Point of View April 17, 2025 – Hour 2 : Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Anderson. Second hour today we're going to spend some time talking about two of my favorite things. First of all I've been to most of the presidential libraries over the years and I'd have to say my most favorite one is the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley.

[00:00:33] Number two, of course we love to talk about archaeology and every time we've taken some of you over to Israel we go to of course where the Qumran Caves are, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We take you to of course the exhibit, you get to see the Isaiah scroll and a number of other things.

[00:00:51] And this comes together because for some time at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is a special exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls which include much more than that because we'll also be talking about the Magdala Stone. We actually take people there where that's been found, we take people to Masada and a number of others. So we're going to talk about that with Melissa Giller. She is the Chief Marketing Officer for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.

[00:01:21] She has been playing a key role in securing major exhibitions in those at the Ronald Reagan Library and has a bachelor's degree from UC Santa Barbara and a master's degree from Pepperdine. So Melissa, welcome to Point of View. Thank you so much for having me. Talk about how you were able to secure this because in some respects you've got a couple of originals and that is you have also the Ten Commandments scroll.

[00:01:48] Very few people have seen that and so that's just another opportunity for people if they can make their way to the library to see some things that probably you never see anywhere else. Yeah, you're exactly right. So we've been working with the Israel Antiquities Authority since 2019 to bring this exhibition to the Reagan Library. The exhibition had gone on rest. They were getting ready to send it back out and they were finally ready in 2024. We were fortunate enough to be their first venue of this new tour.

[00:02:17] We are also the only location on the West Coast. And actually one of their venues had backed out and they asked us if we would consider taking the exhibition for a little bit longer to make it easier for them. And we agreed, but we said, you know, if we take it longer, is there something you could do for us maybe midway through the run to make the exhibition even that much more spectacular? And not only did they deliver, they came through with providing us with what you just said, the Ten Commandments scroll. The scroll has never been in California.

[00:02:45] It hasn't been in the United States for 13 years. It can only be in the light for two weeks out of every two years. So although the bigger exhibition is here through September 2nd, the Ten Commandments scroll is only here through April 24th. Yes. Well, again, I wanted to mention that for our California listeners, and we broadcast all over the country. And, of course, one of the things I would encourage you to do is, first of all, go to the website. We have a link there to reaganlibrary.gov and all of the exhibits that are there, which are fascinating.

[00:03:14] And so it gives you a sense of that. But if you happen to be traveling, because it will be there until September of this year, while you take the kids to Disneyland or SeaWorld, maybe you should drive up to Simi Valley and see these exhibits as well. Or be on alert, because I did see years ago a Dead Seas exhibit here in Dallas, and so there may be other opportunities.

[00:03:39] But let's, if we can, talk about all the different highlights, because, as we pointed out, it's one thing just to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. But you have so many things, including, as I mentioned, the Magdala Stone, the Sea of Galilee boat, the Psalm Scroll, some of the objects from Masada. So kind of take us through what is in the exhibit. Yeah, and it sounds like you've been there and you've taken listeners there, which is so incredible.

[00:04:07] A lot of these items, like the Magdala Stone or the Sea of Galilee boats, have never left Israel before. So for people like you who have been fortunate enough to go to Israel, to go to these sites, to go to the museum, you may have seen them. But if you can't travel there or haven't traveled there, this exhibition is really a way to do it. As you know, the Magdala Stone found in the city of Magdala, named for Mary Magdalene,

[00:04:29] it's a just stunning stonework piece of furniture that they believe held the Torah scrolls in the Second Temple. On the carvings of the stone is the oldest known carving of a seven-branch menorah known to exist, so it makes it quite remarkable. The Sea of Galilee boat, found in 1986, there was a huge drought. The water had receded, and as the water was receding in the Sea of Galilee, they found this boat.

