Today's Issues features Christian response to the issues of the day
>> Ed Vitagliano: Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a.
>> Tim Wildmon: Christian response to the issues of the day.
>> Christopher Woodward: Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to the, program. Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network for this Thursday, May 8, 2025. And in studio with me today is Ed Vitagliano. Good morning, Ed.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good, morning, Tim.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fred Jackson.
>> Fred Jackson: Hi there, Tim.
>> Tim Wildmon: And Chris Woodward.
>> Christopher Woodward: Hello.
>> Tim Wildmon: So Ray Pritchard is MIA today, and.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That'S why I'm in that.
>> Tim Wildmon: You're. You're subs. You're filling in M for you, pinch hitting this baseball season.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Came off the bench.
>> Tim Wildmon: Came off the bench. Ready to swing the bat.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm ready.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Was Ray out of town or something? Brent, clearly. I mean, I don't raise.
>> Christopher Woodward: Out teaching the Bible.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, is that right?
>> Christopher Woodward: Yes, sir. He'll be back next week.
>> Tim Wildmon: Like, in the backyard, or is he, like, traveling the country?
>> Alex McFarland: He's traveling.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yes.
>> Christopher Woodward: You preach the. You preach the gospel to every creature.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's vacation Bible school.
>> Tim Wildmon: I thought maybe went the backyard and had a few kids over something.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He's off preaching the Bible somewhere, leaving us well on our own.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ray is much, in demand.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, he is. He's an excellent Bible teacher. I just love Ray.
>> Tim Wildmon: If you want to get in touch with him, go to Keep Believing dot com. Keep Believing dot com.
President Trump is announcing a trade deal with the United Kingdom right now
All right, well, so a lot to talk about. A lot going on in the country and, internationally, too. but the big news is what's happening in the Oval Office right now, right?
>> Christopher Woodward: Yes, the Oval Office right now. President Trump, as we speak, is announcing a trade deal with the United Kingdom, otherwise known as Great Britain, or England, as some people, also refer to it.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't think it's otherwise known as well. Can I correct you there, brother?
>> Christopher Woodward: Sometimes people are confused with UK And.
>> Tim Wildmon: England, not above you. We're. We're equals here in terms of. In the eyes of God. Okay, but the UK Is. Is. The UK Is. Is England, Great Britain and, Ireland. True.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Ireland. I guess Wales.
>> Tim Wildmon: England is a separate country, correct? Is a. Is a separate. Well, it's not even a country. Correct. England. It's its own.
>> Christopher Woodward: A trade deal with the UK Would involve England.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's what I'm talking about, Chris. Just go with that. Anyway, back to your story.
Donald Trump is announcing a major trade deal with the UK
>> Christopher Woodward: So Don Trump, who's the president of the United States of America, is announcing a quote. Major.
>> Tim Wildmon: The United States of America is made up of 50 states, Chris. Yes, and.
>> Fred Jackson: Soon to be 51.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I like how you said we're equal, Chris, in the sight of God. Yes, but not in terms of afa.
>> Christopher Woodward: Right. Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead.
>> Christopher Woodward: Your counterpart in The Oval Office, Mr. President, is announcing a trade deal with a country that used to be our parent when we were part of the United Kingdom. And it's a major trade deal. it is something President, Trump actually gave a little hint on last night on Truth Social. Caroline Levitt shared that on X. the UK for people not aware, we have long been a major trade partner with the uk. That was one of the issues that looked like we were going to be there to help them when Brexit began many years ago. And so, Donald Trump is announcing the first of major trade deals. This of course comes ahead of a weekend meeting with Chinese representatives, to talk about trade. We do have some audio here. Steve, cut this for us, just a moment ago. clip.
>> Donald Trump: The UK will reduce or eliminate numerous non tariff barriers that unfairly discriminated against American products. But this is now turning out I think really to be a great deal for both countries because it will be really great for the UK also. So they'll also be fast tracking American goods through their customs process. So our exports go to a very, very quick form of approval and there won't be any red tape. Things are going to move very quickly both ways. Furthermore, in a historic step, the deal includes plans that will bring the United Kingdom into the economic security alignment with the United States. That's the first of its kind. So we have a big economic, security blanket and that's very important. And we feel, very, very comfortable with that because it's been a great ally, truly one of our great allies. A lot of people say our greatest.
>> Christopher Woodward: Ally now, the stock market appears to like this. As we speak, The Dow is up 189, the NASDAQ is up 108, and the S&P 23.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, what is the. Chris, you may not know this because we just played the President's announcement of this trade deal with the UK but what's this economic security blanket? That's the first I've heard of that. I know we've had like a nuclear umbrella over some of our, allies where we've said we would protect them in the event of war.
>> Christopher Woodward: Kind, of a, it could be a oddly worded reference to what we trade back and forth with the UK for example, we trade a lot of machinery and transportation equipment in addition to crude oil, gas and other dry goods. To the U.S. so U.S. trading that to them gives them things they can use, and then they export things like cars, pharmaceuticals, and other goods to the U.S. okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: Also, they export James Bond movies that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That are made. They're. They're British, but they're made in the United States. So that's kind of a. An economic trading partner. Yeah. Partnership.
