TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Philippines Braces for Chinese Invasion of Taiwan

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

China surrounded Taiwan with warships and jets in a major military drill, calling it a warning to President Lai Ching-te. The PLA deployed the Shandong carrier group and practiced joint air-land strikes. The Philippines’ top general said war is “inevitable” if Taiwan is invaded and warned that China is infiltrating Filipino institutions. U.S. and Philippine forces will soon launch large-scale joint drills. Meanwhile, Russia expanded its military draft, Germany deployed troops to NATO’s eastern flank, and Britain declared Russia a national threat.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 4/1/25Join 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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supply needs. Communist China's People's Liberation Army staged large-scale military drills off Taiwan's north, south, and east coast today for the purpose of intimidating the island's population. The PLA said it was a stern warning to Taiwan's president, whom the Chinese military called a parasite. So this is true news for Tuesday, April 1st, 2025. So let's begin our analysis and commentary with this Reuters headline.

China launches military drills around Taiwan, calls Taiwan president a parasite. We will move on to the London Times. Chinese forces advance towards Taiwan after US defense pledge. Doc Burkhardt is here with me. So Doc, this really heavy-handed PLA maneuver today came in response to Secretary Pete Hagseff's visit to Asia earlier this week in which he told the Philippine Leaders and the Japanese leaders we need to prepare for war with China. That's right Rick and

Continuing on with this article from the London Times China has launched a furious response To harsh Pentagon statements saying the US will follow a policy of deterrence over Taiwan harsh Pentagon statements saying the U.S. will follow a policy of deterrence over Taiwan, threatening the island and moving up its strike aircraft carrier group. The Shandong, the second of two carriers now fully deployed by the People's Liberation Army, along with support vessels moved into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, supported by jets and missile units in the second major naval exercise near the island in a month. Now this particular exercise is going on as we speak follows harsh anti-Beijing rhetoric

from Washington and also recent statements by Pete Hakeseth, President Trump's Defense Secretary, saying U.S. military posture should be dedicated to countering China and deterring pressure on Taiwan. Lai Qing-Ti stubbornly insists on Taiwan's independence stance, brazenly labeling the mainland as a foreign hostile force, and has put forward a so-called 17-point strategy stirring up anti-China sentiments. The Taiwan Affairs Office said, we will not tolerate or condone

this in any way. It must resolutely counter and severely punish these actions. The Taiwan Affairs Office by China, of course. So Rick, it looks like China does not have a positive response to the recent visit by Secretary Haig, Seth. No, this is very serious. You know, I've watched these Chinese maneuvers for years. This one seems intense, as you see the photograph there.

Those are PLA helicopters coming in towards Taiwan. Very menacing view if you were on the island. Would not give you warm, fuzzy feelings that you're safe and secure, knowing that those choppers are carrying PLA soldiers, and they are practicing for a land invasion of the island. We've got several videos here that we can show you. Doc, I think you'll have to read The English subtitles these are these are videos put out by the Chinese military today

So and as Rick said these are actual videos by the PLA Submitted to the Global Times for publication. I'll read the captions here. Here you go Worship to Chiang this is PLA Navy worship Yang our compatriots in Taiwan are members of the Chinese nation. We should be proud of our Chinese identity. China's sovereignty and territory integrity broke no violation and division. According to China, on April 1st, the PLA Eastern Theater Command starts to conduct exercises organizing its Army, Navy, Air Force, and rockets to close in on the Taiwan Islands from multiple directions. These drills mainly focus on setting up the airfields and the airfields.

The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield.

The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA Navy is also working on the development of a new airfield. The PLA starts to conduct exercises organizing its army, navy, air force, and rockets closing in on the Taiwan island from multiple directions. These drills mainly focus on sea air combats, joint seizure, and assault on maritime properties so as to test joint operation capabilities of its troops. It's a stern warning and forceful deterrence against Taiwan independence

hence a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China's sovereignty and national unification. I think they're serious this time, Doc. I'm detecting a growing, deepening, a more ominous tone to the Chinese drills. South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, to the Chinese drills. South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, which is now a, this used to be, when I started True News many years ago, South China Morning Post was an anti-Chinese communist newspaper published in Hong Kong. They're now pro-Chinese, pro-communist party.

Something happened, didn't it? China Communist Party got control of the newspaper. So their headline is Beijing Moves Drills Closer to Taiwan with Shandong Carrier in Response Zone. The Hong Kong paper said Beijing started another series of joint military and coast guard drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, with experts saying the exercises, which include the Shandong aircraft carrier, were intended to squeeze Taiwan's space to respond in the event of an attack. According to the PLA Eastern Theater Command, the patrols and exercises included simulated air and land

strikes in control of key passages to test the joint combat readiness of its troops. A spokesman for the Chinese Communist PLA, Colonel Shi Yi, said, quote, this is a stern warning and a strong deterrent to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence and is a legitimate and necessary action to defend national sovereignty and safeguard national unity. So here's some, again, these are official PLA military videos that they released today. And some images of cutting edge military equipment here, both in the air and on the sea. You're going to see an image of a very interesting looking ship here in just a moment. But China is deploying an average of five new jets every six months.

And so there's an unusual looking ship there. And they expect four carriers to roll off the line within the next two years. So that means they'll have six carrier groups. The United States has 11 carrier groups to give you some sort of comparison there. So Doc, will the United States go to war with China over Taiwan? You know, I just don't know. The Trump administration, I'm just not sure. It might end up with a minerals or a chip deal out of it.

I just really can't get a feeling on this one, Rick. We're going to have a war with China eventually. It's on the books. But how soon is the question? The military experts have been predicting that China would not invade Taiwan until 2027. But they might surprise the West. They may invade this year, they may invade this month, the way things are going.

Well, the only response I would have to that is, remember, the Chinese think in terms of decades and centuries. They don't think in terms of years and months and things like that. And so they can wait it out. They can take as much time as they want because the rate that they are developing military equipment now, by 2030, they are going to be a formidable opponent

to the United States. There's no question about that at all. It is going to happen. But are they going to make a surprise strike and take Taiwan much sooner than the West anticipates, and then says, all right, the fight is on. We'll meet you in the battlefield in 2030. Well, it could very well be that the Chinese make their fight

in Taiwan rather than on the mainland. And so enforce the U.S. to be occupied with a war over Taiwan for years, because once we're in this, it's going to be going on for a long time. I'm not sure the Trump administration would enter the war now, like this year, on behalf of Taiwan. Yes, no, I agree with you on that. They would probably be hesitant in a year, but give them two or three years, especially leading up to the 2020 election,

they might just do it. But that's, I guess, Doc, this is where I'm going with the Chinese. They're watching what Pete Hagseth did this week in Tokyo, and the Japanese preparations for war. Right, so we're kind of doing in Asia what we've been doing for years in Europe. We've been building up European presence and European forces and everything. Now we're pulling out of that situation, maybe, depending on which day of the week it is, it appears to be. But now what we're doing is we're ramping up and

reinforcing regional governments now with the necessary military equipment. That way they will be, in a way, first responders to China. We see all the comments on Japan earlier this week, where they're going to reinforce the military in Japan and back it up with more US forces. And now, the same thing is happening in the Philippines as well. So, Dr., the case I'm making here is that the Chinese have been watching

what the West did in Ukraine. They're great imitators, Rick.'re saying we're not gonna let this happen to us. We're gonna strike now I don't I don't know but I wouldn't rule out a Surprise attack this year that they are not going to allow Japan and the Philippines To be strengthened by the. for a future war. They may go ahead and attack Taiwan much earlier than the West expects and then prepare for the big war. But they'll have Taiwan in their corner. It would be a massive propaganda blow against the West in the sense that you lost. You lost Taiwan.

We took it without a fight. You didn't even resist. And what would that say to the rest of the world? That the U.S. is weak. You can't rely on the United States. Right. But why would we defend Taiwan? What does Taiwan have that we want?

Well right now it's semiconductors, okay? And some of the Taiwan manufacturers are building new plants here in the US. Those aren't going to be online for three to five years. Do people count? Not when it comes to war and policy, Rick. It really doesn't. People don't count, do they? No, they don't count. It's always about resources. Right. And that's what wars are all about. It's never about democracy or freedom or anything like that.

It's always about resources. When, I mean, if we did not have to rely on Taiwan for semiconductors, there'd probably be no reason for us to defend it at all. So, Doc, today, you know, I was monitoring what was going on in Taiwan, but what really made me perk up is when I checked the Philippine newspapers, and they're taking this very seriously. Here you have the military, this is the Philippine Star. Military chief says Philippines inevitably involved if Taiwan invaded. Wait a minute, the highest ranking general of the Philippines said, if there is a war with Taiwan, the Philippines will inevitably be in that war. And they will be.

