Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Andy Woods: Important News Stories Flying Under The Radar
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to World View Matters, discussing controversial issues, discerning current events,
- 0:10defending biblical Christianity, no topic, off limits.
- 0:16And now, here's your host, David Firazzo.
- 0:20Fasten your seat belts for another podcast.
- 0:22The Andy Woods is with us, Sugarland Bible Church, and Andy Woods Ministries, the website
- 0:30Andy Woods Ministries.org.
- 0:33Brother, good to see you.
- 0:34Thanks for your time.
- 0:35David, good to be here.
- 0:36Thanks for having me.
- 0:38Thank you, sir, and especially for your pastor's point of view, there's just not enough
- 0:42time to cover everything.
- 0:43I don't know how you do it, but anyway.
- 0:46So before we dive into some of these articles, what do you sense is one of the biggest stories
- 0:52right now of Christian concern that might be flying under the radar, that maybe people
- 0:57aren't paying attention to or Christians aren't aware of?
- 1:01Well, one thing that comes to mind is with Operation Epic Fury is the role of Russia.
- 1:09Almost nobody is talking about it.
- 1:11In fact, the White House has tried to really play down reports that Russia has been supplying
- 1:19Iran with Intel to help them navigate their way through Operation Epic Fury.
- 1:25And a story just came out, I don't know a couple of days ago, I think, that they've got
- 1:29their escape pod, so to speak, ready.
- 1:34The Iranian leadership to flee, guess where, into Russia.
- 1:39So there's a nexus developing, I mean, it's been developing for years, but here it's
- 1:44putting it into cement, a relationship between Iran and Russia.
- 1:48And to me, that's a big deal because that is what Ezekiel 38 and 39 predicts, a conglomeration
- 1:57of nations from the North, invading the land of Israel in the last days, spearheaded
- 2:02by Iran and Russia.
- 2:04And so for that to happen, there has to develop a tight relationship between the two.
- 2:09And that's what we're seeing happening, Operation Epic Fury has expedited that.
- 2:15And almost nobody is talking about it.
- 2:18So I guess that's under the radar story if you're looking for one.
- 2:22Yeah, Russia.
- 2:23We don't hear them in the news very often, China too, surprisingly.
- 2:27But yeah, that is a good one, Andy.
- 2:29So I didn't know what order to talk about these in, but we just, you mentioned Israel,
- 2:34Russia, Iran, over at the Jewish inside of this was a fascinating story.
- 2:39And this was from your pastor's point of view.
- 2:42Now when this is coming out a few weeks ago, DOJ's Harmeet Dylan compares contemporary
- 2:49anti-Semitism of educated elites to 1930s Germany.
- 2:56And I'm thinking, wow, it seems like the educated, the most educated people are always either
- 3:02the most anti-Christian or anti-Israel.
- 3:05Talk to us about this.
- 3:06I thought this was a good article.
- 3:08Oh, well, we've heard for years and years that the best way to solve the problem of evil
- 3:15to curb crime is just more education.
- 3:19You know, except when you figure out that Osama bin Laden, you know, came from a very
- 3:24well-educated, you know, upper middle class family and engineering background.
- 3:30And, you know, I'm of the view that if you educate a blue collar thief, all you really
- 3:35do is turn them into a white collar thief if you don't, if his nature doesn't change.
- 3:40And that goes back to our biblical beliefs and, you know, the depravity of man.
- 3:45And so it is interesting that one of the most literate societies of all time in terms
- 3:49of cultural literacy standards, the highest on the list is none other than Nazi Germany.
- 3:58And I've actually seen statistics that Nazi Germany had more PhDs, you know, per capita
- 4:05than most nations, you know, in world history.
- 4:09And so that's why I appreciated what Harmeet Dillon was saying as recorded in that piece
- 4:15in the speech she gave recently, that, you know, what's happening today is just a replication
- 4:20of 1930s Germany, where what education does is it doesn't solve people's hatred or minimize
- 4:30it.
- 4:31What it does is it allows people to address their hatred up in more sophisticated language.
