Best of the Program | Guest: Carol Roth | 3/10/26

Summary

The Glenn Beck Program: "Best of the Program" with Guest Carol Roth

Episode Date: March 10, 2026
Main Theme: The episode explores the spiritual and ideological dimensions of current geopolitical crises, particularly the conflict involving Iran, the global impact on oil markets, and the underrecognized spiritual battles affecting Western society. Special guest Carol Roth discusses financial volatility following Middle East unrest, while Glenn Beck provides a deep-dive on the theological motivations driving Iran's leadership and draws connections to cultural and moral decline in the West.

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Overview

Glenn Beck opens the episode with personal reflections on evil masquerading as faith, urging listeners to look beyond physical and political battles to the deeper spiritual conflict at play. The show features financial expert Carol Roth, who discusses the whiplash experienced in oil and financial markets following escalations in the Middle East, before Beck shifts to a detailed discourse on the Twelver Shia ideology driving Iran’s regime. The episode weaves concerns about moral relativism, historical precedent, and the peril of spiritual blindness in contemporary America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Market Volatility and the Oil Crisis

(03:40–15:36)
Guest: Carol Roth, Financial Analyst & Author

• Uncertainty in Oil Markets:

  • The Strait of Hormuz, now effectively closed, accounts for 20% of the world's oil transit.
  • Disruption has spiked shipping and air freight costs (by up to 400% in air freight).
  • The instant market reaction: panic selling, algorithmic volatility, and eventual price correction as rational investors step in.
    • "Uncertainty and fear drives an outcome in the market and then it becomes exacerbated by the dynamics of the financial market." – Carol Roth [04:01]

• Why Gas Prices Spike Immediately:

  • Despite paid/refined inventory, consumer gas prices rise instantly upon news of crisis.
  • Roth explains this is due to market expectations, competitive dynamics, and "hedging" rather than direct manipulation by gas station owners.
    • "They make almost no money out of every gallon ... after expenses, it's something like 2 cents." – Carol Roth [08:55]

• Energy Independence—A Myth?

  • The US imports and exports various types of crude; refineries are built for certain kinds of oil, so true autonomy is elusive.
  • Global commodities markets ensure US prices remain tied to world supply shocks.
    • "It's not like it's a self contained market where we could just say, 'Oh, we're producing this and we can use it.'" – Carol Roth [10:16]

• Price Scenarios if the Crisis Escalates:

  • Worst case: Strait shutdown could push oil to $120–$150/barrel, potentially even $250.
    • "Our economy is built for oil under $120 a barrel." – Glenn Beck [13:24]
  • Roth cites a "20% chance" of this blowout scenario, but cautions global meltdown is possible at higher sustained prices.
    • "It just creates an absolute global financial crisis." – Carol Roth [13:56]

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2. Spiritual Battle vs. Physical Conflict

(16:25–31:12)

• Beyond Geopolitics—A War of Ideologies:

  • Beck insists the true conflict is spiritual in nature, not just strategic or military.
    • "We are confronting evil now that is convinced itself that it is righteous. And that combination has always been the most dangerous force in all of human history." – Glenn Beck [19:00]
  • He contrasts bad policies with the current existence of evil acting under the appearance of faith, referencing Iran's theocratic regime and its global ambitions.

• Iran’s Twelver Shia Ideology:

  • Detailed account of the 12th Imam (Mahdi) concept: apocalyptic beliefs that legitimize fomenting chaos to hasten the messianic return.
  • Iran’s clerics view war and violence as spiritual duties.
    • "The regime in Iran is built on a theological revolution... a system designed to export their ideology all across the globe." – Glenn Beck [18:10]
    • "They believe they're welcoming the 12th Imam, the Mahdi... and he rules the world and washes the world in blood." – Glenn Beck [22:30]

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3. Connecting Historical & Cultural Dots

(31:13–40:41)

• Parallels with Weimar Germany & Decline of Moral Order:

  • Beck draws direct lines from pre-Nazi Germany's moral collapse to current Western trends: radical gender theory, compassion killing (euthanasia), and normalization of violence.
    • "History doesn't repeat itself exactly, but it does rhyme. And today we're seeing all of the rhymes." – Glenn Beck [24:24]

• Assisted Suicide and Societal Moral Drift:

  • Surging euthanasia in Canada and legislative pushes in US states as signs of a “death cult” culture.
    • "Canada is offering MAID not just to the terminally ill now, but to people and young adults suffering from depression. ... That's more people died from assisted suicide in Canada than in all of World War II." – Glenn Beck [25:20]

• Socialism, Marxism, and Totalitarian Religious Revolution:

  • Analysis of the Iranian Revolution’s Marxist-theocratic alliance, followed by purges.
    • "Revolutionary movements always eat their allies once they gain power." – Glenn Beck [27:41]
  • Draws analogy to contemporary US political tribalism—both right and left missing the spiritual nature of societal decay.