>> Christopher Woodward: Did you know that not all people that have portrayed James Bond are from the UK?
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, where are they from?
>> Christopher Woodward: There was that Roger Lazenby guy, that played him once for, honor, Majesty, Secret Service. I believe he was from either France or Australia.
>> Ed Vitagliano: France.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's what I was gonna say. That's blasphemy. James Bond.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Why don't you have Inspector Kluso stumbling around?
>> Christopher Woodward: There was a time. There was a time where James Brolin actually, was thought of as, possibly portraying him back in the 80s, and he did a screen test for that film. I'm a giant nerd for knowing that.
>> Tim Wildmon: But, Brad, you've just been soaking in all this knowledge we've been dispensing. What's your. What are your thoughts over there on this trade agreement?
This is a big win for President Trump and his administration
>> Fred Jackson: Well, with regards to the important part of the trade agreement, we have their James Bond. They get our Mission Impossible.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Along with the rest of the world.
>> Fred Jackson: I was watching a little bit of this news conference which is still going on as we're speaking, but it was really neat. President, Trump dominating the news conference. He has a little telephone right to his left there, and he said, I've got the, Prime Minister of Britain, on the line here, Keir Starnam. You want to say a few words?
>> Christopher Woodward: Hello.
>> Fred Jackson: It's just.
>> Christopher Woodward: Hello.
>> Fred Jackson: This is really Good. Thank you, Mr. President. Just a sponge. He said, thank, you very much, Donald. Pip, pip, Donald. so that, like, they're really good buds.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Well, evidently, both parties are, pleased to have this agreement because otherwise they wouldn't be doing this, public event from the. From the Oval Office.
>> Fred Jackson: Trump needed this.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, he did.
>> Fred Jackson: They needed a victory.
>> Tim Wildmon: Quotation marks from a big one of the bigger trading partners, and UK would.
>> Fred Jackson: Certainly represent that, because the tariff, the whole tariff, tariff, war, tariff battle has been huge, has been dominating the headlines. We've seen the stock market going up and down, up and down, up and down. But now they have one that apparently has been inked. And so this is good. I'm very anxious to see what happens this weekend in Switzerland when US Negotiators sit down with the Chinese.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: See what comes of that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think you got a good point here in terms of this is a big win for President Trump and his administration because kind of the talk was, as I was reading articles about the tariff war, he needed a win because that will also, be a push for other countries to ink their own deal especially. And maybe that's why he used this phrase, economic security blanket. Maybe, maybe there are some promises and you know, we used to have most favored nation, trade status. and maybe this is kind of a replacement for that where, hey, listen, you get a, you get a special deal. If you ink a deal now between now and and I think it.
>> Fred Jackson: May have something to do with exclusivity.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: In that you're not going to purchase, let's just say this item from China, you're going to buy it from us.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And so there is that kind of really close neighborly type thing that's in place.
CNN says Trump pressed on details of UK trade deal that's still being written
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So just before, we move on here from this because maybe nobody here knows the answer to this question again, to bring it down to like you're a 10 year old or 9 year old. So. Great. UK had tariffs on products being shipped in the United States, going into their region. They're from the U.S. they tariffed us. We, and we didn't tariff them. Trump slaps tariffs on them and they take their tariffs away and it's a level playing field. Is that what's happened here?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I don't know the details. It's just being announced right now. But in general, I think that's what you're, what I think that's what the deal is. The deal is the UK has to lower its tariffs or I don't know whether eliminate them. We'll find out the details and vice versa. So you have more of an even or level, playing field when it comes.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's the whole point of Trump's efforts.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. Is to say, these countries around the world have imposed tariffs on our products that we send them. We haven't imposed tariffs on them heretofore. So it's unfair. So what am I going to do if I'm President Trump? I'm going to slap tariffs on all these countries that are hitting us with tariffs really amount to just a fee. Okay. And then we're going to, thereby we're going to even the playing field around the world and the UK but you have to negotiate these deals with each country individually. So it's going to take some time. But, the UK is the first.
>> Ed Vitagliano: One, I guess MSNBC is saying Trump is pressed on details of UK trade deal that's still quote, being written.
>> Christopher Woodward: So somebody later today will claim that we're sold a bill of goods over this. And you know, he's just trying to.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's why I wonder, do we. We're not able to hear the live press conference right now. We're just reading about it. But that's why, that's why I asked the question as simple as I did and I. Hopefully the White House will give us a simple answer. I don't think President Trump would concede, to a trade deal that didn't, that didn't do the things that I just mentioned a few minutes ago. Basically.
President Trump met with the Prime Minister of Canada yesterday on tariffs
all right, you're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. So, man, the President, been very busy. Met with the Prime Minister of Canada. What was it, yesterday or the day.
>> Fred Jackson: Before Monday, I think it was.
>> Tim Wildmon: How did you view that, meeting, Fred?
