Point of View November 14, 2024 – Hour 1 : Christian Higher Education, Opposing Antisemitism

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View.

[00:00:19] Thank you for joining me, it is the Thursday edition of Point of View and we are going to be covering a lot of different topics so stay tuned as we certainly are going to talk about what is happening on Christian universities around the campus, around the country as well.

[00:00:32] And really kind of the state of higher education, also going to mention Mike Pence, I'll get to that in just a minute.

[00:00:37] Then we're going to get into the subject of antisemitism.

[00:00:41] Michael Rodelnik is with us and will be with us later this hour as we talk about a summit that was done.

[00:00:47] And then we're going to get back to, of course, all sorts of cabinet posts.

[00:00:51] Marco Rubio heading up the State Department.

[00:00:54] What Elon Musk has planned for the Government Efficiency Commission.

[00:01:02] Tulsi Gabbard at the whole area of national intelligence and much, much more.

[00:01:08] So we'll get into all sorts of very important topics in the news.

[00:01:12] And anyway, along the way, if you'd like to join the conversation, feel free to give us a call.

[00:01:17] That number is 1-800-351-1212.

[00:01:21] When I come to Eric Hogue, he is the president of Colorado Christian University.

[00:01:24] He is an individual who in the past served as the vice president of advancement for Colorado Christian University.

[00:01:32] Earned a bachelor's degree from William Jessup University.

[00:01:36] A master's of arts from Liberty University.

[00:01:38] An individual that has been a pastor.

[00:01:40] He's certainly a well-known radio, television, media professional.

[00:01:44] We're even a former political candidate.

[00:01:47] Author of The Winning Side of the Ask.

[00:01:49] And joins us now by phone.

[00:01:51] So, Eric, thank you for being with us today here on Point of View.

[00:01:55] Hey, Kirby.

[00:01:56] It's great to be with you.

[00:01:57] Thank you for the invite.

[00:01:58] Let's talk about Mike Pence.

[00:02:00] We've known him for decades around here at Point of View.

[00:02:04] Of course, he is no longer serving in the cabinet.

[00:02:07] But as an individual that I believe you have come in to speak tomorrow.

[00:02:12] Yeah, Mike is the 48th president or vice president of the United States attending campus.

[00:02:18] He's the first out of the gate for my president speaker series, both Mike and Karen.

[00:02:24] Karen, the former second lady, is coming at the request of my bride, the first lady here, to talk about education.

[00:02:30] And then Mike coming in to talk about leadership, leadership in the midst of a tumult that he was placed in in 2021, as well as just the scope of post-election opinion and forecasting.

[00:02:43] So I'm honored to have my good friend Mike on campus.

[00:02:46] I might just mention, too, we posted your article on leadership.

[00:02:49] We'll get to that in just a minute.

[00:02:50] But when you talk about an individual like that, I know some people don't like how January 6th turned out.

[00:02:57] But again, we've known him for a long time, first as a talk show host and then a member of Congress and then a governor and then, of course, the vice president.

[00:03:07] And because of the real diversity of experiences he's had, similar to some of the diversity of experiences you've had, I think he really brings a lot to the table in terms of really understanding what leadership is and how to develop leaders for the 21st century.

[00:03:24] Yeah, I agree, Kirby.

[00:03:26] I mean, first of all, we're both radio guys, so that means we have a face for radio.

[00:03:30] Kirby, I don't know if I want to be pejorative and include you in on that, but Mike joke about the fact that the radio has blessed us down the road.

[00:03:39] Here's the take that I personally have on January 6th, and this is my opinion.

[00:03:45] I mean, we have a number of concerns of how election went down, how it turned out, or what have you.

[00:03:51] But the vice president, Mike Pence at that time, had a duty because he put his hand on the holy word of God and took an oath to protect the Constitution, and he upheld that.

[00:04:00] It was leadership in the midst of a tumult.

[00:04:03] If you go back in history, 1860, the vice president was John C. Breckenridge.

[00:04:10] He was a Democrat, and he had a situation as vice president with a candidate that was just named president-elect.

[00:04:17] His name was Abraham Lincoln.

[00:04:18] And Breckenridge had a lot of personal interest involved.

[00:04:23] He could have attacked the Electoral College.

[00:04:25] He could have went after a plurality of popular vote with four candidates, Bell and Douglas being in the mix.

[00:04:32] He had a split on the northern abolitionists and the southern cessationists.

[00:04:37] And he had numerous reasons to not certify the vote.

[00:04:41] But Breckenridge, although it was against his own vote, he was not an abolitionist, wasn't a support of Abraham Lincoln, but he certified the Electoral College.

[00:04:50] And he did what was right.

[00:04:51] John Meacham highlights him in his book about Abraham Lincoln.

[00:04:55] In some situations, leadership takes someone to stand without self-interest and do the right thing, do the duty of defending the Constitution,

[00:05:05] especially when you have an oath before God in the process of doing it.

[00:05:10] Well, while we're talking about leadership, let me just mention we've posted your article that has come out,

[00:05:15] Embracing the CEO Mindset of Higher Education Leadership.

[00:05:19] But I thought before we got into too much of it, you begin by reminding us that right now a lot of these higher education institutions,

[00:05:30] not just the Christian ones, although I know they're facing some issues too, but all of them are facing lower enrollments.

[00:05:37] Younger people are not necessarily going to college.