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4. Wake-Up Call on Evil and Deception

(40:42–48:00)

• Evil in Modern America:

  • Beck asserts that cruelty is often rebranded as compassion, and that both left and right are often deceived or spiritually blind.
    • "Evil doesn't begin with violence. It begins with deception. Convincing people that cruelty is compassion." – Glenn Beck [38:00]
  • He challenges listeners to recognize the real war as a battle for the moral and spiritual soul of America.

• Famous Quote:

  • "Civilization cannot be saved if it has lost its soul. And history proves it time and time again." – Glenn Beck [41:00]

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5. Election Integrity & The Principle of Verification

(31:13–35:10)
Caller: Chuck

• Debate over the "Save America Act":
  • Chuck argues against the need for new voting integrity laws, citing minimal documented fraud.
  • Beck responds with analogies—airport security, Olympic drug tests—to argue that the perceived integrity of institutions is as crucial as actual integrity.
    • "It is the principle in each of those cases. They exist for one reason, and that is the integrity of the system, not the inconvenience of protecting it." – Glenn Beck [33:05]

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6. Deep Dive: Twelver Theology and Western Misunderstanding

(48:01–End)

• Detailed Theology of the Twelvers:

  • Background on the 12th Imam, his occultation, and the belief that chaos and violence will bring about the end times.
    • "What makes them so dangerous is ... they truly believe they can hasten his return if they plunge the world into chaos." – Glenn Beck [55:20]
  • Serious geopolitical concern: Iranian leadership’s hardline Twelvers actively seek nuclear capability guided by this eschatology.

• Worldview Clash:

  • Beck juxtaposes this with Christian End Times narratives, noting both await a messianic figure—but each casts the other's savior as their own villain.
    • "Both systems are ... have a messianic figure. Both describe the world before the final conflict. Both describe the climactic battle ... But the identities are reversed." – Glenn Beck [58:15]

• Why This Matters Politically and Spiritually:

  • The West’s inability to recognize ideological and spiritual motivations (viewing geopolitical actors as only rational state actors) leaves it vulnerable.
    • "You can't understand it through politics. You have to understand what the leaders actually believe and what their ideology is, what their theology is." – Glenn Beck [50:15]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Carol Roth on Blowout Oil Scenarios:
  "That's a blowout minimum, 120 to 150 a barrel. And if it really, you know, gets bad, I've seen a few analysts call that up to 250, by the way." [12:38]

• Glenn Beck on Evil and Faith:
  "No God commands you to murder innocent people walking down the street? ... That is evil wearing the mask of faith." [21:00]

• On the Urgency of Awareness:
  "My first message to you today is wake up. Wake your friends up. Politely, kindly, with as much humor as you possibly can. But we're arguing about all of the wrong things." [42:45]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Carol Roth Interview & Market Analysis: 03:40–15:36
• Beck on Iran’s Spiritual Warfare: 16:25–31:12
• Historic/Political Parallels & Cultural Critique: 24:00–31:12
• Caller Chuck & Election Integrity Debate: 31:13–35:10
• Closing Wake-Up Call and Spiritual Analysis: 40:42–End

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Conclusion

This episode of The Glenn Beck Program weaves together acute financial analysis, current events in the Middle East, and deep philosophical and spiritual commentary. Glenn Beck argues that to truly understand today’s crises requires spiritual discernment and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths about evil, both abroad and at home. The episode is a clarion call to recognize not just geopolitical threats, but the underlying ideological and moral conflicts shaping our world.

Transcript

[Glenn Beck]

We have a great podcast for you today. We, we start with When Evil Masquerades as Faith. This is something that has really been on my heart recently, that we are, we're fighting a battle that no one's talking about. We're fighting a spiritual battle, not a, not one, not a physical battle. And we keep going back to the physical battle and talking about, well, how many shells do we have, how many missiles do they have left? All of this stuff. That is not what we're fighting. Because the spir spiritual battle is much deeper than anything that is happening in the Middle east with a battleship. The spiritual battle is right here in our own home. And I explain that to you also later on in the podcast I talk to you a little bit about the 12th, the mom, the Mahadi, who are we really fighting? What do they actually believe? And I only bring that to you because if this were Christians that believed that Jesus was coming and they could hasten his return by calling, causing the conditions in the world of, you know, bloodshed and crazy amounts of war, you know, everybody on the left, the media, everyone, everyone would be saying, including me, we should shut them down. We should probably not let them, you know, out of their little box. But that's what the 12ers in Iran mean and nobody is paying attention. I'll explain what 12ers actually believe in Iran and Carol Roth on oil prices, all of that, and so more on today's podcast. War affects supply chains. And right now one of the most important shipping routes in the world, the Strait of Hormuz along Iran's southern border, is under massive strain. About 20% of the world's oil passes through it. And when conflicts in that region happen, it is effectively closed right now. Consequences will ripple out fast. Air freight costs have already soared by as much as 400%. Some shipping routes now require detours that add close to a million dollars to a sing voyage. And those costs are passed right along to you. Experts are warning that this could escalate before it even starts to settle down. What happens the next time you need a prescription and the pharmacy can't get it? Jace Medical. This is why they exist. Their Jace case provides 10 essential antibiotics and emergency medications prescribed online and shipped directly to your door. And you'll have them before you need them. And with Jace Daily, you can also get up to 12 month supply of your everyday medications. I want you to go to Jace.com Enter the promo code Beck at checkout for a discount. Jace.com promo code Becky. Hello America. You know we've been fighting every single day. We push back against the lies, the censorship, the nonsense of the mainstream media that they're trying to feed you. We work tirelessly to bring you the unfiltered truth because you deserve it. But to keep this fight going, we need you right now. Would you take a moment and rate and review the Glenn Beck podcast? Give us five stars and lead a comment. Because every single review helps us break through Big Tech's algorithm to reach more Americans who need to hear the truth. This isn't a podcast. This is a movement. And you're part of it, a big part of it. So if you believe in what we're doing, you want more people to wake up, help us push this podcast to the top rate, review, share. Together we'll make a difference. And thanks for standing with us. Now, let's get to work.