And so, this is a big story in the Philippines. I watch Philippine news every night. The Philippines military chief said Tuesday that the country would inevitably be involved if neighboring Taiwan was invaded while warning China was working to infiltrate the Filipino military and other institutions. General Romero Brawner made the comments as Beijing's military surrounded Taiwan in a large-scale exercise it said was practice for a blockade of the self-ruled island which

China has vowed to one day bring back under its control. He said, start planning for actions in case there's an invasion of Taiwan, he told troops in northern Luzon, because if something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved. General Browner said, without naming the potential invader, as members of the armed forces of the Philippines,

we should have that mentality that we are already at war. And really, China and the Philippines are in a soft war right now in the South China Sea. They're exchanging bad words and bad signals to each other's ships, occasionally ramming into each other out in the South China Sea. Now, the Northern Philippines is gonna be playing host to a large-scale joint exercise with the United States beginning April 21st. General Broner told troops at Northern Luzon Command headquarters, "'These are the areas where we perceive

"'the possibility of an attack. "'I do not want to sound alarmist, but we must prepare. Dr. Cotter, can I stop you there? Sure. Is the general saying that the Philippine government expects a Chinese attack? Is that what he's saying? Yes, they're expecting an attack in northern Philippines.

Why would China attack the Philippines? Rick, they want to control the entire region, from Australia all the way up to the Russian Arctic coast. I mean, they want to control that entire area. They're making their presence known. But is he expecting an attack simultaneous with a Chinese attack on Taiwan? Well, it very well could be, Rick. We have medium-range missiles parked in northern Luzon right now that can hit China.

And so China may make the case that they should take out anything that would threaten them. But yes, the United States has parked medium range missiles in northern Luzon, missiles that can reach mainland China. Okay, so the United States and the Philippines has a post-World War II treaty. Yes. A mutual defense pact. This is sometime in the early 1950s

that if either country is attacked, the other country will come to the defense of the country that's attacked So it's between the United States and the Philippines so if China attacks The Philippines in this war with Taiwan the United States is obligated to attack China Yes, that's right folks. Do you folks do you understand how fast this thing could go crazy? Any day? It could happen this year.

And once that happens, you've got Japan involved, you've got South Korea involved, and it's gonna be an Asian bar fight, it's what it's gonna be. So in the Philippines, there's a lot of opposition to this idea, mainly because the Philippines hasn't been involved in a regional war in a long, long time. And so there's a lot of sentiment against any confrontation with China.

The problem is China is so infiltrated in the Philippines, Rick. They build all the major malls and some of the biggest housing development is Chinese companies. And on the negative side, the Chinese import tons of drugs into the Philippines. And so, now this month's Balikatan exercises, US and Philippine troops will conduct what they're calling a full battle test

of all the plans, all the doctrines, all the procedures that we've developed in the past years. It's very important that we prepare for any eventuality, he added. Bronner alleged that Communist China is already conducting united front works in our country. Now that's important to note there. In other words, General Brawner is just coming right out and saying, we've already been infiltrated by the Chinese here in the Philippines. And so that's why we need to do these tests. They are already infiltrating our institutions,

our schools, our businesses, our churches, even our ranks in the military, he said, without giving details. He said the Philippines was also experiencing cyber warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare, and political warfare. So this is, you know, to have the Philippines involved in a conflict at this scale, the United States this past week with Pete Hegseth there basically said, we're going to let the

Philippines and Japan be our first line of defense for anything China might do against Taiwan, assuming they're still committed to Taiwan. As of this week, they're still committed, Rick. But if there's something Donald Trump wants in Taiwan, you know, it could change on a dime. Doc, let's go back to what Philippine General Brauner said. The Chinese have infiltrated our institutions, our schools, our businesses, our churches,

even our military. Sound familiar? Folks, do you think they may have done that here in the USA? You better believe they've done it. They have wormed their way into every major institution in this country, even down to local school boards. Mike Pompeo warned us about that years ago. People didn't take him seriously, that the Chinese were infiltrating local school systems. So when this war starts, that's when we find out how many American leaders are compromised.

And they don't resist, they don't fight, they just lay down and roll over and let the Chinese take over the country. And it can happen so quickly, especially if it's in the military. The Philippine Enquirer, General Brawner to Philippine soldiers, planned for action in case of Taiwan invasion. And this story reinforces the Philippine Star article saying soldiers in the country's northern frontier should prepare in case there's an invasion of Taiwan. General Bronner said on Tuesday, Bronner made this grim reminder during a speech to mark the anniversary of the Northern Luzon Command, which oversees the parts close to the self-ruled Democratic island of Taiwan

that Communist-ruled China deems a renegade province, subject to reunification. He said, let me give you this further challenge. Do not be content with securing the Northern Hemisphere until Maubles Island, Bronner said, referring to the northernmost tip of the Philippines, which is only 142 kilometers away from Cape Alambu, their southernmost point of Taiwan. Didn't realize that. Start planning for action in case there's an invasion of Taiwan, the FP chief said inevitably will be involved as we said before. Broner also said the Philippine government

should consider the 250,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan. We will have to rescue them and it will be the task of the Northern Luzon command. Now that's what got my attention in this article, Doc. Quarter million Filipinos working in Taiwan. Yes. And the Philippine military will have to go there and get them in a war. What does that look like? How will the Philippine army go into Taiwan during an invasion by the Chinese and rescue a quarter million Filipinos? I'm telling you right now, the Philippines don't, they do not have the resources to do that. They would have to rely on the U.S. partnership to make that happen.

There's just no way they can do it, Rick. A quarter million Filipinos are going to be sacrificed in Taiwan. They're not going to get out. They're just not going to get out. Just think of the intensity of the warfare of the Philippine military trying to invade Taiwan while the Chinese are there. Yes. The Chinese PLA is not going to say, hey, come on in, you can have them. I don't know, maybe they will.

Maybe they'll say, get them out of here. We're taking the island. But there might be terms of surrender also. You want your people? Well, we take the Northern Islands. This is not going to be pretty. It is going to be shocking to the world. It's going to be shocking to America., it's going to be shocking to America, and it could happen

any day. It could happen this year. Look, we're playing rough and tough with China, with tariffs and military preparations, and the Chinese will decide when and where to strike. And this may be a limited strike, not an all-out war with China. I'm convinced the all-out war with China is in the early 2030s. But we're going to have incursions that happen. But there could be an ugly, nasty fistfight in Taiwan with China. both sides, the US and China, back off and regroup and prepare for the big fight. That's kind of what I'm anticipating. But until today, Doc, I never anticipated, I never contemplated that the Philippines

would be involved in a war over Taiwan. I knew that someday the war would get to the Philippines, but I never connected it to Taiwan. I thought, well, they're on the plan somewhere later after Taiwan. But this is moving it up. Yes. And the US is aware of that as well. And that's why Pete Hegseth was there this week, making the promise we are going to reinforce the Asia Pacific region, or he called it the Indo Pacific region, to get ready for any kind of confrontation that may happen with the Chinese in the next several years. Continuing on in this theme, South China Morning Post, Philippine military chief warns troops to start planning in the event of a Taiwan conflict.

So for Max Montero, a Filipino-Australian defense analyst and military consultant, an invasion of Taiwan is inevitable. Posting on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Montero said any conflict in Taiwan will affect the Philippines whether we like it or not, and we should be prepared for it, with the Philippines right at the forefront being Taiwan's closest neighbor.

An invasion would trigger the flight of thousands of Filipino overseas foreign workers from there and a massive influx of Taiwanese refugees to the Philippine shores, Montero added. There will definitely be intrusions by both Chinese and Taiwanese military forces, including potential fighting inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone and air defense zone, which might even see our armed

forces of the Philippines having to prepare or defend itself from the flare-ups. The Philippines might even have to defend and shoot back against Chinese forces who might use the conflict to attack targets of interest in the Philippines, including EDCA bases, Filipino military units, air, naval, and air defense assets. Those EDCA bases refer to nine Philippine military facilities that host US troops in rotation and their military hardware. They're going to double that number to 15 here in the coming year.

Chester Cabalza, founding president of the International Development Security Cooperation Think Tank in Manila, warned that should war erupt, the Philippines could become a geostrategic bullseye for competing powers, given the country's proximity to Taiwan, its maritime dispute with mainland China, and its alliance with the U.S.

