Tim Wildman: The average American eats almost 70 quarts of popcorn annually
>> Tim Wildmon: If we lose this cultural war, we're going to have a hedonistic, humanistic society.
>> Frank Turek: Discover the story of the culture warrior Don Wildmon and how he went head to head with Hollywood playboy, the homosexual agenda and the Disney empire. The movement Don started paved the way for Christians to boldly stand for truth
>> Tim Wildmon: and righteousness in a hostile culture.
>> Frank Turek: Watch Culture Warrior today for free. Visit culturewarrior movie M welcome to today's
>> Chris Woodward: Issues, offering a Christian response to
>> Tim Wildmon: the issues of the day.
>> Chris Woodward: Here's your host, Tim Wildmon. M President of the American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody. Welcome to today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. In case you were wondering, today's Tuesday, May 12, 2026. And we thank you for listening to AFR. I'm Tim Wildmon. In studio with me today is Wesley Wildmon. Good morning, Wesley.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: Good morning. Krish Woodward.
>> Chris Woodward: Good morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: And Ray Pritchard in kcks. How you doing?
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, I'm doing great, Tim. And, got any of that popcorn you could pass down here? Man, I'm hungry this morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: This popcorn is the breakfast of champions right here. I didn't have any breakfast this morning,
>> Tim Wildmon: so I didn't really either.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah, I didn't want to malnourish, so, you know, you can get, you can get weak.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right. You don't have anything getting the shakes.
>> Tim Wildmon: So I got. Yeah, so I got some.
>> Tim Wildmon: Before, we go on the radio, we need some nutrition, right?
>> Tim Wildmon: Absolutely. And popcorn. What better nutrition?
>> Wesley Wildmon: I mean, it's the same every time. Like the Chick Fil? A chicken nuggets, Right? I mean, it's the same popcorn Studio is the same. It's steady.
>> Tim Wildmon: I, don't know. We got the best popcorn in the world.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, we have, actually.
>> Tim Wildmon: I haven't been around the world, actually, but I don't think we're just going to say that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Who can prove us right?
>> Wesley Wildmon: That would be interesting to see how if there's different ways you can make your popcorn around the world, you know, maybe with different seasonings or maybe different flavors, different oil. Different oil, yep.
>> Chris Woodward: I don't know if this is accurate, but I just found a website called Popcorn for the people.com and it's 15 Interesting Popcorn Facts. I think we have these people beat. According to Popcorn for the people dot com, an average American eats almost, 70 quarts of popcorn every year.
>> Tim Wildmon: How much is that?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Let's go.
>> Tim Wildmon: Reports to a gallon.
>> Frank Turek: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's, it's, popcorn's fluff, you know, I don't Know how much that really is, right? What? What? How many pounds is that?
>> Chris Woodward: Okay.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Post fluffness. It's not free fluff.
>> Tim Wildmon: Free fluff.
>> Chris Woodward: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: I just made that word up. I don't know.
>> Chris Woodward: So, by the way, I'd like to preface all this by saying I have a BA in communication.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so you're prefaced in the ploughing. Popcorn.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, ah, I'm just saying I'm not a math guy.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Chris Woodward: 70 quarts is approximately 146.02 pounds of water.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know.
>> Tim Wildmon: It doesn't help at all.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I was thinking we're getting in too deep and we're not even going to be able to fake it, anymore. Probably need to move on. I just say this, what you're saying to us. Krish says the average American eats a lot of popcorn.
>> Chris Woodward: They do.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: January 19th is national popcorn Day.
>> Tim Wildmon: Huh? We need to remember.
>> Chris Woodward: Should have a roll. Let's do a special show, Brent.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And this popcorn is not the popcorn from the bag that you put in the microwave. This is the popcorn you get from, like, the fair. The carnivore. I mean.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: The good. It's the good stuff.
>> Tim Wildmon: We take our popcorn seriously.
>> Tim Wildmon: We got the good stuff.
Wesley: The world's got a lot of problems today
>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Lot going on in the world as you eat your popcorn. The world's, got a lot of problems.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: And, we're going to solve them today.
>> Chris Woodward: We sure are.
>> Tim Wildmon: On the, on the program. Today's issues at the bottom of the hour. Dr. Frank Turek will make an appearance on here. host of I Don't have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. Our good friend at, excuse me, at 10:15 rather so like 7 minutes, 6 and a half minutes from now, not the bottom of the hour. Frank will be with us. And Wesley, you heard a podcast Frank did the other day.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I did. I got about halfway through it and actually I had to stop it because I had to be at work on time. But I was listening to it this morning, yesterday afternoon and carried over to this morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: What was it about?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Really good. Angels, Demons and Aliens is the name of the radio program that, I was listening to in the form of a podcast. And very good, really interested and strengthening my faith to hear some of the miracles that have been confirmed through a friend of Frank Turek, that he had on his radio. So, and then of course, you
>> Tim Wildmon: mean miracles like I thought you told me on this top. Relative to this topic.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, the. On the topic of angels in that discussion on angels. There were a handful of, eyewitness testimonies of miracles that took place, and the angels were present, and that was discussed on the podcast. And then the last, portion of the, of the, podcast or the radio program that I did not get to listen to yet that I'm most interested in is Alien. So I thought if we had them on today, we could ask him about it and then I don't have to listen to it this afternoon. It's already done.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right, well, that's a good point. Save your time.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Save some time. Two and one.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're going to be talking about. We're going to be talking about China a little bit later on, right?
