TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Letitia James Accused of Mortgage Fraud

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

The prosecutor who tried to bankrupt and imprison President Trump is now facing serious allegations of her own. Federal investigators are reviewing claims that New York Attorney General Letitia James committed mortgage fraud to secure favorable terms on multiple properties—allegedly misrepresenting her primary residence, falsifying occupancy status, and even listing her father as a “husband” to qualify for loans. We walk through the documents, the timeline, and the explosive referral letter now in the hands of the Trump Justice Department. Plus, the IRS begins a major shake-up, the Pentagon reels from internal leaks, and 22,000 IRS workers line up to resign under Trump’s aggressive downsizing push. And later—chaos erupts at a Marjorie Taylor Greene town hall, the DOJ sues Maine over transgender sports, and Senator Van Hollen flies to El Salvador to recover a deported man ICE says was sent back “by mistake.” The tide is turning—politically, financially, and globally—and today’s headlines prove it.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 4/16/25Join 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

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who tried to imprison President Donald Trump for loan fraud, has been accused of the same crime. Federal prosecutors are looking into allegations that she committed fraud in obtaining a mortgage for a house. This is true news for Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Let's begin our news and commentary and analysis with this New York Post article. Trump administration refers New York Attorney General Letitia James for potential prosecution over alleged mortgage fraud. Doc Burkhart, Doc what I yeah I've said for years whatever they accuse you of doing, whatever they call

you, whatever name, that's what they are, that's what they're doing. That's right Rick in this story when you first told me about that's what they are, that's what they're doing. That's right, Rick. In this story, when you first told me about it, I thought the irony of the situation here. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who you see pictured there, who infamously declared that no one is above the law when she was targeting Donald Trump, was hit with a federal criminal referral for instances of alleged mortgage fraud on Tuesday, according to a letter obtained by the New York Post. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Poulty sent the missive to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche alleging that James had falsified records to get home loans for a property in Virginia that she claimed was her principal residence in 2023,

while still serving as the New York State prosecutor. Now, that occurred in late August of 2023, weeks before James began her civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization for overinflating the values of many of its properties, which ended in a $454 million judgment. Ms. James was the sitting Attorney General of New York and is required by law to have her primary residence in the state of New York, even though her mortgage applications

list her intent to have the Norfolk, Virginia property as her primary home, the letter stated. the Norfolk, Virginia property as her primary home, the letter stated. Now, it appears Ms. James' property and mortgage-related misrepresentations may have continued to her recent 2023 Norfolk, Virginia property purchase in order to secure a lower interest rate and more favorable loan terms. Doc, at the very time that she was going in front of news cameras getting worldwide coverage Accusing Donald Trump of a commercial loan Scheme yes Which was absolutely bogus at the very same time she herself was Allegedly committing mortgage fraud.

Yes, and that wasn't the only instance that's been uncovered here. It appears that in February of 2001, James also purchased a five-family dwelling in Brooklyn, but has consistently misrepresented the same property as having only four units in both building permit applications and numerous mortgage documents and applications. Let me think this through. So she purchased a residential building that she said had five apartments. Well, it had five. It had five apartments. She said it only had four.

But on documents she said it had four apartments. Was there a commercial advantage to saying it had four? Probably. There was probably a lower tax rate. You only have four dwellings instead of five. The valuation of the property was probably less. And so you needed a lower mortgage. But there was another aspect to this purchase

that is sending up red flags. Mr. Pulte attached several documents also showing that James purchased another property with her father as a co-signer, okay, which is okay, but falsely listed the pair as husband and wife in both 1983 and in the year 2000. She listed her father as her husband. Yes. I mean obviously she knows who her father is and who her husband, right? Right. It's really difficult to get those two confused. Yes. Now Mr. Pulte said, well this was a long time ago. It raises serious concerns about the

validity of Miss James's representations on mortgage applications," he wrote. It just tells me she's been cheating and lying for a long time. Lied her way all the way to the Attorney General's office. This is amazing. Did she not think that the Trump administration, well, you know what, she was convinced he was going to get to prison. That's what they thought.

She couldn't believe that he won. And then appointed attorney general that would go after her. Oh, only a few of my audience would be old enough to remember. Most of you won't even know who I'm talking about. But what I can hear in my mind is Gleason saying how sweet it is. You know that Donald Trump is saying, oh, how sweet it is. She got caught in mortgage fraud.

Genuine mortgage fraud. Genuine mortgage fraud. Not alleged mortgage fraud, like they tried to pin on Donald Trump on his various properties. Now according to the legal followings reported, James granted power of attorney to Shemece Thompson-Harriston, a relative, to sign an August 2023 document authorizing the purchase of that first property that we were talking about. She had secured a $218,000 mortgage to do so. According to Mr. Polty, loans secured for the latter property

could have reduced her mortgage interest rate by as much as 1%, and of course, over a 30-year term, that's tens of thousands of dollars, and had lower monthly payments under the federal home affordable modification program since it was listed having just four units. If it would add five it wouldn't have qualified. Ms. James, for both properties listed above, appears to have falsified records in order to meet certain lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms, he told Bondi and Blanche.

That could amount to criminal charges against Ms. James, including wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, and false statements to a financial institution. Rick, if we tried to pull something like that off, you can guarantee someone would find out and go after us. But somehow she's been able to go under the radar on this. Well, Doc, I know you've been in numerous closings, real estate closings.

Sure. And you read the fine print when you're getting ready to sign that mortgage. Even before you sign the mortgage, when you're doing the the loan application, it says under penalty of law, I hereby swear that everything in this document is the truth. If you lie in the loan application they can put you in prison. It's a federal offense. It's not a local offense, it's federal because the banks are regulated by the federal government.

And they've got federal charge of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, false statements to a financial institution. They could lock her up for 20, 30 years. Now here in Florida, and both of us, Rick, we've done mortgages here in Florida, we have to, you know, we can't take advantage of Florida homestead laws if we have a primary residence in some other state.

That's right. Okay? If we say this is our primary residence, it has to be our primary residence. If we don't, that's falsification of record. Just that alone gets you in big trouble. People need to understand when you are submitting a loan application, if you falsify anything in that application, you could be prosecuted. Your federal law. Your income, you know, outstanding debts, whatever the questions are, anything that you put in that

loan application, it better be the truth. And so here we have, in black and white, they have the documents. This isn't like rumors, they have the documents. You know, I don't know Mr. Pulte, but I'm wondering if he's from the Pulte family that is the big homebuilders. Oh yes, I hadn't thought about that. I just connected the name. Yeah, he's running the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

I wouldn't be surprised. I bet he is. He would know what the law was, wouldn't he? You better believe he would know. And he is the one who referred this to Attorney General Pam Bondi Wow so you have You have the F H F a director Giving a criminal referral to the Attorney General of the United States

That's serious doc. Yes, Leticia James is going to be I Think there's going to be an investigation. There's going to be a grand jury indictment. There's going to be a trial. And if she's convicted, there's going to be imprisonment. And the woman who tried to put Donald Trump in prison for a commercial loan fraud scam which was totally bogus. Even the German bank testified at the trial and said he paid back everything.

We didn't lose any money. Right. The banks had no problem with Donald Trump. Not at all. Loved Donald Trump. Yes. The same woman herself may end up in a federal prison. You can't make this stuff up. And Mr. Pulte is the grandson of the founder of Pulte Homes. Is that who it is? Okay. It is. All right. That's a big company. Law professor Jonathan, well hey, let's put the mortgage document up on screen. This is number four. That's just one of them. This is the one where her daddy signed with her. Her hubby. Yeah. Her daddy, husband, whatever it is that you want to call him. And she did this twice, not once, but twice, 1983 and 2001.

But there there is no statute of libertations on falsifying documents. And so well, how far back did she go on Donald Trump? She was going back years and years. Okay, so Professor Jonathan Turley, I was on Fox News with Laurie Ingram. He had some comments about the allegations. Let's watch. Obviously, the irony is perfectly crushing. This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a

mattress. And among the charges that were brought in New York in not just the civil but the criminal case was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions. And one of these sections, section 1014 of the federal code, is prosecuted. It took me about 60 seconds of a search to find cases that the Department of Justice brought against people who falsely claimed that property was their principal residence in order to get loans. So this is well-tread areas for the Justice Department. As for James, if we apply the Letitia James standard that she created, there'd be little

question here. This seems pretty straightforward. What the administration is saying is this was not her principal residence. In fact, as a New York elected official, she had to say that her principal residence was in New York. This was an out-of-state residence. But also they claimed that in some of these forms,

she actually states that her father is her husband in order to file as a married couple. So there's a lot of those questions and as you know the Supreme Court just stated earlier in March in a case called Thompson that they want to see knowing false statements under sections like 1014 not just misleading statements. These are misleading statements. Either it's your principal residence or it's not. Either you're married to your father or he's your father. So they can get a, this can satisfy the Thompson standard. And I understand that there can be times where mistakes are made on mortgage applications.

That's what you have, you know, escrow for, and mortgage agents for and everything. But this wasn't a case of just an honest mistake. She knowingly did these things. Knowingly did them. And she's a lawyer. And one's above the law. And lawyers are supposed to know the law.

I mean they have to pass the bar exam. February 16, 2024, this is what New York Attorney General Letitia James proudly told the news media. Let's watch. It's important that attorneys general representing our respective states stand up and enforce the rule of law. The president of these United States is not above the law. And neither is Letitia James. Right. I wonder what she's gonna look like in a prison uniform, making license plates. You know, she just shouldn't mess with Donald Trump.

That's true. What did she think was going to happen? Well, again, she thought she was going to put him in prison. Yes, they thought they had that in the back. None of these... They thought they had it done. None of these crooked Democrats ever imagined he could escape. But what I told you last year, you know, if you shoot a bear and wound it... You better make sure it's dead.

