Walker Wildmon: Welcome to At the Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us today. The show is hosted each week by myself and Rick Green. I'm Walker Wildmon. Glad to have you tuned in to AFR.
Walker Wildmon: You can listen live to today's program over at AFR.net. You can also watch the video live at AFR.net by using the brand-new Watch Live feature at AFR.net. And if you're listening to this after the fact, well, thank you for joining the show and the podcast. We upload the episodes directly to the podcast library each and every afternoon. So every day, five days a week, we have fresh content queued up in your podcast library when you subscribe to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green podcast.
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Walker Wildmon: Acts chapter 19 is where we are today. Acts chapter 19. "And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' So they answered him and said, 'We have not so much as heard whether there even is a Holy Spirit.' And he said to them, 'Into what then were you baptized?' So they said, 'Into John's baptism.' Then Paul said, 'John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, Christ Jesus.' So when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all."
Walker Wildmon: Here we have Paul's teachings on the Holy Spirit, Paul's teachings on believer's baptism. And it's important to note that every New Testament believer, when they receive salvation, when they profess faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, they receive the Holy Spirit. And that is what allows us as believers to live sanctified lives, to live lives honoring to God, and to combat our sin nature, is through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Walker Wildmon: In our flesh, we don't have any power to be the things of God and to do the things of God. Rather, we need the Holy Spirit, God in us, in order to live righteously in a sanctified life. That's what salvation brings, is the salvation through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in every believer's life. Acts chapter 19, that's verses 1 through 7.
Walker Wildmon: Speaking of Paul and his teachings and his ministry, the trip to Greece is coming up in March of 2027. My brother Wesley and I, we're going to be taking a group to Greece, traversing, riding, and walking the very footsteps of Paul. We're going to be going to Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, and many other places, Berea as well, ancient Corinth, and we would love to have you join us.
Walker Wildmon: So if you want to check out that tour, you can go over to tours.afa.net. Tours.afa.net. My parents are going to be taking a group to Italy just after that, the week following, and you can join them as well. All of that information is available at tours.afa.net, and we've actually published and made available all of our trips for next year. So you can check them all out at tours.afa.net.
Walker Wildmon: Well, let's break down some of the clips I want to get to this segment. The topic of immigration in America just is continuing to dominate the political conversation, as over the last several decades, we've let tens of millions of foreigners into our nation through both legal and illegal means. Through the legal process, they eventually become, many of them, U.S. citizens.
Walker Wildmon: And we're seeing the repercussions of this not just in our own land, but looking at Europe. Europe is pretty much where we'll be in 10 or 15 years if we don't do anything. If we don't intervene here, stop the bleeding, reverse the crisis, we will be where Europe currently is in 10 years, and it's a very bad place to be.
Walker Wildmon: Muslim immigration is pretty much bringing down Europe. It's a disaster. Crime rates are up. Rape gangs are up. And the woke, left-wing, Marxist ideology takeover is very, very bad for Europe. And if we don't do anything about it in America, it will lead to our downfall as well.
Walker Wildmon: Let's listen to this. This is Representative Ogles, if I'm pronouncing it correct, probably not. Representative Ogles from, Representative Andy Ogles from Tennessee. And he was actually talking recently about the effects of immigration on crime rates, especially in Europe, and how that could happen in America as well. Let's listen to this.
Rep. Andy Ogles: You know, obviously, this is a hotly debated topic, but we have the benefit of learning from Europe and their mistakes. And so you can look at countries like the U.K., like Germany, for that matter, where they've had this mass immigration, migration, perhaps even, you might say, invasion, and what it's done to crime rates.
Rep. Andy Ogles: You know, when you have a city like London, where your migrant population is 10 to 12 percent of the population, yet 50 percent of the sex crimes, you've got to acknowledge the fact that you have a problem. And so we can stand by and let that happen here in New York and Chicago and Nashville and elsewhere, or we can have an honest conversation of, we have to do a better job of deciding who comes in and who has to leave.
Rep. Andy Ogles: This is our country. We set the terms of the invitation to come into this country. Oh, by the way, coming here is a privilege, not a right. And we need to acknowledge that fact as we either struggle or fight to keep our cities safe.
Walker Wildmon: So that's a House of Representatives Freedom Caucus member talking about the ability and the right for a nation to control its borders, to control who comes in. This is a non-controversial issue. At least, it should be a non-controversial position to state that America has the right to accept or deny anyone it deems appropriate to enter the country, or ineligible to enter the country, for whatever reason.
Walker Wildmon: This is why I think a lot of conservatives are growing more favorable, holding a more favorable view toward an immigration moratorium, both legal and illegal. At a minimum, we need to halt all visas, which would make up a lot of the immigration, halt all of these refugee programs. Between the visa programs, the refugee programs, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people.
Walker Wildmon: President Trump has pretty much put a halt on illegal immigration at the southern and northern border. But now we've got to talk about what are we going to do with the million-plus people we're letting into the country legally every single year? And who are we letting in, and why are we letting them in?
Walker Wildmon: The Trump administration needs to put their crosshairs on Muslim immigration. That's where the focus needs to be from a policy and a permit standpoint. Because when you look at Minnesota and some of these other states that have now majority-Muslim populations for a lot of these municipalities, how do you think that happened, folks? As I've said before, and I'll say it again, this is not organic American citizens en masse converting to Islam. That's not what's happening here.
Walker Wildmon: What we have is, our elected officials and our government agencies are allowing the mass migration, through legal means, of Muslims into the homeland. That's how this happens. That's how you have, basically, Somali suburbs and towns and immigration process. So at this juncture, all immigration pathways are on the table for debate and cancellation because of this problem. That needs to be abundantly clear.
Walker Wildmon: Secretary Rubio recently announced hundreds of thousands of visas are being paused, halting the visa process. And so there's so much damage to repair here with what's been done to our country over the last few decades on the illegal immigration side of things that we just need to put a moratorium on all of this. Just halt it all while we get our house in order.
Walker Wildmon: And if you don't think Islam is a problem in America, folks, this is going to be clip three, and this is out of Chicago. This isn't out of Syria or out of Iran. This is an Islamic, quote-unquote, scholar in Chicago talking about how Muslims came here to overtake America, not to share America. Clip three.
Speaker: Unfortunately, these days we don't repeat this enough, or we don't have this concept firm in our minds, that Islam did not come to coexist. Islam is raised high, and nothing is raised above Islam. We can't think of Islam that I came to live with these other religions in the sense that Islam is a religion amongst those religions, and they have a share with the truth, and they have a share of justice, and they have a share of this worship of Allah, the correct worship of Allah. Islam came to correct all of that. Islam came to remove the oppression of all those religions. And it is the only truth, and it is the only way to justice.
Walker Wildmon: Islam is the only way to justice. It came to remove all of the, quote-unquote, oppressive religions of America. Well, what's the dominant religion in America? Christianity. Still today, despite the fact, in spite of the fact, that we've seen perpetual decline in Christianity, people recognizing themselves as Christians, and we do have a very problematic, immoral culture, Christianity is still the dominant religion in America.
Walker Wildmon: And so for all this talk and all this fearmongering about Christian nationalism, which first off, can you define that, please? Because here's what the left does. They come up with these terms that nobody's ever heard before, and then they start throwing them around. Christian nationalists. What is that?
Walker Wildmon: Because I'm pretty sure they're defining anyone and everyone that is a born-again Christian that cares about the country and votes and speaks out about their values and their faith. That's a Christian nationalist. I'm pretty sure they would have called George Washington a Christian nationalist. And if that's the case, then call me what you want, because I like George Washington.
Walker Wildmon: But nonetheless, folks, Islamic nationalism is the threat. Islamic jihad is the threat. And this is why it was self-defeating for our politicians and previous administrations to en masse allow Muslim immigration. This happened, folks, after 9/11, in response to various conflicts in the Middle East, Syria, even Iraq, Afghanistan. We allowed hundreds of thousands, at this point millions, of legal Muslim immigrants into our country. Very lax vetting system. Very lax vetting protocols.
Walker Wildmon: And what I have a problem with is, why would you even let somebody in the country that's questionable? We know they're Muslim, but we're not sure if they love America or not. But let's just let them in. Why would you even do that?
Walker Wildmon: Of course, the suicidal empathy explains it all. This woke, weak notion that America, in our past, we've been evil and we've got to make things right, and we've got to bend over backwards, and we've got to be weak, and we can't be viewed as Islamophobic. So we're just going to let them all in. In the name of being kind, we're just going to let them all in. And we've done that.
Walker Wildmon: And now we've created Islamic strongholds in some of America's most populous states, where they basically have their own zip code, and their ideology and their false religion is at fundamental odds with the American form of government. That's not a controversial statement. That's not even a debated statement. The question is, why would we continue allowing millions of people who don't like America into America?
