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It's Tuesday, May 5, 2026. I'm Albert Mohler and this is the Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. The way the world works is something many of us don't have to think about until all of a sudden we have to think about it. It's quite easy and natural for human beings to be engaged in our everyday activities. And we don't pause often to think about the bigger meaning of things until we have to. Sometimes there are big developments in the world that simply demand our attention. And even so, it's amazing how many Americans can simply move on as if nothing's happening. And they basically exhibit no inclination to think about it at any level under the surface at all. So I know that's not true. As you're listening to the Briefing, I want us to look a little deeper at a couple of things that are just now inescapable as matters of our attention. And the state of the world is one way to talk about what is on our mind today. And let's just say that we have to start in the Strait of Hormuz. We have to start with the apparent stall in the military action taken by the United States and Israel against Iran. And we're looking at a situation that is quite puzzling to most Americans. Now, it is interesting to see that you have all the media coming out and saying the vast majority of Americans are opposed to the war. That is not all that unusual. And at least a part of what I think President Trump has to be thinking is that the American people often respond this way. But how they think about this kind of military action when it happens and how they think about it later are often two different things. Or to put it another way, when it is seen in retrospect that an action undertaken a military action like this, when it is understood that it led to a good result, no matter how best defined, it tends to be remembered quite differently than something that ends with a quagmire or with a question mark. Americans do not like military action that ends with a question mark. And I think in moral terms we can understand why. Now, one thing we at least need to note is how the political class looks at this. So say the editorial board of the New York Times. Here's a headline for you. Why the US Is in a stalemate with a second rate power. They go on to say that the larger lesson here is that the American military is losing its edge. They go on to warn, after Iran, everybody knows it, including China. Okay, so this is a huge problem as we as Christians try to understand what in the world is going on. First of all, theologically we know we live in a dangerous world. And one of the things we're going to think about today is the fact that the world is a lot more dangerous even than many Christians want to think about. And so we. When you look in a fallen world, which is the more remarkable, which is the achievement, order or disorder? Well, the answer is, according to the biblical worldview, what has to be explained and has to be seen as the achievement is order rather than disorder. And I think most Americans, including most American Christians, simply don't pause to think about how much of the globe's surface is covered by disorder rather than order. And this is a basic biblical issue. As a matter of fact, it was central to the understanding of Israel and the Old Testament. Israel was to show right order by this law, this perfect law that God himself had given to Israel as his chosen nation. Israel is to stand out as an example of order over against a world of disorder, very much like the distinction between creation and chaos, a very important biblical theme. Thinking about where we are right now as regards Iran, the reality is that the US is in a stalemate against a second rate power or a third rate power. But that just shows you that the world doesn't work the way many people would expect. It's not always a situation in which you have military action that brings about even the intended consequence. Now at least part of the intended consequence has already taken place. I mean, you are looking at the joint military action by the United States and Israel, basically wiping out the classical Iranian military. The President likes to say their navy is sunk, their planes are destroyed, their airports are unusable. And that's basically true. But it's also true that a group of ideological fanatics, Islamic fanatics such as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, they're able to do enormous damage. And furthermore, you could just isolate it down even to the issue of piracy. Most Americans think of piracy in terms of something in a movie scene, but that is not really what piracy represents over human history. Piracy represents the use of, of armed force without any kind of legal accountability. It's basically the use of armed force outside the reach of the law. So regardless of where this happens, either on land or on sea, it's basically defined as piracy. And this is where we need to understand that piracy even today represents a great deal of the commerce and the economic activity of the world. It's for most Americans, for most Europeans, out of sight and out of mind. And that itself is a problem. There are at least three other dimensions of this that we need to think about when we are wondering about America's place in the world right now. And so one of them has to do with Iran, and you might say client states very much like Iran. The other has to do with Russia, and the other has to do with China. And all three of these are really part of the dynamic that President Trump and American military leaders have to take into consideration right now. And you have deep, deep lessons when it comes to the Russian angle on this. Russia is closely allied with Iran. We know that Russia is giving Iran military support and military intelligence to be used against, let's be clear, the United States and our ally, particularly Israel. There are deep reasons. Just look at a globe. Just think of it for a moment. Look at the proximity of Iran and Russia. You understand there is a natural coalescence here. There's also a natural