Yeah. Yeah. And all you did was make that bear angry. And now the bear is looking for you. And Donald Trump is going to, one by one, just watch, he's gonna pick them off one by one. This is gonna go on for the next four years, one by one. He's gonna take them down.

While we're talking about that, let's talk about the IRS. Look at all this story, Doc. Wow. What a redemption story this is. I mean, it really, really is. Oh, you see that man there in the photograph? There's two of them there. They were the IRS whistleblowers. The guy you see in front there, he's, well there's two of them there, they were the IRS whistleblowers.

The guy you see in front there, he's Gary Shapley. And he was punished by the IRS for refusing to cover up the Hunter Biden laptop which revealed tax scandals. Yes. He refused to cover it up and he was punished. Guess what they call him today? Commissioner. He's running the IRS.

That's right. He is the new IRS commissioner. President Trump named Gary Shapley the IRS criminal investigator who criticized the government for its handling of 100 Biden's tax filings. Named him the tax agency's acting commissioner, according to a memo viewed by the Wall Street Journal. Now, Mr. Shapley is the eternal revenue services fourth leader in less than four months

as the Trump administration rapidly shrinks the agency. Back during the Biden administration, Shapley rose to prominence as the IRS supervisory criminal agent who came forward to Congress and contended that the Justice Department had slow-walked its tax investigation into Hunter Biden. And I remember when they had the testimony of Mr. Shapley and his associates, the media ran those guys up and down the rail, Rick.

They did. And now he's leading the IRS. On the same day that Letitia James is under investigation, so if you're a crooked Democrat and- Are there any others? Rick, sorry. Your worst nightmare is that the new director of the IRS not only is a trained criminal investigator, that in itself would send chills down the spine of any corrupt Democrat.

But on top of that, it's somebody you tried to take down. Guess who this guy is going to start looking at? The Bidens. And the rest of the whole gang. Yes. He's running the IRS and his specialty is investigating tax fraud. Tax fraud. Yes.

Oh my. My, my, my. This is going to be an interesting four years. Yes. Also, the IRS is getting smaller. New York Times. Doc, yesterday we all had to pay our taxes. Yes. And today we're rejoicing. Hey, 20,000 people at the IRS have offered to resign. Yes. Hallelujah. Don't let the door hit you. On the way out. That's right. About 20,000, 22,000 employees at the Internal Revenue Service have signed up for the Trump administration's latest resignation offer, that's according to four people familiar with the matter, in an exodus that could weaken the agency's ability

to collect taxes. OK. The IRS had about 100,000 employees before President Trump took office. Roughly 5,000 have resigned on their own since January. And there's been an additional 7,000 probationary employees that were laid off, although those are being contested in court, but

You have these 22,000 here that have accepted the resignation offer now if those layoffs take effect From before the agency would be on track to lose a third of its workforce This year. Okay before you get too excited. I Suspect mr. Trump's Mr. Trump is going to hire new people, not 22,000, but they're going to hire pro-business friendly people to fill the positions at the IRS. In particular, people who are, who are skilled in using AI. Yes. AI will do the tax examinations. So don't get too excited.

Yes, doesn't mean that they're not gonna collect taxes. Oh, they're gonna increase tax collection. Probably, I hate to say it, probably be even better collection efforts than before. They're going, that's where I'm going, Doc, they're going to be more efficient. They just don't need as many people to be more efficient. To be more efficient, you need less people, and you need AI. And AI is going to go through tax forms. Now, the IRS and I have not gotten along real well through the years, Rick. But about a year ago, I had to call the IRS on a matter.

And I'm telling you the truth when I say this. When I called, they said, your approximate wait time is five hours and 14 minutes. Are you serious? Five hours? And I said, well, I'm not, you know, I'm not standing on the phone. I just sent them a letter. That's all they do to me. They send me a letter.

But that shows you how inefficient that they were a year ago. And even when you do get in touch with them, it's amazing. You'll call two different representatives at the IRS and get two different opinions on the very same matter. Doc, several months ago when Elon Musk was in the forefront of the news with Doge, there was a story that when I first heard of it, that this can't be real, this cannot be real, the year is 2025.

And he was in a conversation with somebody in Washington about, see they were trying to, you know, reduce the size of the government bureaucracy, and he was saying, why does it take so long to get these people retired? And somebody said, oh, because of the cave. The cave, what was the cave? He said, what does a cave have to do with this? And they said, all of the paperwork. Oh yes, I know what you're talking about now.

All the paperwork for the retirement of government officials is done in a cave. Yes, in a former salt mine up in Pennsylvania. Yes. It's done all on paper. On paper. On paper. You have humans sitting in a cave.

Ten stories below the ground. And they said it takes 20 minutes for the elevator to go from the top floor to the bottom floor. And so I remember this now. Elon Musk said the speed of processing of retirement of government employees is based on the speed of the elevator and assault mine in rural Pennsylvania. Yes.

Although this can't be real. This just absolutely can't be real, but it is real. And you think, how can our government be functioning like this in the year 2025? Well, because a lot of these people in government, government employees, and there's good government employees, okay, so I'm not saying everybody's bad. But let's face it, a lot of these jobs that were given

were to lackeys and to friends and everything else, even within the IRS. I mean, once you're a government employee, Rick, I mean, you've got government health insurance, you've got government pension, you've got government health insurance. You've got government pension. You've got all the, even the folks that have chosen to take Donald Trump's retirement plan are getting a big parachute package on the way out.

But Doc, I can accept the idea of government workers in a cave. Say under the administration of Harry Truman. Yes. But not in 2025. 2025. Yeah. And you know, people would joke around when I was a kid, well, time to hit the salt mines. Well, I guess there were some people that were actually working in the salt mines.

They really are doing it. Alright, next story, CBS News. salt mines, well, I guess there were some people that were actually working in the salt mines. They really are doing it. All right, next story, CBS News. Two Defense Department officials, including senior advisor to Pete Hegseth, put on leave amid leak investigation, more than put on leave, escorted out of the Pentagon. Yes. So the Pentagon has put two, now this is CBS reporting this. Two defense officials on administrative leave pending an investigation into an unauthorized disclosure, officials confirmed to CBS.

According to an official, Dan Caldwell, a senior advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was escorted from the Pentagon on Tuesday. This was his senior advisor, Rick. Two Defense Department officials also reported that Darren Sinek, the Pentagon's deputy chief of staff, that's pretty high ranking there, was also suspended as part of the same probe. Hague's chief of staff, Joe Casper,

issued a memo at the end of March directing the Pentagon to conduct an investigation into unauthorized disclosures and even to use lie detector tests if necessary. A source familiar with Caldwell says he is accused of sharing classified documents with reporters, alluding to that, you know, dust-up here a few weeks ago. Caldwell previously worked at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank. He also worked at Concerned Veterans for America,

an organization that Hagseth actually led at one time. And Caldwell also served in the Marine Corps as a veteran of the Iraq War. But I will say this about Caldwell, so I did some digging into him yesterday, Rick. He also was not a big fan of Israel. Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because that could be playing a role here. There were Israeli war hawks in Congress who were very upset that Mr. Caldwell got that position

in the Pentagon because he is not anti-Israel, he's just not an Israel zombie. And he actually uses his brain to think. So you could suspect, and I don't know if this is it, you could suspect that the Israel lobby wanted this guy out. However, the other thing that he could be involved in, and it doesn't say it in this article, do you remember the story about Elon Musk going to the Pentagon for a top secret meeting? Yes.

I think this may end up that these guys were the ones that leaked it to the press. I hadn't even thought about that one. I just timed him with that, you know, the phone call here a few weeks ago. No, no, no. I don't think that's it. I think it's that Elon Musk was going to the Pentagon to be briefed on war with China. And I think these guys said, we cannot allow Elon Musk in this meeting.

And they spilled beans on it they told the press what was they leaked it right and I think yeah yeah so again the article doesn't say it but that's what my hunch is we'll wait a few days and see if that's the reason New York Times Trump administration memo proposes cutting State Department funding by half including NATO and the United Nations Yes The Trump administration could cut nearly 50% of the State Department's funding next fiscal year according to an internal memo laying out a downsizing plan being given serious consideration by department leaders

According to two US officials the plan was drawn up as the White House pressures agencies to make significant budget cuts. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by the New York Times, proposes, listen to this ladies and gentlemen, eliminating almost all funding for international organizations like the United Nations and NATO. Wait a minute, I gotta sit down, Doc. Vapors, Rick? I gotta sit down, Doc. Vapors, Rick. I'm getting weak up here.

Ending the budget for supporting international peacekeeping operations, how many of those were you involved in? And curtailing all the department's educational and cultural exchanges, including the Fulbright program. It also proposes cutting funding for humanitarian assistance and global health programs by more than 50 percent despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio's pledges that life-saving assistance would be preserved. Well, you can still do life-saving assistance just because you're cutting out all the waste and boondoggles that they've been doing.

You could actually do more life-saving assistance. That's right. So, I think this is a fresh perspective on it, Rick. If this is real... Half the State Department budget. If this is real, eliminating all funding for United Nations and NATO? Yes. If this is true, then Mr. Witkoff has negotiated a permanent peace treaty between the United States and Russia.

Something I predicted months ago could happen, and that Donald Trump would say, we're not at war with Russia. We have a peace agreement. We don't need to be a NATO anymore. All right. If that's the case, Rick, if we've gone that far with Witkoff in the negotiations, do you think that in those negotiations they are establishing an alternative to the United Nations?

Yes, yes. And Russia is going to participate in it. I think you're right, Rick. I really do. They're going to end the United Nations. And you've said that for years. At some point in time they are going to set up another United Nations. Yes, with its headquarters in Jerusalem. Yes. That's the downside of this thing. Hey, the good side is you're going to get rid of the United Nations. The bad thing is they're going to give you a new one and the headquarters are going to be in Jerusalem. And there's going to be a global temple for all the religions of the world.

