Welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network

>> Chris Woodward: Hello, I'm Steve Crampton, Assistant General Counsel for the American Family Association. The mission of AFA is to inform, equip and activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture and give aid to the church here and abroad in its task of fulfilling the Great Commission. Our vision is to be a leading organization in biblical worldview training in the

>> Wesley Wildmon: interest of cultural transformation.

>> Chris Woodward: Thank you for standing with the American Family Association. 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.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Work today is, Thursday, May 14, 2026. Again, as always, we thank you for listening to AFR. And joining me in studio is Wesley Wildmon. M. Good morning, Wesley.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.

>> Tim Wildmon: Good morning. Fred Jackson.

>> Fred Jackson: Good morning to you, Tim and Krish Wood.

>> Chris Woodward: Hello.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, that's a spirit, Krish. A good start here. News anchors, excited to be here.

>> Chris Woodward: Just you wait.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's it.

>> Tim Wildmon: so let's, see, Ray's out today. He traveling. Do you know where's Ray Pritchard? We keeping up with him? I don't know.

>> Fred Jackson: I don't know where he is, but he is traveling.

>> Wesley Wildmon: He preemptively pardoned himself. He did, like, like we've been seeing over the last couple years from the.

>> Tim Wildmon: And he's out next week, too. Is he really? Yes. Yeah, we need a doctor's excuse. I'll inform you for me, because the brother Ray is much missed.

>> Wesley Wildmon: He's out, and I'm usually not in on Thursdays, but trying to help a brother out.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, fill it in for brother Ray. All right, thanks for listening, everybody. And, we got a lot to talk about today at the bottom of the hour. Dr. Walter Windler, President of West Texas A and M University, will be joining us. and, we will talk to him. what's the first story you got there, Chris?

On May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion declared Israel's independence

>> Chris Woodward: Well, it's Independence Day of sorts in the nation of Israel. And I say that because on this day in 1948, David Ben Gurion declared the independence of the state of Israel in Tel Aviv. The airport there is named after him, as a matter of fact, along with some other parts of, Israel. so a monumental moment. I heard, ah, Jon Wriley, our Jon Wriley, talking about this, earlier today with Jay JJ just a huge event and one that many people point to as prophecy being fulfilled this day in what year? 1948.

>> Tim Wildmon: 1948. So we are Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: 78.

>> Tim Wildmon: 78 years in.

>> Fred Jackson: Mm, it is. And if you go to Israel, many tours, they stop at the Tel Aviv Museum, the museum there in Tel Aviv where you will hear some of the audio from that day from David Ben Gurion on May 14, 1948. It's kind of one of the highlights what a lot of people forget. They focus, and rightly so, on May 14, but what happened on May 15? The armies from Egypt and Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded Israel leading to the.

>> Tim Wildmon: There wasn't much to invade.

>> Fred Jackson: No, but they did.

>> Tim Wildmon: But they did.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, but they did. And it resulted in Israeli control of more territory than they were initially allocated, in that declaration. So yeah, it's a big day there. You know, it's been interesting watching. For those who haven't been to Israel, they may have impressions of Israel as being. Everything looks old and you do see a lot of old things, don't get me wrong. But Trey Youngst is one of the correspondents, for Fox and he's been reporting on the war there over the last several months. But he's reporting from a balcony that overlooked Tel Aviv and that image of Israel with old buildings. But you look at downtown Tel Aviv, it looks like NewSong York City.

>> Chris Woodward: Oh yeah, yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: It is amazing what God has done in that little country. It's absolutely fantastic. Medical research, advancements in technology like you would not believe. So God has blessed that tiny little nation, despite all its. I, remember Netanyahu talking about, you know, if they have Hamas kind of to their west and Hezbollah living in Lebanon and Syria, to the east. I remember Netanyahu saying not too long ago, we live in a rough neighborhood. That's probably the understatement of all time. But keep, keep your prayers up for Israel. God will continue to protect her.

>> Tim Wildmon: It is a mix, Israel is of the ancient with the modern. Yes, as you say, Fred. Ah, Jerusalem is ancient, goes thousands of years, back, Jerusalem mentioned in the scriptures. And so you can go there and see the sites that you read about in the Bible, Old Testament and NewSong Testament. But if you fly into Tel Aviv, which is about an hour from Jerusalem on the coast of the Mediterranean, it's a, as you say, it's a very modern city, and with a, you know, a first rate airport. And the thing about it is, it's very prosperous. Yes, it is, they, they, they, they know how to do business in Israel. And so that's so we marked the Birthday Today is their July 4th. Right.

>> Fred Jackson: May 14th.

>> Tim Wildmon: May 14th. So they, remember there, you know,

>> Fred Jackson: you talk about the contrast. I remember my first trip there. Tel Aviv, modern city, Jerusalem, everybody. You know, it's just fantastic. But we got out into the country a little bit and I found it fascinating. I saw a man leading a group of sheep. M. He wasn't pretending. This wasn't part of a show. They still tend to sheep in the hills.

