Point of View October 13, 2026 – Hour 2 : Book of Secrets

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today, we're going to spend some time, as I just mentioned, on the deep state. Many years ago, I wrote this little booklet on a biblical view on the deep state, giving you some of the history. More recently, I've done this booklet here on the weaponization of intelligence.

[00:00:34] A lot of that pulls from either Ned Ryan's book, which is, again, American Leviathan, or, of course, one that I use quite a bit, Jason Chatham's book, They're Coming for You, again, How the Deep State Spies and How Woke Corporations Plan to Push You Out of the Economy. Those are two books I recommend, but another one I know I will be recommending now, because it has shown up here in October, is the Book of Secrets, Congress Tries to Find the Truth Out of the Deep State.

[00:01:04] And this is written by an individual, I've been looking forward to doing an interview with him, Ken Hecken-Lively, and he is an attorney, science teacher, two-time New York Times bestselling author. You might remember us mentioning his name, especially during COVID. You know, he wrote The Case Against Vaccine Mandates, Truth About Masks. Certainly, he's best known for his plague series, you know, ending plague, plague of corruption. We have also, I think, mentioned him in passing when we talk about DEI, his diversity con.

[00:01:32] I should have mentioned him a while back when we talked about UFOs, catastrophic disclosure. But what's so interesting is if you get into this particular book, he gets into everything from, of course, UFOs, the Kennedy Files, the Epstein Files, Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, and much, much more. So, Ken, welcome to Point of View. Thanks a lot for having me, Kirby.

[00:01:56] Well, again, you have written on a lot of topics, but a lot of it had to do with your impatience, I guess is a nice word, with the fact that people seem to be lying to you, and you really wanted to dig out the stories, and whether it was DEI, whether it was what was happening with the mask mandates, or what even more recently was about the so-called Epstein Files, and that's really why you decided to dig into these issues, isn't it?

[00:02:23] Yeah, and, you know, it struck me that a lot of people are struggling with all these issues because they're interested in them, but they also know that there's a lot of crazy people out there with crazy theories. Yes. And I think that a lot of people want to have some confidence that there can be a filtering system for credibility about some of these claims.

[00:02:47] And so when I learned that Congress was establishing a task force on the declassification of federal secrets, I thought, oh, my God, I can make Congress the filtering system for credibility because before Congress will have a hearing, they're going to vet the information. They're going to vet that it is credible. I'm not saying that I can tell you that all of it is true,

[00:03:13] but you can find these records in government documents. And so I was also really fortunate to have struck up a nice relationship with Congressman Eric Burleson in the writing of my book about UFOs. And actually, the original plan for Book of Secrets was it was going to be that Congress Burleson and I would write it together, but since he was serving on the task force, he couldn't do that.

[00:03:42] But he gave me, you know, consistent access to him. So that's why the book is dedicated to Congressman Burleson, because he gave me about 50 or 60 hours of his time so that as I was reviewing the hearings, I could also get the behind-the-scenes story of what was going on and, you know, what was happening to him, including, you know, a couple, you know, threats against his life, which I think is just startling to hear.

[00:04:12] Again, Representative Burleson from Mississippi, Missouri, excuse me, and Anna Paulina Luna from Florida, of course, the chairwoman, and some other individuals that are mentioned prominently, because this is a task force on the declassification of federal secrets. And since you were in the House gallery the day Congress was fighting over the Epstein files, you not only had a chance to talk to people in some of these hearings, you got to see almost a fistfight break out in the House.

[00:04:42] Can you speak to that? Yeah, it was wild because I chose a couple days to go out and spend with Congressman Burleson and, you know, just sort of tag along and be a fly on the wall to see what a congressman's life was like. And, you know, lo and behold, I'm in the middle of the Epstein issue and Congress shutting down because they didn't want the documents to come out and there was a fight.

[00:05:09] And, you know, I've come to, I think, a little bit better understanding of Trump's response to the Epstein files. And I have to say that it's a really complicated issue. And I give, I actually give Trump a lot of credit for getting the information out there.