The Trumple. What else we got? Oh, so we had Republicans in Congress who are holding their town hall meetings, and I notice that our congressman here, Doc, you know who I'm talking about, that man I ran against, he's holding town hall meetings at very odd times, like 440 in the afternoon. It's like they're doing their best to make it difficult for average folks to get there. But anyhow, Marjorie Taylor Greene had her town hall meeting at the Atworth Community Center in the state of Georgia. This happened last night. And disruptions broke out immediately after the Congresswoman took stage.

We have, I think, at least six people were escorted out. Here's the first one. Now this one of the people that were initially actually tased. You have to be doing a lot to get tased. Accidentally tased? No, not at all. Yeah, I see. So, and you see the response of the crowd there as well. You know these events now are you know are the prime targets of Democrat

activists and everything and so just to disrupt things I applaud Marjorie Taylor Green for continuing to do the town hall. Here's another incident here taking somebody else out who was disrupting the event. And I think we have another video here here in just a few moments where you get another view of that first tazing incident there. So I'm glad to see that the police are responding to these interruptions and disruptions. I believe in freedom of speech, Rick, absolute freedom of speech, but I don't believe in, you know, in the ability to disrupt, you know, meetings and things like that. Because you deny other people the right to speak.

The right to speak. So that's exactly what right. But this is the new policy the Democrats cause commotion disruption at meetings. They're not interested about talking, discussing anything. It's about breaking up the meeting, intimidating Republicans, getting news video, social media video. That's it's only about disruption. Yes. ABC News, Trump Department of Justice filed civil suit against state of Maine in standoff over

transgender athletes in women's sport. Yes, taking aggressive action against the state of Maine the Justice Department filed a suit against Maine to challenge the state's policy regarding transgender athletes competing in girls and women's sports. The lawsuit alleges Maine's policy violates Title IX and stems from a broader effort by the Trump administration to spotlight an issue they see as politically damaging for Democrats. Earlier today, or maybe late yesterday, they announced this in a press briefing at the Department of Justice.

Here's Attorney General Pam Bondi. Today, the Department of Justice is announcing a civil lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education. The state of Maine is discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women's sports. Pretty basic stuff. This is a violation of Title IX. The Department of Justice will not sit by when women are discriminated against in sports.

This is about sports. This is also about these young women's personal safety. I met many of these women throughout the past weeks and months, and what they have been through is horrific. I can't believe adults don't know. They do know. Come on, Daphne. I know that.

They do know. They do know. This is all deliberate actions to dismantle civilization. Yes. You know, in Great Britain yesterday or today, the British Supreme Court actually defined what is a woman. And they got it right. I'm shocked. Yeah, they can't do this transgender stuff right now in Great Britain.

I'm shocked too, Doc, but the British Supreme Court defined a woman as a biological female. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who is wepey-eyed over an MS-13 gang member that was living illegally in the state of Maryland and got picked up by ICE and deported to El Salvador's famous prison, and he's just so broken by it that today he flew to El Salvador to beg the El Salvador president to please release this man and bring him back to the state of Maryland so he can live illegally in the senator state of Maryland. What's wrong with these people? I just don't get it, Rick. But once again, they're doing it on purpose.

Of course. So, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen headed to El Salvador earlier today in an attempt to secure the release of Kilmar Obrego Garcia. This is NBC News saying this, who was mistakenly deported last month to a notorious prison in the Central American country. He wasn't mistakenly deported. They did it on purpose. That's right. The Democratic Senator from Maryland said he hopes to enter the notorious prison where Abrego Garcia is being held and check on his well-being.

Immigration Customs Enforcement officials detained Abrego Garcia back on March 12th near Ikea in College Park, Maryland as he headed to pick up his kids. Vega Garcia was sent to the prison in El Salvador and I said the deportation was an administrative error. Van Hollen said he would like to meet with El Salvador President Bukele or other high-ranking officials. He's requested those meetings and a visit with Garcia and is working with the embassy, but no appointments have been confirmed. So as he landed and arrived in El Salvador

and being transported to maybe the embassy or wherever he was headed to, he decided to take to social media and- Of course. Do a little announcement there about his plans there. Watch this. I just landed at the airport in San Salvador a little announcement there about his plans there. Watch this. I just landed at the airport in San Salvador a little while ago. I'm now en route into the city, looking forward to meeting with the team from the American

Embassy. And I do want to thank our Foreign Service officers and the whole team at this embassy and embassies around the world for all the good work they do on behalf of our country. I'm proud to co-chair the bipartisan Foreign Service Caucus that stands up for the men and women who are serving our country overseas and at home in the State Department. After that I hope to meet with some high-level government officials from El Salvador. As I've said before, the goal of my visit is to talk to people here about the release of Kilmar Agrego Garcia. I told his wife

and his family I would do everything possible to bring him home and we're going to keep working at this until we're successful. I also hope to have the chance to meet with him, but we'll have a better idea if that works out a little later on. Now, remind you, he was in the country illegally. Yes. He was violating US law. And at one point in time,

his wife actually filed charges against him for domestic abuse too. He's maybe not the nicest guy in the world, but depending on what outlet you're listening to, he's a Maryland man who was abducted. On his way to the PTA meeting. Yes, picking up his kids from school right in the Ikea parking lot. That's right. And then going over to Little League, is the ideal father. Why is Senator Van Hollen, I guess he's appealing to the illegal immigrant voter base.

He better hurry then. Yeah, because they're being deported. But why? Why are they? Why are they defending these guys? Doc, it's the strangest thing I've ever seen. To me, the only thing is, I can only think of two things. You're mentally ill, or you are a traitor to this country and you are deliberately working

with foreign powers to bring down this country by flooding it with criminals. Yes. Pick one. You're crazy? Oh, I mean, what other options do you have? Because it's so bizarre. It's interesting that he'll go to the mat for this guy, but when you had a young lady, Rachel Moran, who was attacked and killed in the state of Maryland.

By an illegal. Where was Van Hollen then? By an illegal immigrant. He never called the mother, he never went to the funeral. But neither did any Democrat, for that matter. No, they are the illegal, look the Democrats are a criminal gang. They really are, Doc. They defend criminals. They are criminals.

They have affinity with criminals because they are criminals. Doc, I'm not rolling out possibility that Donald Trump declares martial law and declares the Democratic Party a criminal outfit. We're going to see some really extreme actions taken to clean up the country. If you go back in time, just try to imagine Democrats from decades ago defending illegal immigrants who are members of violent gangs. Yes. I mean you just you can't even imagine that. It's unthinkable. It is absolutely unthinkable. Here is Rachel Moran. She's the mother. It's Rachel Moran's mother who appeared on Fox News with

Sean Hannity talking about Maryland Senator Von Holland's visit to El Salvador today to beg for the release of an MS-13 gang member. What are your thoughts on your senator going to bat for this illegal but did he ever say anything to you and your family about your loss ever call you ever take the time to be with you no actually i'm very angry at actually outraged but i'm too sad at the moment to show anger at the same time he did not call our family.

He did not give condolences. There was no action on the Democratic Party in any way, from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, my orcas, anyone here in Maryland, none of the senators, did anything to help search for the murderer of my daughter. Well, thank goodness not everyone from Maryland is at callous, Rick. That's true. But I left Maryland a long time ago. You know why? Because it was becoming leftist. I saw it decades ago. It's like, this is not the state I grew up in You know by the time I was a young adult you could see the the direction the state that bad even then it was you could

Tell there's no future here. It's going leftward and You know it's so far left now. I don't even recognize the state a Friend of mine I was talking to a friend today who lives in Texas, and he said, Rick, have you seen the videos of Del Rio, Texas, before and after videos? I said, what are you talking about? He goes, videos of Del Rio, Texas

during the Biden administration and Del Rio during the Trump administration. Here you see 2023 and 2025, the same spots in the river, the same place. Look at this. Biden, Trump, Biden, Trump, same bridge. That is amazing. Biden? This is like an eye exam. Biden? Tell me, how many illegals do you see? None. Left or right? Which one? Biden? Trump? And all it takes is it was a decision by one person that was Donald Trump. Yes. That was it They said enough of this madness

Not only are we gonna lock down the border, but we're gonna round up the tens of millions that came in I heard I was listening to Fox Business News today driving in Maria Bartiroma. She was talking to Congressman Comer, and she brought up the Chinese nationals in the country. And the number that he quoted was 150,000 young Chinese men of fighting age. 150,000. And he said, we don't know where they're at.

Well, Doc, that's a small army. 150,000, at least 150,000. And imagine if they're all spread out all over the U.S., and on one day each one decides to do some sort of disruptive activity of any kind. There'd be total chaos in the nation. Precisely. We've got to find these people and get them out of here. And Donald Trump knows that because war with China is coming.

And he knows that Biden allowed a Chinese Trojan horse to enter our country. Biden is a traitor. And I don't say that lightly. Biden's a traitor. And I don't say that lightly, Biden's a traitor. He was bought off, he was paid for by the Chinese. Probably half of his cabinet were bought off because they did things that defy logic, like bringing in tens of millions of illegals. When El Salvador's President Bukele was at the White House, there was a hot mic moment where President Trump was heard telling the El Salvador president,

you need to build five more prisons. Well, what's that mean? We're gonna send a lot of people to you. And he also said home-growns are next. Home-growns. Home-grown what Doc? Potatoes? What's he talking about here? He's talking about home-grown criminals here in the U.S. President Trump says his administration is actively exploring a proposal to detain US citizens. Could that be Letitia James? It could be any one they decide. Can you imagine Letitia James sent to El Salvador? Incredible. And to send them to prisons in El Salvador. Now so just moments before the press briefing that you see here, President Trump spoke to President Bukele,

thought they were off mic, but obviously someone picked this up. And so this is from the White House. This is that hot mic moment where he talks about those home groans. Listen to this, watch. You love it? Well, no, I'm not as important.