So now suddenly, the Philippines has become a player in the conflict in the Asia-Pacific region. And so now we'll turn our attention, World War III news will go to Europe, and we see this headline, Putin, this is the BBC, Putin begins the biggest Russian military call-up in years. Folks, take this stuff seriously. The Russians are calling up 160,000 men between ages 18 and 30, Russia's highest number of conscripts since 2011.

As the country moves to expand the size of its military, the spring call up for a year's military service came months after Putin said Russia should increase the overall size of the military to almost 2.4 million and its number of active servicemen to 1.5 million. That is a rise of 180,000 over the coming three years. Now, three years, where does that take us? 2028. Why do you think Mr. Putin is boosting the size of his military by the

year 2028? Because they expect all-out war by 2030. All-out war with Europe. So the signs The signs of World War are shouting at us. You have no excuse to be uninformed about what's happening. This is not speculation. Powerful nations are bracing, preparing, building up, getting ready for the mother of all wars and It's going to break out on us sometime around 2030 2032 33 I don't think it's going to get much farther past 23 2033 It's going to be in the early part of the 2030s So pay attention to these signs of another in politico It's going to be in the early part of the 2030s.

So pay attention to these signs. Another one, Politico, Germany launches permanent troop deployment on NATO's eastern flank. Yes, actually I saw a European version of this article yesterday evening. Germany officially launched its first permanent foreign troop deployment since World War II, Rick, on Tuesday. A 5,000-strong armored brigade in Lithuania has Berlin boasted NATO's eastern flank in response to Russia's war against Ukraine.

Now, political goes on to say here, according to the German military's lobbying group, a newly created 45th Armored Brigade was formally activated during its ceremony outside of Vilnius. The temporary headquarters was established with the brigade's crest unveiled and the unit now officially under the command of Brigadier General Christoph Huber. We have a clear mission to ensure the protection, freedom, and security of our Lithuanian allies on NATO's eastern flank, Uvertal DPA, the German press agency. In doing so, we also protect NATO territory and Germany itself. Now, these plans include frontline forces

and support units such as a medical center, signal company, and command support teams across multiple locations. Currently 150 German troops are stationed in Lithuania, and that number is expected to reach 500 by year's end. So this isn't a massive ramp up, but they're ramping up nonetheless. But they're headed, the number is 5,000. That's right. They'll have 500 by the end of the year, but there will be an incremental buildup. by the end of the year, but there will be an incremental buildup. The thing to see is this is the first time since World War II that German troops have

been permanently stationed in a foreign country. First time since World War II. Could it be that we're at World War III and German troops are on the move like they were in World War I and World War III, and German troops are on the move like they were in World War I and World War II. Again, the signs, the evidence, it's clearly in front of us. World War III is on. BBC, Germany decides, excuse me,

I don't mean to laugh at this. Germany decides to leave history in the past and prepare for war. Well, excuse me, Germany. But the last two world wars in history, you guys started them. Right. So, when I see that Germany is saying, the past is past, we're not going to think about it anymore, but we are gonna prepare for another war. So we're going three for three. And this time we're arming them,

and so assisting anyway. Germany's military at the Bundeswehr recently got the all clear for a massive increase in investment after parliament voted to exempt defense spending from strict rules on debt. The country's top general has told the BBC the cash boost is urgently needed because he believes Russian aggression won't stop at Ukraine.

He said, we are threatened by Russia. We are threatened by Putin. We have to do whatever is needed to deter that. That's coming from General Carson Brewer. He warned that NATO should be braced for a possible attack in as little as four years, Rick. It's not about how much time I need, it's much more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared, the Defense Chief said bluntly. And the sooner we're prepared, the better. So, Doc, the German people a few weeks ago, a month ago,

voted out Olaf Schultz. The German people said, we don't like what you're doing to our country. We don't like what you did with us in Ukraine. Get out. We're going to bring in a new leader. And so they elected the political party of Mr. Mears. And Mr. Mears is the new chancellor, or chancellor-to-be, and he's a bigger warmonger than Olaf Scholz. Yes.

So the German people thought they were getting rid of a warmonger, but now they have a super warmonger. Yes. And he's preparing the German army for war with Russia. And the beat goes on. I'm thinking of Sonny and Cher. The beat goes on. The old 1960s song.

It doesn't miss a beat. They just keep going, no matter what the people say, no matter what history warns us, they just keep marching. They're determined to go and have a war. And there's a quote here in this article, Germany decides to leave history in the past and prepare for war. It says, for decades, people here have been raised on a rejection of military might, acutely aware of Germany's past role as the aggressor in Europe.

We started two world wars. Even though it's 80 years since World War II ended, the idea that Germans should stay out of conflict is still very much in people's DNA. Yes, that's true. But notice, Doc, there is the number 80 years. What does that speak of? It speaks about the... The cycles. Yes, the cycles, the turnings, the Straus-Howe generational theory that there is a major war every 80 years. Folks, this war is coming and I don't believe it can be stopped. Biblically, yes, it could be stopped by massive repentance,

and Nineveh is our biblical example. But I see no signs whatsoever that people are going to sit in sackcloth and mourn their sins. R. Right. And you need a Jonah and you need a Jonah and you need a deadline because God gave Jonah a deadline 40 days repent or You'll be smoking in 40 days And I think doc if there was a Jonah today and there was a 40-day deadline. I don't think they'd repent So this war is on its way. London Telegraph. Russia formally declared national security threat to Britain. Wow. They did it. The British government officially declared Russia an enemy.

What does that tell you? Britain is planning to go to war with Russia. Yes. So the article from The Telegraph, Russia has been formally declared a national security threat to Britain for the first time. Dan Jarvis, the security minister, announced on Tuesday that Russian agents working on behalf of Vladimir Putin's regime will be forced to register their activities or face five years in jail. In a statement to the Commons, he said Russia presented an acute threat to UK national security through hostile acts in recent years, including the Salisbury nerve agent poisons, which

you're bringing back up again, espionage, cyber attacks, and the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian state will be added to the highest enhanced tier of the forthcoming foreign intelligence registration scheme, a status reserved for nations at risk the safety of UK's interests. Mr. Jarvis said, as security minister I see firsthand the disruptive activity conducted by Russia beyond their barbaric and illegal war against Ukraine, including their attempts to infiltrate our democracy and sow discord in our society. We will not stand for it."

Doc, today the Russians officially rejected President Trump's ceasefire proposal. Moscow Times, Russia cannot accept US ceasefire proposal in Ukraine. So it's official, they didn't close the door and say we're not going to end all negotiations. They just said we're not going to accept the ceasefire as it is presently written. They released a statement. This is from Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Ryabkov. This is the official statement that came from his office, which he works under Sergei Lavrov, but they presented their viewpoint that the ceasefire proposal is unacceptable and they cannot sign it. And primarily what they're saying is there is no willingness on the part of the West to discuss why the war started in the first place. Yes. And how can there ever be peace if we can't start up,

if we can't talk about what started the fight? Right. And the other problem is, you've got to range the Linsky in one way or another. He said, we have not heard from US President Donald Trump a signal to Kiev to end the war. All that exists today is an attempt to find some kind of scheme that would first allow us

to achieve a ceasefire, as the Americans think, and then move on to some other models and schemes in which, as far as we can judge, there is no place for our main demand today, namely solving the problems associated with the root causes of this conflict. So he went on to say, this is completely absent, and this must be overcome. We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously,

but we also cannot accept all this as is. We certainly have a deeply and carefully thought out set of our own priorities and approaches to the topic, which is being worked out and was worked out, including by our negotiating team at the recent negotiations with the Americans in Riyadh, said Ryabkov. And so there seems to be some sense on the Russian side that the US is not living up to what it promised,

maybe not in written words, but at the negotiating table in Riyadh, where they would do whatever they could to get Ukraine in order for a ceasefire. And also, Doc, the Russians are winning on the battlefield. Yes. And there's no incentive for them to just stop right now. That's right. And give the West time to rearm Ukraine. And so they're dragging this out.

And I'm not surprised by it. At the same time, Moscow Times, Russia, and the US begin talks on rare earth medals. Yes. So the Russians know that President Trump is salivating over those medals. And they're using it against him. And they're saying, here they are. Here are the medals. We're willing to let you come in and mine them. But we have to have a settlement in Ukraine that fits our terms. And that means no European troops in Ukraine and Ukraine cannot join NATO.

