Only 13% of Born Again Christians have a biblical worldview, study finds
>> I hope you're sitting down for this. George Barna's Cultural Research center found only 13% of Born Again Christians have a biblical worldview. That means there's a huge lack of biblical life essentials in our country. AFA is committed to helping churches ignite.
>> Tony Vitagliano: A hunger for God.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You can be part of that with your gift today. And we'll send you Dr. Alex McFarland's DVD. Do Christians have permission to edit Scripture? Visit afa.netbiblical afa.netBiblical.
Today's Issues offers a Christian response to the issues of the day
Welcome to Today's Issues. Join us for the next hour as we offer a Christian response to the issues of the day. And welcome to Today's Issues. We're having a little bit of a technical, issue. we got the. All right, we're working on it, folks. Ed Vitagliano, speaking for Tony Vitagliano, who is hosting, but we've got some sort of issue. all right, we, we're working on Brent Creely, our wonderful producer. I do give him a hard time, and he's, working to get that going. Anyway, I'm in studio with Tony and with Fre. Jackson. Fred, can we hear you? all right, we've, we've got some issues. Can, can our folks hear me as far as, you know? Okay.
Ed: Dr. Ray Pritchard, good morning. I can hear you loud and clear
All right, so then, we've got one out of three in studio, in Florida, in the Sunshine states. Ray Pritchard. Dr. Ray Pritchard. good morning to you, sir.
>> Tim Wildmon: Good morning, Ed. I can hear you loud and clear.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. And, now some of you, well, most of you don't know this, but when we have someone remote, like Ray or Alex McFarland or anybody, we, we, can see each other because on, on that, I can see Ray on the iPad. And I am digging that shirt right there that you've got.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's got, you know, it's a little, some kind of polo shirt. Got some, got some kind of flowers on.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Flowers.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't really.
>> Ed Vitagliano: A black background, which. Anyone who hears me with Steve Paisley Jordan, knows that I do. I like black. But that is a, that is a very cool shirt. I like that.
>> Tim Wildmon: we, I think, I think my wife and I went shopping and she said, get that one. So we got it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So, so we, we got it.
>> Tim Wildmon: We got. So we got it. Right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, that's right. well, listen, that, that's, that's the way we do shopping at my house. in fact, I will. If I like something, I will ask my wife. Do you like it?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And, I've gotten pretty good at picking, out something that looks good. not necessarily looks good on me, but looks good. But it looks good. So I do. On the. On the days, you know, when I'm going into work, usually check with my wife. This does go together. Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: And it always is a good idea. Yeah. Check with your wife. Always. Good. She will. She will rarely, probably never lead you in the wrong direction. Left to ourselves, you know, us guys, we can look.
>> Fred Jackson: Ed.
>> Tim Wildmon: We can look a little slobbery.
>> Ed Vitagliano: A little bit. A little slovenly. All right. I think we got Tony and Fred back.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Do we, myself.
Fred: It's day two of me hosting everybody
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, you're live. You're live.
>> Tony Vitagliano: It's day two of me hosting everybody.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And of course, something went wrong.
>> Tony Vitagliano: You enjoyed the first day of flawless, execution. I, just want to keep everybody on their toes. Well, mostly myself, because now I'm just kind of jumping into it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that is. By the way, that's what they always say. That's live radio. Yep. You never know when something's going to. To go see.
>> Tony Vitagliano: And it's. It was Providence. yesterday I was like, you know, it's first time hosting. I like having, you know, bodies in the room.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tony Vitagliano: I want to be, you know, too. Too empty. No offense to. To Ray over in, in Zoom Land, but. So I was like, you know, maybe. Maybe, Ed could. Could join me again, because I liked having him there. I'm glad we did. Otherwise, we'd have been just dead, you know, just dead in the water. Quiet. Would have been the Ray Pritchard show. For.
>> Ed Vitagliano: For. We would have had to pitch it to Ray and. And tell him to go. Go forth.
>> Tony Vitagliano: So I'm, sitting in. Yeah. For Tim Wildmon. and in studio. You've already done the introductions.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I did not actually introduce Fred because we couldn't hear him either.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Okay.
>> Fred Jackson: I am here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tony Vitagliano: All right. Welcome, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: All right, Very good.