[00:05:32] And I think that there are some things that people are missing about the Epstein files, which makes it difficult still for the public to get a full read on them. And I'm happy to go into that. But I kind of think that Trump has gotten something of a raw deal from the media about the Epstein stuff. And so I'm probably going to get into a lot of trouble with some people

[00:06:00] because I'm going to defend how Trump responded to the Epstein files. I just mentioned, too, Chapter 4 is the Epstein case goes nuclear. And in some respects, there was a real desire on the part of many people, Clintons, obviously, to shut some of that down. And in some respects, the Democrats were wanting to push it at first because they thought, well, this will be the smoking gun against Donald Trump. Didn't really work out that way. But that's just one of the many stories there.

[00:06:30] I do want to certainly also at least acknowledge, even if we don't get into it, the fact that there was a real desire to get as many of the files out for the JFK assassination. You talk about conspiracy theories. There they are. And then even some on Martin Luther King assassination. And as I understand, you have the files. Then you don't have the files. Can you explain that one for just a moment before we take a break?

[00:06:52] Yeah, there was one really interesting situation that happened in May of this year. A CIA whistleblower, James Erdman III, appeared before the Senate to talk about the COVID controversy and cover-ups there. And what he also revealed is that the CIA had given up some documents on the Kennedy assassination

[00:07:17] to the director of national intelligence for declassification. And they went back in and they took those back because they said that in with the JFK documents were some MKUltra documents. Yes. And so Congress has gone after that as well, and that's a chapter of my book as well with their fight with the CIA over those documents.

[00:07:42] And again, some of the newly declassified information, again, about the officials lying about Lee Harvey Oswald and some of those. I want to come back and, after the break, get into just maybe a little bit more of the overview of your book because there's 11 chapters. Any one of those chapters could be a full discussion. But I also thought just before we finish the interview today, it would also be good to talk about the issue of UFOs because who would have guessed that all these different books

[00:08:12] you've written on presidential takedown and diversity con and the case against vaccine mandates and inside the mask of Facebook and Sony and all the things you've done over the years that you do UFOs because you're not kind of a UFO guy, but it is certainly one of your books. And Catastrophic Disclosure is the book. But also you have a number of chapters in this which also address that issue.

[00:08:37] And in some respects, once you see sort of what happened with the UFO files, the Kennedy files and the Epstein files, you get to know a little bit more about the deep state. Let's take a break. We'll come back with more right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:06] Yesterday I talked about the dismal reality that students seem to be getting dumber. Today I want to return to some of the statistics and end with a positive trend that other states should follow. Now the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development released their findings from the PISA test. The U.S. ranked 13th in reading and 27th in math. As I mentioned yesterday, the scores fell significantly since the last test in 2022. Many of the reasons for decline can be reversed.

[00:09:33] For example, family support has been a strong predictor of student success. Students with parents who ask about schoolwork perform 35 points better than parents who don't. One logical implication is to ask your kids about schoolwork. Larry Sand has been on my radio program before. His latest article offers many suggestions on what we can do to reverse the current decline in student scores. He recommends schools ban smartphones. They do not benefit children and are a major distraction.

[00:10:00] If students must bring a smartphone to school, they should not be allowed to use it at any time during the school day. He also points to the remarkable progress in reading that occurred in Mississippi. Many have described it as the Mississippi miracle. In 2013, Mississippi was near the bottom of the country. By 2024, the state moved from 49th to 9th in the country. So what moved the state from the bottom of the nation into the top 10? The answer is simple, phonics.

[00:10:28] This has been the traditional method of teaching reading and has even been described as the science of reading. We have a choice. We can complain about the declining scores or we can encourage parents to get more involved with their kids and return to the basics that have worked in the past. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net.

[00:10:55] That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes with Kent Heckenlively. And again, the book is entitled Book of Secrets. Congress tries to find the truth about the deep state. And Kent, one of the things that I had as some of the preparation materials, we got to see a great interview that you did with Sean Spicer about your book that came out last year, Catastrophic Disclosure About UFOs.