>> Chris Woodward: We are. We have some, the president's on his way later today, so. Yeah.
Ray Pritchard and Wesley Wildman traveled to China 15 years ago
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, I want to talk about that with two fellows who have been to China, and they're amongst us here. M. Ray Pritchard and Wesley Wildmon traveled to China, what, 15 years ago? Ray?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, about right. Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And y' all had a experience. Wesley came back and told me all about it. And you, did, too. And, so you guys have at least some personal travel insight into China. But, President United States is. You say when is he leaving?
>> Chris Woodward: He's leaving today to go over and
>> Tim Wildmon: have a meeting with the.
>> Chris Woodward: His, Chinese counterparts.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, so that's coming up. we'll talk about, our relationship with the communist Chinese government and maybe what it means with our situation with Iran, too, because China buys a lot of its oil from Iran, and I'm sure they want this straight of her moods open soon as possible, and they can get back to getting their oil at, least 20% of it is what I read. Yep.
Frank Turek hosts I Don't have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
All right. You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Joining us now, we're going to bring him on early. Better early than late. is Dr. Frank Turek, host of I Don't have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist radio show and podcast Raise her. Saturdays at 9am Central Time right here on American Family Radio and Sundays at 4:00pm Central Time, in the afternoon, obviously, p.m. on American Family Radio. So you want to hear Ray's weekly radio show live. It's not doing it live necessarily, but, you can hear it right here on American Family Radio. I don't his tape before live audience. I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. Heard each weekend here on American Family Radio. good morning, Frank.
>> Frank Turek: Good morning. You know, Wesley said he hadn't watched the whole show yet. I don't know if he knows this, but you can't be saved unless you watch the whole show. I don't make the rules.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Wow.
>> Frank Turek: I don't make the rules.
>> Tim Wildmon: That is a powerful radio show right there.
>> Wesley Wildmon: So then we need to just hold off and.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right, you need to go watch it right now.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes, that's right. And we'll have you back on later. So thanks for coming. Yeah, appreciate that, Frank.
Tim Ferriss: What prompted this topic on UFO podcast
>> Tim Wildmon: And, so, so, Dr. Frank Turk with us. what's the, Wesley was talking about this podcast. What's what, what's the name of the podcast and what prompted this topic?
>> Frank Turek: Well, Billy Halliwell is a reporter with cbn and he and his team have done a couple of sort of mini documentaries, are about 75 minutes long. The first one they did was on Miracles. The one we talked about the other day is on Angels and Demons. And we also wound up talking about al Aliens, because that's related. And, so we were talking about this documentary, video documentary they've created called Angels and Demons. And so I just had Billy on to talk about it because it's a fascinating topic.
>> Tim Wildmon: Now, is this related to the US government's release of UFO files the other day?
>> Frank Turek: Actually, no, Tim, they did this, they did this documentary like a year ago.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Frank Turek: So it's prior to that. It just so happens to coincide with, this announcement.
Are they truly aliens or not? And, uh, the conclusion that
And, so we talked a little bit about what are these aliens? What do we think they are?
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, you're saying that as if they're matter of fact. So you believe they're. Well, what aliens are you talking about here?
>> Frank Turek: There are experiences that people have. Are they truly aliens or not? And, the conclusion that, the documentary came to, and Dr. Hugh Ross is one of the experts they interview on this, is that they think that these manifestations of aliens are demonically related for a number of reasons or demonically sourced. One is they do things that are physically impossible by the laws of physics. Yeah, they travel at these great speeds. There's no sonic boom, for example. they go off in all sorts of crazy movements that appear to defy the laws of physics. and there's never any wreckage left. There's never any physical evidence left. There's video.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, there is. There's crop circles.
>> Frank Turek: Oh, that's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: You not see TV reports.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I.
>> Frank Turek: Man, where have I been? There are. Yeah, there are crop circles. Do you know why there are crop circles? Because that's how you irrigate more easily. I just looked this up, by the way. I'm on a plane the other day looking at why do they do that in circles and not squares? Because it's much easier to irrigate that way.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, you mean for the aliens.
>> Frank Turek: For the aliens, exactly.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, anyway, Ray, go ahead, your question.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, Frank.
Is there contemporary evidence of angels in the world today and demons
As to the question of angels and demons, even among Christians. Frank, to people who believe the Bible, we're a little unsure about this. Is there contemporary evidence of angels in the world today and demons in the world today? How would you begin to answer that question?