Walker Wildmon: Welcome back to At the Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you back with us for the second segment of today's program. Walker Wildmon here with you. You can listen live at AFR.net. You can also subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
Walker Wildmon: Well, introducing our next guest, we have on with us Daniel and Matt Coonan, if I pronounced your name correctly. They are writers and directors for the film Daniel and the Fiery Furnace. It's going to be out in September, which is this month now. I can't believe it's already September. But Daniel and Matt are with us now to talk about this film, give us a little sneak peek, and then tell folks how they can watch it. Daniel and Matt, glad to have you guys on.
Guest: Yeah, thanks for having us.
Guest: Thank you.
Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. Well, we'll start left to right for those watching the video. Daniel is wearing the black, and Matt's actually wearing the Daniel shirt, obviously, for the film there. So I had to get past that confusion. But hey, Daniel, tell us a little bit about your story, how you and your brother got into filmmaking, and then we'll jump into this film, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace.
Daniel Coonan: Yeah, thanks. Well, we basically have been doing this for 20 years now, and it's been a journey. There's three brothers, Coonan brothers, that run Unveil Studios. And we got into film because we really felt called into it. I think that many are called, few are chosen maybe, but we got into it to really shine a light. Like, you know, the light exposes in film, and we felt our name is actually rooted in 2 Corinthians, you know, those who see the Lord with unveiled face, to behold the glory of the Lord. So we came up with Unveil Studios.
Daniel Coonan: And it's been something that we've been passionate about, telling stories that impact the human heart. And what impacts the heart more than the Bible? I mean, the Word of God is alive. It's active. And we found that biblical stories is really our wheelhouse now, where we want to tell stories from. And we've been so inspired by the Book, by the Bible, and wanting to share that with audiences, and getting so much of a groundswell of support from others that want to see the Scripture on screen. And that's really where this film has come from.
Walker Wildmon: Amen. Hey, Matt, tell us, before we, I want to kind of cover this from a high level before we get into the actual film. We're talking to Daniel and Matt Coonan about their film Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, and we'll give the URL multiple times here shortly. But Matt, what's the Christian filmmaking business like now on the funding side? Because there's a lot of money that goes into producing films. So what path have you guys gone down? I know there's a couple of different avenues for funding, and some crowdfunding, et cetera. But what have you guys found that works the best for your family and the ministry?
Matt Coonan: Yeah. Well, I think the landscape has changed significantly recently here. Shows like The Chosen and House of David and these kind of shows have made film and faith TV more popular, you know, and so people are kind of looking for these stories. There is a traditional funding model through studio and that kind of a thing. But what we found was, by going through a crowdfund, that we were able to engage a really excited core group of people to become fans and investors at the same time.
Matt Coonan: And, you know, watching some other models, like Angel Studios has done some of this with some of their projects, and we were able to just engage a Bible audience with investing into a project that they can be a part of. And that's where the majority of our funds came from. So that's not necessarily a traditional model for filmmakers, but in the faith community, that crowd is so important. And we're finding it now as we're getting the movie out into theaters. They're engaged too now and part of the journey with us. So it's actually really exciting.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, it's encouraging to see faith-based films, Christian films, do so well, and the fact that the market wants it. I mean, people want encouraging, wholesome content and entertainment, which is very refreshing to see the demand out there.
Walker Wildmon: Daniel, tell us the inception. Tell us the vision. How did you guys decide to go all in on Daniel and the Fiery Furnace?
Daniel Coonan: Well, you know, it's interesting. When we started filmmaking, we always thought we would eventually get to biblical stories. I think this was the right time for us. Like, we really needed to grow in the craft of storytelling to do something as big and epic as the scale of Daniel.
Daniel Coonan: And I think the journey to this point, I mean, we had a really amazing end to the story of Daniel. You actually have to go see the movie in theaters to get. I can't give away the plot twist. But there was an end of the story that genuinely was like an aha moment that really made us write the script. And it was amazing how God did the process. And in the research phase of, like, we had this, you know, I think it was George Lucas that calls it the MacGuffin. You know, you have to have the reason why you're making the movie. We had our reason why, and you'll find out when you see the movie what we're talking about. I know that sounds mysterious, but it truly is a mystery hiding in plain sight in the Bible.
Daniel Coonan: But that piece was there, and then it was like, okay, let's research and understand these characters and what we found. And we use this analogy. If the Old Testament is two inches thick, one inch of that text is about the 70-year exile period where the Jews were sent into exile in Babylon. Why is this such a significant part of the Scripture? And we believe the answer is because it begins to unveil the Gentile history of the path to a Messiah. The Messiah was first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles. And so it actually becomes the narrative by which the Gentiles can learn about salvation. And Daniel himself experienced that and was taken aback by the revelation, you know.
Daniel Coonan: And so we have all of these prophetic Gentile kingdoms that are laid out, and then there's this other kingdom that was a rock not carved by human hands that comes and destroys the statue of all the other kingdoms and says, you know, Daniel tells the king, this kingdom will be forever. And this is the unveiling of the Messiah. And it's an incredible, incredible part of the entire narrative of Scripture, which Jesus Himself then quoted in the book of Matthew, verifying that Daniel was a prophet and verifying that He was the Son of Man that was spoken of in Daniel's story.
Daniel Coonan: So when we started to unpack that and look at how that affects Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, I mean, I'm getting excited because it's all of these prophets. They're all tied together, and they're all part of that same narrative. So that just really lit our fire as storytellers.
Walker Wildmon: Amen. UnveiledTV.com is the URL. You guys may have a better, a different URL, but the one I'm privy to here is UnveiledTV.com. From there, you can click "reserve my seats now" for Daniel and the Fiery Furnace coming out September 13th.
Walker Wildmon: Let's see, Matt, tell us how you guys are going to debut this, where it's going to be available, and then what the long-term plan is when it comes to streaming and other things like that.
Matt Coonan: Yeah, so it comes out early. September 18th is the official release date, but you can get group tickets and pre-screen it earlier if you take a group. So I think you can get to it from that link, but also Daniel.movie. You can find the link to the tickets, the group tickets. And right there, you can go and take a group to the theater early if you do a group. Otherwise, it's 17th, you can get some advanced screenings, and then the 18th is the wide release.
Matt Coonan: So in the U.S., it's going to be, we're looking at around a thousand theaters. You have to keep requesting theaters, so if there's more interest, the theaters will take the film. And this is really part of the exciting thing about the faith-based films, is that we can actually create more excitement around this story and these projects and get the exhibitors, the theaters, to take our films and show them because we're showing the interest. So if you don't see it in your town, call your theater, knock on their door, email them and say, "Hey, we want to see this. Our group wants to see this." And they will open the doors for you because they want to sell tickets. So it works out great, and we need to get these stories out.
Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. I knew you guys would have a smart URL. So Daniel.movie is it. So sorry for giving out the more complicated URL. Daniel.movie is the URL. And the September 13th, that's in Canada. That's when tickets come available in Canada. So right now, though, in the U.S., you can purchase tickets over at Daniel.movie.
Walker Wildmon: This film's coming out later in September on the 18th in nearly a thousand, or over a thousand theaters all around the country. And of course, if it's not in your town or your city, you can talk to your local theater and request it. If you've got a group that wants to view it, go about it that way. Daniel.movie is the URL.
Walker Wildmon: Let me ask you this, Matt. Tell us kind of what maybe something that surprised you throughout this process, because filmmaking, number one, how long did it take to produce the film? And what are some hurdles or some surprises you came across throughout the process?
Matt Coonan: Oh, that's a question. Well, we started in 2023. So we did some shooting in '23. We did a couple of days actually in India where we shot a location. We did two shoots, one for three days, and then came back, and then about two years later, we went and finished the rest of the shoot and did 25 more days in India.
Matt Coonan: I would say one of the surprises is that, well, A, that we're here. I mean, it's a long journey, you know. It's a long journey, and not a surprise, but to be having these calls and doing these podcasts and things right now, it's surreal, you know, because it's such a long journey. So I don't know, time was weird that way. It's like once you reach that destination, you go, wow, all that runway behind me was quite a journey. And so looking back, it was quite an arduous trip getting to this point. But I shouldn't say I'm surprised. I mean, God has really just been with us the whole way.
Matt Coonan: I think the challenges we faced were significant, though. We faced, you know, the financial hurdle, getting funding fully for the movie. Shooting in India was wild. So we had, you know, on the day we're filming Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not bowing to an idol, we have idol worship all around us. And so we were really feeling like we were in the midst of that spiritual battle as we were making the movie.
