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- [00:00]
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Dr. Tim Clinton
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- [02:04]
Dr. Tim Clinton
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- [03:03]
Ryan Helfenbein
December 14, 2025 welcome to Real America's Voice News. This is Sunday the Road Forward. We are now in the third week of Advent, drawing ever closer to celebrating the birth of our Savior. Even in these turbulent times, we remember that God's promises are certain. 700 years before Christ was born, the prophet Micah declared exactly where the Messiah would enter the world, a reminder that nothing catches God by surprise and his plan of redemption was set in motion before the foundation of the earth. Our scripture today comes from Micah 5:2 but you, O Bethlehem, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, the one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. As always, we want to be an encouragement to our viewers and listeners to hold fast to the Gospel and the unchanging Word of God. I'm Ryan Helfenbein filling in for Dr. Tim Clinton. I'll be your host today.
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Brad Brandon
Oh come let us adore him oh.
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Ryan Helfenbein
Come let us adore him Christ the.
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Lucas Miles
Lord.
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Ryan Helfenbein
For he alone is worthy for.
- [04:32]
Brad Brandon
He alone is worthy.
- [04:42]
Dr. Tim Clinton
For more encouragement and to stay connected, follow Dr. Tim Clinton on Facebook, Instagram and X. We love being a part of your life.
- [04:58]
Ryan Helfenbein
Joining us now is Lucas Miles. Lucas is the lead Pastor of Influence Church. He's also the Senior Director of TP USA Faith and the host of the Strong Church Podcast. He is author of numerous books, including most recently New York Times best selling author of the Pagan Threat Confronting America's Godless Uprising. Lucas, it's great to see you. Welcome to Sunday the Road Forward.
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Lucas Miles
Ryan, thanks for having me. Always good to be with you.
- [05:25]
Ryan Helfenbein
Well brother, I really appreciate what you're doing at Turning Point Faith. You guys are growing by leaps and bounds, hosting meetings all across the country. You've got a network of thousands of pastors that you're reaching, really giving them a great resource. First of all, them recognizing they're not alone in what they're doing. I think about a lot of Blue State pastors. I'm in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And things are going to be changing. In 2026, a new administration takes office. Many pastors just need encouragement to stand strong, preach boldly in the pulpit, and certainly not to balk at political cultural issues that are gospel issues that are confronting their churches. What, what really is TP Faith doing in terms of encouraging pastors to be bold?
- [06:23]
Lucas Miles
Absolutely. First off, Ryan is one of my favorite things to talk about. I love pastors. Charlie Kirk Love pastors. We have about 8, 000 pastors right now that we work with at TPUSA Faith across the country and across denominational lines. There's not a lot of groups that can put charismatics and Calvinists in the same room and, and have them get along and all in between. And we're finding unity around primary doctrine and, and really just the importance of preaching the full counsel of the word of God. Yeah, we might have, you know, you know, robust discussions about secondary issues, but we understand what's at stake right now. We understand that one day we're all going to be in heaven together. We'll have perfect theology, then we can work out some of these other issues later. But right now there's a job to do, and it's time for the church to truly be that city on a hill. So we've created a lot of resources for our churches. We have dozens of. Of courses and curriculum classes that the churches can utilize free of charge, including our first truce class, as well as we're probably one of the larger providers of Rick Green's Biblical citizenship course, which become a great resource for churches to get them started. We also do a lot of pastor roundtables, and of course we have our flagship pastor summit. So twice a year. We could do more in the future. Still undecided. As we grow, we do, you know, major pastor summits on both sides of the country. And this is a time where we'll get, you know, anywhere from. I think our biggest one last year was 1800 faith leaders. We're going to do one in Dallas in the spring. We'll have more on that here soon. But that's gonna. I'm expecting up to 3,000 pastors to show up for this. It's a time of training, fellowship, discipleship, pouring into these guys, helping them to know that they're not alone. They're not that prophet in a cave. They're not the only one left that there's a. There's a full, you know, army of. Of men and women in ministry willing to kind of lock arms with them and get the job done.
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Ryan Helfenbein
Yes. More recently, Erica Kirk has actually gone on tour with the release of her book, or actually Charlie's book. This has been released posthumously. But stop in the name of God. This is all about stop. Sabbath rest and keeping Sabbath rest and keeping the day holy. But I wanted you to talk a little bit about that. That was near to Charlie's heart, something that he kept as a regular practice, and he drew great benefit from it. Tell us a little bit about what you've learned from this book.
