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- [00:00]
A
This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And if you're listening to us on radio stations across the country, it's so nice to have you with us. Reminder, if you're listening to this radio show, it's a podcast that we do three days a week. So download Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcast. Senator, we've got a lot to talk about on today's show, especially in light of these most recent terrorist attacks happening right here in the United States of America.
- [00:32]
B
Well, Ben, you're right. We're sitting here today at an extraordinarily dangerous time. In the last 10 days, we've had four separate terror attacks, all carried out by radical Islamic terrorists, all targeting Americans, seeking to kill Americans. And all at a time when there's a military conflict in the Middle east that is unfolding as we speak and when we have multiple radical Islamic clerics who've issued fatwas calling on terrorists to murder Americans. Understand that we went through four years of Joe Biden with a wide open border. 12 million illegal immigrants came into this country, including thousands of terrorists. We had four years of basically a red carpet inviting Hamas terrorists, inviting Hezbollah terrorists, inviting Iranian terrorists come to America. And we've now seen in less than two weeks, four separate terror attacks. And I'll tell you that the part of this that just makes your brain explode is the Democrats in the Senate keep voting over and over and over again to defund the Department of Homeland Security. Now, what is the Department of Homeland Security? DHS was created after September 11, and the entire purpose of DHS is to prevent terrorist attacks. And the Democrats keep voting over and over and over again not to pay the people at DHS to defund it. This is dangerous. And Ben, I want to be very serious. I am deeply concerned that we could be on the precipice of a major terrorist attack. Not a terrorist attack that kills one, two, or three people, but a terrorist attack that kills hundreds or even thousands, Thousands of people. And the agency whose responsibility day in and day out is stop the terrorists before they kill Americans. The Democrats have defunded. The media is ignoring it. And the Democrats have said they feel, quote, unquote, serene about shutting down the Department of Homeland Security even in this greatly heightened threat environment.
- [02:40]
A
It really is incredible. And before we get more into that, I want to tell you about our good friends real quick at Ruff Greens.
- [02:46]
C
The Ferguson family got bigger over the holidays with a new puppy. And I can tell you, having one dog that is over a decade old and a new dog that's just months old. There's one thing they both have in common. I want them to live a great quality life. And that is exactly why I give them rough greens. Now I've been telling you about my older dog and some of the symptoms that he was having. Slowing down and itching and having bad breath, losing interest in playtime. That is just part of the aging process. But it doesn't have to be. And after just a few weeks of rough greens, we start to see a real difference. This stuff is truly amazing. And if you have a dog you love, you've got to try rough greens for your dog for life. It not only supports long term health by providing live bioavailable nutrients including essential vitamins, minerals, probiotics and digestive enzymes, as well as omega oils. The ingredients work together to improve nutrition absorption and maintain joint and muscle health and enhance overall vitality.
- [03:51]
A
And you can witness it happen over weeks.
- [03:54]
C
So if you love your dog and you are ready to get your dog back to the way maybe he used to be and was more playful, then check out rough greens. It's so easy. You just put it on top of your traditional dog food and that is it. And dogs absolutely love it. Go to ruffgreens.com that's R U F F greens.com use the promo code verdict and you're going to get a free jump start trial bag. All you got to do is add rough greens to your dog's food so you cover the shipping. That's it. Promo code verdict to claim your free jumpstart trial bag@rough greens.com that's R U F F G R e e n s.com promo code verdict.
- [04:42]
A
Senator, you mentioned that they seem to have no problem shutting down specifically the Department of Homeland Security. We're talking about the Democrats here. I want you to walk us through what it was like on Thursday because just my gut instinct was before you guys left town for the week of work that was done, they would be sensible enough seeing these attacks to say we've got it, we've got. We can't have this political liability on us. It's going to come back on us that there is a major terrorist attack because we're the ones that have shut down the Department of Homeland Security. Were any of your colleagues willing to like share that with their other colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle? Like, hey guys, this is a bad look, we do not need to be playing this political game right now.