[00:05:40] And, of course, you can see the impact of the pandemic and the lockdown and those kinds of things because of that tighter budgets,

[00:05:46] because inflation has certainly affected that.

[00:05:48] And then the problem with student outcomes, turns out they were not necessarily producing the best and the brightest out of these institutions.

[00:05:56] So is it fair to say that higher education is in a bit of a crisis right now?

[00:06:02] Yeah, I think you're right, Kirby.

[00:06:03] Generally, it is.

[00:06:05] I mean, the Ivies are hurting for obvious reasons as to what has happened around Israel and the encampments and the protests.

[00:06:12] I think a lot of higher education institutions have lost their way on the liberal arts,

[00:06:17] what it means to actually think and search for truth, to hunger for truth, to know that there is something called truth.

[00:06:24] I think many organizations, you know, in higher ed are dependent upon government handouts.

[00:06:31] They're not sustainable.

[00:06:32] They sit on large endowments, and they don't spend from them,

[00:06:37] and they charge the students more and more and more each and every year.

[00:06:41] They don't operate good business models.

[00:06:44] They're not sustainable.

[00:06:45] They don't expect profitable margins at the end of each division.

[00:06:49] The academics aren't worth it.

[00:06:51] And the rigor in the coursework is much more along the lines of agendas and wokeness than it is academics.

[00:07:00] So my word to anybody who is listening, if indeed you want your son or daughter to go to college,

[00:07:07] I would pick a conventional, intentional, mission-adherent, Christ-centered university that has a brand in demand.

[00:07:17] You say who you are.

[00:07:19] You act that way.

[00:07:20] And you make sure that the outcomes are a benefit to the students.

[00:07:24] It's dwindling population means you're going to have to do a much better job of educating students who choose your institution

[00:07:32] and doing it with academics versus nothing more than agenda and wokeism.

[00:07:37] We're going to take a break, and when we come back,

[00:07:38] we'll talk a little bit more about embracing the CEO mindset in higher education.

[00:07:43] But, again, as we have mentioned many times before,

[00:07:46] one of those institutions you might want to check out is Colorado Christian University.

[00:07:50] We've got a young woman that is our neighborhood that is actually now freshman enrolled there.

[00:07:55] And when we've had Lee Strobel on,

[00:07:57] sometimes we've talked about the Lee Strobel Center at the Colorado Christian University.

[00:08:01] But all sorts of other Christian colleges and universities are worthy of your consideration as well.

[00:08:07] So I thought we might spend just a moment talking about that.

[00:08:10] And, of course, if you find yourself saying,

[00:08:12] well, I'd like to know a little bit more about that,

[00:08:14] of course, we have that information there.

[00:08:16] And, of course, we've posted this article, which we're going to come back and talk about what that means.

[00:08:21] And Eric has spent time both in the fundraising side of this,

[00:08:25] but also now in the CEO or president side.

[00:08:29] And I think he brings some very helpful information to you.

[00:08:33] Whether you're going to ever run a university is not the issue.

[00:08:38] These leadership principles apply whether or not you're raising your kids

[00:08:41] or even serving in your own church.

[00:08:43] So we'll talk about those right after this.

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

[00:09:02] Elon Musk noted on X that giving more money to homeless charities in California

[00:09:07] did not seem to reduce the number of homeless people.

[00:09:10] In response, Constantine Kissin reminded him of the Cobra Effect,

[00:09:13] and he was surprised to discover how many people hadn't heard of it.

[00:09:17] Now, the Cobra Effect is based upon a story which may or may not have taken place

[00:09:21] during British colonial rule in India.

[00:09:23] According to the story, the British wanted to reduce the Cobra population

[00:09:27] and offered a bounty for every dead Cobra.

[00:09:30] But the Cobra problem got worse because people realized that they could profit from this bounty

[00:09:34] and began raising Cobras in farms.

[00:09:37] Now, when the government finally became aware of this practice,

[00:09:40] they discontinued the bounty program.

[00:09:42] The Cobra breeders then decided to release their worthless snakes into the wild,

[00:09:46] making the problem worse.

[00:09:47] In the past, you know, I've talked about how the Cobra Effect surfaced in the attempt to combat racism.

[00:09:53] Anti-racist groups and organizations formed to combat racism, but they soon faced a problem.

[00:09:58] The demand to find racism was much larger than the supply.

[00:10:03] Soon, we were hearing about such things as microaggressions,

[00:10:06] and the charge of racism was thrown around indiscriminately.

[00:10:09] The problem of homelessness in California, Kissen argues,

[00:10:13] came not only from the attempts to deal with failing,

[00:10:16] but also with the results of well-intentioned policies,

[00:10:19] the deinstitutionalization movement whose goal was to free people of the tyranny of mental asylums.

[00:10:25] The mentally ill people released into the streets fell through the cracks.

[00:10:30] Today, cities are littered with tents and drug addicts on the streets.

[00:10:33] These are just two examples of many others that remind us that good intentions don't always solve social problems.

[00:10:40] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:46] For a free booklet on biblical reliability, go to viewpoints.info slash biblical reliability.

[00:10:53] Viewpoints.info slash biblical reliability.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:04] Continue your conversation for a few more minutes with Eric Hogue.

[00:11:06] I think you'll appreciate some of his insights as the president of Colorado Christian University.