- [08:47]
Lucas Miles
Yeah, honestly, I'm. I'm still reading it right now, and it's phenomenal. Charlie had shared with me probably about a year ago that he was working on the book, maybe a little over that, and just wanted to get kind of some initial thoughts. And by no means did I, did I offer, you know, a bunch of help. It was just more encouragement, you know, for him as he was working on the topic. It was such a revelation for him, this idea of Sabbath rest and. And, you know, Charlie, it was not legalistic for him. It wasn't just about, you know, checking a box. It was really a. He saw it as a divine ordering of his. Of his week, a divine ordering of his thoughts, much in the same way that, you know, as we set aside a tithe unto the Lord, that, you know, he's setting aside a day if forces you to kind of get the rest of your finances in order in the case of a tie, the rest of your. Your time management in the order, you know, in regards to the Sabbath. I've been reading through this book. I've been honestly very convicted, very moved. I have filled in for quite a few interviews for, you know, just the team in. In helping to promote this book. Charlie wrote the forward for my most recent book, Pagan Threat. And much of its success, honestly, was. Was, you know, could be pointed to that. Charlie's involvement with that project. I was honored to have him there. It's. It's an honor to play any sort of a small role in getting the word out about his. His really final words here in Stopping the Name of God. This is a book that every single person needs to read. All the chaos around us, all the confusion, all the factions, you know, this is all symptomatic of the fact that we don't actually understand what really resting in God is. It's more than just a day. Jesus is our Sabbath day rest. When you start understanding that, I believe it begins to frame your world in a different way. And a lot of this noise that we're hearing you know, just. Just begins to dissipate.
- [10:31]
Ryan Helfenbein
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm gonna park here for just a moment, actually, because I think this subject is so important for Christians to understand. It's not just an Old Testament practice. When you go to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews unpacks really what Sabbath rest is all about. And in Hebrews chapter four, when we read there, we recognize that rest is really entering into this knowledge of God and this peace of God. We recognize fundamentally that there is a Savior and no, we are not Him. Yeah, the Savior is Jesus Christ. And when we enter into his rest, we rest in his work. What works, the work at the cross. Jesus Christ died for us. He did a work we could not do. And when we rest, fundamentally, when we rest it one day a week, it could fall any day on any day of the week. If we set that aside, we recognize we are not Messiah, there is a Savior, He's Jesus Christ, and that our work will not save us either. So you, you know, whatever we think that we're restless in. Oh, my goodness, if I don't do this, X, Y, or Z, whatever it is on your agenda, you know, I'm going to. I'm not going to make my mortgage payment this month or I'm not going to be able to afford groceries. All of those things are real. Those are real concerns. But the Lord has appointed a time for us just to rest in him and to rely upon his provision and his grace over us. You're a pastor. I know many people in churches are exhausted today. They're run. They're run ragged. They. They. You want to encourage people to come to worship on Sunday morning, devote that time for rest in worship. But. But people need to do this because it's not. It's not a legal obligation. It's actually for their good.
- [12:37]
Lucas Miles
Yeah, I think it's important that this starts. I mean, look, first off, let's just, you know, be direct about this. If you just did this as a practice, even without any spiritual connection, it would benefit you to take time to rest and shut down your phone and all those sorts of things. That's not solely what Charlie was a proponent of. Charlie understood that rest, first and foremost, was found in God. You look at the story of Genesis, and in chapter one, it was evening and morning the first day. It's interesting. The day actually started with rest. We think of a new day is when we wake up, but actually the day started with evening and then morning. So the first thing that we do as human beings when we start our day, from a biblical standpoint is we rest, we sleep, that's. That's the start of the day, and then we work afterwards. And so work is an overflow from the rest rather than a, you know, some sort of thing that we have to arrest, that we have to earn in that sense. And so. But I think that more importantly, what you touched on is so huge, is that, you know, Jesus is our Sabbath day rest. He is where we find our peace. He's where we find our freedom from investigation of our lives. That we're able to find a faith, righteousness in him that allows just, just this deep exhale. It's more than just getting a break and, and more than just, you know, having time to think. Those things are all very, very valuable. But I think that the, the bigger part of this is really seeing that there is a, a true peace that can come from resting in Christ. And when you understand that, it's much easier to devote that day of the week, to be able to say, you know, what, God, just as. As an overflow of what you've given me as a reminder to myself of the relationship that I have with you, I'm setting aside this time for you. I've not been great at doing this throughout my life. I've been a go, go, go kind of person. I'm being very convicted by this book right now. It's. It's Charlie at his best, and I would encourage everybody to get a copy.