That's the bottom line. So it says there are talks underway with the United States on rare earth minerals. In Russia. Not just Ukraine, in Russia. Yes. We'll talk about World War III involving Iran. Russia warns of catastrophic consequences if the United States strikes Iran. Yes. India Today reporting this, Russia issued a warning against the US,

stating that any military attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities will have catastrophic effects. This comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran unless the country comes to an agreement with Washington regarding its nuclear activities. In an interview with the International Affairs Journal, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov once again raised concern. He stressed that the threats and ultimatums will increase tensions. He says, we consider such methods inappropriate. We condemn them. We consider them a way for the U.S. to impose its own will

on the Iranian side, he added. Now, Ryabkov believes that Trump's recent statements have only complicated the situation. The consequence is this, especially if the strikes are on nuclear infrastructure, could be catastrophic for the entire region. Then a top Iranian official said this, according to News Newsweek that Iran would have no choice but to seek nuclear weapons if the United States attacks it. Yes. So Iran will have no choice but to seek nuclear weapons if attacked.

And advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned. Now this statement comes in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to bomb Iran if it does not agree to the new nuclear deal. Ali Rajani, a senior advisor to Ayatollah Khomeini, told Iranian state television that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons but could be forced to pursue them if threatened. Quotes Ali Rajani,, we are not moving towards nuclear weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear state, you will force Iran to move towards that because it has to defend itself. He cautioned that any U.S. or Israeli military action would push Tehran toward reconsidering its nuclear stance. Meanwhile, Doug, in Gaza, children are starving.

The Israelis imposed a food embargo weeks ago. No food has gotten in. Yes. And the bakeries are closed. They're out of flour. I read one story today that children are drawing pictures of food in the sand. Hunger is at a very sad state in Gaza right now. So this is Al Jazeera, and they talk to people in the Gaza Strip after 18 months of war. The general public here in the West, we don't even know that there's a food embargo on

Gaza. Yeah, most people here in the West don't even know where Gaza is. This is what got the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu. Yes. Because of war crimes like this. And now he's doing it again and saying, there's nobody who can touch me. Right. Well, Al Jazeera talked to people in the Gaza Strip about what they've been going through

over the past 18 months. Here's the first one. Everything is shut down. There's no flour, no wheat, nothing. We're completely drained. There's no gas. So we burn plastic just to light a fire. There isn't even any food to cook. Another one, yesterday when the Israeli military informed us of the need to evacuate Ra'aq, I couldn't help but wonder, how do you demand an evacuation from a devastated area? The

entire country is in ruins. What more do you want from us? Another one, Gaza has become a land of horrifying surprises. That phrase caught my attention earlier today, Rick. We go to sleep and wake up to yet another devastating piece of news. Merchants are raising prices to unbearable levels. A kilogram of tomatoes used to cost seven shekels, about $1.90. Now it costs 15 to 20 shekels, or $4 to $5. We cannot afford to buy food at these prices. And it's intentional, Rick. That's what's

really the horrifying surprise. It is starvation by design, and that's a war crime. New York Post will come home to America now and look at political news here in the USA. ICE arrested 113,000 illegal immigrants, deported over 100,000 since Donald Trump entered the White House. So deportations by immigration and customs enforcement surged above 100,000 since President Trump returned to the White House.

They are doing it. No matter what the judges are doing to slow it down or stop it, there are significant numbers of illegal immigrants being deported. And they are also changing tactics on this too, Rick. Rather than using the Alien Enemies Act that Judge Boesberg has been hitting the administration with. They've shifted tactics here and they're using State Department resources to determine that these individuals are here legally

and using State Department rules and regulations, that's how they're now getting around the Alien Enemies Act controversy. And nobody is fighting them on that as of yet, but it's coming. CBS News, Doge says Social Security Audit removed 7 million accounts over 120 years old. So this story has been developing over the past several weeks since Elon Musk and his Doge team have been at the Social Security Administration and they discovered millions, millions of active Social Security numbers for people anywhere from 120 to some that were 300 years old.

So on Monday, it announced its audit that the Social Security Administration had removed seven million of those accounts, 120 years old and older. Elon Musk took to X, of course, to talk about this. He's had several updates over the past week. Every time they have another major update, he posts this. And as you can see, the number originally started out that there were nine million active Social Security numbers for those living 120, or we don't know if they're living or not, but for those 120 and older. And they've knocked that down down to they've knocked seven million of those out how by marking them as deceased there's nobody above 120 years old that should you know have a social security number so doctor the the legacy media is working overtime to so-called debunk these numbers. I've seen the Associated Press and

NBC News and ABC, they're all running these stories saying there's no proof that anybody 150 years old actually received, that they actually received monthly Social Security payments. Yes, they might be on the rolls, but Elon Musk has not proven that they actually received the money. And this is how the media is trying to confuse the debate about this time. Well, I want to know why were there 7 million? 9 million. seven million, nine million, nine million ghost people on social securities roles. Yes. Not even counting whether they're receiving benefits, which

I believe many of them were, whoever is collecting them, but that they were active social security numbers in the system, which means that maybe people were assigned social security numbers and were using them to obtain work permits, driver's licenses, whatever it might be, or even benefits on the state and local level. In fact, Elon Musk hinted that there's going to be an arrest. In fact, I think he said it's Sunday, so he said there's going to be somebody arrested tomorrow, which would have been yesterday, for stealing 400,000 Social Security numbers. This is an audio recording of Mr. Musk talking about a pending arrest that he knows about.

In fact, I believe that someone is going to be arrested tomorrow. This is someone who actually stole 400,000 social security numbers and personal information from the social security database and with selling social security numbers and all of identification information in order for people to basically steal money from social security. And yeah, and this is like, by the way, a particular avenue of fraud for like illegal immigrants and for voter fraud, because the main way that identification is established in the United States is via social security. So if you compromise the social security system,

you can basically get people to get de facto registered to vote, even if they're not citizens, and to get a bunch of benefits and to milk the system. It's pretty insane. I mean, the Democrats basically have taken every part of the government that could possibly be bent towards providing financial incentives for illegal immigrants to come to and remain in the United States, whether it's social security, disability, Medicare, unemployment, even like IRS refunds, without any income, it's wild.

So you know, the diverted FEMA funds, which is supposed to be for helping Americans in distress from natural disasters to pay for luxury hotels in New York for illegal sustainer. In fact, they're still there. Those hotels are still active. We've got one more, and I'm going to play it quickly because it's over six minutes long. Mr. Musk and his Doge colleague, Antonio Gracias, were on stage in Wisconsin. And Mr. Graciaz gave details about millions of non-citizens, illegal immigrants, who were given social security numbers

under the Biden administration. Let's watch. And then you'll notice there's a strange trend here where how many social security numbers were issued? Do you want to? Yeah, so let me tell you what happened here. We started at the top of the system. You're going to talk about a lot of me.

We started at the top of the system mapping the whole system of social security to understand where all the fraud was. And there's a lot of great people there that showed us really a lot of waste. And so that came up with a big list of stuff they're working on. You've heard some of that already. But this is what jumped out at us. When we saw these numbers, we were like, what is this? In 21, you see 270,000 people goes all the way to 2.1 million in 24.

These are non-citizens that are getting social security numbers. Yeah, this is a mind-blowing chart. Yeah, just this literally blew us away like we went there to find fraud and we found this by accident and This isn't political by the way, my parents immigrants Yeah, this country's been great to us my brother sister all born in Spain. I'm pro-legal immigration. This is not political. This is not political. This is about America and the future of America. And there are a lot of good people in the system

that point this in this direction. I wanna honor them right now. They work in the government today who took risks to show us these numbers and tell us what's going on. So I wanna stop for a minute. I wanna honor those people today. Very good people. Very good

people. Very good people. I have been from DC to social security offices to the border to track this down and very good people have helped us along the way. I want to thank them. This number, what this is, is when you come in the country, if you're illegal, there's a couple ways to come in. You come in through a port of entry, and you can tell them you're afraid, they'll give you an asylum case, you'll get an interview, then you get in. That's one way to do it.

