Point of View May 21, 2024 – Hour 2 : Today’s News

[00:00:00] Point of View Radio Talk Show Point of View Radio Talk Show

[00:00:42] a few things from the weekend, but this first maybe segment could be fit into the I guess

[00:00:49] I told you so or I hate to tell you I told you so file because there are some of those

[00:00:55] stories that shouldn't be surprising, but nevertheless that is the case.

[00:01:00] And I'll start with the fact that we as a country, at least under the Biden administration,

[00:01:07] have tried to build a pier right next to the Gaza Strip so that we could get resources,

[00:01:14] food and medicine and other things in there while there of course is a war taking place.

[00:01:20] We can leave for another day whether or not what Israel has done or the IDF has done is

[00:01:26] appropriate or extreme or whatever, but we can certainly all agree, I would hope, that

[00:01:32] at least trying to get food to individuals who obviously need that, many are perhaps

[00:01:41] even starving, would be very helpful.

[00:01:45] And yet if there is anything where, you know, I hate to tell you I told you so, when they

[00:01:50] started building the pier and understand that it's a floating pier because they couldn't

[00:01:56] even necessarily attach it to the ground there, they were being fired at.

[00:02:02] But nevertheless as aid deliveries began arriving, and this comes from Reuters, as aid deliveries

[00:02:10] began arriving at a U.S.-built pier, as Israel is under of course pressure to allow more

[00:02:18] supplies into the coastal enclave, the UN agreed to assist in coordinating the aid distribution

[00:02:27] from the floating pier but also has actually run into a few problems.

[00:02:34] Here it is.

[00:02:35] The United Nations said that 10 truckloads of food aid transported from the pier site

[00:02:42] by UN contractors that were received on Friday at a World Food Program warehouse in Gaza,

[00:02:49] only five of those 10 truckloads made it to the warehouse.

[00:02:55] Are you surprised?

[00:02:56] Well, then you go, others were completely cleaned out by the Palestinians during the

[00:03:04] journey through an area that the UN official said had been hard to access with humanitarian aid.

[00:03:14] We're just, they're not seeing trucks for a while and talked about the fact that basically

[00:03:20] they mounted the trucks and helped themselves to the food parcels.

[00:03:25] The UN did not receive any aid from the pier on Sunday, on Monday, and we need, they said,

[00:03:31] to make sure that the necessary security and logistical, logistic arrangements are in place before we proceed.

[00:03:41] Another way you can, and again, you've got to understand that this is reading from Reuters

[00:03:48] who is actually trying to get the best face on it, but as one commentator put it, in other

[00:03:54] words, some Palestinians in Gaza stole the food parcels before they could even be reaching

[00:04:02] their intended destination and actually nothing apparently on Saturday got through at all.

[00:04:09] Now you might say, well this is all going to hungry people.

[00:04:13] Well again, I've got a piece of swampland I'd love to sell you as very good property

[00:04:20] because you know where a lot of this has gone.

[00:04:22] As a matter of fact, there are other stories talking about the fact that it's being taken,

[00:04:26] it's being resold, it's being used as bait to get people involved in fighting for Hamas

[00:04:33] and the list goes on and on and on.

[00:04:35] But we could have predicted that this floating pier, which of course was fired upon by Hamas

[00:04:43] and then eventually which was used to distribute the food, that it would eventually end up

[00:04:49] in the hands of the wrong people and that before it even reached its intended destination,

[00:04:55] a destination that probably had a lot of children and wives and mothers and old elderly people

[00:05:03] was taken before it ever got there.

[00:05:06] And of course we can figure out what that's going to mean in the future.

[00:05:11] Another one of those I hate to tell you I told you show, but this comes from Senator

[00:05:15] Brian Hughes and Senator Brian Hughes has actually been watching how much fentanyl has

[00:05:22] come across the border.

[00:05:25] And the other day when we had the actual, what was it, Encourage or even Honor Law Enforcement

[00:05:33] Day, that happened a while back, he said since the beginning of what's called Operation Lone

[00:05:39] Star in 2021, the Texas government has seized enough fentanyl to kill every person.

[00:05:51] Again the DPS, again the Department of Public Safety in Texas has seized more than, if you

[00:05:56] want to get the numbers, 474 million lethal doses of fentanyl.

[00:06:04] That is enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman and child in the United States.

[00:06:10] So as we've tried to explain before, when people say, well you're just racist because

[00:06:15] you want to close the border, you don't let these people in.

[00:06:18] No, we'd like to let people in that actually qualify to be citizens who want to become

[00:06:24] good citizens, but we don't want to traffic in drugs and human trafficking.

[00:06:30] And now the estimate is that just the state of Texas, Department of Public Safety has

[00:06:36] been able to seize again 474 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill every man,

[00:06:44] woman and child in the country.

[00:06:47] That's what's coming over our border.