>> Fred Jackson: Well, I thought that it was interesting. You had the President, and you had the Prime Minister of Canada, sitting in those golden chairs, in that office. But President Trump in this case really dominated the discussion.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: the Prime Minister of Canada said very little a few times. It was almost like the kid putting up his hand. Can I speak?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And, but Trump, unlike the Zelensky meeting back a month or so ago. Ah. And I, you know, the Prime Minister, the new Prime Minister of Canada is non combative.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: But there was an interesting moment and maybe you guys talked about this when Trump, was asked from the reporters in the room about the 51st state thing. And Prime Minister, responded basically saying, you know, I just gone through election campaign and I talked to the people who own Canada, otherwise the voters, and they don't want to sell.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Just like you don't want to sell this office, Mr. President. And so that, and that was the one thing that got the most attention. But I think what happened, they met afterwards to talk about tariffs. And my impression is that Canada and the United States are still a long way from an agreement on the tariff issue. A long way. I think what's going to happen, the new Prime Minister is a globalist.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And what he is saying, he wants to open up more trade with Europe. He was head of the bank of England at one time. And so he has very close relationships with those people. I think you're going to see a more globalist approach, by this Canadian Prime Minister. And I also think he's a banker. And he will use the power of banks to get what he wants. You remember what happened with Trudeau and the trucker protest back in Covid.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Shut down their bank accounts.
>> Fred Jackson: Trudeau shut down their bank accounts.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep. Froze them.
>> Fred Jackson: I don't think this Prime Minister is above doing that to get what he wants. We know what these, some of these radical climate change. And he's a climate changer. What they do, they go to banks and they say, don't lend money to this group.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Give money to this group who believes in what we believe about climate change.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: So that's what you're going to see, from this Prime Minister of Canada and climate changer.
>> Tim Wildmon: That sounds like so, like, like a game changer.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Climate change.
>> Tim Wildmon: He's a climate changer, man. You want to be like him, Like a superhero. Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's climate change.
>> Tim Wildmon: Speaking of which.
>> Christopher Woodward: Yes.
There's a discovery in Antarctica that has climate change deniers celebrating
>> Tim Wildmon: We're going to move to our next story which involves the myth of global warming.
>> Christopher Woodward: Yes. Al Gore could not.
>> Tim Wildmon: The myth of man made global warming.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Gore could not be right for Comet. Yeah.
>> Christopher Woodward: yeah. So I'm going to share this on our Facebook page and it's from the Daily Mail. Although I think New York Post and several other news outlets did, report this. And understandably so. The reason is, there's been a discovery in Antarctica, that has climate change deniers, having mass celebrations. Long story short, Antarctica is not melting like Al Gore and many other climate change alarmists have long said it will or would do. which is further proof that maybe they're not right when they tell us, that climate change is going to destroy the Earth and cause polar ice caps to melt. And, this is really the umpteenth installment of you were wrong when you said this. but that's all the more reason why, again, climate change deniers are celebrating.
>> Tim Wildmon: So I read this story. This is involving a, Antarctica, obviously. and was it. It's a place where they measure. Well, I guess many places where climate scientists measure glaciers and and so forth to determine how much melting there is going on or not. And in this case, this was a big measurement that was taken in Antarctica and they discovered that actually the ice is growing. Fred, have I got that?
>> Fred Jackson: After, a number of years of the amount of ice building, being diminished, what they're finding in the last, in recent years is that the amount of ice is growing. The level of ice, the height of the ice in Antarctica is growing, which, which is directly opposite to what the Al Gores of this world have been saying.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And there was some shrinking of the ice.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes, there was.
>> Ed Vitagliano: For, for 19 or 20 years. And the climate change. Yeah, and he slapped a terror on that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Antarctica.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: And it stopped, it stopped melting right away.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's right.
>> Christopher Woodward: big beautiful ice.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Big. Bigger than you've ever seen before. And and so the climate change folks were pointing to that and saying that, see, there's proof now. It waits to. We wait to see what they, hear what they say now.
>> Christopher Woodward: Yeah, well, every time, you know, it used to be global warming, then it became climate change. And they started to say that, well, even, even the Earth's warming temperatures is going to make winter worse. But I've talked to organizations like the Cornwall alliance, for the stewardship of creation. And you know, you can't have it both ways. You can't say a rise in temperatures is going to cause it to be more cold and hotter.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, these, these global warming slash climate change activists, some of whom clue scientists too. They are heads I win, tails you lose. Okay. So anything that happens, they're going to say that's due to man made global warming or carbon emissions. Anything that happens, whether it's warming or cooling, freezing or whatever. Hurricane, season. Oh, global warming. Manmade global warming.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I remember when they declared that about seven years ago, we're going to have the worst hurricane season superstorms like 10, of them going to be hitting them hitting the US coast.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And then the next year there was nothing. Nothing.
>> Tim Wildmon: There was nothing. Now that doesn't mean there won't be five this year, but next year there could be zero again like always.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's always been this way.
>> Tim Wildmon: Thank you. Cyclical.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: The weather since, you can go back. We've had ice ages, we've had warming, time, warm, warmer times around the globe. you have El Nino, that affects the US weather a lot one way or the other. So it's just whether there's global warming or not going on somewhere. Yes, there may be, but it's not because of it's not man made.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and let me just say one other thing here. I mean we can still stay on this story, Chris. It depends what you've got there. But I will say this. If it turns out that we have a period of like 10 years of global cooling.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: This is going to further damage scientific, reputation. Yeah, the reputation of science, let's put it that way. Broadly speaking, we just went through Covid and all that that happened and all of the you know, you got to follow the science. You got to follow the science. All. And a lot of people have come through that going, you know, they kept telling us xyz, but it was ABC and they knew it. And now you're gonna. If this happens with this global, climate, this climate change thing, then how are people gonna. With a straight face. So you're gonna follow the science because everyone's gonna say, remember Covid and remember climate change. We don't know what to believe.