>> Frank Turek: Well, that's what the documentary does. Let me just complete my thought on the aliens for a second. Because the reason that, you, Ross and others. Doctor, You, Ross and others think it's demonically sourced is because most of these sightings are in areas that have a lot of occult activity. Ah, people who are engaged in the occult. And these instances sometimes drive people to suicide. They drive people to evil. demons hang around. According to Billy on the podcast Angels don't. Angels show up and leave. Demons are trying to bring glory to themselves. So for that and some other reasons, they think the alien sightings are demonically sourced. Can we prove that? No, but that's their best hypothesis when it comes to angels and demons. one of the instances that the documentary gets into is a man who was crushed by a semi. He's working under it. And the jack gives way up in Wisconsin and he, his organs are crushed. He actually dies underneath this semi. And he's 15ft above the room and he sees two angels attending to him. And he sees the paramedics come in. He describes what they're wearing. He couldn't have done that, unless he was above the room to see all this. So this instance is not only, showing angels, it's also what's known as a near death experience. A near death experience that is veridical, meaning that you can test it out to see if it's true. It's not like somebody says, oh, I died and I saw my grandmother in heaven. You can't verify that, but you can verify someone who is above the room and says, hey, I saw you're wearing a red shirt and the other guy was, you know, wearing a yellow shirt. And you came in and you had this and you did this and you did that, wouldn't have been able to know that unless he could see it from above. I mean, you've heard instances where people, they're on the operating table and when they're brought back, they flatline. When they're brought back, they say, hey, there was Just an accident on third in Maine. It was a white Cherokee and a black Mercedes. And then the doctors check it out later and they go, yeah, there was one out there. How would that guy know that? He was on the table the whole time. So these kind of events occur, and apparently these angels tended to this guy who had five arteries severed, and nobody's ever survived more than three arteries severed. long story. The documentary gets into it again called Angels and Demons, and he's alive today and he's talking about it. So the angels always prevent deaths? Obviously not, but sometimes they do.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And where can they find the documentary? Because y' all did a wonderful job of covering it on the. The radio program. But for those that wanted to see the more extensive version of the, interview, from the journalist Billy Holloway. Where would they find that?
>> Frank Turek: Yeah, if they go to, Let me, Let me.
>> Tim Wildmon: Probably cbn, right?
>> Frank Turek: It is cbn. Let me get the exact link.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Sure.
>> Frank Turek: If they look it up on our YouTube channel, the Cross Examine YouTube channel, they'll see the podcast there. And, the actual link to it is. Here it is. It's CBN. CBN for Christian Broadcast Network, cbn.com supernatural.
>> Wesley Wildmon: The reason I was fascinated, as I was listening to it, is because of the overwhelming amount of evidence that was. That was given by the, by the journalist, Billy Holloway.
>> Tim Wildmon: He was evidence for what?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Evidence for angels, demons. And then, his explanation, which I have not got to the part of the aliens part, but I'm interested in continuing on the radio program for the podcast.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. Angels, like Frank's talking about. Angels are mentioned all through the Bible. Right. So.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right, right. You know, I was just the other day, and this goes right to Frank's point, I was reading Hebrews chapter 13, and you have that little verse there in Hebrews 13, be careful to always show hospitality to strangers, because some people have, in the King James, it says, have entertained angels, unawares. Meaning that. Well, meaning Frank, there's a lot more going on in the world than we're aware of. And I think of that story in Second Kings, chapter six, when Elisha and his servant down there in city of Dothan, and the bad guys, the Arameans, were all around the city, and the servants scared to death. And Elisha prays, oh, Lord, open his eyes. And the servant's eyes were open. And he saw above the bad guys. He saw the horses and chariots of the army of God all around. And I think, Frank, we ought to be saying to people, you should believe in the work of the good Angels of God. And I think when we get to heaven we're going to discover that, we were helped along the way by angels and had no idea at the time.
>> Frank Turek: That's right. And sometimes the question comes up too. Ray, I get this. Sometimes we talked about it on the show that you know, people will say, okay, an angel saved this guy. Why didn't he save my nephew who was killed in a car wreck? You know, that kind of.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Frank Turek: And I think the answer to that is is because God is not a formula. He's a person, he's personal. We don't just, we don't just like treat God like a computer. We're going to put all this input in and get out what we want. God has reasons for sometimes saving people and sometimes not saving people. And we don't know what those reasons are. There's always a ripple effect. However, every event that occurs in this life ripples forward to affect other events. God may allow certain evils for certain reasons. On the other hand, there may be times when he does intervene.
Tim: Just because God doesn't heal everybody doesn't mean he doesn't prevent some
In fact, we may have had angels protect us on several occasions in our lives and we just don't know it.
>> Frank Turek: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, that's true.
>> Frank Turek: So to say, well, I can't believe that God healed this one person through an angel because he didn't heal my nephew is not the right way to think. Just because God doesn't heal everybody doesn't mean there's no evidence he's healed some or he's prevented disaster at some times. God is not a formula. He's personal.
>> Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues. That's the name of this show on the American Family Radio Network. I'm Tim with Wesley, Krish and Ray and we're joined by our good friend Dr. Frank Turek. He's the host of I Don't have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist podcast and radio show. and we air his show each weekend, 9, a.m. central Time every Saturday and 4pm Central Time on Sunday afternoon. Krish, did you have a question?
Some believers are not well versed when it comes to prophecy and demons
>> Chris Woodward: I do have a question. We've talked before on this show with Frank and Ray and others, about how some believers, maybe even many of them, are not well versed when it comes to things like prophecy, when it comes to the issues of angels and demons. Is that something you guys, Frank and Ray think pastors should be, doing more of or are they also under informed given that maybe seminaries don't get into this stuff?
>> Frank Turek: Yeah, that's a good question. Christopher. I'm, not exactly sure how much seminaries get into it. They ought to. I'm reminded of what C.S. lewis said. You know, there's two extremes. One extreme is you think there's a demon under every rock. And the other extreme is you don't think demons exist at all. And neither of those are the correct positions. the best thing that Satan would like us to do is to not imagine he exists at all.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right?