[00:11:25] But it is amazing in this new book, Book of Secrets, how many times that shows up. One of the chapters, The Trouble with the UFO Crowd, but progress on the JFK assassination. One on the UFO issue lights up. Even Congressman Burleson's summer of aliens and spooks. Hilarious. Even a chapter on UFOs, the war in Iran, a presidential assassin, what to believe. There is a sense in which even though we see all of these as discreet, the Kennedy files,

[00:11:52] Martin Luther King files, certainly some of the issues related to UFOs, a variety of other topics, the Epstein files, in some respects it all shows us that there are individuals in what we call the deep state or the swamp who don't want certain kinds of information to get out and work very hard to make sure that the American public don't find out. And that's really in a sense why you've written many of your books.

[00:12:19] Yeah, you know, one of my reviewers has said, Ken, I've come to realize that you don't really, you know, your beat is not UFOs or assassinations. It's lying. Yes. And I think, yeah. And, you know, it's interesting. I did a talk at Calvary Chapel in San Jose, California this last Sunday. And the embassy had said I was a truth teller. And I thought, you know, that's a little bit too generous.

[00:12:49] I'm a truth attempter. I'm just, I'm cataloging what people are saying and making sure that I am accurately quoting what they're saying. And then it's really up to the reader to say, okay, what do I believe? What evidence is strong? What evidence is weak? And I really think that my job is to be a teacher. I mean, I've been a California public school teacher for 20 years.

[00:13:19] I recently retired. And I just think that that's my deal. My bag is not to be an activist. My job is to be an educator and to invite you to look at the information. And I'm happy to put my perspective on it. But I want to hear other perspectives as well. I want a conversation. Well, and one of the things that I picked up from your book, Catastrophic Disclosure, is that there's something out there.

[00:13:47] And there have been some very important videos that have been made available, one in particular to Representative Burleson and others. And so that is one of the reasons why you wrote a whole book about it. And it's also one of the reasons why throughout this particular new book, Book of Secrets, it runs through there as well. Because it's not like you have a chapter on UFOs and a chapter on Epstein. Because they sort of all intermingle in terms of the timeline, don't they?

[00:14:15] Well, you know, one of the really interesting things is that Epstein had this place called Zorro Ranch in New Mexico. And it's right smack dab in the middle of a whole bunch of our bases, which are having all this UFO activity. And, you know, it's like, okay, dang. What a connection. All these stories keep running into each other. Yes. And to me, that's the fascinating part about this.

[00:14:44] I mean, in one sense, you're trying to read behind the veneer of the deep state of the swamp. But on the other hand, there are a lot of connections. And the connections to Epstein go in a lot of different directions. Now, of course, he was very well connected. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised about that. But that UFO to Epstein connection is not something most people would see. But it's the kind of material you have in your book. And since we only have a few minutes left, let's see if we can maybe get back to Epstein.

[00:15:14] Because you mentioned that a minute ago. Because that is an interesting situation. Once you start figuring out how Epstein had an influence in a variety of different ways, whether it's cryptocurrency, you just mentioned UFOs, of course, in the financial area, not to mention pedophilia and all these other issues and sexual abuse, that is maybe a good explanation for why there are so many people that, on the one hand,

[00:15:42] want Epstein files to just go away, and on the other hand, why people want to open up the Epstein files because it would be able to remove some very important people from positions of authority. Is that fair? Well, no. Here's my argument. And I know my argument is going to drive some people crazy because I accept all of the evidence that so many people like Thomas Massey have put out there.

[00:16:08] But I take a different take on it. Okay. We know that Epstein was involved with the intelligence agencies since Iran-Contra. Okay? Yes. So that's 1986, 1987. And I forgot to mention that one. That's a very obvious one, yes. You would have to believe, if you are one of these people who's saying, release the Epstein files, release the Epstein files,

[00:16:36] what you have to believe is that the intelligence agencies would create files on Epstein which tell the truth. Right. And I don't believe that. I believe they put files together to cover their tracks. Trump comes along in 2006, 2007, throws Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago.

[00:17:02] 2008, he's prosecuted by the state of Florida in a weird thing that we all know about. In 2009, Trump is the only rich guy who's talking to the attorneys for the victims.

[00:17:17] I think that the way to look at the whole Epstein file and Trump is that Trump is in a brutal war with the deep state over which he does not control. And I don't think he even knows anything more than we do about Thomas Crooks, who took off a piece of his ear.