I want to get five more places. Homegrowns are next. Well, that's because we're going into market day. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places.

We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places.

We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more places. We're going to need five more enough. You're going to need five more places. Homegrowns are next. Well, that's because we're going into martial law. I'm going to stand on this. I'm convinced of a doc.

I think he knew it before he was elected, that the only way to clean up this mess would be the strongest actions possible. And I just think this is where we're going. And some of these judges are going to end up in El Salvador. Some of the Biden family members, Fauci may end up there. You think it's impossible? No, I don't think it's impossible at all. I'm just gonna keep quiet and I think I'm gonna go into a puppet ministry. It's a good time to have a puppet ministry. Did you read your letter folks? Read your letter, okay. I sent you a letter. Sent you an email. Freight waves. Here's a publication I've never read before, Doc.

I was just going to say to you. What were you doing last night, Rick? I was just reading freight waves. Freight waves. Stayed up late reading it. Imports from China now face tariffs of 245%. Remember the other day when Kevin O'Leary said let's go 400%. We're getting there now. Imported goods from China to the US could be hit with tariffs as high as 245%. The White House has said the administration released a fact sheet late Tuesday detailing an executive order to review any national security risks posed by relying on foreign imports of rare earth minerals. Quote from the article there, China now

faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the US due to its retaliatory actions. This includes a 125% reciprocal tariff, a 20% tariff to address the Fitton crisis, and Section 301 tariffs on specific goods between 7 1⁄2 and 100%. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt had this to say with a statement from President Trump on these latest tariffs on China.

Watch this. The president has made his position on China quite clear, although I do have an additional statement that he just shared with me in the Oval Office. The ball is in China's court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don't have to make a deal with them. There's no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger. And China wants what we have, what every country wants what we have, the American consumer. Or to put it another way, they need our money.

So the president again has made it quite clear that he's open to a deal with China, but China needs to make a deal with the United States of America. I wish I was as smart as her when I was 27. Yes. I mean she's handled herself very well and she has the press. She's like an Australian sheepdog with the press. She just rounds them up, divides them up. so he's in control so straight times and this this is not a this is no newspaper for straight men this is the streets the Straits Times in Singapore US led world order that allowed Singapore to thrive is fraying says Prime Minister Wong. The United States and China claim that they do not wish to force countries to choose sides, but in

reality each seeks to draw others into its own orbit, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wang. The rivalry is already shaping the world and will define geopolitics for years. the Prime Minister told an audience of about 900 people at the annual Rajartanam lecture on April 16. We've got a video. Now, Doc, is this video, is this one from the speech or the one earlier? There was also, I think it's the one I gave you earlier. I think it's the one you gave me earlier.

Yes, so this video you're going to see is not from this speech. It's from a few days earlier. But basically he's saying the same things. Let's watch. We have known for some time that the world is in flux. The familiar signposts are fading, but the contours of the new global system have yet to take shape. So we are in a period of transition. Uncertain, unsettled and increasingly unstable. The recent Liberation Day tariff announcements by the US confirms this stark reality. The era of rules-based globalization and free trade is over.

This marks a profound turning point. We are entering a new phase in global affairs, one that is more arbitrary, protectionist, and dangerous. Now, from his speech earlier, it was actually April 16th, it's still April 16th here, so earlier today, he did have some remarks. He said, we're in the midst of a messy transition globally to what nobody can tell. He noted that the US is stepping back from its traditional role as the guarantor of order

and the world's policeman. But he also noted that neither China nor any other country is willing or able to fill that vacuum. And what this means is these changes mean that the post-World War II rules-based international order that Singapore thrived in for the past 60 years, one shaped and underwritten by American leadership, is fraying, according to Prime Minister Wang,

the conditions that sustained it no longer hold. The changes have already created great uncertainty for businesses everywhere. Now he added that the US and China are entering a full-blown trade war and the deterioration of trade ties will accelerate the decoupling or the divorce of those two economies.

What we are witnessing is the remaking of the global economy not as one integrated system but as increasingly bifurcated ecosystems centered around America and China. So basically what he's saying Rick is you're gonna see two opposing world orders out there. Yes, well I've heard that, Doc. Yes, seems like someone I know. Here at True News, we've been saying for years, two world orders. Two systems. There may be three.

Yes. Europe is gonna try its best to be the third leg, but it's definitely gonna be a Western world order with the United States and an Asian with China. Doc, when we were at World Economic Forum in Davos, I sat in a small meeting, maybe 100 people in the room, and the former prime minister, at that time he was the prime minister, he was the current prime minister at the time I was there. Let me see if I get his name right. Lee Haseon Long, that's the best I can do, Lee Haseon Young, Hong? Long, Long.

He was the prime minister and he spoke spoke. I've got to tell you, I was highly impressed by him. Very reasonable man, knowledgeable, well-spoken. I thought, wow, you know, Singapore is quite a city-state. If this is who they're producing as their leader, I was just impressed. That's all I'm going to say. He was a very impressive person. And he's the one that really guided, for about 20 years, the economic growth of Singapore. And so he was, you know, well-versed in that. If I, I think he's part of a kind of a dynasty family.

Yes, his father was was prime minister four times. Yes. 2006, 11, 15, and 2020. So it was 2020, that's when I saw him. But very impressive. If you've never been to Singapore, it's like visiting another planet. And it is so clean. In fact, I mean, anti-littering, you don't want to drop even a piece of chewing gum. You will be arrested. You will be arrested if you put chewing gum on the sidewalk.

And even in the economically challenged portions of the city, which are very few, by the way, even in those, the streets are absolutely clean. There's no homeless people out on the street. There's no trash on the streets. I mean, really a beautiful city. But you know what? The reason why Singapore grew as much as it did is because it took advantage of this quote,

rules-based world order that's been operating here for at least 40 to 70 years, depending on your definition of it. And now this is gonna be a new challenge for Singapore. And they're caught between the US and China. But they live really close to China. Right. So they're feeling the heat.

They wanna be with us in the West, but they're looking over their shoulders saying, you know, it's not that far to China where the Navy is based. So this is what's happening worldwide. Nations are being pressured to take two sides. Let's take a look at what's going on with the tariffs, the impact that it's having on the economy. South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, TikTok shops, say that three times, TikTok shops, TikTok shop sales in the U.S. plunge as Trump's tariffs hit Chinese imports. That's right. Sales on TikTok's e-commerce platform in the U.S. have begun to decline.

That's according to estimates by data tracking platforms and merchants. As those new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Chinese products start to take a toll on cross-border trade. So what sort of impact are we talking about? Well, this will give you an idea here. This is week to week.

Look at these numbers. For one week. Yes. So gross merchandise volume on the TikTok shop amounted to about $200 million last week. That's a drop from $250 million the previous week. And this is after the U.S. first announced those reciprocal tariffs on Chinese imports. And that's information provided by Echo Tech, a third-party website tracking those sales. Doc, did you ever imagine that in America, TikTok shop was selling $250 million worth of stuff per week.

And that's not even the high. They had the last week of March was nearly 300 million. I didn't know they were making, they were moving that kind of money on TikTok. Well, no wonder Kevin O'Leary wants to buy it. Yes. Well, the sales are down. Not only with TikTok, but another South China Morning Post, China's container bookings plunge

60%. Ouch. I'll let you read this one. So container shipping traffic is plummeting along Trans-Pacific sea routes. The US chair policies have cast a shadow over global trade forcing shipping companies to cancel voyages on short notice due to a lack of demand. Cargo bookings for the next three weeks

are reported to be down 30 to 60%. Wow, that's incredible numbers. And 10 to 20% in the rest of Asia. That's according to market intelligence firm, Linerica. Sky-high US duties effectively make it impossible for many Chinese exporters to sell to America. Factories in Southeast Asia have reportedly received a surge in orders since the tear pause was announced last week with US clients desperate to stock up during the 90-day window.

The article goes on to say, all US importers getting cargo from anywhere but China are sure to fast-track volume in the next three months to get their peak season goods through customs before the July 9th deadline, C intelligence said. And so, right now we have that 90 day window that's in place where Donald Trump has basically paused the the big tariffs on countries around the world. And so what are retailers doing? They're stocking up because who knows what's going to happen

at the end of those 90 days. And what are they stocking up for? They're stocking up for fall and winter merchandise if they can get it. Yes. If they can get it. At what point does Donald Trump just put an embargo and say, I don't care what the tariffs are, nothing from China is coming in. Right. Well let's have the Gold Co. financial report. Guess what I'm going to show you? Yep, headlines about gold. Yes.

Here's Reuters. Gold zooms past $3,300 as investors seek shelter from tariff war. Yes. USA Today newspaper, Gold climbs to record $33.17 as historic surge fuels escalating safe haven demand. And right now it sits at 3352. That's where it is right now, 3352? Yes sir. We're headed, we're going to, this is my prediction on Gold Co, we're going to be at 4000 this

summer. I think we will be 4500 by December if the economy if everything continues in this path Will be will be moving towards 5,000 going into 2026 a Stunning what's happening here? So what do you what should you do? A stunning what's happening here. So what do you what should you do? What should you do right now? What would be a smart investment? Would it be Stocking up on things made in China

Or would it be buying gold? Gold is a really wise investment right now, and it's going to be that way for quite some time. The world is in a significant transformation. Folks, this is like once in a lifetime. It's not kind of stuff that every generation sees. This is like, I say once in a lifetime, like once in a saculum, like once in a hundred years, you might see something this big taking place in the world. So be aware of the scope, the size, the significance of the changes that are taking place and make wise decisions with your money. The three

wisest things you can do is get out of debt, invest in gold and silver, and give generously, liberally to ministries that are preaching the gospel. Those are the three wisest things you can do. So give GoldCo a call 844-960-GOLD. TrueNews4Gold.com. 844-960-GOLD. If you're waiting to see where gold is going. Just watch every day. Just watch every day. We'll be saying it's up at 4,000, 4,100, 4,200. Okay, if you sit there long enough, you're gonna miss it. You're gonna miss it. It's happening right now. It's in motion. Hey, Doc, things are going so well for President Trump, he is giving up on the oil we've been stealing from Syria. I guess we have so much coming to us right now from legitimate sources that we don't need to steal Syria's oil anymore. Well, that's one way to look at it.