[00:11:11] The article we've posted here is one that you can read, but you could also, of course, listen to it.

[00:11:17] The episode is The Higher Ed Marketeer, and it is all about, in that podcast, some of these issues.

[00:11:23] And I think one of the things that, Ed, you bring to the conversation,

[00:11:27] Eric, I should say, bring to the conversation,

[00:11:29] is simply this idea that we need to think about such issues as maybe profitability and efficiency and growth and things of that nature.

[00:11:40] Next hour, we're going to be talking about Elon Musk, who is heading up the Department of Government Efficiency Commission.

[00:11:47] We have 428 federal agencies.

[00:11:50] We have more agencies, he says, than we have years the republic has been in existence.

[00:11:55] Many of them are conflicting with one another, and they're not very accountable.

[00:12:00] Now, you've been in the corporate world where there's a lot of accountability because you have to make a profit,

[00:12:05] and you have to meet the needs of the customers.

[00:12:07] What's so interesting is higher education is sort of in between.

[00:12:11] There's a sense in which you have customers, that is students,

[00:12:14] but there is also a sense in which higher education almost is immune from some of the market forces

[00:12:20] because if the costs go up, well, the government will just provide more funding and provide higher student loans.

[00:12:27] And so, in some respects, when you're talking about bringing a CEO mindset to higher education,

[00:12:33] you're kind of a little bit different than the typical president of many of these universities, aren't you?

[00:12:39] Well, definitely so, although I think the trend is growing, Kirby.

[00:12:43] There's a lot of my colleagues that work fundraisers at other Christian universities

[00:12:47] that are now presidents at Christian universities.

[00:12:51] And when you think about, you know, Christ-centered higher ed,

[00:12:54] we don't always get the benefit of the government or legislation.

[00:12:59] We don't get the state dollars.

[00:13:00] The students can't spend it here.

[00:13:02] They can't use their Pell.

[00:13:03] That may go away.

[00:13:04] And I think that was the trigger for me, moving from private sector into nonprofit,

[00:13:09] is that one day we could be too niche, too narrow for the government to allow students.

[00:13:16] There will be a lawsuit on this, but allow students to use their Pell grant at schools like Colorado Christian universities.

[00:13:21] So what do we need to do?

[00:13:23] We need to be sustainable.

[00:13:24] So you can't run it with high bureaucracy.

[00:13:27] You can't run a debt like the federal government.

[00:13:30] Go get them, Elon.

[00:13:31] Go get them, Elon.

[00:13:32] You got to cut bureaucracy, cut departments, and then you got to say you have to make a profit.

[00:13:38] Is that program, is, you know, the program in electrical engineering, is it driving a profit?

[00:13:46] Do you have the right number of students?

[00:13:48] Do you have too many faculty?

[00:13:49] Do you have tenure?

[00:13:50] Do you have tenure faculty?

[00:13:52] Get rid of tenure.

[00:13:53] You can't afford it.

[00:13:54] I mean, run it like a business.

[00:13:56] No.

[00:13:57] And let the board of trustees operate like shareholders as well as your donors.

[00:14:02] Treat them like shareholders and investors, and you'll turn things around.

[00:14:06] One of the biggest issues, of course, comes out of the pandemic and the lockdown,

[00:14:10] and that is we've always had online education, but that jump-started all of that.

[00:14:14] And it is possible now to go to secular universities and even Christian universities and take all your courses online,

[00:14:23] and the only time maybe you set foot on campus maybe is when you get your diploma, if then.

[00:14:29] And so what about that?

[00:14:30] That's kind of a changing kind of model there as well, isn't it?

[00:14:35] Yeah, it is.

[00:14:36] It is.

[00:14:36] Now, once again, if you enroll at Colorado Christian University as a traditional residential student,

[00:14:41] you can only take 15 credit hours online.

[00:14:44] We still want our 18- to 23-year-old students, residential, in-seat, in-chapel, in-discipleship groups,

[00:14:52] for mentors, faculty studying.

[00:14:54] They can take 15 credit hours in their full scope of four years, whatever it takes to graduate.

[00:14:59] But there has been a growth of online education.

[00:15:02] The question has been, is it rigorous?

[00:15:04] I say it is rigorous, but it's rigorous in a different tone.

[00:15:08] 18- to 23 on campus, a little bit different than a 43-year-old mother, two kids with a job,

[00:15:13] trying to finish her undergrad and get a master's for a promotion online.

[00:15:17] There's rigor there.

[00:15:18] She has a lot of other rigor pressing on her.

[00:15:21] But the rigor needs to fit the student, and the rigors are different, and the students are different,

[00:15:26] and the in-seat is terrifically different than the online.

[00:15:29] But there is a growth and a need and a position for both,

[00:15:33] and there's a lot of Christian adults, families, who want an education or a specialty certification

[00:15:42] so that they can do more in their calling, and the online is beneficial for them and their family.

[00:15:47] And again, I appreciate your attitude because it seems to me that a college experience is more than just

[00:15:53] being able to master some of the courses because there is the interaction with fellow students.

[00:15:58] There is the accountability.

[00:15:59] There are the small groups and the growth groups and the chapel experiences

[00:16:05] and meeting other individuals and hearing dynamic speakers.

[00:16:09] Of course, you'll have Mike Pence there tomorrow.