>> Frank Turek: And in our materialistic worldview here in the west, we tend to think everything happens, materially. There are no spiritual causes. But as we say in this documentary, or actually in the podcast discussing the documentary, if just one spiritual experience in the history of the world, either from the good side or the bad side is true, or just one miracle claim is true, then atheism is false. Now, is it possible that every single spiritual experience in the history of the world has been mistaken? Is that possible? What's possible? Is it reasonable to believe? Absolutely not. It's crazy to believe that. in fact, we talked about demons in this. In this show as well. And, they talk about a woman who was possessed. Who. A, psychiatrist from. Who was trained in. A psychiatrist at Columbia University, not a bastion of Christian fundamentalism, as you know. got involved in counseling people, and he counseled several people who were possessed. Many people who were oppressed. And by the way, Christians can be oppressed. If Christians couldn't be oppressed, there'd be no reason to put on the full armor of God, as Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 6. Why do you need to put on the full armor of God? Because you can be oppressed. You need to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one that come at you. But anyway, this psychiatrist, I think his name is Richard Gallagher, he talks about some situations. One of them was a woman who admitted that she was a Satan worshiper. And, a Catholic priest brought her to his house, to have a counseling session. He didn't know she was coming. And, she came one morning. Well, the previous night, Richard and his wife had two cats, and the cats began to fight with one another. They had never done this before. So in the middle of the night, they had to separate these two cats. Anyway, Richard answers the door that morning. It's the priest with this possessed woman. And they introduce, she introduces himself or herself to him, and she says to him, what did you think about the cats last night? And she had. He had. She had. No way. She wasn't there. She wasn't she'd never met this psychiatrist before, and yet she knew that there was some demonic activity with the cats.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Well, now, one last question I
>> Frank Turek: have that could be catastrophic.
>> Tim Wildmon: What my one last question could be. Well, do you believe that demons can possess a college football team?
>> Frank Turek: Are you suggesting. Oh, no, Mrs. Possessed.
>> Tim Wildmon: Is that what you said? I'm just. No, no, not Ole Miss. Oh, Miss. No. They're blessed by angels.
>> Frank Turek: M. You're a Mississippi State guy.
>> Tim Wildmon: I know I am, but I can see the obvious here. We are cursed, okay?
>> Frank Turek: Oh, you are cursed.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. We are. Our team. We can't.
>> Chris Woodward: We are a baseball school that competes in other sports.
>> Tim Wildmon: And Ole Miss, an Ole Misses. Is got. Got it going on with, I guess,
>> Frank Turek: you know, into the occult. You know, it could happen.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Chris Woodward: I don't mean to make Blue Devils in North Carolina at a place called Duke.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, I don't. I guess I shouldn't. What did you say about Blue Devils?
>> Chris Woodward: They got Blue Devils at, a place in North Carolina called Duke.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Mascot. The Blue Devils.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I can. Lake Forrest. Damon Deacons. Right.
Frank Turek says people can be possessed by the devil
>> Frank Turek: Demon Deacons.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And they're a Baptist school. how does that work exactly?
>> Frank Turek: I don't get that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I don't know.
>> Frank Turek: But I do have a question for you guys who are brought up in the rural areas. Let's see if you guys can answer this question.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay?
>> Frank Turek: Are you guys ready?
>> Tim Wildmon: We're ready.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Frank Turek: When a dairy cow does not give milk, is that considered a milk dud or an utter failure?
>> Tim Wildmon: That's. I don't know. You've been hanging around J.J. jack for a little bit too much, let me tell you.
>> Chris Woodward: Here's the deal.
>> Tim Wildmon: all right, well, listen, I have a little fun with this, but. But in all seriousness, the Bible does talk about demons and talk about angels, and I don't know if it talks about aliens, but per se, but it does talk about supernatural forces that in the world today. And you need to, As Frank said. Right. The Bible says their spiritual warfare. Well, in order to be. Have warfare, you got to have two. Two parties going at it.
>> Frank Turek: Yeah. And if you don't believe in demons, you just haven't watched the news lately.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, that's.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And as far as being demon possessed, I've seen a lot more evidence than that than I have of angels. Now, I know angels are real and angel stories are real, but I'm talking about people can be possessed by the devil.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Oh, absolutely.
>> Tim Wildmon: And we've all. You live long enough, you've seen it, you know, you've seen it. All right. So thank you Frank for being on with us, brother. God bless you.
>> Frank Turek: God bless you guys. See you next time.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's Dr. Frank Turek. Be sure this Saturday to tune in at 9am Central Time for his show right here on American Family Radio. I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. And then if you miss it on Saturday, Sunday we air it at 4p in the afternoon on American Family Radio. Alright, we got a lot more to talk about after this short timeout. Stay with us.
>> Chris Woodward: We would like to take a moment
>> Tim Wildmon: to thank our sponsor, preborn.
>> Chris Woodward: When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them.
>> Tim Wildmon: One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial 250 and say the key word baby or visit preborn.com afr
>> Frank Turek: the AFR app is a powerful tool,
>> Tim Wildmon: but it does have limitations.
>> Frank Turek: You can't use it to change the oil in your vehicle or get rid of carpet stains.
>> Tim Wildmon: It won't walk the dog, won't pick
>> Frank Turek: up the dry cleaning or take the kids to practice. But while you're doing those things, you can listen to your favorite AFR content
>> Tim Wildmon: through the app on your phone, smart device or Roku.
>> Frank Turek: Just go to your app store or visit afr.net Listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app.
>> Tim Wildmon: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
>> Frank Turek: Psalm 107:1.
>> Tim Wildmon: This is today's issues.