- 4:37And so what was happening in Nazi Germany then on the eve of the Holocaust is literally
- 4:42what's replicating itself now, even as our ivy league schools are now becoming just blatantly
- 4:49anti-Semitic.
- 4:50I'm trying to work my way through a least a phonics book.
- 4:57It's called, I love the title.
- 4:58It's called Poisoned Ivey's and she's just documenting this because she was on that
- 5:05hearing where, you know, she was calling out, you know, these ivy league leaders, including
- 5:11her alma mater, you know, for anti-Semitism and that made, you know, world news because
- 5:19they were giving all of these excuses that, well, you know, just depends on the context.
- 5:24I don't remember all that kind of stuff.
- 5:28So she's calling out the ivy league for just, you know, getting totally away from its foundation.
- 5:35And moving into anti-Semitism.
- 5:36So history is largely repeating itself.
- 5:39It is.
- 5:40And there's just such a nice parallel now we're seeing between, I mean, you don't want
- 5:45to always bring up Nazi Germany, but with the elites and the educated elites, absolutely.
- 5:51Because especially since October 7, 2023 and what we saw happen with the paid protests
- 5:56and when the professors were quoted or speaking out, they were speaking out in anti-Semitic
- 6:02ways.
- 6:03Not surprising, Andy, I'm guessing to you and to a lot of us, but very, very concerning
- 6:09and disappointing if you're the body of Christ and if you are concerned about Israel and
- 6:15we should be.
- 6:16So speaking of that Israel and speaking of the fact that it is playoff time in the NBA,
- 6:24there's an article about Steve Kerr.
- 6:27This guy, I'm not surprised at this one, he's been, he spoke out against Israel.
- 6:33He's been speaking out, he's, he's woke, he's been pro LGBTQ, he's all for the NBA pride
- 6:40dare, whatever and all these other issues, pro trans, pro everything that you would think
- 6:45would go against biblical Christianity.
- 6:49Steve Kerr.
- 6:50But what did he say?
- 6:51He spoke out against Israel and recently he just got awarded.
- 6:54After that, he got awarded with a two year contract, I don't want to tell the numbers
- 6:58of what he's making there, but your thoughts on this, Andy, because you shared this in your
- 7:02PPO via a couple of weeks ago.
- 7:04Well, the other side, they use, you know, what are called virtue signolars.
- 7:09I mean, the Marxists called them useful idiots and it's basically people in positions of
- 7:15influence to sort of push the over to the window and in the leftward direction.
- 7:22And Steve Kerr has been used that way for a long time.
- 7:27I mean, I remember, I remember when someone was asking him about China and the blatant human
- 7:34rights violations that exist in China, he made the statement to something to the effect
- 7:39of, I'm paraphrasing, well, China, you know, is no different than America.
- 7:44You know, we have shootings and shopping centers in America, so China is kind of the moral
- 7:49equivalent.
- 7:50And, you know, Steve Kerr, I've always respected him as a basketball player and as a basketball
- 7:57coach.
- 7:58I think he's won like five championships.
- 8:01He's had a lot of professional accomplishments.
- 8:04I know that his own father was a professor killed in Beirut, if I remember right, going
- 8:11back to the late 1970s, early 1980s, so I've always tried to give him, you know, the benefit
- 8:18of the doubt.
- 8:19Every time he opens his mouth, he's always promoting the left.
- 8:24And here he's saying that Israel is the bad guy because she's trying to fair it, Hamas
- 8:30out of Gaza, which is what we would do as a country, if something like that, the equivalent
- 8:36of October 7th, you know, happened within our borders.
- 8:41And it's not just him, it's his coach from the past, a guy named Greg Popovich, San Antonio
- 8:47Spurscoach.
- 8:48He got the nickname Woke of itch because, you know, he made the statement that someone
- 8:54asked him, should we celebrate Columbus Day?
- 8:57And he said, we should celebrate Columbus Day, just like Germans should celebrate, you
- 9:02know, Hitler's birthday.
- 9:04He made that statement.