>> Christopher Woodward: It will ruin the, it will ruin or damage the reputation of, amongst, in the minds of some people. But people in media, mainstream media will find a way to explain this away or get us distracted on something else or, or whatnot. And the reason I say this,
>> Tim Wildmon: Ain'T gonna get me distracted.
>> Christopher Woodward: The reason I say this because, like, the Associated Press is a really good example here for people that are not aware of this. A lot of news outlets, most news outlets run AP material and sometimes without changing anything. Yeah, small market, TV stations especially will just rip and read whatever the AP says. And then that's why people think, okay, maybe there is something to climate change. Case in point, there is a story in the news today, and these are some of the headlines. Climate fueled wild wildfires, caused damage in North Dakota. Climate fueled wildfires. Not, not flames or gasoline or people burned, made a fire and it spread.
Don Wileman: News media will do what they can to misrepresent Antarctica story
And all these other things now blaming, like in the headline before you even get to the story. So that's why I say the news media will do what they can to still make people think that this thing in Antarctica is misleading.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, while that's true, it's going to fall increasingly on deaf ears.
>> Christopher Woodward: I hope so.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's the point I'm making, is that the average person on the street, their eyes are going to roll back into their heads when someone starts trying to say, you know what, you shouldn't be running your lawnmower because you're affecting the climate.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: we need to do something about car, cows because of methane emissions. People are going to be, they're going to be rolling their eyes and saying, just get away from me. Because you guys have been saying this and it's the boy who cried wolf.
>> Christopher Woodward: Meanwhile, the climate alarmists, I do not have the sound bite, but the climate alarmists that are, that have been beating the drum over how we're killing the planet, they're the ones with the biggest carbon footprint because people like John Kerry flying around on, private planes. You got Senator Bernie Sanders wanting to fight the oligarchy but he's going to take a Gulf stream everywhere to do it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They're.
>> Christopher Woodward: They're.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Al Gore.
>> Christopher Woodward: Yeah. I mean, when Joe Biden was in. When Joe Biden was president and he was claiming that climate change was the biggest threat to the, environment, he was the one causing the problem.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, yeah, if you.
>> Christopher Woodward: If you believe the emissions thing.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. One of the most ridiculous examples of this. I remember. You remember when, Mayfield, Kentucky, was hit so hard by the tornado about three or four years ago? When was that?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know what I'm saying?
>> Christopher Woodward: Look up the date for you.
>> Tim Wildmon: And that's a community in Western Kentucky, and they list. They have AFR there, too. But, after that, he had. Then either Biden visited or he made a pronouncement. But he said this is because of global warming. It was. It was a. Like a tornado had never happened.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right. Before, especially in this part of the country.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Yeah. And so it was like, you're just exploiting.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: This situation to make your political point.
>> Fred Jackson: Uh-huh.
>> Tim Wildmon: Which, by the way, is unproven.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right.
>> Christopher Woodward: So that was in December of 2021.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. All right. You're listening to today's. You mean the tornado?
>> Christopher Woodward: Yes, sir.
>> Tim Wildmon: It hit Mayfield. you're listening to today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tim, Ed, Fred. And UK Chris.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Chris Plaid Woodward.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I like the plaid shirt.
>> Christopher Woodward: I was told my people did come from Wales.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, really?
>> Christopher Woodward: We are from the uk.
>> Tim Wildmon: Chris is making plaid great again.
>> Christopher Woodward: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Poor Chris. We just give Chris a hard time. You gotta pay your due.
>> Christopher Woodward: I got three people depending on me to eat, so you can do whatever you want.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'll take Chris. Just takes one for the family team over here. All right. we will return momentarily. Much more to talk about happening in our country and around the world. The Catholic, church is, trying to decide who they're leader will be, who the new Pope will be. we'll be back with more after this short time out.
>> Don Wildmon: It's my Turn. Here is your host for My Turn, Don Wileman.