Matt Coonan: So we faced challenges with the language and with just transportation and getting visas and all along the way. But we had, you know, one amazing thing about having investors who are believers is you can go back to them and say, "Hey, can you guys pray for us? We have this specific hurdle that we need to get over. Could you guys just pray?" And, you know, there'd be times where everything felt like it was going good, and we wouldn't ask so much for prayer. You know how life is. And then all of a sudden you go, that's when you needed it the most. We haven't been praying, and how can we tell? Because this is hard.
Matt Coonan: And so, yeah, we went through ups and downs, and God really came through. And it doesn't mean it was without error or hurdles or difficulty, but, you know, here we are. And that's been quite a trip.
Walker Wildmon: Congratulations, guys. Daniel, we've got about two minutes left. Daniel.movie, by the way, is the URL. You can check out this brand-new film coming out this month, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace. Daniel.movie is that URL.
Walker Wildmon: Daniel, last question. Once again, we've got about 90 seconds or two minutes left. What's it like coming from someone in a family ministry? My grandfather started the ministry. My dad runs it now. My brother and my sister and I work here and serve here. What's it like producing films with your siblings?
Daniel Coonan: Well, we've been joking that we only appear on camera together, but we don't do anything else together. But that's not really true. There's that beautiful verse in Scripture, you know, how blessed it is when brothers dwell together in unity, and how much more true when they're actually blood brothers. You know, we've really experienced the blessing of that and not being conflictery. Is that even a word? Not conflicting, or that's not a word, apparently. It can't be. I'm claiming it.
Daniel Coonan: You know, not being at odds with each other, but pushing for the same vision. Like, we're not only pushing for the same creative vision, but we're pushing for the vision of people reading Scripture, people getting into the Bible, people seeing Scripture on screen. It's something bigger than ourselves. For those listening or watching, choose something bigger than yourself. Get into a community where you can build something together that's actually going to last.
Daniel Coonan: Daniel did that with his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They built a story that's timeless, that's still being told today. It's coming to theaters. You can be a part of it. It's a timeless story of faith. I mean, it's just so cool to be a part of just retelling a testimony that is timeless. So that's probably it. Like, let's see family. We're a family of faith, right?
Walker Wildmon: That's right. Yeah, that's encouraging. And the thing about working in a family ministry, family business, is you've got to be willing to set your ego aside and work through your differences because the relationships matter. And the mission, the overarching mission, is more important than our individual needs or preferences. So it's really an exercise in humility each and every day.
Walker Wildmon: Hey, we've been talking to Daniel and Matt Coonan. They are the writers and producers and directors of Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, out this month in theaters all around the country. Daniel.movie is that URL. Hey, brothers, Daniel, Matt, thank you guys for coming on the program. This has been great. We'll upload this in the form of a podcast so folks can share it with family and friends. And we encourage anyone and everyone to go watch the film. So we appreciate your work and coming on to tell us about the film.
Daniel Coonan: Thanks for having us.
Matt Coonan: Yeah, thanks a lot.
Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. That's Daniel and Matt Coonan. They produced the film Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, in theaters September 18th all around the country. Go to Daniel.movie to check out that film. Go ahead and purchase your tickets there on the website, share it with family and friends. And we have to, have to, have to support these faith-based films all around the country to continue the demand that these theaters have to get these films into the local theaters.
Walker Wildmon: So anytime you have the opportunity to support faith-based Christian films that inspire, encourage, and uplift your family and your friends and your loved ones, support these films. And many of you have in years past, and that's why even Hollywood has taken note that faith-based films are in demand, and wholesome entertainment is in demand. And that's why films like this are being produced. Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, Daniel.movie is that URL. And so we encourage you to go to the website, purchase tickets, take your family and friends, and check out that film.
Walker Wildmon: Well, folks, this is the counter to the depravity in entertainment that we talk about. You know, we talk about Hollywood through One Million Moms. We warn our listeners of the troublesome content that's out there on the TV and the internet. And we do what we can to combat that. But what better way to combat the filth with wholesome content, wholesome entertainment?
Walker Wildmon: And so every opportunity we get on the program here at American Family Radio and American Family Association to highlight wholesome content, wholesome entertainment for the family, we take every chance we get to do that. Daniel.movie, coming out this month in September, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace.
Walker Wildmon: Well, folks, we've got one segment left. Chris Woodward from American Family News is going to join us. We'll talk about the economy, the Iran conflict, midterm elections, all that's coming up in the next few months.
Walker Wildmon: Welcome to At the Core here on American Family Radio. Walker Wildmon here with you on this edition of the program. The show is hosted each week by myself and Rick Green. You can listen live over at AFR.net. You can get past episodes wherever you listen to podcasts. Just type in At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green, or any of those keywords should work, and it will have the show queued up in your library each and every day.
Walker Wildmon: Chris Woodward, welcome back.
Chris Woodward: Thank you very much.
Walker Wildmon: Well, Chris, every day is a busy news cycle in the Trump world.
Chris Woodward: Yes.
Walker Wildmon: And it doesn't seem like there's a slow day. Tell us what's going on. What are some of your top headlines over at AFN this week?
Chris Woodward: Yeah, so you and I spend a lot of time talking about inflation and the Fed and policy stuff like that. One story that we'll need to keep an eye on, and we'll report on it at AFN.net. The Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said this week that an inflation report next week will largely determine whether he supports an interest rate hike later this month or not.
Chris Woodward: The government will release August inflation figures on September 11th, and if that report shows inflation continues to cool, Waller said, if inflation comes in hot, I would consider a rate hike. We'll see, and we can talk next week whenever we meet again on whether this was a good idea or not.
Chris Woodward: One other thing that I wanted to mention is mortgage rates. We talk a lot about mortgage rates on the show, and the good news is they're kind of holding steady. For example, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 6.71 percent from 6.6 percent last week. One year ago it was roughly that same percentage. So not a great number, but not getting worse. And that's a good thing that people need to take into account. Yes, things aren't great, but they're not worse. And I'm not trying to, like, polish something that looks terrible, but that is a way to look at it in a way that people, I think, quite frankly need to look at it, is that things may not be great, but they're not getting worse.
Chris Woodward: And one other good news, one other bit of good news here. More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs are still rare and jobless claims remain at historically low levels.
Walker Wildmon: Wow. Chris, to me, the mortgage rates are not too concerning because we are seeing an easing in house prices, an easing of home prices. I think we're about two and a half percent down over last year compared to last year on home prices. So if you see a continued easing of home prices, the mortgage rates aren't as big of a problem. And so I think that's the most likely scenario.
Walker Wildmon: Unfortunately, getting those mortgage rates down below 7 percent, down into six or even five and a half, is pretty much a long shot at this point because President Trump's been in office for 18 months, and I would have thought by now they would have dropped more. But there's a lot going on here. I know the bonds have had some issues with selling bonds, and the 10-year note is up pretty substantially.
Walker Wildmon: But energy, the point I was getting at, Chris, is that when you're talking about relief for the consumer, I think the most likely area of relief is probably going to be on the energy front. Now, I don't think we're going to go back to two dollars and a quarter gas like we were sitting at six months ago, but with the Iran war seeming to cool off and some of this Venezuelan oil now on the market, we could definitely see some easing, go back maybe into the three-dollar range for gasoline.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, for sure. Let's talk about the Venezuela situation. When I was covering that, like a lot of news outlets were covering it this week, the logical question you ask the expert is, how soon could people see relief at the pump? And long story short, the Venezuela oil deal is not going to solve your gas problems tomorrow or next week or next month. It'll probably be next year. But the knowledge that it's going to be coming is going to help downplay or offset the cost of energy right now.
Chris Woodward: And I will base that off of something that happened about 20 years ago when President-elect Barack Obama was about to win or take office. Then-President George W. Bush announced new efforts to go after oil and gas, and that announcement, that knowledge, helped with oil and gas trading. A lot of market stuff responded to that very positively, and that is why Barack Obama entered office when gas prices were, like, dirt cheap, because of things that President Bush announced while he was still in office. This will help offset the cost of gas right now.
Chris Woodward: And also, we're about to enter the time of year when the federal government doesn't require so much stuff added to gas for environmental purposes. So we're about to enter a cheaper time of year where gas starts to fall down, and all of this stuff come January or February next year is going to be, you know, we're not going to be back to $2.50. I hope we are, and I'll be glad if I'm wrong. But we will not see these high prices right now in a few months.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, I think we're going to see some easing. But to your point, we're not going to go down to the two-dollar range, in my opinion. I could be wrong. And here's why, Chris. We've got to fill up this Strategic Petroleum Reserve. So even if you get some Venezuelan oil further on the market, which Venezuelan oil, by the way, has already been kind of on the market. They've been importing into Houston, Texas, and refining it there for some time now. But you've got to refill this Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is going to eat into some of the available inventory.