- [14:35]
Ryan Helfenbein
You know, speaking of, of rest, there are some that absolutely need to give this whole conspiracy mill, this grift, this endless speculation into various theories surrounding Charlie's murder, his assassination. They just need to give this a rest. It's. It's time to actually let this go and allow justice to be pursued. Erica kind of went out. She did. She went out very boldly, graciously, got in a, in a, in a godly frame and went out and spoke very publicly about that. This, this past week, even addressing some people asked her. She didn't bring it up, but they asked her what she thought about Candace Owens, and she asked her to stop. She told her, please stop. What are your thoughts about this? As. As somebody who is obviously a representative in the organization. And you see the grief not only that Erica bears, but many within Turning Point bear that grief. They saw the horror that day. And there's no justice when people are just endlessly cycling, shamelessly cycling bad information.
- [15:57]
Lucas Miles
Yeah, there's so much here, right? I was an outsider when I came into Turning Point. Charlie invited Me to be part of the team about 18 months ago to take over the, the lead role for tpusa Faith. And it was an honor to serve. Underneath him, Erica has been doing just a phenomenal job of. And honestly, she shouldn't have to. She shouldn't have to be doing a tour. She shouldn't have to be addressing these things. And, you know, the fact that that's even necessary right now is, Is really an indictment against, you know, many of these podcasters that have been pushing this. What I think a lot of people, just the general American people don't understand is the way in which social media works and the way in which a lot of these people make their money. They, they make their money off of views. They make their money on people staying on their page, on watching their videos, on how much interaction and engagement they have on their post. And so these, these individuals many times are not. They're not. They're disingenuous, I think is probably the best way to say it. And they're. They're pushing information because they know it's going to get, you know, kind of a rise out of people. They know it's going to get comments on their page, they know it's going to get views, and they're just watching kind of that, that, you know, monetization of their platform just keep ticking up. And because people don't. Media is different than how it used to be. It's no longer just investigative reporters running out and going to get a story and just having a salary and they don't make any more. It's now their, their living is off of the scandal. Their living is off of the charge. Everything else, you know, the Bible says that, you know, one of the things the Lord hates is a false witness. Yeah, that. That is a, that is a major statement that I think should cause a lot of people to stop in their tracks. And look, I, I'm not going to get into, you know, a ton of the fray on this, but I, I would want to speak to even more than just maybe some of those voices that are driving the, the major conversation, the other people that are sharing, retweeting, that have no connection, no engagement, you know, that think they know everything about Charlie Kirk because they've heard from one person. Well, the Bible says the first one to speak, it seems right until the second one responds. And so, you know, I think that Erica has been that second one to respond right now and think it's very clear where truth lives. Look, I've been around, you know, TPUSA for the last 18 months. A lot of these podcasters that they, they have it all figured out. You know what? I've not seen them anywhere to be found. Why? Because they're not on the inside circle of what's happening. Charlie had his closest people right there next to him. These are the people defending him. These are the people who loved him. These are the people that I think, you know, want the best for, not only him, but the organization that he built. And I think that the truth is coming out. And hopefully, hopefully the American people, and especially Christians out there will recognize just the depravity of slander, the depravity of gossip, the depravity of, of a false witness and really return and repent and come back to the truth. A lot of people owe Erica Kirk an apology.
- [18:46]
Ryan Helfenbein
I agree wholeheartedly. They do owe her an apology. The entire Turning Point team. And those are sobering words on a Sunday morning. I just want to wish you, though, pastor, a Merry Christmas. Lucas, thank you for all you're doing to encourage pastors to encourage Erica Kirk and those at Turning Point and certainly for leading Turning Point Faith so well. It is great to see you.
- [19:11]
Lucas Miles
Good to see you. A merry Christmas. Ryan.
- [19:14]
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Lucas Miles
How about prayer?
- [19:19]
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Ryan Helfenbein
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- [23:34]
Ryan Helfenbein
Joining us now is Brad Brandon. He is the founder and CEO of across Nigeria and for over 20 years he served in pastoral ministry and for 10 years he was a daily drive time radio host for Salem Communications. He has articles published by Daily Wire, Washington Times and the Christian Post along with other media outlets. Since 2018, he has been actively serving in the foreign mission fields, predominantly in high risk areas, especially in Nigeria. Brad Brandham, welcome to Sunday the Road Forward. It is great to see you.
- [24:12]
Brad Brandon
Hey Ryan, good to be on with you.