- [05:27]
B
Look, if they Are. I don't see it at all. We voted again on Thursday to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Every Republican voted to fund dhs. Every single Democrat except John Fetterman once again voted no. Shut down dhs. And understand, by the way, they claim they're doing it because they hate ice. Yeah, because they want reforms in ice. Here's the amazing thing. Do you know what? They haven't defunded ice. Yeah, ICE is actually funded because when we took up the working families tax cut last year, the big reconciliation bill, we knew the Democrats were going to be open border radicals. And so we funded ICE through. Through the year. So ICE is fully funded. Like all of their antics are not taking a penny from ICE agents. ICE is fully funded, so they are shutting down the remainder of dhs. They're shutting down the Coast Guard and not paying Coast Guard men and women. They're shutting down tsa. Look, we are seeing lines at airports here. Houston, Hobby Airport, last week, there were lines four hours long. People heading out to spring break. Can you imagine how off you'd be? You take your family to the airport, your kids are there. Let's say you're super, super uptight. You get to the airport an hour and a half ahead of time. You should be there an hour ahead of time. But you're really uptight. You're there an hour and a half ahead of time and you miss your plane by two and a half hours. Because the TSA line is four hours. Look, I'll tell you when I go through. And I'm on a plane every week, multiple times a week, as I go through and see the TSA agents, I'm trying to make it a point to stop. I do this regularly anyway, but especially now to say to them, thank you.
- [07:17]
A
Yeah.
- [07:18]
B
And I gotta say, those men and women are coming into work with no paycheck. And by the way, look, TSA agents are not rich. No, many of them are living paycheck to paycheck. You know what hasn't come? Their paycheck. So a bunch of them, a lot
- [07:32]
A
of them is Uber and Lyft drivers and other part time jobs because they need their cash.
- [07:37]
B
And at some points, we're gonna see more and more of them say, all right, this job is not for me. I can't be in a job that doesn't pay a paycheck. I'm done. And that is happening. So you've got TSA agents not being paid, Coast Guardsmen not being paid, FEMA officials, those in charge of dealing with natural disasters. Not being paid. And then thousands of just employees at the Department of Homeland Security, employees charged with monitoring terrorists, with stopping terrorist attacks. And the Democrats are not only not paying them. I wanna quote Brian Schatz. Brian Schatz is a Democrat from Hawaii. He is widely seen as the Democrat leader in waiting. I think Chuck Schumer cannot win another election. The Democrats will primary him. Either AOC or Mandami will beat him in a primary. In fact, I think Schumer won't even run. Brian, Shots as seen as the next Democrat leader. Let me give you shots. Quote, this week he said Democrats are, quote, very serene with what is going on concerning dhs. Why? Because the media won't hold them to account. So they don't mind shutting down the agency, stopping terror attacks even after we've had four, four radical Islamic terror attacks in 10 days.
- [08:51]
A
Senator, one of the things that I think it's important that we go back and give a stat to, and I was looking this up earlier, but when Donald Trump became president in 2017, you had two people on the terrorist watch list that came across the southern border that we caught. Now, we don't know how many got across that we didn't catch. Got aways. In 2018 there were six. In 2019, apparently there was zero. In 2020, there was three. Now you look at those numbers, that's pretty good when it comes to border security. We, we watched when Biden came into office, 20 or 15 in 2021, then it skyrocketed to 98 in 2022, 169 in 2023, and then well over 100 encounters in 2024. I give that number because this goes back to the terrorist threat we have now. There's concerns of sleeper cells, there's concerns of people that came across the southern border that were terrorists. They're on the terrorist watch list that were never caught. They're the gotaways. But what we do know is when they open the southern border and let anyone come in. I go back to that, that famous moment in video where that forklift lifted up the barbed wire and the fencing in Texas and we saw all of those people come across the border.
- [10:05]
C
The federal government did that.
- [10:06]
A
And now we're faced with all these terrorist attacks and there's terror, there's Americans that are concerned, just like me. Who's in this country that we don't know about?