- 9:05And then it's Charles Barkley, Doc Rivers, and then Charles Barkley, you turn on the NCAA
- 9:12tournament.
- 9:13And there he is bashing the ICE agents for, you know, getting rid of illegal immigrants.
- 9:19He just says immigrants, but he left out the word illegal and felons, you know.
- 9:25So it's kind of like, I think Laura Ingrams, she wrote a book a few years back called Shut
- 9:29Up and Sing.
- 9:30In other words, you guys, we don't turn on the NBA or the NCAA tournament to hear your
- 9:37diatribes and political sermons.
- 9:40That's right.
- 9:41I mean, you're there to entertain us, do what you do best, and when it comes to politics
- 9:46and Middle East and border issues and things, you really don't know anything about because
- 9:51you all are multi-millionaires living in gated communities.
- 9:57You know, when it comes to these kind of things, just keep your mouth shut and let the rest
- 10:00of us enjoy the entertainment that you that you very, you know, well provide.
- 10:07You know, the left is pretty good at this and they know how to use these virtue signolars
- 10:11to push the over to the window in a leftward direction.
- 10:15You mentioned entertainment and it is sports is just entertainment.
- 10:18We have to recognize friends.
- 10:19We got to back up as Christians, biblical worldview.
- 10:23What does the NBA stand for?
- 10:25I mean, they're locked in with China, Nike at least is, but the NBA and the NFL and
- 10:30all these sports leagues are promoting godlessness.
- 10:34Why is it, Andy Woods, that coaches and players and Hollywood celebrities?
- 10:42I mean, an overwhelming majority are leftist and would be hostile to the biblical world.
- 10:49You why is that?
- 10:51Well, I think it's the moment, let's just like in academia, the moment they find out
- 10:57that you're a conservative, you know, you post something or whatever your career is over.
- 11:03And they've had such a dominant upper hand in these institutions for so long.
- 11:11I mean, as part of cultural Marxism, Gramps, he talked about this.
- 11:15You know, he talked about the long march through the institutions.
- 11:18The way to change a culture is not through the barrel of a gun per se,
- 11:23but you have to move into these positions of influence and change the value system of a culture.
- 11:29And they've been so successful at this that anybody who thinks differently is simply not
- 11:36given the opportunity to rise in those institutions.
- 11:39So I just think it's pure discrimination as to why you only get one perspective from these folks.
- 11:45I agree.
- 11:46I agree.
- 11:47That's a huge part of it.
- 11:49I mean, you put any kid, Christian or not, through K through 12 in that system.
- 11:56And then if they go to college, what they're going to get in two years or four years through academia,
- 12:02through some of these universities from their leftist professors,
- 12:05and then they go out into the working world and then the corporate world,
- 12:09what do you think is going to be the result?
- 12:11But anyway, Andy, back to the stories.
- 12:15I'm just very disappointing in what you just shared,
- 12:19because we know a lot of Christians and conservatives, not a lot,
- 12:22but those who do come out and they're trying to fight this,
- 12:25whether it's Hollywood or there are a small number of Christian players that we know of
- 12:30that stand up for conservative values in different sports,
- 12:33but the overwhelming leagues and the powers that be, unfortunately, our leftists.
- 12:38But let's talk about another concerning story.
- 12:41And this is, all Americans should be, at least, somewhat aware of this,
- 12:46about the US debt that we, you know, they keep on passing the book.
- 12:50Every administration, it seems, this has been an issue for decades.
- 12:55Over at just the news, the US debt tops 100% of GDP, deeply troubling.
- 13:02Andy, the news stations don't often talk about this.
- 13:08When we don't hear a lot of our leaders talk about this or doing things about this,
- 13:12maybe the Rand Paul's of our government, too,
- 13:17but you don't hear a lot about it.
- 13:19What are your concerns about this?
- 13:20This is kind of flying under the radar as well.
- 13:24Well, I mean, it's like you say, no matter who, I mean, they all sound good
- 13:28when they're running for office on both sides of the aisle.
- 13:31And then when they get in, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal,
- 13:36it's almost like this issue never seems to go away.