Walker Wildmon: Nonetheless, Chris, I want to pivot topics a little bit and bring up something that I didn't even tell you I was going to bring up.
Chris Woodward: Okay.
Walker Wildmon: But I did tell my audience earlier in the week that I would look into this. The Texas race. Talarico, Ken Paxton. Chris, I've been looking into, because I played a clip of Senator Kennedy from Louisiana on Fox saying that the Senate Republicans and their committee have no money for Texas. He said, quote, "We have not budgeted any money for Texas." I was like, whoa, you don't have money for Texas? What are you guys doing?
Walker Wildmon: But Chris, ironically, the Senate Republican campaign committee had money for the South Carolina Senate primary with Lindsey Graham's sister and the conservative Ralph Norman. And then they ironically had money for John Cornyn in the primary against Ken Paxton. So Republicans are blowing their money on primaries, and they claim to not have any money for the general. It's crazy.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, and people should be concerned about what's going on in Texas, even if you live in Tennessee or some other state, because if Talarico pulls off the upset, Democrats will start pouring more money into other states that have elections next year and beyond. For example, if Talarico were to be elected the next senator for Texas, I would be shocked if the Democratic Party didn't put a bunch of money toward a Democrat running for governor in Mississippi, a state they held for generations until Kirk Fordice was the first Republican governor elected since Reconstruction in 1990-something.
Chris Woodward: The South used to be a stronghold for Democrats. It's since been a red-state area for a lot of elections. But if Talarico pulls this off, and as more people flee California to go to a cheaper state, they bring their politics with them, and then all of a sudden sweet little Jimmy T. Talarico is going to be, you'll see those kinds of candidates talking the same stuff in other parts of the South. So Republicans really need to pay attention to and care about this race.
Chris Woodward: I know they think they can probably win against El-Sayed in Michigan. That's still a big question mark. You're going to have to count on El-Sayed saying something dumb, or saying several things that are dumb, between now and Election Day for Rogers to pull that one off.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. What's just kind of surprising, Chris, that El-Sayed's leading like that. No, I mean, I know it's a blue state. It's been a battleground presidential state, but statewide Republicans haven't done well there.
Walker Wildmon: One more thing I wanted to note, Chris, to give specific numbers, which I said I would do on Monday. Senate Republicans, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, they spent 90, this is according to Time magazine, they spent $90 million trying to defeat, $90 million to try to defeat a fellow Republican, Ken Paxton, who regardless of what you think about his personal life, has been an absolutely phenomenal attorney general.
Chris Woodward: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Walker Wildmon: In Texas. I mean, he's been the most pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-family, anti-woke, anti-Biden. I mean, everything right about Attorney General Ken Paxton has been. And Senate Republicans spent $90 million opposing Ken Paxton, supporting John Cornyn. And then now, Chris, Ken Paxton's up against the true radical Talarico. Senate Republicans say they don't have any money.
Chris Woodward: Yeah. When you tell me how much they spent on that one little race, it shouldn't shock anybody that Republicans are partly to blame for the national debt right now, because they're just burning money.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, burning money on all the wrong things.
Chris Woodward: Yes, which is, you know, that's government in general. But yeah, they really, man, that looks terrible on the party.
Walker Wildmon: And here's why, Chris. It looks bad because the primaries are important, but the general is more important. Because John Cornyn was an establishment guy, RINO, weak. That's why Texans didn't like him, and that's why they voted him out. But to blow all your money on that, I think the Republican Party needs to stay out of the primaries. I think they need to let the voters pick who they want in the primaries and then support the party candidates in November.
Walker Wildmon: Because that's what conservatives are expected to do, right? Like if the conservative candidate doesn't win, the Republican Party expects us to still show up, you know, like for the establishment pick. Like if John Cornyn, for example, or Lisa Murkowski wins the primary, then they say, "Oh, you just need to be a team player." But they're not being a team player.
Chris Woodward: Yeah. That's when you hear them say, "This is the most important election of our lifetime," right?
Walker Wildmon: I can't think of one that is going to be, that's going to be interesting to watch, Chris, if Senate Republicans really let Talarico win there because they don't want to spend any more money supporting Ken Paxton.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, and you know, we talked about this. It still would appear that Democrats are going to win back the House. And so the reason why, listener, this is a big concern about the Senate is because if Democrats were to get control of the House and the Senate, everything Donald Trump ran on and got elected for, based on the popular vote in addition to the Electoral College, all of that goes away.
Chris Woodward: And I would be shocked if, because they were willing to impeach him when he wasn't even in office, I would be shocked if they don't try to impeach him, you know, though they'll be sworn in in early January. I would be shocked if they don't try to impeach him by Presidents Day.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, for sure.
Chris Woodward: You know, and then they'll talk about how it's saving democracy and all these other things. It will not be the, we've got to work, we can't do this because it's going to cost us in the next election.
Walker Wildmon: Let me ask you this, Chris. Do you believe the polls, meaning that this whole talk about Democrats taking the Senate, I don't doubt that they've got a chance to take the House. The House is going to be tight. That's going to be a nail-biter, the House of Representatives, I think. And it'll be quite a miracle if Republicans keep the House because of all the money being poured into it.
Walker Wildmon: But I'm not buying this poll that Talarico's up in Texas. He's more left than Beto O'Rourke, makes Beto O'Rourke look moderate. He makes Barack Obama look like he's talking about God being nonbinary. And the pollsters want me to think that Texans with their cowboy hats and their cowboy boots are going to vote for Talarico?
Chris Woodward: That's fair. That's fair. To answer your question, I report on polls all the time. It's a news story. I'll say whatever the poll found, and I'll get reaction to it and things like that. On a personal level, I tend to be skeptical of polls for a number of reasons.
Chris Woodward: Who did you ask? How did you ask it? When did you ask it? Where did you ask it? Very important. For example, if you approach a man and a woman that are exiting Walmart, and you walk up to him and say, "Hey, I'm doing a poll here. Sir, what do you think about women's rights?" And he's standing next to his wife, what do you think he's going to say?
Walker Wildmon: Your example, yes.
Chris Woodward: So it would depend on how you approach the topic. And sometimes, because Americans are so, and this is understandable, distrusting of people, you don't know where this information is going or if somebody's listening or they're going to identify you or dox you or whatever. For some people, instead of hanging up the phone, we'll tell people what they think they need to hear or what they're looking for. So based on all that, it could be that polls are not to be trusted.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Here's what I've read, Chris. I'm just putting this stuff on the record. And I actually do a terrible job going back on my projections and actually figuring out how many times I'm right and wrong, although I think I've been right a lot. And Bobby and I, I've tried to talk about it on the show and be like, remember three years ago when I predicted this and it came to pass? But I don't have enough time to go back and dig up the archives, so just take my word for it.
Walker Wildmon: I think I've read from credible sources that Republicans are being undercounted in the polls by a two- to three-point differential. So you've got the margin of error at three, and then you've got a two to three percent undercounting of Republicans. That, Chris, could be a six-point gap. I think that's part of what's going on here, in addition to what you mentioned, which is the fear factor that the left and the Marxists have created, where nobody wants to talk publicly about their beliefs and their politics because they're going to get shouted down and lose their job. And who answers pollsters' phone calls anymore, by the way? I don't answer calls unless I know the number.
Walker Wildmon: But they're showing El-Sayed up five points in Michigan, which, it's very possible, five points, probably not. I think it's going to be closer than that because this guy is off the deep end with his Islam. They're showing Talarico and Paxton tied on some of these polls on RealClear. I don't know. We'll track it. But I think Republicans are going to keep the Senate. There's my projection. I think Republicans are going to keep the Senate. I think they'll probably keep 53-47 majority. That's what I think. Could be 52. You know what? They could get 54.
Chris Woodward: And it doesn't just impact Donald Trump. You're talking about judges.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, for the next couple of years, you're right. Very important. They could pick up Georgia. Georgia's at play, folks. Ossoff's on the ballot. So between Michigan and Georgia, Republicans could pick one of those up. They hold everything else, well, they've got 54.
Walker Wildmon: So I'm not buying into the doom and gloom. I think it's going to be tight. I think there'll be a lot of money spent on it. I think the Never Trump vote is very energized. But I don't think it's going to give the Democrats the Senate because of Texas. I'm just not buying it. But time will tell. See you next time.
Walker Wildmon: Welcome to At the Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us today. The show is hosted each week by myself and Rick Green. I'm Walker Wildmon. Glad to have you tuned in to AFR.
Walker Wildmon: You can listen live to today's program over at AFR.net. You can also watch the video live at AFR.net by using the brand-new Watch Live feature at AFR.net. And if you're listening to this after the fact, well, thank you for joining the show and the podcast. We upload the episodes directly to the podcast library each and every afternoon. So every day, five days a week, we have fresh content queued up in your podcast library when you subscribe to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green podcast.