alignment now against the United States and against Europe. And that has a lot to do with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And you also have incredible lessons to be learned from that. For one thing, virtually everyone thought that the Ukrainian war would be over very quickly, that Russia's invasion would be massively successful, and that the generals who packed their military uniforms thinking they would be parading through the streets of Kyiv within weeks of the invasion. Most people in the west thought that that was probably true. Ukraine has proved that wrong. And Ukraine has also proved that even with an asymmetrical force, they're much smaller than Russia. You can fight back, and you can fight back with a great deal of success. But Russia has also been learning, and this is a problem we now understand for the United States. The United States has not had this kind of military conflict in a long time. And that means that the lessons that can be learned only through this kind of military conflict, they're not a part of the Americ equation. And as a matter of fact, you now have many people in the United States saying, here's the problem. We are absolutely ready to fight a war that's 40 years old. We're not ready to fight the wars that are before us right now. What's going on in Iran and the use, for instance, of Iranian missiles and Iranian drones to shut down the Strait of Hormuz and basically to push back against the United States of America. This is something that is being learned by a good many nations around the world, and it's being learned at the expense of the United States and our national interests and the interests of our allies around the world. Now, the other Interesting angle on this is China. And this is where China right now, which is in such a powerful position because it controls so many of the rare earths, so much of the minerals, it has a system which isn't democratically accountable. And so that's another situation in the United States. President Trump is under political pressure. You don't have the chairman of the Communist Party in Communist China under political pressure of the same sense, certainly not populist pressure. No one's polling the Chinese people to see how they would answer these questions. The way the public is constantly polled in Western nations, there's political pressure, and that pressure is on President Trump to bring an end to this conflict. And we can understand where that pressure comes from. We want to see that end, a successful end, come about as well. But. But China is able also to leverage its economy, which after all is state run. It's able to leverage that, or at least under ultimate state control, it's able to leverage that in a way the United States simply is not. And you also have situations in which, of course, corruption can happen in either system. But when it comes to the American system, you do have the fact that America's hard won situation in the world, which has led to a very long period of relative peace. Certainly when it comes to any kind of military action that would threaten the United States itself, the fact is that war teaches invaluable lessons. The absence of war just never will teach. But there's another angle when it comes to China, and that is that China has everything it needs, except most importantly, oil. And China is uniquely dependent upon the oil that would come through the Strait of Hormuz, and thus China, China, under the control of the Communist Party there, is putting enormous exertion and interest in bringing about an end to this war. That also points to the fact that you can say Russia and China are both, in their own way, representing challenges to the United States and to the place of the US in the world. And as much as they have a commonality in opposition to the United States, the fact is that coming down to this situation right now, Russia and China have very different interests when it comes to what they would hope would happen, particularly when it comes to Iran. Let's just put it another way, Russia is making an awful lot of money selling oil against what had been very historic Western sanctions, because that oil is not coming through the Strait of Hormuz. It is really interesting how all these things get complicated. So while we are awaiting a clarification of those issues, I think it's important that Christians look at the picture right now in terms of the military action in and around Iran, and especially in the Strait of Hormuz, and understand that pirates actually end up with a lot of power. Piracy ends up with a lot of options. And you can have just a few pirates with just a few strategic means of weaponry, and they can do untold damage. And you also have the reality that criminal gangs control so much of the world. And so when it comes, for instance, to Iran eventually getting what it needs or believes it must have, there are all kinds of networks that basically link criminal organization with criminal organization with criminal organization, oftentimes with the complicity or at least the knowledge of state actors, that is to say, of governments. And that takes us to another huge story in the headlines, and that is what has gone on with an indictment from the United States Department of Justice against a governor of a state in Mexico. So this is absolutely front page news in Mexico. It has to be. And this is presenting a massive political challenge to Claudia Sheinbaum, who is the president of Mexico. She's basically representing a rather leftist government, and she has wanted to make clear that she will work with the United States in cleaning up so many of the issues raised by the drug business and drug cartels. But the fact is that her own position could become untenable. Indeed, threats on her own life have to be quite significant simply because of the vast billions of dollars that flow through these criminal enterprises. And the fact is that one criminal enterprise in particular has had so much power that the United States government is now charging that the governor of a state was basically, and this is the state of Sinaloa, you'll