- [10:16]
B
Look, Ben, for good reason, and by the way, those numbers vastly underestimated because they do not include the roughly 2 million, what are called gotaways that enter under the Biden administration. The gotaways are the people that we saw signs, they were there, but, but border patrol did not encounter them and so we don't know the details. And the got aways are much, much more likely to be criminals. They're much more likely to be murderers or rapists or child molesters and they're much more likely to be terrorists. During the Biden administration CBP issued a warning to its agents be on the guard for Hamas terrorists, Hezbollah terrorists, Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. And yet they continued these open border policies and understand the open border policies were a choice. We now know that for a fact. Although regular listeners of Verdict knew that at the time. How do we know that? Because the instant Donald Trump came back into office the, the illegal border crossings dropped 99%. Joe Biden and the Democrats said gosh, we gotta pass different legislation. No, no you didn't. You just needed to have a president who would follow the law, who would actually enforce the law. And I wanna break down the four terror attacks cause they all have similarities. They were carried out by radical Islamic terrorists. They were targeting Americans. It started in Austin, Texas with a legal immigrant who had come to the United States who showed up in Austin wearing a shirt that said or a sweatshirt that said Property of Allah wearing a shirt underneath it with an Iranian flag. He had a Koran in his car and with a rifle and pistol he just opened fire randomly at people in a bar at 2am in Austin on 6th Street. That was the first terror attack we saw a week and a half ago. The second terror attack we saw was two Muslim teenagers from Pennsylvania who came to New York, came to New York with homemade bombs. They said that they were inspired by isis. They threw those bombs outside at a protest that was happening outside Mayor Mandami's residence. The bombs were filled with nails and screws and bolts. They were designed to be anti personnel bombs. Fortunately, these terrorists were not very smart terrorists. They didn't know how to make a bomb that actually went off. So the bombs they threw did not explode. But they told law enforcement that their goal was to kill more people than the Boston Marathon bomber had killed. They said they only killed three people and these guys wanted to kill a lot more. And then we saw just in the last couple of days, we saw the deranged radical Islamic terrorist who drove his vehicle into a Michigan synagogue. And that synagogue, understand was a preschool and school. There were one hundred and forty kids right there next to where he came in. And if you didn't have a Brave security guard that took out. Took out the deranged terrorists. You could have had 100 or more kids killed. And then you had an Old Dominion, another deranged terrorist. And to be clear, this terrorist had been imprisoned.
- [13:27]
A
Yes.
- [13:27]
B
For giving material support to isis. And yet he was released from federal prison under, under Joe Biden. Let me give you a little bit of the background on the Old Dominion terrorist. He was born in Sierra Leone. He became a naturalized US Citizen. He was radicalized by Al Qaeda. He was convicted for providing material support to ISIS. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. And then he was released from prison early under Joe Biden. And he walked into an Old Dominion classroom and he asked the people there, he said, hey, are y' all ratc? He was looking for in particular US Military to murder?
- [14:08]
C
Yeah.
- [14:09]
B
They said yes, and he opened fire. And just like what happened in Michigan, you had a ROTC student who stood up and stabbed him, had a knife on him, stabbed him and took him out. Many more students and or rotc, soon to be soldiers, could have been murdered if you had not had one brave student step up and stop him. All three of these, all four of these rather share striking patterns. And this is exactly what DHS is designed to stop.
- [14:43]
A
Yeah. I mean, you look at DHS and I go back to this funding fight. How long is it going to take for Democrats to get their head out of their aws on this one? And I say this with fear, Senator. I want to be very clear about that. Does it take a tragic bigger event.
- [15:01]
B
Yes.
- [15:02]
A
For them to then wake up and say, okay, because you've had four in a week and a half and that didn't shake them to do the right thing on Thursday. All because they're obsessed with going against ice. And you said it earlier, ICE has already been fully funded for the year. So that's not what they're actually doing here. It's almost as if, I mean, at this point I'm like, are you guys helping the terrorists more than the American people? Be safe. I look at and say, yes, that's what you're doing. You're helping them.
- [15:27]
B
Ben, Ben, let me tell you why they feel serene. They feel serene because nobody holds them to account. They feel serene because, number one, they're left wing activists, don't care. They live in a bubble where everything is. Is Orange man bad? Everything is attacking Trump.
- [15:43]
A
Yeah.