Fred Pritchard talks about family traditions around Thanksgiving
>> Tony Vitagliano: And then we got. Of course, we have Ray in, Florida. So, Ray, I don't know if we talked about. It's Thanksgiving week.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Tony Vitagliano: And I knew that you, maybe mentioned yesterday that you got family in, but is there any, any interesting Pritchard, family traditions around the holiday? We talked a little bit about ours.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yesterday, but, you know, growing up, when our boys. Let's say this, when our boys were growing up, it was always Thanksgiving morning. We could sleep in a little bit. The boys would go to play football. They called it touch football, but they played on the. They played on the high school, you know, football field. And they played without any helmets and without any rules either. So you always hoped and prayed everybody would come back in one piece. And I do remember one Thanksgiving, our son got blocked or knocked or tackled to the ground and ripped out something in his knee and had that surgery. Hey, that's sports, baby. That's just, that's just big time sports. Could happen to anybody.
>> Tony Vitagliano: The following Thanksgiving, it was wiffle ball. Wiffle ball, boys.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, that, that reminds me, if I can just jump in here, too, I remember when I was at Boston College, this is just, I guess, just a guy thing on. On Thanksgiving week before we all went home for the break. We didn't get a whole week off back then. some buddies of mine and I went down to the Boston College football field, you know, with the big stands and everything like that. Nobody stopped us. And there was a bunch of guys already down there, and we played touch football on the Boston College football field. Now, you'd get arrested and, you know, the FBI probably turned loose on you.
>> Tony Vitagliano: But, yeah, a young, A young Doug Flutie was watching from the stands watching. Was inspired by your.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Y'.
>> Tim Wildmon: All.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Y' all playing football out there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's right.
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Ah, good call. Back from, the old days. Doug Flutie.
>> Tony Vitagliano: All right, well, Fred, why don't we get going?
>> Fred Jackson: Get going.
Houston, Texas, took the brunt of damage from last night's storm
>> Tony Vitagliano: Jump on in the news.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, for those of us living in the Tupelo, Mississippi area, maybe didn't get much sleep last night. There was that front that they've been talking about. I think it started out in California, moved its way across the country, but it was a nasty night last night. However, when it comes to damage from this storm, Houston, Texas, looks like it took the brunt of it in the country. we have a story on our site, afn.net, afn.net this morning that, says torn roofs and smashed windows among damage to over 100 homes in a tornado near Houston. Now we have listeners, especially in the north end of Houston. So, to you folks this morning, you can go to our site. You'll see at least one image there of some of the damage. And I, I looked at some of the other images coming out of that area of Houston, and, it's. What's amazing is that no one lost their lives. There may have been some minor injuries. but for those folks, you know, talk about heading into Thanksgiving.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Fred Jackson: so we need to be praying for those folks.
>> Ed Vitagliano: 20,000 customers without power at one point.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Be praying for Those folks, they've got other things planned now for Thanksgiving. Yeah, those that have damaged houses and that sort of thing.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I would like to just give a shout out to, the men and women who get power put back on after storms alignment.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I am always constantly amazed at how quickly they get stuff turned around. So. Talk about being thankful for people. Those folks who, in the middle of the storm, no matter if it's a holiday or not, they're out there.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, they're on call. They get the call in the middle of the night, they get called up.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes, absolutely.
Today is the busiest travel day of the year, according to transportation officials
Well, in the midst of all of this, today, by the way, guys, is the busiest travel day perhaps of the year. it's, it's the Tuesday before the.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Tuesday before.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay, Thanksgiving, I guess most people have a couple of days left of vacation and they, they start out on Tuesday. Today alone, according to the transportation people, there's over 50,000 flights moving about.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Wow.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.
>> Fred Jackson: Now, according to the Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, things have pretty well returned to order after the government shutdown. We all know what happened, but, the transportation industry believes it is ready cut number 10. Here's transportation, Secretary Sean Duffy.
>> Tony Vitagliano: We anticipate there's going to be solid staffing in our towers and tracons and.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Centers throughout the airspace.
>> Tony Vitagliano: and that's different than what we had over the shutdown. If you are traveling by air, I would, just ask that you stay in touch with your airline or update your apps, so you know if your flight has been delayed or moved at all.
>> Fred Jackson: So, yeah, millions of people traveling, and people traveling also, obviously by car, and other modes of transportation. So a busy time. if you are traveling by air, they still suggest that you call the airline and make sure, that your flight is operating. That's always really good advice. and I think it's good to, ask people to be patient. Yeah, you know, bless their hearts, the TSA people, you know, folks are rushing, they want to get to their flight. And sometimes it's not the TSA people that are nasty. That's true. Let's face it, it's the customers rolling through. And TSA says you have to open up the suitcase and all that sort of thing, and people get frustrated. Take your time. Thank the Lord that you're able to travel.