[00:06:50] Why is immigration one of the most important issues being talked about today?

[00:06:56] Why is it oftentimes when there are surveys of likely voters, why are so many of them

[00:07:03] actually pointing to some of these issues like the fact that the border is porous and

[00:07:09] as a result we have a fentanyl crisis that is hardly ever mentioned by most individuals

[00:07:16] in Congress.

[00:07:18] And so we'll come back and maybe talk about a few things in Congress.

[00:07:21] Today was a rather significant dust up, if you might have noticed, between Representative

[00:07:26] Jasmine Crockett and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Representative Marjorie

[00:07:32] Taylor Greene.

[00:07:33] So we'll talk about that.

[00:07:35] President Biden gave a speech that many people feel was running down the United States of

[00:07:41] America and not necessarily the kind of speech you would expect from a president of the United

[00:07:47] States.

[00:07:48] And on Friday, you might remember, we talked about another speech that was given by an

[00:07:52] individual that actually is a kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, Harrison Butker.

[00:07:59] And he's been under all sorts of criticism for actually giving a very good Christian

[00:08:05] speech, basically kind of an Orthodox Catholic speech at a Catholic university.

[00:08:11] But of course, the NFL thinks that is too controversial.

[00:08:14] And so he's been under some criticism as well.

[00:08:17] But interestingly enough, of all people, was defended by Bill Maher.

[00:08:23] What's going on with Bill Maher?

[00:08:24] You know, this atheist, secularist who says, look, I don't agree with this guy, but it's

[00:08:28] just I don't even understand why this is controversial.

[00:08:31] He was giving his ideas and his testimony.

[00:08:34] And that was somehow enough for the NFL to come crashing down on his head.

[00:08:40] So we've got a lot to talk about.

[00:08:41] We'll do some more about that right after these important messages.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:01] I've played basketball and program computers, but I never thought putting the two together

[00:09:08] would be a problem.

[00:09:10] An AI computer got the facts of a recent NBA playoff all wrong and generated a fictitious

[00:09:15] story.

[00:09:16] Klay Thompson plays for the Golden State Warriors.

[00:09:18] Although he is an excellent shooter, he went for an abysmal zero for 10 from the three-point

[00:09:22] line when he played the Sacramento Kings.

[00:09:25] Here is the story the AI computer created.

[00:09:28] In a bizarre turn of events, NBA star Klay Thompson has been accused of vandalizing multiple

[00:09:33] houses with bricks in Sacramento.

[00:09:35] The incidents have left the community shaken, but no injuries were reported.

[00:09:40] The motive behind the alleged vandalism remains unclear.

[00:09:43] Now the AI computer apparently pulled some online comments about Thompson throwing up

[00:09:47] bricks and generated this fictitious story.

[00:09:50] It illustrates what could happen when AI is unsupervised and out of control.

[00:09:55] The story accuses Klay Thompson of doing something he did not do, claims houses were

[00:09:59] vandalized and does not know his motive.

[00:10:02] It also assumes no injuries took place because they weren't reported.

[00:10:06] Remember none of this happened.

[00:10:08] It was created in the mind or the circuitry of the AI computer.

[00:10:12] Now most people who have reported this fictitious story find it funny.

[00:10:16] I find it scary.

[00:10:17] The AI computer obviously did not know basketball slang throwing up bricks, but it created a

[00:10:22] whole story out of a misunderstanding.

[00:10:25] Let me remind you that whole reputations have been ruined because of a misunderstanding.

[00:10:29] For that matter, wars have started from a misunderstanding.

[00:10:33] This may be a silly story, but it does illustrate that AI isn't as reliable as we've been led

[00:10:38] to believe.

[00:10:39] I'm Kirby Anderson and that's my point of view.

[00:10:47] For a free booklet on a biblical view on big data, go to viewpoints.info.

[00:10:54] That's viewpoints.info.

[00:10:56] You're listening to Point of View, your listener supported source for truth.

[00:11:04] Once again, and again we'll spend a little bit of time talking about some of the speeches

[00:11:09] being given, but before we get to that I think it is worth revisiting a controversy that

[00:11:15] unfolded in the House of Representatives.

[00:11:18] And I just alluded to that a minute ago, and that is where you have Representative Jasmine

[00:11:23] Crockett and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene getting

[00:11:30] into it.

[00:11:31] And it was quite a, sometimes people will call it a cat fight, if we want to use a British

[00:11:36] term, a Donnybrook.

[00:11:39] But nevertheless, it was so incredible that even the Babylon Bee had to jump in with that.

[00:11:47] And of course Babylon Bee is always making a joke and it showed the pictures of them

[00:11:51] fighting and then said the controversy caused some of the members of Congress to want to

[00:11:59] reevaluate the 19th Amendment, which of course the amendment gave a woman a right to vote.