[00:04:56] It took them years to sort of take it out of the water for it to dry out, and then through carbon dating, they were able to prove that the boat was actually used by fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, the exact same time that Jesus was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. Now, the boat itself is too fragile to travel, so they've taken some wood fragments from the boat, and that's traveling. And then my favorite artifact for those who can't go to Jerusalem or haven't been to Jerusalem,

[00:05:21] this exhibition is touring with a real two-ton piece of the Western Wall, and it's not covered. So people are encouraged to touch it. People are encouraged to leave messages of hope and prayer just like you would if you were in Jerusalem yourself. And every day, hundreds of people fill the stone up with their own messages of prayer, and it's quite a sight to see. I just mentioned that, again, this is an opportunity for people that happen to be in the area,

[00:05:49] or you may want to at least make a plan to try to get there. And one of the other things I might just mention is that you, if I remember right, close at 5 o'clock. There may be a crowd, so you want to plan to get there. Don't show up at 4 o'clock and say, show me the Dead Sea Scrolls because my taxi is waiting outside. You need to give yourself some time, don't you? Yeah, I'm really glad you said that. With this Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition, we've been bringing in crowds that we haven't seen for quite some time.

[00:06:17] We sell out a lot of days. So we highly, highly recommend people purchase their tickets in advance so that they don't drive up or have the taxi drop them off and find out there aren't any more tickets. It's just really easy at ReaganLibrary.com. You can pre-purchase your tickets for any day, but especially with this exhibition that's really highly advised. I'm going to take a break, but I thought when we come back we might talk about a few of the other artifacts. But if nothing else, as people go to this website that we have provided for them, they can actually plan ahead of time

[00:06:47] because I know some of our listeners might be already in California. Matter of fact, we have quite a number of listeners in California, so making the trip down would be easy for them or for others that may be traveling and maybe were going to be going to do something in California but did not realize they had this opportunity. And this is sort of, if you will, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to see some things that even if you did make your way to Israel, you might not see all of those.

[00:07:17] And so in one place you have provided some really great resources. So again, you can find that at our website, pointofview.net. We have the picture there of Melissa just to hit the button that says See More. And then scroll down and first of all, there's a link to some of her information and bio. And then you'll see one that says Special Exhibit Dead Sea Scrolls. And you will benefit from that as well. Let me come back and I'll talk a little bit more about the significance of a few of those.

[00:07:46] And Melissa, I'll let you get on in just a minute. But I just thought we might mention just a few of the other resources that are there. And even if you can't ever make it to the Reagan Library, we thought we'd just use this as a great opportunity to educate you about one of the most significant finds, maybe the most significant find of the 20th century. And it was found in just a really kind of bizarre sort of way.

[00:08:11] A young boy was just trying to figure out where this particular lamb was and throws some rocks up in one of the caves, thinking that if he heard some noise that he would climb up into the cave and hears a bink. And at that point said, what is that? And goes up and finds the beginnings of what have been found over many years, what are called the Dead Sea Scrolls. We'll come back and talk more about what that means and how that really reinforces your Christian faith.

[00:08:40] All that coming up right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Several people have told me they think President Trump is moving too fast. My answer is simple. It's a feature, not a bug.

[00:09:08] To understand this, you need to look at history. In a previous commentary talked about the plan by leftists to engage in the long march through institutions and quoted Rich Lowry's commentary about Trump's countermarch through institutions. Victor Davis Hanson describes a parallel perspective with his reflection on the counterrevolution in America. He suggests that previous Republican presidents could have decided to shrink government, shut down the border and impose tariffs.

[00:09:33] He concludes that no Republican president in the past 50 years sought to radically reduce the size of government and balance the budget. None closed the border and began deportations. Why didn't previous presidents do this? He explains to have done so would have constituted a veritable cultural counterrevolution that would incur an unacceptable level of hatred and resistance from the entrenched left. Trump, he argues, has become the true counterrevolutionary determined not just to slow down the progressive trajectory,

[00:10:03] of the last 60 years, but to end it and return the U.S. to the center. And that brings us back to strategy. President Trump has been willing to flood the zone by enacting multiple policies at once, with the speed of action rarely seen by a second-term president. He must also anticipate the Supreme Court will restore a constitutional government and not let a few minor federal judges stop his progress. And all this must be done with no margin for error, given the thin congressional margins that exist.