[Chuck]

You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck Program.

[Carol Roth]

Carol, how are you? Hi, Glenn.

[Glenn Beck]

Hi, how are you, Carol?

[Carol Roth]

Well, you know, this season of Landman has lots of plot twists and keeping me on my toes, but other than that, doing great.

[Glenn Beck]

Oh my gosh. So what the hell happened yesterday?

[Carol Roth]

So we get these times in the market in periods of great uncertainty where you have real information that uncertain, right? You don't know with 20 to 30% of the world's oil going through the Strait of Hormuz, if that is going to be cut off entirely, if that is going to be, you know, a risk to get through and if so, at what price and the duration of how long a conflict might last. But then that is exacerbated by financial markets. And there are two pieces to that. One is just when there are these periods of uncertainty, sometimes you get from hedge funds that have large positions and sometimes levered positions in the market, something called de grossing, where they just get rid of everything and they go to cash and they go, we're just going to sit and wait out and see what happens. And then you get the algorithms, and the algorithms are jumping on headlines which are rapidly changing and uncertain, and other algorithms are following those first algorithms. So you get this exacerbation of volatility, something where, you know, uncertainty and fear drives an outcome in the market and then it becomes exacerbated by the dynamics of the financial market. I guess the good news is that tends to be short lived, as we saw yesterday, because once there becomes a price mismatch between what certain people think is reality and the prices that are reflected, then greed drives in, they buy things up and the prices kind of stabilize. So that's kind of where we landed yesterday.

[Glenn Beck]

Okay, so what, what the market was saying yesterday, yesterday at this time, you know, if you just read the market, you were like, you know, this is going to be a long war. They're going to close down the straight, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, I don't believe any of that. And then the market kind of caught up yesterday afternoon. The rational people started to step in and go, no, that doesn't look like that. Right. Well, that's what made it go down.

[Carol Roth]

Right. So you have this information, the algorithms jump on the information, they overcorrect. And rational people say, I think it's corrected too far. And we're going to, we're going to go and we're going to take and pull it, pull it back to some semblance of reality based on what everybody believed as of yesterday. Now obviously that can change in the next day or the weeks or months ahead. But you know, from the price action of that one day, particularly as more information came out, because as, as the day went on, you had the G7 talking about doing a Strategic Petroleum Reserve release. You had the President coming out and saying that this was going to be a shorter term conflict. You had some floating of backing insurance that was either really difficult to get or at a high premium. So the kinds of things that were driving the uncertainty that got levered up, so to speak, from the algorithmic trading then started to come into better focus and then everything came back to what was reality for that day. But as we know, reality shifts day to day.

[Glenn Beck]

Can I ask you a few, Really? I think these are probably stupid questions for somebody like you, but they are not to me because I really just don't understand a couple of things. First of all, how come the price at the pump goes up immediately the day that the war starts? Prices are just going through. Well, they've already paid for that oil. They paid for that oil. That oil has been refined and everything else. It's already been shipped, it's in the ground. How come the prices are going up, right? Then instead of waiting until that oil and that gasoline has, you know, been vacated and the new stuff is coming in.

[Carol Roth]

Yeah, I mean, this is a frustration from customers, right? All the time is that, you know, is the gas company, the one who's owning the gas station, taking advantage of me? Because it only goes in one direction, right? When things go up, the prices go up. But when things go down, you don't seem to feel it so much. Right. It always seems to go in One direction.

[Glenn Beck]

It's not even that. I mean, I understand if when the price of oil goes down that the price at the pump is not going to go down right away because we're still using the more expensive oil. So I understand why it doesn't go down immediately, but why it goes up immediately defies logic to me.

[Carol Roth]

Yeah, no, I wish I had a really good answer for you on that. I can tell you it's probably not driven by the gas stations because you again, market dynamics.

