TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Big Price Increases Coming to American Shoppers in Three Weeks

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

U.S. retailers are warning that consumers will feel the pinch of Trump’s global tariff war by the end of April. Fresh produce, wine, bicycles, and household goods will be hit first as importers adjust to new tariffs of up to 125%. Target and Walmart are seeing stockpiling already, while wine sellers warn prices could surge by 60% or more. The Federal Reserve predicts inflation could spike to 4%, and JPMorgan and BlackRock say a recession may already be underway. The tariff war with China is escalating fast, with Beijing imposing its own 125% retaliatory tariffs starting April 12.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 4/11/25Join the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comYou can partner with us by visiting TruNews.com, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!https://www.AmericanReserves.com             It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Characteristics-Second-Coming/dp/0578260816/Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/final-day-10-characteristics-of-the-second-coming/id1687129858Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.https://www.sacrificingliberty.com/watchThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today!https://tru.news/faucielf

You don't have to think the world is ending tomorrow to be realistic. Serious emergencies happen to regular people all the time. For the forward-thinking family men, American Reserves serves as the ideal safeguard. As a father and husband, providing for and protecting my family is my highest priority. With strength in every pack, American Reserves combines variety and durability for any family. Waiting until it is too late will be devastating. Ensure your loved ones are cared for in any crisis by building a storehouse with American Reserves because strength comes from smart preparation. American Reserves,

your ally in emergency readiness. Visit our website and become prepared today. Big retailers in America are bracing for big price increases in the next three weeks as the United States and Communist China go toe-to-toe in a tariff war showdown. This is True News for Friday, April 11, 2025. Let's begin our analysis and commentary of today's news with this Wall Street Journal headline, The World is taking urgent steps to prepare for trade war downturn. Doc Burkhard is here with me.

Yes, sir. Doc, the gist of the article is that governments, corporations, retailers around the world are taking immediate steps to prepare for a change in the global economic climate because of the trade war between the United States and China. CNBC, this happened yesterday, China strikes back with 125% tariffs on US goods

as trade war intensifies. Not only are the Chinese putting stiff tariffs on products coming into the United States, or U.S. products coming into China, they've also launched a propaganda war to turn the world against the United States of America. And these videos, I'm going to show you two of them. They're being hosted. Now here, this is a... This is a post on X. This is from the Chinese embassy in the US.

Yes, the official embassy. China will raise tariffs for all imported US goods from 84% to 125% effective April 12th, that's tomorrow. Now I was talking about the propaganda videos that the Chinese government is cranking out to turn the world against the American people. Here is one where they're portraying the American workers as obese slobs who, you know, really aren't very productive. Here's the video. Again, this is from China. 直讲要打多久,我告诉我们不要做决定。 有国主席,有道路门,以后是有爱世浩远,

或者迈国的将来的什么政策,由他们去决定。 就是说他们要打多久,就打多久。 Okay, obviously that's not the obese American video. But it was posted by the U.S. embassy, the Chinese embassy here in the U.S. They released that. And their chairman Mao. They released that. And their chairman Mao. They released that yesterday. Sending a message to the American government. Here is Mao Tse-Tung saying, we are Chinese, we do not back down.

We will fight. That was a very clear message to Donald Trump and the American leadership saying China is prepared to go all the way in a war, a trade war, maybe a military war with the United States of America. Now, the next video, this is the other propaganda video portraying American workers as basically fat slobs. Here it is. I I wonder if the Chinese government paid the royalties on that song. Yes. No, they probably stole it.

Right. Like so many other things. But this is going to get nasty. And prices are going to climb very soon. You're going to see it showing up in the stores very soon, with probably the next two to three weeks. One story that caught my eye here today, South China Morning Post.

This is a Chinese economist. He is worried that Chinese assets outside of China in Western countries may be at risk. That's right, Rick. Former advisor to China's central bank has voiced grave concerns with the safety of the country's overseas assets and has urged authorities to make necessary preparations in the wake of unprecedented tariff hikes from the U.S. President Donald Trump could push a rivalry between China and the U.S. even further into the financial sector. Now, the warning comes from Yu Yongding, a senior economist at the Chinese Academy of

Social Sciences, and that came out of form in Beijing on Wednesday. So, Rick, is he saying that assets like stocks, bonds, maybe even land, maybe that the Chinese own here in the US could end up becoming confiscated? Yes. That's what they're worried about. Think about the Russian money that was in Western banks, $300 billion.

And the West seized it. They still have it. Right. I think you could see the same thing. Chinese-owned companies in America could be nationalized. Chinese land in America, which they've been buying up land at a fast pace. It should never have been allowed. But we could see... I think our Congress would quickly pass a law authorizing the Treasury Department to nationalize all Chinese-owned land in America. These things could happen in the next several months. It's going to become very

serious. It's going to get nasty. Financial Times, Trump tariffs could push US inflation to 4% this year, warns a top Fed official. And I have to agree, Doc, we're not going to get through this without higher prices. Of course. I mean, that's going to happen one way or the other. No matter if you're for or against Trump, the prices are going to go up. They have to. When there are tariffs at this level, they have to go up. And, you know, in the long run, what President Trump is doing is going to work. Jobs will come to America,

but it's going to take several years. It's not going to happen next month. I'm also concerned, the factories are going to come back, but I'm not sure the jobs are coming. I think they're going to be robots. And Lutnick said the same thing last week, Rick. Did he? Yes, he said it. I said, well, why are we bringing all these factories back?

We're saying them for jobs. We're going to have robots in the factories. And so, but I guess that just completely went over everyone's head. The story that you were referencing, that's New York Fed chief John Williams. And in prepared marks on Friday, he said that a pervasive sense of uncertainty is becoming increasingly evident, especially in so-called soft data, such as surveys and information from business contacts. And he added that a sharp decline in consumer sentiment and business sentiment measures have weakened, too.

So he's saying that the tariffs that are in place could push inflation to 4%, maybe even higher. Now, the Trump administration actually got some good news yesterday, Rick, that inflation was actually much lower than expected. But when? Yes, but that was going back to January. Yes, before the tariffs. Right.

Now we're in new territory. Absolutely. Financial Times, U.S. consumers warned of higher prices from tariffs within weeks. Look at that. Folks, get ready. I have bought a few things in anticipation of steep price increases. I just don't have the money to buy lots of stuff of things I would ordinarily need. And you're in the same situation.

So within a couple weeks we're going to be paying much higher prices or we don't buy things. And that's the route I'll go. I just won't buy. And I think a lot of people will be in the same situation and then what do you have doc when a lot of people aren't buying then you'll have a recession that's right and if it if it becomes deep enough you'll have a depression you have a depression so says retailers across the US are warning of a

cascade of price increases and product shortages as early as this month due to Donald Trump's tariffs. According to the Budget Lab at Yale University, some stores are preparing to raise prices within two weeks as the threat of tariffs of up to 125% raises their costs. This worsens persistent inflation that has already forced many shoppers to limit their spending. Well, Doc, there are going to be a lot of retailers with too much inventory on their hands because there are not going to be any shoppers in the stores buying their inflated

products. And then you're going to see retailers. Well the next step, what happens is that retailers then have major sale prices. And then after they do that, a number of months, they have a going out of business sale. And they close up. Right. How are they? How they're if this is going on this fall, how will these retailers get through the Christmas season? Well, they won't there. That's right. This would be a year without a

Santa Claus, maybe. And so that article from Financial Times says that some of these major retailers like Walmart and others have actually anticipated the increase in tariffs and have actually done some stockpiling in advance of this, but those stockpiles will only stretch out really through maybe, maybe the end of summer. End of summer traditionally is a time where you have moms and dads buying clothes and materials for back to school. It's very possible you could see sharp

increases in prices before the first to the middle of August and that's going to impact families at the middle class level and then once again once you get beyond that the stockpiles are out and then if there's a case where people start saying you know I better buy a bunch of stuff ahead of time I better buy a whole bunch of paper towels let let's say, or whatever it might be, and start hoarding things in advance. That also causes problems within the market supply as well, doesn't it? It does.

Doc, I didn't know. I mean, I knew we imported a lot of food. But this is America. Come on, we got farms everywhere. This article says the United States imports 59 percent of the fresh fruit and 35 percent of the fresh vegetables that Americans consume. I believe that.

Do you ever look at labels on fruit anymore, Rick? We only do, but I didn't. I didn't. I didn't think it was that high of a percentage right So a lot of us, you know, it's coming in from South America, yes And there are you know, there will be tariffs. I think most of those tariffs are going to get reduced The big price increase and the shortages will be things coming from China, which is most of the stuff that America buys. We're consumers of Chinese products. So Walmart said this week that there will likely be price impacts from the tariffs.

Walmart chief executive Doug McMillan said that Walmart sought to keep them as low as possible by managing the basket of products it sells. Kent International, one of the biggest US bicycle manufacturers said prices across the industry could rise as much as 50%. That means they're not making them here. They're importing those bikes, Rick.

Exactly, or they're assembling the bikes here. So it says, what are the biggest U.S. bicycle manufacturers? Well, why would the prices go 50%? If you're making them in America, well, it's because you're not making them in America. You're assembling them in America, well it's because you're not making them in America. You're assembling them in America. In Walmart, remember the motto for Walmart used to be, made in America, remember?

Well back when- They would have it plastered all over the store, made in America. Well that's back when Sam Walton was running the company. But after he died, his family sold out to China. And you know who they put on the board of directors back then? Hillary Clinton. I wonder why there was a push to put Hillary Clinton on the board.

Well, you had to have a Chinese representative on the board. That's exactly what happened. And that's when China, that's when Walmart went Chinese. It was decades ago. We don't even remember these things anymore. And that's when China, that's when Walmart went Chinese. It was decades ago. We don't even remember these things anymore. It was big news back when it happened, when the Made in America signs came down in the Walmart stores.

But the Americans became addicted to cheap Chinese products. Well, guess what? They won't be cheap and they probably won't even be on the shelves. Starting in the next two to three weeks, you're going to see the price increases. The Financial Times article says retailers stocked up on inventory late last year fearing that tariffs and a labor strike at the East Coast ports could hit supply chains. Aside from perishable goods, most already have enough inventory to carry them through much of the summer, according to

Jonathan Gold, Vice President and National Retail Federation Trade Group. That means shoppers will probably not see impacts on the clothing and toy aisles until they start back to school shopping in the fall. That's a good piece of information. Some retailers have begun stockpiling items ahead of the price increases. This Target store in lower Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon, shelves that normally held bottled water, paper towels, and flour were empty. Employees said that while they had more inventory in the back of the store, customers were hastily purchasing non-perishable items faster than they could restock them. In Manhattan, Rick. In Manhattan. So as another important piece of information

to have, one store employee said stuff is selling fast. Wine sales are also up as sellers warn that the tariffs will force them to stop carrying imported small production wines and raise prices on popular bottles said Tom Work, executive director of the National Association of Wine Retailers. He said quote, consumers will absolutely lose access to some of the wines they like. He added that if Trump reinstated the reciprocal tariffs, a $30 bottle of European wine would cost $50 within three weeks. Big changes coming, Doc.