>> Tim Wildmon: And, the Bedouins.

>> Fred Jackson: and the Bedouins.

>> Tim Wildmon: The Bedouins, which are nomads, and they travel around, they live very primitively. you might, go out to the hillside on the Judean hills and see these folks that live like, you know, like hundred hundreds of years and they're shepherds and then, they might have a TB antenna sticking out of there.

>> Fred Jackson: I know.

>> Tim Wildmon: Or something like that. So.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: So anyway, let me ask you this, Fred. I know we, putting you on the spot here, but you believe, do you believe that the, birth of the modern nation of Israel is in fact a fulfillment of Bible, prophecy?

>> Fred Jackson: Absolutely, absolutely. 100%.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: And, there are some Christian denominations that had kind of dismissed the idea that God was still going to work through Israel at some point because much of prophecy talks about a country of Israel once again going on. And the book of Revelation certainly has Israel as the dominant nation there. But, there were Christian denominations that because the Jews were spread all over the world, that God had really put aside Israel for good and the Jewish people. But when May 14, 1948 happened, it was, as you say, Tim, a fulfillment of prophecy. Israel being back as a. It is the first time a nation that was decimated came back again as a nation.

>> Fred Jackson: That has not happened ever before.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. All right, well, and the Bible says that we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

>> Fred Jackson: Amen.

>> Tim Wildmon: So we need to remember to do that. What is your next story?

A Chinese supertanker made it through the US blockade yesterday

>> Chris Woodward: Well, from Israel to Iran, where yesterday a Chinese supertanker made it through the US blockade there in the Strait of Hormuz. this, supertanker has been carrying oil from Iraq and it got through this area at the same time that President Trump is in China talking with his counterpart Xi Jinping about issues including Iran.

>> Tim Wildmon: To review. Krish, go over that list of, countries again. This sounds like the Olympics. Who did what to wear and when.

>> Chris Woodward: Excuse me, A Chinese supertanker got that, got through the Strait of Horbus.

>> Tim Wildmon: So they like, just dashed.

>> Chris Woodward: Well, yeah, they threw the gauntlet. He probably, you know, put the little. I don't even know what you call it. The gear shift on the boat.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: The gas pedal. Yeah.

>> Chris Woodward: They've actually been stuck there for a couple.

>> Tim Wildmon: But I don't think they were avoiding missiles or anything. Oh, no, no, no. When you say got through, that makes me think that they barely got through for the. For the torpedoes hit.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, the direct approach.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ah, they went right on through unchallenged.

>> Chris Woodward: They did, they did. As a matter of fact, the headline is Chinese SuperTanker breaks through US Iran blockade and Hormuz. It's a little more dramatic than it actually is.

>> Tim Wildmon: So. But, now. Now, Fred, I thought that they were. We were imposing a blockade, but was this tanker, this Chinese tanker, coming from another country, not Iran?

>> Fred Jackson: It was coming from Iraq, but I think the fact that it made it through unimpeded, politics are involved.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: President Trump is in Beijing right now.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Fred Jackson: And, I think there is a desire on the part of the United States. And President Trump has stated this. he's had a discussion today with, Xi, Xi Jinping, the, Chinese, president.

>> Tim Wildmon: When we say Xi, we're talking about a man who's the premier of the president of spelled Xi. Yeah, Exi.

>> Fred Jackson: So, yeah, they've had a discussion today, and President Trump in an interview with Fox, at the end of the day over there, said, yes, I talked with Xi about Iran. And he said, Xi said, any help that we can be to bring this to an end, we will help you. Now, there's some muscle behind that because China is Iran's biggest customer. China gets 50% of its oil from Iran. There are some who believe that Xi could give the regime in Iran a call and say, back off, put an end to this, your resistance. give at least President Trump some of what he wants so that we can get this open again.

>> Wesley Wildmon: What exactly would it. Can you describe what it is happening when they say it is, blocked or it's shut down or it's closed straight or more because. Is that meaning that the Iran military is standing at the coast saying, if you come through, we're going to shoot? Or what. What's. What's the. What if you're on the other.

>> Tim Wildmon: How do they impose this?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, well, the, you have a map on your screen there. The blockade actually comes out from the Packe Pakistani Iranian border out here.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's the US Blockade.

>> Fred Jackson: The US Blockade. So that's where the ships are being stopped. We don't have the US Navy in the Strait of Hormuz. That's not where the blockade is. It's out in the Gulf of Oman.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I think Wesley's asking if I can interrupt here. It's rare for me, but at this time. Okay, Wesley. We are looking at a map. I know our listeners can't see this. There's two things going on here at one time. Okay. We. We. The United States are imposing a military naval blockade on any ships that leave Iran going out into the. To the ocean or trying to get in. Or trying to get in. So we're stopping commerce.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: of all kinds, mainly oil, from being. From leaving any port in Iran or are coming into Iran. So we're trying to choke them off.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, we're.