[Glenn Beck]

Right.

[Carol Roth]

If you had one gas station that was raising its prices and the other one could compete, they would lower theirs. Also, one thing that people don't know about gas stations is they make almost no money out of, of every gallon that they sell after expenses, it's something like 2 cents. So my guess it has to do with the expectations that are being set as prices are going up that you know, sort of the financial hedging and the overall, hey, this is going to be our cost. But I don't have a really good answer. And unfortunately it's one of those things, as I said, that only seems to go in one direction. You would think that it would over correct one way or the other, but it always seems to be just on one way. Yeah. And my guess is it's probably just a hedge.

[Glenn Beck]

All right, help me out on understanding this. And I think it has something to do with the 20% of oil that goes through the strait. But why, if we are suddenly energy independent, are we seeing gas prices go up? Why are we so concerned with the oil prices if we're energy independent, how come we're not kind of immune to that? Because I don't think anybody in Saudi Arabia is caring about the gas price right now.

[Carol Roth]

Yeah, so.

[Glenn Beck]

Or are they?

[Carol Roth]

So when it comes to the price of gas, about half of that has to do with the price of oil. And so you'd say, well, I don't understand. We produce, you know, something like we, I think it's crude, 13 million barrels and across all different kinds of petroleum products, it's like 20 million barrels a day. The challenge is that oil is really complicated. And so not all oil is the same. There's differences between light and sweet crude oil and heavy and sour crude and mismatches between that and different refineries that can handle different kinds of oil. And so it's not like we just produce it and keep it and use it ourselves. We're importing heavy crude from other places because that's how our refineries were built. And then we're exporting some of the light and sweet that's used and preferred in other places. So it's not like it's a self contained market where we could just say, oh, we're producing this and we can use it. So with all of these different mismatches, plus the fact that this is a commodity, so it's traded globally and that means that if something, even if it's not, you know, higher here, that, you know, we say we don't care about the Strait of Hormuz, there's going to be an arbitrage because somebody's going to say, well, I can buy it cheaper in the US and then I know my transportation costs are maybe, you know, at another $5 or $10 a barrel onto that. And so then they're trying to arbitrage versus the price that would be happening in the Middle east. And then that all kind of settles into a global price. So between the different kinds of oils, the different ref configurations, logistics and overall market economics of this being a commodity, we get dragged in even when it seems like we should be able to just be on our own and not worry about anybody else.

[Glenn Beck]

Okay, so let me go back to worst case scenario. Best case scenario, worst case scenario, this drags on, this gets ugly. They find a way to mine the Strait of Hormuz or whatever and they shut it down. What will that do to the price of oil?

[Carol Roth]

I mean, that's a blowout minimum, 120 to 150 a barrel. And if it really, you know, gets bad, I've seen a few analysts call that up to 250, by the way.

[Glenn Beck]

Oh my gosh.

[Carol Roth]

Yeah, I mean, it's bad. Some people I really respect, by the way, not, not just some guy I asked off the street, but really respected oil analysts. 120 to 150 is kind of the middle of that blowout case. 250 is kind of the high range of that.

[Glenn Beck]

Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

[Carol Roth]

The likelihood, let me give you some good. The likelihood of that is sort of priced right now at like a 20% chance. So 80% chance that doesn't happen.

[Glenn Beck]

Okay, but can I just get perspective? Our economy is built for oil under $120 a barrel.

[Carol Roth]

Correct.

[Glenn Beck]

You know, in 2008, we had $130 from April to, I think the end of July. And that was the straw that broke the Camel's back in 2008. So what does 130 to $250 a barrel? That just destroys the economy, Right?

[Carol Roth]

Yeah. I mean it goes into an absolute global meltdown because the implications for the economy, how that flows through gdp, how that flows through the costs of financing war and our debt and everything else. So it just creates an absolute global financial crisis. But if we're in that scenario, Glenn, it probably means that we're having other geopolitical crises as well. So you know, that, that looks like a, you know, a very different scenario, potentially a full on war scenario which probably means, you know, some sort of financial reset at the, at the end of that.

[Glenn Beck]

Yeah, okay, good. 20%. Now you think it's going to actually fall where?

[Carol Roth]

So the base case is somewhere in to 110 near term. Today it opened up slightly under that range but elevated to where we have been, where you know, you've got the risk of war is still on the table. Shipping is impaired, but not, you know, fully off the table. Inflation is, you know, starting to creep up maybe just a little bit. But you know, we have seen that governments are at least, at least they're saying they're willing to take some action to hold that within some range. So you know, it has a drag, but it doesn't, you know, have that sort of blowout impact that we were talking about.

