somebody?

Steve Jordahl He's been through a couple of these that were false. These are new charges. they are alleged to have taken place between 7 February 2009 and March 2009. Relates to 1 woman. the new count of sexual assault is alleged to have been taking place between 31 August and 2009. I'm sorry, in December 2009. Relates to a second.

Tim Wildmon How do you even go. How do you even go back that far to. It's like they did with President Trump. They went back, like 30 years to some claim a woman made in. In a department store or something.

Steve Jordahl I want to say this, though. Russell Brand was a very different man then. He was very worldly.

Tim Wildmon And I. I know.

Steve Jordahl I don't know whether there's any like you. I don't know there's anything to discharge. But what I am asking is that our, the believers out there pray for who I believe is their brother in Christ.

Tim Wildmon What do you pray for?

Steve Jordahl Pray for justice. Pray that he, honors Christ through the process. Okay.

Tim Wildmon anyway, he. Russell Brands, he was a comedian slash actor from Britain. If you don't know the name, you've seen him, you've seen him on tv.

Fred Jackson BBC has been going hard with this story this morning.

Tim Wildmon So he's been accused. He's been accused by multiple women. back.

Steve Jordahl Some of these charts go way back.

Tim Wildmon Years ago.

Steve Jordahl And he has faced these charges and been vindicated from similar charges before.

Tim Wildmon But I just wonder how. How do you go back? Like I said, that could be a statue of limitations. You go back 30 years. Like the dating. It's Trump to find this woman because he did so. He said she sexy. Excuse me. She claimed he sexually assaulted her. Trump, remember that? And you're going like, how in the world can somebody prove or disprove something from that long ago? And why do you wait this long to bring it up? something like that.

The White House pushed the COVID vaccine during the middle of the pandemic

All right, you're listening to today's issue. Next story.

Steve Jordahl You guys talked about Sarah Sanders in her letter, to the Freedom from Religion Foundation. In the first hour, I want to contrast the, new. The conservative government that we have within Arkansas and Washington and everything. This is a statement that came out from the White House on December 17, 2021, from the Biden White House. It was part of a transcript of a news conference. This is what they said. And this is in the middle of the pandemic. Omicron was what they thought was going to take down. They said, and Merry Christmas, everyone. We are intent on not letting Omicron disrupt work and school. For the vaccinated. You've done the right thing, and we'll get through this. For the unvaccinated, you're looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals. You may soon overwhelm. White House from 2021.

Tim Wildmon Oh, okay. Okay.

Steve Jordahl That's the way that they chose to celebrate Christmas. Just want to say there's a difference.

Tim Wildmon I think that was Biden himself, if I remember correctly. He gave a speech saying that. I remember talking about that. Yeah, that whole episode was a sad day, metaphorically, for our country. And the way that. The way that that whole, COVID vaccine was pushed, like in. I didn't have a problem with people getting it if they want to. It should have been voluntary, though. But the people who were getting it were, like, morally superior, as that statement to all two people who didn't want to get it, because they felt like it was rushed to market. We didn't know what it did to people. And then people were going, what do you. I remember a, And everybody listening to me had an experience kind of like this. Probably. It was that Christmas, one of those Covid Christmases. Didn't we have, like, two of them? Or, the first one. Anyway. The first one. Okay. The COVID hit in March, and then, by that Christmas, they were saying they were just, they were discouraging Christmas family gatherings. Remember that the CDC was everybody. We don't need to get into groups that are super spreaders and all that.

Steve Jordahl Christmas church services illegal.

Tim Wildmon So my mother in law is on the phone with another family member my mother in law passed earlier this year. But back then she's and the other family members going like hey, is everybody going to be had the vaccine shot? And my mother in law says well no they're not because some of them don't want to get it. and then the other family member says oh, so they think they're smarter than the experts. You know that's kind of reaction you got from a lot of people right back during that. You know, if you didn't want to get it, you were you were a dumb bumpkin, you know, who were putting people at risk only to learn a few months later that the vaccine doesn't keep you from getting it or that keep you from spreading it. So anyway, go ahead.

Tim Wildmon So what, so what did we go through all that for? And we've talked about it on the show. I got the back, I got vaccine and at least one of the, one of the follow up just because in.

Tim Wildmon The beginning, no, you know, we didn't know, we didn't know you're going to die, you don't get it. So the scaring older people and not.

Tim Wildmon Well and, and if you're up at that point, let's see, in 2020, I was what, late 60s? So you're in that red zone anyway. Right. So a lot of seniors did it just because we were warned about it and we didn't know what we didn't know. if you said to me would I do it now? I'm not going to say no. But I'll, I'll tell you, I would think a lot harder and do a lot more research. Right. I'd be a lot more skeptical.