[00:16:11] It just seems to me that there are just so many things that are part of the college experience

[00:16:15] that go beyond and are necessary other than just the online courses.

[00:16:20] You're absolutely right.

[00:16:22] I mean, the 18- to 23-year-old is moving into a community, and many of them, for the first time,

[00:16:27] they're going to live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 12, no, 10 months a year.

[00:16:32] And so they're going to learn how to live in community, how to study, how to adult, which is really important,

[00:16:38] how to deal with being homesick and mental health issues escalating these days.

[00:16:44] All of that happens in a very intentional community, and here at CCU, intentional in the grace and truth of Jesus Christ.

[00:16:53] This weekend, I'll also learn from you for just a few minutes about this idea of fundraising because, again,

[00:16:57] as you pointed out, you have worked in advancement.

[00:17:00] Many presidents have as well.

[00:17:02] And, of course, I know one of the things you talk about is friend-raising over fundraising.

[00:17:07] We've talked about this occasionally on this program and certainly with individuals that are involved with stewardship at Point of View

[00:17:14] or a variety of other institutions that I've worked with or even sit on boards with.

[00:17:19] This idea of friend-raising is different.

[00:17:21] Can you explain that?

[00:17:23] Yeah, it's funny that you would bring this up.

[00:17:26] I'm going to depart from our time here, and I'm going to meet a prospective new donor in my office in about 20 minutes.

[00:17:32] One of my board members is bringing a new friend by, and our conversation over a cup of coffee will be what his interest is in Colorado Christian University,

[00:17:44] why he might be philanthropic, and I'm going to listen.

[00:17:49] And I'm not going to tell him about our campaigns.

[00:17:51] I'm not going to persuade him.

[00:17:52] I'm not going to sell him.

[00:17:53] I'm not going to make a proposal.

[00:17:54] I'm going to listen.

[00:17:55] And we might have a second and third meeting coming up.

[00:17:58] But my whole focus is to be donor-centric, and donor-centric is for me to move from my chair to his side of the table

[00:18:06] to see what he and his wife want to do for the kingdom of God and see if it's a fit here at CCU.

[00:18:12] Here's the best part.

[00:18:13] If it's not, I'll help him find a ministry that's better for his intentions for the kingdom.

[00:18:20] So the goal is not transactional.

[00:18:23] The goal is relationship.

[00:18:24] And in that relationship, listening.

[00:18:26] And in that listening, discover what the donor wants to do.

[00:18:29] And when you discover that, and if you can do it with him, you have just won the relationship of being able to fund that next project.

[00:18:37] Yes.

[00:18:38] And I've seen a lot of people that are doing advancement, stewardship, and the rest, and they're doing the very same thing.

[00:18:44] My argument oftentimes when I meet with an individual is whether you support Point of View or Dallas Theological Seminary

[00:18:51] or Probe Ministries or Liberty University, I always just thank them for whoever they are supporting because it's all part of the kingdom.

[00:18:57] And that, I think, very much impresses most of those individuals to recognize that whether you're giving to our organization or not,

[00:19:06] we're certainly grateful for the fact that you are a good steward of some of those resources.

[00:19:11] But just before I let you go, I really want to encourage people not only to maybe read your article, but also to go to ccu.edu

[00:19:19] because one of the things you see when you go to that website is that it's a top-tier academic institution.

[00:19:27] 100% of the online course is taught for the Christian worldview.

[00:19:30] So whether you're on campus or taking some of those online courses, there's just a great way for people to be educated

[00:19:37] and to develop a Christian world and life view over every area of life.

[00:19:43] Kirby, thank you.

[00:19:44] Appreciate that.

[00:19:45] It is a great Christian university, and we stand today on the shoulders of many men and women who have gone before us,

[00:19:51] and we are grateful for God's sovereign hand and what he has done here at CCU.

[00:19:55] Kirby, you've been a blessing.

[00:19:56] Thank you.

[00:19:57] Well, thank you.

[00:19:58] And again, let me just encourage you to go to that website.

[00:20:01] You're going to find out a little bit more, ccu.edu.

[00:20:04] By the way, I might mention that we do have cameras in the studio,

[00:20:07] so you can make your own decision as to whether or not I have a face for radio or whether or not Eric does as well.

[00:20:12] But I thought it was a great opportunity to learn a little bit more about this,

[00:20:16] and this is a time of year when, of course, we're coming to fiscal year end,

[00:20:21] really thinking about supporting different ministries,

[00:20:24] and I know that there has been a real hesitation on the part of a lot of people in this country

[00:20:29] because of the election.

[00:20:31] As we'll talk about next hour, the election is over, and some of the uncertainty is over as well,

[00:20:37] and I found that people do not invest in organizations.

[00:20:40] They do not invest in the stock market.

[00:20:43] They do not give to Christian organizations oftentimes where there's uncertainty.

[00:20:47] But as we come to year end, I hope that you will consider what you might do,

[00:20:51] first of all, to support the radio station that is carrying this program right now.

[00:20:56] If they indeed raise funds, I hope that you will consider supporting them.

[00:21:01] And then number two, I hope you might think about us as well.

[00:21:04] I want you to support your church, support certainly the organizations that have been a ministry to you,

[00:21:09] but I hope you'll consider supporting us as well.

[00:21:11] And if you're thinking about going to college, even for graduate education,

[00:21:17] maybe taking online courses or being a student,

[00:21:19] you might want to check out Colorado Christian University.