[00:12:04] Which was of course a joke, but it was so bad that you had John Fetterman, Senator John

[00:12:10] Fetterman from Pennsylvania.

[00:12:12] What's happened to him recently?

[00:12:13] I mean he has been one of the most stalwart supporters of Israel.

[00:12:18] You've got to love some of the things he's been saying and doing lately.

[00:12:21] Not that we would always agree with some of his stans, but nevertheless he was looking

[00:12:26] at this and said what is unfolding there in the House of Representatives reminds me of

[00:12:33] the Jerry Springer Show.

[00:12:36] Some of you are old enough to remember the Jerry Springer Show.

[00:12:39] And that's when AOC said okay that's enough, you need to apologize.

[00:12:44] And then I noticed later John Fetterman did apologize to the Jerry Springer Show because

[00:12:49] of what unfolded in Congress.

[00:12:51] And we can laugh about it, but it is an illustration of the polarization in our country that is

[00:12:59] manifesting itself on some of the extreme issues that our Congress is having to address.

[00:13:06] And it is I think a sad commentary as well.

[00:13:10] Well while we're talking about some speeches, the commencement speech was given by the President

[00:13:15] at Morehouse College.

[00:13:17] And this is a historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia.

[00:13:21] Those of you that are in Georgia know it only so well.

[00:13:24] Gary Bauer gave me a list of all the really distinguished alumni.

[00:13:30] You've had members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries.

[00:13:34] It has been a college where such people as Herman Cain, Samuel L. Jackson, Dr. Martin

[00:13:40] Luther King Jr., and others have spoken.

[00:13:43] But it didn't turn out quite the same in that regard.

[00:13:47] First of all, one of the things he said is that there is a national effort to ban books

[00:13:53] because Republicans are trying to erase black history.

[00:13:58] If you've listened to this program at all, you know that's not true.

[00:14:01] As a matter of fact, this idea of banning books is not true.

[00:14:05] And it certainly is not trying to erase black history.

[00:14:10] He went on to also say that we have to make sure that we do not elect Donald Trump because

[00:14:17] Donald Trump and his mega extremists gutted affirmative action.

[00:14:24] Now again, you can disagree about affirmative action, but if you think that it still needs

[00:14:31] to be implemented, you need to look at the latest polls.

[00:14:35] Because one of the articles I've posted is by Guy Benson, in which he just posts the

[00:14:40] recent Gallup poll.

[00:14:43] Most individuals, Americans, 68%, two-thirds of Americans, believe that the Supreme Court

[00:14:51] ruling to end the use of race and ethnicity in admission decisions on colleges and universities

[00:14:56] was a good thing.

[00:14:58] 68% to 32%.

[00:15:01] You might say, well, how does that rate two minorities?

[00:15:04] Well, 63% agreed with that who are Asian.

[00:15:08] 68% of Hispanics agreed with that.

[00:15:12] And even 52% of African Americans, blacks, agreed with that as well.

[00:15:17] And there are other studies that have come out as well.

[00:15:21] This particular one from Noah Rothman talking about how he presides over a bleak verdict

[00:15:28] of something that is the case.

[00:15:30] And even interestingly enough, while you had a majority of African Americans, 52%, that

[00:15:37] agreed with the decision, if you go down the generations, the younger black Americans under

[00:15:44] the age of 39, 62% said doing away with racial preferences was mostly a good thing.

[00:15:51] I do believe that some of the numbers that are higher were those individuals who may be

[00:15:57] either directly or indirectly were affected in the past.

[00:16:00] Understand, you know, with segregation, Jim Crow, whatever it might be.

[00:16:05] But the younger you are, at least in the black community, the less likely you are to be a

[00:16:10] real fan of affirmative action.

[00:16:13] Well, of course, President Biden used that to make a case that because the president,

[00:16:20] that is Donald Trump, and his mega extremist gutted affirmative action, he said, and this

[00:16:27] is a question, if he's, that is if Trump's reelected, who do you think you'll put on

[00:16:32] the Supreme Court?

[00:16:34] You think he'd put on anybody who has a brain?

[00:16:37] This is how bad it got, you know.

[00:16:40] One commentator put this way, apparently President Biden believes that Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh

[00:16:46] and Amy Coney Barrett do not have brains.

[00:16:49] Now, you don't have to agree with all those judges or justices' decisions to recognize

[00:16:54] that in their careers, these elite college educated, back when that meant something,

[00:16:59] justices proved themselves as accomplished and bright lawyers, prosecutors, law professors

[00:17:03] and lower court judges.

[00:17:05] So again, during this election season, there is going to be a lot that is said.

[00:17:12] As a matter of fact, a lot that is actually, if nothing else, is inaccurate and just an

[00:17:18] outright lie.

[00:17:20] And I think it's going to be more and more important for you to really look for truth.