[00:17:44] And so he's got to move very carefully, very cautiously. What he did, and another thing people don't realize, is declassifying the Epstein files took 500 attorneys at the U.S. Justice Department. Those are people who could not investigate the Russian collusion lie. They couldn't investigate election integrity. They couldn't investigate Fauci.

[00:18:13] So I think the Epstein files were set up to be a trap for Trump because if Epstein was intelligence, then all he's trying to do is trying to get all the people into his orbit. I think he tried to get Trump into his orbit. Trump saw through him. But what Trump did was the perfect filtering system for credibility.

[00:18:38] He released those files, and then he said, I want those victims to testify in front of Congress, which means they have to be under oath. Now, we all know that with famous people, there are things that are true, and then there are things that are absolute lies. There are things in the Epstein files that are absolute fabrications. Trump found the filtering system for credibility, which is if you say you're a victim, testify in front of Congress.

[00:19:07] If you accuse somebody of something they didn't do, they have an action against you. Very good. And again, anybody that's saying, well, I might like to read a book because I'm kind of interested in some of these issues. Just 11 chapters on all these topics we've just mentioned. Not to mention, of course, in the past you talked about presidential takedown, which, of course, got into Anthony Fauci and the CDC and things like that.

[00:19:31] And so there have been attempts on different levels from different organizations to try to bring down President Trump. And I think in some respects you have provided the kind of background information people need. So, first of all, I know your book just came out, and I wanted to get you on for half an hour at least just to talk about the book. I've got a feeling people are going to go out and read it, and then maybe we can have you back and talk about each part of that very detailed book in some detail. But thank you for being with us today here on Point of View. Great.

[00:20:00] Thanks so much.

[00:20:01] Thank you.

[00:20:31] Thank you.

[00:21:01] Because off the table, just sometimes I'm looking for the best guest to try to address it. And if you are fascinated in some of those issues and some of those conspiracy theories and would like to see somebody who has been willing to dig and try to figure out what really is going on, that's a book that you might want to obtain. Let's take a break. We're not quite done. We have a few more things to put on the table. That comes up right after this.

[00:21:27] Who can you trust? Years ago, many of us could probably have provided a fairly long list. But today, well, today it seems we almost can't trust anyone. Educators don't even know what a woman is anymore. Many so-called public servants have shown all they care about is themselves.

[00:21:54] The FBI has been accused of bias, law-breaking, betrayal, and journalism. It's largely corrupt with no Clark Kent standing up for truth, justice, and the American way. All of this is why Point of View Radio is more important than ever. And your part in supporting us is more needed than ever. Do your part today in supporting trustworthy truth.

[00:22:20] Stand with us and help push back the lies and the darkness. Visit pointofview.net. Don't put it off. Take a moment right now and click on that big blue button that says Donate Now. Or call to invest at 1-800-347-5151. Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151.

[00:22:49] Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:16] Back once again, let me just mention that as a program note, tomorrow we're going to be talking with a group called Ballot Guide. We've already spent some time talking about iVoterGuide. And that is an organization that we highly recommend. Don't know as much about Ballot Guide, but I thought we will get them on tomorrow because any information we can get to you so that you can make an intelligent decision about these midterm elections. We want to get that information to you. That's just one of our number of guests we'll have this week, but I just thought I'd mention that as a program note.

[00:23:46] And since we were talking with Kent Heckenlively, he really was, in a sense, encouraging us to not take statements people make at face value. And like you said, he was just at one of these churches where he was referred to as a truth teller. If nothing else, a truth investigator. And that's what you need to be. And I think you're going to hear and see all sorts of things that, to me, need to be evaluated.

[00:24:13] And if there's anything we want to try to teach you here on Point of View, it's to have more discernment. And one example of that comes from a piece almost posted, but it's just easier to explain. And that is there is all of a sudden this false narrative going around that we have lynchings taking place. And so Wilford Riley, who, by the way, is African-American, really has spent much of his career as a professor dealing with this.

[00:24:41] He's probably best known for a previous book, Hate Crimes Hoax, How the Left is Selling a Fake Race War. And the title of his latest piece, which appeared in National Review, is What Happens When the Demand for Racism Exceeds Supply? Now, that explains hate crimes very easily because there are racist people. You've met them. I've met them. There are some people that are xenophobic. There are some people that are Islamophobic and all the rest.