Another way to do it is to just go to the border. Literally this happened. I talked to border patrol myself, Elon was there too. I went to Laredo, and I went to Brownsville, Elon went to Eagle Pass. You walk up to a border patrol officer and you tell them you want to come in,

they have a couple of choices. They could charge you with a misdemeanor or a felony under 1325 or they can make an administrative offense, like a parking ticket basically. They were told to do that, make an administrative offense under the last administration and then you could walk across the border, they do what's called a release of your own recogsence,

and they give you an NTA, a notice to appear, which is to appear to judge. The wait times on judges are like average six years. Look at GROC, you'll see it on immigration judges. There's only 700 of them. This is 5.5 million people, okay? So what happens then? Once you're in the country and you've got asylum,

do one of these pathways, we map the whole thing out, you can apply for a work document. You file a 765, it's the work form, you get this form called the 766, that's the authorization, and then Social Security Administration automatically sends you in the mail your Social Security number. No interview. No ID. This is worth like just reiterating It's not that it's not people sometimes think that under the Biden administration that that he was simply asleep at the switch He wasn't asleep. They were asleep at the switch

It was a massive large-scale program to import as many illegals as possible ultimately to change the entire voting map of the United States and illegals as possible, ultimately to change the entire voting map of the United States and disenfranchise the American people and make it a permanent deep blue one-party state from which there would be no escape. Look, if I hadn't seen this myself, I'm not sure I'd have believed it. I went through it myself and mapped it. And Ilana's right. This is true.

The defaults in the system from Social Security to all of the benefit programs have been set to max inclusion, max pay for these people. And minimum collection, that's what's happening. We found 1.3 million of them already on Medicaid as an example. We've gone through, on every benefit program we went through, we found groups from this particular group of people, this 5.5 million people in those benefit programs. And then what was really, really disturbing us was why.

We're asking ourselves why. And so we actually just took a sample and looked at voter registration records and we found people here registered to vote in this population, yes. And who did vote? And we found some by sampling that actually did vote and we have referred them to prosecution at the Homeland Security Investigation Service. Already. Already. That has already happened. Right now. Yeah. And the truly disturbing thing, though, I just want you to know this, the truly disturbing

thing to me and the darkest thing about this to me, the voter fraud is terrible, but the human tragedy this created is extraordinary becauseinary because what you don't understand people don't know what Americans need to know that's why I'm here is that human traffickers Made 13 to 15 billion dollars off of this Okay, that's the money that's going around the world moving people around the world to our borders because of these incentives How does it work? What happens? Hey, if you're in Africa and you're in South America, you've got to walk up through Mexico, through South America, who do you pay? You pay the narcos, you pay the traffickers. Right? And we found, we were told by ICE,

it's between 20,000 and 500 bucks, depends on how they pick you up, to walk across all those countries and get all the way up to the border. Where does that money go? It goes to the cartels. It goes to human traffickers. Right? There are 30,000 children that have not appeared on the notice to appear already ice knows this 30,000 children 270,000 children

What didn't even get notices to appear ice told us the kids are being trafficked back and forth across the border to complete families To make this easier. This is a human tragedy to complete families to make this easier. This is a human tragedy. It's not just the money, it's the people and the kids. Now how many of these people died on the way up here that didn't make it in? What happened to them? We created this system here that created a Senate for people to come and be taken advantage of by these traffickers. And how do you think they get paid? Well you're in Africa since America, you got $20,000 or $10,000 or $5,000 to pay these traffickers. No, you don't.

What happens? You come in, then you own the money. She's your indentured servant. If you don't pay them, what happens? What do they do? They kill your mother, they kill your brother, they kill your family, what happens next? That's what we discovered.

And I have to tell you, it's tragic to me. The tragedy, the human tragedy this created is extraordinary. That's the real problem. This is America. We don't do this here in America. We don't do this here in America. Well, I don't know much about Mr. Grotius, but I appreciate his passion on this particular issue.

He said in six minutes, probably the most clarifying thoughts regarding why this work that Doge is doing at Social Security is so very important. There are so many other things that hinge on people accessing Social Security numbers. You get a Social Security number, you get a state, once you have a Social Security number, you get a state, once you have a social security number,

you can get a state ID. If you've got a state ID, you can register to vote. And they access benefits at the federal and state level. So what they're doing is so very, very important. But the Biden administration, the Democrats allowed this continue. Why? Because they believed that the illegal population would be a boost to them in votes.

Doc, this has been going on a lot longer than the Biden administration. Because when I lived in Texas, so this is over 20 years ago, I remember somebody giving me information about a criminal outfit in Dallas, Fort Worth, that was selling Social Security numbers. And I gave the information to somebody, a federal agent. I don't remember if it was FBI or could have been Homeland Security because this was after

9-11. And I gave the information to a federal agent who said, thank you, we're going to work on this. I believe he was serious and sincere. But that's over 20 years ago. This has been going on for decades. And Washington knew about it. And both parties looked the other way. I'm going to drop down as we close to number 27. This is the Gold Co. financial report. This is Reuters. Gold steady near all-time high as Trump's tariff plans stir inflation woes.

I want you to see several things here. Inflation. All right. I support President Trump, what he's doing on the tariffs. I know his agenda. I get it. I back him on it. I think in the long run it's going to work. In the short term it's going to produce inflation and gold is going up. So gold is holding steady near all-time highs as inflation woes are stirred in the country. And then the next one is Financial Times in London. Investors flock to gold funds as fears over Trump tariffs mount. And Financial Times says, investors are pouring cash into gold funds at the fastest pace since the COVID-19 pandemic amid mounting concerns over the impact of President Donald Trump's

tariff wars. They quote Christian Gopal, senior analyst at the World Gold Council, said, uncertainty is one of the main factors that has led to a renewed interest in gold. There is a general risk-off sentiment in the market at the moment. So there is the gold code number, 844-960-GOLD. 844-960-GOLD. You can go to truenewsforgold.com. 9 6 0 gold 8 4 4 9 6 0 gold. You can go to truenewsforgold.com. You can click the QR code that's on the screen.

What else do I need to say? What else? What other information can I give you? The headlines are screaming that the people in the know the people the smart money is moving to gold Because of inflation and I've been telling you for two years a new inflationary cycle has started so Are you going to sit there and just say well, I'm going to wait another year and see if things get

worse if inflation continues. I'll just wait. What are you waiting for? While you're waiting, the big guys with a lot of money are moving to gold. So, you have to make a decision. Now, if you had invested in gold just two weeks ago, you would have seen a $250 increase in your investment on an ounce of gold. On one ounce of gold. Just one ounce of gold. Yes. If you'd bought just one ounce two weeks ago, you'd be ahead by $250. Folks, I believe it's going to continue escalating

and we're going to see growth in the price of gold throughout the year. That's my personal view. It's not a prediction. I'm just looking at the trend of where it's headed. It's because I see that we're in an inflation cycle. And that inflation cycle most likely will last another 10, 12, could go 15 years. And during those inflation cycles, gold shines. Now, I want to end with a video just to change the mood here as we close to try to get our mind off all the negative stuff that we're looking at. I don't know if this video, if we're going to tell you on the screen, yeah it does. It tells you who he's having a tug of war with, a tiger.

This is no joke. This man is in a tug of war with a tiger okay this is no joke this man is in a tug-of-war with a tiger and you hear that can't be a tiger can't be that strong wait until you see the tiger the position the tiger is in you can see the man he's working hard he's struggling. Now look at the tiger. He's not even sweating, is he? He's just laying there. That's how strong those animals are. Isn't that amazing? Yes. And you can actually do this at this particular zoo. I don't know if I want to have a tug of war with a tiger or not, Rick.

I have too many tug of wars in my life already. Oh, the tiger enjoys it. That's his entertainment for the day. Right. All right, bring another human. Let's see how far he goes with it. All right, I love animals. Okay, let's close out.

Thank you so much. Appreciate you watching, and we appreciate your financial support for this ministry. We are teaching the Word of God. Morning Manna is coming up right after the True News ends, and we are in the ninth chapter of the Book of Romans, and it is just packed with spiritual revelations about who is Israel, who are you in Christ. And I hope you watch Morning Manna, whether you watch it now or listen to it in the morning, whatever hour of the day, but make Morning Manna part of your day and

be blessed. If you put a Morning Manna into your heart and mind every day, you will change this year because the Word will get in you and it's alive and it will affect you. And it will change your soul, change your mind, it'll change your relationships. Things will be different in your life because the Word of God will be working in your life. Thank you so much. We appreciate your support. We'll see you tomorrow. God bless you. You don't have to think the world is ending tomorrow to be realistic. Serious emergencies happen to regular people all the time. For the forward-thinking

family men, American Reserve serves as the ideal safeguard. As a father and husband, providing for and protecting my family is my highest priority. With strength in every pack, American Reserves combines variety and durability for any family. Waiting until it is too late will be devastating. Ensure your loved ones are cared for in any crisis by building a storehouse with American Reserves. Because strength comes from smart preparation. American Reserves, your ally in emergency readiness. Visit our website and become prepared today. Good morning everybody, welcome to morning Nana. We're glad to have you with us today. We're studying the Word of God. We're in the ninth chapter of the Book of Romans and today it's verses 14 through 18. Let's pray

and invite the Holy Spirit. Almighty God, Father, we thank you for this beautiful day and we are here gathered together from many nations, one church, one faith, one body gathered together virtually in this morning manna Bible class to be taught your word. So Holy Spirit, please come take your seat and direct this morning manna Bible study so all of us would be illuminated with truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Not verses 14 through 18. 14 through 18, yes sir. Alright, we are in Romans chapter 9 today, continuing our journey here,

where Paul is talking about the relationship of Jews and the gospel. Picking back up in verse 14, I'm reading from the King James this morning. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for the same purpose I have raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will be and whom he will he hardeneth."