Tim Wildmon Yeah. And I think most of us are like if you want to get the vaccine, go ahead, but let everybody be free to choose.

Tim Wildmon That's right.

Tim Wildmon and if we ever run into this kind of situation again, hopefully we've learned our lesson. Go ahead.

People being mocked for taking Ivermectin helped many people

Fred Jackson And the flip story to that was people being mocked for taking Ivermectin. Remember that?

Tim Wildmon Yeah. Wow. I know one person that has saved their life. I know them personally. Ivermectin did. Yeah.

Fred Jackson Well, was it President Trump? He was treated with Ivermectin and the media was just mocking him, the science community was just mocking him. And lowmer yeah. Horse pill.

Tim Wildmon Horse pill.

Fred Jackson Yeah.

Tim Wildmon Believe it. You're a flat earther. Yeah.

Fred Jackson And lo and behold, it helped a lot of people.

Tim Wildmon you just did that to trigger us, didn't you, Steve?

Steve Jordahl I love that you just threw that.

Tim Wildmon Well.

Tim Wildmon And do you remember too how all the pastors, good people, really good people, good, conservative even. Almost every church in America shut down for a little bit, you know?

Tim Wildmon Yes.

Tim Wildmon I'll say this. In traveling around the country in the last five years and talking to really good pastors who for various reasons, you didn't want to infect your congregation.

Fred Jackson I know.

Tim Wildmon Yeah, that's true.

Tim Wildmon You didn't want to do it. Every single pastor I know, including some from very, very large congregations, they've unanimously said, we are never shutting our church down again. We are not going to do that.

Fred Jackson Remember John MacArthur California was charged. Pastor John MacArthur.

Tim Wildmon Yeah. Our own Jimmy Ellis defended him in court.

Fred Jackson Yes. And he won that case.

Tim Wildmon He won. Absolutely. All right, you're listening to today's issue. Next story. Steve, don't do that to us again. Don't just throw out Covid memories and say, watch Tim, Fred and Ray head spin off their shoulders.

Tim Wildmon We were talking about him. Sandwiches, Diet Pepsi.

California spent $13 billion last year to combat homelessness

Steve Jordahl And all of a sudden, let's talk about California and the people leaving. there's a lady named Anna Kasparian who is one of the hosts of the Young Turks. The Young Turks is a very liberal podcast, with Sink Weger is one of the hosts. and they are, they were devastated during the election when Trump won. It was really interesting to watch.

Tim Wildmon it was fun to watch.

Steve Jordahl But Anna Kasparian lives in LA and she's taking note about the homeless situation there and how much money LA spent on the homeless situation, how much effect it had. And she's been red pilled. Listen to cut 11.

Speaker E We spent $13 billion in Los Angeles alone last year to combat homelessness. You want to know where that money went? That money went to these trash nonprofits who have a bunch of executives making half a million dollars a year. You're working for a non profit dealing with homelessness. That's my money. That's my parents money. Okay? That is the hard working people of California. California paying incredibly high taxes that go to what? So, yeah, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it. And honestly, just experiencing what I've seen on the ground in California has made me question a lot about left wing ideology.

Fred Jackson Well, she woke up.

Tim Wildmon Woke. I like way he used that. I see what you did there. Woke up Woke up. Woke up, too. anyway, I did some math, okay?

Steve Jordahl LA in 2025, got rid of. They reduced the homeless population, I should say, by 1553 people. They took 1553 people off the street.

Tim Wildmon So their numbers, what they do with them.

Steve Jordahl M. I don't know. They may well listen to this. They spent $13 billion. That works out to $8.37 million per homeless person. It costs them $8.37 million.

Tim Wildmon You could buy them a home for that.

Steve Jordahl I know, I know.

Tim Wildmon Nice place.

Steve Jordahl So Anna Casperian has a point. That's a lot of money with a very little, effect.

Tim Wildmon Yeah, she said. Best she's saying is it's a, industry, the homeless industry. What she's saying, she's saying a lot of the money that's supposed to go to help people is not going to help them. It's going to support those, quote, nonprofit. Quote, nonprofit agencies. And, and, their. All their salaries and everything like that.

Steve Jordahl And it's another one of California's.

Tim Wildmon Yeah. That's how liberalism works, though. Yeah. And that's why liberalism doesn't work for governments because they become bloated with this kind of stuff.

Fred Jackson Yeah, but things are much better in Minneapolis.

Tim Wildmon Are they, Fred? Yeah. Why?

Fred Jackson Fred, tell us $9 billion of taxpayers money.

Tim Wildmon Fraud.