I'm thinking that they're getting ready for some sort of action against Iran, just in case, and pulling troops that might be in danger in the area. It's possible. Well, this is an Arab newspaper that says US Army begins evacuating from the oil bases in eastern Syria. Yes. Now, Al-Arabi News says Koneco, but it's the Koneco base.

Koneco as in the oil company base. A few days ago, the US Army began an evacuation operation for the base of the Conoco field in the countryside of Deir Ezzar in eastern Syria, where two columns left the base during the last period in a move aimed at a complete withdrawal from it. Informed sources close to the Syrian Defense Forces confirmed on Tuesday that the first convoy left the base 10 days ago and included a convoy of more than 70 vehicles between heavy equipment and tankers. And the source added that yesterday evening more than 200 vehicles left the base, explaining that the observation balloon that

was used to monitor the perimeter of the base has not flown over for more than a week, noting that departing forces headed to Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. And so this is a significant policy change, because in President Trump's first administration, he put those troops there. He's the one that put them there in the first place.

And they've maintained that position there. Doc, why do you need to... Protecting the oil fields. See, there's been a change in his attitude. We don't have to steal oil. We can cut deals with countries and just take 50% of their resources. Yes. You know, they may come back and say to Syria, 50% we'll drill all your oil, we'll pump

it out, we'll refine it, we'll give you 50%. And don't you think it's interesting, Rick, that they're pulling out of Syria after this change of leadership, as if to give a stamp of approval to this former terrorist leading the country? The Al-Qaeda government, yes. 23andMe, the DNA analysis company. You mean the sham out there. Yeah, they went bankrupt. And now guess what?

The DNA of 15 million customers in the United States, the DNA is available for sale at a bankruptcy auction block. Yes. That's hard to comprehend, isn't it, Rick? What judge put DNA on the oxygen block? It's really unthinkable. But anybody with the money can buy the DNA of 15 million Americans.

And guess who wants it? China. China wants it. And so now this has been the center of attention of Senator Bill Cassidy. And Senator now this has been the center of attention of Senator Bill Cassidy. And Senator Cassidy has been warning that China could obtain American genetic data through 23andMe sale. He has raised concerns in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bissett about the potential for genetic data from over 15 million 23andMe customers to fall into the hands of China and other foreign adversaries

during the company's sale and bankruptcy proceedings. We have a copy of the letter that he sent to Secretary Bessent, talking about safeguarding sensitive consumer data being a primary security goal for national security. It goes on in the letter to express that the recent bankruptcy filing by 23andMe raises questions about potential buyers of its genetic database that contains the information of approximately 15 million customers. Chinese companies have already taken steps to collect genetic data across the world that could be used for adverse purposes and these adversaries may seek to acquire 23andMe's database and potentially use it against Americans. So this is a big deal. It really is.

What could China do with your DNA? Make a DNA-specific biological weapon that kills 15 million people? Yes. By the way, there are other countries in the world, too, that would be interested in that genetic data, as well, that are more advanced than China in doing that sort of work. That's right.

OK, so Doc, I haven't ended the program for weeks with a happy animal video. Let me set this up. So my understanding is that this is in India, and the man that's in the river, or the creek, whatever they want to call it there, is a former caretaker who had left and not been there for quite some time but he returned and I don't know if it's over years or what but he called to

the elephants he used to tend to and watch what happens. Here's the video. Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Nice, you're able! Nice, you're able! Come on! come on! Come on, keep going! Keep going!

Whoa! Whoa! Come on! No! Boy 3! That's just amazing. Isn't that a happy video? That is. And you want to have a happy elephant. That's right. You want an angry elephant.

That has a long memory and remembers you. You were nice to him. You were a nice caretaker. I like watching these videos. I'm just burned out on news, folks. I'm just completely burned out on world news. And all I want to talk about is Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, and I want people to know Jesus Christ.

And that's the direction I'm going in. I encourage you to read the letter. It's in the mail. You should have received an email today, and it describes where we are going as a ministry. So far, the response that has come in so far has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Thank you so much. Amen. A big relief.

A few people upset and disappointed, but that's okay. I get it. Okay. We're going in different directions, and that's okay if you don't want to go in the direction that I'm going. But we're making a change. And probably Friday's program, I'll just probably spend Friday talking about it, and not do a lot of news Friday, but just talk about the direction that we're going in.

Want to remind you about the Resurrection Cross offer. A lot of you have already given a generous gift of $500. You are giving a gift for the preaching of the gospel, for the teaching of the Word, and I am so grateful for your support. And now our supply had disappeared right away, so we have more being made. But get in line, go ahead and give your gift, and we're ordering these as fast as the orders come in. So I don't know how many weeks, but it's going to take several weeks to make all these crosses

that have come in. But we quickly depleted the original supply that we had. But that's a good thing because so many of you are giving and we do need the funds right now as we make this transition. And the Lord is responding. He's verifying, He's confirming you made the right decision, Rick. Keep going. Keep going. The people are with you. Don't worry about negative critics.

Just follow the voice of the Lord. The Lord said, feed my lambs. Feed my lambs. And that's what we're going to do. Folks, the world is changing. It's changing rapidly. I feel very confident the Lord has told me I completed my mission that I started 26 years ago, and He has a new mission. And this isn't anything other than the commander saying, I got a new assignment for you.

Right. In the news we're talking about the launch of a new world order. Yes. But in the spiritual realm it's a new heavenly order. Amen. Amen. So we appreciate your gifts. You can go to truenews.com or faithandvalues.com. You'll see that banner that you're looking at right now. Just click it. It'll take you to the page to request your cross. And it's made with spikes, and it reminds us of the spikes that went into the feet and hands of our Lord and Savior as we celebrate

His crucifixion and resurrection this week. So it is a timely gift. And we didn't expect it. Our friend Jake, the blacksmith who showed up with him just a few weeks ago, and I thought, wow, here it is. We're coming up on Resurrection Day, and what a beautiful gift to offer to our friends and our supporters, our brethren. So make your request and go to truenews.com or faithandvalues.com. And also, Doc, for tomorrow night, Thursday night, I'm going to postpone our prayer meeting one more time. And the reason is I want everybody to digest the letter or the email, and then the following week in our prayer meeting we'll have a lot of discussion about the direction that we're going in.

So we're not going to have the prayer meeting tomorrow night, but it will resume the following Thursday because listen, the prayers that we've been doing every Thursday night, they've been having an effect. Yes. God is leading us. He's directing us. Yes. He's doing things.

So many things have happened here. I don't even talk about everything that's happening, but He's giving us direction and confirming and a lot has happened. I will tell you, going back to last summer, summer of 24, and just a series of things, kind of like dominoes falling, where the Lord was just putting things in place, one thing led to another. And He's been confirming and leading us all along. But we'll talk about it the following Thursday on our prayer meeting. Okay for now we got to go. Yes So let's say goodbye. All right. Well, goodbye everyone. We'll see you on the next edition of true news. God bless you

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Prepare now, secure clean water for your family. Visit americanreserves.com and take advantage of this limited time BOGO deal. That's americanreserves.com, your trusted source for emergency preparedness. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna. Today is Wednesday and we are delighted

to have you with us. Whatever method you're using to access us, we invite you to join us in real time at 8 a.m. Eastern at faithandvalues.com and interact, communicate with hundreds of other saints around the world who gather here every day at 8 to 9 a.m. Eastern time, faithandvalues.com. We are in the 11th chapter of the book of Romans. Today we will study verses 7 through 12. Let's pray. Father,

Almighty God, thank you, Father, for another day of life. We are alive, we are saved, we are blessed, save. We are blessed and we glorify You, Father. Father, we are also hungry, hungry for Your Word, hungry to know about Your Son and His Kingdom. Come, Holy Spirit, teach us today, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. If you've got your Bibles, then you should have your Bibles, open up to Romans chapter 11. We're going to pick back up on verse 7 today. We're reading verses 7-12. We welcome you no matter where you are in the world. We've got people checking in from Russia, the Philippines, Japan,

and all over the continental US and Canada, of course, all of our friends in Canada. We do call you friends in Canada. This is a tariff-free zone, Bible study, and so you don't have to worry about it, Canada. Verses seven through 12 is what we're focusing on today. I'm reading from the King James. Verse seven, what then?

Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Verse 8, according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day. And David saith, let their table be made a snare and a trap, and stumbling block and a recompense under them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back always." Verse 11, I say then have they stumbled

that they should fall. God forbid but rather through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles or to provoke them to jealousy. In our last verse today, verse 12, now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. And this is going to be a great passage today. This is going to probably answer a lot of questions in people's minds today, Rick. Yes.

Verse 7, what then Israel has not obtained that which he seeketh for? Excuse me, I'm going to sneeze. I thought so. Don't tease us like that. What then? What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. So now we have a... We've got the stark...