- [24:14]
Ryan Helfenbein
Brad. You are doing the Lord's work and you're doing it in a very difficult place. Some Americans are aware of what's happening in Nigeria. Can't help but notice, you know, we're in the the Advent season. It is Christmas time in America. We have to recognize that even in the year of our Lord's birth there has been persecution. Herod wanted him dead. And ever since then, those who serve the Lord Jesus Christ, wherever they are around the world have faced tremendous persecution.
- [24:52]
Brad Brandon
Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Northern Nigeria is one of those areas. Last year, more than 70% of all the Christians killed in the entire world were killed in northern Nigeria. We're looking at anywhere from the numbers are coming in now. Anywhere from eighty to a hundred thousand Christians have been killed since 2009. The UN even estimates that 350,000 people have been killed since 2002. The book the Formation of Boko Haram from the instability that's caused. So not from the violence directly, but the instability. It is the most persecuted place in the world right now. Not only in the in the way of killings, but also displacement. Nigeria has about 3.5 million people in internally displaced persons camps. 80% of those camps are populated by Christians. These are Christians who have lost their homes, their villages have been destroyed. They've lost everything. So they have nowhere else to go but these camps. The conditions are horrible in these camps. And so yeah, the persecution is being targeted right now against Christians and it's the worst it's ever been. I've been working there for about 10 years and it's certainly at its peak and looks like it's not going to get any better anytime soon.
- [26:14]
Ryan Helfenbein
President Trump did designate it through the State Department as a country of particular concern. He did issue an ultimatum to the political leaders in Nigeria to end the killing or else. What role does American leadership, particularly from the American president, what does that play right now? How important is it that Christians in America understand how. How critical persecution is in Nigeria?
- [26:50]
Brad Brandon
Well, I think the. The United States government is the only government that, that has the power to intervene and do something and put a stop to this. There's really no other government on. On the earth right now that can actually do something about it. So I think that may causes us to have an obligation to respond. And President Trump is doing that. He did that in his first term. He designated Nigeria a country of particular concern. When President Biden was elected, one of the first things he did was take Nigeria off the country of particular concern list. The year that he did that, there were about 5,000 Christians that were killed. So inexplicable, inexplicably, he just took the them off the country of particular concern list. Now that President Trump is back in the White House, he's going after the persecution once again by putting Nigeria back on that list. It's an official designation by the State Department. And what it allows is for our government to use, number one, diplomatic measures to put pressure on the Nigerian government to put a stop to this, the jihad that's happening, the genocide that's happening in northern Nigeria. It also allows us to put sanctions on Nigeria, which puts more pressure on the Nigerian government to respond. And then also what that designation does is allows. It allows us to withhold aid. So further putting pressure on the Nigerian government to put a stop to it. Ted Cruz is getting involved. He introduced the Nigerian Accountability act with Representative Stoltzman. And, and, and that basically does two things. It allows sanctions to be put on Nigeria and not only the Nigerian government, but the local governors who are promoting Sharia law in northern Nigeria. So the government, the Nigeria, the United States government is responding and putting pressure on the Nigerian government, but the Nigerian government is still outright denying that there's any Christian genocide happening.
- [28:56]
Ryan Helfenbein
Right. And they want to find other ways. They're the people that try to excuse it and try to find other ways to say or explain away. Well, no, these are being motivated by other factors. Economic concerns, tribal disputes, those types of things, rather than what it actually is. And let's be clear, Christians, Christian missionaries, they're responsible for caring for orphans. They're responsible for building schools, teaching children how to read. They're responsible for medical care, health care. When you're killing Christians, you're, you're literally destroying the culture of life, but life supporting missions that are taking place in that region, and that's what makes it so devastating. It's bad enough to kill people for wanting to have a Bible study and share the love of Jesus. But we're talking about people that are helping Muslims, but they're being killed and slaughtered by Muslims.
- [30:02]
Brad Brandon
Yeah, that's one of the focuses of our ministry across Nigeria is not only do we help the persecuted Christians in northern Nigeria, but we also help Muslims, the ones who are even doing the killing and the persecuting. The Fulani Muslims, for instance, now some of them are radicalized and militarized, but there are socioeconomic issues with the Fulani Muslims that are connected to the killing of Christians. But underlying it all is the Islamic ideology behind it. We go into those areas and we'll drill wells in Muslim communities. We have a education system throughout northern Nigeria that educates thousands of Fulani Muslim children, gives them the opportunity to read and write English. If you can read and write English in northern Nigeria, that's like having a college education. Most Fulani Muslims can only speak Hausa. The official language of Nigeria is English. We go in there and teach them English so that it opens the door of opportunities for them. Not only are we bringing education opportunities, but medical opportunities. We go into Fulani Muslim communities and show them the love of Christ. And we've been well received. I should say. Most of the Fulani Muslims that we work with, they do want peace. They see the value of peace and the cost of violence. We travel all throughout northern Nigeria and bring Christian and Muslim communities together and talk to them about that very thing, the cost of violence and the, and the, and the, the benefits of peace in their community. Anytime we've gone to through one of our peace tours, we have no less than 4 to 5,000 people show up to our peace tours to listen to us hear about, talk about, listen to us talk about peace. So there is an interest in peace, and many people in northern Nigeria want peace. It's the radicalized Muslims who are trying to continue to destabilize northern Nigeria so that they can retain power of the region.