Yes, major changes happening just for common people. JP Morgan Wall Street Journal JP Morgan warns economy facing considerable turbulence That's right JP Morgan Chase has increased Its profile here by 2.24 percent And his first quarter earnings rose by 9 percent But the bank is raising concerns over a slowing global economy that could cause loan losses and paralysis, especially in capital markets. Jamie Dimon said, the economy is facing

considerable turbulence. We believe it is prudent to maintain, listen to this, this is what the bank is doing. We believe it is prudent to maintain excess capital and ample liquidity, that means cash, in this environment. Doc, let's just go back there and let's just focus on what Jamie Dimon said. When the country's biggest banker says, we're stockpiling cash. Yes. Ample liquidity. That's exactly what that means. That means as much cash as we can get our hands on. Maintain excess capital. Ample liquidity.

The banks are bracing for rough waters. We're giving a lot of information here today that's very valuable, very pertinent to your well-being. Yes. The banks are stockpiling cash, the stores are stockpiling goods, and prices are going up in some areas, some things, in the next two to three weeks. Right. Now that article from the Wall Street Journal went on to say that even accounting for the pause that President Trump announced on Wednesday, the bank's

view is that a contraction in real activity later this year is more likely than not. And that's coming from JPPMorgan's chief U.S. economist Michael Faroli, speaking in a note on Wednesday to his clients. Okay, so Doc, let's go back to that previous article, I think it was the Financial Times, that said retailers had stockpiled inventory in anticipation of this trade war, and they probably had enough goods in their warehouses

to carry them through the summer. Right, through the second and third quarters maybe. All right, so now we have JP Morgan's chief economist saying that there will be a contraction in real activity later this year. So they're projecting probably right at the end of the second quarter, third quarter there. Going into the fall. Right. Things are going to tighten up in the fall. So Rick, if you know that information and you know you're three to six months out from a, definitely a recession and maybe even a depression, and we'll talk more about that

here in a few minutes, what should the average consumer, average viewer and listener be doing right now? Getting out of debt? Absolutely. Paying off every debt you can pay? Start with the smallest one, get it paid off, move on to the next one.

Just keep knocking them out. Get an extra job. Find a side hustle, do something. Bring in extra money. Sell things while you can sell them. If you got stuff that you can sell, sell it. Toys, you know, big boy toys. Sell it. Pay off your debt. Do what you got to do. Build up your cash liquidity. Sell things while there are buyers. If you need to sell your home for some reason, I would get it on the market soon. be a, in various markets of the country, there will be real estate deflation. Mortgages will be hard to find.

Mortgages that you can afford. But the main thing is to get out of debt. Hill, now Rick, Jamie Dimon isn't the only one issuing a warning about a possible recession slash depression is he no it's Black Rocks Larry think he told CNBC that the US is very close to a recession or maybe in one now Again, this is Larry think the billionaire CEO of Black Rock we're talking Black. And they are bracing for a very stiff economic conditions hitting the world this year. Let's watch.

Are we going to have a recession in the United States? As I said on Monday, the talk that I gave at the New York Economic Club, I think we're very close if not in a recession now. What may be... You don't need that. Good. What may be happening is a lot of people are buying in advance of the elevated increases like lines around Apple stores buying iPhones and all that stuff.

But I believe all the uncertainty is really taking everyone's paws. And everyone's waiting to see. And so I think you're going to see them across the board and just say slow down until you have more certainty. And you know, we now have a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariff. That means longer, more elevated, you know, uncertainty. So the applause there was the opening bell and bad timing for an interview with BlackRock CEO because he had to compete with the cheering. But what he was saying is he's not quite sure what the real state of the economy is right now because he said current sales, retail sales, could be consumers

stockpiling now. So it's hard for BlackRock to get a reading on what is the actual condition of the economy right now. Yes. But they are anticipating that the US is going into a recession and could officially already be in that recession right now. Now someone watching today Rick may be wondering, well how did we get in this mess in the first place? I mean how are we in a trade war with China? Well it has to do with policies that have been in place for decades now that have finally caught up with us. Our leaders sold us out, Doc. And not just our leaders, corporate CEOs, they grabbed it.

They made a fortune, they've been making a fortune for decades in China. So it's not just the Chinese that have been taking advantage of the American public, but American leaders have taken advantage of the American public too Yes, by helping China grow. Now, one of the great advocates here that's been working alongside Donald Trump in all of this trade war negotiation has been Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary.

And he always enjoy listening to Kevin O'Leary because he breaks things down into very simple to understand explanations of how we can get a handle on understanding. And he's blunt. He's blunt. There's no BS in it. It's like, here it is. This is the truth. And this is what we've got to deal with. So I was listening to him this morning, driving into work, and he was on Fox Business News with Maria Bartiroma, and he was talking about the difficulties of doing business in China. And I thought, I've got to share this with our audience today, because he explained how unfair the system is, how rigged the Chinese business system is, that American businesses can't do business in China. The system is rigged.

Here's the first part of that interview. We've got to face reality here. China is not just a trade war. We have to figure out a way to finally fix the problems that have existed since 2000 when they joined the WTO. They've never abided by the rules and regulations ever. There's no mechanism by which you can dispute any kind of business issue, including IP theft. And it's a typical situation.

I'll make it very simple for everybody to understand. You invest in innovation in the United States, and the product takes off, and as soon as it hits a run rate of 5 million annually, it gets knocked off in China, manufactured there, reintroduced into the U.S. market at around 30% to 40% off, because they don't have to recuperate any R&D. And sometimes the original innovating company goes bankrupt. I've kind of had enough of that now. I've been watching it.

I've never been able to litigate there. And I can't even get access to their financial markets or even sell products there sometimes without having a partner that's 51%. And he's got a good point. It's unfair the way that the Chinese have allowed American companies to do business in China. If you want to open a business in China, you're going to have a Chinese PLA officer. Right, because you can't own it.

They have to own 51% or more, and that person is going to be either a PIA military officer or a relative of somebody in the PIA. Now later in the interview I got to talking about what are some of the extreme tactics that we might end up using in order to balance this unfairness back out and And I heard this yesterday, and I now, Mr. O'Leary expands on it, that it's very possible, Rick, that they will actually start delisting Chinese companies on American stock exchanges. They should have never been listed.

I agree with you, yes, absolutely. All right, here's what Kevin O'Leary said. I want you to be aware of something, Maria, that I think people missed yesterday. Atkins was approved. His nomination went through for head of the SEC. Then Senator Scott issued a letter, made it public yesterday, that he had asked this person to enforce the law about delisting Chinese companies that were not compliant with GAAP. They were given three years then the law was modified to give them two years. None of them were compliant. There's billions of dollars

trading this morning that I think Chinese companies that are not compliant they're going to get delisted. I think this new sheriff at the SEC isn't going to mess around and I think this is sheriff at the SEC isn't going to mess around. And I think this is important to continue the pressure on China to come to the table. So he makes a good point there, Rick. Later in the interview there, he talks a little bit more about the imbalance that takes place American companies and their ability to compete with Chinese companies as well. But he also points out that, listen, the Chinese aren't the only bad guys out there.

Banks have made a killing on Chinese companies being here in the US. So he talks about that. He also talks a little bit more about the delisting. And then he goes into a conversation regarding the sale of TikTok and how basically that has come into a brick wall now because of the trade war that's going on and because China is basically saying,

we're not going to let it be sold with the algorithm that goes with it. He said something during that interview today. He was one of the investors trying to buy TikTok. He was in the the investors trying to buy TikTok. And he was in the White House last week. And I thought, well, he's still in the running. He just had another meeting in the White House. So, maybe there's a chance Kevin O'Leary's going to buy TikTok. But he let it out in that interview today. Moser-Klein He's out. Hill-Pedro Delgado He's out. And he said, everybody else is out. And he explained why, that there is no way

there can be a sale of TikTok right now. So let's let's let's go into this. He covers several very important topics. I'm playing this for you because I want you to understand the dynamics of what's happening in the world economy because of this trade war between the United States and China and I personally believe we really need to back President Trump because this is more than tariffs. We're in World War Three and I keep

driving this home. We are in the third World War and what's taking place with these tariffs is one form of warfare. Right. And it's going to become intense. Eventually this trade war is going to transition from tariffs to missiles. To terror, yes. All right, here's Kevin O'Leary. So glad you brought up the confirmation of Paul Atkins. That is a key point. I agree with you. Well, here's my challenge to the administration.

I'm an investor. I take companies public on NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange. I pay millions of dollars each year in compliance. I have no choice but to be compliant and transparent and abide by G by gap and right beside me issuing shares without any guidance at all. Our Chinese companies I'm competing for that dollar I'm I'm investing

in our markets and being compliant and my Chinese competitor same bank I'm using is going to institutions the same day on a road show and raising money for what's called a shadow shares not called a shadow share. It's not even a real share, they don't even have any rights. And they're taking my dollar. They're taking my dollar. So I'm putting up my hand saying,

wait a minute, just follow the law. De-list these companies, make them be compliant like I am. And I speak on behalf of every American investor. Enough is enough. And I don't know why this is going on. I'm only asking the new chair uphold the law. Just uphold the law. That's it.

So I think that's going on. I know why it's going on. It's going on because Wall Street firms make money on it. Okay. That's why it's going on because they want to make money selling these stocks to the public and they want to make money raising money for Chinese companies. What else is going on? That's what's going on Wall Street.

I listen, I appreciate that Maria and I use those banks and many of those people I call friends but they can't do this anymore because they're going to have to also abide by the law. All of this softness. I don't know why Gensler didn't pursue this. My estimation as of this morning, somewhere between $500 to $700 billion worth of market capitalization that should be delisted, taken off the exchanges, and further pressure on the Chinese to come to the table.

Yeah. So Chinese Communist Party leadership wants to get tough with President Trump. I wouldn't recommend it. OK? There's a lot to lose here for the Chinese leadership. A lot to lose. Meanwhile, let's talk about TikTok. The deal for TikTok to divest U.S. operations

to an American company. Currently on hold, China pausing the process in response to the U.S. tariffs. President Trump told reporters yesterday the deal is still on the table though, watch. Where does the TikTok deal stand, given what we've seen, you know, the tariffs in China? Well, it's moving along, but obviously, I would say right now China's not exactly thrilled

about signing it. We have a deal with some very good people, some very rich companies that would do a great job with it, but we're going to have to wait to see what's going to happen with China. So, is it all up to you? No, it's on the table very much. I think China's going to want to do it, actually. So, Kevin, the CCP is going to use whatever it can to push back on tariffs. Well, there's further definition on the tick tock deal. And for some of us that were in the syndicates that we're looking at

buying and renting or leasing the algorithm and keeping TikTok the way it is past the 75 days, those hopes have been dashed. That was done yesterday when Senator Cotton, along with Scott, said, look, and he went public. I was attending a working lunch of senators two days ago in Washington, same day of the hearings on China. And the question came up, it was just an informal session, and Senator Cotton got up and said, no, I'm not going to allow any American company to do business

with the Communist Party of China. And they are not getting anywhere near that algorithm into an American platform. So the idea that you can buy TikTok now and somehow have some arrangement around the algorithm, that's dead. And that's just not going to happen because you're going to get such pushback from the lawmakers and also the Supreme Court in the 9-0 order. So that path has been shut off. And now we're going to have to figure out how do we buy this thing? And we'll probably have to rewrite the entire algorithm, which by the way is not that hard anymore. But that, you know, Senator Cotton, he went public with that three hours later.