recognize that from Mexico's northwest, we're talking about Governor Ruben Roca, who has requested a leave of absence and evidently is going to be taking a leave of absence because the federal government, that is the Mexican government, has now launched an official criminal investigation into his ties with to drug cartels there in the region. Now, the political background of this is really important because we're talking about piracy here. We're talking about drug dealing, piracy, we're talking about criminal networks. And again, I think most Christians, especially Christians in the United States and Europe, they don't pause to just imagine a globe and imagine how much of the surface of the globe, in terms of Earth, is actually under the control of these kinds of pirate or criminal organizations. And as a matter of fact, right now, looking in some parts of Southeast Asia, looking at parts of Africa, looking at parts of South America, I'll just mention those three, you're looking at vast areas of the world, also in particular looking at Iran, other major client states. There's an entire underworld and the battle between the forces of order and disorder. It's a much more interesting thing than most American Christians pause to think about. And frankly, not only is it interesting, it can be downright depressing, rather humbling. The Wall Street Journal reported the story about the indictment from the United States. This way. Quote, the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment on Wednesday this last week of the sitting governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Ruben Rocamoya, and nine other former or current Sinaloa officials. News of the indictment rocked Mexico due to the political implications of the charges. Okay, so you can see how this is coming down. So there are people in Mexico who are saying, who are the American authorities to file these charges? And the answer is, well, it is because the United States government over the course of the last several decades has learned to fight fire with fire in legal terms. And so you have the reach of the U.S. department of justice that is basically backed up with American foreign relations power. And the United States has an awful lot of power in this regard. And over the course of the last several decades, the US has increasingly learned how to use that power in order to say, for example, to the President of Mexico, cough him up. Now, as the president of Mexico, President Scheinbaum is unlikely to take immediate action. But there is good precedent that over time, when you have this kind of concerted action from the United States, some of these folks come under US Jurisdiction and find themselves facing a court of justice in the United States. And so the. That is the same kind of legal basis whereby, for example, former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who, you know, was basically grabbed by United States forces a matter of months ago, the same kind of legal context. I just want Christians to understand. Look, we take for granted the fact that when we think about a government, we really think about a government in which you have people we know and issues we understand being debated in a deliberative context. And even when things. Things don't go our way, we understand that we are operating by a constitutional order and by the rule of law. And we just need to understand what a rare achievement that is. All right, while we're talking about things in the news that should have our attention, one little footnote to the royal visit, the state visit by the King and Queen of the United Kingdom just days ago, coming to the United States, King Charles and Queen Camilla, you know, some of the aftermath coverage has been about what happened. Some of it has been about what didn't happen. And so one of the things that didn't happen is that when the king and queen went to New York City, mayor Zoram Mandani basically did not roll out the red carpet. He did not personally attend to them or meet with them. He didn't raise this to the level of event and significance and diplomacy that would have been expected. Instead, he was basically shown around New York, and they were shown the sites by former mayor Michael Bloomberg. And that's because the current mayor didn't want to do it. Now, why? Well, there's some historic reasons behind this. Mayor Mamdani, a democratic socialist, the son of a prominent ideological anti colonialist, was born in Uganda, which is a former part of the British empire. His parents were both born in India, which was also, of course, at one point, a part of the British empire. The anti colonialism, just in terms of history, had a great deal to do with why Mehrma basically showed a cold shoulder. But he also got a little snide. And this is what gets interesting, because when he was asked what he would have said to the king and to the queen, speaking to the king in particular, he said, if I was to speak to the king, I would probably encourage him to return the. The Koh I Noor diamond. End quote. All right. We're told that the mayor's communications team didn't come up with that. That was spontaneously from the mayor himself. Okay. So that is one of the most famous diamonds in the world. It was presented to queen Victoria going back to the 19th century, and it was presented to her in 1849. And it has been a part of the royal collection. It has been in the crown of. What was the queen's crown then, the queen's mother's crown. And it basically is a matter of great controversy now. In particular, most people would say it had come from India. And so this particular stone, one of the biggest diamonds in the world, it's not considered one of the most beautiful diamonds by at least some people who know such things. By some historical accounts, it was originally when first known, part of the Persian monarchy, which is to say modern day. Well, here we are, Iran. And a part of the regalia around the peacock throne there, it was then associated with the Sikh empire. And that's one of the reasons why it ended up associated with India. And it's one of the reasons why it