A college professor once preached a simple sermon about trying again
One day, many years ago, several members of a college math class were called to the board to work a problem. One young man went up to begin work on the problem, only to make a mistake at the very beginning. Despite the fact that he worked the rest of the problem correctly, he came out with a wrong answer because he had made the mistake at the start. The professor walked to the front of the room after the students had sat down and began going over the problems that the students had worked on When he came to the one in which the young man had made a mistake at the beginning, he turned to the class and asked a question. How many of you gentlemen are ministerial students? Well, a few hands went up. Gentlemen, he continued. Here is a sermon for you. This young man forgot to square at the beginning of the problem. And while the rest of the problem is worked correctly all the way through, he came out with the wrong answer. Now here's the Leave something undone that you should do at the beginning of life, and the answer will come out wrong at the end of life. Then the professor picked up the eraser from the chalkboard and turned to face the class again. Gentlemen, he said, here is another sermon. He then proceeded to erase the entire problem from the answer. Working backward, when he came to the place where the mistake had been made, he erased that part, picked up the chalk and wrote in the correct numbers. Then he turned to the young student and preached his second sermon. Try again, he said. You know, because of the Galilean, that's the way we can approach life. The simple sermon preached by that college professor has been experienced countless times since the carpenter first told his fisherman about the forgiveness of the Creator. It would be an impossible task to find the number of men and women who have come to the end of a problem in life, only to find that they had the wrong answer. Then, with heads bowed and ashamed, they heard that Grand Master of Men speak those two words. Try again. Another chance. A new start. A clean blackboard. Isn't that one reason he came into our world like he did? To wipe the board clean when we forget the square? Many have experienced that sense of starting again. For them, it opened the doors that seemed shut forever. There are two tragedies involved here. One is that many refuse to admit that they made a mistake. They like to work the problem by their own rules. They accept no other criteria of judgment than their own. And of course, if you never make a mistake, you have no need to correct it. The second tragedy is that those who finally are willing to admit the error fail to let the supreme professor wipe the board clean, correct their error, and say to them, try again. The Father knew that humans, so many times need another chance. That's one reason he sent his son. So that we could indeed try again.
Don Wildmon turns to today's issues of American Family Association
This has been my Turn with Don Wildmon.
>> Tim Wildmon: A production of the American Family Association.
>> Christopher Woodward: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of.
>> Fred Jackson: Jesus Christ from the dead.
>> Tim Wildmon: 1 Peter 1:3American Family Radio. This is Today's Issues.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Email your comments to comments afr.net Past broadcasts of today's issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of today's issues.
Tim: I rarely go to the movies anymore because it's just not enticing
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, welcome back, everybody. To get the popcorn down.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You want me to, want me to pick up?
>> Tim Wildmon: Here we go. So welcome back Tim, Ed, Fred and Chris.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And in your defense, our popcorn is the best on the planet.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's irresistible. You're a popcorn connoisseur.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So good.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's, you walk back there to get coffee in, that popcorn aroma just hit you down the hall.
>> Ed Vitagliano: If I could invent a cologne that smelled like that, I would wear it all the time. My wife would hate the smell of butter. She would hear it so often.
>> Tim Wildmon: Brother Ed goes to the movies every day.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Or at least it smells like it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. at the movies, they give you the tub. Oh, yeah, the tub of popcorn. And, and for 20 bucks, free refills like that sounds like a good deal. Except you think I'm going to be here two hours. How much popcorn can a man eat? You know? Well, sharing it, if you're sharing it with people.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I, I will say this.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And this is going to reflect poorly on me. I know.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We're all humans sometimes. Now, my wife doesn't like to go to the movies and I rarely go anymore because it's just not anything very, very enticing to go. But if I do go, I'm going with my son and my daughter in law.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. And they're always wanting to get one bucket of popcorn and we share it. And I don't do that. Okay. First of all, because I don't want to have to run down there all the time. I'm gonna pay for it.
>> Tim Wildmon: You don't want to say pass the bucket?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, I don't want to say pass the bucket. And I'm sorry. I love my son and daughter. I don't want their hands sitting in the bucket of popcorn. I know, it's just, it's just not sanitary.
>> Tim Wildmon: I was kind of like that till I got 11 grandchildren. It's futile.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That is true.
>> Tim Wildmon: You want popcorn, you can stick your hand in there with the rest of me.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And when they offer you one, you're going to have to take it from their dirty fingers and let them put it in your mouth.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know, we are right about that. Oh, you just lose your germaphobe.
What is the difference between the UK And Great Britain?
All right, so the question before us last have our. Which was a trivia question from, because I remember I had it about a year ago on Trivia Friday.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: What I was talking about, and that is this. What is the difference between the UK And Great Britain?
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's an excellent question. And for those of you paying attention, I am going to have a question involving this somehow, some way, tomorrow on Trivia Friday. So.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so you're not going to give the answer now to what I just asked?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, we can. We. We can. but it's going to be that up.
>> Christopher Woodward: I have. I have it looked up.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. What is the answer to the question?
>> Christopher Woodward: Okay, so you want to know the.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Countries in the difference between the UK And Great Britain?
>> Christopher Woodward: Okay. The names Great Britain and United Kingdom are often used interchangeably. However, they are not actually synonymous. The reason for the two names and the difference between them has to do with the expansive history of the British Isles. I'm reading from Britannica.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay.
>> Christopher Woodward: It's totally,
>> Ed Vitagliano: They oughta. They ought to.
>> Christopher Woodward: They ought to know. It's in their backyard. Right. The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwestern Cope coast of Europe. The largest of these islands are Britain and Ireland. Smaller ones include the Isle of Wight. In the Middle Ages, the name Britain was also applied to a small part of France, now known as Brittany. As a result, Great Britain came into use to refer specifically to the island. However, that name had no official significance until 1707, when the island's rival kingdoms of England and Scotland were united as the Kingdom of Great Britain. Now, long story short, m the countries.
>> Tim Wildmon: That make up story.