It's out there now. He said the same thing publicly. He's not a fan of the Chinese algorithm. He considers it weapons-grade spyware, and he's made it known that that's not a path investors can take. Well, he knows China better than most, so he's made it known that that's not a path investors can take. He knows China better than most, so he knows exactly what their tactics are.

He spoke about the ongoing trade war with China in the previous parts of the interview. He talked about that product theft that's going on. And we've known about it, Rick, for decades now. We know it began back in the 80s, really, where the Chinese will just copy a product and start manufacturing there and ship it back to the U.S. at a reduced price. Hill, there was something that Kevin Leary said at the beginning of that last interview. He said he spends millions of dollars... Moser Staying compliant. Hill Staying compliant, paying legal fees to keep his companies compliant with the stock regulations of the United States.

But the Chinese companies are not required to be compliant. Gardner-Yes. Hill-Doc, it's one thing that the Chinese economy is rigged against the Americans. But when the American economy is rigged against the Americans, but when the American economy is rigged against the Americans in favor of the Chinese, I've got some problems and I want to know why. So the only the only explanation I have is China has bought off American leaders, and the system is rigged in this country in favor of China. And you may be watching or listening and thinking,

well, what's the big deal? I mean, let's make China, you know, make money. No, the problem is China takes that money and is building aircraft carriers and building tanks and arming soldiers. To conquer us. Yes. We're paying for the Chinese military.

And we've been doing it for four decades at least. We pay for our own military and we pay for the Chinese military. You got it. One more here. Kevin O'Leary was talking about in a previous interview, he said American companies will invent a product and they'll go through the research and development, get the product on the market, and as soon as it hits $5 million in sales per year, the Chinese immediately copy it, produce a knockoff product, they'll

even use the American company's name. And facilities. And facilities, and that was what shocked me in his testimony before the Senate this week, that they would, the Chinese would manufacture products for America, by American companies during the day shift, and then on the night shift, they would run another line

of the knockoff product yes with the with the American companies name on it yes and then sell it on Amazon and various places right so in this next video this is Florida Senator Rick Scott questioning Kevin O'Leary at a Senate hearing about these things. The whole idea of today's conversation was just to get to a reciprocal playing field, a even playing field. So, Mr. O'Leary, what if there was a company called WeatherTech, you know, and they they produce really nice mats for their car. I have them in my F-150. they produce really nice mats for their cars. I have them in my F-150. And they woke up one day and they looked on Alibaba

and they saw that their products were being sold on Alibaba. And they looked at their shipping and they never had done any business with Alibaba. And they looked just like the mats that they produced in Illinois, but and they even had their name on it, right? What could they do to stop this theft of their product and they got nothing for it? What would they, what would be their recourse right now? There is nothing they can do.

You have just told the story of a million small businesses in America over the last 20 years. They innovate, they create, they're entrepreneurs, they prove their product in the American consumer market at around five million in sales, they're knocked off. By whom? China. Very often, the same plants that ran the molds under a relationship they had with the company,

a lot of companies went to China 20 years ago, 10 years ago, and put their molds there, and during the day, the company would run the WeatherTech mat, in this example, theoretically, and then at night, they'd run the knockoff mat. And they would bring it into the market, let me guess, 30% off retail of WeatherTech. And I've seen this happen countless times.

And in some cases where the company's very small, they go out of business. Nobody hears that tree falling in the forest. It happens thousands of times. There's such an immense opportunity here to just enforce existing laws, but really, at the end of the day, the reason that Behemoth Company couldn't do anything about it, they have no access

to the Chinese courts. They can't resolve the complaint through litigation, as we do here. So my recommendation is, look, if you're a Chinese company and you want to use our courts to litigate your complaint, sorry, not until you open yours. We'd love to work with you, but unless it's a reciprocal playing field. The whole idea of today's conversation was just to get to a reciprocal playing field, an even playing field. American companies have always been very competitive

anywhere on earth when given a chance on a transparent and competitive playing field. That's not the case in China. I mean, we're all saying the same thing here. It's got to get fixed. And finally, finally, finally, here we are, with tariffs being the excuse. But now, I think Chi has to come to the table and I hope it happens and I'd like to see tomorrow morning

400% tariffs 400% tariffs so doc As he was talking I was I was thinking When When Elon Musk purchased Twitter he discovered that tens of millions of subscribers were bots. Yes.

They weren't humans. Twitter was being used to make humans believe other humans had different points of view. Yes. It was propaganda war. And we were reading tweets from bots. Yes. So I was thinking about that as Kevin O'Leary was talking, and I was thinking about the chart that we put up on the screen yesterday of The cities with the leading

Amazon retailers Remember that chart. Yes, sir the top 20 cities Where Amazon retailers reside? Almost all of them were in China. Yes and the first one was Probably had more retailers than all the other 19 combined. So this is what I was thinking. Are we buying anything on Amazon that's legitimate? Well, that's a great question.

Doc, are we buying anything? Is anything that we're buying legitimate? Or is Amazon running a giant trading operation for Chinese knockoff products? Well, and they can't admit that Rick. But they know it, don't they? Yes. Does Jeff Bezos know what he's doing? And how long has he known it? You can't have an overwhelming number of Chinese retailers as, you know, let me put it like this. You can't have an overwhelming number of Amazon retailers be Chinese and not have knockoff products. I'm now wondering

anything I've purchased on Amazon in the last five years, was it really from the manufacturer, the producer that it said on the website, on Amazon, on the store, or was it made by a Chinese knockoff company? And is there any way to know the difference? Well, the fact that there it is. The top 20 cities where Amazon retailers or resellers live. Most of those are Chinese cities. Look at the big purple blob over in China. Yes, and just like the top one. The top one alone is Shenzhen.

Over a hundred thousand Amazon sellers in the city of Shenzhen alone. If you add the top four together, it comes up with a number bigger than the bottom 16. So there are four cities in China that basically sell everything from Amazon. Jeff Bezos, his net worth is gonna take a hit in the next six months. Because these products, people aren't gonna buy them.

Whether they're made in China or by the legitimate companies or not. The price increase is going to stop the purchases. But I'm just overwhelmed right now, thinking we have been duped by Amazon into believing that we're purchasing legitimate products. And these are fake knockoff products made in China. Well, what else can we do? You buy American from Americans. Right.

You find an American who's selling something that they made. You can verify it was made in this country. You buy local. You buy from local farmers. You buy local produce. You buy local honey. Whatever you got to do, buy local.

Support your local businesses. What do you gotta do? Buy local. Support your local businesses. I'm gonna skip down for our guys in control. I'm gonna go down to number 18. This is humorous to me. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer suddenly wants to bring jobs back to America. Yeah, she actually came to the White House this week and spoke directly with President Donald Trump. Now this is the governor of Michigan who brought in a Chinese company into Michigan and gave them a vast amount of land and allowed them to set up a Chinese Communist Party apparatus

in Michigan. Yes, the same one. All right, this is what she said about the tariffs. I understand the motivation behind the tariffs. And I can tell you, here's where President Trump and I do agree. We do need to make more stuff in America. More cars and chips, more steel and ships. We do need fair trade. What she's saying is the Michigan auto workers,

the UAW, have made themselves very clear, loud and clear to me. We like this. And they want jobs. Yes. And the Democrat Union workers are saying we're behind Trump. Yes and and even a socialist governor like Whitmer has to say, if I want to get elected again, I better keep these auto workers happy. Doc, she's thinking of 2028. Right. For president. Well, let's take a look at how gold is doing.

And this is the Gold Co. financial report. All I have to do to promote Gold Co. is show you the headlines. I don't have to say anything else. UBS, Union Bank of Switzerland, UBS Bank, forecast $3,500 gold price in 2025. 3,500 this year. It's already over 3,200 today. That's right. I think 3,500 is probably low.

Yeah, and that'll probably be by May, Rick, at this point. At the rate it's going. Then here's the economic times of India. Gold price predictions. Will gold rate touch the historic $4,000 announce mark? Yes, I absolutely believe it will. I think so. Sooner than you think.

Maybe by the end of this year, early 2026 at this rate. Maybe by the end of this year, early 2026 at this rate, Fortune magazine, gold prices are on fire. Here's why it's a favorite investment during market volatility. Rick, what's the purpose of Fortune magazine? What is its primary function as a magazine? to promote ways to develop a fortune? That's right, and they're saying gold is on fire gold prices are on fire so As I said, I really don't have to say anything About goko other than to show you these headlines. The headlines

are saying it all. Gold prices are on fire. But I was telling you this last year. I was telling you my gut feeling is the stock market is going to have a correction. Chris Hiller Rick, gold has gone up $500 an ounce since the first of the year. Since the first of the year. Yes, that's how much it's gone up just in the past several months. And we're only in April. Yes.

So I don't think you need to be convinced anymore that gold, the price of gold is going up. And I don't think you have to be convinced that stocks are going down. It's pretty obvious. I don't think you have to be convinced that prices are going up and that a recession, maybe worse, is underway.

So you take action. Don't panic. Don't let fear come in. Listen, if you're watching Morning Manna, you know what we're teaching. No fear. Faith over fear. Faith over fear. This is a time for faith. This is a time for your faith to grow. This is a time for you to get closer to the Lord. You're gonna need him. You're gonna need his resources he has a plan so

anyhow get in touch with Gold Co 844 960 gold true news for gold calm there's the QR code 844 960 gold it's not too late to get into this now. Because it's going to continue. It's going to continue. And it's not too late to get your retirement account rolled over into gold. You're taking a hit if you're invested in stocks. You're taking a big hit. I'm seeing a lot of headlines about the damage that has been done to people's retirement accounts in the past two weeks. Serious hits. People wondering how many years will it take for me to recover to get back to where I was at.

Well, had you moved your retirement account months ago into gold, you would be looking pretty good right now. So don't procrastinate anymore. Take that action step. Call GoldCo, 844-960-GOLD. Now, the other thing we talked earlier about getting out of debt. Pay off talked earlier about getting out of debt. Pay off your bills, get out of debt.

Don't put any more stuff on your credit card. That's the very first thing to do. To get out of debt, stop charging. Then start paying things down. But the other step that is absolutely essential, and this isn't a recommendation just for hard times, it's a recommendation for life, and that is to become a cheerful giver to the kingdom of God for the promotion of the gospel, to be a giver of offerings to God. I have done this since I've been a Christian. I became a Christian in 1978, and it's one of the first things that God

taught me. And what was going on in 1978? We were in the first, I'd say three, four years the first, I'd say three, four years of an inflation cycle. Right. And I was a young man who had my first child two years earlier. I was in my 20s, and the economy was horrible, absolutely horrible. Mortgages in the 20% range. Unemployment lines. Doc, I still have these images in my mind of driving around a corner in the city and then just a shock of seeing blocks after blocks after blocks of my fellow citizens of that community standing in line at the unemployment office.

Blocks of people standing. I still remember seeing people in line to get a block of cheese from the government. Those are memories I have. A lot of people are too young to... you've never experienced anything like this. I Never experienced a great depression. I have in my mind the stories that my grandparents told I never went through anything that bad but what I went through in the 70s and 80s was pretty severe and I became a Christian in 78 and immediately the Holy Spirit taught me to become a giver. And I had to give my way out of lack.

I gave my way. I was in a hole. I had to give my way out of lack. And I've never stopped. I've never stopped giving. I've never stopped. I've never stopped giving. I've never stopped trusting God. See, God doesn't need your money, but you need His. Yes.