Walker Wildmon: We also publish daily clips from the show over on our Facebook page, At the Core on Facebook. You can get highlight clips there on the At the Core Facebook page if you follow us there.
Walker Wildmon: Acts chapter 19 is where we are today. Acts chapter 19. "And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' So they answered him and said, 'We have not so much as heard whether there even is a Holy Spirit.' And he said to them, 'Into what then were you baptized?' So they said, 'Into John's baptism.' Then Paul said, 'John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, Christ Jesus.' So when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all."
Walker Wildmon: Here we have Paul's teachings on the Holy Spirit, Paul's teachings on believer's baptism. And it's important to note that every New Testament believer, when they receive salvation, when they profess faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, they receive the Holy Spirit. And that is what allows us as believers to live sanctified lives, to live lives honoring to God, and to combat our sin nature, is through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Walker Wildmon: In our flesh, we don't have any power to be the things of God and to do the things of God. Rather, we need the Holy Spirit, God in us, in order to live righteously in a sanctified life. That's what salvation brings, is the salvation through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in every believer's life. Acts chapter 19, that's verses 1 through 7.
Walker Wildmon: Speaking of Paul and his teachings and his ministry, the trip to Greece is coming up in March of 2027. My brother Wesley and I, we're going to be taking a group to Greece, traversing, riding, and walking the very footsteps of Paul. We're going to be going to Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, and many other places, Berea as well, ancient Corinth, and we would love to have you join us.
Walker Wildmon: So if you want to check out that tour, you can go over to tours.afa.net. Tours.afa.net. My parents are going to be taking a group to Italy just after that, the week following, and you can join them as well. All of that information is available at tours.afa.net, and we've actually published and made available all of our trips for next year. So you can check them all out at tours.afa.net.
Walker Wildmon: Well, let's break down some of the clips I want to get to this segment. The topic of immigration in America just is continuing to dominate the political conversation, as over the last several decades, we've let tens of millions of foreigners into our nation through both legal and illegal means. Through the legal process, they eventually become, many of them, U.S. citizens.
Walker Wildmon: And we're seeing the repercussions of this not just in our own land, but looking at Europe. Europe is pretty much where we'll be in 10 or 15 years if we don't do anything. If we don't intervene here, stop the bleeding, reverse the crisis, we will be where Europe currently is in 10 years, and it's a very bad place to be.
Walker Wildmon: Muslim immigration is pretty much bringing down Europe. It's a disaster. Crime rates are up. Rape gangs are up. And the woke, left-wing, Marxist ideology takeover is very, very bad for Europe. And if we don't do anything about it in America, it will lead to our downfall as well.
Walker Wildmon: Let's listen to this. This is Representative Ogles, if I'm pronouncing it correct, probably not. Representative Ogles from, Representative Andy Ogles from Tennessee. And he was actually talking recently about the effects of immigration on crime rates, especially in Europe, and how that could happen in America as well. Let's listen to this.
Rep. Andy Ogles: You know, obviously, this is a hotly debated topic, but we have the benefit of learning from Europe and their mistakes. And so you can look at countries like the U.K., like Germany, for that matter, where they've had this mass immigration, migration, perhaps even, you might say, invasion, and what it's done to crime rates.
Rep. Andy Ogles: You know, when you have a city like London, where your migrant population is 10 to 12 percent of the population, yet 50 percent of the sex crimes, you've got to acknowledge the fact that you have a problem. And so we can stand by and let that happen here in New York and Chicago and Nashville and elsewhere, or we can have an honest conversation of, we have to do a better job of deciding who comes in and who has to leave.
Rep. Andy Ogles: This is our country. We set the terms of the invitation to come into this country. Oh, by the way, coming here is a privilege, not a right. And we need to acknowledge that fact as we either struggle or fight to keep our cities safe.
Walker Wildmon: So that's a House of Representatives Freedom Caucus member talking about the ability and the right for a nation to control its borders, to control who comes in. This is a non-controversial issue. At least, it should be a non-controversial position to state that America has the right to accept or deny anyone it deems appropriate to enter the country, or ineligible to enter the country, for whatever reason.
Walker Wildmon: This is why I think a lot of conservatives are growing more favorable, holding a more favorable view toward an immigration moratorium, both legal and illegal. At a minimum, we need to halt all visas, which would make up a lot of the immigration, halt all of these refugee programs. Between the visa programs, the refugee programs, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people.
Walker Wildmon: President Trump has pretty much put a halt on illegal immigration at the southern and northern border. But now we've got to talk about what are we going to do with the million-plus people we're letting into the country legally every single year? And who are we letting in, and why are we letting them in?
Walker Wildmon: The Trump administration needs to put their crosshairs on Muslim immigration. That's where the focus needs to be from a policy and a permit standpoint. Because when you look at Minnesota and some of these other states that have now majority-Muslim populations for a lot of these municipalities, how do you think that happened, folks? As I've said before, and I'll say it again, this is not organic American citizens en masse converting to Islam. That's not what's happening here.
Walker Wildmon: What we have is, our elected officials and our government agencies are allowing the mass migration, through legal means, of Muslims into the homeland. That's how this happens. That's how you have, basically, Somali suburbs and towns and immigration process. So at this juncture, all immigration pathways are on the table for debate and cancellation because of this problem. That needs to be abundantly clear.
Walker Wildmon: Secretary Rubio recently announced hundreds of thousands of visas are being paused, halting the visa process. And so there's so much damage to repair here with what's been done to our country over the last few decades on the illegal immigration side of things that we just need to put a moratorium on all of this. Just halt it all while we get our house in order.
Walker Wildmon: And if you don't think Islam is a problem in America, folks, this is going to be clip three, and this is out of Chicago. This isn't out of Syria or out of Iran. This is an Islamic, quote-unquote, scholar in Chicago talking about how Muslims came here to overtake America, not to share America. Clip three.
Speaker: Unfortunately, these days we don't repeat this enough, or we don't have this concept firm in our minds, that Islam did not come to coexist. Islam is raised high, and nothing is raised above Islam. We can't think of Islam that I came to live with these other religions in the sense that Islam is a religion amongst those religions, and they have a share with the truth, and they have a share of justice, and they have a share of this worship of Allah, the correct worship of Allah. Islam came to correct all of that. Islam came to remove the oppression of all those religions. And it is the only truth, and it is the only way to justice.
Walker Wildmon: Islam is the only way to justice. It came to remove all of the, quote-unquote, oppressive religions of America. Well, what's the dominant religion in America? Christianity. Still today, despite the fact, in spite of the fact, that we've seen perpetual decline in Christianity, people recognizing themselves as Christians, and we do have a very problematic, immoral culture, Christianity is still the dominant religion in America.
Walker Wildmon: And so for all this talk and all this fearmongering about Christian nationalism, which first off, can you define that, please? Because here's what the left does. They come up with these terms that nobody's ever heard before, and then they start throwing them around. Christian nationalists. What is that?
Walker Wildmon: Because I'm pretty sure they're defining anyone and everyone that is a born-again Christian that cares about the country and votes and speaks out about their values and their faith. That's a Christian nationalist. I'm pretty sure they would have called George Washington a Christian nationalist. And if that's the case, then call me what you want, because I like George Washington.
Walker Wildmon: But nonetheless, folks, Islamic nationalism is the threat. Islamic jihad is the threat. And this is why it was self-defeating for our politicians and previous administrations to en masse allow Muslim immigration. This happened, folks, after 9/11, in response to various conflicts in the Middle East, Syria, even Iraq, Afghanistan. We allowed hundreds of thousands, at this point millions, of legal Muslim immigrants into our country. Very lax vetting system. Very lax vetting protocols.
Walker Wildmon: And what I have a problem with is, why would you even let somebody in the country that's questionable? We know they're Muslim, but we're not sure if they love America or not. But let's just let them in. Why would you even do that?
Walker Wildmon: Of course, the suicidal empathy explains it all. This woke, weak notion that America, in our past, we've been evil and we've got to make things right, and we've got to bend over backwards, and we've got to be weak, and we can't be viewed as Islamophobic. So we're just going to let them all in. In the name of being kind, we're just going to let them all in. And we've done that.
Walker Wildmon: And now we've created Islamic strongholds in some of America's most populous states, where they basically have their own zip code, and their ideology and their false religion is at fundamental odds with the American form of government. That's not a controversial statement. That's not even a debated statement. The question is, why would we continue allowing millions of people who don't like America into America?
