The Washington Stand’s Casey Harper shares primary election results on Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and reports on the one-page agreement memo to end the U.S.-Iran conflict. Diana Harshberger, U.S. Representative for Tennessee’s 1st District,
SPEAKER 09 :
From the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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We’re in good shape. And now we’re doing well. Now we have to get what we have to get. If we don’t do that, we’ll have to go a big step further. But with that being said, they want to make a deal. We’ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours. And it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal.
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That was President Donald Trump earlier today talking about a potential deal to end the war with Iran. Welcome to this Wednesday, May 6th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for joining us. Well, coming up, Family Research Council filed its brief with the Supreme Court today in support of Louisiana’s effort to challenge the FDA’s policy on abortion by mail. We’ll talk with attorney Christopher Mills later in the program. Also, Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger, a pharmacist by trade, joins us to discuss this case that’s before the court. Plus, Arizona Christian University President Lynn Munsell will walk us through a newly released biblical worldview survey of Gen Z and what it reveals about how they view religion. All of that and more straight ahead. Well, primary elections were held yesterday in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. The results suggest the GOP remains stronger than many in the media portray, and that the top issue on voters’ minds continues to be the economy. Joining us now to discuss the results is Washington Stand reporter Casey Harper. Casey, welcome. Hey, thanks, Tony. All right, so what were the main takeaways from the elections yesterday?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, Tony, everyone’s trying to parse the tea leaves here to read into November. I’ll go state by state. First off, in Indiana, Trump endorsed candidates did pretty well. They received $8 million and they won five state Senate races against the incumbents. Now, notably, those incumbents opposed President Trump’s plan to redraw the state’s congressional map in a way that we’ve seen in other states around the country. Now, over in Michigan, a Democrat won a special election for a state Senate seat. And then over in Ohio, there was several big races that could have national implications. First off, Vivek Ramaswamy, who is a longtime Trump ally and was backed by the president. He overwhelmingly won the Republican primary for governor. And then the only Democrat on the ballot was Amy Acton, and she naturally won hers. Now, former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, also in Ohio, won the nomination for U.S. Senate, is going to be a tough competitor for his opponent, Republican Senator John Husted, who was, of course, appointed to replace Vice President J.D. Vance when he went to the White House. So, you know, you could read this different ways, but definitely a big night around the country.
SPEAKER 07 :
And it’s just the first wave of many to come in this primary season. Now, I’m going to move to the international front. There are reports that the U.S. and Iran are getting close to an agreement, a one-page memo that would end the war. What’s the latest in this?
SPEAKER 16 :
That’s right. Kind of out of nowhere, Tony, we have this news that there is this – we had the 14-point peace plan sort of over the weekend that – It was going back and forth, but there wasn’t a lot of hope on it. And now we have this one-page memo that there seems to be real steam behind it, a lot of momentum. Now, the U.S. expects to hear from Iran on some key points within the next couple of days. There’s been a lot of mixed messages during this entire Iran war, so we have to take everything with a grain of salt, but that’s what we’re hearing. Now, this all comes, interestingly, after President Trump’s decision to pause Project Freedom, which was the U.S. Navy’s effort to create, really, a tunnel out of the Strait of Hormuz to get those thousands of ships that are trapped out of the strait and to the rest of the world and take their oil. really their people home. But this morning on True Social, the president posted and said that if Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, this epic fury is going to come to an end. The blockade of the Hormuz Strait will end. But he said if they don’t do that, that the bombing would resume. Now, what made this really interesting, the timing that people were thinking this one-page memo was more significant is because he paused that operation to open the Strait of Hormuz that he had just started recently. And so that sort of fed this idea that maybe the talks really were closer to a deal than we thought. Now, earlier today at the White House, President Trump did comment on the conflict, and we have a clip of that.
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We have it very much under control. The blockade is unbelievable. The Navy’s been incredible. The job they did, it’s like a wall of steel. Nobody goes through. In particular, the Iranians are not getting anything through one way or the other, so they’re out of business. And we’ll see whether or not they are agreeing.