God, understand this. He doesn't need your money, but you need His wealth. He's got it all, and He's willing to share it, but it's based on His system. He's not going to share it with you simply because you're laying on the floor crying and bawling and saying, I don't have any money. He's not going to respond to that. He'll have pity on you, have mercy, but he's not going to respond to that. He responds to faith. Amen.

He responds to actions based on faith. He responds to trust in him. That when you give, especially in hard times, especially when it's difficult, especially when the world around you is drying up financially, and you cheer cheerfully joyfully give an offering to the Lord for the preaching of the gospel he is pleased and the reason he's pleased is because you trust him amen so I'm challenging you to become a giver you take my word for it you you really need to do it. And if you are a giver now, I would recommend you step up. Go up to a new level. Let your faith be challenged. To

give at another level. And don't quit. Don't give up. Watch how God responds to your faith and your actions, and keep this pattern going the rest of your life. Yes, that's one of the keys, is don't let it stop. You wouldn't stop breathing. You wouldn't stop inhaling and exhaling. That's the way giving and receiving should be. Amen. It's part of life.

You give and you receive. You give and you receive. And as you keep this rhythm going, it just keeps coming to you. You give, the Lord sends back more. You give, He sends back more. And it's just a rhythm that takes you through life. And these cycles that come, they don't touch you. I mean, yeah, we're all going to adjust our lifestyle. But you know, Doc, I think we all have too much. I wouldn't complain that if we had to go back to a more simpler way of life, actually it'd probably be good for us. But you're going to have enough. You're not going to go hungry. King David said he had never

seen the righteous begging for bread. He said, I've never seen the righteous begging for bread. You'll never see the righteous today begging for food. You'll never see givers going hungry. Never. Givers don't go hungry. God is faithful to those who trust Him. And I'm challenging you, I'm encouraging you to develop a lifestyle of giving. Now we started something yesterday, and you see it right here.

These are handmade crosses. And this is an appropriate time. We didn't, actually we didn't plan this. A friend of mine made these for us. He brought over 15 or 20 of them. He gave me one, and I said, could you make some more for me? He brought over 15 or 20. And I said, I'm going to offer these to our True News audience.

And it just happened to realize, oh, this is Resurrection Week. I didn't even plan this, but the Lord did. And so we're sending these out. We're asking for an offering of $500 in support of this ministry, Faith and Values Fellowship, for the preaching of the gospel, for the teaching of the Word of God. We're reaching a lot of people with morning manna. We're going to reach a lot more this year. We're going to reach...

Oh, I've got a surprise coming. You'll know about it next week. We're going to do something big. But we're asking for a gift, an offering to God, $500 or more, and we will send you one of these crosses. If you want two, we're asking for a gift of $1,000, $1,500 for three crosses. We will send them right away. And we can have more produced. So if we run out of the 15 or 20 that we have, we'll have more made as quickly as possible and get them out to you. But this will be, and I've got, there's a

plate on it with my signature and the verse John 6.54, which is one of my favorite verses. And this will be something that you can place in your living room or in your office, and it will remind you, these spikes will remind you of the spikes that went into the hands and the feet of Jesus Christ to pay the price for your sin. And I guarantee you that when people see it in your home or your business or wherever you decide to display it, it's gonna generate conversation for you. Yes. Just casually, I mean, just, you know,

just in the office here when they first started showing up, it was like, wow, look at these. I mean, these are just wonderful. These are beautiful. And so it's a great way to be able to open the door to share the gospel, especially now that we're approaching Resurrection Week here over the next week.

So Rick, what's the best way for people to be able to give and be able to receive one of these beautiful, beautiful crosses that we see displayed here? Well, they can go to truenews.com and click donate, or they can go to faithandvalues.com and click donate. Those are go to faithandvalues.com and click donate. Those are the easiest ways online. You can also send a check or money order to True News P.O. Box 399 Vero Beach Florida 32961. Yes. P.O. Box 399, Vero Beach, Florida, 32961. My friend who made these, Jake, he told me the day after he was here in my office

and presented one to me, he was, I'm trying to think where he was at, and he had one of these crosses with him. And oh, I know he was he was he was he was in a place to have the plate engraved and a woman said oh my Where did you get that cross?

And he said I made it and she said right away. She goes I want ten He said immediately out of her mouth. She said I want ten." He said immediately out of her mouth, she said, I want ten. I have ten people I want to share these with. How can I get ten? When you see this, when you hold it, you will know that you have a handmade piece of art that represents the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of mankind. And this will be something that you will keep forever. Right. Some of you, 30 years from now, will have this in your house and you will remember the day you gave an offering house and you will remember the day you gave an offering to this ministry. You'll remember it.

Somebody will say, where did you get that cross? And you're going to say, 30 years ago there was a preacher named Rick Wiles and he offered it and I made an offering of $500. You'll have it 30 years from now. And Rick, these are handmade? They're handmade. They're not Chinese knockoffs? Nope.

Like some of these big ministries nowadays, when they offer something, they're manufactured in China. You know it's true. Well Doc, I'll tell you, when we went to Bethlehem, and this was what, 2018, we were in St. Petersburg, Russia, we flew to Tel Aviv, we went to Bethlehem, we attended the Christ at the Checkpoint conference. We were there for a week. So I went over to Jerusalem one day for a quick, I thought I'm so close, we were in Bethlehem, I thought I'm so close to Jerusalem. And back then I didn't know that Jerusalem is fake. I didn't

know that it was Hadrian's City. I thought it was Jerusalem. I didn't know that Jerusalem was down below. That's right. So you know I did the tourist thing. I went over, spent a day going to all the tourist things. Here's the Villa de la Rosa. Here's where Mary sat and knitted blankets. I mean all that stuff is there, right? None of it's true because Jerusalem is underneath the city. What's there is a city built by Hadrian, the Roman conqueror. He built it on the rubble of Jerusalem. That's why archaeologists today are drilling down inside the city of Jerusalem finding

things. You know what they're finding? Jerusalem. Jerusalem! Jerusalem finding things. You know what they're finding? Jerusalem. Jerusalem. I always wonder when I'm reading these stories, how come Jerusalem's underneath Jerusalem? Because Jesus said that's the way it's going to go down. Yeah, so anyhow, here's a story I wanted to tell you. So I was in Jerusalem, and the Jewish merchants were, you know, trying to sell me all kinds of Holy Land things.

Rick, here is the Last Supper carved in olive wood, made by a little artisan right here in Jerusalem with olive wood. Sure it was. Yeah, you know and anyhow when I went back to When I went back to and I did buy one I bought I bought something I when I went back to Bethlehem I went to a a Palestinian Artist you know who made a woodworker and and he had a cave. Yeah a literal cave. He did he told me

He said he made everything in a cave and I said I where's your cave? I said, I'd like to see your cave. He said sure come with me. He took us to it We went right to the cave. But here's the thing that he told me doc. I Said hey, I can buy this stuff over in Jerusalem a lot cheaper He goes well, yeah, it's made in China, right? I said, hey, I can buy this stuff over in Jerusalem a lot cheaper. He goes, well yeah, it's made in China. I said, what? He said, they don't make anything here. He goes, those Jewish merchants are buying these things in China.

And then he took the one that I bought, and he gave me what he had in my hand And then he put an identical one in my other hand. He goes now which one's heavier Well, I realize yes The one I bought in Jerusalem was light. Yes, and he said well How could that would be so light compared to this one because olive wood is heavy Yeah, and so they're selling there even in Jerusalem. They're selling knockoff products, right? How could that wood be so light compared to this one? Because olive wood is heavy. Yeah. And so they're selling, even in Jerusalem, they're selling knockoff products. This is made.

I know the man who makes it. And he forged this and he made it himself. And he'll make one for you. It's a piece of work. It's a piece of art. Made in America. Made in America. Made in America, made here in Vero Beach, and again, it's an offering of $500. We would greatly appreciate it, and it will help this ministry right now as we are embarking on

a major new direction. So, there's a lot of other things going on in the news doc. I don't know we're a few minutes over the time we didn't even get into the the Trump cabinet meeting. I guess maybe I'll save it for next week. I got to say this I watched the videos of the cabinet meeting and I can't think in my lifetime ever seeing a video of a full meeting of the president's cabinet. And the other thought that I had was in my lifetime, I've never seen a better cabinet. This is a superb cabinet. It is a superb cabinet. Yes. This is a superb cabinet. It is a superb cabinet. And Mr. Trump was running, basically,

a board of directors meeting. Right. And he went down one by one to every cabinet official. And each one had an announcement that, even if that one announcement stood alone, would be shocking. OK, I got to play two. I got to play two.

I want you to listen. The first one, this would be number 28. This is Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who previously ran Cantor Fitzgerald. 9-11. He's Secretary of Commerce. This is a short one. It's only 48 seconds.

In the last 15 seconds or so, he makes an announcement. Listen carefully to what he said is coming. Here it is. Howard? So, we have so many countries to talk to. It's incredible. I think Scott and I, I'm not sure we could ever have enough time in the day to talk to all these countries because they want to talk and they want to talk now. And, and they have come with offers that they never ever, ever would have come with, but for the moves that the president has made, demanding that people treat the United States with respect. We're getting the respect we deserve now.

And I think you're going to see historic deals one after the other. And then I'm very excited that within a week and a half, we're going to start with the gold card and the Trump card is coming out and we're very excited about that and that's Coming soon. So very excited What is coming in the next week and a half the gold card slash the trump card What is he talking about doc? Well, I thought the gold card was this five million dollar What is he talking about, Doc? Well, I thought the gold card was this $5 million, basically, visa.

No, that's already out. So what's coming? Something different, something new. The gold card. Now, the next one is Elon Musk. And he made a similar reference to a gold card. He starts out talking about fraud and waste and government spending, and then he switches over

talking about the gold card. Here's Elon Musk. Well, thanks to your fantastic leadership, this amazing cabinet, the very talented Doge team, I'm excited to announce that we anticipate savings in FY26 from reduction of waste and fraud by $150 billion. And some of it is just absurd. People getting unemployment insurance who haven't been born yet. I think anyone can appreciate whether they did. I mean, come on. That's just crazy. So, you know, some of these things, if you ask me, like, well, how are you going to find ways to move forward in the government? I'm like, well,

actually just go in any direction. That's how you find it. It's very common. As the military would say, talk of rich environment. So, I think we're doing a lot of good and excellent collaboration with the Cabinet to achieve these savings. And it will actually result in better services for the American people and then we're going to be spending their tax dollars in a way that is sensible and fair and good. And your people are fantastic. In fact, hopefully they'll stay around for the long haul. We'd like to keep as many as we can. They're great. Smart, sharp, right?

Finding things that nobody would have thought of. Very computer savvy. Yes. We're working with hard to get the Trump gold card operational, hopefully in the next week or so. That'll be very exciting. That's a pathway to citizenship into the United States. It's a big deal. Yep, it's a big deal. Thank you very much. Great job.

You're right. That's what it is. The Trump gold card is the pathway to citizenship. The $5 million gift to the United States government and you get a passport. Right. They're gonna call it the Trump Gold Card. Now this isn't a new idea.