>> Christopher Woodward: Thank you. I'll share this on our Facebook page. which countries make up the United Kingdom? The answer is England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's Great Britain, United Kingdom.
>> Christopher Woodward: Okay, yeah, Great Britain would be pretty much England, Scotland and Wales without Northern Ireland. Correct.
>> Ed Vitagliano: If I'm understanding a correct trivia question tomorrow, because it's.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'll tell you who might know the answer to this, because there's a lot of Christian history, in Great Britain, UK, England.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're not going to turn to someone named McFarland.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's a good one. Dr. Alex McFarland joins us, co host of Exploring the Word with Brother Bert Harper, each weekday afternoon here on American Family Radio.
Alex's family comes from Scotland. Where does your family heritage hail from
Hey, Alex, good morning to you.
>> Alex McFarland: Good morning, everybody.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, you know, did you know the answer between, what's different about UK And Great Britain?
>> Alex McFarland: partially, but I'm learning here, sitting here listening. but, yeah, those terms are Kind of used interchangeably, but it's different really.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, question, McFarland. Where does your family heritage hail from?
>> Alex McFarland: From Scotland. my dad was really, really into the Scottish genealogy. And supposedly that, the McFarland's M came here 200 years ago through Charleston, South Carolina. That's what we always heard. But.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, you know what? Stephen McDowell, who is a good friend of our ministry and has been with. Is a historian. Steven's, by the way, who has a podcast now, very popular podcast on American Family Radio's website. Stephen talks about his heritage, same as yours. McDowell. Max come from, Scotland. Scotland. I guess some would come from Ireland. Is that right? Yeah, some from Ireland. Some. Max.
>> Alex McFarland: there are some Irish McFarlands. But, my. My, breed supposedly came from Scotland.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think the, the I think Mac or Mick, means like son of.
>> Alex McFarland: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think that's what that I just.
>> Christopher Woodward: Saw that I can tell you what some people think your name means. Alex.
>> Tim Wildmon: Is it acceptable for Christian radio?
>> Christopher Woodward: It is, yeah. so, the surname McFarland is a variation of McFarlane. M meaning son of Parlan. Parlan is a Gaelic name likely derived from Hartahan, which is linked to Irish mythology is spirit of the sea waves.
>> Alex McFarland: Exactly.
>> Tim Wildmon: Alex is not real real. What you're telling us here, you're exactly right.
>> Alex McFarland: Son of the ocean wave. That, believe it or not, that's what.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's pretty cool sounding.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You know, you know the history, of migration in the US the, the many people in the, that came into the ports in Carolina. The Carolinas. Okay. that was a big. I mean, yes, you had the Northeast, you had New York and Boston and other places maybe. but you had, a big migration into Charleston and some other, I guess was Charleston maybe the biggest port for a long time there, you know what I'm saying? Savannah. Anyway. But these. But a lot of the Scots and the people from Great Britain, but particularly the Scots, they, they went to the Carolinas, came over to the like Alex's family, and then they spread, they went west, but along the southern part of the U.S. yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And a lot of them, created the, the seed that we use to plant for our grass.
>> Tim Wildmon: What's that? Ed Scott's. Oh, Scott. Did they?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Ever seen ads for the Scott?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I've seen. Oh yeah, the Scotts ads. The Scott said. But if you want to know why there's so many Macs all across, Carolinas and Georgia and the south over To Texas and Oklahoma, and we haven't ever. Yeah, it's because Tennessee and Kentucky is because of that. trace that all the way back to the Scottish people immigrating, along in the southern ports of the US.
>> Fred Jackson: My grandfather on my mother's side spoke Gaelic.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, really?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Irish.
>> Tim Wildmon: Irish.
>> Fred Jackson: Mackenzie.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Mackenzie.
>> Tim Wildmon: Mackenzie. So I'm back and.
>> Fred Jackson: And where I'm from in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton has a Gaelic college to this day, and they teach the dancing, the sword dancing and that sort.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And the, What do they call river dance and. Yeah, all that. I like watching that. Remember, that was a kind of a fad for a while.
>> Fred Jackson: It was.
>> Tim Wildmon: For a while.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know what they say, video or. It didn't happen.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead. What are you going to say, Alex?
>> Alex McFarland: Well, you know, of the McFarlands, we did a lot of family study. There were basically three. There were farmers, lawyers and preachers. And, I've been two of the three. Yes, farmer, farmer and preacher.
Alex: Christianity from Europe was transported to the United States back in 1700s
But, lot of McFarlands in Vicksburg, Mississippi, a lot, interestingly wound up in the Southwest, like in Arizona and places like that. A lot of Scottish people ended up in the Boston area. But, you know, what's really interesting is that because of a guy named John Knox, a lot of the Scots were evangelists. I mean, there were a lot of Christian Scottish people. And during the 1700s, in the colonial era, and this relates to, like, the Appalachian region, there are so many Presbyterian churches that were the Scottish Presbyterians up and down, you know, the Appalachian Trail and Billy Graham's family, you know, they were, you know, heavy Presbyterians. And, you know, it relates to how the European Christians, they migrated over here and, you know, came through Charleston, came through, Edenton, which was a port city in North Carolina, and of course, in the, you know, Virginia and up there. And we have a great Christian history that, you know, I know the conversation began about the United Kingdom, but my goodness, there was so much in the aftermath of the Reformation, which started in 1517 in Germany, the gospel just spread and spread throughout, England and Wales and, all throughout the British Isles. And then they came over here in colonial America. And, our nation is part of Christ's Great Commission.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know, talking about church history, tracing it back. Ed, were you going to say something?