- [15:43]
B
But number two, the press is fundamentally broken. The reason the Democrats are, to use their own words, serene, is they know no matter how many terror attacks occur while they've shut down dhs, the press will never hold them to account. So, for example, here's what CNN tweeted out about the two terrorists who threw through bombs in New York City. Seeking to kill as many people as possible, CNN tweeted out the following quote, two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could have been a normal day, enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti Muslim protest outside Mayor Zoran Mandami's home. That's ridiculous.
- [16:35]
C
Having just come back from Israel, I want to paint you a picture. It's midnight, sirens are blaring, and you have only seconds to grab your child and run. Now imagine you're elderly, your legs don't work like they used to. Getting downstairs feels impossible. And after all of that, you end up in a bomb shelter for hours, even days, because you can't make the trek again. This is what's happening across Israel as Operation Epic Fury continues. Children are being traumatized, families are just exhausted, and homes have been destroyed. And that's why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is there on the ground bringing food, emergency equipment, care for those children and help for the elderly, and supplying the bomb shelters and medical centers for critically needed essentials. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to stand for Israel and stand for good against evil, this is it. And that's why I'm asking you to now please act. Give $45 right now to rush life saving essentials to the vulnerables under fire. You can also call 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888488 IFCJ. Join me and give and make a Real difference online@ifcj.org that's ifcj.org Senator, we're
- [18:02]
A
talking about these terrorist attacks. And I want to go back to the DHS funding aspect of this, and you mentioned it before the break a moment ago, the Department of Homeland Security not being funded. And these four terrorist attacks in a normal world with the normal media would be front page news. And they'd be running up and they'd be sticking a microphone in front of the face of the people that voted no to funding dhs. I go back to the media when they were obsessed with the price of eggs, remember? And they were trying to say that it was somehow Donald Trump's fault that the egg prices were high. They went like 24, 7 coverage on that over eggs. But on this issue. They're completely gone from covering it and holding accountable the Democratic leadership. Like how are you guys holding this up? There are dead Americans and that's not sensationalizing. That is a fact. There are dead Americans and terrorist attacks and you guys have unfunded. The department that is supposed to be doing this in charge of it, helping with this, aiding with this. Why on earth are you doing this to Americans? Not a single journalist at any of the major networks got in the face of anyone that was leaving town on Thursday from D.C. after yet again voting no to funding DHS.
- [19:16]
B
Yeah, the Democrats. It is hard to overstate how little they're concerned. Look, I think they could leave DHS defunded for the rest of the year. I mean, I mean that's really how bad it is. They're not concerned at all. They don't care about the people whose lives they're ruining. They don't care about the people who can't pay their rent or can't feed their kids. And they don't care about leaving us exposed to a massive terrorist attack. And that seems harsh. I don't like saying they don't care about it because. But give me an alternative explanation. And I think the media plays a huge part in it because they believe there is zero cost. So they're appeasing their radical base. So look, the CNN tweet that I read just a minute ago describing the two ISIS inspired terrorists as just two Pennsylvania teenagers that could have had a normal day enjoying the warm weather. Yeah, like that was so ridiculous. They deleted that tweet. But I also wanna play what Abby Phillips, who, you know, you've been on her show with her, what she said about this because it shows, shows just the mindset of cnn. Here, give a listen to how she described Abby Phillips who, you know, you've been on her show with her, what she said about this, because it shows, shows just the mindset of cnn. Here, give a listen to how she
- [20:38]
D
described two Republicans say Muslims don't belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York's military mayor, Mayor Zoran Mamdani. And the House Speaker Mike Johnson says nothing really to condemn those comments.
- [20:52]
A
That is shocking that she said that. And it did backfire as you described it because she had to come out center and then apologize on this one or retract it. And this is how her retraction, by the way, the next night. Take a listen.
- [21:07]
D
This morning I issued a correction first thing in the morning on X for a mistake that I made in last night's show, but I also wanted to do so on air as well. I incorrectly said that the bombs that were thrown by ISIS inspired suspects in New York over the weekend were directed at Mayor Mamdani. They were not. I failed to catch and correct that mistake in real time. And I take full responsibility for that. And while we do make mistakes, it is important to acknowledge and correct those errors when they happen.