>> Tim Wildmon: Without firing weapons. That's the idea.

>> Fred Jackson: Hm.

>> Tim Wildmon: Which takes time. Second thing that's going on is Iran here. They say we control the Strait of Hormuz, which. I don't know.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That support that. Everything up to that point. I understand. What I don't understand is how they are controlling, practically how they control.

>> Tim Wildmon: They're telling, ships that if they try to come through there, that, they will shoot at them. send their mosquito boats out there or I guess some mines they have.

>> Fred Jackson: Mine.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Well, I've not gotten a straight or clear answer on that throughout all of this from any source. And that's the reason I'm trying to understand what's preventing. What's preventing us from going, okay, we'll try that and just keep going.

Fred Kaplan: I don't know why we don't just enforce blockade

I agree.

>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know what. We've got the mightiest naval force in the world. I don't know why we don't roll in there and just say everybody, gets through.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Ah. And if Iran sends out their little boats, that we blow them out of the water. I don't understand why that doesn't happen either.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Right. And because up until this point, if you take. Which is a big point, the Strait of Hormuz, if you take that out the equation, you. You were up there. You. You were about to be batting 100%.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Wesley Wildmon: as far as. As far as complete. As far as a completion of the military. There you go. Thousand percent. So now you're going. Now this is. This is cost an extra six, four to six weeks and trying to negotiate, figure this situation out. And I'm just going, at what point do you go, we're going to help you. We're going to help you do this?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I don't know. Pete Hagseth, the Secretary of War and President Trump and others could probably share they know what's going on because at

>> Wesley Wildmon: one point early on they would say, hey, they, put mines out there.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Now they're saying, well, they just possibly said that we're not sure if there are out there.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: So anyways, I don't know. Thank you for no answer.

>> Tim Wildmon: The answer is, I don't know why we don't just say, if you, Iran cause any ship damage, we will take out wherever that weapon is coming from along the shoreline.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Sure.

>> Tim Wildmon: That, that's what I would.

>> Chris Woodward: That was so much, back and forth a couple of weeks ago that I joked we should brand this the. You don't know. And I don't know either segment because of the conflicting. Where one news outlet says this, another says that, and then Trump makes two different statements in a 24 hour period. it is odd that we haven't just gone through there and, you know, guns blazing to protect boats, given the ferocity, that we had.

>> Tim Wildmon: Very good word.

>> Chris Woodward: Thank you. back in. When Operation Epic Fury began in February 28, I've thought about it as like a boxing analogy. So at the beginning of the fight, you have one guy that's just throwing haymakers and he's just pummeling his opponent. Right. And then all of a sudden he stops. And then you have that weird moment in a boxing match where they just

>> Fred Jackson: keep holding each other.

>> Chris Woodward: That's what we're doing right now. We quit throwing punches.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: I think it had to do with the limitations of the, war that Trump could carry out the 60 days. he was only allowed to go 60 days.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, you mean, but without congressional approval.

>> Fred Jackson: Without congressional approval. And what Trump has been arguing, is that, okay, we've stopped fighting.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Therefore, we have a ceasefire.

>> Fred Jackson: We have a ceasefire in effect. Right. So we're doing this blockade. We're not really dropping bombs and all that sort of thing, so that he can continue the campaign without being called a war.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, that's a good point.

>> Tim Wildmon: Although he's called. Although he himself, Is that double unnecessary. He, Trump has called it a war.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. You're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio.

President Trump is meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping over Taiwan

Back to President Trump's trip to China, though. he is, there in. There's a couple things going on here. Well, multiple things, more than two. But one is President Trump is meeting with the leader of China, Xi. We keep saying she. It's Xi. That's the way you pronounce it. and that's his first name.

>> Fred Jackson: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: So he, they're in meetings, they're negotiating politics and international affairs, and government related issues, including Taiwan, by the way. But the second thing that's going on here is there's a lot of business conversations President, Trump took with him. Not necessarily all on Air Force One, but they are there in the m. In other negotiations and meetings, some very influential, business leaders from the US Meeting with their counterparts in China because as we mentioned many times before, the United States and China are joined at the hip economically. They make stuff and we buy it.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, that's a great way to put it.

>> Tim Wildmon: They make stuff and we buy it and that's what they're they're talking about. So there's a lot at stake there with these, business, negotiations and deals that are being struck. Well, I know Elon Musk got on the plane with Trump in the plane. It's not a normal plane. It's Air Force One in Alaska to go with him. As did Tim Cook from Apple, who's retiring. Apple makes, a lot of their iPhones in China. Right?