[Glenn Beck]

This is the best of the Glenn Beck program. To hear the rest of this interview, check out the full podcast. More coming up. Everyone in your family needs a plan for personal safety. Safety. I've got one. Your parents, your children, your spouse. Not everybody is comfortable carrying a firearm. That doesn't mean that they should be left without protection. This is tear gas in my gun. Okay? Most situations do not call for a gun. And if you're in the wrong state and you pull a gun, you're in real trouble. The burner launcher fires non lethal deterrents like tear gas and kinetic rounds with a range of up to 60ft. One shot can incapacitate an attacker for 40 minutes. That gives you time to escape. Legal in all 50 states. No permits, no background checks. Compact launcher small enough to conceal. Carry without drawing attention right in the small of your back or in your purse or whatever. Go to burnaby r n a.com Glenn learn more about it. Try before you buy at a sportsman's warehouse located near you. You can find that location at burnaby R N A.com Glenn Berna.com Glenn now back to the podcast. This is the best of the Glenn Beck program and we really want to thank you for listening. All right, I want to talk to you about the big picture here. You know this, this show is really made for adults. And that means, you know, if you're going to just casually listen, that's fine. But then don't claim to know what we were talking about. You actually have to engage and listen. Because I want to talk to you about the big picture and it's going to sound like I'm talking about the war with Iran. You might think I'm talking about this, and in some ways I am. But I want to make it clear I am not pushing for or advocating for war, a physical war with Iran or anybody else. But war is not just coming, it is here. And I mean the kind of war that does not use battleships. Everything in the world will become much clearer if you look at things with different eyes. Not political eyes, not partisan eyes. But if you start looking at things through spiritual eyes, you will realize something very sobering is happening. We are not dealing just with bad policy, okay? That's how a lot of this started. We were dealing with bad policy, we got lazy. We didn't pay attention to different things. We made wrong choices and then it just stacked up. And then we thought we were having to reverse all those things. Who are we going to elect to fix all of these things? But we are confronting evil now that is convinced itself that it is righteous. And that combination has always been the most dangerous force in all of human history. So let me start with the war in Iran. People in Washington are talking about Iran as another just geopolitical rival, another regime that we could possibly negotiate, another government seeking influence. But the regime in Tehran is not just political. The regime in Iran is built on a theological revolution. The clerics that took over in 1979, they didn't just overthrow a government, they built a system designed to export their ideology all across the globe. And what is that ideology produced? Let me talk to you about the actual record in Iran. In Iran, women can be beaten in the street by the morality police for showing too much hair. Young girls have been dragged into vans, imprisoned and tortured. We saw it a few years ago when the woman who was arrested for not wearing her hijab properly was killed in prison. How about the nine year olds that they are, that they are insisting are cool to marry now a 50 year old guy. When there's protests in the streets, thousands are arrested, thousands are killed. Some protesters are executed publicly. Young men have been hung from cranes. Children are imprisoned, imprisoned, girls assaulted in prison. You have homosexuals that are thrown off roots or beheaded in the public square. And it's all being done in the name of God and That same regime has spent decades exporting the violence and this ideology all across the world. They fund Hezbollah in Lebanon, but Hezbollah is also was in Venezuela. They arm Hamas. They finance militias in Iraq and Syria. They support terror cells across continents. The revolution was never meant to stay in Iran because it is a. A spiritual battle for them. It is religious. They believe they're welcoming the 12th Imam, the Mahdi, which. This one, the 12th Imam actually comes back after climbing out of a well. And he rules the world and washes the world in blood. They believe that this is the final battle. And they say all of this stuff openly. But here's the part that should concern everybody because, I mean, I don't know how many people are here that have been influenced inside our own country, have been influenced by this. I don't know. Do you know? We know there are sleeper networks that apparently have been activated, but we don't know. We know extremist recruitment exists, but we don't know the scope. But let me bring you here to home. Here in New York, we were just reminded how real that threat is. Just over the weekend, two Afghan immigrants, young men whose family came to this country to escape the war years ago, own, I think, a convenience store, live in a nice house. They decided their faith had been insulted, so they built a bomb. It's called the bomb of Satan. Okay. It wasn't fireworks. It wasn't, you know, it was a crude device. It thank God it didn't go off, but it was packed with screws and bolts, according to the FBI. If that thing would have worked, it would have caused more damage in that crowd than the Boston Marathon bombing. Let that sink in for a minute. It hundreds of innocent people on the street. Men, women, children torn apart by metal shrapnel. And why did they do it in the name of their God? Let me stop here for a second. Just say something really clear. No God. No God commands you to murder innocent people walking down the street? No. God orders you to do that. That Satan does. God does not. That's not faith. That is evil wearing the mask of faith. But here's the really uncomfortable part about all of this. This spiritual blindness. We see it in radical movements overseas, but it's here in the west in a different form. You know, evil doesn't come. You know, wearing a Nazi uniform rarely does. Creeps in quietly. It normalizes things. It confuses moral ideas through ideology. And if you look at the patterns