Walker Wildmon: Welcome back to At the Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you back with us for the second segment of today's program. Walker Wildmon here with you. You can listen live at AFR.net. You can also subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
Walker Wildmon: Well, introducing our next guest, we have on with us Daniel and Matt Coonan, if I pronounced your name correctly. They are writers and directors for the film Daniel and the Fiery Furnace. It's going to be out in September, which is this month now. I can't believe it's already September. But Daniel and Matt are with us now to talk about this film, give us a little sneak peek, and then tell folks how they can watch it. Daniel and Matt, glad to have you guys on.
Guest: Yeah, thanks for having us.
Guest: Thank you.
Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. Well, we'll start left to right for those watching the video. Daniel is wearing the black, and Matt's actually wearing the Daniel shirt, obviously, for the film there. So I had to get past that confusion. But hey, Daniel, tell us a little bit about your story, how you and your brother got into filmmaking, and then we'll jump into this film, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace.
Daniel Coonan: Yeah, thanks. Well, we basically have been doing this for 20 years now, and it's been a journey. There's three brothers, Coonan brothers, that run Unveil Studios. And we got into film because we really felt called into it. I think that many are called, few are chosen maybe, but we got into it to really shine a light. Like, you know, the light exposes in film, and we felt our name is actually rooted in 2 Corinthians, you know, those who see the Lord with unveiled face, to behold the glory of the Lord. So we came up with Unveil Studios.
Daniel Coonan: And it's been something that we've been passionate about, telling stories that impact the human heart. And what impacts the heart more than the Bible? I mean, the Word of God is alive. It's active. And we found that biblical stories is really our wheelhouse now, where we want to tell stories from. And we've been so inspired by the Book, by the Bible, and wanting to share that with audiences, and getting so much of a groundswell of support from others that want to see the Scripture on screen. And that's really where this film has come from.
Walker Wildmon: Amen. Hey, Matt, tell us, before we, I want to kind of cover this from a high level before we get into the actual film. We're talking to Daniel and Matt Coonan about their film Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, and we'll give the URL multiple times here shortly. But Matt, what's the Christian filmmaking business like now on the funding side? Because there's a lot of money that goes into producing films. So what path have you guys gone down? I know there's a couple of different avenues for funding, and some crowdfunding, et cetera. But what have you guys found that works the best for your family and the ministry?
Matt Coonan: Yeah. Well, I think the landscape has changed significantly recently here. Shows like The Chosen and House of David and these kind of shows have made film and faith TV more popular, you know, and so people are kind of looking for these stories. There is a traditional funding model through studio and that kind of a thing. But what we found was, by going through a crowdfund, that we were able to engage a really excited core group of people to become fans and investors at the same time.
Matt Coonan: And, you know, watching some other models, like Angel Studios has done some of this with some of their projects, and we were able to just engage a Bible audience with investing into a project that they can be a part of. And that's where the majority of our funds came from. So that's not necessarily a traditional model for filmmakers, but in the faith community, that crowd is so important. And we're finding it now as we're getting the movie out into theaters. They're engaged too now and part of the journey with us. So it's actually really exciting.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, it's encouraging to see faith-based films, Christian films, do so well, and the fact that the market wants it. I mean, people want encouraging, wholesome content and entertainment, which is very refreshing to see the demand out there.
Walker Wildmon: Daniel, tell us the inception. Tell us the vision. How did you guys decide to go all in on Daniel and the Fiery Furnace?
Daniel Coonan: Well, you know, it's interesting. When we started filmmaking, we always thought we would eventually get to biblical stories. I think this was the right time for us. Like, we really needed to grow in the craft of storytelling to do something as big and epic as the scale of Daniel.
Daniel Coonan: And I think the journey to this point, I mean, we had a really amazing end to the story of Daniel. You actually have to go see the movie in theaters to get. I can't give away the plot twist. But there was an end of the story that genuinely was like an aha moment that really made us write the script. And it was amazing how God did the process. And in the research phase of, like, we had this, you know, I think it was George Lucas that calls it the MacGuffin. You know, you have to have the reason why you're making the movie. We had our reason why, and you'll find out when you see the movie what we're talking about. I know that sounds mysterious, but it truly is a mystery hiding in plain sight in the Bible.
Daniel Coonan: But that piece was there, and then it was like, okay, let's research and understand these characters and what we found. And we use this analogy. If the Old Testament is two inches thick, one inch of that text is about the 70-year exile period where the Jews were sent into exile in Babylon. Why is this such a significant part of the Scripture? And we believe the answer is because it begins to unveil the Gentile history of the path to a Messiah. The Messiah was first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles. And so it actually becomes the narrative by which the Gentiles can learn about salvation. And Daniel himself experienced that and was taken aback by the revelation, you know.
Daniel Coonan: And so we have all of these prophetic Gentile kingdoms that are laid out, and then there's this other kingdom that was a rock not carved by human hands that comes and destroys the statue of all the other kingdoms and says, you know, Daniel tells the king, this kingdom will be forever. And this is the unveiling of the Messiah. And it's an incredible, incredible part of the entire narrative of Scripture, which Jesus Himself then quoted in the book of Matthew, verifying that Daniel was a prophet and verifying that He was the Son of Man that was spoken of in Daniel's story.
Daniel Coonan: So when we started to unpack that and look at how that affects Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, I mean, I'm getting excited because it's all of these prophets. They're all tied together, and they're all part of that same narrative. So that just really lit our fire as storytellers.
Walker Wildmon: Amen. UnveiledTV.com is the URL. You guys may have a better, a different URL, but the one I'm privy to here is UnveiledTV.com. From there, you can click "reserve my seats now" for Daniel and the Fiery Furnace coming out September 13th.
Walker Wildmon: Let's see, Matt, tell us how you guys are going to debut this, where it's going to be available, and then what the long-term plan is when it comes to streaming and other things like that.
Matt Coonan: Yeah, so it comes out early. September 18th is the official release date, but you can get group tickets and pre-screen it earlier if you take a group. So I think you can get to it from that link, but also Daniel.movie. You can find the link to the tickets, the group tickets. And right there, you can go and take a group to the theater early if you do a group. Otherwise, it's 17th, you can get some advanced screenings, and then the 18th is the wide release.
Matt Coonan: So in the U.S., it's going to be, we're looking at around a thousand theaters. You have to keep requesting theaters, so if there's more interest, the theaters will take the film. And this is really part of the exciting thing about the faith-based films, is that we can actually create more excitement around this story and these projects and get the exhibitors, the theaters, to take our films and show them because we're showing the interest. So if you don't see it in your town, call your theater, knock on their door, email them and say, "Hey, we want to see this. Our group wants to see this." And they will open the doors for you because they want to sell tickets. So it works out great, and we need to get these stories out.
Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. I knew you guys would have a smart URL. So Daniel.movie is it. So sorry for giving out the more complicated URL. Daniel.movie is the URL. And the September 13th, that's in Canada. That's when tickets come available in Canada. So right now, though, in the U.S., you can purchase tickets over at Daniel.movie.
Walker Wildmon: This film's coming out later in September on the 18th in nearly a thousand, or over a thousand theaters all around the country. And of course, if it's not in your town or your city, you can talk to your local theater and request it. If you've got a group that wants to view it, go about it that way. Daniel.movie is the URL.
Walker Wildmon: Let me ask you this, Matt. Tell us kind of what maybe something that surprised you throughout this process, because filmmaking, number one, how long did it take to produce the film? And what are some hurdles or some surprises you came across throughout the process?
Matt Coonan: Oh, that's a question. Well, we started in 2023. So we did some shooting in '23. We did a couple of days actually in India where we shot a location. We did two shoots, one for three days, and then came back, and then about two years later, we went and finished the rest of the shoot and did 25 more days in India.
Matt Coonan: I would say one of the surprises is that, well, A, that we're here. I mean, it's a long journey, you know. It's a long journey, and not a surprise, but to be having these calls and doing these podcasts and things right now, it's surreal, you know, because it's such a long journey. So I don't know, time was weird that way. It's like once you reach that destination, you go, wow, all that runway behind me was quite a journey. And so looking back, it was quite an arduous trip getting to this point. But I shouldn't say I'm surprised. I mean, God has really just been with us the whole way.
Matt Coonan: I think the challenges we faced were significant, though. We faced, you know, the financial hurdle, getting funding fully for the movie. Shooting in India was wild. So we had, you know, on the day we're filming Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not bowing to an idol, we have idol worship all around us. And so we were really feeling like we were in the midst of that spiritual battle as we were making the movie.
Matt Coonan: So we faced challenges with the language and with just transportation and getting visas and all along the way. But we had, you know, one amazing thing about having investors who are believers is you can go back to them and say, "Hey, can you guys pray for us? We have this specific hurdle that we need to get over. Could you guys just pray?" And, you know, there'd be times where everything felt like it was going good, and we wouldn't ask so much for prayer. You know how life is. And then all of a sudden you go, that's when you needed it the most. We haven't been praying, and how can we tell? Because this is hard.