[00:10:32] Victor Davis Hanson concludes that success hinges on speed and audacity. Moving fast is a feature, not a bug. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. For a free booklet on biblical reliability, go to viewpoints.info slash biblical reliability. Viewpoints.info slash biblical reliability.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. For just a few more minutes, we're talking with Melissa Giller. Again, she is Chief Marketing Officer for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls, and just recognize that these Dead Sea Scrolls were written primarily before the time of Christ.

[00:11:20] Let's just say about 100 B.C., although some go all the way back to about 516 B.C. or B.C.E., as they say today. The first manuscripts we had of the Old Testament were about around 900 to 1,000 A.D. These were the Masoretic Scrolls.

[00:11:42] And so for the first time, you had the ability to see how accurate was the transmission from the Old Testament into the Church Age. And so now you had a chance to see what kind of changes might have taken place as they were making copies of copies of copies of copies of copies of copies. And it turns out, and this was just for the Old Testament because we have a very small window for the New Testament,

[00:12:09] but for the window for the Old Testament, over 1,000 years, hardly any changes at all. In fact, the only significant change was the changing in spelling or the addition of one word light in Isaiah 53, just to pick one passage. And so, again, it shows that we had a very, very careful transmission of God's word from especially the Old Testament, and that's one of the benefits.

[00:12:35] But as you pointed out, Melissa, we have a variety of other things as well. We have the Magdala Stone. We're convinced, virtually certain, that Jesus actually taught in that synagogue because he taught up and down the synagogues there in the Sea of Galilee. You have the boat. It may be sometimes referred to as the Jesus boat. We don't know if Jesus was ever in that boat, but it's just like the boats that were there that Peter and others had when they were fishermen.

[00:13:04] But you also have objects, for example, the psalm scroll. You have ossuaries. After a person would die, after a year, they would take the bones and put them in these receptacles or ossuaries. And you even have objects from Masada, which is that fortress overlooking the Dead Sea. And that was a place for one of the final battles between the Romans and the Jews. So there is just a lot to see at your exhibit.

[00:13:33] And it's just one great opportunity that will only be sort of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people to travel to California and get to see that. Yeah, I mean, you're a great salesperson for the exhibit. But thank you. One of the things I did want to point out is that because the scrolls, right, they've survived 2,000 years, they want to make sure they survive 2,000 more, if not longer than that. So there are very specific restrictions on the scrolls themselves.

[00:14:00] So the scrolls we have can only be in the light for three months every five years. So as such, we opened with the Great Psalm Scroll and seven others. But in the end of February, the Israel Antiquities Authority came out, took those eight scrolls away, gave us eight more. So now the sort of highlighted scroll within the eight is we do have a section of the Great Isaiah Scroll, which is quite extraordinary. When we had the Great Psalm Scroll, it included psalms from the Book of Psalms that aren't even printed in the Bible. That's how rare it was.

[00:14:28] So then we'll, in the beginning of June, they will come and swap them out one more time. So feasibly, if you live in the area and you visit three separate times over the course of the nine months, you will see 24 original manuscripts. I had a chance to go through the exhibit that was in Dallas years ago with a professor from Dallas Seminary. And it was fun for him to say, OK, well, that one's from the Septuagint there. And that's from the second period. And to go all through that.

[00:14:53] And so if you don't have the privilege of being next to them, one of the things that it seems like is at your gallery, you do have a chance for people to then see some of the information about that.

[00:15:05] And it's been interesting that with some of the analysis that we've been able to do with imaging techniques, even advanced computer techniques, we've been able to, or some of the scrolls that you could not physically unroll because they crack up, been able to read those even though they're still rolled. So some of the modern technology of the 21st century is allowing us to read some things that come from about the first century B.C.

[00:15:34] Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, when these scrolls, and it sounds like you know all of this, but when the scrolls were first found in 1947, the scientists and archaeologists, they didn't know better. And as they were looking at the scrolls and piecing them together, they were smoking cigarettes over them. They were putting them together with scotch tape. And the members of the Israeli Antiquities Authority told us, you know, more damage was done in those first about 10, 15 years of discovering the scrolls than the 2,000 years they had been preserved in the caves.