[00:17:26] And especially when the President of the United States says that Republicans are trying to

[00:17:30] ban books, not true, in order to number two, not true, erase black history.

[00:17:36] If anything, if he's looking at Florida, we've already talked about that as well.

[00:17:41] And that's one of those times where, you know, if you were in the presence of the President,

[00:17:45] you might say, Mr. President, look, I support the presidency, I support the office of the

[00:17:51] presidency, but I also have to say, Mr. President, that you and really the previous two occupiers

[00:18:00] in the Oval Office have had a real difficult time speaking the truth.

[00:18:06] And we really would like to find some people sometime in the future that would be a little

[00:18:10] bit more honest about some of the facts.

[00:18:13] Yes, you're allowed to have your opinion, but you're not allowed to have your own facts.

[00:18:18] And I just think we're going to have to have a lot of discernment during this election

[00:18:23] season.

[00:18:24] And some of these particular speeches being given right now certainly aren't accurate.

[00:18:30] As illustrated, one more point I wanted to make, by the fact that the White House, after

[00:18:34] you give a speech, actually produces the remarks.

[00:18:39] And Spencer Brown points out that the White House issued nine corrections to President

[00:18:45] Biden's NAACP speech.

[00:18:48] I've got them in front of me here, I'm not going to wear you out with them.

[00:18:51] And some of those are where he actually confuses what happened during the pandemic, thinking

[00:18:57] that he was vice president during the pandemic.

[00:18:59] No, he was not.

[00:19:01] And others where he gives the wrong name, the wrong award, or in one case, he talks about

[00:19:08] the Affordable Care Action saving $800,000 in premiums when it's 800.

[00:19:18] 800,000?

[00:19:19] Did he really take that seriously?

[00:19:23] And then of course all sorts of others that are just incredible.

[00:19:28] You've got to understand that the speech he was giving off of the teleprompter.

[00:19:33] So either you've got to believe the teleprompter made a mistake or the speech writer made a

[00:19:38] mistake, which I sincerely doubt.

[00:19:41] Or he just couldn't read the teleprompter or he just began to say things that weren't

[00:19:45] on the teleprompter and that of course gets him in trouble as well.

[00:19:49] So just a lot of issues to pay attention to just because a politician said it doesn't necessarily

[00:19:56] make it true.

[00:19:58] One last point.

[00:19:59] I saw this the other day, they're showing the picture of the NFL kicker for the, of course,

[00:20:07] Kansas City Chiefs, Harrison Butker, individual who of course spoke at a Catholic university,

[00:20:13] spoke out against abortion, talked about praising his wife, talked about the high calling of

[00:20:18] being a mother and a homemaker and the rest.

[00:20:21] And of course the NFL just came crashing down on his head.

[00:20:25] And I saw this little meme that came out from our friends at Life News.

[00:20:30] Tariq Hill brutally beat and choked his pregnant girlfriend in college, but never saw any jail

[00:20:37] time.

[00:20:38] But Harrison Butker speaks out against abortion, says some things that might not be considered

[00:20:44] politically correct for the NFL and the whole NFL group has come down on his head.

[00:20:51] As I mentioned just a minute ago, whatever's going on with some of these individuals, Bill

[00:20:55] Maher the other day said, I don't get it.

[00:20:57] I mean he has a wife, he has children, he's a Christian.

[00:21:03] I can't say that I have an agreement with anything about him, but I can understand why what he

[00:21:11] said at a commencement at a Catholic school has caused the NFL to come down on his head.

[00:21:17] But that says a lot about the NFL, not necessarily about the wisdom of some of the things he

[00:21:22] shared at that commencement address.

[00:21:24] Let's take a break.

[00:21:25] We've got a lot more to cover.

[00:21:26] We'll be right back.

[00:21:31] It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority.

[00:21:36] They say men can be women and women men.

[00:21:40] People are prosecuted differently or not at all depending on their politics.

[00:21:45] Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law abiding citizens.

[00:21:50] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing.

[00:21:53] You feel like giving up, but we can't.

[00:21:56] We shouldn't.

[00:21:57] We must not.

[00:21:58] As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in.

[00:22:04] Never give in.

[00:22:05] Never, never, never.

[00:22:07] Never yield to force.

[00:22:09] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[00:22:13] And that's what we say to you today.

[00:22:15] This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity

[00:22:22] in the chaos.

[00:22:23] We can't do it alone, but together with God's help, we will overcome the darkness.

[00:22:30] Invest in Biblical Clarity today at PointofView.net or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:22:39] PointofView will continue after this.

[00:22:58] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:02] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management

[00:23:08] or staff of this station.

[00:23:10] And now, here again is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:13] Back once again, let's if I can spend a little bit of time talking about a book that is out

[00:23:18] by Michael Brown.

[00:23:19] He'll be on the program with us a week from tomorrow.

[00:23:24] And because he has his own radio program, he'll only be on with us for about 45 minutes.