of history, it's there over and over again. And what was there in history is here now. Did you know that before Nazi Germany descended into full horror show, something else was happening in the Weimar Republic. The moral framework of the society was completely collapsing. Did you know the first modern transgendered surgeries were performed in Berlin in the 1920s at the Institute for Sexual Science. Did you know that the first book burnings were trying to get those books out of the schools? Radical gender theory was all over the Weimar Republic at the same idea or at the same time. Another idea was also spreading in Weimar Germany called euthanasia. Compassion killing. The idea was the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, the people who were burdens to society and really had no quality of life were eliminated for the greater good. And first, it was framed as mercy. It was compassion. It was medical progress. But by the time the Nazis took full control, those ideas became the foundation for the death camps. You know, history doesn't repeat itself exactly, but it does rhyme. And today we're seeing all of the rhymes. We're seeing them here. Countries are expanding assisted suicide programs. Do you know that we have 18 states here in the US trying to pass medical death bills this year? Canada is offering maid not just to the terminally ill now, but to people and young adults suffering from depression. What do you know that they're about to hit 100,000 people. That's more people died from assisted suicide in Canada than in all of World War II. Does that seem like it's rational or right? You know, debates about whether children can alter their bodies before they're old enough to drive a car don't seem to be real debates. They wouldn't be in a moral and sane society. But we've completely lost our compass. And here's the part that nobody wants to say out loud because it cuts across all political tribes. Socialism, which, by the way, socialism includes Nazis known as the National Socialists. Marxism, political Islam. These ideologies seem different on the surface. Different language, different slogans, but they're not. Historically, they produce the same outcomes. And historically they work together for control and suppression and violence and death. It's a death cult. Let me go back to Iran. 1979. Marxist groups helped fuel the revolution against the Shah of Iran. They marched alongside the clerics. The Marxists were the ones that organized the youth and the university. Sound familiar? And they believed they were building partners in a new future. And the clerics got all of the people that were going into the mosques and they said, oh, yeah, Marxists, we are one with you. But when the 12 or clerics took power, they imprisoned them, they tortured the Marxists, they executed them by the thousands. Because revolutionary movements always eat their allies once they gain power, you know, in the name of God. And that always happens. Which brings us to today in America, we're spiritually blind. The left constantly is pointing to Nazis on the right. And some of those warnings seem to become more and more legitimate because extremism exists, because people are going spiritually blind. But here's what the left refuses to acknowledge. At the same time, they're warning about fascism and Nazis. They're embracing what's the guy's name who is a Nazi that's running for. For the Democrat Congress, and they're embracing him. And they're embracing ideologies that historically produce the same brutality. So you got people on the right ignoring the warnings entirely because they're focused on the wrong enemy. And you have it on the left as well. So both sides looking in the wrong direction. Why? Because they're spiritually blind. And meanwhile, evil is doing what it always does. It always captures minds. Evil doesn't begin with violence. It begins with deception. Convincing people that cruelty is compassion. You don't have a vaccine, no hospital care for you. That's compassionate, that's cruelty. Convincing people that murder is righteousness. Luigi Mangione does that sound familiar? Or convincing people that chaos is justice? Blm, burning cities down to the ground, all of these things, this is evil. And once enough people believe those things, once people are believing these lies, the atrocities follow. They always do. Which brings me back to the main point most people miss. This is not a political battle. I was thinking about the Iran war yesterday and what I said to you yesterday, and I feel I failed to really make the real point. I was talking to about missiles and geopolitical stuff. We're in a spiritual battle and you cannot defeat evil if you refuse to recognize it. You can't defend our civilization if you abandon the moral foundation that built it. It. We can't protect our nation if we're spiritually asleep. The Bible tells us, put on the full armor of God. You're not fighting flesh and bone. Well, what is the full armor of God? Truth, righteousness, faith, discernment, the gospel of peace, forgiveness, weapons and armies. That is what everybody is talking about today. But the real truth is civilization cannot be saved if it has lost its soul. And history proves it time and time again. So the question is not just about Iran or terrorism or politics. The real question is, are you awake? Can you even see the spiritual battle that is unfolding right now? Can you notice that people everywhere at the majority are pretending or maybe they're not pretending. They really believe that these are just political disagreements. If we refuse to see it, if we refuse to stand up and say, guys, that's not what this is about, then we are continuing to normalize evil. If we remain spiritually numb, then the tragedies that we all fear are not going to just happen overseas. They are going to happen here. And by then, it will be too late to stop them. So my first message to you today is wake up. Wake your friends up. Politely, kindly, with as much humor as you possibly can. But we're arguing about all of the wrong things. You're listening to the Best of Glenn Beck. Need a little more? Check out the full show podcasts. Anywhere you download podcasts. I want to take Chuck quickly, kind of a finish up last hour where we were talking about the Patriot Act. I'm sorry, not the Patriot act, the Save America Act. Hi, Chuck.