- 13:40It never seems to get fixed.
- 13:41It's sort of a kick the can, you know, down the road for the next generation.
- 13:47But it's the equivalent of going into a restaurant
- 13:50and you order the nicest, most expensive meal on the menu.
- 13:56And then when the bill comes around, you just say, well, send that over to my
- 14:00unborn grandchildren and let them pay.
- 14:04And that's in essence what we've done.
- 14:07I remember Lloyd Benson.
- 14:09I'm not a Democrat at all, but he had a pretty good line.
- 14:13He was in a debate with Dan Coil.
- 14:16And Dan Coil was talking about the very good economy that existed in the
- 14:21bush and in the Reagan years.
- 14:24And Benson, you know, fired back and said, well, if I could give you
- 14:28trillions of dollars of hot checks, I could give you the illusion of prosperity also.
- 14:34And the truth of the matter is debt, the way we're running it, unsustainable debt
- 14:40is not true prosperity.
- 14:43Proverbs 22 verse seven says the borrower is servant to the lender.
- 14:49And the law of gravity still works here in the United States of America.
- 14:52It's an economic principle.
- 14:55You know, as the saying goes, if your outflow exceeds your income,
- 15:00then your upkeep will be your downfall.
- 15:03And, you know, this may be one of the reasons why America doesn't seem to
- 15:07factor very prominently in the pages of scripture as far as Bible prophecy is
- 15:12concerned.
- 15:12Maybe we've spent our way into oblivion.
- 15:16Yes, yes.
- 15:17And to conclude this article over at JustTheNews.com, it says the national debt
- 15:24is our greatest national security risk.
- 15:27And without major changes to federal fiscal policy, the US government will
- 15:32default on its debt in about 20 years.
- 15:35So we've been warned.
- 15:38And yeah, like you said, it's interesting where we do or do not stand in Bible
- 15:44prophecy, but I've got to take a brief pause with Andy Woods.
- 15:47I got to mention Freedom Project Academy, which is enrolling students for the
- 15:51fall for 16 years.
- 15:53FPA is delivered a fully accredited classical online education rooted
- 15:59firmly in Judeo Christian values for kids in pre kindergarten through high
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- 16:09needs. So visit freedom for school.com, save 10% on tuition.
- 16:13When you use the code David again, use David and save 10% on all courses at
- 16:20Freedom Project Academy, the website again, freedom f or school.com to get
- 16:26started. Okay, let's go back to Israel and this not surprising story, but maybe
- 16:32just the location of what is said to be the biggest LGBTQ festival ever in the
- 16:40Middle East, near the site of Sodom, some say it's poking God in the eye or
- 16:47mocking God. And he were not surprised by this.
- 16:50Israel is not a Christian state nation.
- 16:53They're not a biblical nation. They are secular and we, I think, would be
- 16:58surprised at how maybe much they would support things like this, but this is a
- 17:05good sign right of where they're at spiritually, right?
- 17:08Well, a lot of people will, you know, contact me or send me texts or emails or
- 17:14whatever social media and say, how in the world can you be a Zionist Zionist when
- 17:20the Jews act this way? And my answer is, because God said he was going to bring
- 17:26them back into their land in unbelief prior to their conversion. In fact, when
- 17:34the spirit is poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Zechariah 12 verse 10,
- 17:41where are these those inhabitants living? They're living in Jerusalem without
- 17:46the Holy Spirit. So God said they're going to come back as unbelievers. So guess
- 17:51what? Unbelievers, they act like unbelievers. So this kind of thing doesn't, you
- 17:56know, deter me from being a Zionist because I know that what they're doing in
- 18:01this regard, you know, is not the end game. There's a great mass conversion coming
- 18:06for them nationally in the events of the seven year tribulation period, you
- 18:11know, leading to the millennial kingdom. And I actually look at this kind of thing as
- 18:15the fulfillment of prophecy, because Revelation 11 verse 8 describes the city of
- 18:21Jerusalem being overtaken in the events of the tribulation period prior to
- 18:26Israel's national conversion by the spirit of Egypt, representing bondage and the
- 18:33spirit of Sodom, representing depravity. And that's what you see happening
- 18:39there. Keep in mind that that's taking place in the Dead Sea area. And if you
- 18:44just go to the the tip of the Dead Sea up north there and hang a left, you'll
- 18:51run into the city of Jerusalem, which is not that far from where this event
- 18:55transpired.