- [32:06]
Ryan Helfenbein
You know, I think a lot of Westerners have been somewhat naive about Sharia law. And more and more I'm seeing trends where that has become a focus, a talking point now in the west where people are understanding there's a little bit more to this. It's not just about religious people having religious services in their religious houses of worship that it actually spills over into public policy. It spills over into superseding the laws of that particular country or nation. The UK for instance, or even in city council meetings here in the United States. Sharia is an all encompassing, totalizing worldview. It's not just some kind of religious council. Could you speak to a little bit to that?
- [33:02]
Brad Brandon
Yeah, I can. The 12 of the northern Nigeria states are controlled by Sharia law. So most of the year I operate in areas that are not only controlled by ISWA and Boko Haram, but also under Sharia law. Sharia law has no interest in assimilating. What they want to do is dominate, and they use Sharia law to do that. You only need to look at Europe is the canary in the coal mine and sort of the predictor of the future of what happens when Sharia law takes over. You have entire areas of London and other cities throughout north throughout Europe, like Berlin and other parts of Switzerland, they have no go zones. These are areas where first responders, police can't even enter these neighborhoods because they're controlled by Sharia law. It's about domination. And even recently under the arbitration act in the uk, it calls for Sharia courts to be used as precedent in their own courts. So now you have Sharia courts dictating what's going to happen in UK courts. We see that happening here. We see the very beginnings of it happening here in the United states. Back in 2009 in New Jersey, there was a case of a superior court judge who consulted a Sharia law expert, a family's imom in a case of abuse. The wife was accusing the husband. Excuse? Yeah, the wife was accusing the husband of abuse and the judge consulted the imam. Under Sharia law, a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man's. So under the guide of the imam, the judge ruled in favor of the husband. That's just one way that we see here in the United States that Sharia law is creeping its way in now. That case was ultimately overturned, but it just shows the volition of those who are interested in Sharia law and want Sharia law to bring that into our country. And they have no interest of assimilating. They want to dominate. And Sharia law is absolutely opposed to our Constitution. The two cannot stand together. And I think Americans need to wake up to that and realize that there is a push to bring Sharia law and radical Islam here to the United States.
- [35:26]
Ryan Helfenbein
That is absolutely true. That cannot be overstated. The threat is real. Brad, Brandon, thank you so much for joining us on Sunday, the Road Forward Founder and CEO of Across Nigeria. Merry Christmas to you and to your family. We really appreciate you coming on.
- [35:46]
Brad Brandon
Thanks Ryan. You too.
- [35:50]
Dr. Tim Clinton
For more encouragement and to stay connected, follow Dr. Tim Klin on Facebook, Instagram and X. We love being a part of your life.
- [36:05]
Caring Counsel Bible Announcer
Do people ever come to you asking for help? Maybe Hope?
- [36:08]
Lucas Miles
How about prayer?
- [36:10]
Caring Counsel Bible Announcer
Do you ever wish you understood the issues better that people are wrestling with? Or how about how to use the Bible more effectively in caring for people? If so, I'd love to get a copy of our Care and Counsel Bible in Your Hands featuring 116 topics written by some of the world's best mental health and ministry experts. I think you'll love it. Topics like discouragement, abuse, depression, divorce anxiety, abortion and more. So you can learn more about these issues and how to use the Bible more effectively how to share passages of Scripture with others, maybe even yourself as you're sitting down over a cup of coffee. You know what I love most about this Bible is that it's so easy to use. You can find right up front an index with subjects, key passages of scripture, personality profiles and so much more to go to so you can use the Bible more effectively in caring for other people. The Caring Council Bible right now is retailing for $85. We're going to make it available to you for just 49.99 plus shipping. I think you're going to love it. Hey, for more information about how you can get this Bible right now, go to caringcouncil. That's careandcouncil.com do you feel like your.