>> Tony Vitagliano: That's right.
>> Fred Jackson: and that you'll get to your destination.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah. It seems like after Covid to me, cordiality, has taken a kind of a nose dive, across the board, with you know, service people and with, customers. So, yeah, great, great, great. point, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
White House reportedly circulating plan to extend Obamacare subsidies during shutdown
All right. just mentioned the shutdown. we just came out of that. Was it 43 days?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Longest on record?
>> Tony Vitagliano: Longest on record.
>> Fred Jackson: Longest on record. You will remember the reason for the shutdown M. Is that, the Democrats wanted to extend the Biden Covid subsidies. They raised the subsidies, during COVID to help people who were put out of work. And they still needed that, Obamacare, coverage. During that time, the Republicans dug in and said, no, we're not going to vote for that. Well, the shutdown is over. But apparently, according to a story the Associated Press, and again, we have this on afn.net, afn.net, the White House is circulating a plan to extend Obamacare subsidies. You're going to shake your head at this, folks. According to the ap, they say they have sources that there is a draft plan suggests that President Donald Trump is open to extending a provision of Obamacare, which would see these subsidies extended for another two years. Now there's an election next year. Do you think that has anything to do with it?
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, I would say. I, would say that factors in, just a little bit. You know, this is, this is kind of frustrating, for, for me and for a lot of people, I'm sure a lot of our listeners, when you hear about people talk about the uni Party, to me, this is something that sticks out because for once it looked like the Republicans held out, during the shutdown, held Schumer's feet to the fire and they didn't budge. And we got out of the shutdown without really any major concessions. Matter of fact, Schumer was on the hot seat and may still be on the hot seat because he conceded. They get out of the shutdown without any major concessions to the Democrats and now turn around and because of election, season, you know, election season being just around the corner, now we have this, the White House, proposed plan. This is, I guess the rumors, a proposed plan to extend the premiums, which is what Republicans were fighting the Democrats about all along.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I got bad news for everybody. this. This is going to continue, this kind of thing, this uniparty, these kinds of problems for a number of reasons. First of all, the federal government has for decades and decades and decades far exceeded its constitutional authority and has made itself indispensable in the lives of a huge chunk of the American electorate. and, and people who can't vote children and elderly people who might not be getting out to vote. People now depend on the federal government for a lot of stuff, and it's all important stuff. That's part of the problem is that once, a large chunk of the American people become dependent upon the health care that they need, and they do need it, that's the thing. When they become dependent upon the federal government for SNAP benefits, when they become dependent upon the federal government for their housing, for subsidies, for this and for that, and you have city governments and state governments dependent upon the federal government for monies from everything from education to transportation, there is no easy way, to get off that dependency. I would say there is no way to do it, in terms of piecemeal, piecemeal legislation and moving. I mean, President Trump tried this with Doge. Okay. And that's just going to be relegated probably to the dustbin of history. We, we can't even, as far as I know, get the Republicans to put all that into law.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Ed Vitagliano: This all, all, basically by executive order and things that can easily be reversed. The only thing that is going to change that, as if and when the federal government goes broke. All right. That is, I think, and I know that sounds pretty negative, but this is what the founders warned about. This was part of the experiment and we, have, failed. I, I, I'm not saying the country is going to go, you know, into the dumpster right away, but it's clear that neither political party had. I'm going to stop because I'll rant about this for hours. Neither, political party has the will to tell the American people, you've got five years to get independent of the federal government because then we're going to stop. Except for our constitutional duties. Nobody's going to say that. And especially if, those members of Congress are going to put their reelection as their primary job responsibility, they're going to do whatever they have to to get reelected and kick the can down the road. Happy Thanksgiving.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Hey, but the cost of your turkey is down, you know, 1%.
>> Jenna Ellis: So.