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: So they had, anyway, as I say, a lot of, lot of commerce between the United States and and China. But, when it comes to Taiwan, it's a very sensitive issue. Taiwan is an island off the coast of mainland China. Do you know the, how long they've been an independent country? Does that go back to World War II or prior to the gene. But see, when Taiwan became a independent nation. China has always had their sights on what they would call reunification because Taiwan was at one time China. And Wesley, you've been to both, you've been to Taiwan and to China. but China would, would like to have Taiwan back as their own. but, but that would cause. That would be a war. And the United States has always bowed to, there's some kind of treaty. Ed knows these things. He, he keeps up with the Boston Bruins and international.

>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right. He does both very well.

>> Tim Wildmon: Keeps up with the national, treaties.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Taiwan was founded in 1912 on Chinese mainland and moved its seat of government to Taiwan in 1949, losing the Chinese civil war to the Communist Party. So it seems to me. 1949. Does that sound right?

>> Chris Woodward: That's what I found.

>> Fred Jackson: Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: 1949, Taiwan became an independent country. But, Taiwan has always wanted to take it. I mean, excuse me, China's always wanted to take it back. And if they did that, they would have to use their military.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. And that's why I think it's very important. and it's interesting to see this, discussion between Trump and Xi Jinping over Taiwan, because we're telling China, for example, hey, you need to do something to help break, break this situation with the Strait of Hormuz. Is China then saying, well, you need to let us have Taiwan. Yeah, we don't know. I'm not in that room.

>> Fred Jackson: Xi didn't go that far today, but he did, he did signal to Trump very clearly, hey, listen, we want to continue to be friends, but if you, if you continue to support Taiwan, because there's been a lot of talk of this military equipment that we're about to sell to Taiwan, billions of dollars worth of that, that's a provocation. And we know that China in recent months have stepped up its activity around Taiwan, we'll call it that. And, so they are doing a lot of saber rattling the Chinese with regards to Taiwan right now.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: So in today's meetings, at least in the open, public meetings, Xi was still very clear, keep your hands off of Taiwan, United States. Whereas Trump was very diplomatic, talked about the great history between China and the United States and what a great guy she is. And by the way, you're coming to our country in September for a visit. So Trump openly, in the open sessions, was very diplomatic, whereas Xi used the open session, to be very pointed in warning the United States about Taiwan.

>> Tim Wildmon: Do we have any audio?

>> Chris Woodward: We've got all kinds of audio of, number one, Trump had very nice things to say about Xi.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. there's a guy.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. Which is. Yes. here, here's one example of Trump, singing the praises of the Chinese Communist party leader. Clip 1.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Such respect for China, the job you've done. You're a great leader. I say it to everybody. You're a great leader. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true. I only say the truth.

>> Tim Wildmon: Why would he say. Why would President Trump, Fred, say that some people don't like me calling him a, great leader.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, because he's a communist and he's ruthless and they persecute Christians in that country. They have slave labor.

>> Tim Wildmon: does that make you a bad person?

>> Fred Jackson: They spy on us like crazy. I mean, they, we're over there handshaking and having nice meals with people who are very nasty to us.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. And they have mayors now apparently acting as, you know, agents of foreign governments, on behalf of the.

Fred Whitaker: President Trump is right on trade with China

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, you got to. You do have a, I'm going to cut President Trump a little slack here. You do have to pretend a little bit. Okay. That's part of diplomacy.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: So you got a, Now unless President Trump really believes all that stuff he just said, which I would say, I would say to him, I don't know why you're calling this guy a great leader when he oppresses millions of people, like you said, Fred. But on the other hand, you got to you're trying to, you're trying to make friends with somebody that you don't want to be an ad. You don't want to necessarily be at least an open adversary because it could hurt both countries. Trade and trade, number one, trade between the U.S. so we're not going to be, we, the United States are not going to be. At one time we thought, well, we could use our economic might to make, maybe cause China to have more, become more like the west in terms of their freedoms and human rights and things like that, I don't think that's going to work. so we, I think our, our political leaders, presidents, have come to the realization, you're not going to change China. China is going to be a communist and they're going to be a brutal dictatorship. But what do you do? Do you not trade with them at all because of that reason? And there have been those who've argued that in the past and I don't know it's an argument worth having. But the reality is that over the decades, those, our emphasis on human rights has declined, in favor of what kind of economic trade can you give us China that will help our economy here in the U.S. yep. So Trump is right. There is. I hope he doesn't believe everything he said right there. I think he's just trying to pander to make, you know what I'm saying.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: To be diplomatic. So we'll be back with more of today's issues on the American Family Radio Network.

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Tim Wildman: It makes a difference what school your child chooses

>> Tim Wildmon: Welcome back to today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr. Tim Wildmon here with Wesley Wildmon, Fred Jackson, and Krish Woodward. Well, a lot of, a lot of things going on on our college and university campuses around the country. And it makes a difference what school your, child or grandchild chooses.