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Dr. Tim Clinton
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Ryan Helfenbein
Joining us now is Troy Miller. He is the president and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters, one of the most important Christian organizations for communication in our nation. Troy, welcome to Sunday the Road Forward. It is great to see you.
- [40:13]
Troy Miller
It's great to see you again, Ryan, and great to be with you today.
- [40:16]
Ryan Helfenbein
Well, I'm, I'm honored as always. And I just want to first of all say I'm at Liberty University and I see young people all the time. I think about Gen Z often. NRB certainly has has Gen Z at the top of their mind. At your focus is reaching down to that next generation, making sure that the oldest generation doesn't die with the baton in their hand, but they extend it to the next generation. We're seeing trends of revival in our nation. Bible sales up, Bible app downloads are up, Christian music is up, church attendance, baptisms, you name it. All of that is starting to trend back. For years we were experiencing some kind of static decline. It seemed like every year was worse than the year before. Pew Research more recently released a study demonstrating that faith is making a Comeback in a very big way. This is the Charlie Kirk generation that grew up watching him. And many of them are saying, want to give faith a chance. I didn't grow up with faith. I think one out of three, Gen Z did not grow up in any kind of church whatsoever, any kind of religious experience. And now we have this opportunity through Christian broadcasting, through podcasting, through all kinds of digital technology to reach them. You're doing that?
- [41:52]
Troy Miller
Well, yeah, Ryan, our members are doing that. And you're right. Look, we have seen over. You know, it really was over the last year. We did our own study back in January, and we found out that 64% of Gen Z was tuning into some form of Christian media. I mean, that's huge. Almost two thirds of that population were tuning in. And they were looking for very specific things. When we did our study, they were looking for, first of all, hope and encouragement. They were rejecting the world that was constantly just putting despair upon them. I mean, that was really the counter to that. And then they were also. And this was the really exciting news. They wanted to know how to better understand their Bible and to know God better. And here's the third one, because there's a bunch of statistics out there that have talked about the Gen Z is one of the loneliest generations that we've seen in years. And they really were hoping. We asked them, what is your hope when you engage with Christian media? And they said, my hope is to have better, stronger, and more meaningful relationships with other people. So we have a generation out there that realizes, I think, that they feel lost. And so now we've just seen this spike. And unfortunately, since Charlie Kirk's assassination, that, that unfortunate event, though, I think it really affected that generation more than any other generation. It affected them. And they've been seeking the truth since September.
- [43:22]
Ryan Helfenbein
Yes, I. I wholeheartedly agree that in the wake of that tragedy, I think many people are saying, you know, I'm experiencing hell right now, some version of it. Depression, suicide, loneliness, anxiety. I think of what Jonathan Haidt calls him as the anxious generation, most depressed generation. And yet this is the. This generation of affluent, easy money. I mean, I'm just saying in terms of how many people have access to things more than ever before, and yet they feel so depressed. And when they saw what happened to Charlie, many of them are seeking truth. They want a taste of heaven, and they want to know what is the good. And they need to know Jesus Christ. This is an opportunity.
- [44:13]
Troy Miller
Right? They're really looking for meaning and purpose in their lives. I mean, all of the things that lead to that, that despair and that loneliness. But excuse me, the root of that is trying to understand the meaning and purpose in their lives.
- [44:26]
Ryan Helfenbein
Yes, you have some challenges. Obviously we, we all experience them as Christians. Today, the, the most persecuted group in the world are Christians confessing Christians. People have given public witness and public testimony to their faith in Jesus Christ. The most persecuted group in the world. We are going to talk a little bit about Nigerian persecution, but I do want to talk about the kind of soft tyranny that we experience in the the West. It's sort of the soft totalitarianism. The live not by lies Rod Dreher book talks about that. We see where censorship has happened in the past where whether it be the, the government pressuring social media apps to censor. We see public censorship on broadcast of, you know, major broadcasting corporations like CNN and NBC and abc. Viewpoint discrimination happening often. Sometimes there will be an interview in which the guest is saying something that the network doesn't like and then they mute them. It's usually a conservative perspective. It's a targeted kind of censorship. But we also see it with the Johnson Amendment and this is not over yet. And I'm thinking more specifically of recently a church that I was a part of in my youth, First Baptist Church of Dallas, Pastor Robert Jeffress, just gave testimony at the Religious Liberty Commission talking about we really need to see something happening with the Johnson Amendment. Can you talk a little bit about that?
- [46:09]
Rush Truck Centers Announcer
Yeah, I can.