Ray: Government spending and population becoming increasingly reliant on government money
>> Tony Vitagliano: Hey, Ray, it seems to me that this issue of government spending that Ed was talking about, government spending and a, population becoming increasingly reliant on money from the government. Seems to me that there's this recursive issue or a circular issue that happens so that the cost of, because the government, increased these subsidies for Obamacare, I'm guessing based on my own healthcare, expenses that I've had, with five kids, they definitely Come around pretty often. Healthcare hasn't gotten any cheaper. It's only gotten more expensive. So the subsidies, increase the cost of health care, which means that people are paying more for health care, which means that they need the continued subsidy. You see, this, this, this kind of recursive issue. How, how do you, how would you break that cycle? Ray? I mean, what do you do about that?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Solve it.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Solve it right now.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. Give me 30 seconds. All right, look, I can remember. I'm old enough to remember Ronald Reagan coming into power and he was going to tame the size of the federal government. And he came in with all good intentions, right? All good intentions. Had both houses of the Congress with him for a while. How much did he. And President Reagan was truly a great man, but he found once he got to the White House, it's almost impossible. For all the reasons, Ed, that you laid out earlier, it almost doesn't matter what the politicians say. When they're on the campaign stump, they will tell us what they think we want to hear. They go to Washington and it seems as if nothing ever changes. And, do I have a solution? I think I'd be in Washington if I had a solution instead of talking to you, because I don't really. The Americans are in the entitlement M mode, right? And it's built in and it's baked in. So I don't. We didn't send Donald Trump to Washington to continue the Obamacare thing for two more years, Right? But I'm not surprised because President Trump is nothing if he's not a pragmatic politician and to make whatever deal he wants to make. Maybe they're going to do this. Is it a good idea? I doubt it, but that's where we are.
For Obamacare subsidies, eligibility would be capped at 700% of federal poverty level
>> Fred Jackson: There's one more aspect to this, and it's in this AP story that, we have on our website, afn.net it says eligibility for the Obamacare subsidies. By the way, during, the shutdown, they said there were in excess of 40 million Americans that are on Obamacare right now, both citizens and non citizens. All right, for the Obamacare subsidies, which were implemented during the COVID 19 pandemic to help people afford health care coverage would be capped at 700% of the federal poverty level, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Did you say 700?
>> Fred Jackson: 700%. So I wasn't sure what the official federal government poverty level number was, so did a little bit of research. For single people, it is 50, around $15,000 for a family you qualify? Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay.
>> Fred Jackson: For a family of four, the official poverty level is said to be 32,000, so you got to seven times those numbers to see if you would qualify for these subsidies. Again, it's according to this AP story of unnamed sources, but usually even with the ap. And I don't completely trust the Associated Press, certainly all the time, but usually there's an element of truth here. overall, it would not surprise me if there is some truth that they plan to continue these subsidies for the next two years.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and let me just give a little bit more bad news, because the younger generations. So that's younger than Tony's age, but, especially those who are coming into a voting age, they are clearly not of the mindset that, hey, we need to shrink the size of the government. M. All right. They want. They are asking politicians to, forgive their college loans, to make it easier for them to, you know, buy or rent housing. And listen, I'm not blaming anybody.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm not blaming anybody for wanting those things. I'm not blaming people who are using the federal government to feed their families. We have entered into a situation where people have to have it and they can only look to the government. But what I'm saying is the younger generation is going to want more of it.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Well, and I can't. This is going to sound weird. I can't say that I blame them because the economy and the environment they are growing up in has been inflated by reckless government spending for the last, you know. well, ever since I've been involved in politics. I mean, I'd say really, since the last 20 years, it's really accelerated. I mean, the government's always been spending more than it brings in, but it's really just accelerated. So they are growing up in a world where health care from the start is not affordable.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Tony Vitagliano: I mean, it's,
>> Ed Vitagliano: Fred.
>> Tony Vitagliano: 700% of the federal poverty level. That's capping the subsidy access, folks. That means that health insurance. Well, when you go see your physician, they're not going to lower their prices because there's the government right behind you subsidizing up to 700% of a person's subsidy. they're going to pay towards health care. The health insurance companies aren't going to lower their prices because they've got the full faith and backing of the federal government and its entitlement program. So, yeah, you have young people growing up, who have, in a lot of ways, no, other alternative. You know, they were told from the beginning. You mentioned college. They were told from the beginning that in order to earn, make a living, in order to make money, you got to go to college. Now, if you. If you take, you know, underwater LGBTQ backs, basket weaving theory, you know, that's your problem. But you have young people who are getting legitimate degrees now, but are coming out of colleges with tremendous debt because that's the direction they've been pushed. And you have the federal government, who's been subsidizing scholarships and aid and everything, guaranteeing it. So colleges continue to creep up and raise their prices. I can't say, you know, I blame that mindset. Now, is it a good mindset to have? No. Is it going to lead towards financial ruin? probably. But, it's the situation that we're in, unfortunately. And like you said, apart from a, massive government default, there's no.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't.
>> Tony Vitagliano: I don't see many other ways to, to right the ship. Happy Thanksgiving.