>> Frank Turek: Email your comments to commentsfr.net past broadcast
>> Chris Woodward: of today's issues are available for listening
>> Frank Turek: and viewing in the [email protected] now back
>> Tim Wildmon: to more of today's issues.
Wesley and Walker are going to Greece in 2026 and 2027
All right, welcome back everybody to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr. Tim, Wesley, Krish and Ray. Hey, we just announced that, two trips were taken in 2026. No, that's incorrect. 2027. As they say, the Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Well, we're going at the Lord willing the creek don't rise. I don't care. We're going to.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, we still going.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're going anyway at the creek don't rise.
>> Wesley Wildmon: or if the creek does rise, we're still does, right?
>> Tim Wildmon: Either way it does rise or doesn't because it's not going to stop us now. Lord willing To hold. Okay, so we, are that. We, There's two trips in March of 2027, and you can do both of them if you want to. we welcome that. But, Wesley and Walker are going to Greece, right?
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Y' all just did your maiden voyage over there in March, right?
>> Wesley Wildmon: We did. And while obviously Walker and I were leading the way, I was just, I caught. I was caught up right in the middle of. With everyone else because it was my first time to go to Greece.
>> Tim Wildmon: And the, Footsteps of Paul.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Right, we got to see all the m. All the big time locations there, such as Lydia's Baptistry. We got to see where, Paul was imprisoned.
>> Tim Wildmon: We.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Then a couple of the other, bigger sites. We went to Philippi. We went to, Thessalonica. There's called Thessalonica. We call it Thessalonica. we got to see there. Went to Corinth, went to, Athens.
>> Tim Wildmon: All these, Mars Hill.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Mars Hill got to be a part of that. So it was. I was just thrown away. Put it this way. Acts, chapter 15 through Acts chapter 18, we every stop.
>> Tim Wildmon: Lived it. You removed it.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Every stop.
>> Chris Woodward: So I have a question.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wait, hold on just a second.
>> Frank Turek: Okay.
>> Chris Woodward: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
>> Tim Wildmon: They got to finish. So that's the grease part.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right.
Ray: We're taking a break from Israel to go to Italy
>> Tim Wildmon: And then your mom and I are leading a group to Italy.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. So we're going to Venice, we're going to Florence, we're going to Pisa, and we're going to Rome. So we're doing. That's the part of Italy we're seeing. And your tour is called the, Footsteps of Paul. We're calling ours Make Lasagna Great Again. Okay.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: So if you want to join us on the Italy Make Lasagna Great Again tour that's coming up in March. so what we've done here is we've scheduled the Greece part and then Italy part, back to back, back to back. So if you want to do both, there's a little short flight from Athens to Rome or Athens to Venice. You can. And you can just join, us over there. Now, you better pack a bunch of clothes or either, you know, wear the same pants three days in a row, whatever you want to do there to do your laundry. They'll probably be somewhere to do the laundry along the way. Yeah. So. But it's. But in all seriousness, these are true trips. We've got them all planned out and already had somebody sign up yesterday to go to Italy. So, and there's so much Christian history, Ray, those in Greece and, And in Italy.
>> Tim Wildmon: I mean, that would be the ideal, right?
>> Frank Turek: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: you've covered a big part of the Book of Acts and a big part of the history of the NewSong Testament.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, just the book of Romans and Rome.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, Romans right there.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And some, some make it assume that we've had a little issue trying to get to Israel the last couple years.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, we're taking a break from Israel.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Taking.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, we're gonna go back to the Holy Land.
>> Wesley Wildmon: We will.
>> Tim Wildmon: But for, for next year, we decided, let's take a break and go to Greece and Italy because that still involves NewSong Testament Christianity. the sites will see. Go to the catacombs, by the way, in, outside of Rome. So, so much to see. So if you're interested in either one of those tours or both of them, you go to tours. Uh.AFA.nett o u r s.AFA.net Again, that's, March of 2027. March of 2027. Tours.AFA.net Krish, you were going to say.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. so you know how when you go to Israel, they have done a lot of, excavation. They have things, a lot of the ruins are still there and you can see things, as people in the Bible saw them. What are. Do you see. Do you get that experience as well? In Greece, I've not been.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yes, you get that experience. So an example would be you would have the outlines of the walls of the prison that they believe that Paul was, held in. So you'll have, you'll have the. Like you said, like I just described the walls and the, and the, And then. But also too, you'll go to some places where they would say it's in the vicinity. But this is the actual Corinth.
>> Tim Wildmon: You go to the actual ruins.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right. You go to the actual ruins. The. There was another place, Let me pull it up.
>> Tim Wildmon: Mars Hills Real.
>> Wesley Wildmon: I mean, that's an, that's an actual place. That's right. where Paul and Silas, where they were in prison. They had the act. They had their actual remainings or the remains that date back to the actual time too. So that, that was some. Some places are even more authentic than others. But the, but the, the, the flow. The flow of the tour that starts In Acts chapter 15, that finishes in Acts chapter 18 is pretty neat. But everything you read, you're, you know, you get to go be a part of.
>> Tim Wildmon: So to read more about the, the Rome, excuse me, the Greece and the Italy, trip again. We're going to Venice by the gondola, go to Florence, go to Lean Tower Pisa, and then go see all the sites of Rome. That's tours.afa.net all right, you're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio. What's your next story, Chris?
President Donald Trump is traveling to China to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping
>> Chris Woodward: All right, so President Donald Trump is leaving today, to go spend a
>> Tim Wildmon: couple of days on a jet plane.