- [46:10]
Troy Miller
And first of all, I really appreciate the President for putting that commission together to look at all of the bias and discrimination and even weaponization against Christianity. For the most part in this country, that's the number one religion that is really discriminated against in these various institutions. So they've looked at education, they've looked at the government, and now in the part of that, they're again looking at the irs. So this Johnson Amendment, just really quick, if your viewers don't understand it, Lyndon B. Johnson, back in 1957, after he won the Senate race, he put this amendment into an appropriations bill that said that at the core of the problem, there's three things in there. Don't give the campaigns the amount of lobbying, but the core was he stopped pastors, churches from endorsing or opposing candidates. And so for 170 years churches could do this. Pastors did it all the time. Matter of fact, he did it because multiple churches had opposed his Senate race. And this was a way to silence that. So we took this to court a year ago under the biden administration, we took the IRS to court. That case is active. We had a hearing on November 25. We came to a what's called a consensus decree with the Justice Department. And now that's before the judge, and we're waiting for the judge's ruling on that. So Robert Jefferson, his pastor, he gave his account with the IRS where he simply had a sermon, a meeting, a time where they were praying for candidates, they were praying for the election, they were praying for this country. And he received one of those letters from the irs, those chilling letters that said, cease and desist or we're going to take away your tax exemption. And so we said, look, that's a violation of pastors first Amendment rights of both freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And by the way, Ryan, the other thing is it has been unbalanced in its enforcement by the irs. They could not produce a single letter where they had set instance where they had sent the same letter to a liberal progressive church in this country. So we're hoping this case will get decided in the next 60 days and pastors, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of conscience will be restored for them once again to shepherd their congregations in who governs this country.
- [48:37]
Ryan Helfenbein
You know, it's interesting. I mean, many people watching this program, we're not naive, Troy. We have seen time and time again exactly as you say, where there is selective enforcement. We know of many churches across this country that do lean left and have used their platforms or their pulpits, and there are altars, you know, to, to host candidates. I'm thinking of the historic church, Ebenezer Church in, in Atlanta. I'm even thinking of There was some 300 churches in my Commonwealth of Virginia, where I live, that hosted a forum with Kamala Harris. She was candidating, very clearly candidating for office. And this was back in 2020. They, they allowed for her to come and, and they did a simulcast. There was 300 churches that broadcast this. There was no warning from the IRS that this was sort of undue influence on the election. They did not receive any kind of soft or gentle rebuke and hey, a warning, don't do that. But we know of many organizations that have been targeted by the IRS going back to Lois Lerner. I think of Franklin Graham, Samaritan's Purse at the top of that list. They were targeted with audits. And this is a, this is an intimidation, a coercion tactic that has been used time and time again.
- [50:10]
Troy Miller
Yeah, you can go all the way back. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris were not only did they appear in churches, they were directly endorsed by the pastors. You can go see the videos. We have the videos. We had all the links. They were directly endorsed and yet silence crickets from the IRS on that. And yet two churches that just prominent churches, Pastor Jeffers church of course in Dallas and a church in your area also had simply a prayer. Cornerstone Church. Thank you. Cornerstone had just simply prayed, prayed for the candidates, didn't endorse, didn't say vote for, just prayed for them and both immediately received that letter throwing that chill into them that you're going to lose your tax exemption status. So just keep watching. This case is going to come out soon and by God's favor, that right, that privilege, that liberty will be restored to these pastors.
- [51:15]
Ryan Helfenbein
Absolutely. We just have a couple of more minutes here and I would be remiss if I did not talk about the persecution happening in Nigeria. You took part in a trip more recently where you were over there and we're raising international awareness about this. Over 125,000 some odd Christians since 2009 have been killed in the name of radical Islam. But these are Christian martyrs. This is a reminder of Hebrews chapter 11. Men and women for whom the world was not worthy. I wanted you to share a little bit about what's going on there.
- [51:54]
Troy Miller
That's right. So I was in Nigeria actually for a broadcast conference and to meet with some of the leaders there. And of course in northern Nigeria at the hands of primarily radical Islamists. And that's really the 99% of what's going on there. Their expansion across the country, as Islam has done over the last several hundred years is all done by force. And so they'll go into these villages sometimes they give them 24 hours to move or be gone, lose everything you own. But a lot of times they just go in and slaughter everybody in the village simply because they're Christians who hold a belief in Jesus Christ. But Ryan, that's just the kind of right now the hot spot, the tip of the spear around the world. The most dangerous belief you can hold today is Christianity, a belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That's the most dangerous whether you're across other Chad, Sudan, South Africa, the Congo, all of these areas. Kenya, high persecution India. Northern India had over 4,000 incidents of arson across for churches and Christian related buildings and organizations this year alone. Ryan, 1,000 arson incidents in Europe of attacks on Christian churches burned to the ground or damaged severely. South Korea, a supposedly democratic country has locked up two, three pastors now simply for speaking out the truth of marriage between a man and a woman and calling out transgenderism. So it's very dangerous. We, of course, a lot of bias and discrimination here in America, in the west, but there are Christians around the world that are putting their lives and have lost their lines. As you said, the world is not worthy of them simply because they will not denounce their Lord and Savior.