>> Fred Jackson: It's also. It's also the, abuse of the emergency rooms.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: All of us people can show up in emergency rooms. They don't have any insurance, but those emergency rooms have to service those individuals. And the hospitals say we got to make up this cost somewhere else.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: I was told by an insurance agent back a few weeks ago that a week stay in some hospitals now, the full cost is about $100,000, for a week.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm shocked that that's all it is. Yes. For a week.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Folks, you're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. When we come back, Jenna Ellis will be joining us to discuss some of the events happening around our nation and the world. We'll be right back after a short break.
Preborn Network helps women choose life through a free ultrasound
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>> Tony Vitagliano: Of today's Issues are available for listening.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of Today's Issues.
Today's Issues comes from American Family Radio, AFR
>> Tony Vitagliano: Good morning and welcome back to Today's Issues. You are listening to American Family Radio, AFR. You can listen to us on AFR.net on your radio, in your car or on the app, the AFR app. And if you miss a show, you can catch, all the shows that you've missed or you can go back and listen as far back as you want to. We keep them for a couple of years. So in studio with me is Ed Vitagliano and Fred Jackson from the Great Sunshine State is Ray Pritchard. And joining us now is Jenna Ellis, also from the Great Sunshine State, host, of the Jenna Ellis in the Morning Show. It's heard at weekdays at 7am Central Time on AFR and host of the On Demand podcast. Now, that is the name of the podcast that always confused me a little bit. So the podcast in and of itself is On Demand, but the name of the podcast is On Demand. Is that correct, Brent?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Okay. And that's found on afr.net so welcome, Jenna.
>> Jenna Ellis: Thanks. And yeah, that's actually why we called it On Demand, because it's on Demand.
Jenna, do you have any plans for Thanksgiving this year
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep. And you are in demand.
>> Tony Vitagliano: That's right. There's a theme here. A lot of Florida, a lot of Florida residents on the, on the show today. So something about it. The great state of Florida. Jenna, do you have, any plans for Thanksgiving?
>> Jenna Ellis: Yes, I'm actually staying in the free state of Florida. And, so I have a few neighbors and some friends, who don't have any other family plans. And so I'm actually hosting a Thanksgiving brunch at my house, which I'm very excited about, so having kind of a friendsgiving this year and, really looking forward to it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I've also heard, one of your two dogs, so Doug and Howard, right, that's the name of.
>> Jenna Ellis: Your dogs, Todd and Copper, and that was little Todd. And we've had, a few of the neighborhood kids coming by, and I'm not exactly sure what they're saying selling or doing for their school project, but they've been coming around and knocking on our door all this morning. So, Todd is at his post patrolling.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh. Ah, I, I have bad news for you, Jenna. That they're not coming for a project if kids in the neighborhood are knocking on your door and running. Okay, that's, that is a.
>> Jenna Ellis: No, they're not. No, they're, they're not running. They're actually. Because I'd open the door a little bit. They're doing something for you know, selling like, I think it's like wrapping paper or something. Not totally sure. We haven't answered the door every time. But they're all they're all wrapping paper.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, That's a thing.
>> Tony Vitagliano: It's a thing.
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Tony Vitagliano: I've never heard of that. I've heard of cookies and popcorn, but never wrapping paper. Yeah. Okay.
Jenna Stand: Christian Post article explores whether conservative right should support Israel
Well Jenna, welcome to the show. We been talking about the an article that you wrote for the Christian Post, I think it was yesterday posted, really good article, about. It's called the NewSong Rights Revolt is not really about Israel. So could you give us kind of just an overview of what you kind of discuss in this article?
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And this is in the Christian Post Today and I think we're also posting this on American Family News as well. And we've seen for the last few months, especially with the Ted Cruz Tucker Carlsen debate a couple months ago, that really was kind of the launch into a more national conversation about this question of whether the conservative right should support Israel. It's always been a basic assumption that of course we should. And yet the younger generation and those who are terming themselves the NewSong Right, which are kind of these isolationist, populist driven America only, ah, kind of, I guess consensus on this NewSong Right is a really a breakdown of the consensus that has once bound us together as conservatives. And that's true, for the overall consensus that they're seeking, as I write, a Republican Party that's less tied to Reagan's legacy, less anchored by churches, less committed to alliances, allegiances, and more defined by an online populism that elevates grievance over governance. So they want to frame the Old right and they would put Christian conservatives in this category as antiquated, backward looking traditionalists while rebranding as relevant post truth and quote unquote, just asking questions. We've seen, Tucker, Candace Owens, a few of those, using that phraseology and in their emerging Worldview support for Israel and is a marker of the Old Right, while skepticism is a badge that shows membership in the NewSong Right. And so what I'm suggesting in this piece is that it's less about a theological or even policy argument to be anti Israel. It's more about marginalizing the old establishment conservatives and Christians. And so that consensus, that once made up the three pillars of evangelical Christians, the Reagan, Bush foreign policy establishment and free market institutionalists, that consensus is the target and the commonality has been support for Israel.