Other countries have been doing it for years. Well sure. I mean, this has just been the first time that we've ever offered something at this level. A fast track to having a U.S. passport, but it requires a substantial investment in America in order to... You've got to put some skin in the game. And this doesn't even require investment. It just requires you writing a check for $5 million and giving it to the U.S. Treasury. Other countries will require an investment in a

business and hiring of people from that country. But this is a $5 million gift to the U.S. Treasury, and in return you get a passport. What it's doing is it's going to bring some very wealthy people from other countries to the USA to live here. And then they will start investing here. And in another way it places a value on US citizenship. It has a real dollar value, if you will. What is your citizenship worth? Well, it's worth at least five million dollars. Do you remember in the book of Acts the Roman

soldier Paul you know Paul played his Roman citizenship card. He said I'm a Roman citizen. And the soldier said well so am I and it cost me a lot of money. That's exactly what he said. It cost me a lot of money. How much did you pay? And Paul said, I was born with it. So the Roman soldier had to buy his Roman citizenship. Yes, and he was serving Rome. So this has been going on, Doc, for thousands of years. We live in interesting times, Rick, don't we? We do. And I'm glad the Lord allowed us to live in these times. I'm glad. Even though there's trouble going around, there's storms going around us,

God is still in the midst of all this, isn't it? He divinely scheduled your birth. Yes, no accident. You're not an accident. You were divinely scheduled to be born on the day you were born. And when we get to eternity, Rick, we'll get to sit around with all these saints that have gone before us, and they'll ask, how crazy did it get at the end? Well, let me tell you, it was crazy. It was nuts. Speaking of all these great saints,

It was crazy. It was nuts. Speaking of all these great saints, we're going to be talking about it in Morning Manna that's coming up next. We're talking, we're wrapping up our study of the 11th chapter of Hebrews, the faith hall of fame, of all the great patriarchs, the great men and women of faith that got mentioned in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. And God said, hey, these people impress me. I'm going to set aside an entire chapter in the Bible just to give them recognition. And so they are part of that great cloud of witnesses that are watching us now, watching you and me, cheering for us, saying, come on, you can do it. You can overcome every adversity.

You can achieve great things for the glory of God. Amen. So watch Morning Manna. It's coming up right now. Have a blessed weekend. Don't forget to cross, please, a love gift of $500 for the support of Faith and Values Ministry and we will get one of these to you right away. God bless you, enjoy your weekend, be at peace, and we'll see you on Monday. God bless you.

You don't have to think the world is ending tomorrow to be realistic. Serious emergencies happen to regular people all the time. For the forward-thinking family men, American Reserves serves as the ideal safeguard. As a father and husband, providing for and protecting my family is my highest priority. With strength in every pack, American Reserves combines variety and durability for any family. Waiting until it is too late will be devastating. Ensure your loved ones are cared for in any crisis by building a storehouse with American Reserves because strength comes from smart preparation. American Reserves, your ally in emergency readiness. Visit our website and become prepared today.

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Faith Friday at Morning Manor. I love Faith Friday because we talk about faith in Jesus and how we can believe in more and how we can expect him to do more and How we can expand our our faith expectancy All right a faith expectancy getting up every day Expecting god to do something in your life today So it's also Holy Communion Day. And so we will

be receiving the Lord's Supper at the end of today's Bible lesson. On Faith Friday, we focus on the topic, the subject of faith. And for I don't know how long it's been six weeks or so we've been in the 11th chapter of hebra's Yes, we we have we have 10 more verses to go. I i'm going to do my best to get through all 10 Which means i'm going to have to go at a rapid rate and just scan over these verses and pull out the most important things to know. So we have Hebrews 11 verses 30 through 40. I'm going to have Doc read it after I pray and then we will begin our study. So Father, Almighty God, our heavenly Father,

we come to you with joyful hearts, grateful hearts, with uplifted hands and uplifted hearts and uplifted voices, praising you and glorifying you for who you are. The one true, supreme, almighty God, there are no other gods in the universe. You are the only God, and you are supreme, and you are almighty. And we give you glory and honor and praise. Father, we have gathered here today, brothers and sisters, from many nations, to be taught by your Holy Spirit. And so we desire to know more about your Son Jesus and His kingdom. So we invite the Holy Spirit to take charge of this Bible lesson and illuminate our hearts and minds with knowledge of Christ and His kingdom. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Amen. And let's get right to it, shall we? If you've got your Bible, please open them up to Hebrews chapter 11. We're picking back up on verse 30 today. And for the sake of time, we're just going to jump right into here. Verse 30, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah of David also and Samuel and of the prophets who faith, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,

obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourging, jay moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed asunder, they were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted,

fermented, of whom the world was not worthy. Love that phrase. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Glory to God. What a great passage. Amen. Praise God. So we'll start with verse 30. So we'll start with verse 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith. Trust.

Belief. We go back to the first verse of Hebrews 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen So we're being told now that by faith the walls of Jericho came down It wasn't hope. It wasn't an incantation. It wasn't an earthquake. It was by faith.

Faith, the substance of things hoped for. What was, what were they hoping for when they walked around Jericho? They were hoping for the walls to come down by faith. So the walls, a fortified barrier So the walls, a fortified barrier of Jericho, a stronghold, fell down, collapsed. Not just collapsed, but collapsed miraculously. These were solid stone fortified walls that had been through many wars and always came out victoriously.

So by faith, the fortified barrier around Jericho, Jericho, the stronghold of Canaan, miraculously collapsed. It was done by faith. So this verse asserts faith's victory. Faith conquers. Faith, there is no force that can withstand faith. Nothing, nothing on earth can withstand true faith in God. Amen.

After they were compassed about seven days. The word after speaks of the completion. They were compassed about means they encircled the city obediently. Seven days, it's a divine duration. There's not human haste in it. It's the instruction God gave Joshua. It's a divine duration. Was in six days, wasn't eight days it was seven days So what we see here is Faith's patience

Waiting I love it go back a few verses in Hebrews 11 reading 11 go back a few verses in Hebrews 11 verse 13 these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers in pilgrims on the earth. Patience. Faith is patient. Romans 10 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm patient. I am patient in my faith. I am patient in my faith. Whether I live another year or another 30 years, I am patient. I shall be saved by faith. There's obedience in this verse. Joshua and his troop were obedient to the command of the Lord. Reminds us of what we learned earlier in Hebrews 11.

Excuse me. 11.8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went. Yes. Obedience. Faith is obedient. Yes. Faith... I would also say faith, faith usually, well I would say always, faith always has an instruction with it. Faith always has an instruction with it. In the case with Jericho what was the instruction? To march around the city six days not to make any noise those six days not to do a shout not to bullhorn not to do anything for six days.

But on the seventh day, and on the seventh time around Jericho on the seventh day, then they were told to shout. Yes. And so there were instructions involved in following the Lord's commands and to see the Lord's victory. And there's always an instruction the Lord gives. Sometimes he says, go here, go to this person, or pray this prayer, or do something. But there's usually always instruction.

Go dip in the river seven times. Right. It may not make sense to us, but what the Lord is doing is seeing if you will follow that instruction. That's one of the most frustrating things in business and ministry, is finding people to follow instructions. That's what God's looking for too, people who just follow the instructions. Okay, so here's in the nutshell of what Doc and I are saying. Faith and obedience together triggers miracles. Yes. You put those two together, there's a miracle. Amen. It is

going to produce something. God is going to respond in a miraculous way. Um, I've seen it in, uh, in healing of people where you'll see, you'll see a administer the gospel, God will give that person an instruction and say, say this to this sick person. Yes. Tell this sick person to do this. And it doesn't make sense on the outside, but the instruction and the obedience triggers, I mean the faith and the obedience together triggers a miracle. Why? Because obedience aligns with God. Right. And I'll give you an example. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people receive something from the Lord, whether it's a healing

or a word from the Lord, after the man of God, the preacher, said, stand or come forward. Even as they're standing, even as they're coming forward, God begins to do his work because God responds to obedience and faith together. Maybe God is speaking to some of you today, some of you that are watching or listening today. He has already given you a promise, but he's also given you an instruction too.

He's waiting for you to respond to the instructions. I wouldn't call it a test so much as it is, God loves to see people believe him. And by following the instruction, it shows that you believe in somebody. I've watched of old healing meetings, always the healing evangelists would give the sick person, the crippled per whatever, you know, infirmity they had, he would always give them an instruction. Yes. After the prayer, a prayer of faith, the word of faith, and then if the person couldn't bend over, then the preacher would say, now bend over by faith, or if they couldn't,

if they couldn't lift their arm because of pain. Now lift your arm, do the thing you could not do before the prayer. Amen. So there's always an instruction. Faith and obedience come together and they produce miracles. Obedience aligns you with God. God's timing is perfect. This was seven days. The choice of seven days was God's choice. It was a divine instruction and a divine duration.

And there was obedience to the divine instruction. And then you got divine victory. It all came together. I'm going to skip down to I'm trying to get through all 10. I've got so much here on these verses doc. Verse 31, by faith, the harlot Rahab perishished not with them that believe not, when she had received the spies with peace. Once again, by faith, we return to Hebrews 11.1. The faith is the substance of things hoped for. The harlot identifies Rahab.

She's a prostitute. This one was always kind of challenged me, doc. Like just how did a prostitute get in this story? Like, just how did a prostitute get in this story? And she acted with faith and by faith. Well, I look at my own story, Rick. I was a notorious cookie thief and arsonist. Why, why, why did God use me? Why did God, why did God save me? I believed.

I believed. And Rahab believed. So it doesn't matter what stigma is attached to your life. That's the message here. She had a stigma, social stigma. She was a harlot. She was a Canaanite outsider. But she perished not, meaning she escaped destruction.

And became part of the lineage of Christ. Think about that. That's what I'm saying. That's the part that just like, wait a minute, in Jesus' upline on the human side, there's a harlot. Yes. See, everybody, everybody in your family, everybody's got somebody there in the in the in the in the in the line that people don't talk about at the family reunions. Well Jesus and his upline on his human side. He talks about her. He talked about it. By the way, I'm on my mother's side. There was a harlot.

So she perished not, she escaped destruction. And this speaks of this affirms faith's salvation. By faith we will escape destruction on Judgment Day. We will find refuge, we will find safety, we will find divine protection, no matter what stigma the world put on you in your lifetime on this world, in this world. With them that believe not when she had received the spies with peace. Yes. With them speaking of the population of Jericho. Right.

Which means at some point they had the opportunity to believe. Yes. Yes, they made a choice. Which means at some point they had the opportunity to believe Yes Yes, they made a choice But the least likely to believe a a prostitute is the one that had faith He's like i'm i'm not i'm not i'm not hanging around here to get destroyed by the Israelites that are coming to the city. And she had this confession, Rick, I know that Jehovah has given you the land. Jehovah, your God is God in heaven above and an earth beneath.

If we can just get Christians to make that kind of confession, Rick, it'd change the world. Amen. He's given us this world. He's given us this world to take dominion over, to conquer it, to expand knowledge of Jesus Christ throughout the world. So the population-

But she had a confession of faith- She had a confession of faith. She had a confession of faith. She believed and she made her a confession of that belief, of that faith. Yes, so there was a portion of, I mean, the overwhelming, I guess you would say all of Jericho's population except Rahab did not believe.