Matt Coonan: And so, yeah, we went through ups and downs, and God really came through. And it doesn't mean it was without error or hurdles or difficulty, but, you know, here we are. And that's been quite a trip.
Walker Wildmon: Congratulations, guys. Daniel, we've got about two minutes left. Daniel.movie, by the way, is the URL. You can check out this brand-new film coming out this month, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace. Daniel.movie is that URL.
Walker Wildmon: Daniel, last question. Once again, we've got about 90 seconds or two minutes left. What's it like coming from someone in a family ministry? My grandfather started the ministry. My dad runs it now. My brother and my sister and I work here and serve here. What's it like producing films with your siblings?
Daniel Coonan: Well, we've been joking that we only appear on camera together, but we don't do anything else together. But that's not really true. There's that beautiful verse in Scripture, you know, how blessed it is when brothers dwell together in unity, and how much more true when they're actually blood brothers. You know, we've really experienced the blessing of that and not being conflictery. Is that even a word? Not conflicting, or that's not a word, apparently. It can't be. I'm claiming it.
Daniel Coonan: You know, not being at odds with each other, but pushing for the same vision. Like, we're not only pushing for the same creative vision, but we're pushing for the vision of people reading Scripture, people getting into the Bible, people seeing Scripture on screen. It's something bigger than ourselves. For those listening or watching, choose something bigger than yourself. Get into a community where you can build something together that's actually going to last.
Daniel Coonan: Daniel did that with his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They built a story that's timeless, that's still being told today. It's coming to theaters. You can be a part of it. It's a timeless story of faith. I mean, it's just so cool to be a part of just retelling a testimony that is timeless. So that's probably it. Like, let's see family. We're a family of faith, right?
Walker Wildmon: That's right. Yeah, that's encouraging. And the thing about working in a family ministry, family business, is you've got to be willing to set your ego aside and work through your differences because the relationships matter. And the mission, the overarching mission, is more important than our individual needs or preferences. So it's really an exercise in humility each and every day.
Walker Wildmon: Hey, we've been talking to Daniel and Matt Coonan. They are the writers and producers and directors of Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, out this month in theaters all around the country. Daniel.movie is that URL. Hey, brothers, Daniel, Matt, thank you guys for coming on the program. This has been great. We'll upload this in the form of a podcast so folks can share it with family and friends. And we encourage anyone and everyone to go watch the film. So we appreciate your work and coming on to tell us about the film.
Daniel Coonan: Thanks for having us.
Matt Coonan: Yeah, thanks a lot.
Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. That's Daniel and Matt Coonan. They produced the film Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, in theaters September 18th all around the country. Go to Daniel.movie to check out that film. Go ahead and purchase your tickets there on the website, share it with family and friends. And we have to, have to, have to support these faith-based films all around the country to continue the demand that these theaters have to get these films into the local theaters.
Walker Wildmon: So anytime you have the opportunity to support faith-based Christian films that inspire, encourage, and uplift your family and your friends and your loved ones, support these films. And many of you have in years past, and that's why even Hollywood has taken note that faith-based films are in demand, and wholesome entertainment is in demand. And that's why films like this are being produced. Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, Daniel.movie is that URL. And so we encourage you to go to the website, purchase tickets, take your family and friends, and check out that film.
Walker Wildmon: Well, folks, this is the counter to the depravity in entertainment that we talk about. You know, we talk about Hollywood through One Million Moms. We warn our listeners of the troublesome content that's out there on the TV and the internet. And we do what we can to combat that. But what better way to combat the filth with wholesome content, wholesome entertainment?
Walker Wildmon: And so every opportunity we get on the program here at American Family Radio and American Family Association to highlight wholesome content, wholesome entertainment for the family, we take every chance we get to do that. Daniel.movie, coming out this month in September, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace.
Walker Wildmon: Well, folks, we've got one segment left. Chris Woodward from American Family News is going to join us. We'll talk about the economy, the Iran conflict, midterm elections, all that's coming up in the next few months.
Walker Wildmon: Welcome to At the Core here on American Family Radio. Walker Wildmon here with you on this edition of the program. The show is hosted each week by myself and Rick Green. You can listen live over at AFR.net. You can get past episodes wherever you listen to podcasts. Just type in At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green, or any of those keywords should work, and it will have the show queued up in your library each and every day.
Walker Wildmon: Chris Woodward, welcome back.
Chris Woodward: Thank you very much.
Walker Wildmon: Well, Chris, every day is a busy news cycle in the Trump world.
Chris Woodward: Yes.
Walker Wildmon: And it doesn't seem like there's a slow day. Tell us what's going on. What are some of your top headlines over at AFN this week?
Chris Woodward: Yeah, so you and I spend a lot of time talking about inflation and the Fed and policy stuff like that. One story that we'll need to keep an eye on, and we'll report on it at AFN.net. The Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said this week that an inflation report next week will largely determine whether he supports an interest rate hike later this month or not.
Chris Woodward: The government will release August inflation figures on September 11th, and if that report shows inflation continues to cool, Waller said, if inflation comes in hot, I would consider a rate hike. We'll see, and we can talk next week whenever we meet again on whether this was a good idea or not.
Chris Woodward: One other thing that I wanted to mention is mortgage rates. We talk a lot about mortgage rates on the show, and the good news is they're kind of holding steady. For example, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 6.71 percent from 6.6 percent last week. One year ago it was roughly that same percentage. So not a great number, but not getting worse. And that's a good thing that people need to take into account. Yes, things aren't great, but they're not worse. And I'm not trying to, like, polish something that looks terrible, but that is a way to look at it in a way that people, I think, quite frankly need to look at it, is that things may not be great, but they're not getting worse.
Chris Woodward: And one other good news, one other bit of good news here. More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs are still rare and jobless claims remain at historically low levels.
Walker Wildmon: Wow. Chris, to me, the mortgage rates are not too concerning because we are seeing an easing in house prices, an easing of home prices. I think we're about two and a half percent down over last year compared to last year on home prices. So if you see a continued easing of home prices, the mortgage rates aren't as big of a problem. And so I think that's the most likely scenario.
Walker Wildmon: Unfortunately, getting those mortgage rates down below 7 percent, down into six or even five and a half, is pretty much a long shot at this point because President Trump's been in office for 18 months, and I would have thought by now they would have dropped more. But there's a lot going on here. I know the bonds have had some issues with selling bonds, and the 10-year note is up pretty substantially.
Walker Wildmon: But energy, the point I was getting at, Chris, is that when you're talking about relief for the consumer, I think the most likely area of relief is probably going to be on the energy front. Now, I don't think we're going to go back to two dollars and a quarter gas like we were sitting at six months ago, but with the Iran war seeming to cool off and some of this Venezuelan oil now on the market, we could definitely see some easing, go back maybe into the three-dollar range for gasoline.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, for sure. Let's talk about the Venezuela situation. When I was covering that, like a lot of news outlets were covering it this week, the logical question you ask the expert is, how soon could people see relief at the pump? And long story short, the Venezuela oil deal is not going to solve your gas problems tomorrow or next week or next month. It'll probably be next year. But the knowledge that it's going to be coming is going to help downplay or offset the cost of energy right now.
Chris Woodward: And I will base that off of something that happened about 20 years ago when President-elect Barack Obama was about to win or take office. Then-President George W. Bush announced new efforts to go after oil and gas, and that announcement, that knowledge, helped with oil and gas trading. A lot of market stuff responded to that very positively, and that is why Barack Obama entered office when gas prices were, like, dirt cheap, because of things that President Bush announced while he was still in office. This will help offset the cost of gas right now.
Chris Woodward: And also, we're about to enter the time of year when the federal government doesn't require so much stuff added to gas for environmental purposes. So we're about to enter a cheaper time of year where gas starts to fall down, and all of this stuff come January or February next year is going to be, you know, we're not going to be back to $2.50. I hope we are, and I'll be glad if I'm wrong. But we will not see these high prices right now in a few months.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, I think we're going to see some easing. But to your point, we're not going to go down to the two-dollar range, in my opinion. I could be wrong. And here's why, Chris. We've got to fill up this Strategic Petroleum Reserve. So even if you get some Venezuelan oil further on the market, which Venezuelan oil, by the way, has already been kind of on the market. They've been importing into Houston, Texas, and refining it there for some time now. But you've got to refill this Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is going to eat into some of the available inventory.
Walker Wildmon: Nonetheless, Chris, I want to pivot topics a little bit and bring up something that I didn't even tell you I was going to bring up.
Chris Woodward: Okay.