>> Tony Vitagliano: So I guess there is some, I think we would all agree that there probably is some validity to the criticism that some people on the NewSong right would have of the establishment right. I mean especially the younger generation. They've seen they've been failed by the establishment, so many times that I think a rebellion is of sorts, is natural now the way it's manifesting itself is of concern to a lot of us here, you know, who aren't just you know, establishment, die hards. You know, we're critical of you know, the, we're critical of aspects of the Bush era, but we're also critical of you know, aspects of the Trump era also. So Jenna, how do we go about reaching out, to especially young people who are increasingly aligning themselves with the NewSong Right, at reaching out to them and kind of pulling them back away from the aspects of the aspects of the NewSong Right that are detrimental for our country and our alliances globally. How would we go about reaching out?
>> Jenna Ellis: That's a great question. And I think it it comes first with not suggesting that the critique or skepticism of institutions that have failed the younger generation is wrong and that their questioning of these things and, and their skepticism in government is somehow misplaced. But instead of driving them to the old establishment or to man made institutions, we need to tell them to look toward the eternal principles that transcend man made institutions. We need to look at God ordained institutions, which is the church government, the family government and a legitimate civil government. And I actually wrote about that in another piece, a companion piece, basically to this, talking about how the answer to the future of conservatism isn't behind us, it's above us. And that I think is what's missing overall in, in some of the Old establishment that the NewSong Right is rightly criticizing or correctly criticizing. Where Ted Cruz frankly didn't have a good answer for why the why America should support Israel he didn't know about, you know, Genesis chapter 12, he couldn't quote that. He didn't have a comprehensive argument. He just sort of assumed that because the, the Right has always been a supporter of Israel that that would just continue and he didn't have to actually explain himself. And so for people, just really quickly, for people who are kind of confused with this term, the NewSong Right, I actually created a definition that we're going to have in our upcoming issue of the Stand magazine. And so this is the definition as I've described it. The NewSong Right, that term is an emergent populist faction on the American right that rejects traditional conservatism, its moral foundations and the God ordained institutions, church, family, limited government that once anchored the movement. It defines itself less by principled philosophy and Western values and more by media driven contrarianism, grievance politics and a performative rejection of the older GOP consensus. Suspicious of churches, historic alliances, constitutional order and long standing commitments, especially support for Israel, the NewSong Right recasts America first as America only, promoting isolationism and disengagement rather than national strength. Personal brands, not principles and theology drive its incentives, rewarding hostility toward the Old Right, evangelical influence and donor networks. Instead of conserving, the NewSong Right seeks to tear down traditional structures and redefine the right around reaction, digital clout and post truth identity rather than ordered liberty.
The shift going on is especially pronounced among younger conservative men, Jen says
>> Fred Jackson: Wow, great Jen and Fred here. in this article, which is terrific, really thought provoking. You say the shift going on, pardon me, is especially pronounced among younger conservative men. They are more secular, more anti war, less institutionally attached and more shaped by TikTok, YouTube and algorithmic contrarianism than by the scars of 911 or the benefits of the Reagan ear. That surprised me a little bit because you know, I've been reading polls where, where the followers of Charlie Kirk included a lot of young men. You mentioned something a moment ago. Does the church bear some responsibility for not grounding what we would call traditional values in eternal scriptures?