This is going to be an interesting lesson today because that is a question I get about did Pharaoh have a choice in his judgment on Moses and the people of God because God hardened his heart. So we'll touch on that later here this morning, but this is going to be a good passage to talk about. So verse 14 begins in a typical fall manner. He asked himself a question. He has the answer, but he asked a question so he can give you the answer. What shall we say that? Is there unrighteousness God forbid. So he confronts the charge, the accusation of divine unfairness. He's saying, I know what you're thinking. Is God not fair? Is there unrighteousness with God. He's anticipating the human pushback against his teaching. And

then he says, God forbid. So he's slam is to trust God's righteousness over human logic. Just because we can't understand it doesn't mean it's not fair. It's not righteous. What shall we say then? Now he pivots from election to justice. Yes. So human minds question God's fairness in choosing some and not others. As we saw with Esau and Jacob. Why was Esau not chosen? He was the firstborn. Why did God favor his

slightly younger brother? So this accusation comes, that Paul's commenting here on. It comes from Jacob's favor and Esau's rejection. But Paul preempts the objection. He sets up his defense. And so now we're confronted with the choice divine choice versus human fairness we have to Come down on one side God's mercy is is a gift. It is not a debt owed to anybody. Yes. Nobody deserves salvation.

You just chew on that all day. You don't deserve salvation. You're saved by grace. Justice doesn't demand equal mercy. Human standards of fairness and justice don't apply to God. So God's righteousness is what defines justice and fairness. And we're in the book of Romans, we're wading through theological concepts that defy our human logic and our human concept of fairness and justice, that God makes choices. I just explained to some of our staff members, our team members yesterday,

some very personal things that God revealed to me over the weekend about just ministering my life, his dealings with me, and I had to uh I had to accept his his ways. I had to accept his ways. And this is difficult for humans. But you have to rest in the knowledge that God's ways are right, that they are best. And what he's doing for you may not seem fair or right or just at the time, but in in eternity's viewpoint it is right. So, God makes choices that align with his purpose, not human purposes. purpose, not human purposes. Right. And his purposes span a much greater timeline than you and I can even imagine. I mean, he sees the beginning before the beginning ever began,

and he sees the ending before the beginning ever began. and he sees the ending before the beginning ever began. And so he has a great, he is in a much greater position to dispense justice and mercy and grace according to his will, his sovereign decision, not a man's interpretation of it. Yes. So for humans, when we have a goal, a destination, we start at the beginning and work our way to the end.

God's the opposite. He starts at the end and works his way to the beginning. He knows where it's, he knows, he has already decided where this is going to end. Now he's got to get you there. We have the opposite way of thinking. We're not sure where it's going, but we're at the beginning. And we're asking God to get us there.

But God says, I already know where I'm taking you. I'm going to work your way there. So faith will trump questioning. God's ways are always higher. And we can have assurance because it's based on God's righteous character. Humility bows before sovereign mercy. And you find yourself saying, yes, Father, your way. You know what's best. I accept your way. You know what's best. I accept your way. I will not question your way. Help me to understand it. As we get into these verses, up to verse 18, Paul is citing Moses and Pharaoh, and he's teaching us that God's justice always shines and that God's pattern, choosing Isaac over Jacob, God's pattern always holds firm. And we can rest knowing that God's

ways are higher and that he knows what's best. Father knows best. He loves you and he will do what's right for you, what's best for you. You have to accept it You have to accept it And once you accept it a lot of stress is removed from your life a Verse of Romans 9 15 for he saith to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy And I will have compassion on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. That flies in the face of modern socialist Marxist ideology in this country and especially Western countries right now

that are demanding diversity, inclusion, equity. God said, I'll be merciful to whom I want to be merciful to right Well the leftist will say well we're going to pass a law to make you be merciful to everybody Um, it doesn't work that way So what what paul is quoting here is uh, ex Exodus 33 verse 19 that God's mercy is His sovereign act, His sovereign decision. Paul is defending God's justice with Moses's encounter that mercy is God's call. Yes. He said, I will have mercy.

And that that's slammed shut any claim to earn favor. Right or special favor. He's not obligated to show mercy. That's right. Or any interpretation of special favor as interpreted by man. You may be a Jewish DNA heritage, but that does not mean that you have mercy extended to you. Yes. So the verse is calling upon you and me to trust God's grace, not to trust human merit, human deeds, human doctrines, theology, political ideology. Trust God's grace. The good thing is, excuse me, when you are in Christ you have the peace, you have peace because you have assurance that God's, God will be merciful to you. That's right. If you have Christ, you've been elect, you've been chosen. He's not unmerciful to people who are in Christ.

Amen. But he's not obligated to be merciful to people who are not in Christ. And that's what upsets a lot of people. They'll say, well, that's not fair. It is to God. The words he saith to Moses, that's invoking God's right, God's voice to affirm his right. Mercy hinges on God's will, not human effort, not human merit. Compassion flows from divine choice, not by human demand. There are people all over the world right now today

right now today need compassion but they are they are outside the will of God he may show them compassion but it's his choice if you are in Christ, you will have the assurance of His compassion. In Christ is the safest, smartest place to live, in Christ. If somebody asks for your address, you gotta say, in Christ. That's where I live, in Christ. Because God spares whom He wills. We stand by God's mercy, not by our own claims. Heals no one's salvation. Right.

And who does he show mercy and grace to, Rick? Those who believe him. Yes. Those who believe his word. They're the ones that God extends his mercy and grace to. Not under the obligation, but because you believed him. You trusted him. And why wouldn't he extend his mercy and grace to you? So, trust in God, sovereign choice to show mercy to whom He chooses will give you unshakable peace because again, if you are in Christ, you know that he will show mercy. Verse 16, so then it is not of him that willeth,

nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. World English Bible says, so then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. So I guess you could say that verse 16 slams the gavel. Salvation is not man's game. Amen. Man has no say in it. So then, also begins the verse with so then, that's tying God's word to Moses. Mercy is God's call. So then, human will and human effort bow to divine grace, to grace alone. So,

we need to ditch human pride and just rest in God's mercy. Amen. Not of him that willeth. what that does, it just chops any human desire. any human claim that the that human will plays a role in this. No, nor Nor of him that runneth, feet striving for religious perfection, feet running for the You know, the right to claim that your religious merit requires God to be merciful to you. Right. What he's doing is that paul paul is he's just burning down. He's torching he's torching legalism Works religion

He's repeating again grace is an urn Doesn't matter how fast you run A religious race When you get there you're still going to need grace. Hallelujah. So to make it simple, what Paul's telling us is that we need to see our human will and our human works as powerless to bring about salvation, to bring about God's mercy. The theme over and over in Romans is God is merciful, we are saved by grace and human effort and human will plays no part in it at all. Right. Who did Paul write the letter? Obviously, it's written to the church in Rome, but there were a lot of Jews in the

church in Rome. And in the beginning of Romans, the book of Romans, Paul was just chopping away at Zionism, at Judaism, any religious error in the minds of Jewish Christians that they had, they deserved to be saved. He's just chopping it away. You know, we're at the ninth chapter now and he's still swinging that axe. You know, maybe he sees another branch, another root, he's got to chop it. But a God that showeth mercy, he's repeating, God is the sole source of mercy. That mercy flows from God's will, not human claims, not human demands.

Divine grace is what brings about salvation. With no strings attached. If it had strings attached, it's not a gift. Salvation is a gift. Salvation is a gift from God. When Paul was on the road to Damascus, going to the city to beat up and arrest and maybe kill some Christians. Mercy interrupted his race. His feet was racing.

To do the religious thing. His feet were racing to do the religious thing. Of him that runneth, Paul was running to Damascus to do the religious thing, to beat up Christians. They were Jewish Christians who went to Damascus, and he was running to Damascus to beat them up for God. But mercy interrupted his travel. Mercy, two groups were the beneficiaries of the mercy. First of all, the Christians in Damascus didn't get beat up. And so God was merciful to them, but Paul received mercy. Paul was delivered from Judaism and was shown the resurrected Christ.