>> Chris Woodward: He is leaving on a jet plane. Not Song by the Carpenters. That's Joan. BIA is Jon.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Jon Denver.
>> Frank Turek: Jon.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, at least that's the same era
>> Tim Wildmon: I taught him, right?
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Anyway, you got some kind of Rocky Mountain high going on, Krish, or something.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, yeah, it's, it's medicinal.
>> Tim Wildmon: That wasn't.
>> Chris Woodward: I got a prescription for that.
>> Tim Wildmon: It was also Jon Denver.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. anyway, back to the story. President Donald Trump is going to China for a couple of days to talk to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping about a number of things, including artificial intelligence or AI. China's fascination with wanting to, reclaim Taiwan. Iran probably is also going to get, brought up because, as Tim mentioned near the beginning of the program, China gets a lot of oil from places like Iran. so, here is the president talking about his meeting in China.
>> Tim Wildmon: Clip 2 I look forward to being
>> Frank Turek: there, and if he felt anything, we
>> Tim Wildmon: wouldn't, we wouldn't be doing it. But, a lot of good things can happen. Now we'll be talking about, I mean, he'll bring up Taiwan, I think, more than I will.
>> Frank Turek: But I think that, a discussion
>> Tim Wildmon: will be a little bit about, a little bit about energy and about the
>> Chris Woodward: very beautiful country of Iran. He's going to be there for a couple of days. so we'll probably even have audio from the president and maybe Xi Jinping through an interpreter tomorrow and Thursday.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ray, what do you think about this trip by the president over to China?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, one of the things I love about President Trump is we've got a little bit of it in the clip. He is so utterly unpredictable that, you know, the difference between him and, say, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama or George W. Bush. It doesn't matter that those presidents were quite predictable in what they were going to say and what they were going to do. And here you got Mr. Trump going, well, you know, we may talk about Taiwan a little bit. He may bring it up. You know, we may talk about trade. We're going to talk about the beautiful country of Iran. How do you prepare from the Chinese side for an American president who likes to shoot from the hip and, is unpredictable in the way he does things? So, do I expect anything substantive to come out of this? Not a great deal. But if anything happens that would bring an end if they can take a step toward ending this impasse with Iran. Because, Tim, I can't tell now, is the ceasefire still on? Is it off? I mean, we're not bombing, but. But is the. Is the war over or not? So if anything can happen in China, that would. Would pave the way for an end of this conflict. I think that'd be a great boon and blessing for the whole world.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, it's, you know, it's. It's always good when the leaders of the two most powerful countries in the world are talking to one another and meeting in person. I like that. And this all started, with President Richard Nixon, back in the 70s. He sort of opened 72, didn't he? He sort of opened up the. The, The relationship with. With Communists. They're still Communist. Communist China, but the, They have, China has, grown into a great country of manufacturing and So they sort of have a. I don't know. It's still a totalitarian regime, but they have allowed for some economic, you know, prosperity for their own people, there. In, In. In China, because they do make a lot of stuff. And guess what? We buy their stuff. We, The United States, That's. That's a big part of the world's economy is China makes it and we buy it. And So that. I'm sure they'll be talking trade to their.
>> Tim Wildmon: It'll be interesting to see if the issue of religious freedom comes up because. Was thinking back to when Wesley and
>> Tim Wildmon: I. Ah, yeah, I want to. I wanted to. Excuse me. I want to. I didn't bring this up last hour.
Ray and Wesley went to China 15 years ago representing your ministry
So what we're about to talk about a little bit here is Ray and Wesley went to China, right? What year was that? Do you remember?
>> Tim Wildmon: I want to say Wesley. 2010-2011-2011-2011.
>> Tim Wildmon: You guys went 15 years ago, and you went representing your ministry, right? Keep believing. M. So what did y' all go over there for, Ray?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, at that time, we had started a partnership with Transworld Radio, taking my sermons, translating them into Mandarin, and then TWR would. Would broadcast them, through their very powerful transmitters all across China. And Wesley, you may remember, the time when we were at the hotel. I don't remember what city it was in, but they brought some listeners who had heard our program, and you may. And I remember they told us because of the surveillance, pervasive government surveillance over there, we couldn't walk into that hotel room at the same time. We had to go ones or twos, a few minutes at a, you know, separate increments. Increments, yeah. And so we saw all of that. I think the diff. What has changed between 2011 and, in 2026 is that Mr. The President Xi, he's come to power, and under his regime, and that's the only way to say it, his totalitarian regime, they have cracked down on Christians unbelievably.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, really Unbelievably.
>> Tim Wildmon: Destroyed the churches, destroyed the. They were taking down the crosses from the churches. They have torn down so many of the church buildings. They put the pastors in jail. The crackdown has been, has been pervasive. It's been nationwide against religion in general, but especially against Christianity. So things have tightened up in a bad way for Christians over there. I wish. I hope the president says something right to Mr. M. Xi about that, at least brings it up. That'd be a good thing if he did it.
Ray: China does not allow Christian missionaries unless it's for tourism
>> Wesley Wildmon: A couple other, thoughts that come to mind of our trip there was we got to visit what. First of all, we were there as tourists and we did some mission work while we were there.
>> Tim Wildmon: You can't come in and say, I'm a Christian missionary.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm here to evangelize your country.
>> Wesley Wildmon: That's exactly right.