>> Wesley Wildmon: and to your point, my kids go to Christian school here in town. And I just, I left there to make it to the show just on time because they were having chapel time where the kids led chapel. And the kids, they've been talking about the importance of praying over their parents. So they had an opportunity this morning for the kids to pray over their parents in chapel time, led by the kids. All that to say is that I walked away going, I'm so thankful for Christian education. They compliment a lot of what we do, what we try to teach at home.

>> Tim Wildmon: Absolutely. And when your kid graduates from high school, well, they're no longer a kid anymore. They're a young person and they're headed off to college or university. To the college or university. A lot of, now, not everybody does this. Some people go to work or go to the military or go to trade school, things of that nature. But still, I'm just guessing, half the young people who graduate from college, excuse me, from high school, do go off to college. that's, I'm just pulling that number out of thin air. I don't know, but I'm just guessing. And, so it matters where you go. And what about those who leave home with a solid biblical worldview? their faith is secure, and then they go off and they're just met with hostility against their Christian faith, on the college campuses, which happens a lot. Joining us to talk about this topic is Dr. Walter Windler, who is the president of, West Texas A and M University in the Amarillo area.

Tim Ferriss: Dr. Windler, you still president of West Texas university

Good morning to you, Dr. Windler.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Good morning, Tim. and thanks for the opportunity to visit with you this morning.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right. So you're still president there at West Texas A and M?

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Yeah, I still am. Some days I wonder how much longer it's going to last, but. Yeah, no, I still am. I just wanted to enjoy it.

>> Tim Wildmon: I just wondered when you would be canceled because of your, conservative views.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Well, you know, maybe in some places, but not in the Texas Panhandle. by the way, your number, which I happen to know. The percentage of recent high school graduates who immediately enrolled in college. Latest data I have is, 2024, and it was about 62%.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so overhead, which is, over

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: half a good bit. And that's from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I assume the numbers are good. They're careful. and, I always remind people what you just reminded of them, and I appreciate it. You know, military service, trade school, family, business. Start your own family, your own business. There are a lot of alternatives. And when I go out and speak to, high school, students, usually juniors and seniors, I tell them that. And, you know, I'm a university president, so I lean towards university education as a. As a positive experience for many people, but it's not for everybody. And, there's so many good ways to begin a life, of what I call engaged citizenship that don't necessarily require college. And I'm not afraid to say that, at all, because it's the truth. It's the common sense truth. And a, lot of people go to college, rack up a lot of debt. And when, they finish, they say, why did I do this?

>> Tim Wildmon: Right?

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: I mean, I'm, you know, I'm working at McDonald's. And by the way, that's noble work. There's nothing wrong with working at McDonald's or I'll say Chick Fil A, but the fact of the matter is you don't need a college degree to do it, right? You can be successful by being a hard worker and sticking to values that are, you know, known to us as believers, followers of Christ. We can stick to those values, those important values, and, you know, be successful in the world and not necessarily have a college degree. So.

>> Tim Wildmon: Absolutely.

Even some Christian universities are falling into this trap, Wesley Pool says

Hey, let me ask you this. You got. You. You've written a column which we posted on our Today's Issues Facebook page, and it says, check your. The headline is check your faith at the campus gate. Really? Question mark? So, what are you talking about here?

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Well, what I'm talking about is, you know, for 50 years or more, some people would say from the progressive movement at the turn of the last century, in the early 1900s, have, moved towards this idea that you can't be intellectually, serious and have strong, spiritual convictions like the ones we hold, you know, that Christ is the center of our lives and so on and so forth. And I'll tell you, as I was listening to you guys, kind of lead into this. The fact of the matter is, even some Christian universities are falling into this trap. And I'm not gonna. I would never offer a name. But I can promise you there are Christian universities who have walked away from their faith because they actually believe you can't be intelligent and a Christian at the same time. I guess they've, you know, about Thomas Aquinas and St. Paul and a whole litany of other Christian thought leaders who were also very literate and well read and, you know, understood their times from both a secular and a spiritual sense. In this article, what it says is we should never try to, separate a person's, belief. For me, belief in Christ. Separate that and leave it outside the gate. Don't bring it in the classroom. It's inappropriate to discuss it. And, and it's, It's. It. It's. It's a denial of who you are. And we don't ask people, no matter their lifestyle or anything else, to check that at the gate. As a matter of fact, we tell them to bring it in and, you know, tell us who you are until you say, well, I'm a. I'm a. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, and I believe that of God and. And walked this earth and was crucified, died and was resurrected to save me from my sins. And, And I believe that I don't make anybody else believe it. You know, I understand the difference, as I tell people sometimes between a pulpit and a podium. And, I'm. I'm usually behind a podium. I've never actually been. Well, I have been a few times behind the pulpit, but not many, except at Sunday school, when I teach Sunday school. But the bottom line is I get a podium at a public university. Be careful, because this is public. We take all kinds of people just like our nation does. But I am not going to deny or ask students to deny their, faith and their families and what they've been raised to believe. it's a way of, fragmenting people and acting like there's this, you know, this separation and somehow we can put our faith aside and just focus on matters of intellect, you know,