was presented as a gift to queen Victoria there in 1849. And so here's the interesting thing, and many in the United States and around the world have noted that what Mayor Mamdani said he would have said to the king is return the Koh I Noor diamond. Okay, but return it to whom? Now for Christians, this is a very interesting lesson in the fact that history can't be unwound. That's not to say that there are wrongs that can't be made at least more right. It is to say you can't unwind history. So for example, even the New York Times said that if it were to be returned, well, among the claimants to receive it would be India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. All four nations have demanded that it be here's the word returned to them. Okay. Finally, yesterday we talked about the very important decision on abortion handed down by the Fifth Circuit in which the circuit basically in a three judge panel unanimously ruled that the Biden administration changes which had allowed the prescription of mifepristone, the abortion pill, without an in person visit and then to be sent by mail was clearly and by the way, they claimed the COVID of COVID as a crisis, but it clearly was an effort simply to make this lethal drug for the unborn available in all 50 states. It was deliberately a way to try to undercut the effect of the reversal of of the Roe decision with the Supreme Court Dobbs decision in 2022. So we know what we're dealing with here. Well, there was an interesting development yesterday, and this requires just a little bit of explanation. So yesterday, Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States said that it was going to put on hold, on temporary hold the decision by the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit decision had nationwide effect, shutting down the mailing of mifepristone and shutting down the availability of the drug by telemedicine or another form of not in person medical visit. And so the Supreme Court on Monday said, no, we're going to put a temporary halt on that fifth Circuit panel's decision. And so, for instance, the report in the New York Times said this quote, in a brief order, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Paused a lower court ruling from Friday that it prevented abortion before from prescribing the pills by telemedicine and shipping them to patients, causing confusion for providers and patients. The Wynn sentence order imposes a pause until at least May 11. He that's Justice Alito requested that the parties file briefs by Thursday and then the full court will determine how to proceed. End quote. Okay. So I think a lot of pro life American Christians hearing that are going to say, well, shame on Justice Alito for doing this. But Justice Alito is one of the most avowedly anti abortion, anti Roe, let's put it that way. Justices on the Supreme Court, it was Justice Alito who wrote the majority opinion in Dobbs reversing Roe v. Wade. So why, as the justice responsible, they have regional jurisdictions for this kind of filing. Why did he put a pause on the fifth Circuit panel's decision? Well, it is because this is the way the Supreme Court of the United States works. And so in order to move forward, understanding that the Supreme Court is going to face this question, Justice Alito is saying start sending in the paperwork. So it's going to be very interesting to see where this goes even in coming days. And we are talking about just days. The pause was at least until May 11th. So we're talking about now basically a week. And so this could move rather quickly and I hope for the cause of the protection of the unborn, it does move pretty quickly. I want to see that 5th Circuit decision by that panel upheld. I want it to be upheld with nationwide effect, but I want it to last. And eventually that's going to mean a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States. And so the sooner the better, in my view. But I do think it's interesting that a lot of pro life Americans will look at this and say, why did Justice Alito order this? Well, it is because Justice Alito is the justice responsible for this geographic jurisdiction and this is the way the court will actually move forward in addressing the question. And it can just decide it's going to let the Fifth Circuit panel's decision stand. That would be astounding. It is perhaps more likely that the court will decide. It has to take up the question itself. Now, one final thought about this as we are looking at this question. You do have a major piece by Philip Wegman, for example, that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The anti abortion movement is turning on Trump, meaning, of course, President Trump. That article is very important and it is affirming something very urgent, and that is that pro life leaders are running out of patience with the fact that the Trump administration has, on some of the questions related to mifepristone, just been on the wrong side, or at least it has not wanted this political question landing on this political moment. But at this point, I will just argue that those of us who have been trying in every way to preserve unborn human life, we can't just put all this on pause because quite frankly, this is a battle in which ground is won and lost every single day in one way or another. And over the course of the last several decades, so much ground has been lost and so many lives have been destroyed. All of this should also just underline for Christians the fact that we are looking at a situation that can change just in a moment, certainly in a day. And so we'll be following this because, of course, as we understand, it's not just a matter of worldview implications, it is a matter if no one else understands this, it is a matter of life and death. Thanks for listening to the briefing. For more information, go to my website@albertmohler.com you can follow me on extra Twitter by going to x.comalbertmohler for information on the Southern Baptist Theological seminary, go to sbts.edu. for information on Boyce College, just go to boycecollege.com I'll meet you again tomorrow for the briefing.