>> Tim Wildmon: They don't allow that. You got to come in with some other purpose primarily.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: So you went under a tourist.
>> Wesley Wildmon: that's right. But then. But since we've gone and come back, which has been 15 years, I have since talked with a person who was a missionary over in China who had to actually flee and come home because they were next in line, their area was next in line to being purged from Christian missionaries. So they came home and he was describing that the. Well, he was describing exactly what Ray said and the increase of persecution toward, physical persecution toward Christians of those that were there. So you can't even go as a doctor now without them knowing whether you're there for mission work or not. Whereas some countries will not allow missionaries, but they'll take you if you provide another way, of benefiting their country, but they won't even allow that. Now in China, another thing is, too, we visited a church there, and we had a government agent that was with us about half the time when Ray and I Went and they would, you know, would go around and we'd ride bikes and whatever, try to fulfill the tourism side of while we're there. Well, it was interesting that we went to a church and I thought not knowing, really naive to a lot of things as I was learning how the how other countries in this case operate with Christianity. Whereas in our country you go to church and they're not proud. Well, we went to what I thought was just another church. We sang Amazing Grace. The, the pastor there read from the book of Romans. He had a message. We left and I asked our God. I was like, what's the difference? I don't understand what's the big deal? Like China's anti Christian by whatever. Well come to find out it was a self, it was a three self church, which is a government run church in which the message was already pre approved by the government. So my point is, is that yeah, it may seemingly seem right, like they're
>> Tim Wildmon: experiencing freedom, but they're really not. Everything had to be checked. If they're a government sanctioned church, everything has to be run through the government. In this case a communist, atheistic, totalitarian government.
>> Wesley Wildmon: And then he also, as we're walking out, pointed out the 50 cameras that were in every corner of every room in the audio that was being recorded. So in the church service. Church service.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yep. Well, intense. I got pictures of all this. I was asked, you know, as we were coming back, they were at, they asked us not to post any of that stuff. So we didn't of course.
>> Tim Wildmon: But well, they do make good wallets because you, you brought, you, you brought me one as a gift. I'm still, I'm still using it today.
>> Tim Wildmon: A wallet, A Chinese wallet.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah. So, so you know, when we have conversations like this, I'm thankful that President Trump and his team and his administration are doing what they're doing but and meeting with them. But at the same time I like to, as a Christian, I would like for him to bring up religious liberty. Yep.
>> Tim Wildmon: But over there and I don't
>> Wesley Wildmon: know how much would make a difference. But just, yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: At least make it a topic of you know, conversation with, with China because they are the largest country in the world. Well no, I take that back.
>> Tim Wildmon: I think India is just a little bit, Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: A little bit bigger because of China went through, was it 10, 15, 20 years of one child policy?
>> Tim Wildmon: More than that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, more than that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, more than that. And, and so they've got a pot, they've got if you can believe it, a popular population problem over there on the other side that. That they have stopped. Their. Their population is not growing like it was. So, they have basically revamped that policy and in many cases, just discarded it because they want more babies.
>> Wesley Wildmon: We're gonna. We're gonna tie in here. The Chinese spy.
>> Chris Woodward: Oh, yeah. Have that queued up and ready to go here.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, we,
California mayor accused of acting as foreign agent for Chinese government
Will you let me tell folks that they are listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Tim, Wesley, Krish, and Ray. And now we go over to the news desk and Krish, Krish, it's just in.
>> Wesley Wildmon: This is going to be an awkward conversation for President Trump and the China.
>> Chris Woodward: Sure. Well.
>> Frank Turek: Sure.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, yeah. What story are we talking about here?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, so we're talking about the issue of Eileen Wang. She was.
>> Tim Wildmon: What's your name?
>> Chris Woodward: Eileen Wang.
>> Tim Wildmon: Come on, Eileen.
>> Chris Woodward: The mayor. I see what you did there. The mayor of Arcadia, California, was charged in April with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She, was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing without prior notification of the US Government, as required by law. In a story you can find on our website, afn.net, she has now agreed to plead guilty, and that comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. So much like Wesley might want, President Trump to bring up the issue of religious freedom, there's probably a lot of MAGA types that would like President Trump to go, hey, what are you guys trying to do with Eileen Wang? And are there any other members of our government, small, or large?
>> Tim Wildmon: So she has been formally charged and confessed to being a Chinese spy.
>> Chris Woodward: Correct.
>> Tim Wildmon: What's your. And she's, So is she in. Gonna go to prison or.
>> Chris Woodward: She will go to prison, yes. comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in the federal prison. her attorneys said in a statement that she recognizes the seriousness of the charges and she accepts responsibility for, quote, past personal mistakes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, so.
>> Tim Wildmon: So being a spy for. For Communist China is now called a
>> Chris Woodward: what, past personal mistake. In a further comment, she apologizes and is sorry for the mistake she has made in her personal life.
>> Tim Wildmon: She said in Mandarin, she said, my bad.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. Her love and devotion for the Arcadia community has not changed and did not waver.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, she will, I guess. If she confessed to it. She's probably want some kind of plea deal. Listen, every country in the world spies on every other country in the world.
>> Chris Woodward: They do.
>> Tim Wildmon: Even our friends, Israel, probably A spies here, and we have spies in. In Canada. I don't know, but it's just like.
>> Wesley Wildmon: She was a government. Yeah, she was U.S. government agent.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know what. I don't know what her role was or what.