>> Tim Wildmon: whatever they may be, as if intellectual, intellectualism is incompatible with religion, in particular Christianity, then that is just absolutely not true. But many academics want to mock and ridicule Christians because they. Oh, so you believe in Santa Claus too? In the Easter Bunni, right? you know what I'm saying? That they equate believing in Christianity with superstition. Wesley, you were going to ask a question.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. Now are you also including the fact of use, tying scriptures into science and other areas? Are you saying more. So what dad's saying that you. The difference between intellect and scripture. And here's, here's an example of what I'm going to get. There's a, there's a well known podcaster in the conservative world named Tim Pool and I was listening to other him the other day and he's really, he's about, he's around my age, he's really, really good on the conservative issues. But he's having a, and he professes to be a Christian, but he's having a hard time connecting the Bible with the conservative movement. He wants to keep them separate for the purpose of being able to possibly gain more, reach more people outside the Christian faith, for the political movement. Is that kind of what I'm hearing? Are you saying that are people are just leaving the Christian faith at the door altogether? Does that make sense?

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Well, yeah, no, it does. It's very sensible and it's realistic. I think that is how things are perceived. But you know, the Apostle Paul, he went and reasoned with people in the marketplaces and he never hid his faith in Christ. And he had a very, very perceptive intellect. This guy had a sharp mind, you know, he was a student of how to think and so, and rationality and so on. And I don't believe we have to separate these two things. And that's one thing in a public.

Dr. Walter Windler says universities should not separate intellect from faith

What grieves me is there are, and I'm going to say so called, and this is why I'm not going to name them. There are so called universities where they want to separate these two things and they want to in a sense put their Bible in the back seat and put it in contemporary philosophy in the front seat and have that be sort of drive the bus. And I don't think it's a good idea. As a matter of fact, it's Worse than that, it's a terrible idea because it makes people believe that you should put what's in your heart and keep it separate from what's in your head. And I don't see those things as mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, Newton, Isaac Newton, who is probably the greatest scientist that the world has ever seen, said that there was nothing. And I'm going to mix up. I'm not going to get this quote perfectly, but no book, is more important, to understanding how the world works than the Bible.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: And I wish I could quote it word for word, but that's basically what he says. So he never ran away from his faith. And he made tremendous, tremendous, discoveries, that describe how, in my mind, how God's creation works. And he could elaborate those things to other people who were being reasonable. You know, Oral Roberts, this is a long time ago, but I'm an old man. but the fact of the matter is all Roberts said one time he was asked, you know, what do you do if people going to come and teach science at at oru? And they, you know, they maybe lean towards, this sort of idea of evolution or something, you know, godless creation, call it whatever you will. And he said, well, I'll let the facts decide. And he said, from my perspective, the biblical. Carefully understood and explicated. The biblical explanation is always going to carry the force because it's correct. And by the way, just because I don't understand all of it doesn't mean that it's incorrect. There's a lot I don't, I don't, I don't, understand how my, my car works. It's got all kinds of gadgets and stuff I don't even understand. But it works because somebody that did understand it, made it and put it together.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: So I think we need to encourage students in any higher education setting not to separate their intellect, from their faith life. Because your faith life informs your intellect. And by the way, I think our intellect informs our faith life too. We should expect our faith life. My wife and I have been in a number of different churches over our. Been married 53 years. We've been in a number of different churches. And there's some that are more emotional than others and some that seem more studied and so on and so forth. And I lean myself towards the study type, the sort of, you know, where you ask questions and you seek answers out of God's word. That's what's comfortable to me. And, I may not understand a part of it, at a given point in time. But I get the whole lot. I know what it is because I actually think it's without error. And that doesn't play well on most college campuses. Today.

>> Tim Wildmon: Dr. Walter Windler is our guest president of West Texas A and M University. with their main campus. Their main campus is in Amarillo, right?

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Well, actually, it's in, Tanya, which is 15 miles south of Amarillo. You never really leave Amarillo. It's a small town that, you know, just south.

>> Tim Wildmon: I got you. I thought you were going to say you never really leave Amarillo. It's a state of mind. Something like that.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: by the way, there is some truth in that too. This West Texas is a different place to live, and it's very, very special.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, one, one. One final question I have for you is how does it. What is the football season looking like for you this fall?

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Well, we, needed a quarterback. We had actually, we lost three games by a grand total of five points. But m. I would have rather been on the other side of that coin and said we. We won three games by a grand total of five points. So it's a. It's kind of a, I got you place to be on the other side.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I sent. I sent you a check to help with the nil. I don't know if you got it or not there. I was trying. Trying to help out the program, you know, is from one friend to another there.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Okay, Don't. Don't get me started on nil.