[00:25:10] But most people, most Americans are just pretty good, gracious individuals. And so when you have to show that we are a race society, you start calling things racism that aren't. You start having people engaged in hate crimes that actually are fake hate crimes and all of the rest. And so he's been digging in this for some time. So it's not surprising that he decided to write about the issue of lynching.

[00:25:39] And the latest claim, if you're not familiar, comes from the left-wing member of the squad. That would be the Massachusetts representative, Ayanna Pressley. And she used her website and the house.gov resource to demand a thorough and transparent and comprehensive federal investigation of the numerous incidents of black people found hanging across the country.

[00:26:03] You might say, okay, I haven't seen a whole lot of news stories, although I must admit some of the mainstream media has run with this. And she refers to this as a national crisis. Unless you think she's on maybe some kind of lone crusade or something like that, she did post her letter that went, actually two. One went to the Department of Justice, one to the FBI. And they were signed by 59 or other congressional colleagues. You know, all progressives, all Democrats.

[00:26:31] But nevertheless, even the legacy media has sort of carried this further. So, first of all, before I go any further, I hate to talk about suicide, but it's worth mentioning, most of us, if we have been around any length of time, and if you've ever researched the issue of suicide, you know that death involving a rope is the most common method of suicide.

[00:26:55] So, just because somebody is hanging from a rope does not necessarily mean anything other than they committed suicide. It doesn't necessarily lead immediately to the idea of lynching. And in his article, Professor Wilford Riley takes some time to deal with some of the cases that have been mentioned.

[00:27:18] He also quotes from John McWhorter, a reporter for the New York Times, who then took the time to even look at the 10 cases we've been hearing about this year, 2026. McWhorter says eight of the 10 cases that have been mentioned this year are officially ruled as a suicide, and the other two in which there's no white suspect that's been named. Now, could we have a further investigation?

[00:27:47] I'm always up for any investigation, although I get tired of wasting tax money on investigations or research that people already have answers to, but so what? But the point I'm making is these claims can be made, even if later it turns out to be false. You don't even get sometimes from these individuals a never mind, and I think this is something that's really relevant.

[00:28:13] So I do have a commentary that's going to come out on this, because Wilford Riley asked a good question in his piece. Is the United States actually facing a contemporary epidemic of suicide? And his answer is obviously not. And I think if nothing else, you should read his article and see if you come to the same conclusion. I think any fair-minded person would. So, again, have some discernment.

[00:28:37] Just because somebody claims that there is a lynching epidemic in America doesn't mean that it's true. Well, let's look at one that very lately I think have maybe gotten a lot of Christians all interested, and that is, have we found Noah's Ark? And there's a very good piece that our good friend Dr. Jeremiah Johnston has done. He's written this with archaeologist Dr. Scott Stripling, who we've mentioned before on this program, and the apologist Wes Huff.

[00:29:07] So this is kind of a joint group in which they look at the various ways in which you have a group of individuals who are actually at a site near Turkey who have claimed that they have found the outline of the Ark. Now, that is one thing to claim. It's quite another to believe.

[00:29:30] And I think it is a good illustration of where they go through and take some time to evaluate that. But even at the end, he says, when you hear somebody say Ark found, what question would you ask first? Who tested it? Who reviewed it? Who profits from the answer if the answer is yes? By the way, this group I might just mention is actually providing tours and a few other things.

[00:29:56] And then if you were to do a little bit of research, you'd find out, well, there were other times in which people erroneously thought maybe that was the case. Back in 1996, there was a very thorough set of studies that looked at this and looked at the fossil limestone that cut across this so-called Ark, which obviously is not the Ark.

[00:30:20] The iron is rock, and that's what set off the metal detectors because it's not iron. It's really magnite and some other things. And didn't find wood in 1996, and none have been confirmed in 2026. So that is the case. And so they give you a couple of tests, ten tests. Do we find wood at a certain depth? What about the cores? What about the radar review?

[00:30:47] What about some of the questions being raised by others? Was this peer reviewed? No. Do the dates agree? What about does it fit exactly the structure that we find in Genesis in terms of the Ark? Because this one has a pointed hole, if indeed you believe that, which is different than the description. Are there results that can be reproduced? All the rest.