>> Wesley Wildmon: She was a mayor of Arcadia.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know how much knowing the spying on Arcadia can. California.
>> Tim Wildmon: What were. What were they paying for?
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I don't know. What. Was there any other I.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Under. This, May. This is probably not the spine part, but, on a separate note, she did turn Arcadia pretty much to China as it relates to the culture, the rule, the laws.
>> Tim Wildmon: the Arcadia, California, that LA area.
>> Chris Woodward: It's. Yes, it is.
>> Tim Wildmon: So good. Go ahead. What are you going to say?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I'm just, I mean, she did all kinds of stuff to basically promote, the Chinese government, during her time running a town in Southern California.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Well, anyway. But she got busted for being a foreign spy.
>> Chris Woodward: And keep in mind, this is at least the second known instance of Chinese government influence in California itself. you have the situation with Eric Swalwell several years ago, where a lady might have been, working for the Chinese government to do things with him. But let's be honest, with a huge country, this is probably happening in other places.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ah, a foreign, I mean, former California senator Dianne Feinstein.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. Forgot about that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Somebody, they got right up close to her, like our chief of staff or something, that turned out to be a spy for China. You remember this? So. Yeah. So, okay, you're listening to today's issues. What's your. What's your next story, Chris?
California governor Gavin Newsom announces program to give new parents free diapers
>> Chris Woodward: All right, so, we may, be able to continue this after the break because Steve has some sound, that he could bring in and continue this discussion. But for the time being, I gave a call yesterday to Mary Rose Short. She's the lady that runs California Right to Life. And the reason why I wanted to talk with Mary Rose Short of California Right to Life is because Governor Gavin Newsom, who may be trying to run for president in a couple of years, he made headlines in recent days for announcing the first of its kind program in the nation, giving new parents free diapers, 400 free diapers, for having a new child there. And this is, according to Newsom, to help people in an affordability crisis. And other people right now, this is the same guy that pro abortion is being kind. So you have a pro abortion president giving families diapers.
>> Tim Wildmon: You mean, Governor.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. Thank you very much.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ah.
>> Chris Woodward: And, Mary Rose Short says he's doing this all for, headlines and PR.
>> Frank Turek: Clip 7 I definitely think he's going to run for president. And this could be a way to try to soften the fact that he has been 100% pro abortion. Everywhere he's been in office, he's always working hand in, in hand with Planned Parenthood to increase the number of abortions. I mean, there's currently legislation that I'm sure he will sign that will force. Already all our state universities, we have dozens, are required to provide the abortion pill on campus. There's a new bill in the legislature that would force community colleges to provide abortion pills on campus as well. And just that idea that abortion must be. Every time you turn around, Californians run into abortion and is part of the Newsom, vision that abortion is everywhere.
>> Tim Wildmon: So he's got a government program, so it's not a matter even if you're poor, in need. Everybody gets free diapers.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: 400 free diapers. Is that true?
>> Chris Woodward: But yes, that's, that's his, that's his selling point.
>> Tim Wildmon: Where do you go to pick them up or the. Basically, can they be delivered?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. So basically, when you have a, when you have a child in a hospital there, you're gonna leave the hospital with your child, Lord willing, and a whole bunch of diapers that the government's just going to keep replenishing.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Don't give them any more ideas to take more taxpayer dollars to use for shipping. Okay. Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know if Amazon delivers to the doorstep or they get them before they leave the hospital.
>> Chris Woodward: I believe that's the way it's going to work.
>> Tim Wildmon: Give birth at home. Do they go to your house?
>> Chris Woodward: I'm sure probably would frown on that.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Who's the guy? Who's the. We saw a video ad this morning in our show prep meeting where they.
>> Tim Wildmon: Steve Hilton.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Chris Woodward: Who's running for governor of California.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, he was given a response to this.
>> Wesley Wildmon: Yeah, his response was that, do we have it before I explain it?
>> Chris Woodward: Basically, Hilton says the math, isn't it? Newsom's program is more expensive than just going and getting the diapers for yourself. We can play the clip here. It's, clip eight.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, so Gavin Newsom is taking $20 million of your money to send 100,000 babies 400 diapers. That works out at 50 cents per diaper. We just came into Target to check out what you could buy it for in the store. Here you go. Just check this one out here 1 62, $26. That works out at 16 cents per diaper. Gavin Newsom's diapers are three times more expensive.
>> Wesley Wildmon: This isn't even Costco.
>> Tim Wildmon: Why is it three times more expensive for Gavin Newsom to send diapers to 100,000 babies than just leaving the money in the bank accounts of the parents in the first place? Because, that's the voice of Steve Hilton right there. Formerly of Fox News. He is running for governor of California as a Republican. Yes, he's a long shot, as any Republican is now in California, but he's making what you heard. There was a TV ad he made about Newsom, the governor, handing out, 400. Is that right?
>> Chris Woodward: 400. Free diapers.
>> Tim Wildmon: Free diapers to everybody as babies.
>> Chris Woodward: Where's the camera?
>> Wesley Wildmon: Free. That's right. Free air quotes.
>> Chris Woodward: I'm using air quotes America M. Because
>> Wesley Wildmon: he pointed out that they were three times the cost of the ones you could just buy in the store. Yeah, but somebody's got to make some money off a nonprofit, don't they?
>> Tim Wildmon: Duly noted. We'll be back momentarily with more of today's issues, so stick around. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of
>> Frank Turek: the American Family association or American Family Radio.