Walker Wildmon: But I did tell my audience earlier in the week that I would look into this. The Texas race. Talarico, Ken Paxton. Chris, I've been looking into, because I played a clip of Senator Kennedy from Louisiana on Fox saying that the Senate Republicans and their committee have no money for Texas. He said, quote, "We have not budgeted any money for Texas." I was like, whoa, you don't have money for Texas? What are you guys doing?
Walker Wildmon: But Chris, ironically, the Senate Republican campaign committee had money for the South Carolina Senate primary with Lindsey Graham's sister and the conservative Ralph Norman. And then they ironically had money for John Cornyn in the primary against Ken Paxton. So Republicans are blowing their money on primaries, and they claim to not have any money for the general. It's crazy.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, and people should be concerned about what's going on in Texas, even if you live in Tennessee or some other state, because if Talarico pulls off the upset, Democrats will start pouring more money into other states that have elections next year and beyond. For example, if Talarico were to be elected the next senator for Texas, I would be shocked if the Democratic Party didn't put a bunch of money toward a Democrat running for governor in Mississippi, a state they held for generations until Kirk Fordice was the first Republican governor elected since Reconstruction in 1990-something.
Chris Woodward: The South used to be a stronghold for Democrats. It's since been a red-state area for a lot of elections. But if Talarico pulls this off, and as more people flee California to go to a cheaper state, they bring their politics with them, and then all of a sudden sweet little Jimmy T. Talarico is going to be, you'll see those kinds of candidates talking the same stuff in other parts of the South. So Republicans really need to pay attention to and care about this race.
Chris Woodward: I know they think they can probably win against El-Sayed in Michigan. That's still a big question mark. You're going to have to count on El-Sayed saying something dumb, or saying several things that are dumb, between now and Election Day for Rogers to pull that one off.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. What's just kind of surprising, Chris, that El-Sayed's leading like that. No, I mean, I know it's a blue state. It's been a battleground presidential state, but statewide Republicans haven't done well there.
Walker Wildmon: One more thing I wanted to note, Chris, to give specific numbers, which I said I would do on Monday. Senate Republicans, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, they spent 90, this is according to Time magazine, they spent $90 million trying to defeat, $90 million to try to defeat a fellow Republican, Ken Paxton, who regardless of what you think about his personal life, has been an absolutely phenomenal attorney general.
Chris Woodward: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Walker Wildmon: In Texas. I mean, he's been the most pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-family, anti-woke, anti-Biden. I mean, everything right about Attorney General Ken Paxton has been. And Senate Republicans spent $90 million opposing Ken Paxton, supporting John Cornyn. And then now, Chris, Ken Paxton's up against the true radical Talarico. Senate Republicans say they don't have any money.
Chris Woodward: Yeah. When you tell me how much they spent on that one little race, it shouldn't shock anybody that Republicans are partly to blame for the national debt right now, because they're just burning money.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, burning money on all the wrong things.
Chris Woodward: Yes, which is, you know, that's government in general. But yeah, they really, man, that looks terrible on the party.
Walker Wildmon: And here's why, Chris. It looks bad because the primaries are important, but the general is more important. Because John Cornyn was an establishment guy, RINO, weak. That's why Texans didn't like him, and that's why they voted him out. But to blow all your money on that, I think the Republican Party needs to stay out of the primaries. I think they need to let the voters pick who they want in the primaries and then support the party candidates in November.
Walker Wildmon: Because that's what conservatives are expected to do, right? Like if the conservative candidate doesn't win, the Republican Party expects us to still show up, you know, like for the establishment pick. Like if John Cornyn, for example, or Lisa Murkowski wins the primary, then they say, "Oh, you just need to be a team player." But they're not being a team player.
Chris Woodward: Yeah. That's when you hear them say, "This is the most important election of our lifetime," right?
Walker Wildmon: I can't think of one that is going to be, that's going to be interesting to watch, Chris, if Senate Republicans really let Talarico win there because they don't want to spend any more money supporting Ken Paxton.
Chris Woodward: Yeah, and you know, we talked about this. It still would appear that Democrats are going to win back the House. And so the reason why, listener, this is a big concern about the Senate is because if Democrats were to get control of the House and the Senate, everything Donald Trump ran on and got elected for, based on the popular vote in addition to the Electoral College, all of that goes away.
Chris Woodward: And I would be shocked if, because they were willing to impeach him when he wasn't even in office, I would be shocked if they don't try to impeach him, you know, though they'll be sworn in in early January. I would be shocked if they don't try to impeach him by Presidents Day.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, for sure.
Chris Woodward: You know, and then they'll talk about how it's saving democracy and all these other things. It will not be the, we've got to work, we can't do this because it's going to cost us in the next election.
Walker Wildmon: Let me ask you this, Chris. Do you believe the polls, meaning that this whole talk about Democrats taking the Senate, I don't doubt that they've got a chance to take the House. The House is going to be tight. That's going to be a nail-biter, the House of Representatives, I think. And it'll be quite a miracle if Republicans keep the House because of all the money being poured into it.
Walker Wildmon: But I'm not buying this poll that Talarico's up in Texas. He's more left than Beto O'Rourke, makes Beto O'Rourke look moderate. He makes Barack Obama look like he's talking about God being nonbinary. And the pollsters want me to think that Texans with their cowboy hats and their cowboy boots are going to vote for Talarico?
Chris Woodward: That's fair. That's fair. To answer your question, I report on polls all the time. It's a news story. I'll say whatever the poll found, and I'll get reaction to it and things like that. On a personal level, I tend to be skeptical of polls for a number of reasons.
Chris Woodward: Who did you ask? How did you ask it? When did you ask it? Where did you ask it? Very important. For example, if you approach a man and a woman that are exiting Walmart, and you walk up to him and say, "Hey, I'm doing a poll here. Sir, what do you think about women's rights?" And he's standing next to his wife, what do you think he's going to say?
Walker Wildmon: Your example, yes.
Chris Woodward: So it would depend on how you approach the topic. And sometimes, because Americans are so, and this is understandable, distrusting of people, you don't know where this information is going or if somebody's listening or they're going to identify you or dox you or whatever. For some people, instead of hanging up the phone, we'll tell people what they think they need to hear or what they're looking for. So based on all that, it could be that polls are not to be trusted.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Here's what I've read, Chris. I'm just putting this stuff on the record. And I actually do a terrible job going back on my projections and actually figuring out how many times I'm right and wrong, although I think I've been right a lot. And Bobby and I, I've tried to talk about it on the show and be like, remember three years ago when I predicted this and it came to pass? But I don't have enough time to go back and dig up the archives, so just take my word for it.
Walker Wildmon: I think I've read from credible sources that Republicans are being undercounted in the polls by a two- to three-point differential. So you've got the margin of error at three, and then you've got a two to three percent undercounting of Republicans. That, Chris, could be a six-point gap. I think that's part of what's going on here, in addition to what you mentioned, which is the fear factor that the left and the Marxists have created, where nobody wants to talk publicly about their beliefs and their politics because they're going to get shouted down and lose their job. And who answers pollsters' phone calls anymore, by the way? I don't answer calls unless I know the number.
Walker Wildmon: But they're showing El-Sayed up five points in Michigan, which, it's very possible, five points, probably not. I think it's going to be closer than that because this guy is off the deep end with his Islam. They're showing Talarico and Paxton tied on some of these polls on RealClear. I don't know. We'll track it. But I think Republicans are going to keep the Senate. There's my projection. I think Republicans are going to keep the Senate. I think they'll probably keep 53-47 majority. That's what I think. Could be 52. You know what? They could get 54.
Chris Woodward: And it doesn't just impact Donald Trump. You're talking about judges.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, for the next couple of years, you're right. Very important. They could pick up Georgia. Georgia's at play, folks. Ossoff's on the ballot. So between Michigan and Georgia, Republicans could pick one of those up. They hold everything else, well, they've got 54.
Walker Wildmon: So I'm not buying into the doom and gloom. I think it's going to be tight. I think there'll be a lot of money spent on it. I think the Never Trump vote is very energized. But I don't think it's going to give the Democrats the Senate because of Texas. I'm just not buying it. But time will tell. See you next time.
Walker Wildmon opens from Acts 19 with a reflection on salvation, baptism, and the work of the Holy Spirit, then turns to the national immigration debate and argues for stronger limits on legal and illegal immigration, with clips and commentary framed around Europe, Islam, border policy, and national identity.
Daniel and Matt Kooman, writers and directors of Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, join Walker to discuss biblical storytelling, Christian filmmaking, crowd-funded production, shooting in India, and why they believe the story of Daniel still speaks to believers today.
Chris Woodward of American Family News closes the program with a current-events roundtable on inflation, the Federal Reserve, mortgage rates, energy prices, Venezuela oil, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, polling skepticism, Texas politics, and the fight for control of Congress.
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