Fred Jackson Yeah, fraud.

Tim Wildmon Tell us how that game worked.

Fred Jackson How that game worked. Well, that again, we're going back to Covid.

Tim Wildmon Yeah.

Fred Jackson When they were writing checks like there was no tomorrow. Anybody wanted it. And it's not just Minneapolis, but that's the one that's in the news right now. But all kinds of people, dishonest people all over the country, created companies on paper, and they applied to the government. Hey, we had to shut down our company because of COVID send us money so we can give it to our employees. And they were just rubber stamping those things up in Washington. And people were making and getting.

Tim Wildmon They discovered a ton of fraud in the. Was it. It was a Somali.

Fred Jackson most of the people arrested so far, in Minneapolis have been Somalis, including groups there. Remember, one of the most disgusting things was they applied for federal dollars because they were helping kids with autism. Except there was no kids that were helped with none.

Tim Wildmon When they did an audit, they discovered the company didn't even do anything.

Fred Jackson No. And one of the most disturbing things is that one of these phony companies that were set up, one of these, agencies sending money to terrorist groups in Somalia.

Tim Wildmon Yeah.

Fred Jackson It's awful.

Tim Wildmon Yeah.

Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 130 kidnapped Catholic girls

All right, next story, Steve.

Steve Jordahl All right, good. Ah, news out of Nigeria The Nigerian government has secured the release of 130, 30 Catholic girls, kids who were kidnapped by jihadis back in, I believe it was November. And Nigerian authorities have secured the release.

Tim Wildmon You're telling me that the. Who was it Mormons or who was it doing the kidnapping? Yeah, it was, it was Amish.

Steve Jordahl It was. No, it was isis. It was.

Tim Wildmon Oh, the Muslim extremists.

Steve Jordahl Yes.

Fred Jackson Well, that's rare, I know.

Tim Wildmon Yeah.

Steve Jordahl Boko Haram, in Nigeria, they, they had, kidnapped these kids and they've found 130 of them and released them into captivity.

Tim Wildmon So praise the Lord for that.

The Trump administration has found 129,143 unaccompanied migrant children, according to reports

Hey, by the way, related to that good news that, I don't know if Chris mentioned it last hour, I don't remember, but I sent that story around about how many children who are, that the Trump administration has found that were missing or trafficked in the last year. Do you guys have that story? I do have it.

Steve Jordahl Well over 129,143.

Tim Wildmon Okay, just read the first couple paragraphs of that. Fred, if you would. Do you have it? Or Stevie, if you have it up, go ahead.

Steve Jordahl The Department of Homeland Security, DHS and Department of Health and Human Services have located more close ad more than 129,143 unaccompanied migrant children during 2025, according to an official. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wrote on X that under the Trump administration the agencies had identified these children, many of whom had previously been lost or untracked. She added that efforts would continue until every child was accounted for.

Tim Wildmon How many children?

Steve Jordahl 129,143.

Tim Wildmon You know, you remember, we remember when Biden was letting the whole world come into our country, which is one of the reasons the Democrats lost the presidential election. Well, a lot of those people that were coming into the country were unaccompanied minors, because adults, I know this sounds terrible, but a lot of the. Not a lot, I don't know how many, some of the adults were using the children to get into the US and then they needed to stay together. Right?

Fred Jackson Yeah.

Tim Wildmon But then after they got into the interior of the U.S. they abandoned the children. I think this is what happened now.

Steve Jordahl there was also a lot of trafficking of children purposefully.

Tim Wildmon Yes, that's true. But anyway, praise the Lord that many children have been found, and are not in the captivity of the, smugglers or the human traffickers any longer.

Fred Jackson Horrible. And this story was going on and continued through the Biden years. I remember scenes from the border during the Biden years, where these bad people on the other side of the border, they were actually throwing kids over the wall. They would climb the wall, throw them down, because they knew American officials would take them and look after them.

Tim Wildmon Y. All right, well, we are out of time. Thank you, Steve.

Steve Jordahl My pleasure.

Tim Wildmon Brad Bray. Thank you. You bet.

American Family Radio is taking a break from our shows starting Wednesday at midnight

Okay, folks, remember, we're taking a break from, our shows starting Wednesday night at midnight. So tomorrow, tonight at midnight. oh, tonight at midnight. So tonight at midnight, we flip over to Christmas music for three days. So the next Today's Issues show we'll have will be Monday. Okay, we'll be live back here Monday. But other otherwise, we're going to have our offices and studios will be closed so that our staff can celebrate Christmas with their families like you are going to do with yours. Again, we appreciate you listening to American Family Radio, and, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas celebration and be safe and take care, and we'll see you on Monday.