This question, this what then, and Paul draws this stark conclusion and he says, Israel, now he refers to it as in a singular he but Israel the people have not obtained what they're seeking for but the election received it and the rest were hardened the rest were blinded This failure echoes what we read, I guess was it, no, a couple of days ago, Romans 10, verse 21, disobedient and contrary people, gainsaying people, contrary. that this represents a national stumbling, not necessarily every individual rejected God, but corporately, the people of Israel stumbled. They stumbled over Christ, the cornerstone. Instead of building their lives on the cornerstone,

they stumbled over him. So Paul is, in these verses, he's implying to the church in Rome that there's great peril in self-reliance. Yes. That you could be blinded, spiritually blinded by God. And God doing it. And God did it. Now this is a tough thing for people to really accept and understand, and that God is doing this. God is doing the blinding. And some translations might say hardened. That might be a more proper translation. But whether it's hardened or whether it's blinded, God's doing it.

Does that mess up people's theology? Some people would. Does that mess up people's theology? Some people would. Yes. I know people who absolutely will not even listen to you discuss it. That's how hard their hearts are. You even try to discuss this verse and they reveal the hardness of their heart. Yes. I've had reactions where people I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that. That's not the God I serve. That's not the Jesus I know. I don't want to hear it. I've seen that I've heard it. See, if you continue if you continue to harden your heart in situations. Harden your heart against God dealing with you about things.

You risk doing it so much and becoming so defiant that God may seal you in that hardness. That's tough, that's hard. That's hard teaching there, Rick. It is, and that he may seal you there for a season, it could be decades, it could be permanent for life. It could be whatever time period he decides, you need to be in this situation. You put yourself there. Right. So I'm just gonna, you went in that room

of hard heartedness, stubbornness, I locked the door on you. Ooh, yes, that's a great image of that, Rick. Just think about that room, a room that has a sign on it says, hard hearted, stubborn, rebellious. The individual by choice goes into that room, stays in that room. The Holy Spirit says, come out of that room. No, this is my room. Then one day the Holy Spirit said, well, then I'm just going and lock you in. That's right. Who put yourself there? It's by choice. And so what Paul's

teaching here is about the Jews. They put themselves in this place by choice. And they were hard-hearted, they were stubborn, they were rebellious, they were contrary to the Lord. And so they reached a point where many of them were locked in the room by the Lord. Right. But the election hath obtained it. That's right. The election, the faithful few, the remnant, the 7,000 who did not bow their knee to Baal. need of bail. God always has a remnant and he preserves them. And the remnant is humble. It's one of the traits of the remnant, the humility, the humbleness before the Lord. And it's ironic that many times the rebellious against God will accuse the remnant of being haughty.

Yeah. That's true, Rick. Yes. But they don't understand. They can't deal with their own rebellion. Yes. And what drives them crazy is the remnant Christians brokenness, humility before the Lord. It's as if the rebellious know inside that they're not among the elect. Yes.

Maybe they don't express it, maybe they don't live it out, but deep inside they know they've fallen short. They have not received the election of God. And their stubbornness, the rebellion won't let them humble themselves. the rebellion won't let them humble themselves. You know, Rick, I don't guess people really understand how difficult it is to change the heart of a man, a man or a woman. It's a miracle any of us are saved. It's a miracle any of us have come to know the Lord, because Paul says in Romans, all have sinned and come short the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. There's none righteous, no not one, and yet God has an elect,

and that elect has responded to repentance and to faith, and they've now been made chosen of God. Yes. Donka, in my own case, I don't know what I did right. I didn't know right. I knew wrong, but I didn't even know it was wrong. Yeah. And if I did know it was wrong, I didn't care. Right.

And so the only things that I did right was not resist the dealings of the Holy Spirit with my life. I didn't resist. It started with the dream. You know, he, well, no, actually, it started, started with the voice. You know, I told you about the voice. I'm hearing my name called. And then later came the dream. And it was about the end of the age, he gave me a dream about an underground, I guess it

was a part of a military base, it was a highway underground, I saw hybrid soldiers. That frightened me so bad that I went to church, hoping that somebody at that church could help me understand what I saw in that dream. But I was also going to New Agers. Because Alvin Toffler was my mentor at that time and he was taking me to the Future Society and they were telling me, you know, about the voice, oh, you're on the edge of a new

consciousness. You're evolving, Rick. Then you discovered that the new consciousness with just the old consciousness rehashed. That's right. And, and so I was seeking explanation from two groups of people who I both considered spiritual new agers and Christians, I was lost. But I was seeking I was trying to find out what is this? What? Where does voice come from? What's this dream about? But I

didn't do anything right, other than I didn't resist. I could have just said, that's crazy. This stuff's crazy. I don't want anything to do with it. Give me another hit. But because I didn't resist, the Lord was able to continue working with me." See, it's that stubborn, hard-headed, rebellious spirit that God can't work with. And even though Paul is talking about Israel here, and we talk about covenant people,

it applies to everybody, whether you're Jew or Greek or something in between. Everybody's heart is hardened. And the more you rebel against God, the more God hardens your heart and blinds you. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy in your own life. But thank God there's an elect, and that elect has responded to the gift of grace out there. And as so many of you today that are here with us live, you said yes.

And even that yes was prompted by the spirit of God. It's an amazing thing to think about, Rick. Doc, I know a man, personally know the man, I've known him for years. He does not believe in Jesus Christ. He'll tell you there's a God, but he doesn't believe there's a Savior. He doesn't believe there's a Son of God. He studies religions. He participates in, you know, kind of new age type of, oh, it's probably a blend of Scientology and Christian science and, you know, it's a blend of stuff. He's probably a priest in one of these things. I know you're talking about the man is in his late 70s. He has hardened

his heart against Jesus. He's he's at any day could leave this world. You can't talk to him. You absolutely cannot talk to him about Jesus. He knows better. He knows more than anyone else. Okay. He's lost. He's lost. And there'll be a day if he doesn't change, he'll be lost forever. Stubbornness, rebellion, hard-headed, hard-headed, what I would call blockhead, like stubborn blockheaded, not going to listen to anything. Okay. Do you know anybody like that? This is what we're talking about here.

Where the Jewish people hardened their hearts, hardened their minds, hardened their spirits and said, I am not going to believe in Jesus. Yes. And they also said, we're not going to obey the God of Abraham. We'll have our religion, we'll have Judaism, we'll do it our way. We're not doing it his way. Because Judaism is not the way of Abraham, it's not the way of Moses. Absolutely not. It's the way of rabbis. That's right. Judaism is an invented religion. Yet they've stiffened their hearts. They've stiffened their necks. They've stiffened their

necks and hardened their hearts and just gritted their teeth and not going to submit. That's right. But they're Gentiles like that. That's right. There are a lot of them all over the world. Yeah, so we can't exclusively condemn the Jews in this, or Israel in this. We're all in the same boat. We're humans. But there is an elect. God always has a saved remnant. He always preserves a holy people who are living amid unbelief and rebellion and stubbornness. And his grace sustains them. Yes. Even through crisis.

I don't wanna get into the news thing, but there we're headed into some very turbulent times. God will sustain the remnant. Life may not be the way you want it to be, but you will be alive. Praise God. Paul said the rest were blinded. Well, how were they blinded? The word blinded means hardened. It means their eyes were darkened. By God. By God. Why?

Their refusal to obey the gospel. It's a judicial decision. The judge said, I sentence you to spiritual blindness. Whom he wills, he hardens. You're not going to hear that at Joe Osteen's church. So the church, the Christian church is warned to be cautious against arrogance, to see that hardening is God's strategy. It's not a final rejection, but it is imposed by God because of the hardness of the hearts of the people.

He doesn't harden the hearts of sinners just for the sake of saying, hey, I'm God, watch me do this to you. Right. No, he's trying to save sinners. But again, when there's a time and only God knows that you can't, when none of us are capable of, of recommending to God, Hey, I think this is a time you should do this. We don't know where that's so far above our level, but there's a time for some people where God says, I'm done dealing with you.

I'm gonna lock the door, you're gonna stay in that room until I let you out. What a tragic day that is. Yes. He may lock some people in sickness, in pain, until they finally surrender their hard-hearted stubborn wills. You say, well, I can't believe that. Well, read Deuteronomy 28. Yes. The hardening is the last effort God employs to lead a person to salvation.

Right. And yet at the same time, God uses that hardening, God uses it as a witness of His power, His mercy, and his grace. And Paul explains that further along in the passage here and that even this hardening, even this blindness that's on the people of Israel stands as a witness to God's sovereignty, power and grace. Yes, the rejection advances his plan. Yes. His plan just keeps marching forward. You think your rebellion is going to stop my plan? No, I'll just use your rebellion to fulfill my plan. Yes. Why? Because

he's God. That's right. Once you get this into your head, he's God. He can do anything he wants to do and you don't have any right to say anything about it That's what a god does If he has to listen to humans make commentary about what he does he's not God I don't know why this came in front of me. I was like, dog is like, I just saw like, I'm making a plate of meatballs. And the meatballs want to gripe at me. I don't care. You're a meatball. I Made you You don't make me I made you We are Mud pies with eyes were dirt and water with eyeballs

He formed us from the dust of the earth He is God. And if he chooses to close the eyes in some mud pies, that's his sovereign right to do so. That's right. That's why I say it's a miracle anybody has saved. Is an absolute miracle anybody has saved. Well, think about Noah's flood.

Noah, Noah told his family, it's a miracle. We, it's a miracle we got saved. We're the only people alive on the whole planet. That's how bad it was. God said, I wish I never made these people. What was I thinking on the day I made Adam? And even God even said to Moses at one point, said, listen, I'm, I'm willing to start all over again, Moses.