[Chuck]

Hi, Glenn. Thanks for taking my call. I appreciate it.

[Glenn Beck]

Sure, sure.

[Chuck]

Here's, here's, here's my argument, man. Why is it needed the Heritage Foundation? We all know who the Heritage foundation is, correct?

[Glenn Beck]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chuck]

It's since 1983. I was a freshman in high school. In 1983-2025, they found a total of 1620.

[Glenn Beck]

Right.

[Chuck]

1620 cases of fraud. All types.

[Glenn Beck]

Yep.

[Chuck]

From dogs voting to multiple voting to dead people voting.

[Glenn Beck]

Yep.

[Chuck]

So the system there is working. The system for citizenship is working.

[Glenn Beck]

It is a great.

[Chuck]

Let's just.

[Glenn Beck]

A great.

[Chuck]

Now let's just say God forbid I have something I have to move, right. And something happens and I lose my citizenship proof. My, my, my birth certificate. I don't have a passport. Never needed to go out of state, out of the country. So I don't have that. I said I lose that. I then have to call the state of Tennessee.

[Glenn Beck]

I know.

[Chuck]

Or drive to the state of Tennessee and pay money to. Then where I move to prove I'm a citizen that counts. Glenn, that's unconscious.

[Glenn Beck]

No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. Chuck, let's, let's, let's, let's cut this down to what your real. You're. What your real question is or. No, what your real argument is. It's, there's not a lot of illegal fraud. And so we should not have this Save America act. Okay? Everything else is frivolous around that. That's your real argument. So let me ask you this. You know, very few guns make it on the airplanes. Should we stop checking bags? Because statistically, very few guns are in bags. Why are we checking all of them? Or fraud affects only a tiny percentage of transactions. We should stop verifying signatures because really, forgery happens so. Or the Olympics. Oh, this is a good one. How many Olympians are actually using steroids? We. I mean, it's only. The numbers are tiny, so let's stop testing. No serious person, Chuck, would accept that. Why? Because it is the principle in each of those cases. The. They exist for one reason, and that is the integrity of the system, not the inconvenience of protecting it. Oh, I've got to get a drug test just to go play ball. What are you talking about? Yes, because of the integrity of the system. Once. Imagine this. It's a jury trial. Imagine the judge saying, 11 jurors are citizens, one probably isn't. But statistically speaking, that's not going to affect the verdict. You would not stand for that. You wouldn't do it with somebody going in. Why do you have to go get your, your passport or your birth certificate? Because you have to prove you're a citizen. You'd have to prove your citizenship to be able to get a passport. Imagine how crazy it would be if you went in because you do want to leave the country. You. To go in and say, I don't have my birth certificate, but just, just pass me anyway. I'm telling you, trust me, I'm a citizen. We wouldn't do that. It would be. It would be ridiculous to think, not because millions of people would be cheating, but because the system has to be beyond question. If we start questioning, you know, if we, if we're questioning the number of, of athletes on the Olympics, isn't that less important than the integrity of the vote? Because it doesn't matter how many people are actually cheating. It's that people believe that cheating is happening. So it must, Must be beyond all reasonable doubt. If, if you can't do something as simple as protecting the most important institution, which is the election, you don't really have a republic because nobody will believe in that institution. So it's, it's not necessarily based on reality. It is based on perception. Because when it comes to things like I don't trust the voting system, perception is reality, and that is the reason you have to protect it. Thanks for your call, Chuck. I appreciate it. I want to get into something else. I want to. I want to talk to you about something that I started talking about in, in the first hour, and that is we don't recognize evil anymore, and we have to recognize evil. Almost all of our problems stem from a Lack of recognizing truth and, and the truth that some things are evil, that evil does exist. Right now everybody is talking about, you know, how many warheads do we have left? How many missiles do they have left? You know, what is this going to cost? Was this going to do to oil, etc. Etc. But if you want to really understand what you're fighting, and I'm not making a case to fight Iran or this war or anything, I'm just. I want you to understand because they have proxies all over the world and you saw a couple of proxies up in New York that have the same kind of ideology this weekend that could have killed a bunch of people. You have to understand what you're dealing with. And it's not. You can't understand it through politics. You have to understand what the leaders actually believe and what their ideology is, what their theology is when it comes to things like the end of the world, okay? And it's. It kills me because if a Christian regime believed this anywhere in the world, the entire world would be against it, okay? But the situation becomes really serious once you realize who the people who are trying to get nuclear weapons are. The ruling ideology in Iran is rooted on a branch. Not every Shia believes this. It's on a branch of shia Islam called 12 or Shi'. Ism, okay? The name comes from their belief in the 12th Imam, okay? Divinely appointed leader imams that succeeded Muhammad, the 12th one. Muhammad was the first. The 12th one, the Muhammad Al Mahdi. He was believed to have disappeared in the 9th century in a well when he was a child, okay? And the. They call it occultation, I think, which means he just disappeared. He's hidden, he's gone. But he's hiding in this well. And according to the Twelver belief, he's going to climb out of that well and he's going to return in the end days, okay? And when he returns, he's going to establish a