[00:16:02] And so there's a whole gallery that talks about how they've taken what happened in the 40s and 50s, made those scrolls better preserved today. And just like you said, using really high-tech scanning machines can now literally scan a scroll that is completely rolled up onto itself and read perfectly when it's written inside. Yes. And that one fascinates me because I was looking at that the other day, and I put myself to graduate school programming computers, but what they have is just beyond anything I can imagine and very impressed.

[00:16:32] Just before I let you go, let's again talk about the fact that we do have a link there. If somebody wants to purchase tickets, maybe in advance, knowing they're going to be there, say, for a summer vacation, they could get those ahead of time. And that might be the best time to get them because some days, as you said, they're sold out. Or if people just like to go and look at all the pictures, we do have that link on the website. But anything else they need to know? Just the ticket to our special exhibition. So if you buy a ticket to see Dead Sea Scrolls, that ticket gets you onto our entire campus.

[00:17:00] So you can actually walk through the actual Air Force One plane that President Reagan used, see a Noval Office replica, see a real piece of the Berlin Wall, and just take in everything we have to offer here. I would give yourself a lot of time because the Presidential Library itself takes a lot of time. To add that to it is pretty significant. So, Melissa, thank you for letting us know about that. And as I find out more about maybe where this might travel elsewhere, we'll talk about it again. But, Melissa, thank you for what you do there at the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.

[00:17:30] Thank you so much for having me. Going to take a break. And just before we do so, let me do a couple of things. First of all, just real quickly, I haven't said something about it, but it's worth a brief, brief mention. And that is, it turns out that the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, who was the one that, of course, was going after Donald Trump, candidate Donald Trump over false business practices. Well, it turns out she's got some business practices of her own.

[00:18:00] Again, that probably doesn't affect you, other than it's maybe a good vicarious lesson to learn. And that is, if you live in a glass house, maybe you shouldn't be throwing rocks. Because she is the one that kept saying, no one is above the law. By the way, I agree. And Jonathan Turley, who is hardly a Trump supporter, as I've mentioned before, is a professor of law at George Washington University, nevertheless says, Tish James will eat her own words.

[00:18:28] Because it turns out now that when we look at some of the things that she filed, it turns out that, for example, she claimed, even though she lives in New York, that her principal property is in Virginia. And she did that when she was a prosecutor in New York. She also had a co-signer who was her father, but was listed as husband and wife.

[00:18:53] And so there are just all sorts of major problems with an individual who has, of course, been going after the individual who now serves as president of the United States. And as Jonathan Turley says, the timing could not be worse for Letitia James, because the Trump civil case really has kind of languished on appeal for months. There's supposed to be a decision coming down on that.

[00:19:21] And yet, of course, she has repeated her mantra time and time again, that no one is above the law. There should be no exceptions for the rich and powerful. So the question is, well, does that apply to you, Letitia James? Because, again, as Jonathan Turley says, either this was her principal residence or it was not. Either it was a four-unit property or it was not. Either, well, obviously her father is not her husband or not.

[00:19:51] You can go through a good number of issues that have been pretty controversial. And I thought at least I would mention that. It's probably not worth more than a mention. But the person that was prosecuting Donald Trump for not having all of his business records up to snuff, well, turns out she has violated some of that with her own mortgage applications as well. One more time, let me mention that our take action item is for the SAVE Act.

[00:20:21] And I might just point out that some people have said, well, would this affect married women because their birth certificate wouldn't have the same name and all of that? Well, the person that put forward the SAVE Act, Chip Roy, we can have him on the program, but I've gone out and found some really good fact-checking that says a lot of the scare tactics being used right now to try to keep individuals in the U.S. Senate for voting for the SAVE Act probably are not very valid.