>> Jenna Ellis: Absolutely. And I blame largely this shift on the overall woke evangelical movement that has really been infiltrating America, America for the last few decades. And so this next generation grew up in the era of the celebrity pastor, the woke church, and a lack of grounding in eternal principles and more with this idea that the church has to be relevant to the culture. The church is more about living your best life, advocating for these kind of TED talks and giving motivational speeches instead of discipling young men in actually the ways of truth and the scripture and the gospel. And so when we Are not. When the church is not the church, then it's not driving young men toward the family which is the grounding institution for society. And so this study show that fewer people are getting married and fewer people are marrying young. And that even among Christians this idea of marriage is more of a well, do I want to do this for my own personal benefit and do I want to have kids and do I want to spend my economic capital on kids or do I want to be kind of this dual income, no kids or what they call the dinks, you know, the dual income, no kids and do I even want to have a commitment in marriage rather than just a long term girlfriend? And the rise of figures on the right like the Andrew Tates that suggest that masculinity is, is just about self and about this projection of control and then the rise of the anti Semitic kind of Nick Fuentes that has, you know, very large following and then these just asking questions kind of people like the Tucker Carlson's, they're all working actually alongside the woke churches to push young men further and further away from God's design and participation in God ordained institutions because of the skepticism of man made institutions.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Jenna, I agree with you know, Tony and Fred and Ray. I'm sure we're going to let Ray in here I guess, but this was a superb article, your insights here. And one of the things that I noted in conversations during our story meeting, is the fact that what's, what you describe, what's happening on the NewSong Right mirrors what's happening in the Democratic Party with the younger voters coming up who are also hostile to the establishment and who are also kind of blazing a heretofore unseen trail, in, in terms of Democratic politics. So we have this younger generation, probably for similar reasons, mirroring each other as they attempt to hollow out the political parties, the two political parties that have governed American politics for more than a century, and completely change them to reflect a whole new view. I found that kind of a fascinating kind of mirror imaging. What do you think about that?
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah. And I think what you're describing, and I'm so glad that you brought up that point because what you're describing is what I've long called the problem with the, the traditional political spectrum that if you, if you imagine this, what we often do is draw kind of a straight line and have the far left and then the far right and you know, moderates kind of in the middle and we've always characterized the right being you know, to the right of center and the left being left of center. And it's always a straight line. But I think that there's a problem with that. I, think that it's actually a bell curve because if we, if we curve that line and we say that conserving truth and biblical God ordained institutions is at the top of that, you can then fall off and get to a false worldview on either the left or the right. And the further you go toward the extremes of either end of that bell curve, then the further you get from conserving truth. And so it's not just this linear spectrum and we actually want to go the farthest to the right as we can because moderate centrist is a bad thing. We are actually, it's not about moderate or centrism at all. It's about conserving the truth, which should be at the top of that bell curve. And we don't want to fall off toward totalitarian dystopian tyranny on the left, but we also don't want to fall off into this isolationism, populist driven, new right sort of fanaticism that we're seeing. that's actually anarchy on the total right. We have to conserve the truth, which is always God centered.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's interesting. Very interesting, Ray.
You say President Trump complicates matters on Israel in your column
>> Tim Wildmon: Jenna, first of all, thank you for tremendous column. Let's talk about President Trump. And I say that because in your column you just kind of drop a line in there. You say President Trump complicates matters. I suppose we would all look at President Trump and say he is indeed, as you say in the column, broadly pro Israel. But in what way does the president with his, with something new to say every day. How does that complicate this whole issue?
>> Jenna Ellis: Well, I think he complicates the picture because as I write in the piece, he remains broadly pro Israel. He's not working at all to alienate evangelical voters. And in fact, you know, we still have the faith based, ah, office in the White House. He, you know, Charlie Kirk was one of his best friends. he certainly is very much, a friend of the evangelical right. But the problem is that the movement that has formed around him, the overall, MAGA movement, is headed in a very different direction and his populism kind of spearheaded that. And so because he is not overall theologically based, his policy is not based on a comprehensive theology. It's based on his populist view of what he thinks is best for America, where we may align with that, you know, 90% even greater, 95%. The fact is he is not steering the ideological trajectory of the right. He is just being pulled along by it. And once he exits, with not having another election, whoever is the next MAGA leader or movement of the overall GOP or this new right, if they are not principled and grounded in theology, they're going to steer this even more into a populist, isolationist, anti God, anti Israel, godless movement than President Trump ever intended.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Insightful comment, commentary. ah, as always, Jenna, we great article.
Jenna Ellis will talk about Islam infiltration into the United States tomorrow
what what do you have going on this week on the, on the show? Anything.