>> Tim Wildmon: I know, I know. All right.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: It's a whole different ball game.

>> Tim Wildmon: What's your, what's the website for the school?

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Thank you, sir. I appreciate you asking. It's, wtamu Edu. And if you go to that website, you can put almost any search in and you'll come up with all sorts of, information. I know a lot of your listeners are interested in student debt. And if you were to go. If you were to put in there wtmu Edu and then backslash Student debt. an ebook that I've written. It's 40 or 50 pages long. It'll come up telling students how to avoid, over indebtedness, what to be careful of, so on and so forth. There's a lot of information on the. On the campus website.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, well, we look forward to visiting with you again sometime real soon. We hope you'll still be president of the, university.

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: Thank you. I appreciate that. And don't forget, I'll send you the address on where to send that nil.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Oh, you do that. All right.

If we leave right now, we could be in Amarillo by morning

Thank you. That's Dr. Walter Windler and he's the president of Texas A and M of West Texas A and M M University.

>> Chris Woodward: If we leave right now, we could be in Amarillo by morning.

>> Tim Wildmon: You just thought of that? You just been waiting?

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: all right.

J.J. jasper tells a funny road trip story on Trivia Friday

So, I've been.

>> Chris Woodward: I've been to Amarillo, morning. Yeah, I actually was there. I arrived in the morning when I got there, but. Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well. So what did you go to Amarillo for?

>> Chris Woodward: we were. We actually. I, had a, relative passed away, back in 2021 in California. And some people in our, family didn't want to fly out there, so we drove to California.

>> Tim Wildmon: drove all the way from here?

>> Chris Woodward: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, so Amarillo is maybe halfway.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, yeah. We. We pulled into Amarillo on the way back and we got a hotel room.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Tired, thinking.

>> Chris Woodward: We, we slept like three or four hours. We like took a nap in a hotel room and then get back on the road. It's an easy trip though.

>> Tim Wildmon: Where did you go?

>> Wesley Wildmon: Are you smiling about that? It sounds terrible.

>> Chris Woodward: To California, the, Sacramento area.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh my word. Yeah, that's. I don't even know if Amarillo is halfway.

>> Chris Woodward: Oh, no, it's probably not. So what happened was we left on a Wednesday night and we drove nonstop. You get up to Memphis. If you're in the southeastern US you get up to Memphis and you go on I40 and you go west. It's the easiest road trip because literally once you get on I40 west, that's going to take you all the way to Needles, California, to which you will then hang a right and go up.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right?

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: After 3,000 miles.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: He remembers this very.

>> Chris Woodward: If you go left, you'll go towards la, which crossover.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Then you may never be heard from.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. So, I mean, but it was cool. I've been to places out west, but I've always flown and it was the first time I've ever seen the desert like Arizona, NewSong Mexico.

>> Tim Wildmon: Great American road trip.

>> Chris Woodward: Well, not right. Wait until gas prices come down. You probably need to be a millionaire

>> Tim Wildmon: in time for the funeral. Right?

>> Chris Woodward: We did, we actually drove non stop and we swapped out. my wife and I did in Oklahoma City and then I got us to Arizona. My mother in law drove a little bit. We drove non stop from Wednesday night to Flagstaff, Arizona and we left on a Wednesday night. We got to Flagstaff on a Thursday afternoon.

>> Tim Wildmon: J.J. jasper. I get him to tell his story maybe Friday. I don't know. J.J. jasper, who's on Trivia Friday, tells his story, talking about swapping up drivers on a trip. This was when he was, like in his late teens or early twenties or something like that. But he tells a story. He grew up Mowinsburg, Kentucky, and he. And his. But he was his best friend. So they decided to go down to Florida, to the beach. You know, when you're young, you don't have a family, and you're a little bit crazy, you do stuff like that. So they decided on a whim, hey, let's go to Florida. So, to go down the beach. So he said they started driving, and his friend drove, like, five hours. I don't know. I'm. I don't remember all the details. I just remember the funny punchline of the story. So they drove from Owensboro, I think it got to Birmingham or something like that. And they pulled over the side of the road, and his friend said, hey, can you. Can you drive now? Because I'm, getting sleepy. I'm getting tired. JJ said, sure. So his buddy comes over, they swap out seats, and JJ drives like, two miles down the road, pulls over and wakes him up, wakes his buddy up, says, hey, man, it's your time. His friend had been asleep, like, for five minutes. But he didn't know, but he, you know, he had no concept of how long he had been asleep. So, JJ said, hey, man, it's your time. So that's why.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Anyway, it worked.

>> Tim Wildmon: It worked. he's tricked his friend into driving the whole way now. Not necessarily safe, but, you don't think about that when you're not.

>> Chris Woodward: I just wonder, was the friend listening to the radio when this story was so. And he's like. Like, I thought we were in the same place.