Now, some commentators say her family too. So I've noticed that in several different commentaries. But whether it was just her or whether it was her family, faith is what saved her. Or the family was saved because of Rahab's faith. Right. But the fact of the matter is at the core of it, faith and confession is what saved her. Yes. So when was she saved? When she received. Yes. When she actively welcomed she received when she actively welcomed the Israelites, the spies, and she welcomed them with peace, not a 45. She wasn't holding a 45 in her hand.

She welcomed them with peace. hand. She welcomed them with peace. And in this verse, we see that faith transcends status. She was a harlot. Yes, that salvation defies unbelief. I perish not. We see that grace includes outsiders. We see that obedience proves faith. Yes, and James, over in the Epistle of James, James confirms this in 22.25. He says that Rahab was saved by works. He says, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. So Hebrews here says it was by faith. James says it was by works. Folks, it was both.

But what does James teach about faith and works? Faith without works is dead. Yes. So there's an obedience requirement to faith. So Rahab had faith, but she put it into action. There is, again, faith and obedience, faith and work. The two go hand in hand. I think this is where a lot of us get tripped up. We have, we have, we either have faith and we don't have any works to go with it, or we have works

and no faith. Right. You got to put the two together. When the Lord gives me an instruction in this ministry and I have the faith for it, I have to start working towards it. I have to take action right away to show the Lord I have received the instruction. I believe I have faith and my feet are moving Now I like to put it this way. If Rick told us that we were going to Mars, I'm going to start pricing rocket fuel Well, if the Lord told me that we're going to Mars, okay.

Well, if the Lord told me that we're going to Mars, okay, that's the way we have to think. If the Lord said, do it, it can be done. Verse 32, and what shall I more say? And I say, for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon and of Barak and of Sampson and of Jebphi and David also and Samuel and the prophets. Don't have enough time to talk about all these, what are you saying? And continuing, what shall I more say? It's a rhetorical pause, saying I could talk all day about others who had faith and obedience,

had faith and obedience would fail me in sufficient time to recount everything, to tell, to narrate. What the author is describing is the vastness of faith. You think about the great cloud of witnesses, which is 11 of 39, the great cloud of witnesses that are watching us right now. Who's in this great cloud

men and women of faith What are they doing they're cheering us on I Don't know what goes on and I don't know doc how do do they Do the Saints see us do they? Do they have a visual recognition of what's going on on the earth? I don't know. But I just know that… I'd like to think so, but… Me too.

They might be pretty busy worshipping Jesus Jesus too. Yes. Is there a great stadium and the world is in the world is the playing field and the seats are filled with great Saints over thousands of years and they're cheering us on. There's something going on. We don't know exactly what it is, but there's something going on where the saints are witnessing us here on earth. But whether they're sitting in a stadium or not, there are witness to faith. Yes. And so he and he lays out, you know, I

could spend all day. That's basically what the author say I could spend all day talking about this. I going through everybody to Gideon through Barack through Jeff, that's the David and Samuel. I think it's interesting. He just put those David in there. David, all the songsms, was king, you know. He said, oh, he just got tossed in. Yeah, he got tossed in. He got tossed in with Gideon and Samson and Samuel. And Samson, really, when you think of Samson's life, his life was generally a failure. And yet,

he's considered faithful because he obeyed God in the end. Think about that. In the end, the last thing he did was obey God. So with all the names, from Gideon to Samuel and David. What the message here is, faith spans generations. Yes. The second message here, and Doc has touched on it, is God uses the flawed.

Praise God, he does. Yes. Amen. So Gideon was fearful. Jephthah was not confident. Samson had the biggest ego you can imagine. And a problem with women. He was tripped up by his fascination with women. Yes, Jephthah had his own issues. David, of course, was a murderer. About the only one in that list there that you could say, yeah, he's pretty good, was Samuel.

But even he made mistakes by anointing Saul, you know, so, and allowing Saul to continue. So, I mean, you could look at it that way. But the fact of the matter is, these are all examples for us of faith. What sort of things do they do? Verse 32 tells us, 33 tells us, by faith what did they do? They subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, and goes on of course in 34. But by faith they did things. By faith they did things. By faith they did things. It wasn't just that they

believed, they did things. They obeyed. Yes. So faith spans generations. God uses flawed Victory is by trust Grace is universal And believers have a faith legacy So we're learning here That believers must trust God's scope He's got a plan so big Most of us can't comprehend it. Typically churches and religious people

are trying to narrow God's abilities and his activities. But his plan is too big for us. We also have to embrace diversity. Just because we see someone that doesn't look like us, we can't rule them out and say, well, God would never use that person. That's probably the one he's going to end up using. Typically, God chooses people for projects for which they are not qualified. Why? Well, two things.

He's going to use that work over their lifetime to do a work in them, and He's going to get all the glory because people will look at the human and say, I know this ministry is of God because that person can do it. And that that human has been chosen will always know I better stay humble because god's put me in something that I can't do on my own This is this is by faith. This is supernatural I know, you know people don't people don't believe it but i'm I am an introvert He really is folks. Standing in front of a camera is the last thing I wanna do.

It's the last thing I wanna do. There are a lot of people that just, you know, they lust for a camera. They would broadcast or stream all day long Yes Rick and I call that we used in radio we used to call it Mike disease Mounts camera disease and we're disease. Yeah, they get infected with it. Okay Now I'm okay

Talking on a microphone You know why? because in my mind I visualize i'm talking to one person you Just you not them it's a difference in a mentality But with a camera I was like, oh man, this is like every then't you start to everybody's looking at me. Okay, and you get very self conscious about it. What am I saying here? God thrust me

into something that I didn't want to do. Yes. And said, do it. Do it for me. And so I just think it's interesting that verse 32 says and said, do it. Do it for me. And so I just think it's interesting that verse 32 here, he gives a list of people of all who failed. And a couple of folks brought up to my attention here. Jephthah made a rash vow regarding his daughter. Samuel failed to discipline his sons. David, of course, committed adultery and murder. Gideon was fearful. Samson, of course, only really obeyed God in these final moments of life. But still, Paul makes them all examples of faith. Why?

Because even though they're flawed and even though they failed, they believed and obeyed. So no matter where you are right now in your life, you're watching or listening here, maybe you've messed up, maybe you've failed, whatever's happened in your life, just start believing and obeying right now. Start believing and obeying in this moment. Don't worry about the flaws and the failures of the past. You can't do anything about them anyway, but you can do something about your future.

And the Lord delights in using flawed people. Yes, he gets a kick out of it. Yes, because he makes you a better person and your obedience and your faith brings glory to him. Praise God. Start right now. Verse 33, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises and stopped the mouths of lions? He talking about that list of losers. He just numbered in the preceding verse. And these guys sound like giants.

They seduced kingdoms, they wrought righteousness, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouse of lions. Once again, through faith, faith is the substance of things hoped for. If you're stopping the mouth of a lion, what are you hoping for? That he is not hungry. You're hoping that he has lockjaw, right? You're hoping you're invited to the lion's club luncheon and you're hoping you're not the lunch meat. That's right.

That's right. But listen, if you're facing in real life, think about it. You're facing a lion face to face. Do you have the faith to shut the mouth of a lion? These are real stories. Subdued. That means they conquered and not just conquered but conquered mightily. and not just conquered but conquered mightily. Yes. When you're subdued, you're down on your face looking at dirt. Kingdoms, they subdued kingdoms, hostile powers, they wrought, that means they performed actively. Righteousness just acts. So we're seeing faith's conquest, faith's justice, all by faith. Obtain promises, stop the mouths of

lions. Obtain means to receive fully. You're in full possession of something. What did they obtain? Promises. Divine promises, divine pledges. See, God makes promises to people, but we have to obtain them. Yes. The promises, there are promises of God

surrounding you today, waiting on you to use your faith to obtain them. Yes. What is it that you need from God today? Right. He's made promises. The promises are in the word. You have to find the word of God that applies to the need that you have. And then use your faith to

obtain the promise. Stopped. Stop the mouse of lions. That means to silence. And just not regular silence, but to be silenced powerfully. Like when your mouth is stopped, that person cannot open it. When God stops a person's mouth, that's it until God says, open your mouth again. The mouth of lions represents any deadly threat. So faith has a reward.

And the people who obtain these promises are courageous. They're not fearful of the deadly threat, the roaring lion. Why? There's a promise on the other side of that lion. I'm trying to get to that promise there's a there's a deadly lion in front of me. By faith I will stop that lion's mouth. There's a wall around my promise. By faith that wall will come down. Yes. The promises are there, but you cannot obtain them without faith. Yes.

Whoo, man, Doc, this is good today. I think we need to hear that today. I know. Oh, we're working on something big. It takes a lot of faith. And I am pumped about it. I'm so excited. Faith conquers. It subdues. It conquers. Righteousness flows from faith. Promises are faith's reward, Trust produces courage. Why?

Because when you trust in God, what can hurt you? What can stop you? And when you trust in God, when you believe God, when you know his promises, when you speak his word, when you release your faith, when you act in faith, you will see faiths might empower. So we believers, we must trust God's strength. We must live justly.

We must claim the promises Okay, I guess someone's gonna call me a name it and claim it guys Call me whatever you want to call me. Just call me blessed Amen, I'm just I'm just reading the word and doing my best to interpret what this means. We will face fears. God will bring you to a place of facing your fears. The Lord just did this with me recently and Doc knows what it is and some of our team members and it's personal and I'm not going to share it.

Okay, not yet. But the Lord took me through a process over a couple years that I didn't talk about to anybody. But a week or two ago, he revealed to me why he did it. And he told me, he showed me, he said, Rick, you had a deep seated fear, and I had to make you face it See that fear is gone now, I wasn't even aware that I had the fear But the Lord brought it to the forefront

He turned up the heat on me until until the me until the fear came up to the surface and I could see it. And the moment this revelation came to me, this ministry changed overnight, which you don't know about yet, but you're going to very soon. There's a letter in the mail coming to you. You should have it by the end of next week. And when you read it, you think about what I just said to you. God isolates before he elevates. Yes. Some of you are in isolation, you don't understand it.

It's because he's going to elevate you. So just submit. Verse 34. How can we do it? Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. All in one verse. Quenched, again, extinguished, mightily, extinguished mightily, it's quenched. It's not coming back.

It's not going to simmer and the flame comes back to strength. It's quenched. It's not smoldering. It's quenched. The violence. That's fierce force. That's fierce force. Anything that's a power that's threatening to you. A fire, a deadly blaze.

Escaped. Evaded. Evaded harm. Fled to safety. The edge. The sharp blade, the edge of the sword, the lethal weapon, the sharp blade, the lethal weapon, they escaped it. Why? Because faith protects. Yes. Faith delivers. out of weakness, their human frailty, you will do things that you never thought you

were capable of doing. And you aren't capable of doing. You will accomplish things for the kingdom of God out of your weakness. Yes. Your strongest days are your weakest days. That's right. And why? So God can get the glory instead of you. Amen. They were made strong. This means to be empowered, divinely empowered.