[00:31:13] So it goes through ten, and basically so far each one of them either has the answer, failed so far, disputed, not met, or in process. So the bottom line is for any fair-minded individual would be to say, okay, not really sure about this. Who did the lab work?

[00:31:37] Well, not the skeptics, but actually one of the geologists, Lawrence Collins, who co-wrote the study in 1996. And again, at the very end of ten tests that either have been failed or in some cases are disputed, it says, here's four things that you could use to change our mind.

[00:31:59] And I think the point I'm making is, is whenever you see a posting, you find certain claims being made. And at the same time, I think it is very important to recognize that if indeed this does not turn out to be, as I suspected it will not turn out to be Noah's Ark,

[00:32:19] it's just one more way in which the world can criticize Christians and some of the ways in which they just want to believe things that really are not true. And so I think our faith does not hang on the next headline. Our faith does not hang on some geological formation in Turkey.

[00:32:40] And I think it is important for us to have some level of discernment, maybe even a significant level of skepticism. Now, when I mentioned that the other day in my teaching, I had some of the students say, well, don't you think it might be possible that we might find evidence of the Ark someday? And I said, it would be tremendous because what greater opportunity to challenge the world than to say there was a judgment in the past.

[00:33:09] There's a judgment in the future. Here we have evidence of some that were saved from that judgment. The cross is the salvation from the judgment coming in the future. So it's a great opportunity. But I think we certainly should be skeptical and have some discernment. Nothing wrong with that.

[00:33:30] Certainly the scriptures tell us time and time again to consider the evidence, because even as it was proclaimed from the temple steps, this was not done in a corner. Let's take a break. We'll come back with more right after this.

[00:33:59] You're listening to Point of View, your listener supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes. Let me just mention that tomorrow we're going to, first of all, talk about the ballot guide. And this is really looking at the whole issue of taxes and finances and the rest. Jonathan Mayhew is one of the individuals, although I think Otis also was accredited with the phrase, no taxation without representation.

[00:34:26] I think they would be shocked to find out what taxation with representation looks like. So we're going to talk about evaluating some of the candidates in terms of the ballot guide, which I think will be a good companion to the iVoter guide that we have been making available to you. But also we'll be talking with a guest on why negative political ads work and what voters should know before they go out and vote.

[00:34:50] Now, one of the things that I think so many people are upset with, and I was just talking before we came here with an individual said, I am so tired of these negative ads. I'm tired of watching television. I'm tired of them showing up on my Facebook pages of texts and everything. I wish they would stop. And so we're going to talk about the whole idea of negative ads that have been used time and time again. And so that will be our conversation tomorrow.

[00:35:18] But let's see if we can get into real quickly a couple of other points. And that is my commentary today is declining student scores. But I thought I'd set it up by talking about the one that my commentary yesterday addressed. And that is Alicia Finley documents what we've been talking about on this program for some time. And that is the title of her Wall Street Journal column is, yes, children really are getting dumber.

[00:35:46] Now, in the past, we've talked about how, as we just mentioned a few minutes ago with Ken Heckenlively about the pandemic and the shutdown. And he's written quite a few books on that subject as well. And certainly that has had a negative impact on students. But I think Alicia Finley in her article that was in the Wall Street Journal helped me understand that that couldn't be all of the reason.

[00:36:10] Because you do have, in other countries, Sweden comes to mind, places which were mostly open during the pandemic. And scores fell there as well. So there could be some other factors. And one of the ones that she talks about is classroom order. About a third of the students on average in these developed countries reported that noise and disorder were disrupting the lessons in the classroom.

[00:36:38] A significant percentage said that classmates don't even listen to the teachers. And if you think about it, it's not really surprising that students in countries with more strict discipline, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, experience smaller or no learning declines. So maybe that's part of it. The other, of course, is media. And that is in the past we've talked about the impact or the negative impact of smartphones and social media.

[00:37:08] But now there's a bigger focus on artificial intelligence. And that is nearly half of the students in these developed countries in the latest survey say they use chatbots every day. Chatbots every day. Did you get that? And so here we see, again, a very sizable significant difference.