[00:21:23] Let's take a break.

[00:21:24] We'll be back with more right after this.

[00:21:31] Many years ago, they began saying that we live in the information age.

[00:21:36] Well, today there is so much information coming at us from every direction.

[00:21:41] The hardest thing is to discern which issues are really important

[00:21:45] and how can I make a positive impact without wasting my time trying to figure out accurate information.

[00:21:52] Let me give you a suggestion to help with that.

[00:21:55] Visit pointofview.net.

[00:21:58] Look at the tabs across the top.

[00:22:00] Find the one named Viewpoints.

[00:22:02] Kirby Anderson and others on our team are constantly watching for news

[00:22:06] to identify those issues that you really need to know about.

[00:22:11] They boil things down in a brief summary,

[00:22:13] and then you can decide if it's something on which you want to learn more and get involved.

[00:22:18] Again, when you go to pointofview.net, click on Viewpoints,

[00:22:22] you'll see exactly what I mean.

[00:22:24] You'll see the issues that we are covering right now.

[00:22:27] And when you like what you see, I honestly think you will,

[00:22:31] you can slide on over, enter your email,

[00:22:34] and get them automatically sent to your inbox each day.

[00:22:37] That's it.

[00:22:38] Take a minute now.

[00:22:39] Be informed.

[00:22:41] At pointofview.net, click on Viewpoints.

[00:22:48] Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:52] 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 or staff of this station.

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

[00:23:14] Back once again, we're going to talk about anti-Semitism for a little bit.

[00:23:17] And there's a very good set of reasons for that.

[00:23:20] First of all, let me hold up the booklet that I put together just last year on anti-Semitism.

[00:23:25] But you might remember that five years before I wrote, written one on the subject.

[00:23:30] But, of course, we had October 7th, and that changed everything.

[00:23:33] And so, whereas before I was talking about some of those things like blood libel and the various evidences of anti-Semitism in Western culture,

[00:23:44] of course, going all the way back to the book of Esther, for example.

[00:23:47] But we began to notice some other things developing in terms of anti-Semitism, this idea of critical theory and how there has been such support sometimes on college campuses of Hamas and such a vilification of Jews and the nation of Israel.

[00:24:06] So, hence, this newer book on this whole idea of a biblical point of view on anti-Semitism.

[00:24:12] And I thought it would be good to revisit this because our friends at Moody Bible Institute, working also with Chosen People Ministries, put together a summit on opposing anti-Semitism.

[00:24:23] So, to give us some understanding of the conference and how to think this through, we bring to the microphone Dr. Michael Redelnik.

[00:24:31] He is vice president and academic dean at Moody Bible Institute, also professor of Jewish studies.

[00:24:37] For those of you that listen to Open Line and the Moody Broadcasting Network, of course, he is the host and Bible teacher.

[00:24:43] He is the son of a Holocaust survivor raised in an observant Jewish home in Brooklyn.

[00:24:49] You may have seen some of his works in things like the Moody Bible Commentary, the Moody Handbook on Messianic Prophecy.

[00:24:56] And Dr. Michael Redelnik, thank you for being with us today here on Point of View.

[00:25:01] Oh, thank you so much for having me.

[00:25:03] Let's, if we can, talk about the conference because one of the things that is posted on this summit is, you said,

[00:25:09] after the Holocaust, the world exclaimed never again to the hatred of the Jewish people.

[00:25:14] Yet now, once again, hate for God's chosen people is exploding in the United States and around the world.

[00:25:21] In my booklets that I've come out with, I document how significant that has been over the years in Europe.

[00:25:28] And now we're seeing it here in America.

[00:25:30] So that's one of the reasons why you felt it was appropriate to have this summit.

[00:25:35] Yeah, it was, the idea of the summit came months and months ago as we saw what was happening on the college campuses

[00:25:42] with the university at Columbia University, Harvard University, and all these different places.

[00:25:48] But it was confirmed just two and a half weeks ago in my neighborhood.

[00:25:53] I live in a very Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Chicago.

[00:25:57] And a man, this made national news, he was just walking to synagogue on a Saturday morning, two blocks from where I walk my dogs.

[00:26:05] I mean, this is where I go every day.

[00:26:08] And a man came out, shouted, Alou Akbar, and shot him in the back.

[00:26:15] After he was charged with attempted murder, the man who did this,

[00:26:23] they looked at his phone and discovered that he had all sorts of anti-Semitic targeting that he was doing.

[00:26:29] And finally, he was charged with a hate crime.

[00:26:32] But it took some persistence on the part of the local alderwoman, like a city council kind of person here in Chicago, to get it done.

[00:26:39] This is not something unusual.

[00:26:42] We see violence against Jewish people all around the country.

[00:26:46] And just a few days ago here in Chicago, two Jewish DePaul students were assaulted and had ribs broken and wrists broken just for being Jewish.

[00:27:01] It's a serious problem.

[00:27:03] Well, and again, we've recognized that it is in the culture, but also there seem to be some individuals in government.

[00:27:11] I'm thinking of Rashida Tlaib, Representative Ilhan Omar and others.

[00:27:17] So it's carried out sometimes because of some statements that are given some credence from people that are members of Congress.

[00:27:26] I think back a while back, Whoopi Goldberg said, you know, the Holocaust isn't about race.