[00:23:28] So I thought I'd give you a preview.

[00:23:30] And then as a result, when he comes on, maybe this will be familiar territory and we'll

[00:23:34] talk more.

[00:23:35] But he says a number of years ago, and I'm talking about quite a number of years ago,

[00:23:39] he did a series of lectures and one of them had to do with this idea of homosexuality,

[00:23:45] the church and society.

[00:23:47] And he specifically in this series talked about what the church can learn from the gay

[00:23:52] and lesbian community.

[00:23:54] And so he's now decided to actually put that in a book.

[00:23:58] I have a copy of it.

[00:23:59] We will talk about it briefly with him a week from tomorrow.

[00:24:03] It's called Turn the Tide, How to Ignite a Cultural Awakening.

[00:24:08] And if you're taking some notes, or of course you would maybe like to apply some of these

[00:24:13] principles in your own experience, especially since we're in an election season.

[00:24:18] And he's talking about more than just an election.

[00:24:20] He's talking about bringing about a cultural transformation.

[00:24:24] The book is again Turn the Tide, How to Ignite a Cultural Awakening.

[00:24:28] And these are the kind of the eight bullet points.

[00:24:31] And I thought I'd go through them and just quickly to illustrate that we can learn some

[00:24:36] lessons.

[00:24:37] Number one, change did not come about merely by going to gay meetings, but rather by being

[00:24:43] gay 24-7.

[00:24:45] He said the same thing about civil rights.

[00:24:47] Change did not come by just going to civil rights meetings, but by joining the civil

[00:24:53] rights movement.

[00:24:54] And he says, you know, churches have got to understand and Christians have to understand

[00:24:59] that just going and meeting with other Christians at church is not exactly what we're talking

[00:25:05] about here.

[00:25:07] We need to go out and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

[00:25:10] That's me talking, not him, but it is I think an illustration of what he's talking about,

[00:25:15] that by actually getting together with other gays and complaining didn't change the culture,

[00:25:22] but there were some things that did.

[00:25:24] So that was the first one.

[00:25:25] Second, he says even a tiny minority with determination and vision can change the world.

[00:25:32] He says sometimes the biggest mistake we make in the church is we trust in numbers and political

[00:25:37] power.

[00:25:39] He says first of all that causes us to take our eyes off the cross, but also we sometimes

[00:25:44] put our faith in human might.

[00:25:47] He gives us a really striking quote of all things from Fidel Castro.

[00:25:52] Fidel Castro said, I began the revolution with 82 men.

[00:25:56] If I had to do it over again, I'd do it with 10 or 15 in absolute faith.

[00:26:02] It doesn't matter how small you are if you have faith in a plan of action.

[00:26:06] And Edmund Burke, another example, nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing

[00:26:12] because he could only do a little.

[00:26:15] So the point is, and I've used this illustration many times, especially when you had the kind

[00:26:21] of growth of the so-called gay agenda, which began in the 1960s but really flowered in

[00:26:28] the 1980s, we're talking about a pretty small group indeed making a remarkable change in

[00:26:35] America.

[00:26:36] Which comes to point number three, you must come out boldly.

[00:26:41] He quotes from a gay activist who looked back on what is called Stonewall, that was 30 years

[00:26:46] later and asked how did this singular event in June of 1969 become the fountainhead for

[00:26:53] so many changes that made the world so different?

[00:26:57] And then he uses some words I won't use.

[00:27:00] And he added that there was a gay liberation front but was clearly and proudly involved

[00:27:05] in that.

[00:27:06] And the point he's making is, is that when you speak boldly with conviction, there is

[00:27:11] an opportunity to make a difference.

[00:27:14] And he says again, can we learn a vicarious lesson from them that the redeemed blood-washed

[00:27:21] followers of Jesus should be unashamed?

[00:27:24] Jesus told us that we should be the salt of the earth and light of the world.

[00:27:29] Paul says I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

[00:27:31] I mean, go through this long list of those kinds of examples.

[00:27:36] And there were those who were in the homosexual movement that risked life and limb for their

[00:27:41] cause and yet nevertheless did so out of a sense of duty, faith, and commitment.

[00:27:47] And what can we learn from them?

[00:27:49] I think we can learn some things.

[00:27:51] Number four, he says you must focus on changing the world, not escaping from it.

[00:27:56] While gay activists were launching their revolution and getting it written into the law, the broad

[00:28:00] counter-cultural revolution was impacting our society.

[00:28:04] And at the same time, many Christians were expecting Jesus to come any moment and get

[00:28:08] them out of the world.

[00:28:09] And so we were more preoccupied with his coming than occupying till he comes.

[00:28:15] Again, that's me speaking, but it's an obvious implication of what Michael Brown is talking

[00:28:20] about.

[00:28:21] Number five, he says revolutions require strategy, including winning the battle of words and

[00:28:27] ideas.