And his entire life changed. That was God's mercy. If God had not shown Paul mercy, eventually God would have shown Paul justice, judgment, death. Because Paul was earning death. Christians was racking up legal counts in heaven's court that Paul needed. He deserved death. But God showed him mercy. He didn't show him death. He showed him mercy. I mean, Paul had already killed Christians. Paul would already killed Christians point already had Christians dragged out of their houses and beat up and their homes ransacked and their businesses

are raw. He'd done many things like that for years. He deserved divine punishment. If anybody on earth deserved divine punishment, it was Paul. But God showed him mercy. Paul wasn't looking for mercy. He was looking for blood. That's right. But God gave him the blood of Christ. The Gentiles were given grace entirely by God's choice of mercy. So grace always nullifies works. Salvation is God's gift.

Mercy is free. Grace is free. Salvation is free, salvation is free, and the sovereign God chooses who to bestow His gifts upon. That's a fact. And as we learned, I think it was in the book of Acts when we studied Acts, God sometimes sovereignly closes the eyes of people so that they cannot see the truth. That's the tough part right there to understand. And the example that Paul gives is of God hardening Pharaoh's heart.

God did it. Pharaoh didn't do it. God did it. But Pharaoh, Pharaoh's choices, his lifestyle, his words, set him up for that divine judgment. Yes. You know, God doesn't have, he doesn't have a roulette wheel. He just spins it and says, I wonder who I'm going to close somebody's eyes right now. Let's see who this falls on.

No, he wisely chooses people who have made it their purpose to deny truth. You know, when I was unsafe, I wasn't denying truth. I didn't know truth. Right. But I wasn't actively denying it. I just didn't know it. And there was in me, as lost as I was, there was a desire in me to know truth. Doc, I remember, this is shortly before I got saved.

I had been going to church with Susan for, I don't know, maybe six months, five or six months. I don't know, maybe six months, five or six months. But I was still lost, very lost. But the word was getting inside of me. And I remember one Saturday afternoon, the pastor on the previous Sunday had talked about Wisdom and that you should get wisdom and those words stuck in my head And I was thinking well, where am I going to get me some wisdom I

Remember that I heard that you know at least something got through my head that day, that Sunday. A couple lines from his sermon stuck. You should get wisdom. But I didn't hear anything else. But I was sitting on our sofa, Susan and I had only been married a couple of years, and I was sitting on this little rickety, cheap sofa on a Saturday afternoon, and I was thinking, where would I find wisdom? If I was going to get me some, where would I find it?

And there was a knock at the door. Okay. So, look, I had hair down to my shoulders. You know, I was wearing cut-off jean shorts. Oh my gosh. Right. You know I'm a 1970s hippie boy okay and there's a knock at my door I think what who is that because my friends would just walk in. I go over and open up the door and there's these two little church ladies. And I open up the door and they go, we're growing so from such and such church and you know, they

were out witnessing for Jesus. And they said, we have brought you a Bible for this is the way to wisdom. I said, what did you just say? They said, we brought you a Bible for this is the way to wisdom. And I said, that's really odd because I'm just sitting here on my sofa and I just asked myself, where would I find wisdom? Doc, it spooked these little church ladies so much. They weren't expecting an encounter with the Holy Spirit. They didn't anticipate the Holy Spirit going before them in their witnessing. They got so befuddled, they ran off with the Bible, got in their car and drove away.

That's funny. Here you just asked for wisdom, they brought it to the door and they ran off. They ran, they were so flipped out that God was present in that encounter. I can see they were in a church that didn't believe in the active role with all these spirit. But for me, I heard that I didn't get the Bible. They took it with them. I got I'm standing there. We'll put the Bible in my hand.

You know, they took off. They took off running. But for me, you know, that was 1978. And I still remember it, remember it differently. And I remember the words, we brought to a Bible for this is the way to wisdom. See, that was God showing mercy to me. I was lost. I didn't know how to find God. But God was showing mercy to me. And that was His choice.

Amen. He had provided that I would be saved. And so this is this is the message Paul's delivering. We are to trust God's mercy. That security is in him. God spare souls by choice. And you have to accept it. He knows who is ready to be saved. Verse 17, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised the up

that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. So he pause quoting Exodus 9 16. Yes. And Paul is now, he's flipping the script. He's saying, look, Pharaoh's reign over Egypt, over the Hebrew people served God's glory. of over the Hebrew people serve God's glory.

Look, look what, what God said to God said, even for this same purpose have I raised the up that I might show my power in thee. And you're talking about Pharaoh there. God raised up Pharaoh. Yes, God raised up Pharaoh. Could you say that God chose Pharaoh? Yes. Just as much as he chose Jacob, he chose Pharaoh. So Pharaoh's reign over Egypt served God's glory.

Amen. God was saying to Pharaoh, you think you're ruling by your own power? No, I put you in power. And I put you in power so that I would be glorified. How did God, how did God give glory through favor all Because the heavers were delivered amen by God's power And Pharaoh could not stop them Think about your you're facing an enemy God raised up your enemy What I thought raised up my enemy. Well, God allowed the

devil to raise up an enemy against you to bring glory to God. How is your enemy going to bring glory to God? Because if you trust God, if you stand on his word, he's going to deliver you. If you don't quit, if you don't give up, he's going to deliver you. And he will use your enemy to bring glory to God. Amen. You know, the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, God's setting the stage. He's saying, look, I own this stage. Raise the up.

It was God who hoisted Pharaoh for this cosmic play for an ordained purpose. Here we are thousands of years later and we are still talking about Pharaoh. Yes. The God sovereignly delivered the Hebrew people and Pharaoh could not stop them. Excuse me. So he said to show my power in thee. What was that? The plagues. God sent the plagues to Egypt to smash Pharaoh's hard-hearted,

stubborn defiance. You mean God raised up a tyrant who was hard-hearted and stubborn and defiant? Yes. That's what the Bible says. Yes, he did. They're all actors on the stage. They're just actors on the stage. It's all about glorifying God. So the name and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. As I said, thousands of years later, we can still talk about the miraculous deliverance of the Hebrew people.

Yes. His name is still glorified in all the earth. Excuse me. Bless you. So Pharaoh was stubborn on his own, but God hardened his stubbornness. You want to take a crack at that one, Doug? His ways are not our ways. And so there are times where it just, you just trust the word and what it says that God hardened his heart. Did he override Pharaoh's will?

I don't see any evidence of that. Like you said, I see Pharaoh doing what Pharaoh did, but God said, okay, there's no hope for you. I'm going to harden your heart. He sealed Pharaoh in Pharaoh's man-made tomb. The closest thing I can come to it in my natural mind, Rick, is I love watching the movie, the Alamo. I love watching the movie, The Alamo. I love

watching that movie, John Wayne and everybody else in it. And I know how that movie is going to end. I know what happens every step of the way in that movie, but I still sit there and watch it. I watch it all the way through. Even though I know exactly, I can quote passages out of the alamo, but I know how it's gonna end. And in my natural mind, this kind of gives me an explanation for the situation with Pharaoh.

God's seen this drama before. He's heard it before. Where a desperate is trying to get rid of God's people. I see how this is going to end. I'm gonna let it go on. It's his choice, but I'm gonna harden his heart in it. Yes, he's gonna lock him inside the box that he made for himself.

Amen. All right, So Pharaoh made this box of stubbornness and climbed inside of it and glorified himself. And then God locked the door from the outside and said, you can't get out of your box of stubbornness. That That ought to be a warning to everybody. And in this verse it says, no, I'm sorry. No, be careful about the mindset that you build through your life. Some people, you don't want God locking you inside a mindset that's not godly and you can't get out. People that are judgmental, harsh, critical, negative, defamatory, slanderous, and are that way

through their entire life, you better be careful. God might just lock the door and say you're going to stay inside there. And yet there's some interplay there with human will too because in Hebrews chapter three verse 15 he says, while it is said today if you will hear his voice harden not your heart, you harden not your hearts as in the provocation. And it's quoting Psalm 95 8 there. The provocation, what was that? He's referring back to this. Back to this deliverance. And so in the New Testament it's not only recognizing that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, but Pharaoh was involved in the process too.

Yes. He hardened not your heart, as in the provocation. It's hard for human minds to comprehend that, but both are happening at the same time. They don't contradict each other. That's right. Pharaoh actively hardened his heart, and then God super hardened it and sealed it. Verse 18, therefore, have he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will harden it. So, I mean, this verse is flowing from the story in Exodus, Exodus 9, Pharaoh, which proves divine, sovereign decisions by God.