[00:27:31] And so there probably is more need, Michael, for education about this issue of anti-Semitism than ever before.

[00:27:41] And that's, of course, why you did the summit, isn't it?

[00:27:44] Yeah, exactly.

[00:27:44] And we had some really exceptional speakers.

[00:27:49] One in particular, we had Dr. Mark Joe, president of Moody, and I had the privilege of speaking, and Mitch Glazer.

[00:27:57] But one of the most outspoken speakers on this issue of critical theory and anti-Semitism is Dr. Don Sweeting, who's the chancellor of Colorado Christian University.

[00:28:08] And that's what he brought to it.

[00:28:10] It was much more of an evaluation and critical assessment of critical theory and how that affects – I mean, obviously, it's contrary to the word of God.

[00:28:23] But he analyzed that and did an exceptional job with that as well.

[00:28:28] There were also breakout groups.

[00:28:30] And it's because people don't even understand how serious a problem it is.

[00:28:34] They don't realize.

[00:28:36] Adam, I just mentioned, too, that we just had the president of Colorado Christian University on the first half.

[00:28:42] And here, Don Sweeting is the chancellor of Colorado Christian University.

[00:28:45] So they're getting a good press.

[00:28:47] So, of course, is Moody Bible Institute.

[00:28:49] But let's talk about that for just a minute because that's why – and I'll hold this up for those of you watching online – this new book, it's a newer one on anti-Semitism.

[00:28:57] Perhaps those of you that collect these – and we've got at least 70 or more of these booklets that I put out once a month to our donors.

[00:29:04] In the past, that was not as much of an issue.

[00:29:08] We were just talking about kind of the classic kinds of issues about Holocaust denial and a variety of other issues.

[00:29:15] But this idea of critical theory is that if an individual is in power, they are by definition oppressors.

[00:29:24] And if you are then being – or you're weak, then you're a victim.

[00:29:28] And so when 1948 Israel began, well, we sort of saw Israel as David versus Goliath.

[00:29:34] But now they see Israel as the Goliath.

[00:29:36] And it is amazing to me how that has caught hold, especially even sometimes in these Christian universities with this idea that, well, I can't support Israel because they're actually destroying Hamas.

[00:29:50] They're fighting Hezbollah.

[00:29:53] They're destroying the Palestinians.

[00:29:54] When I think there has been pretty good evidence that there is an attempt on the part of IDF and Israel to really want to support the Palestinian people but not allow terrorists to destroy the nation of Israel.

[00:30:08] Is that fair?

[00:30:08] Yeah.

[00:30:09] Yeah.

[00:30:10] The war right now is with Hamas and Hezbollah.

[00:30:13] It's not against the Palestinians or the Lebanese.

[00:30:15] In fact, you know, I speak from experience not just from having many friends that have served in the IDF, having students currently who are IDF reservists at this point.

[00:30:28] But my son served in the IDF.

[00:30:30] And they were trained.

[00:30:33] He was in a close-quarter urban combat unit.

[00:30:35] They were trained to risk their own lives, to preserve the lives, to protect the lives of civilians, Palestinian civilians, when they're in these kinds of situations.

[00:30:47] Israel gives directions about where to go to safe zones, about where they're coming at.

[00:30:52] And they jeopardize their own military actions by trying to make sure that people are safe.

[00:30:57] This idea that Israel is somehow committing genocide is one of the most devious lies.

[00:31:04] There is no genocide happening.

[00:31:06] In fact, John Spencer from the United States War College Army, the West Point specialist in close-quarter urban combat,

[00:31:17] says that Israel has the lowest historical ratio of combatant to civilian deaths in close-quarter urban combat,

[00:31:26] because they are so meticulous, so careful about trying not to harm civilians.

[00:31:30] So it's just part of the propaganda racket to try and get the world to turn.

[00:31:39] You know what you were saying about this thing about there's a new kind of anti-Semitism?

[00:31:45] You know, the progressive left, the radical left, celebrated Israel in 1948.

[00:31:53] They supported the idea of Israel.

[00:31:55] What they said, this is the first example of the indigenous people coming back and establishing a state after colonialism.

[00:32:04] And then in 1967, when Israel had that great victory, when they were threatened with extinction,

[00:32:11] and they had the great six-day war victory, all of a sudden that same radical left flipped and all of a sudden made Israel the oppressor

[00:32:20] and the Palestinians the oppressed.

[00:32:23] It is a remarkable shift that happened.

[00:32:26] You can trace it right to 1967 and the six-day war.

[00:32:30] Let's take a break.

[00:32:31] When we come back, we'll continue our conversation with Michael Rodelnik.

[00:32:34] And Dr. Modelnik, of course, is the vice president, academic dean at Moody Bible Institute, also a professor of Jewish studies,

[00:32:40] and, of course, the host and Bible teacher on Open Line, which I would encourage you to listen to.

[00:32:45] If you have a Moody station near you, you might want to listen to Moody Radio, or, of course, you can go online and hear it at any point.

[00:32:52] And some of the resources I want to put in your hands, I'll hold up this one on anti-Semitism, which we've been making available.

[00:32:58] It's free of charge.

[00:32:59] If you want to contact us, we'll send it to you.