>> Tim Wildmon: No, I don't think they had digital clocks on cars back in the.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, you get away with the lot without cell phones back in the day.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Wesley Wildmon: Mid 70s Internet.

Marc Thiessen says China is a declining power

>> Dr. Walter Wendler: All right.

>> Tim Wildmon: You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Tim, Fred, Wesley and Krish. What's our next story?

>> Chris Woodward: Do you want to do the Mark Tsen stuff?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. just a little bit more on China. Mark Thiessen, who is a Fox News contributor, gave us a little bit behind the scenes about China. China Today, as we're talking about, you know, you look at China, you look at Shanghai and Beijing, these big cities. They look modern. Ah. And all of those sorts of Things. But China, according to Marc Thiessen, is a country in decline. And I, want you to have a listen to this assessment. Maybe things in here that you weren't aware of about China today. Cut number seven.

>> Fred Jackson: China is no longer a rising power, it's a risen power. And it's about to be a declining power. For seven decades, American presidents have been managing, almost 8 have been managing China's rise. And it's like a, it's like a car on a roller coaster that's been going up and up and up and it's about to go down precipitously. The one child policy, means that their birth rate rate is 0.932 is replacement rate. They're less than one child per woman. so that means they're not producing workers for their economy and they're going to have a demographic collapse. So that's a huge, huge problem. As a result, their economy is going to start declining because they don't have the workers to. And if you just look at the, GDP growth rate, it was almost 15% 20 years ago. Last quarter it was 1.4. So this is a country that's in decline, decline and about to go into a very steep decline. That is much more dangerous than a rising power because. And that's what Donald Trump is dealing with. Because if you're China, you know all these problems you're having, you know, the purges you're having. Brian, you mentioned the ghost cities there. Over 50 ghost cities with empty skyscrapers, empty airports, empty roads.

>> Chris Woodward: Right.

>> Fred Jackson: And so you see that you have a window of opportunity to take Taiwan or forever hold your peace because your power is about to decline. I forgot about this. And so Donald Trump has to manage that transition.

>> Tim Wildmon: Let me ask you this, Fred. Do you know when the, one child policy started and ended in China? Because you remember back they, they, China remember they were, their population was just exploding all through the 20th, mid 20th, middle part of the 20th century. And then, then they institute, they, the communist Chinese government told their people, you can't have but one child. Women can't have but one child. if you do get pregnant a second time, you will be forced into an abortion. You remember this? Do you have the answer?

>> Chris Woodward: I looked it up on Britannica, and according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it began in 1980.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, it began in 1980. And is it over now?

>> Chris Woodward: Yes, in 2016, according to Britannica.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, the policy may be over, but the problem is because of economic problems. And we see it in this country as well. Couples aren't. If they're suffering economically, there's other reasons why they're not. They don't want to bring children into the world. And so that's, that's one of the reasons.

>> Tim Wildmon: And once you get accustomed, culturally to not having children.

>> Tim Wildmon: It becomes, it becomes you don't have to have a forced abortion. They just don't get pregnant in the first place. Are you saying it started in 1990?

>> Wesley Wildmon: No, 1980.

>> Tim Wildmon: It started in 1980 and ended in 2016. So. So you're talking, 26 years.

>> Chris Woodward: 36.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, 36.

>> Fred Jackson: 36 years, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: so 36 years of that policy

>> Wesley Wildmon: and you've been teaching 18, 20, 30 year olds, to find other creative alternatives to entertainment activity too.

>> Tim Wildmon: So if you change that, Even now,

>> Wesley Wildmon: since 16, if you change the law,

>> Tim Wildmon: you still got this huge gap

>> Wesley Wildmon: in

>> Tim Wildmon: a mindset of, lack of people to take over for people who are alive today.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And unlike the United States, people aren't climbing over walls to get into China.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right, that's true.

>> Fred Jackson: You don't want a lot of our

>> Tim Wildmon: population decline, because people are having babies made up by people who. Culture that immigrated here to the US because they want to come here. Yes, we, that made up the numbers.

>> Chris Woodward: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: But you're talking about.

>> Wesley Wildmon: It's one thing for a culture to make you feel as if being independent and not having a family is a good thing. It's another thing for you to be coerced by the government.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, no, absolutely. And that's what happened in China. They. Can you imagine? I mean, that they imposed nationally.

>> Wesley Wildmon: It was codified in the, in the Chinese constitution in 1982.

>> Tim Wildmon: If, if you have a one baby is all you get to have for the women. Wow. I just, I can't imagine living that.

>> Fred Jackson: but they're paying the price for it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

All right. Stay with us for more on today's featured news stories

All right. You're listening to today's issues. We will be back momentarily with more. Stay with us. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of

>> Chris Woodward: the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Tim, Wesley and Fred talk with Chris on top news headlines of the day including a discussion on Israel's Independence Day. Also, Dr. Walter Wendler joins the program to discuss an op-ed he wrote.