- 18:56Geez. And it's it's a major pride fest filled with perversion debauchery. You
- 19:02know what what happens friends? You've maybe have seen some of the pictures or
- 19:06videos of even on American streets. But this is going to be huge. And I hear
- 19:11pride in this guy to Aaron Cohen. He's the main producer and initiator. He he
- 19:16said that the scale of the festival is unprecedented. This is not just another
- 19:21festival. It's the biggest thing we've done here. So they're boasting about this
- 19:26big pride fest. It's just so sad. I guess we maybe we had different hopes and
- 19:33expectations for Israel. But Andy made a good point. We don't support them no
- 19:38matter what. But we do understand from the biblical perspective that they are
- 19:43gods chosen people. And he will bring a portion of them back. Correct.
- 19:48Yeah. And kind of interesting that guy's name is Cohen Cohen in in Hebrew means
- 19:53priest. And I can't help but thinking of the guy that led the charge for the
- 19:59golden calf. You know, it's the last guy you'd ever think would be the ringleader
- 20:04and it was Aaron. Yeah. It was at that time the high priest of the nation. So I,
- 20:09you know, things like this don't determine from being a Zionist. God told us
- 20:15these kinds of things would happen in the end time scenario. So I'm not in
- 20:20faith. You know, I'm not in favor of mindset that says you can't criticize
- 20:23Israel. But I am I do think it's problematic when we move into what I call the
- 20:30three D's double standards. You criticize Israel for this, but nobody else
- 20:37defamation. We start lying about them. And then de legitimization, which is
- 20:43where the Steve cares of the world are moving into where you don't even think
- 20:47that the reborn state of Israel is a authentic, you know, state that deserves
- 20:56to exist. So as long as people avoid those three D's, you know, criticize, you
- 21:00know, mere criticism of the Israelis. I mean, the Israelis criticize their own
- 21:04government. I'm an American. I criticize my government. But I'm not, I'm still
- 21:10an American. So it's not a matter of just carte blanche supporting everything
- 21:14Israel does. But I think we need to stay away from those three D's as I call
- 21:18them. Yes. Good call. And by the way, let's now let's point some fingers back at
- 21:24this country, the United States, which I think we're one of the top exporters
- 21:29of pornography and other things that it's kind of embarrassing. If you look
- 21:35back to where we started as a nation and how we were founded as this great, once
- 21:41great, Republic under God in that way, you watched the movie A Great Awakening
- 21:46and you see how far we've come off phenomenal, convicting. And then Andy, I was a
- 21:53glutton for punishment. I went to my bookshelf and pulled out this book of quotes
- 21:57and sermons by George Whitfield. And I'm going, man, every one of them, it, it
- 22:01convicts us. We have come so far and not in the right direction. By the way,
- 22:07you know, I've got one more story I wanted to ask you about. But we haven't
- 22:11talked to you since that movie came out. I was blown away. I didn't, and I also
- 22:15didn't realize Whitfield's relationship with Ben Franklin. And I thought it
- 22:19was just so well done. And what a voice Whitfield had an influence at that time,
- 22:25right? Yeah, there were so many loose ends that were connected for me with that
- 22:31movie, things that I really didn't know. And the, the line, you know, that
- 22:36stands out to me is when Benjamin Franklin, I think it's his grandson is pulling
- 22:42out Whitfield's notes that weren't, wasn't trusted to Franklin. And he's saying,
- 22:47who is this white field guy? And Franklin said Whitfield. And then his grandson
- 22:54asks him, Oh, was he in the revolution? And Franklin says George Whitfield was
- 23:00the revolution. In other words, without that Christian foundation, what we know
- 23:05is the American revolution wouldn't have happened. And it's kind of a part of
- 23:11American history. We just don't know much about me. What was happening over
- 23:14here from let's say 1740 up until 1776. I mean, there was an awakening that was
- 23:21happening. And God used it to prepare the way for, you know, the independence
- 23:27that we enjoyed today. So everybody should see that movie. Our church is
- 23:31working on seeing if we can get the license so we can show it to our, you know,
- 23:36entire flock. It is phenomenal. I can't speak more highly of that. It is
- 23:42available, by the way, you can look it up and stream it in different places,
- 23:45friends. So it's now available for streaming. But anyway, one more story,
- 23:50Andy, running out of time, but this is interesting. I never thought I'd maybe
- 23:54be talking about a vaccine and government may be pushing another. But yeah,
- 24:01then I got, then I thought, you know, human nature and we don't learn from our
- 24:04mistakes. This isn't Connecticut, which maybe shouldn't surprise us there,
- 24:08but the Democrats are moving bills to force vaccines on unwilling residents.