Not just, it's not human strength, it's divine strength. Out of your weakness, you're made divinely strong. Waxed, valiant, grew courageously. When you wax valiant, it means you go from weakness to mighty strength and courage. Turn back the armies of aliens. End fight in battle. in battle. Turn to flight, routed decisively. Who? The armies, hostile forces of the aliens, foreign enemies. Do you have any foreign enemies coming against you? Those foreign enemies are the powers of hell. That's right. You can turn them to flight, meaning the demons flee. Out of your weakness, the demons are coming at you believing that you're weak, you're defeated, you can be taken, you can be subdued,

but with faith, you rise out of your weakness, you're made divinely strong, you grow courageous, and in battle, you turn the enemies to flight, meaning they run. So faith defies danger. Weakness yields to strength. Courage flows from trust. Victory is God's gift to the faithful. What a chapter. Yes. Are you with me to save for a few more? We got 35. What do you think doc? I know. Hey Let's go for it. All right I want to do it. I want to finish the chapter. Aren't you guys glad I stood up for you? Verse 35 women received their dead raised to life again. Now we're now we're getting somewhere and others were tortured not accepting deliverance

and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Now it's interesting here, we cap it with the the women receiving the dead raised to life again, and obviously referring to Elijah and Elisha and everything, but then there's a switch in this verse, and it goes all the way down to verse 38 Where up till now we've been man. Look at all these victories here. Look at all the we defeated armies But you know, we've we've obtained promises. We've gone through the fire. We've gone we've done all this Look at all these victories here women received their dead raised alive and then he starts going and others were tortured received their dead raised to life and then he starts going and others were tortured.

Yeah and then goes through all the way down to verse 38 of what appears to be failures. What appears on the outside to be failures. Sometimes death is the greatest victory. Yes. So women receive their dead raised to life again. The women are our faithful mothers. Glory, victory. Yes. They received, that means they accepted back. The divine gift. They're dead, they're loved ones, they're family, raised to life again by resurrection. What this is teaching us is that faith restores. Faith produces miracles.

But then we get to, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. Meaning, deliverance was available to them, but they turned it down. Why? That they might obtain a better resurrection? Yes. Yes. So, and others, that speaks of a distinct group. Martyrs. They willingly refused deliverance. Their deliverance meaning their temporal freedom, their human earthly freedom.

They deliberately refused it. For what purpose? That, that's the purpose. A purposeful aim that they might obtain, fully gain, fully receive a better resurrection. What does this mean, a better resurrection? Well, it starts at the beginning that mothers receive their dead, raised to life again. Yes, a resurrection. A physical death and they're brought back to life

like Lazarus. But these martyrs said, no, I'm opting for a better resurrection. I want the whole thing. I want the ultimate. I want the supreme. I'm going to opt out of deliverance of this torture and go for the big prize. A better resurrection. A better resurrection. Man, that'll be ping-ponging

through my head all day today. You know, so, Doc, there's a regular resurrection and then there's a better resurrection. And these saints chose the better resurrection. Yes. is the better resurrection. Yes. So faith restores life and faith embraces suffering. There are times that we will suffer and we will get through it with our faith. We will persevere through faith. But the main goal of faith is resurrection.

I'm not going through all this stuff that there's no prize at the end. Yes, I want the better resurrection. I'll endure this stuff, okay? I want the better resurrection. Just tell me what I gotta go through through a Lord I want the better resurrection None of us like thinking about being tortured in this life But we must have the mindset that if it's necessary

We will endure it to obtain the better resurrection. Glory to God. So, you know, when they start cutting your fingers off and popping your eyeballs out, that's when you say to yourself, I'm going for the better resurrection. Why hang around here when I don't have any eyeballs left? Verse 36, And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, more distinct group of the faithful. They had trial, they experienced testing of cruel, harsh, severe testing, mockings. Speaks of scornful taunts, scourgings, painful lashings.

So once again, the message is faith endures suffering. Faith is patient. Yay, more over a bonds than imprisonment. Yes. Yes, there even more. They even suffered trials, bondage, imprisonment, chains, bonds, chains, put on them. Jeremiah was going to say, as an example, the Old Testament there of him suffering, but delivering the word of God by faith.

I think the author of Hebrews is also making it a present day reality for his audience then or to say you probably know somebody who's in bondage right now, or who's in prison for the faith at this moment. Yes. So Jeremiah. The reality to him. Jeremiah refers to fetters. Jeremiah 37 verse 15, he was in fetters, he was in chains.

And imprisonment, confinement, involuntary confinement. confinement, involuntary confinement. So faith endures mockery. I promise you, you will not do something for God and escape mockery. I assure you, the mockers will show up. Anything you do by faith, I'm proud you can guarantee it. Anything that you do by faith, if it's in your own power doesn't make a difference anyway. You can do it by religion and the mockers will let you alone.

But do it by faith, the mockers show up. That's right. Never fails. That's how you know it's of God, really. That's how you know it's of God. Yes. Sometimes the scourgings that we receive, the painful lashes, are the verbal beatings

that are imposed upon you for obeying God. They're not hitting you with a whip cutting your flesh, but they're cutting you with their tongues. Their tongues are like daggers. I'm talking to somebody right now somebody's going through this you're being scourged by tongues. Endure it endure it by faith endure it with joy. The more joyful you are while they scourge you, the more it'll drive them crazy. Imprisonment. Satan will seek to lock you down. He'll build a Jericho wall around you. And when that happens, by faith, you've got to speak to that wall to come down. Satan will always try to confine a faithful believer.

The bolder you away from other people, because your faith is contagious. Right. One of our team members here recently, the Lord showed him his hands ripping down a prison gate at this ministry. That spoke to me, I know. There's a prison gate coming down. And we are walking out and we are going out into the sunshine and we're going to proclaim the gospel in a way we've never done in this ministry.

So faith is refined by persecution. Perceive persecution as refinement. Your father is allowing it to happen because he's refining you. Satan seeks to define you. God seeks to refine you. What I mean, Satan tries to define you. He wants to put a label on you. He wants to label you. But he's not qualified to define you. Yes. But your father's qualified to refine you. Praise God. Because he polishes that which he refines. You only refine something because it's valuable. That's right.

You only define something when you're trying to control it. That's right. So believers must trust through scorn. Believers must endure pain. Believers must be steadfast. Believers must stand firm. And when believers do those things, they will marvel at what God does. You will be delivered. You will be set free. Verse 37, they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, were slain with a sword.

They wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute, afflicted and tormented. These are the winners. This is who God said he was. By the world standard, they were losers. Right, but God says these are the winners. They were stoned. they were killed by rocks. They were sawed asunder. They were cut in half.

It's believed that Isaiah was cut in half. Can you, I can't even comprehend humans cutting a living human in half with a sword. But the prophet Isaiah was cut in half and who did it? The Jews who hated his preaching. Yeah, King Manasseh ordered it. They weren't Muslims. There were no Muslims at that time. But there were disobedient Jews who didn't want the prophets to be heard. That's right. They were tempted, meaning they were tested at an extreme level. They were slain with a sword. All right, so sword went through them, didn't cut them in half, but just went through their chest.

That's all. Yeah. Cut your heart, your organs. But there is martyrdom in faith. There is a supreme cost in faith. They wandered about. Means they roamed aimlessly. Nobody wanted them. They had no place to go. They were in sheepskins. These were not designer clothing. They were clad coarsely. Sheepskins and goatskins, very humble, poverty-stricken clothing,

destitute, lacking necessities, afflicted, oppressed heavily, tormented. Destitute. That's the interesting word there for me, destitute, abandoned by everybody, even family, destitute, total abandonment. And Yes. So faith faces death. Sacrifice proves trust. Poverty tests hope. Affliction refines faith. And so believers must trust God even through death.

Believers must endure sacrifice. Believers are called to simplicity. Believers stand for God in affliction. Let's see, verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. This is the hall of fame. Of whom? The faithful. The world.

The sinful realm of mankind. Was not. They lacked merit. Was not, of whom the world was not worthy. The world didn't deserve these people. Yes. Or they didn't deserve to be in the world. Worthy, deserving honor.

worthy, deserving honor. So they wandered, they roamed without rest in deserts, meaning barren wastelands. If you've ever gone to the Holy Land, you know what the wastelands look like. Yeah, you don't you're never too far away from wasteland and out there, are you? No, and you don't want to be wandering aimlessly with no place to rest. Just five minutes outside the city and you are in flat out desert. So they were in the deserts, they were in the mountains, the mountains being rugged heights. And the mountains there aren't covered with trees and brooks and flowers.

They're rugged. They're just rocks. They were in dens, caves. We've seen those caves. Yes. They're not condoms. So they were in dens which were hidden shelters. They were in the caves of the earth, which are the hollows inside the earth. They're all over the Middle East. What we're learning here is often faith is in exile. the middle east What we're learning here is often faith is in exile

In exile of the world because the world will not accept faith in god. Amen So if you have this overwhelming feeling you don't fit in guess what you don't fit in And be happy and be joyful about it. You don't fit in. You're too good to be in this world. And the world is too rotten to have you present. There's a clash So you do have a home and you will get it at the better resurrection That's what we're that's what we're shooting for, the better resurrection. Yes. Two more verses, verse 39.

And these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise. Yes. And these all, who is this all? The entire roster that we just talked about. All the way back to the beginning of Hebrews 11, everybody mentioned, and these all, having obtained,

having been commended. They received divine approval. Right. And having obtained... Go ahead. I'm sorry. No, go ahead. This goes back to verse 2 in chapter 11.

11-2 says, For by it the elders obtained a good report. So that's when he started this list. Now he's saying, these all obtained a good report. So that's when he started this list. Now he's saying these all obtained a good report. So everything between 11-2 and 11-39, all these guys obtained a good report. All these men and women rather. And so what is this good report? Just imagine in heaven an angel going into an archives, pulling out a folder with your name on it, and handing it to Almighty God. And he scans it with his eyes and looks up and says, that's a good report. And the only thing the

Lord is looking for in that report are these two words, by faith. By faith. By faith. By faith. By faith. By faith. And you see it repeated over and over and over and over again in Hebrews 11. By faith. That's the good report. By faith. Yes. And the Lord is scanning the pages of your good report and says, well, 10 years ago, he fell down on his face in life. But the next page, the next page says he got back up. That's by faith.

Then looking at another report. Oh, I see. Five years ago, this daughter faced a great trial in her life, she was the devil, afflicted her with disease, oh I see the next page, by faith she believed my promise. Amen. And God says it's a good report. Hallelujah. It's a good report. Hallelujah. It's a good report. You may have gotten a C in math on your report card, but you got an A in faith. That's what God is looking for.

Listen, when we get to the end of our lives, we're going to be skinned up, cut, bruised. Our uniform is tattered. It's dirty. It's bloody. We've been in battle. And those are the victors. These are the victors.

These are the victors. You know what? You have to, you have to be in a war to be a victor. Amen. These churchy people that like to sit in the stands and watch the Christian gladiators and their little uniforms are never dirty, their little fingernails never have any dirt, and they're looking at these other Christians saying, well look at them, they're covered in mud and dirt and blood. Their uniform is ripped up. What kind of Christians are these? They're victorious. They're victorious.

And these are the ones that will ones that get the good report. You can't have a good report without having good victory. Fight the good fight of faith. The only good fight is the one that you win. Amen. If you don't win, it's not a good fight. Fight the good fight of faith. So they received not, they did not obtain the promise. What's the promise? The Messiah. What's the promise? The Messiah. The better resurrection. Yes. These are believers who died before Christ came to earth. They did not obtain the promise of

the Messiah, yet they suffered and endured and went to their graves without seeing the Messiah. But they believed. Yes. And they got a good report. And even though they did not receive their promise, verse 40 says, why did they not receive the promise? Here's why. God hath providing some better thing for us to give us the opportunity to be included in this list by faith. Amen. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us

should not be made perfect. In other words, we're all in this together by faith. Amen. So Almighty God, God having provided some better thing for us, God, the sovereign planner. some better thing for us. God, the sovereign planner. God, the sovereign planner made a plan for you and me to receive something better. Having provided, he foreseen, he foresaw a deliberate foreseeing, some better thing, something better, a superior gift for us. Who is the us?