[00:20:50] But I think the bigger principle is should we stop illegal immigrants from voting in federal elections? Chip Roy, who was the original sponsor, said there would be all sorts of provisions for states to come up with different ways for people to validate what they are going to do. But nevertheless, the real issue is, do we actually believe that only citizens of the country should be allowed to vote?

[00:21:15] And so we give you that opportunity to express that opinion that you might want to give to your two United States senators. We'll come back with some final comments right after this. It was not that long ago that censorship appeared to be almost inevitable. Free speech was being attacked and strangled in many places. And some of us wondered if this was the end.

[00:21:44] But now, many feel a new sense of hope, a chance for a fresh dawn. Let me caution you. Now is not the time to relax. It's a time to press forward, to use this fresh opportunity to proclaim and learn how to apply truth to current issues. By the fact you're here, listening right now, that tells me that you recognize the vital role Point of View plays as a voice of truth.

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[00:22:40] Click in now or call 1-800-347-5151. Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[00:23:10] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Final half hour. Let me just real quickly, as a program note, mention that tomorrow is Good Friday or, of course, Crucifixion Day, however you want to say that. And as a result, we will be playing a tape. It will be Robert Morgan in the first hour, Bruce Metzger, or Paul Metzger, excuse me, in the second hour. I know Bruce Metzger, but it's Paul Metzger. And I think you will appreciate that. And then we'll be back again getting into some issues. Monday, I know, is a Millennial Roundtable.

[00:23:39] And then I know we have a number of guests. John Kasich on Tuesday. It's going to be a great week next week. And so we will get into that as well. As I've traveled around, and I'll be in California in a couple weeks. We were just in Illinois. And when we've been in Michigan, and we've been in Georgia, and we've been in South Carolina, just to mention a few, Alabama, Mississippi. When I've traveled around, one of the comments I do get with some regularity is, I appreciate you bringing us some positive news.

[00:24:06] So before we get into some other issues in the news, let me give you some positive news. The first one has to do with material that has come from our good friend, George Barna. But also he has now moved away from that. So Dave Kinnaman is the head of the Barna Group. But, of course, the two of them are very significantly involved. And the latest survey from the Barna Group has some very fascinating data.

[00:24:32] It turns out that if you are looking for evidence of the possibility of a Christian revival in America, you could find some of it there, at least among the young men. It turns out that the number of Americans expressing a commitment to Jesus jumped, isn't this amazing, from 54% to 66%. Now, does it mean all of them are saved? No, does it mean they're all committed Christians? No, I understand that. But that's pretty incredible, even so.

[00:25:01] Whatever that means, just the fact that they are even willing to say that in a society where sometimes you get persecuted for making that statement. And the real concern, though, is that almost all of that increase is coming from young men. The commitment to Jesus among Gen Z men, and maybe they should talk about this on our Monday gathering of our Millennial Roundtable,

[00:25:25] but the Gen Z men, those were born between 1999 and 2015, was up 15 points, and was up about 19 points among millennial men between 1984 and 1998. I used different dates for that, but those are the ones they used. Nevertheless, the younger individuals find themselves actually more interested in Jesus. But the bad news, as Gary Bauer points out in his piece,

[00:25:53] is that there was virtually no improvement among the young women of that age. And so he came with a comment, we should pray for America's daughters and granddaughters, and I would certainly agree. But if you're looking for some positive news, and more recently we've talked about some of these revivals and some of these schools pretty significant, and there are some things happening on these campuses. And really what it is, is it's like the culture is dividing.

[00:26:19] Whereas before there was kind of this middle mass, kind of middle income, sort of committed, not totally committed. Now you've got some that are really committed, and those are completely uncommitted and unaffiliated. So at the very same time when we're seeing an increase in those who say they're interested in Jesus, we also see one of the fastest growing demographics among Generation Y, Millennials, and Generation Z would be those who are unaffiliated, oftentimes referred to as the nuns.

[00:26:48] Let me move from a religious, maybe positive note, to maybe an economic positive note. But I'll start with a negative, and that is the other day, the former Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, who was the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and before that a former professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Janet Yellen, was CNBC.