>> Ed Vitagliano: I was just going to say, Alex mentioned John Knox. I remembered this. I had to look it up to get the right wording. But, Mary, Queen of Scots is reputed to have said, I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.
>> Alex McFarland: Yeah, that's. I've heard that quote that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Gives causes shiver to run down your. Your. Anybody's spine if you fear God. That praying people do move mountains.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, if you. If you look back at, as I say, church history, and you know how one. One domino falls and another domino falls in. I'm talking about world church history right here now. So, the United States of America was long known as a Christian nation, and Christianity is still by far the most dominant religion in the U.S. right. And in Canada. In Canada, too. and if you trace that back, to Europe, you're talking about what Alex is talking about. And with, also England producing the Wesley brothers.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. John. The.
>> Tim Wildmon: John and Charles Wesley and, Francis Asbury and. And others who, came to the U.S. but our. Our, And the Pilgrims.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go all the way. Go. Which preceded Wesley and, John. I don't know when John Knox live in Europe, but, Scotland. But I'm just saying that, the Christianity from Europe was transported to the United States and to Canada, back in the 17 1600s. 1700s. 1600s. You took in Jamestown and Boston, and things begin to develop in the northeastern part of the United States. But Alex, let me ask you this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And by the way, John Knox lived in the 1500s.
>> Tim Wildmon: The 1500s. Okay. Prior.
Why was Christianity dominant in Europe rather than elsewhere
let me ask you this. You maybe don't know the answer to this question, but why was it that, the early church. And by early church, I'm talking about the Apostles. Okay.
>> Alex McFarland: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: they, And I'm reading through now, as you guys all have done many times before, but the Acts of the Apostles, and then you get to Corinthians and Romans, and all in there were to Paul, and he just, going from town to town to town, starting new Christian. I don't know what they would have called them then. I don't know, fellowships or whatever like that. But, is that the reason is simply that the reason that the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the religion of Christianity, was the dominant force, became the dominant force in what we know as Europe today, rather than, let's say the Middle east or Africa, for example.
>> Alex McFarland: Yeah, I mean, the early Christians, I mean, they were fervent. They lived and breathed the Great Commission. Now this is so cool. Okay. Titus 2:11 says, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Now, it doesn't mean that everybody had gotten saved, but this is going to blow your mind. Titus was written 37 to 40 years after the cross. So we're talking four decades after Jesus died on the cross and rose again. Church, historians and a couple of really good books, Church History in Plain Language by a guy named Bruce Shelley. That's a great book. Christianity through the Sin Centuries by Earl Carnes. Great book. Another book I would recommend, and I only recommend Bert and I have a principle. We only recommend a book that we ourselves have read at least once. So, Dr. Rick Cornish, the five minute church historian. That's a fantastic book. This will blow your mind. Forty years after the cross, the gospel had been taken to all of the civilized world. See, sometimes people say Jesus can't come back until the whole world has heard. Believe it or not, within a generation after Christ had risen, Christians, had taken the gospel to the whole wide world.
>> Tim Wildmon: For instance, even the Orient.
>> Alex McFarland: yes, they had. Christians had gone to the Asian world. They really had. and like for instance, Wales, missionaries in the Reformation time were, in Wales. And church history tells us Joseph of Arimathea, had gone to Wales to preach the gospel. Thomas went to India. Thomas is such a very common surname in India because doubting Thomas had gone to India. And it's just amazing how the early Christians lived to evangelize people. By the way, I got to tell you this, Sunday night I was in an event with Dinesh d' Souza, brilliant guy. And he said this. I think it's really important. He said, look, Muslims today have the fervor of 7th century Arabs, and atheists have the fervor of Voltaire or a Nietzsche. He said, we Christians, we don't have the fervor of the disciples in the book of Acts. And Dinesh, man, he got to preaching and he said, we Christians, he said, read the book of Acts and realize that if we're a disciple, we are to have that very same fervor and zeal and commitment. And, you know, guys, I had. Let me chase a rabbit for just a second. I was very blessed. My evangelism professor was Bill Bright, and he, taught at Liberty, the founder of Campus Crusade. And Bill Bright had this illustration. He said, if every born again Christian would lead one soul to Christ in the next 12 months, and that person led a soul to Christ in the next 12 months beyond that, then, we would run out of humans in under eight years. I mean, and we can do this. And guys, I was so shy and such an introvert, but I wanted to lead somebody to Christ. I was like, lord, please let me lead somebody to Christ. And God Answered that prayer, many times over. Here's my point. I used to give that illustration at pastors conferences and pastors said, oh, I mean I had pastors telling me, alex, that's unrealistic. The world just probably can't be evangelized. Now. Something happened in 2020 called Covid. And this is amazing. well, in the quarantines, all right, February 1st of 2021, nobody had heard of COVID Really. By March 1st, the whole wide world was wearing masks. Seriously. in a 30 day period, the world went from not really knowing about COVID And four to five weeks later the whole wide world was masked up. And my point in sharing that is that yes, because God would not give us an assignment that's irrational or undoable. And if the body of Christ were to unite and pray and speak with a unified voice, I believe the world. Not everybody's going to believe, but the whole wide world could be told this great commission that Christ has given us. It really is doable if we made it the priority.