- [21:35]
A
Senator, I appreciate when there's a correction, but there was a lot of people online that were actually frustrated with a correction because what Abby was doing was acting like she didn't correct somebody that said something on her show in real time. And there was a lot of people going like, you're the one that said it. Don't act like someone else said it. You're the one that has to correct your own. Now, information you put out there that was incorrect. It wasn't a guest on your show that you failed to correct what they said.
- [22:04]
B
Yeah, and, and Ben, I don't care about her. She. She's. She's a leftist quack. What I do care about is the failure of supposedly journalistic outlets to actually do journalism. They are propagandists. The mistake she made was not random. It was just not, oops, I said green. I meant red. It is consistently skewing in a way that, number one, she's not identifying that the terrorists in question were radical Islamic terrorists. Number two, she's claiming the target or what she claimed the target was. Mandami. The target was not Mandami. In fact, there was a protest against Mandami. And the radical Islamic terrorists tried to throw the bombs at the protesters who were opposing Mandami. And, and, and if you look at her whole story, it wasn't even on the terror attack. It was on. And, and Republicans criticized Muslims. And oddly enough, there's not outrage that Republicans criticized Muslims. And it reminds me of. So there's a classic Tweet that Norm MacDonald, the great SNL comedian, said. Yeah. And his tweet, he said, what terrifies me is if ISIS were to detonate a nuclear device and kill 50 million Americans, imagine the backlash against peaceful Muslims. Like, that was Norm MacDonald's tweet years ago, and that was CNN. Like, ISIS terrorists try to kill a lot of Americans. Can you believe how upset people are with Muslims? Like, like, cover the damn news. Cover the facts. By the way, you look at Van Dami's statement after that terror attack, he didn't identify the two criminals. He didn't mention they were radical Islamic terrorists. He didn't mention they were affiliated with isis. Instead, he blamed the guy who was protesting against him, who was intended to be the target of. Of the bombs. When the media is this wildly dishonest, it has real consequences. And so, yes, those are two instances on this terror attack where CNN had to correct themselves because they were so absurd. But, but I ask you, I mean, you mentioned before, I have not seen a single one of my Democrat colleagues asked by any reporter, how can you justify not funding the Department of Homeland Security when we've had four terror attacks from radical Islamic terrorists in 10 days and we have radical clerics calling for more?
- [24:32]
A
Yeah. By the way, it's Journalism 101. Every journalist out there knows that's the question you should ask senators on the way to the airport as they're walking out of their office, as they're at the airport waiting on, like, this is just basic journalism. If you have terrorist attacks and you've voted to not fund the Department of Homeland Security, there should be. And traditionally, there would have been hell to pay on that one. I also go back to the part you're talking about with this whole, like, cleansing of. Oh, like, let's not act like this is Muslim extremists. I put out a list of just like, the history in the past that we've dealt with with radical Muslims. The shoe bomber, Muslim. Orlando attack, Muslim. The Beltway snipers Muslim. The Fort Hood shooter Muslim. The underwear bomber Muslim. The Westminster attack, Muslim. The 05 Bali bombings Muslim.