[00:27:15] And when she was asked about whether or not what Donald Trump is trying to do to bring manufacturing back to the United States, whether that was possibly going to be successful, she referred to it as a pipe dream. And again, our friend Gary Bauer said, really? So according to Yellen, the greatest nation in the world should satisfy itself with not making things. We're all going to earn a current living just by selling coffee to each other, working at restaurants, and maybe being professors at Berkeley.

[00:27:44] Okay, he had a little bit of fun with that one, but that is the case. Well, do we have any evidence of that? And the only evidence I wanted to give you right now, and it's just one of many, has to do with NVIDIA. Now, if you're not familiar with NVIDIA, this is the kind of high-tech chip company, which has really been at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, although its stock dropped the other day.

[00:28:07] Nevertheless, like many corporations, NVIDIA's manufacturing is done overseas, and that's about to change. NVIDIA announced the other day that it was launching a four-year, $500 billion reshoring effort. That's a half a trillion dollars, if you look at that, a half a trillion dollars, $500 billion to bring domestic manufacturing back.

[00:28:35] Now, I do, as I go home, drive past Texas Instruments, and as sometimes I go into Oklahoma past another Texas Instrument plant where they make chips in this country. But sadly, a lot of those chips are made, guess where? In Taiwan, which is not good. And so the company decided that it wanted to produce its AI superconductor chips here in the United States. They already have been manufacturing what are called Blackwell chips.

[00:29:04] These are kind of the latest generation of AI chips. They've been manufacturing those in Phoenix, Arizona. Now they're going to build more manufacturing plants in Dallas and in Houston. And interestingly enough, in their statement, this is what NVIDIA said, quote, President Donald Trump has made U.S. chip-based chip manufacturing a priority as part of his relentless pursuit of an American manufacturing renaissance and is paying off.

[00:29:34] They went on to say, on-shoring these industries is good for the American worker, good for the American economy, and good for American national security. The best is yet to come. So if you're looking for a few positives, maybe one religious, one economic, there's just a few that I thought we would add to the list. Let's get back to at least the two articles I've posted for the end of the program here today. The one comes from Matt Vespa, and it has to do, of course, with this individual, Abrigo Garcia.

[00:30:03] As you may know, this is an individual that was living in Maryland. You've probably been following the story, so we haven't talked about it a great deal. But if nothing else, he was deported back to his home country of El Salvador. For some reason, the Democratic Party has thought that this is a really important issue and a winning issue. So you have, of course, your senator from Maryland flew down to El Salvador. He's coming back empty-handed, of course. And the argument is made that he's just a father.

[00:30:34] Well, first of all, he married the woman he got pregnant. And then, because he married it, was then seeking asylum here. But the argument is he's just a nice father from Maryland. And this is why so many individuals, and you've probably seen the press secretary. You've probably seen the president. You've probably seen Stephen Miller. You've probably seen even Marco Rubio say that. But this article, I thought, would be helpful because this one comes from Tricia McLaughlin.

[00:31:03] You probably haven't heard of her and haven't heard what she had to say. She's the assistant secretary for public affairs in the Department of Homeland Security. And, again, just talks about this desperate attempt to try to make him just a father in Maryland rather than an individual who is a member of MS-13. Well, again, she goes through and brings, like they say, the receipts, brings you the facts. Two immigration judges who found Garcia to be a member of MS-13.

[00:31:32] These were Democratic-appointed ones, so it's not like they are really necessarily favorable to the Trump administration. Again, she went through some of the other facts. And at one point where there was a back and forth between her and Jay O'Brien of ABC News, she finally just said, look, I can do this all day, Jay. He's a member of MS-13. I don't think you want him to be your neighbor. I sure wouldn't as well. And so if you wanted some of the documentation, I wanted to give that to you.