[00:33:02] Also, since we just got into it a minute ago, also did a booklet on Israel in terms of some of the history,

[00:33:08] because sometimes you have to know a little bit more about the history, about the Yom Kippur War and the six-day war

[00:33:16] and a variety of other things and various attempts to push forward land for peace and all the things that haven't worked very well.

[00:33:24] So, again, some of those are resources we want to put in your hands so that you, first of all, understand those ideas.

[00:33:31] But, number two, if you're in conversation with people, can make a case.

[00:33:35] But we'll continue our conversation with Dr. Michael Redelnik.

[00:33:38] All that coming up right after this.

[00:33:56] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:01] Continue our conversation for a few more minutes with Dr. Michael Redelnik.

[00:34:05] Again, he is with Moody Bible Institute.

[00:34:08] Serves as the Vice President Academic Dean, but also Professor of Jewish Studies.

[00:34:12] If you'd like to contact him, we have a link to michaelredelnik.org.

[00:34:16] Don't even have to know how to spell his name because we've got the link right there.

[00:34:19] It makes it real easy.

[00:34:20] And if you'd like to know where he's speaking or maybe invite him to come and speak or be involved in some kind of ministry, we've made that available to you.

[00:34:29] But also have a link to moodyconferences.com opposing antisemitism.

[00:34:34] Again, that link is there as well.

[00:34:36] And we'll talk about how you might be able to use it in just a minute.

[00:34:39] But I thought we might just establish something we've been saying, and that is that antisemitism is on the rise.

[00:34:46] And if you look at the FBI statistics, and I've looked at them at many times for hate crimes.

[00:34:52] First of all, I think they're overly inflated because we now know that some of the hate crimes are fake hate crimes.

[00:34:58] But just let's take the numbers as they are.

[00:35:00] It turns out that almost half of the attacks are antisemitic.

[00:35:07] And so, Michael, sometimes you have individuals trying to make a political point saying, well, hate crime is on the rise,

[00:35:14] implying that there's attacks on LGBTQ, attacks on Islam, on Muslims, on even African Americans.

[00:35:23] Not that I'm dismissing any of that, but oftentimes they don't point out that one of the reasons that's increasing

[00:35:30] is because of the increasing amount of antisemitism in this country.

[00:35:34] And that's something that we really as a church and as believers need to address, don't we?

[00:35:40] Sure.

[00:35:41] And when you think about it, there's only probably about six to seven million Jewish people in America.

[00:35:45] And yet more than half of all the hate crimes are targeting Jewish people.

[00:35:50] And that could be anywhere from vandalism to physical assault or bomb threats and things like that.

[00:35:59] The evidence here in Chicago is it's interesting to see the Chicago police right around every synagogue on Shabbat

[00:36:08] as Jewish people go to worship.

[00:36:10] On Saturday mornings, the synagogues are surrounded by police in every area.

[00:36:16] And if there isn't police, then there's private security to try and keep those places safe.

[00:36:21] It is a serious growth issue, these kinds of hate crimes.

[00:36:28] And, yeah, I think that the church needs to be aware of it.

[00:36:31] I think, unfortunately, when I've raised issues here with different church leaders,

[00:36:41] they're not real, for the most part, they're not real anxious to engage on this issue.

[00:36:48] I think it would be really vital for church leaders, for pastors to speak up and say,

[00:36:55] hey, if they're going to go after God's chosen people, they have to come through the church.

[00:37:00] We're going to stand with them.

[00:37:02] We're going to be supportive of them.

[00:37:04] We have voices.

[00:37:05] You know, people listen when we call our congressmen, when we call our senators,

[00:37:12] when we call the president's house, you know, the White House.

[00:37:16] They will listen if we will emphasize how important it is to recognize the problem of anti-Semitism and address it.

[00:37:23] One of the things you talked about in the summit is, of course, how Christians can oppose anti-Semitism,

[00:37:27] how they can support the Jewish people.

[00:37:29] And one of those is to actually make our voice known.

[00:37:33] But I think the implication, what you're saying is, is not only pastors, but even Sunday school teachers listening right now,

[00:37:40] small group leaders, I think they need to do some kind of session on anti-Semitism

[00:37:45] and begin to understand the role of Jewish people in this culture,

[00:37:52] the great accomplishments they've made, that they are God's chosen people,

[00:37:56] and that they are under attack.

[00:37:58] And it seems to me that that's something lacking in certainly the way in which we go about teaching day in and day out in a lot of our churches.

[00:38:06] Yeah, you know, there was a physician at one time, he's now with the Lord, a Jewish believer named Arthur Kack,

[00:38:12] and he talked about anti-Semitism being endemic, like a disease that's always present, sometimes underlying,

[00:38:19] sometimes it approaches epidemic proportions.

[00:38:23] I believed, growing up, my parents survived the Holocaust, came to the United States in 1950,

[00:38:29] and both of them thought, we'll never see, the world has learned its lesson, we will never see anti-Semitism again.

[00:38:36] And I never dreamed in my life I would see Jewish young people.

[00:38:42] I think I've lost you.

[00:38:43] Yeah, I guess we lost him, but I think, again, you can see where he was going with that.

[00:38:47] We'll see if we can reconnect up there in just a minute.

[00:38:49] But I never thought he would see, of course, people marching in the streets.

[00:38:52] And I think a lot of us have had that same kind of idea.

[00:38:55] Who would have ever guessed that, you know, people would want to tear down a Jewish flag or a flag of Israel and burn it?