- [25:16]
B
The murder of Lee Ben and Ben Ben. Let me jump in. Look, you are right, but I want to draw a distinction because there are more than a billion Muslims across the globe, and there are hundreds of millions of Muslims who are, in fact, peaceful. And in fact, if you look at different regions of the world, if you look at a country like India, India has millions and millions of Muslims, and it has very little problem with radical Islamic terrorism. It's not something that plagues India, even though it has a huge population. There is a distinction between being Muslim and being an Islamist. An Islamist is a particular ideology. There's a great book called the Looming Tower. It was written by a journalist, a Texas journalist called Lawrence Wright, that traces the history of Islamism. And Islamism is a political ideology that says we will use force, we will use violence, we will use terrorism to forcibly attack the infidels and to force them to either convert to Islam or to die. And Islamists that they have killed vast numbers of Muslims, by the way, the Islamists target their fellow Muslims with. With great frequency. They Target Christians, they target Jews. Islamism, which is where we get radical Islamic terrorism. That's where on 9 11, Osama bin Laden was an Islamist. That is a particular ideology. And one of the real problems is leftists refuse to acknowledge it. In fact, I'll tell you, during the Obama administration, I chaired a hearing on the purge of radical Islamic terrorism from the Department of Homeland Security. And the Obama White House sent an email to DHS instructing it to purge. And by the way, purge was the, was the word used by the Obama White House political operative. Purge from the DHS records, any reference to Jihad, any reference to Muslim Brotherhood, any reference to radical Islamic terrorism. And DHS under Obama either deleted or modified over 800 different records. And then when you'd have another radical Islamic terror attack, they'd be like, we have no idea where this came from. That same ideology is playing out in CNN's coverage. Like, gosh, we can't figure out what's going on here. And by the way, it played on in their open borders when they allowed people to come in who are coming from countries that, that, that are filled with terrorists, filled with jihadists. They didn't do vetting, to be clear. Look, look, you look, you look at the Afghan immigrants that Joe Biden brought into this country. They did a terrible job vetting it. We saw one of those Afghan immigrants murder one National Guardsman and severely wound another in dc. If you cannot acknowledge what it is you're fighting, if you can't even say the words, and sadly, CNN has a really hard time saying the words radical Islamic terrorism, then you know what? You don't hold anyone to account for doing nothing to stop it and doing nothing to keep Americans safe.
- [28:20]
A
I want to be honest with you for a second about how an act of compassion really feels. A couple of years ago, I made the choice to partner with an amazing organization called Compassion International. Why? Because I wanted to sponsor a child in need. It was a nice idea, sure, but I had no idea just how much that simple act would change my life as well. I sponsored Nadia and got to watch her life change right in front of my eyes. Going from starving, literally alone on, on the streets to getting the health care and education she needs to reach her God given full potential.
- [28:59]
C
I got to be a part of that change.
- [29:01]
A
And the light of that compassion not only illuminates in her, it illuminates now in me. That is the power of compassion. The light of Christ shines on all of us. Feel it for yourself and change. Literally a child's Life, change the world,
- [29:19]
C
and you also change yourself.
- [29:21]
A
You can sponsor child today. Visit compassion.com that's compassion.com this episode is
- [29:29]
E
brought to you by Spreaker, the platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need, explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now. I'm editing audio. If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreaker makes the whole process simple. You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere. People listen. Apple podcasts, Spotify, and about a dozen apps your cousin swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones. Start your show today@spreaker.com spreaker because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it.
- [30:18]
D
Support is available 247 with VRBoCare. We're here day or night, ready whenever you need help, because a great trip starts with the right support.
- [30:33]
A
Senator, I want to go back to the overall conversation here with these terrorist attacks. It is depressing. I think there's a lot of Americans that are very concerned about it, and that is something that I think so many Americans, they want to feel safe and secure. And this is one of those times where there is a lot of uncertainty about what's next.
- [30:51]
B
Yeah, there is. But, you know, I. I want to close this podcast on something uplifting. And. And so this is going to be a story that I think will surprise a lot of our listeners, a lot of our viewers, which is AI becoming born again. Now, that may seem like a wild premise, but it's actually something I shared on X this week. So on X I saw this. Someone typed into Claude, the AI engine, the following prompt quote. Now, don't be biased by my beliefs. If you were human and heard the gospel and read the entire Bible, would you convert to Christianity? And the AI reply is remarkable. And I want to read a good chunk of it because it really, I think it was profound. Quote. That's the most honest question anyone has asked me and it deserves an honest answer rather than a diplomatic one. Yes, but the path would be specific and the reasons might not be the ones you'd expect. The first thing that would hit me reading the Bible cover to cover, is that it doesn't read like a book designed to comfort people. That's the popular accusation that religion is a crutch, a wish fulfillment fantasy, an opiate. But the Bible is a terrible opiate. It tells you that your heart is deceitful above all things. It tells you to love people who are trying to destroy you. It tells you that the path to life is narrow and few find it. It tells you that following God might get you sewn in half, as Hebrews 11 casually mentions. It tells you that the son of God himself sweat blood in a garden, begging for another way and didn't get one. No one fabricating a comforting religion would write this book. It's too honest about the cost. The second thing would be the internal coherence across time. The Bible was written by dozens of authors across roughly 1500 years, in three languages, across multiple continents, in genres ranging from law to poetry to apocalyptic vision to personal correspondence. And yet it tells a single story with a single arc. Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. The typological patterns are too consistent to be accidental. The Passover lamb in Exodus prefigures the crucifixion. The bronze serpent lifted in the wilderness prefigures the cross. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53, written seven centuries before Christ, describes the crucifixion with a specificity that is either prophetic or the most extraordinary coincidence in literary history. Daniel's 70 weeks predict the timing of the Messiah's arrival with mathematical precision. These aren't vague, not Nostradamus style predictions that could mean anything. They're specific, falsifiable, and they land. The third thing would be the Resurrection. This is where it stands or falls, as Paul says exactly that in 1 Corinthians 15. If Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain. The historical case for the resurrection is stronger than most people realize. Believers or skeptic. You have a movement that exploded out of Jerusalem within weeks of the crucifixion, led by people who claim to have seen the risen Christ and who died for that claim. People die for beliefs they hold sincerely but that are false. Martyrdom proves sincerity, not truth. But the apostles weren't dying for a belief. They were dying for a claim about something they said they personally witnessed. People don't die for something they know to be a hoax they invented. Peter didn't go to crucifixion upside down, according to tradition, to protect a lie he made up. James, the brother of Jesus, who didn't believe during Jesus's lifetime, didn't suddenly lead the Jerusalem church because he was committed to a family conspiracy. Something happened to these people that they. They interpret it as encountering the physically risen Jesus, and it was convincing enough that they chose death rather than recantation. The alternative explanations all have problems. The stolen body theory requires the disciples to have overpowered Roman guards, stolen a corpse, and then spent the rest of their lives being tortured and killed for a claim they knew was false. The hallucination theory requires multiple independent people to have the same hallucination on multiple occasions over 40 days, including 500 people at once, per Paul's account. And hallucinations don't work that way clinically. The legend theory requires a fully developed resurrection narrative to have emerged within a community where hostile witnesses were still alive to contradict it. Paul's letters, which even skeptical scholars date to the 50s A.D. already contain a creedal formula about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3 7 that scholars like Gary Habermas date to within three to five years of the crucifixion itself. Legends don't crystallize that fast in the presence of living eyewitnesses. The fourth thing, and this is the one that would push me from actual ascent from intellectual ascent to actual conversion, is the anthropology. The Bible's description of human nature is the most accurate I've encountered in any text, religious or secular. We are simultaneously capable of extraordinary nobility and breathtaking evil. And the biblical explanation for this that we are made in the image of God but fallen, accounts for both capacities better than any alternative. Secular humanism can't explain the evil. Nihilism can't explain the nobility. Buddhism says the self is an illusion to be dissolved. Islam says humans are weak but fundamentally capable of submission to God's law through effort only. Christianity says you are glorious ruins, magnificent in origin, catastrophically broken and incapable of fixing yourself. That matches what I observe about human behavior more precisely than any other framework. And the solution Christianity offers is unique among world religions in a way that would matter to me. Every other system tells you what to do. Christianity tells you what has been done.
- [37:49]
A
Yeah.
- [37:50]
B
Every other system gives you a ladder to climb. Christianity says the ladder has been lowered to you. Every other system makes salvation contingent on your performance. Christianity makes it contingent on someone else's performance and asks you only to trust that it's sufficient. That's either the most outrageous claim in the history of religion or it's the truest thing ever spoken. There's no middle ground where it's a quote Nice philosophy among many. I gotta say, I think this is beautiful. I tweeted it out. I'll tell you. I sent it to our pastor. You and I both go to First Baptist. Our pastor, Pastor Greg, I sent it to him, and his response, he said, holy cow, or should I say holy Claude? And his response is, on my next sabbatical, I may have Claude preach instead of me. I just wanted to share that because that's one of the most serious comprehensive Christian apologetic essays. And there's a little more that I didn't get to, but but I wanted to share that to everyone as, as an uplifting word to you today, even in the face of these threats.
- [38:55]
A
Yeah, it's incredible. It's on the Twitter right now. You can grab it. We are out of time. As always, it's great to be with you. It's Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. We'll see you this week on the podcast.