[00:37:30] Students who do not use AI for writing their essays and other things scored 28 points higher on average than those who use it every day. No surprise. Some of them are probably even using chatbot to write all of it. But even if not, it's making them, if you will, lazy and less creative. And if you think about 28 points higher, they were in debt. And that's like a one and a half year school year difference. So it is very significant.

[00:37:59] And, of course, AI is making it easier to succeed in school without doing the work. And nearly half of the students in one of the studies done out of Fordham admitted to using AI to solve math problems. And more than a third said they used AI to summarize books so they didn't have to read them. And, of course, I do know some of you are well aware of the fact that in the old days sometimes you'd go to Cliff Notes so that you didn't have to read Shakespeare or something like that.

[00:38:27] But students are getting dumber and AI is making it easier. Which then brings me to my commentary today, which has the title, Declining Student Scores. Because I talked about, first, the dismal reality that students seem to be getting dumber. But then I go through some of the statistics, which have been put together by our friend Larry Sand, who's been on the program before. There is what's called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

[00:38:55] And they released their findings for the PISA test. And, sad to say, the United States ranked 13th in reading and 27th in math. You can see that these scores have been falling significantly. And this has been falling since the last time they did the test because they have been doing those about every three years. Now they're going to probably do them more regularly. But the last test was 2022.

[00:39:23] Okay, now, many of the reasons for the decline, though, can be reversed. One positive is family support. They found, for example, that students with parents who just even ask about schoolwork perform 35 points better than parents who don't. So one logical implication, ask your kids or your grandkids about their schoolwork. Now Larry Sand also has some other things here as well.

[00:39:49] He suggests that we should actually have schools ban smartphones. He says they do not benefit children and are a major distraction. If students must bring a smartphone to school, they should not be allowed to use it at any time during the school day. He also points to the remarkable progress in reading that actually took place in Mississippi. We refer to that around here as the Mississippi miracle. So what's the Mississippi miracle?

[00:40:19] I've mentioned it before, but let me talk about it again. In 2013, Mississippi as a state was near the bottom of the country in terms of reading. By 2024, the state was in the top ten. It went from 49 to nine. Okay, that is a remarkable achievement. And there are some reasons for it.

[00:40:44] You might say, well, okay, what moved it from the bottom or near the bottom to in the top ten? Phonics. Yep, that's right, phonics. That's the traditional method of reading. And it's been oftentimes described as the science of reading. You can't be a good reader if you can't deconstruct, if you can't decode the words and the letters and what they mean. And certainly that is the case.

[00:41:11] So again, my argument, pretty straightforward. We have a choice. We can either complain about the declining scores or we can encourage kids to get involved. And maybe we need to return back to the basics that have worked in the past. There was a very good book, and I've mentioned on this program before, by the former Secretary of Education, Bill Bennett. The simple title of the book was What Works. And we know what works. It's worked in the past. It will work in the future.

[00:41:41] And it's about time to make sure that the schools start making sure that we implement the things that work. Otherwise, if your school system just will not and just keeps chasing the latest fad, it's probably time for you to take your child out of that school, put them in a Christian school, put them in a charter school, homeschool, and whatever you might do, because it's not fair to put them under some of the things that are used in these woke environments,

[00:42:09] used where they are chasing the latest educational fad for which there is very little evidence that it works. We know what works. Let's get back to the basics. And if we do, then next year maybe we won't be 27th in math and 13th in reading. That's pretty significant and a good illustration for maybe finding a miracle. I know.

[00:42:34] How about the Massachusetts miracle and implementing that in 49 other states and see what happens? That's all we have for today. I think we're going to have a very good program tomorrow to help you know more about who you're voting for and how to maybe turn off mentally and even physically some of those negative ads. But as always, I want to thank Megan for help engineering the program. Derek, thank you for producing the program. And I hope that you will take the time to visit the website and find some of the articles and the books we have mentioned today.

[00:43:04] They're all available at pointofview.net. We'll see you back here tomorrow right here on Point of View. It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men can be women and women men. People are prosecuted differently or not at all depending on their politics. Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens.

[00:43:34] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing. You feel like giving up. But we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. And that's what we say to you today.

[00:43:59] This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos. We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness. Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151. Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151.

[00:44:31] Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.