[00:28:28] And he quotes a book that I show every time I speak on the issue of homosexuality.

[00:28:33] It's a book by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen.

[00:28:41] It's a book that came out in 1989, After the Ball, How America Will Conquer Its Fear and

[00:28:45] Hatred of Gays in the 90s.

[00:28:47] And it was based upon some of the material that they had actually put together in public

[00:28:52] relations.

[00:28:53] But it sets forth a six-fold strategy.

[00:28:58] Whenever I speak on homosexuality, I put those six-fold strategies up on slides and let people

[00:29:03] see that this was planned.

[00:29:06] This was organized.

[00:29:08] This was unified.

[00:29:09] I'll get to that in just a minute.

[00:29:11] And that was absolutely essential.

[00:29:13] So you can't necessarily be successful if you don't have a plan.

[00:29:18] And when people used to jokingly say, well, there's no such thing as the gay agenda, I'd

[00:29:21] hold up the book and say, there it is right there.

[00:29:24] It is the gay agenda.

[00:29:25] It is the six-fold plan.

[00:29:27] Everybody knew what it was.

[00:29:29] Everybody was singing off the same song sheet, if you want to use another metaphor.

[00:29:33] And that's why it was successful.

[00:29:36] Number six, he says remember to focus on the children.

[00:29:40] This began to be a mantra, and I've talked about this before, that these children that

[00:29:47] are having same-sex attractions, these children that are homosexual, are being hurt.

[00:29:54] And so as a result, we should be concerned about how this is affecting them.

[00:29:59] That's why we need to teach a positive message about homosexuality in the schools so they

[00:30:05] won't be bullied.

[00:30:06] That was the argument used.

[00:30:08] And it was a very effective argument.

[00:30:10] He says, well, think about this.

[00:30:12] We should also be speaking about how this affects children.

[00:30:17] You see, Nate, I see more followers to Jesus today.

[00:30:20] Either we speak up for the children and make their solid upbringing an educational priority,

[00:30:26] or else somebody else will.

[00:30:28] So again, remember the children.

[00:30:30] Number seven, remember to reach out to the marginalized.

[00:30:34] This really was at the heart of gay activism.

[00:30:37] It began with G and gay, then it was refined to gay and lesbian, GL.

[00:30:45] Then it came to later become GLB, gay, lesbian, bisexual.

[00:30:52] And then it eventually became GLBT, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender.

[00:30:58] Then eventually Q for queer or questioning, I for intersex, and P for something else.

[00:31:04] And so you ended up with this alphabet, but it actually brought other people together

[00:31:11] who were perceived as marginalized.

[00:31:15] Does that speak to the gospel?

[00:31:17] I think it does, obviously.

[00:31:19] He says, as the body of Christ, we cannot affirm homosexuality in any way, but we should

[00:31:24] and must reach out to the marginalized, the stigmatized, the outcasts, the outsiders,

[00:31:32] because Jesus cares for them.

[00:31:34] And finally, the last point, unity is essential.

[00:31:39] No surprise there.

[00:31:41] And again, here is a good example.

[00:31:43] As diverse as the homosexual community was, and I can remember back in the 1960s, having

[00:31:50] an uncle that was a homosexual and all the rest, that was pretty diverse, but they were

[00:31:56] able to keep it pretty unified.

[00:31:59] And he says, if anything, the church is unfortunately, even as we talked about yesterday and in previous

[00:32:05] conversations, the church is often famous for disunity and for church splits.

[00:32:12] And certainly some of the political activists are working harder and harder, it seems all

[00:32:17] the time, to divide individuals rather than to unify individuals.

[00:32:23] I recognize that sometimes a false unity where we compromise our values is not what we're

[00:32:28] talking about, but in places where we can find unity in terms of a common goal, in terms

[00:32:34] of common ethics and common goals and theology, I think that makes some sense.

[00:32:41] But nevertheless, this is, if you will, a preview for something we'll talk about next

[00:32:46] Thursday, a week from tomorrow, probably next Wednesday, I guess it's going to be, in which

[00:32:51] we will be talking about the book Turn the Tide, How to Ignite a Cultural Awakening.

[00:32:58] But I want you to hear kind of an advanced look at this, because he uses the success

[00:33:03] of the homosexual movement, the so-called gay agenda, to give us maybe some ideas on

[00:33:09] what we need to do differently inside the church, what we need to do differently as

[00:33:15] Christians to make a positive impact on our society.

[00:33:18] If you're concerned about the future, of course we have our Pray for America Weekly

[00:33:24] update and you can sign up for that today.

[00:33:26] You can certainly find my Viewpoints commentaries, you can join our Take Action item, but most

[00:33:32] importantly, on a day-to-day basis, be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

[00:33:37] Make a difference in the community which God has called you to.