>> Tim Wildmon: M Amen. Amen.
Alex McFarland: We'll have roughly 1200 teenagers in seven camps
Are you listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. So Alex, you got your youth, camps coming up this summer?
>> Alex McFarland: We do. The website is equipretreat.org and we're going to be in Montana. My goodness, no, we're not in Minnesota. Although we did a camp last year in Minnesota. We're in Montana. We're in Georgia. We're in Virginia. And I would just encourage people to please pray for us. We'll have roughly 1200 teenagers in seven summer camps. And every year, I mean last year we had 168 kids get saved. M. The majority of the kids already are Christian, but we're teaching biblical worldview and how to defend the Christian faith.
>> Tim Wildmon: Amen. Well, listen, thank you so much Alex. Appreciate you being on with us this morning. McFarland, how's it going?
>> Alex McFarland: Hey, and by the way everybody, just next month is the Activate Summit that is going to be in Tupelo.
>> Ed Vitagliano: you're going to be speaking there.
>> Alex McFarland: Yeah. And listen folks, Ed Vitagliano in person live. One of the greatest thinkers that you'll ever hear.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I so appreciate you saying that, but nobody's coming to hear me.
>> Christopher Woodward: It does say the goat on the side of his Diet Coke this morning.
>> Ed Vitagliano: yeah, Frank Turek will be there. Abraham Hamilton iii. According to Alex Will and Herman.
>> Tim Wildmon: Todd.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Herman Todd.
>> Tim Wildmon: Herman and. And Abraham Hamilton iii. They this Activate conference. It's much like the Marriage and Family Life conference, was that we put on here in Tupelo each summer for about three or four years. So this is coming up, June.
>> Ed Vitagliano: 12Th through the 14th.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, June 12th through the fourteenth. And we've. It's limited seating. Not sold out.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, in fact, ah, we sold out. It's still open anyway.
>> Tim Wildmon: Where do you go to register? afa.netsummit afa.netsummit and that's June 12th to the 14th, here in Tupelo, Mississippi.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It does say register now so I guess folks can still register.
>> Christopher Woodward: I posted the link on our Facebook page.
>> Tim Wildmon: Did you? Okay. On our Today's Issues Facebook page. But it's going to be a dynamic conference and they do have a kids track.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. My daughter in law said registration ends tomorrow. So folks it is very important that you register now if you want to.
>> Tim Wildmon: So how do they go and read about the itinerary?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well they go to activate, activate afa.netforward/summit. Activate.afa.net forward/summit. Or you can just go. I think if you type in afa.net forward/summit it will take you to this same website. And you can see the schedule there. There is the kids track of course for under 13. but 13 and up will be in with the adults. They'll be getting both barrels from the speakers. So it's by the way, J.J. jasper will be doing comedy on our opening night there on Thursday. And then all day Friday. we've got speakers and Saturday.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Gonna be some great stuff.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, thanks Alex. Appreciate it. Take care.
>> Alex McFarland: God bless. Thank you.
Fred McFarland says he never felt a calling to be a missionary
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, that's Dr. Alex McFarland. Fred, any thoughts on what Alex was talking about?
>> Fred Jackson: Well, absolutely, the spread of the gospel. He had some fascinating points of view on that and how quickly the gospel spread. But you know, we're not all called to be missionaries as far as going to foreign countries.
>> Tim Wildmon: I wasn't. No, I never felt the calling. I mean. did you?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No.
>> Fred Jackson: No.
>> Tim Wildmon: But do you have to feel it though, a calling?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I don't know if you've feel it you just like anything else in life, a calling is just something that kind of absorbs you.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: So but your street, your neighborhood.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: your friends, your relatives, they're the mission field that you always have.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm with you there, you know.
>> Fred Jackson: And what I pray for is opportunities.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: to, you know. And the best time I have found a witness is when somebody has a question why do you believe that simple question like that boy, that opens the door? Because they asked it, right? They're inquiring. And I pray that people, the Holy Spirit, will lead them to ask those kinds of questions.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'll tell you something that my pastor, Scooter Noland, who is a board member for. I think he still is a board member for afa. I think he rotates off this year. But one of the things he said that my wife and I try to do, he said, if you're at a restaurant and your waitress comes up, you can say, my wife and I are about to pray over our meal. Is there anything we can pray for you about?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: and sometimes that touches people's hearts and they want to hear more.
>> Fred Jackson: Absolutely. I've heard great testimonies.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, we'll be back momentarily with more of today's issues on American Family Radio. And, Steve Paisley Jordahl where we're place Chris Plaid Woodward over here. Thank you, Chris.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Chris is saying, please don't let me get that nickname.
>> Tim Wildmon: We'll be back.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The m views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