God's will reigns. Mercy – Moses got mercy, Pharaoh got wrath, and both were choices from God. Think about that. If you're being, if you've got an enemy in your life right now, be careful how you think about that enemy, what you say, what you think, what you regard to happen, how you respond to that enemy. Let mercy come to you. If not, the choices are mercy or wrath. have mercy. Have mercy.

Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy.

Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. today's politically correct ideology. Yes. Again, the left would pass a law, that we're gonna require God to be equitable in mercy. Again, mercy is free. It's not entitled to mercy. These are all... We just keep repeating this. Gifts from God.

Gifts are free and the giver chooses who receives the gifts. If the giver is entitled to give the gift to everybody, then it the joy of giving. It now is done begrudgingly, required by mankind to give mercy to everybody. But God freely gives who he desires, who he chooses to give. But his gifts have no strings. If they had strings, they're not gifts. we choose this gift, but his gifts have no strings. If they had strings, they're not gifts. He pardoneth. God locks sin's path.

If once God has seen that a person is determined to go down a path of sin, and that no effort, no amount of the Word of God, nothing will reach that person, then he hardens that person's heart. That doesn't mean that they become reprobate. Reprobates the final stage. Reprobate means you've been hardened to the point of no return. Yes. But God, I believe sometimes hardens people's hearts, so that there will be a point in the

future, it could be 10 to 20 years away, that they suffer such great loss and pain that they're in a state of shock, and they finally cry out to God for mercy. I think we all know people like that. And we weep for them, we pray for them, we know that they're on the wrong path of life. And you wonder if they're alive from here or not. Doc, Susan's, my wife Susan, her sister-in-law, her brother's wife, and their daughter and their granddaughter came to visit us on the weekend. We had a delightful time with them in our home. But Susan's niece, who I guess age wise, I'm going to say late 30s,

she might be older. She might say, Rick, you're too kind to me. I'm older. I'm thinking she's mid to late 30s, okay? She told us, it was Saturday night at dinner, that she is, I don't know if she said the only one or one of the few members of her high school class still alive. Wow. How old is she? I would say between 35 and 40. Really? Yes.

And I said drugs and she said, yes, they've all died by drugs. Drugs and suicide. or accidents caused by drugs and alcohol. She said, I think I thought she said, I'm the only one alive. She may have said, I'm one of the few people from my high school class alive. You know, Sam, all those young people, You know, Sam, all those young people, they went down the wrong path in life. You mean God allowed them to die unsaved? Yes. Yes. God hardens hearts as judgment. Let me say it again.

God hardens hearts as judgment. God lets sin ripen and then just what it serves. And why? Why does he do it? Why? Verse 19 tells us, I mean verse 17 tells us that I might show my power. Yes. All of us deserve his wrath. Mercy is not a right. It

is a gift. I think of the potters clay. God shapes us as he wills. But if the vessel, if the clay vessel is marred, the potter has the right to break it. That's right. And the pot has no say in it. If he cannot remove the impurities, if he cannot remove the flaw, he has the right to break the vessel. It's his vessel. This is the part that humans don't like to admit.

You were made by God, he owns you. He has no obligation to do anything that you desire. He's in charge. You belong to him, whether you serve him or not. He's sovereign. Thank God he's merciful. You know, when the more judgment that God brought upon Egypt, the more Pharaoh repeated hardening of his heart. And again, that's the danger that people put themselves in. When they are on the wrong path in life, they've chosen the wrong path.

They deliberately choose the wrong path in life. They've chosen the wrong path. They deliberately choose the wrong path. They deliberately reject everybody who tries to get them on the right path. They are at risk that God hardens their heart and they suffer great consequences for it. I've seen people, I'm not going to, I'm thinking of somebody right now, I'm not even going to tell the story because I don't want to in any way identify that person. Um, there's a man that claimed to be a, excuse me, claimed to be a Christian Christian businessman. And he was greedy. He was covetous. He was selfish. His entire life. I didn't know him his entire life, but I know he's not realized Who you got some serious problems?

But near the near the end of his life he suffered a great loss and got broken God was merciful, but at a great cost, a terrible price, a painful price, but God broke it and God showed mercy to it. There was no guarantee that God was going to do that. When I knew the man, he was up in his years and I thought, oh dude, you better, you better check your heart while it's still ticking. But God allowed that man to live that way his entire life. God was dealing with him, but he was always shutting the door to what God was saying to him.

But near the end of his life, he suffered tremendous painful loss, but it broke him. And I don't know the rest of the story of how his life came to an end. He was a broken man. He was not the same man. He actually came to me and repented and asked for my forgiveness. And I said, I forgave you years ago. But he knew he'd done wrong to many, many people. Yes. And he was trying to make it right before he died. But the price that he paid was terrible. He was at risk that God would let him die in his sin, even though his obituary would say a great Christian businessman.

But that's not what his obituary would what it said in heaven, that had he died and all things. So once again, repent fast. Hardening is a red flag. Resisting conviction is a red flag. When God called me to this ministry in 1998, after he had severely chastised me, dealt with me on some personal issues and then he showed me the vision that sparked this ministry and I said to him that then you've got the wrong person, you've got to have somebody who's holy. I can't do that. And I heard the Holy Spirit

say, Rick, I'm not choosing you because you're holy. I'm choosing you because you're a good repenter. When I convict you, when I convict you, you repent quickly. See, I know, so God doesn't say I'm choosing I've chosen you because you're perfect. You're you're good. You're righteous. You're oh my you smell so good. No, he said, I'm choosing you for this ministry because you're a good repenter. So um, that's the state you want to be, be a good repenter. If you want to excel at anything, excel in repentance. Because the opposite is to resist the Holy Spirit and that is hardening your heart. Yes. And when you do it long enough, you're at risk that God just shuts the door and locks it.

And so I'm just gonna let you in there for a long time. Yes. Oh Lord. And I'll still use you for my glory. Yes. See, I did. You're still, he's still use you for my glory. Yes See I did you're still he's gonna still use your for his glory. He's gonna get glory out of you one way or the other That's right. Even if you fight him Mm-hmm. Even if you attack God's people God's still gonna use you for his glory

Yes for his glory. Yes. All right, Doc, do you have anything else you want to add? No, I think you did a great job with this today, Rick, and I hope people really get this thought out here. Why is Paul addressing this particular issue? Not to say that the Jews are chosen, that the Jews are chosen, but that God can go outside of the Jewish people to save if He so desires. That's the case He's making here. The dispensationalist would say it's the other way, but really it's God saying, you know what, I'm going to save who I'll save. It has nothing to do with you. If I choose Jacob over Esau, that's my choice. So all these things that are leading up to this that Paul is laying out here, it's all about the relationship in Jews and the gospel, saying that this is not reserved for a certain group of people, and you don't have access to it. God has decided, I'm choosing my own way. I'm choosing my people.

And I'm choosing people who believe me. That's what I'm choosing today. So that's the only thing I would add, Rick. Brian said, I'm on auto repent. Yes, I saw that. That's great. I have to keep that one, Brian. That's a keeper. So, praise God. But remember folks, if you've made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ and you believe His word by faith, you're chosen by God. You are chosen by God. Just as much as Abraham is chosen and Isaac and Jacob, God has chosen you because you believed. Yes.

Isn't that awesome? And if you're in Christ, you're secure. Praise God. Thank God. It has nothing to do with me because I'd screw it up, Rick. I know I would. Yeah, just find yourself a comfortable position and stay there. Yeah. Just stay there. It's safe, it's warm, it's happy,

and your enemies can't get to you there. They might, they might try. But when you're in Christ, it's like being in a glass house and the wolves are outside walking around. They can see you and you can see them. All right. Well, Rick, I think we can figure out how to get in to get you. Praise God. But they're there. Yes. Well, now, as we continue our study in the ninth chapter of Romans, now Paul's going to start making the case that's going to blow some of the Jewish people's minds in that God's chosen Gentiles too. That's a sneak preview of what's coming up here,

that God in His sovereign will has also chosen Gentiles. Oh my word, that can't be, but it's true. Praise God it's true. All right, we'll get there soon. All right. Bye, everyone. A great day today and tune in tomorrow morning, Wednesday morning, 8 a.m. live here on faithandvalues.com for another edition of Morning Manate. We'd love to have you here with us and we look forward to the next edition. God bless you, we love you, and we'll see you on the next Morning Manate.