I'll just wipe them all out. Everyone. I'll start. I'll make a great nation out of you. And yet, Moses's intercession saved Israel. Yes. And so there's some component here too, Rick, where God is moved by our intercession on behalf of others. So, but that's a whole other lesson. We won't get into that. We're headed there if I get there, but we're headed in that direction. So I'm glad you brought that up. mercy, you know, I would hate the thought that my life would make my heavenly father say,

I wish I never made him. Wow. How far along do you have to be for God to say, I'm done with you. Yeah. I'm taking my hat and going home. I'm done with you. Yeah. I'm taking my hat and going home. I'm done with you. So the contrast between election and hardening reveals God's sovereignty. The hardening enabled, the hardening of the Jews enabled the inclusion of the Gentiles to stir the Jews to jealousy, to hope, not despair. God's ways defy human logic. So as we've said numerous times in this, these lessons in the book of Romans, the remnants election is by grace. God rejects work-based pride.

And so, the church is called to pray for the salvation of the Jews. As Doc was saying, as Moses interceded on behalf of the Hebrews and said, oh Lord, don't wipe them out. They deserve it, but don't do it. Please don't do it. We are called as a church to pray for the salvation of the lost, lost Jews, lost Gentiles. They're all human souls. Yes.

And it is wrong to write off the Jewish people as lost forever. Many of them, probably most of them will be lost, but most of the Gentiles will be lost too. We are to pray that the hearts and minds of as many people as possible will be softened towards Jesus Christ. Amen. And our responsibility as former former Gentiles, because you're not a Gentile once you're saved a Gentile somebody outside of the covenant. I'm in the covenant. You are in the covenant. It's the Jews who are now outside of the covenant. They're not even in the old covenant because God ended it. Yes. They're in no man's land.

They got to get into the new covenant. And so we our responsibility is to live our lives in a way that glorifies Christ that people would say, I see God, I see God's spirit in that person. And the way that you live, the way that you talk, the way that you conduct business should glorify God. It shouldn't be that people go, I don't want anything to do with that church. I don't want it. If that's a Christian, I want to get away from these people. I see so much stuff online that it just embarrasses me. embarrasses me that people claiming to be Christians say such rude, horrible, nasty things using four letter vulgar words, claiming to be a Christian.

Yes. It's embarrassing. And it's prevalent too. I mean, yes. You know, even some of the more, I guess you'd call them religious podcasts, I've noticed this wall coming down on language and starting to use very vulgar terms and words in their conversation. Yes, and no different than the world and talking about spiritual topics. And they're thinking, well, it's cool, you know, the young kids today, that's the way they talk, da da da. No, Jesus said, what comes out of your mouth reveals the heart.

Right. And if those things are coming out of your heart, coming out of your mouth, then guess what's hiding in your heart. It's certainly not Jesus. Yes, so it's prevalent. You see it all over the internet and social media. Verse 8.

According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. Who gave them eyes of slumber? Who put them to sleep? Who gave them eyes of slumber? Who put them to sleep? God. Who blinded their eyes? Who stuffed their ears? God. In response to their hard-hearted, stiff-necked, rebellious, stubborn attitudes. And this wasn't Paul's opinion. He's quoting Isaiah.

Yes. And so this attitude by God about slumber and closing eyes and ears had been around for a very long time. So it's Isaiah 29, 10. Yeah, so they've known this. I mean, Yeah, so they've known this. I mean, Isaiah got cut in half for saying these things.

The people he was preaching against got a sword and cut him in half. Don't you call me stubborn. I'll cut you in half. Think about that. I'm fed up with your preaching. Let's just hold him down and cut him in two pieces. That's how rebellious they were. The Jews cut the prophet in half. Because he was preaching these things to them. That's right. Words. God hath given them.

There was a divine agency involved in the hardening of their hearts. He just took what they were and supersized it. Yes. Would you like me to supersize that stubborn spirit here? Paul is challenging the Roman church. You guys need to grapple with God's actions. You need to consider this and think these things through. Don't repeat them. Don't be like the Jews.

But understand the principle, understand that God's involved in this process. Spirit of slumber, it's a stupor. It's not just, I feel sleepy right now. I could like to close my eyes for a minute. No, this is a stupor. A stupor is more than drowsiness. So the stupor was a hardening, it was a divinely imposed judicial response to a disobedient and contrary people who rejected the Son of God. Yet the judgment is not total, it's not final.

There's always hope. Now over 2,000 years, look, the vast majority of Jews and Gentiles have gone to their graves unsaved. And so when I get these Christian Zionists say, but Rick, the Bible says all of Israel shall be saved. Well, okay, well, what about all the Jews who've already died? Right. What about the Jews living right now? Yeah. Because they don't say that all Israel will be saved, but it's at some date, way down the line. They can't tell you the day or anything, but someday, someday. Well they believe that their eschatology is that all the armies are going to circle around the state of Israel and Palestine to kill the Jews and then Jesus is going to come back

and beat up the armies and then all the Jews will get saved because they see Jesus saving them right that's that's that's their storyline I don't Paul doesn't say anything like that in here. Does he know? Yeah, you can't find that storyline anywhere in the Bible it's a narrative that the Darbyites made up It's a narrative that the Darbyites made up. So the Jews' sensory failure is the result of stumbling over Christ. They went blind when they stumbled over Christ. They could see before they stumbled. They could see before they rejected Christ. They rejected Christ with eyes wide open.

Yes. And then after that, God closed their eyes. Right. And in the very next verse, Paul talks about that stumbling block. Yes. And they are, he said, they are hardened unto this day. Yes. to this day. Yes. The next verse, and David, now he was quoting Isaiah,

now he's quoting King David. David said, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Recompense, retribution. Well, who's David talking about? David's a Jew. Who's he talking about?

The rebellious Jews. See, David was part of the remnant. Yes. Oh, but David sinned. Yes, but he repented. His heart was soft. He was a soft-hearted sinner. And when he was convicted, he repented. He was a remnant Jew. And we're gonna see David someday. David says, let their table be made a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, a retribution to them.

So Paul's invoking David. Paul says, David said, let me, hey, not just me saying it, and wasn't just Isaiah, King David said. King David called for divine judgment on rebellious Jews. King David called for it, invoked it. Who is David talking to when he said, let their table be made a snare? He's talking to God.

So the great King David prayed a prayer asking Almighty God to deal harshly with the rebellious Jews that were giving him so much trouble. And he used a stumbling block was in his phrase. And we know who the stumbling block is. So Paul is bringing this verse in to emphasize again, the issue of the hardness of the heart is over deliberately stumbling over Christ, the cornerstone. They made him a stumbling stone instead of a cornerstone. So let their table be made a snare. Let their blessings become a trap. Right.

So the table, the table represents prosperity, abundance. The promises of God. The promises of God to Israel. And he said, let that promise become a snare, a trap, and put them into a stupor. Stumbling block, we've talked about this numerous times. It's tripping over Jesus. Excuse me, Jesus, I didn't see you there. I tripped over you. How do you trip over the Son of God? The ultimate blessing. Yeah.

When you trip over something, it's because you weren't paying attention and you didn't see it. You just tripped over it because it was meaningless to you. Recompense. That means just consequences. Give them what they deserve. Right. A retaliation based on justice. Yes.

Darken their senses, close their eyes, close their ears, and deal with their pride. This is David's prayer to God against the Jews who were persecuting him. It's amazing how, you know, everybody wants to Jews and Christians elevate King David and they'll quote him and all this, but they never want to talk about why did he say these things and who was he talking about? He was talking about his own people that were trying to kill him. Yeah, his own family, his own family. His own family. David did not have a great life.

David did not have a great life. There's a, oh man, you could have a soap opera with the life of King David. Absalom, I mean, just the things that happened in his lifetime, and yet he is the remnant. Jesus descended humanly through David. But David's human life was checkered. It was complex. A lot like our own lives. Just like our own lives. That's right. just like our own lives, that's right. He said, let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back always.

And keep their backs bent, that's what that means. Keep their backs bent always. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and keep their backs bent always. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and keep their backs bent always. Well if you got to go through life bent over, you're in pain. So David, he's reinforcing Isaiah's spirit of stupor. He's reinforcing Isaiah's spirit of stupor. Now, Paul is tying Israel's spiritual blindness to the rejection of Christ. Yes.

That's why he quoted the stumbling stone. Right. Another reason why he quoted Psalm 69, because Psalm 69, 21 refers to the vinegar that was given to Jesus on the cross. It says, 69, 21 says, "'They poisoned my food with gall "'and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.'" This is a messianic Psalm. This is a messianic song.

So Paul is advising the Roman church and of course, the church at large worldwide forever throughout time to grasp the severity of divine judgment and to avoid it by remaining humble. Amen. Don't get cocky. Don't think you somebody. Stay humble.

Stay humble and usable and pliable. You want to be soft moist clay. Father, easy to work with. Father squeeze me mold me whatever you want to do. I'm not resisting. That's the way we should be living our lives. That we keep moisture in ourselves, says Clay. We're not dried dirt, brittle, hard. We gotta be moist and soft that the Lord's hand can mold us. We've got to be moist and soft that the Lord's hand can mold us. This David said that they may not see. Again, this is a divinely imposed inability to perceive truth.

And the blindness stems from Israel stumbling over Christ. The stone of stumbling. But the remnant see by grace. Amen. and Yet they were called, but they weren't the elect, were they? No. What got them blocked from entering the wedding ceremony? Their reluctance, their refusal to prepare for the Messiah's, for the bridegroom's return. Yes, their willful lack of preparation.

Laziness. They did the minimum. They had oil. And they were at the appointed place and the appointed time. Yes, but the other five had extra oil. See, it wasn't that five virgins didn't have any oil. They had oil, all 10 of them had oil, but five had extra oil. The five that had the extra oil gathered it during the daylight hours when they could see.