- 24:17You heard that correct, friends. The bill would ensure religious freedom
- 24:21protections do not apply to certain vaccine requirements among other provisions.
- 24:29So Andy, did we not learn just six years ago, five, six years ago during COVID?
- 24:35Apparently not your thoughts on this one.
- 24:39Well, I mean, there was something called the peyote case. I want to say late 80s,
- 24:44early 90s. I think the last name Smith was in it. And they destroyed
- 24:50freedom of religion in that case. They basically said, you don't have to,
- 24:55government doesn't have to just demonstrate a compelling interest to interfere
- 25:00with religious freedom. So there was a reaction against that in the 1990s
- 25:05through the restoration of freedom of religion act. And they moved the standard
- 25:10back to a compelling interest. The state has to show. So we did that at the
- 25:14federal level, all kinds of states did it at the state level. And here's the
- 25:19state of Connecticut 2026, the one of the bluest of the blue. And they're
- 25:25trying to develop some kind of legislation that gets around this religious freedom
- 25:32restoration act where you're not really allowed to invoke freedom of religion to
- 25:38say no to the Vax. So, you know, if you say, if you say, and I don't know if this
- 25:43is true, I'm not a medical authority. But if I have a belief that what's in the
- 25:48vaccine is made up of tissues from an aborted fetus, then do I have the freedom as a
- 25:55Christian to say no to that vaccine? Or let's say the Vax is coming out operation
- 26:02warp speed. And there's no time to monitor side effects. How can it, how can you
- 26:08monitor side effects if it's operation warp speed? So I don't want to let that
- 26:12into my body because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I mean, shouldn't
- 26:16I have the freedom to tell the state no? And the state of Connecticut is saying no.
- 26:21And they're trying to do this end run around the restoration of freedom of
- 26:26religion act. And it's just, it's just very troubling what's happening. And this
- 26:31is what happens when the states become blue, one party rule. And common sense
- 26:39freedom of religion that used to be recognized a few decades ago goes right
- 26:43out the window. Yeah, we should, we could expect to see this in California, Illinois and
- 26:48other Northeast states and Northwest as well. But Andy, thank you. It goes by so
- 26:54fast and it's so much more we could cover. But you cover a lot more every Friday
- 26:58on your pastor's point of view. So friends, go to Andy's YouTube channel. And
- 27:02also look him up on Facebook, Andy Woods Ministries on Facebook as well. A lot
- 27:06of great content. Like I said, before we got on the podcast, Andy, I don't know
- 27:10how you do it. How you, you teach at your church and an amazing job there. I
- 27:16love your Bible teaching, but also how you keep up with these things to hopefully
- 27:21help Christians and get insights on this. I don't know how you do it. But God
- 27:26bless you for it. Thank you for your friendship and thank you for all you do for
- 27:29the body of Christ. David, thanks for having me. Great to be here. All right. We
- 27:33appreciate it, brother. All right, friends. Thank you. Share the podcast. God bless
- 27:37you. And as always, keep speaking the truth about things that matter. See you next time.