[00:33:41] We'll be right back.

[00:33:42] ...listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:01] All right, for a few more minutes, let me just mention that tomorrow we're going to

[00:34:03] have a busy set of interviews.

[00:34:06] We'll be talking with Mark Adleberry about troublemakers inside the church.

[00:34:10] Stacey Womack will be talking about the issue of abuse, something that we've talked about

[00:34:15] many times before.

[00:34:17] We also have the actor Cuba Gooding Jr.

[00:34:21] You might remember him from a number of different things.

[00:34:24] Jerry McGuire, probably one of the best.

[00:34:27] Talking about a film that he's acting in, The Firing Squad, which is a Christian film,

[00:34:31] and we'll be able to chat with him.

[00:34:32] We may not get to many of the other issues in the news.

[00:34:36] Thursday will be our Millennial Roundtable, and Friday will be, of course, our end-of-week

[00:34:42] program.

[00:34:43] So we'll see what we can stick in in the next few minutes.

[00:34:47] Let me just mention that a very good piece by Victor Davis Hanson, The Disgrace and Fall

[00:34:53] of the American Elite Campus, goes on for about six pages.

[00:34:57] Good summary of what we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks, and a reminder

[00:35:03] that it used to be that we did believe that these elite colleges were producing very qualified

[00:35:10] individuals, well-qualified individuals, I was going to say.

[00:35:15] We're not so sure about that anymore, especially when we see what is happening in places like

[00:35:20] Harvard and Yale and Columbia and UCLA, Northwestern, just to mention a few that we've been picking

[00:35:27] on recently.

[00:35:28] I think it's an illustration that this may be the beginning of the end of everybody convinced

[00:35:37] that they have to go to college in order to be successful, and the beginning of many parents

[00:35:44] and students that are going to start saying, maybe there are some alternatives to going

[00:35:48] to an elite university, running up $100,000 worth of debt, and never really being able

[00:35:55] to do what I am gifted at being able to do.

[00:35:58] So we will see where this unfolds.

[00:36:00] Victor Davis Hanson, as an individual that is part of the Harvard, excuse me,

[00:36:05] the Hooper Institution at Stanford, certainly can speak to those issues as well.

[00:36:12] Just before winding down though, I thought I'd pick up a couple of issues, and one of those is an

[00:36:17] article that came out in The Hill, in which it is now being argued, something I've suggested

[00:36:24] before, that maybe Democrats are really still thinking about trying to jettison Joe Biden

[00:36:32] as the Democratic nominee for president.

[00:36:36] Douglas McKinnon puts it this way, at a certain point, none of this makes sense.

[00:36:41] This being President Joe Biden officially becoming the Democratic nominee for president

[00:36:45] come the convention in August, the number of Democrats who are honestly thrilled by

[00:36:50] that eventually would not fill a mini Cooper.

[00:36:53] He says a growing number of Democrats see Biden as becoming a political version of Groundhog Day.

[00:36:59] Every night they go to sleep dreaming of a new nominee, and every morning they wake up

[00:37:03] to the same old Biden, the president many now see as gaffe-prone, needing to be told

[00:37:08] where to stand, where to walk, and what to say.

[00:37:11] And as The Hill headlined earlier this week, Biden's weaknesses become bigger and bigger

[00:37:15] worry for Democrats.

[00:37:17] So again, The Hill is kind of the organ of Congress, and it's not necessarily right-leaning

[00:37:24] or necessarily always favorable to Republicans.

[00:37:28] Although, again, Dr. Merrill Matthews will be our host on Friday, actually writes for

[00:37:33] it, and some others, but you know what I'm getting at here.

[00:37:35] It's certainly not one that is looking askance at the Democratic nominee, but also recognizing

[00:37:43] that there is some concern.

[00:37:45] And so there is a point which showed up in, of all places, New York Magazine, where they

[00:37:51] sent the point.

[00:37:53] This is coming from New York Magazine, which is definitely left of center here, is that

[00:37:57] Democrats have a Joe Biden problem, not a party-wide problem.

[00:38:02] Nightmare may have been more accurate description, and the reason they bring it up is it's one

[00:38:07] thing for Democrats to say we're really concerned whether or not Joe Biden could be reelected.

[00:38:14] But their concern has now expanded to the fact that, as they put it, and this is their

[00:38:20] quote, President Biden's brutal swing state numbers could drag down their Democratic candidates

[00:38:28] for the Senate, unquote.

[00:38:30] So that's the kind of issue that they're running against.

[00:38:34] And another way to illustrate this is you've heard the phrase over these many years, almost

[00:38:39] now a decade, of never Trump.

[00:38:42] What we're starting to find is there's also a lot of never Biden voters out there as well.

[00:38:47] As a matter of fact, even more.

[00:38:49] Aaron Blake puts it this way.