When the oil store was open, the oil merchant was, his shop was open. They went and got extra oil when it was easy to do it. But the other virgins said, ah, we got oil. We think the bridegroom is coming in daylight hours. We'll be okay. But when he came at midnight, they didn't have extra oil. They missed the wedding. Right. Because the extra oil was needed for the rest of the

journey. Yes. You can their back always. That's a posture of oppression. Shame under judgment. Bowed backs, labor under the law's yoke. Yes. Most Jews today are financially prosperous, successful people. You can't fault them for that. They are amazingly successful people,

and yet they will tell you that as a people, they're under oppression. Is it because their backs are bowed? They're still under this curse. Yes. And it's sad. They could come out of it at any time if they wanted to. And a few do.

Every year a few Jews get saved. I say a few in numbers compared to the total population. But the remnant's faith counterbalances the curse and ensures that the covenants hope endures. So God is keeping the promise that he made Abraham. He's keeping it alive through you and me. He has a people. He has a people who obey him, who have faith in him, who obey, who walk by faith. I've got two more verses here. Verse 11, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather through their fall, salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them

to jealousy. Amen. So you stumble doesn't mean you necessarily fall down. You can catch your toe on a brick in the sidewalk and stumble but not fall on your face. So he said, have they stumbled that they should fall, God forbid, but rather through their fall salvation is come is the rebellion final? Is it forever? And the answer is no, there will be a remnant of Jews saved before Christ comes back. It's not permanent rejection for every Jew. And neither is it the salvation of a piece of real estate.

Right. Which is the way this is generally interpreted. If God permanently blinded the eyes and closed the ears of all Jews, they would have no hope. And that's why we're to pray for them. We are to intercede for them. You know, I think Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most wicked humans on the planet right now. But I would be overjoyed if he came to Christ. Absolutely overjoyed. He'd have to stop killing kids. But if God can forgive him for killing 20,000 Palestinian children, I can forgive him too.

I don't know how he does it, but if that's what the Lord does, if the Lord says he's forgiven, he is now in the church. Okay, I'll go with that Lord. I'll follow your lead. You know, I told a story before I had a dream one time about George Soros. And I felt sympathy in the dream towards him. And people got angry at me. Right? He needs to burn.

He needs to burn in hell. Like what we all do. You know, so do you. So do I. We all need to, we all deserve to burn in hell. You don't have any sympathy towards this man? If George Soros got saved, you wouldn't rejoice? Do you even understand your own salvation?

Are you saved? We should desire every person to get saved. So again, the stumble, have they stumbled? All right, it's the tripping over Christ, okay? But it's not fatal to the whole body of Jewish people. Again, there's hope that some will come to Christ. Verse 12, now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? This is an interesting statement.

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, well, the fall means the hardening, the blindness, the deafness, the result of the rejection of Christ. of Christ, but that opened the door to the Gentiles to be saved. So the riches of the Gentiles, speaks of the reduced state of the Jewish people. its diminished state, their loss of prominence, their bowed backs, their deafness, their blindness. But the riches of the Gentiles, this speaks of the message we learned in Romans 10,

whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is the uniting of nations under Jesus Christ. Doc, any thoughts you want to add on these verses? I think it's interesting that Paul makes a comparison here in verse 12. He talks about diminishing and fullness there. It says that diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. And so Paul is sealing this up here by saying that, listen, there's coming a time where God will complete his work among his covenant people. Right now, they're bowed down, they're in rebellion, but he has sustained a remnant among them. And even though it looks like that God has taken away from his covenant people

and given to the Gentiles, there will be a day when the fullness of the Jews will come about as well. We may be seeing that right now, even in the world today, Rick, that fullness taking place where people are coming, the God's covenant people are returning back to Him and vowing instead of the oppression of the world coming under the yoke of Christ. And that's a glorious thing to happen. I want to see everyone that

calls themselves a Jew saved, every single one of them. I want to see every citizen of Israel come to know Jesus. That's my desire. I don't wish a continued curse on them. I want them to be free of the curse. I'm free of the curse. I want them to be with me. So about a month or two ago, I read an article in one of the Jewish newspapers in Israel that 25% of the Jews in America have left Judaism. Yes, that's the first, that's the first sign of waking up from a coma. Their eyelids are just starting to open. It's like a puppy's eyes. Right.

They're starting to come out of the stupor. The act of leaving Judaism is the first step. So if those statistics are accurate, 25% of the Jewish population in the United States is ripe for evangelization by the Christian church. Right. You're not going to get Christian church doesn't believe they need to be saved. I know.

So what do we have here in verse 11? We go back to Romans 11, 9, the snare. Israel's fall, the snare serves verse 11's purpose. Gentile salvation provokes Israel to jealousy, not final exclusion. Amen. faith and the Gentile riches balance the judgment. And the church learns that God's plan, his ways are unsearchable, but somehow God's plan transforms stumbling into universal blessing. Yes. Praise God. I'm telling you, Romans is, it's got to be the toughest book in the New Testament to teach.

Well, we haven't gotten to Revelation yet. It's easy to teach the book of Revelation the wrong way. It's easy. There's so many books out there to read, to teach you how to do it the wrong way. But to teach the book of Revelation the right way that's difficult I'll last verse verse 12 or did I just do 12 I did that was the last one, wasn't it? Yes. Yeah, okay. So what have we learned here? We've learned that Israel's failure

to gain righteousness by works hardened our hearts. They were put into a stupor. By God. But the Gentiles have obtained it, the remnant, not all Gentiles. There are some false cults out there. There was no such thing as a true cult, they're all false. But there's some cults out there that are teaching, There's no such thing as a true cult, they're all false. There's some cults out there that are teaching that white Europeans are the Israelites and

they're saved. That's a big lie. The Gentiles who are the elect are the ones who have submitted to Christ. Right. And it's not based on DNA, heredity, family line, whatever. It's based on faith alone, faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing else saves, nothing saves. So the blindness of the Jews serves God's purpose. Amen. He propels his plan with their blindness and their fall, their stumbling,

which they did on their own, results in riches being brought to the Gentiles. Right. Anything else, Doc, you want to add? Well, just that Paul is setting us up for our lesson tomorrow with a warning to the Gentiles. We'll be talking about that tomorrow. Don't think Gentiles, you just got a free pass, okay? Paul's got a message for Gentiles too, as we finish up chapter 11.

Folks understand it is a miracle that you have come to know the Lord. It is His grace, His grace alone. Nothing you could have done could have obtained His grace. Nothing you could have done could have obtained your election. And yet, if you've confessed Jesus Christ, you're the elect. And God hardened other people so you could be elect. God hardened and put to slumber other people

because he cared enough about you to make you elect. I mean, this is a precious thing that we have here. And we often take it for granted, Rick, just how special and how precious this salvation is. We don't deserve it. We certainly don't deserve it. We couldn't earn it. It is by his grace alone, Rick. Yes. Wade posted, don't forget your jaw straps tomorrow.

I got a visual image of that. Looking at the notes, I'm glad you're being blessed by this I'm glad you're being blessed by this lesson. Again, I'm the first to admit, Romans is a tough book to teach. For me, it is. Others are like Doc or much smarter than I am. It's a tough one. This is a tough book to teach. For me. It is.

It's difficult because it's not taught. Yes. The biggest problem, it's not taught because it's hard. And it has doctrines that we don't really want to discuss. Right. So we'll be back here tomorrow to discuss them. That's right. We sure will. And tomorrow's our Thursday edition. So we invite you to come out and be a part of morning manna eight a.m. on the East Coast here in

the United States. No matter where you are in the world, maybe you're watching at some other time. Uh, various platforms out there. We invite you if you have the opportunity to join us live because we've got over 300 people that are interacting with one another, asking questions, making observations on our study, and so we'd love to have you be a part of it live. And we'd be really privileged. We're privileged every day to be here. Rick and I both enjoy being able not only to open up the Word of God, but be able to fellowship with everybody and knowing that the Holy Spirit is speaking to all of us at the same time and giving us a common message. A like precious

fellowship is what the Scripture talks about. Doug, I want to remind everyone about the crosses, okay? So there's been a tremendous response. I got mine too. You got yours, there you go. And uh, isn't that nice? It's heavy, isn't it? It is. Takes two hands to lift it, hold it. We're asking for a an offering to the Lord of $500 to support this work. The work is to glorify Christ. I want to stress the work is not to report the news. The work that we do here is to glorify Christ, to bring people to the knowledge of Jesus

Christ. That's the reason that you support this ministry. And we are very appreciative of everyone who is supporting us financially, and of course through your prayers. So there's a banner at the top of faithandvalues.com and also at truenews.com. Yes. That will take you to the page to request your cross. It's a beautiful work of art. And we're having more made as fast as we can.

Our blacksmith was here yesterday and he's assured us he's working as fast as he can to make more crosses. So it'll be a few days, it'll be a couple weeks maybe, until we get them out to everybody. But the supply that we had in the beginning went like the first day. And so we're making more quickly. And someone asked, how long does it take to ship? Well, it's only a few days to ship to you. But right now, we're catching up on the crosses and everything. And so I promise you, we're working very hard to get them out as quickly as possible.

That's right. And you will know when it arrives, it'll be the heaviest thing in your mailbox. Yes. Okay, that's true. No, no lie about that at all. So all right, Doc, we got to go wall around and you know what over here for true news and let's look at what the the money acts are doing today. Right. And just a reminder to everyone be watching your mailbox and also your email box And just a reminder to everyone, be watching your mailbox and also your email box over the next several days, next week with a special message from Rick. I think the email's going out today.

I think so too. But the written letter's already out. Right. And so it might have started arriving already in your mailboxes, but be watching for it either in your mailbox or in your mailboxes, but be watching for it either in your mailbox or in your email box. Also, our office manager, Jody, reminded me, be sure to check your spam folder because sometimes some of these email clients drop our newsletters and our announcements

in the spam folder. So be watching for that too. But we do have a message going. If you've been a supporter of this ministry, you have a very special message from Rick coming up very quickly. Yes. All right. All right. Love you. God bless everyone. We love you and we will see you on the Thursday edition of Morning Man.