[00:32:01] And there is more where that comes from because, after all, he was wearing gang paraphernalia. He was wearing an MS-13 jacket. Of course, the argument is, well, how do we know he's MS-13? Well, they don't issue, you know, membership cards. But it was real obvious who he was hanging with. And individuals on numerous occasions all said he's MS-13. The argument being made is, yes, but the federal judge says he can be deported,

[00:32:29] but he can't be deported to El Salvador because the argument would be that he might face a threat from other gangs. Well, he's in a prison where probably those gangs aren't going to be able to get to him. But nevertheless, this is a story which I'm afraid we're going to be hearing for a long, long time. And when we come back from the break, I thought just real quickly I would tell you another story of a person that, again, has not necessarily been well documented in the press.

[00:32:59] This one comes from Matt O'Brien, who is a columnist with the Washington Times, and spends some time pointing out that the way in which this was covered was not very accurate. And so he has written a column for the Washington Times. He also is the director of investigations at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, also a co-host of a podcast on a number of other things, and really just helps you understand that just because you read it in the Washington Post,

[00:33:29] the New York Times, frankly, even if you heard it here on radio, check it out. Because once you start checking it out, you'll find out sometimes they left out some really important, important and key facts. We'll talk about that right after this.

[00:33:55] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes, let me just mention real quickly that our last article here, as I mentioned, is from Matt O'Brien. And the reason I use it is this perhaps is the most troubling story that most of us have heard. And I use it because it's a technique I've used occasionally.

[00:34:19] For example, when I sometimes speak to an audience about alleged contradictions in the Bible or Bible difficulties, I point out that there are hundreds of examples that people have used over the years to say, well, there's a contradiction in the Bible. And the fact that there are whole books that have been written to show that you can resolve those contradictions, I think is enough. But I say, I know that in the interest of time, since we have less than an hour,

[00:34:46] let me take what I think are the most difficult contradictions, sometimes anywhere from three to five to six, depending on how much time I have. And if I can show that we can resolve the most difficult contradictions, don't you think I could do that for the rest? I picked this one because this is perhaps the most tragic story about deportation I've heard so far. And so if we go through this story,

[00:35:13] and I can show you that there are some pieces of information that were missing in the news report, could you not then conclude that many of the other reports could be, if I had enough time and you had enough patience, we could also begin to debunk some of those. Does that make sense? And so here, this is, of course, an incredible story that appeared in the New York Times, and it has the title Where's Alex? Because they're talking about this caregiver who's Alfredo Aurelia,

[00:35:44] and he actually is a green card holder, but he takes care of a very autistic individual in Falls Church, Virginia. In fact, I used to live in Falls Church, Virginia when I went to Georgetown, so this means a lot. And according to the article in the New York Times, this is unjust because this individual, Alfredo, isn't really a criminal. He's just a guy that made a mistake while he was on drugs.

[00:36:11] And then they even talk about the fact that in the past, government usually has opted not to target people unless they've committed particularly serious crimes. Now, first of all, Matt O'Brien points out that the narrative has a problem right off the bat because many criminal aliens were, in fact, given a pass by the Obama administration and certainly by the Biden administration. That wasn't a policy decision.

[00:36:38] That person has, in one way or another, been on the wrong side of the law and thus still was allowed to stay in the country doesn't necessarily mean that then the Trump administration has to follow it the same way. And so his point is the mere fact that President Obama and President Biden and others didn't deport certain aliens during their times in office doesn't protect them from renewal now.

[00:37:04] And interestingly enough, this is where, again, the New York Times maybe left out some pertinent facts, which I think once you understand those facts, helps you understand a little bit more because this is a particular situation where this individual, and again, we'll refer to him as Alfredo, rather than using his last name,

[00:37:29] was convicted of obtaining money based on false pretenses and was smuggling abusive substances. Well, okay, now you start getting into a little bit more of that as well. And even as this particular story in the New Times acknowledges, under immigration law, what he was charged with, according to the Virginia Code Section 182-178, constitutes a crime,

[00:37:59] but it also, and this is the other part which is left out, involves what's called moral turpitude. Okay, I have to go back to my law classes in undergraduate school where the first time I heard the term moral turpitude but that is, and since this is a family-friendly audience, I'll just say, let's use the definition, moral turpitude involves base, vile, or depraved, or contrary to the accepted rules of morality