[00:38:51] Back in 2020, about 50% of voters said not only that they weren't voting for Trump, but

[00:38:59] there was no chance that they would.

[00:39:02] At most, four in 10 said the same about Biden.

[00:39:06] But now, the most recent New York Times Siena College poll, and again, it's a New York Times

[00:39:12] poll, so recognize that, looking at six key swing states.

[00:39:17] What would those be?

[00:39:18] Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.

[00:39:23] Some people say there's six swing states.

[00:39:25] Some said there's seven.

[00:39:26] I'm not going to argue about it, but I think those six are pretty important.

[00:39:29] And across those six swing states, 46% of registered voters said there's no chance they would vote

[00:39:37] for Trump, but 52% said they would not vote for Biden.

[00:39:43] So now you're in a situation where the never Biden voters are a higher percentage than

[00:39:48] the never Trump voters.

[00:39:52] They didn't see that coming, but you can see, of course, all sorts of reasons why that would

[00:39:56] unfold.

[00:39:57] We mentioned one in terms of immigration and the border.

[00:40:03] And that is the estimate now of household net worth, which has dropped dramatically.

[00:40:13] Under Donald Trump in his first three years, household net income when adjusted for inflation

[00:40:18] went up 16%.

[00:40:20] For Biden, 7 tenths of 1%.

[00:40:24] And even the Geiger Capital analysis said this is brutal adjusted for inflation net

[00:40:29] worth up, well, not even a percent for Biden in first three years, 16% for Trump.

[00:40:35] And you of course see that not only is net worth not going up, but prices are going up.

[00:40:41] You may have seen some of these memes.

[00:40:43] I'll just mention these real quickly.

[00:40:45] For example, if you can look at the end of 2019 price for McDonald's and mid 2024, McChicken

[00:40:54] has gone up 210, 201%.

[00:40:58] Big Mac has gone up 87%.

[00:41:00] Ten McNuggets have gone up 68%.

[00:41:04] I found another one put together by Financial Buzz where they said the McChicken sandwich

[00:41:08] may be only get it up 199%, but whatever.

[00:41:12] A quarter pounder, 122%.

[00:41:15] Then you go down to Taco Bell and you have some other ones.

[00:41:18] The beefy five layer burrito has gone up 111%.

[00:41:25] Some of these numbers are off the charts.

[00:41:27] And then you go down to Chick-fil-A and some of those numbers, for example, the deluxe

[00:41:33] chicken sandwich gone up 79%, large milkshake up 64%, chicken strips up 68%, Chick-fil-A

[00:41:42] nuggets up say 96%.

[00:41:45] So the prices, especially for a lot of these fast foods have gone up dramatically.

[00:41:50] One reason is I noticed when I looked at one of these, they were actually looking at the

[00:41:55] McDonald's app for Los Angeles.

[00:41:58] And if you understand that in California, when you start requiring that fast food workers

[00:42:06] have to be getting, what is it $20 an hour for minimal wage and things like that, part

[00:42:12] of it is the cost of food.

[00:42:14] A good portion of it is cost of labor.

[00:42:16] Also the other expenses involved with a McDonald's location.

[00:42:21] This is why you see those numbers going up.

[00:42:24] So if the wages don't go up and the prices keep going up, you can sense why there are

[00:42:30] some frustrations.

[00:42:32] And that's why I think it is now accurate to say in some of the most recent polls,

[00:42:36] they're actually more never Biden voters than there are never Trump voters.

[00:42:42] If we really had a viable third party candidate, probably would work.

[00:42:46] Don't know that there is one out there, but it illustrates again the kind of election

[00:42:51] year we're going to find ourselves in the midst of.

[00:42:54] If you'd like to know a little bit more about some of the things we've been talking

[00:42:57] about today, all of that is available at our website, pointofview.net.

[00:43:01] We thank Megan for help engineering the program.

[00:43:03] Steve, thank you for producing the program.

[00:43:05] We look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View.

[00:43:11] In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle not with guns and

[00:43:17] bombs, but words and ideas.

[00:43:20] London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism and legendary Baptist preacher

[00:43:27] Charles Spurgeon.

[00:43:28] London was in many ways the center of the world economically, militarily and

[00:43:33] intellectually.

[00:43:35] Marx sought to destroy religion, the family and everything the Bible supports.

[00:43:40] Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers.

[00:43:44] Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth.

[00:43:49] It is truth for all of life.

[00:43:51] Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom to stand against darkness today?

[00:43:56] Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues delivered to your inbox when

[00:44:01] you sign up for the Viewpoints commentary at pointofview.net slash sign up.

[00:44:08] Every weekday in less than two minutes, you'll learn how to be a person of light to

[00:44:12] stand against darkness in our time.

[00:44:15] It's free.

[00:44:16] So visit pointofview.net slash sign up right now.

[00:44:21] Pointofview.net slash sign up.

[00:44:28] Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.