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah, thanks. So tomorrow I'm actually really excited, to do most of the show that is dedicated to this idea of Islam, infiltration into the United States. I have a very dear friend of mine, Shram Hadian. He runs the Truth in Love ministry and he's going to be on for the majority of the program talking about the truth of Islam being a legal, framework. It's not just a religion. It actually Sharia law is inextricably intertwined with what it means to be a Muslim. And he's someone that actually grew up in Iran. He was a former Muslim and then by the grace of God, learned the truth of the Gospel of Christ. And he's dedicated his ministry to being a pastor proclaiming that truth. And so we're going to go into detail about why it's very dangerous just to characterize people like Zoran Mamdani as just a Democrat socialist. It's actually more insidious that he is a dedicated member of Islam and how we need to fight, for the future of America and reject any form of Islam that is infiltrating.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Well, I can't wait. and that is Jenna Ellis in the Morning. That will be, airing tomorrow. And then, you can also catch her show on Demand Command found, @afr.net Jenna, thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
>> Jenna Ellis: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. And please do read this article in the Christian Post Today and I've posted it all across my socials. it's titled the NewSong Rights Revolt is not really about Israel. So Happy Thanksgiving guys. Thanks.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, and that is on afn.afn.net so either way, these are, these were great insights from her and I hope she continues to to study this and to God. Hope God continues to, to give her insights because this is a. I was in kind of preparing for this segment with, ah, Jenna, I was reminded of a phrase from Thomas Hobbes, the kind of natural law philosopher from the 1600s. I mean, way, way back, the war of all against all. and what, I'm not a political scientist, I enjoy it and read it. But my understanding of what Hobbes believed was that outside of a government, human beings tend to fracture and go to war with one another and that you need government and the social contract to to lessen that and to ah, allow human beings to live in a peaceful environment. You need government. Now Hobbes believed in what he called Leviathan, a very strong, almost totalitarian state. I don't agree with that at all. But, but what it did remind me of is that as republics fracture, like we are clearly fracturing in this country, you do get this war of all against all. You got this, you get this fragmenting, you get all these splinters that will temporarily align to defeat this person. And you don't really have a coherent culture or ideology guiding the nation. and what happens is you sometimes devolve to the part where, to the extent that you need a dictator, and that's what happens to republics when they fall apart is they, they go to totalitarianism as a solution.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Right. Because in our political climate today, it's, it's more about, winner take all power control rather than, you know, the, the arena of, free speech and ideas where if you want to, you know, have a majority in the control in the government, you have to win over your fellow citizens outside of the government with your ideas. Yeah, it used to be that way. It used to be more so a battle of the ideas, discussions, open discussions. Now it's more of a, it seems to be more of a power grab. Who's going to take control and
>> Ed Vitagliano: If we don't and if you're successful, like Charlie Kirk, we'll shoot you. Yeah, all right. That, that's, that's, that's the kind of thing, Anyway, I, Let me just say just one other thing. I, I don't want our listeners to get depressed, because God is in control. And I, I, don't, I do not know what the future of America is, but I do know this. The gates of hell are not going to prevail against the church.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Amen.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And whatever we face as a nation and as a people. I love what Jenna was saying. I absolutely love what she said about the bell curve, that even conservatives can get it wrong. Just because you're, you're A conservative doesn't mean your ideas, political ideas, align with scripture. And part of the problem is we are not seeing pastors teach their people about how biblical truth leads to certain political outcomes. And as a result of that, bad actors are taking control of the hearts and minds of many of the people in the church. Amen.
The United States is preparing to go into Venezuela for three reasons
>> Fred Jackson: All right, just have a few minutes left before the news. And you know, during, the shutdown, the government shutdown, there were other things going on. The news cycles focused on the impact of the shutdown, et cetera, et cetera. as almost a sidebar story, we heard stories about, you know, the Trump administration, our military blowing up drug boats coming out of Venezuela. And then there was the story of us moving a military hardware, lots of it, into the waters off of Venezuela, including our largest aircraft carrier. And then yesterday, amongst other things going on, the US Officially labeled Maduro Tide Cartel de la Souls as a terror organization. Madura being the dictator of Venezuela, kind of scary stuff that, all of this is heading. And even Republican congresswoman from Florida, Maria Salazar, in an interview with Fox last evening said basically the United States is headed towards a takeover in Venezuela. Cut number four.
>> Speaker F: Maduro is not Fidel Castro. Maduro is not a brave boy. So now that he has understood that he is on that very nefarious list of the terrorist organization, that the airspace above Venezuela has been closed off and the commercial airlines from the United States are not flying, he's understanding that we're about to go in. He understands that heishe, has been our enemy for the last 25 years. Venezuela, for those Americans who do not understand why we need to go in for three, basically for three reasons. Reasons, Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity. American companies can go in and fix all the oil pipe, the whole oil rigs and everything that has to do with the Venezuelan petroleum, companies or anything that has to do with oil and, the derivatives.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, three reasons. You said oil. She also talked about security, bad actors in Venezuela and also political, that those people need to be freed.
>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, so we have, we have some, there's things going on in the world. hopefully this situation can be resolved, without, direct involvement by us. But we'll see what happens. Coming up, we have a five minute break for news and then we'll have Steve Jordahl joining us.
>> Jenna Ellis: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