[00:38:27] and duties owed between persons and society in general. You can let your mind wander and you'll begin to figure out what we're really talking about with Alfredo. And so, as a result, then you have the big question, okay, well, if Alfredo was actually a caregiver to this severely autistic man in Falls Church, how did that happen? Because Virginia law bars people

[00:38:54] with certain kinds of criminal convictions from accepting employment as caregivers unless they had a criminal background check. So, it does suggest now, as we dig a little deeper, that, yes, Mr. Alfredo, with a history of drug abuse and moral turpitude offenses, and I'll let your mind wander what those engaged in, how did he get that position? It's probably pretty clear that what he did was

[00:39:23] he simply lied on the applications and, as a result, they weren't able to ferret out some of the stories that needed to be actually checked. Now, again, he says there's no indication that Alfredo was unceremoniously plucked off the street and ejected from the United States. He will get a hearing before an immigration judge, and if the claims that he is a reformed man are true and he qualifies for relief from removal, he may still be allowed

[00:39:52] to keep his green card and actually remain in the United States. The point that he makes at the end that is Matt O'Brien is, look, debating issues of law and policy 100% legitimate and a legitimate endeavor in a democracy such as ours. However, when it comes to immigration, the American media seem to be sometimes trying to bend over backwards to try to deceive

[00:40:22] the public and portray, as he says, Donald Trump as a bigot and a tyrant and that the Trump administration has not actually applied the law faithfully when it appears that they have been trying to apply the immigration and naturalization and nationality law in the same way that has been applied since President Dwight Eisenhower. So again, I didn't want to get into all the details. It's a little bit

[00:40:51] disgusting, quite frankly, but you can get the idea. And so this is an individual, again, portrayed and is perhaps one of the most heart-rending kind of stories because here's a caregiver here in this country just trying to do his best and trying to help this autistic man in Falls Church as a caregiver. But there's more to the story and this is why I've said time and time again on Point of View, check it out. Just because we say it,

[00:41:21] check it out. Check this article out. Go and look at the references. Go look at the New York Times. Check it out. Because just because it's in print, just because somebody says it on a TV program or just because somebody says it in a radio program doesn't necessarily always make it true. Well, that's enough for today. There's much more we can cover next week. My commentary today on counter-revolution, I would encourage you to read. The one tomorrow on cultural issues is one I've mentioned before, but it reminds us that some of the

[00:41:51] biggest issues we will have to address aren't political. They're cultural, and as we said just a few minutes ago, spiritual. But let me end with one of those traditional greetings that have been used in the Western Church. He is risen. He is risen indeed. That has been one of the great traditional explanations and responses that are used in church after church, and it goes all the way back, of course, to the Bible.

[00:42:20] In Luke 24, verse 34, various translations say simply the same thing. The Lord has risen indeed and appeared to Simon. And that is indeed the way the church has so often talked about Resurrection Sunday. So this Sunday of your church, perhaps they say he has risen, and you in response say it has risen indeed. You can go all the way back to even the translation in the Latin Vulgate in AD 400

[00:42:49] to find some of the basis for that belief as well. And it's part of the Western Church, part of the Orthodox Church, and certain you need to say on Sunday. Hope you have a great Resurrection Day, and we certainly encourage you to find the material at Point of View. See you back here on Monday right here on Point of View. At Point of View, we believe there is power in prayer, and that is why we have relaunched our Pray for America

[00:43:19] campaign, a series of weekly emails to unite Americans in prayer for our nation. Imagine if hundreds of thousands of Americans started praying intentionally together on a weekly basis. You can help make that a reality by subscribing to our Pray for America emails. Just go to pointofview.net and click on the Pray for America banner that's right there on the

[00:43:49] homepage. Each week you'll receive a brief news update, a specific prayer guide, and a free resource to equip you in further action. We encourage you to not only pray with us each week, but to share these prayers and the resources with others in your life. Join the movement today. Visit pointofview.net and click on the banner Pray for America right there at the top.

[00:44:17] That's pointofview.net. Let's pray together for God to make a difference in our land. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.