- [53:50]
Ryan Helfenbein
Wow. We will leave it right there. It is a good reminder. Even in this Christmas season, the season of Advent where we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us came into this world, but this world did not receive him. Even Herod in the very beginning wanted him dead. And it's a good reminder. It's a sobering reminder that even today there are many in the world that want, sadly, Christians dead. Please stay right here. I'm Ryan Helfenbein. You're watching Sunday the Road Forward. I'll be right back after the short break with my final thoughts.
- [54:28]
Caring Counsel Bible Announcer
Do people ever come to you asking for help? Maybe hope?
- [54:32]
Lucas Miles
How about prayer?
- [54:34]
Caring Counsel Bible Announcer
Do you ever wish you understood the issues better that people are wrestling with? Or how about how to use the Bible more effectively in caring for people? If so, I'd love to get a copy of our Caring Counsel Bible in Your Hands featuring 116 topics written by some of the world's best mental health and ministry experts. I think you'll love it. Topics like discouragement, abuse, depression, divorce, anxiety, abortion and more. So you can learn more about these issues and how to use the Bible more effectively, how to share passages of scripture with others, maybe even yourself as you're sitting down over a cup of coffee. You know what I love most about this Bible is that it's so easy to use. You can find right up front an index with subjects, key passages of scripture, personality profiles and so much more to go to so you can use the Bible more effectively in caring for other people. Caring Counsel Bible right now is retailing for $85. We're going to make it available to you for just 49.99 plus shipping. I think you're going to love it. Hey, for more information about how you can get this Bible right now, go to caringcouncil.com that's careandcouncil.com.
- [55:53]
Dr. Tim Clinton
For more encouragement and to stay connected, follow Dr. Tim Clinton on Facebook, Instagram and X. We love being a part of your life. Do you feel like your values are being challenged right now? It seems like our beliefs are constantly under fire that's why it's important to partner with organizations that share your beliefs. America's Christian Credit Union is committed to standing firm in our faith, serving the community and bringing you the best financial services. Now, with their elite checking program, you can take your banking to a whole new level. With up to 4% APY on checking balances under $15,000, early pay, exclusive loan discounts, built in cell phone protection, ID theft monitoring, everyday shopping discounts, and more, ACCU works alongside Christians nationwide to advance God's work because your money should reflect your mission. Are you ready to bank with purpose? Visit American to learn more and make the switch. Early pay depends on when your employer sends your paycheck. We can't guarantee early direct deposit. APY equals annual percentage yield. America's Christian Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA.
- [57:07]
TJ Maxx Announcer
Making the holidays Magical for everyone on your list it's no small feat, but with TJ Maxx, your magic multiple with quality finds arriving daily through Christmas Eve, you'll save on luxe cashmere, the latest tech toys and more. So you can check off every name on your list and treat yourself to a holiday look that'll turn heads. Now you know where to go to make all that holiday magic. It's T.J. maxx, of course. It's shaping up to be a very magical holiday if you're an H Vac.
- [57:37]
Grainger Announcer
Technician and a call comes in. Grainger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [58:05]
Dr. Tim Clinton
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Ryan Helfenbein
Feel that synergy?
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Dr. Tim Clinton
That's why the Zebra searches for you, comparing over 100 insurance companies to find savings no one else can compare. Today@the zebra.com who's ready for the trust fall?
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- [58:52]
Ryan Helfenbein
Thank you for watching Sunday the road forward. J.C. ryle once wrote this the saddest symptom about many so called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and f fight. In their Christianity they eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a constant round of formal religious services. But the great spiritual warfare, its watchings, its strugglings, its agonies, its battle, its contest, its wrestlings are matters of which they appear to know nothing at all. The hour demands more than comfortable Christianity. It demands soldiers of the cross who are willing to stand, to fight and to endure. May we be found faithful in this battle. I'll leave you with that until next time. Merry Christmas and God bless you.
- [60:03]
TJ Maxx Announcer
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Ryan Helfenbein
Guaranteed human.