[00:39:03] Who would ever think that there would be people marching in the streets, supporting the Hamas, Hezbollah,

[00:39:11] Palestinian Authority, Islamic Jihad, whatever it might be.

[00:39:15] And so we'll see if we can get Michael Redelnik back.

[00:39:17] But let me just mention, as we are trying to reconnect with him, that, again,

[00:39:22] we do have a link to this particular summit on opposing anti-Semitism.

[00:39:26] As I mentioned before, I'll hold up my booklet on anti-Semitism,

[00:39:30] which is a resource I'd love to put in your hands.

[00:39:32] Another booklet we could put along with that is the one on Israel,

[00:39:36] because sometimes there is a misunderstanding sometimes of how Israel came to be,

[00:39:41] and that certainly is an important issue.

[00:39:44] So these are several important topics that we really want to try to address every single day here on Point of View.

[00:39:49] And I might just mention that if you listen to Point of View, a couple of the speakers he's mentioned,

[00:39:55] of course, we have Michael Redelnik on right now, but he mentioned Mark Jobel.

[00:39:57] He's been on the program with us.

[00:39:59] Dr. Mitch Glazer, who is the president of Chosen People Ministries.

[00:40:03] He's been on with us many times as well.

[00:40:06] Another individual that works with Chosen People is Derek Darrell Bock, who is with Dallas Seminary.

[00:40:11] We just mentioned Dr. Don Sweeting, who is actually the chancellor of Colorado Christian University.

[00:40:18] And, of course, we just had the president of Colorado Christian University, Eric Hogue, on just a few minutes ago.

[00:40:23] And then some of the other speakers there as well.

[00:40:26] But I think we've got Michael back, don't we?

[00:40:28] Yes.

[00:40:29] And you were, again, talking about the fact that you never thought you'd be seeing people marching in the streets,

[00:40:35] supporting and even talking about the need for Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad to have their own country.

[00:40:44] And yet these are known terrorist organizations, aren't they?

[00:40:48] Yeah, they're supporting terrorism.

[00:40:50] Listen, my name is out there.

[00:40:54] My email is out there.

[00:40:56] And after this summit, I personally got hate mail from people accusing Jewish people of all manner of evil.

[00:41:05] Yes, well, we apparently have trouble with this audio there as well.

[00:41:12] So let me just encourage you, if you would want to know a little bit more, we'll just go to a break.

[00:41:16] And let me just mention again that we have a link to michaelredelnik.org.

[00:41:20] And so if you'd like to contact him, we have that ability that you have there.

[00:41:25] Of course, he has various blog posts and resources.

[00:41:27] And then, of course, the summit there as well.

[00:41:30] So sorry about the technical difficulties, but we'll come back after the break and get into some other important issues.

[00:41:38] Because, as you well know, we have more cabinet positions being filled out.

[00:41:44] Of course, most of them have to be actually ratified by the United States Senate.

[00:41:50] And some of them may be a little more controversial than others.

[00:41:54] So we'll talk about that.

[00:41:55] But I do want to also get into the whole issue of what has been, if you will, the discussion in some of the democratic circles about what is the next step.

[00:42:06] And so, again, you will notice that I'm posting some material, one by Neil Brown, who is a Democrat, who is a liberal, but is also somewhat critical of some of the things that have taken place.

[00:42:17] And you're now starting to hear more and more people using the phrase, woke is broke.

[00:42:23] Yeah, you just discovered that, huh?

[00:42:25] Well, nevertheless, we're seeing some of that as well.

[00:42:28] So I'm going to talk about certainly some of the people that would be filling out the Trump cabinet and giving you kind of some pros and cons there.

[00:42:35] Then one of the really controversial issues is what about deportations?

[00:42:40] Very good piece by Byron York.

[00:42:42] And then, of course, one, I love this line, Bernie Sanders screams more cowbell.

[00:42:46] Cowbell.

[00:42:47] That would make sense to those of you that have ever watched Saturday Night Live.

[00:42:51] But we'll get to that in due course.

[00:42:53] But if you find yourself wanting to know a little bit more about either of our guests, you can go to the website, pointofview.net.

[00:43:00] If you'd like to find some of the articles we posted, that's available there as well.

[00:43:05] Let's take a break.

[00:43:06] We'll come back with more right after this.

[00:43:08] The Bible tells us not to worry.

[00:43:15] And yet there is a lot of worrying stuff in our world today.

[00:43:20] Thankfully, the Bible doesn't stop at telling us not to worry.

[00:43:24] God gives us a next step.

[00:43:26] He says we need to pray.

[00:43:29] But sometimes even knowing what to pray can be difficult.

[00:43:33] And that is why Point of View has relaunched our Pray for America movement, a series of weekly emails to guide you in prayer for our nation.

[00:43:44] Each week, you'll receive a brief update about a current issue affecting Americans, along with a written prayer that you can easily share with others.

[00:43:54] We'll also include a short free resource for you in each email so you can learn more about the issue at hand.

[00:44:02] Will you commit to pray for America?

[00:44:06] Go to pointofview.net.

[00:44:09] Click on the Pray for America banner at the top of the page to subscribe.

[00:44:14] Again, that's pointofview.net.

[00:44:18] Click on the Pray for America banner.

[00:44:21] Let's pray together for God to make a difference in America.

[00:44:28] Point of View will continue after this.