All new covenant believers. Over 2,000 years, we are all in the covenant. Who's the us all new covenant believers? Over 2000 years we are all in the for us From the time of the resurrection Until the second coming of christ every human that believes on the name of jesus christ and is saved is for us Amen, you're in that group for us. We get an upgrade. We, this is faith's upgrade. Praise God. I like that.

Hey, you know, I like it when I go to a hotel and the reservation clerk says, Mr. Wiles, we're going to upgrade your room for you. Really? Or I go to a hotel or I go to an airline and they say, we're going to upgrade you. That's a better resurrection right there. Oh, yeah. So I like it when God says we're going to upgrade you. That, without us, apart from us, should not divinely withheld, be made perfect, complete it fully in Christ. Praise God. Hallelujah. A better resurrection. So God's plan for. He is the better thing.

Yes. Well, Doc, we did it. We finished. We finished Hebrews 11. It was a good journey, wasn't it? Amen. Yes, it was. This is a great lesson today, Rick. I hope people got something really good out of it today. The reason why we've been teaching here on Faith Fridays, is we've got some big things that are happening in this ministry. You've been faithful partners to us through all these years,

but we're doing some bigger things now. I am taking... We're looking for a better resurrection now. I am taking the biggest step of faith in this ministry since I started 20... actually 27 years ago. I started 20 actually 27 years ago. The the true news programs 26 years old, but the ministry is 27 years old. I am taking the biggest step of faith.

That I've taken since I started 27 years ago. And what did I do 27 years ago? I was director of marketing of the world's biggest religious television network, a TVN. I was the senior marketing man for the entire network. And God said, come follow me. Yes, you could have stayed. You could have stayed and there wouldn't been any problem. There wouldn't have been any issue.

You would have done a great job. I had a fantastic job. It was the best job I've ever had in my life. But God said, resign your job and come follow me. And I told Dr. Paul Crouch, I was going to resign and preach the gospel. What is he going to say? Doc, if somebody here on the staff came to me and said, Rick, I'm going to resign my job and go preach the gospel, what am I going to say?

Go do it. Go do it. Blessings. Okay. So I resigned and I walked out the door and I remember Doc standing in the parking lot of the TBN headquarters, this big majestic building in Irving, Texas along 183, looked like the White House. And I was standing in the parking lot next to my car, and I looked up at my second floor office, and I said goodbye. And I got in the car and drove away, and I never looked back.

And I had been on this journey of faith for 27 years, and it's taken me around the world. I've ever taken, bigger than what I did in 1998. So there's a letter coming to you. I know that this group is going to be excited. I know it. I know it. I don't know how others will receive it, but this group, this group, the morning manna will receive it.

Yeah, you're like the Gideon 300 here. Amen. Amen. We got rid of all the dead weight. We got the Gideon 300 here. Amen. Praise God. All right. Hey, let's go to the Lord's Supper and celebrate the better resurrection. Yes, better resurrection. Absolutely. And so while you get the elements of the Lord's table together here, either red wine and grape juice and bread, of course, we're going to ask for the Lord's table together here, either red wine and grape juice and bread, of course. We're going to

ask for the Lord's blessing on that before we do. You know, the theme today has been, by faith, by faith, a better resurrection. And even those that didn't receive the full import of the promises still saw the promises and lived and some died for it. And that may be required to some of us in this day to both live and die for faith. And the Bible says whatsoever is not of God as sin. And that means a lot of times when we're operating in our own ways, our own flesh, our own decisions,

we're not operating in the area of faith. Yeah, I think an appropriate prayer today, Rick, based on the lesson today, is, Lord, this is my approach today. Lord, I repent of those times where I did not operate in faith, where instead I operated in the flesh, we're in fear. And I want to operate in the faith atmosphere. I've lived my life, you know, in the past, in the fear atmosphere. I know what that's like. I'm ready to go to outer space now. I want to be in the faith atmosphere from here on out. And so my personal prayer and approach today is, Lord, from here on out. And so my personal prayer and approach today is,

Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. Yes. Let me believe for more, for more, for that better resurrection today. So would you pray for us before we enter the Lord's table that he would search our hearts and help us believe big for him? Amen.

Father, Father, we pray in the name of Jesus. Father, we ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, our minds, show us where doubt and unbelief reside. And help us chase it out so that only faith resides in us. Build our faith, Father. Strengthen us that we would see great exploits done in the name of Jesus. Father, forgive us of times that we have operated

in unbelief, in human wisdom instead of divine wisdom. Father, strengthen us so that in the days ahead, our lives produce a good report in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. A good report. Obtain that good report. Glory to God. Show your report card to the Father. Praise God. That's going to hang with me today, Rick. Well, if you have the elements of the Lord's Table, we're going to ask the Lord's blessing on it this time. And the Lord commanded us to remember His suffering, remember His sacrifice. How do we do that? We do this by our regular observance of the

Lord's table. We don't take it casually. We take it seriously every single time. We don't this isn't something that we just simply do to check off on a list to say that we've done. We approach it as worship. We approach it as honoring the Lord and believing for that that better report that better resurrection, which the Lord has promised about. So if you'll pray with me, a blessing on the elements of the Lord's table. Almighty God, in your tender mercy, you gave your only begotten son, Jesus Christ,

to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption. He offered himself and made once for all time a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. And he instituted this remembrance of his passion and death, which he commanded us to continue until he comes again. So Father, we ask you to bless and sanctify with your Word and Holy Spirit these gifts of bread and wine that we may partake of his most blessed body and blood. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed once for all upon the cross. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Hallelujah. On the night that he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, gave it to his disciples saying take eat this is my

body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me glory to God hallelujah the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was given for you preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. This is the bread of heaven, take and eat in remembrance that Christ died for you. After supper Jesus took the cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying, drink this all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it do this in remembrance of me glory to god hallelujah thank you jesus the blood of our lord jesus christ which was shed for you

preserve your body and soul to everlasting life drink the cup of salvation and remembrance that christ blood was shed for you and be thankful. Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who has taken away the sins of the world, and blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. This sacrament is the gift of God for the people of God. Feed on him by faith for thanksgiving that Christ died for you. Amen. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Thank you Jesus Lord. What a great lesson today Lord. What a great time of worship at the

Lord's table. I you know I'm grateful to be a part of this ministry and particularly being a part of Morning Manna, I've learned so much, I get blessed so much. And I know from the people that are here on a regular basis, Rick, we get feedback from them that they are thoroughly blessed the teaching that we've been presented here. And it just, I'm honored that God said, you know what? I can use Doc Burkhart, I can use Rick Wiles to teach my people about faith. And it is increasing my own faith to believe God for the better resurrection.

So that's a personal testimony today. If he can use Doc and me, he can use anybody. Yup. Alright. So speaking as a former cookie thief and arsonist, praise God. Praise God he redeems. Glory to God. That's right. Hey Doc, I want to remind everybody, if you didn't see this yesterday on True News, okay,

I'm gonna hold this up. Okay, let me get a position here. This is a cross. My good friend, let's try to get this someplace here. My good friend Jake, who's a blacksmith, made this for me. And it's made out of spikes. And I thought, what a unique idea. Spikes that were in the hand and feet of Jesus.

And now they formed a cross. And so I said, Jake, could you make some more of these? So he brought a, I wanna say 15, maybe 20. I have, they're over here in my office. I gotta go count them. And we're asking for a faith donation, a faith offering, a $500 for this ministry of the Word. And we will send this to you in support for your appreciation for your gift of $500. There you go. Our resurrection day gift to you. And like I said, we've got 15 or 20

here right now. But I asked Jake, can you make more? And he said, Yes. If you need them, I'll get them manufactured. He does them. They're all by hand. There's a plate, a copper plate, and it's just my signature and John 6 54, which is one of my favorite verses. And so I'm asking you to sow a offering to God for $500 here at resurrection week into this ministry. If the 15 or 20 go, we will keep Jake busy making more of these spike crosses. It'll be a delight to him. He would love to do it. Now, these aren't some lightweight things. I mean, they're heavy.

You can see I'm trying to... These are iron spikes. Real iron spikes, not some plastic vaccine layer or something like that. And it comes apart. Okay. So when we ship it, it's going to come in two pieces. But there's a lot of weight to this. And you see the plate. But we will get this to you right away. And these spikes will remind you

of the pain and suffering Christ endured by faith so that you would obtain the better resurrection. Now does this stuff make more sense after we just studied these scriptures today? By faith he endured the cross so that you can obtain the promise of a better resurrection. Amen. I'm already you something else. We, you know, Doc and I, we use these communion cups.

We have morning manna communion cups being produced. We'll have them to you sometime here in the Holy Land, olive wood communion cup boxes. And it has the Morning Man logo on it, what you see behind us. It's going to be etched into the olive wood. They're being handmade in the Holy Land for us and probably will be a couple months until they're here. But I just want you to know we are excited about morning manna. And this by faith, this teaching ministry is about to blow up and get big by faith. God is going to open the doors for this teaching ministry. He wants

the Word to be taught. It's the good news. And we are expecting great things to happen in this ministry in 2025. Okay, so just let you know things that we're working on They're coming your way. But right now we've got the spike crosses And it would be a big blessing to us If you would make an offering to God of five hundred hours so that morning Nana Would be fed to millions of people Amen right now. We're feeding to thousands, but my confession of faith is that morning manna is fed to millions. So why don't you join us and sow into this ministry that we would

expand our reach. Right. The easiest way for you to obtain, because I had a couple people ask, the easiest way for you to obtain one of these beautiful crosses that Rick has talked about, if you want to do it immediately with your gift of $500, go to TrueNews.com. That's the quickest and fastest way right now. And there'll be a place right there on the site for you to be able to make your gift to $500 and you'll receive that beautiful spike cross that Rick has shown you here. That's the quickest and fastest way.

Of course, you can always write us at either Trinity News or Faith and Values, Peel Box 399, Vero Beach, Florida, 34961. That's Peel box 399, Beale Beach, Florida, 34961. That's the correct address. Yes, and Dr. Leslie is asking what are the tariffs that we're paying? That's interesting, you said that

because the day after I placed the order for the communion boxes, Mr. Trump imposed a 20 percent tariff. Which I guess now is back down to 10. Yes, yeah, went down to 10. But there's a possibility we may be exempt because it's a religious product coming to a religious organization. We might have an exemption. Anyway, those boxes are going to be a beautiful thing to have.

Right now, the spike crosses, especially with Resurrection Sunday coming up soon. What a day to forever remember the resurrection and be able to present that this is a gift that'll outlive you. Yes. Well, Doc, we gotta go. We gotta let everybody go. We stayed longer than normal.

Thank you so much. Amen. God bless you. Enjoy the weekend. Spend time with your father. And set aside time to be alone with Him and let Him speak to you. In Jesus' name, God bless you.

See you later. See you on Monday for Morning Manna. God bless you.