perfect Islamic justice that will oversee the entire world. He's going to defeat all evil. He will convert everyone to Islam and he'll rule from Jerusalem. And the world's transformed. Now, if that sounds familiar to you as a Christian, maybe it should, okay? Because Christians also believe in the return of a messianic figure at the end of history when the world is being washed in blood, you know, it's Jesus Christ and he returns to rule from Jerusalem and defeat evil and establish justice. You know, do all the things the 12th the mom wants to do. Except it's the same story. Except. But when you look closely, the similarities between the two become a little unsettling because the conditions that the Twelver theology says will precede the Mahadi's arrival look exactly like the conditions of the Bible before. Before the final deception of the Antichrist. Okay? The Antichrist will be revealed. According to the Bible and according to the Twelver tradition, the Mahdi will also be revealed because he's in hiding now and then it's a. It's war, mass death, political collapse, beheadings, blah, blah, blah. Okay? I mean, it's not a good story either side. Not a good story. One has a happier ending. Well, if you're Islam and you believe that, you know, that you know, Allah is the only true God, then you know you have a happy ending there because everybody is either killed or beheaded if you don't bow to the Mahadi. Okay? And what. What makes them so dangerous is not only is their theology, the exact opposite of Christian theology is that they truly believe that they can hasten his return if they plunge the world into chaos, if they can create enough turmoil, that will accelerate his turn, his return. And history has to be pushed towards that crisis. And that crisis prepares the ground for the final victory of Islam. Again, compare that to the book of Revelation. Revelation describes the time of global upheaval, wars, famine, pestilence, all of that. A world that's desperate for order. And then a powerful figure appears promising peace and justice. But the Bible warns that is not the Messiah. He's the deceiver. You know, one of the names in the Qur' an of. Of Allah is. He's described as the deceiver. That's a little disturbing, but to each his own. So it's the false savior. You see the problem. Both systems are. Are have a messianic figure. Both describe the world before the final conflict. Both describe the climactic battle between good and evil. But the identities are reversed. The hero in one story looks very much like the villain of the other story. Twelver radicals await as their savior, the Mahadi. Christians are warned that guy is the great deceiver. And Christians wait for Jesus. That's the one radical Islam would see as the enemy. Two end times narrative. Same battlefield, opposite side, same story. Now let me be clear on something. Not every Shia Muslim believes in accelerating chaos. A lot of people reject that. The problem is the most powerful clerical authorities in Iran do believe it. In fact, Iran's leadership, they frame the military mission in these terms. In fact, several. I mean, their armies reference the Mahadi directly. The most obvious example is the irgc, the, you know, the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard. They refer to the soldiers in the IRGC as soldiers of the Imam of the age. That's the hidden Mahdi. Some units and institutions inside Iran explicitly reference the, you know, the Mahdi lore, if you will. One militia tells the recruits they're preparing for the Mahdi's return for the end of the world. They are teaching this, and they're not only doing it in Iran, they're, they're spreading this abroad. So we're getting this poison into our societies. These organizations frame their missions as protecting and advancing the Islamic revolution. To wash the world in blood until the Mahdi appears. One of their most famous apocalyptic tradition in the Islamic world, the Shia Twelver Islamic world, is the army carrying black banners rising from the east. And the prophecy appears in several Sunni and Shia hadith collections. The tradition roughly states that when you see the black banners from the east, go to them, even if you must crawl across the ice. Because among them is the army of the Mahadic Khomeini, the Ayatollah, their first one in 1979, the foundation of the Iranian regime. He taught that the Islamic State must prepare the ground for the Mahdi's return. But he also thought that the die hard Twelvers were too dangerous to be a part of the revolution. The ones he said were too dangerous because they were so unpredictable and could get everybody killed. Even though he agreed we have to cause the chaos to bring the Mahadi back. Those are the people that are in charge of the country right now. That's not religious speculation. This is state ideology. And these are the people that are arming the terrorist groups and sending signals to sleeper cells, possibly here in America. You know, why? Let me ask you this. Why would you bomb your Islamic neighbors? Everybody, all of the neighbors are like, what did we do? Why are you doing that? And what is Trump doing saying to each of those nations, stand down, stand down, stand down, don't get involved. But they're all ready to go in and pounce. Why? Western think tanks are saying, that's just really bad strategy, that's just stupid. Is it, is it? Or is it part of a strategy, you know, that the hardliners would understand? And if I'm washing the world in blood, I must have the conflict in the Middle east first. So let's get everybody at war with each other. Chaos. You gotta stop thinking like a Westerner, you know, if you believe the end of history is approaching and you can help usher it in. And it begins with setting the Arab world on fire, why wouldn't you send your drones into even friendly areas? You know, chaos is not tragedy. In that case, chaos is the signal to those all around the world that the final battle has begun. So we have to ask ourselves, who are we actually dealing with? If your theology welcomes global chaos and washing the world with blood,