SPEAKER 16 :
Now, a key sticking point in the negotiations, especially for the president, is the nuclear aspect. And he made clear at the end of that event that they are going to get the enriched uranium, which is something that Iran has not been willing to budge on. So we’ll see how that plays out. But the president seems steadfast on that one.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, that’s good to hear because that’s what prompted this military action to begin with. Casey, thanks for the update. Appreciate it. All right. Tomorrow is the filing deadline for briefs in Louisiana Supreme Court case. The case that is against the FDA’s abortion drug policy. The court scheduled to take action on the matter next week. Joining us now is Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where she is vice chair on the Subcommittee on Health. She has also been a licensed pharmacist for over three decades. She represents the 1st Congressional District of Tennessee. She’s also introduced legislation that would deal with the issue of Mifeprestone being sent by the mail without medical consultation. Congresswoman, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you.
SPEAKER 21 :
It’s great to be here, Tony. It’s a pleasure.
SPEAKER 07 :
So you’ve been, as I mentioned, you’ve been fighting against the Biden-era FDA policy that was put in place after the overturn of Roe to try to undermine that court decision. Now, we have this issue that is before the Supreme Court. Give us some insight into why this is such an important issue and speak to this, not only as a member of Congress, but as a pharmacist.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, what has happened with the mail order of Mifepristone, they’ve taken all the safeguards away from that drug. You used to have to go in person when you took the drug, make sure that there’s no internal bleeding, things like that. Well, they’ve taken those safeguards away. And it’s, you know, when you had the Dobbs decision come down, this is one way they can skirt that decision and mail order these drugs into states that forbid abortion or have, you know, trigger laws that say you can’t get abortion until six weeks, what have you. So you’re seeing a huge uptick in side effects from this drug. That’s the whole point of doing this in person. You know, if you’ve got one in 25 women will end up visiting the ER once they take this drug. And it’s adding burden to the Medicaid population and the money that is used there for those patients in these states where they are shipping it. And look, you’ve got 11% of these women will have side effects so bad within the first 45 days that you can cause sepsis. or internal bleeding, hemorrhage, things like that. But how would you ever know? And thanks to the Obama administration, 2016, the only thing that you have to, you know, no adverse reactions should have to be reported anymore. It’s just the number of deaths from taking the drug. So this is a detrimental thing. And Senator Hawley and I want to stop that. and codify what President Trump has done to where you can’t do that. It’s just a skirt around in states that don’t allow abortion.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. So during the first Trump administration, the policy was in place that you had to have in-person consultation. So there was medical supervision. You couldn’t be sending this through the mail to unknown persons. That policy hasn’t been put back in place. The FDA could do it, but Congress now is, thanks to you and Senator Holly, taking that issue up. I again want to ask you a question from a standpoint as a pharmacist, as a professional that deals with pharmaceuticals. Can you name other drugs that are treated like this that are as deadly with having these types of side effects that are just sent through the mail to unknown persons?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, think about there’s a program called REMS, and what that entails is kind of like Accutane. When you get a prescription for Accutane, you have to have pregnancy tests and a lot of other things, blood work done, because it’s such a detrimental drug to an unborn fetus. And so when you take away those safeguards to where you have these in-person visits, you open yourself up to liability in so many ways. And what the Biden administration did was take those safeguards away And that’s just one of the drugs that come to mind is a drug that they use in many occasions, dermatologists use it for acne and it’s a vitamin A. So when you take those safeguards away, bad things happen. And like I say, if you do not track the adverse reactions, like, you know, some of the side effects that happen when you take that drug, how are we supposed to know how bad it is? If you’re only reporting the deaths from the drug, it’s ridiculous.
SPEAKER 07 :
So what’s the rationale for that?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, the rationale is they want to be able to provide an abortion drug. Well, take the case in Louisiana when the lady named Rosalie, her boyfriend ordered a drug from California, sent it to him in Louisiana, and he coerced her to take the drug, and it aborted the fetus against her will. And you look at that as even a case of domestic violence in her case. Right. When you’re coerced or told, how many times would somebody put it in a drug and give it to a girl that said she was pregnant or whatever? We don’t know. We don’t know the circumstances because you do not have to report those things. But, you know, if you force the FDA’s hand and say, look, you’re going to have to take that indication down from that drug, hopefully that will help with some of the problems that this drug is causing.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, bottom line, they don’t want to report on it because they don’t want to have to deal with the facts. They want to make up the facts. They don’t want to have to deal with them. The other thing you mentioned just a moment ago was that states like Louisiana, my home state, but they’re not the only one. There’s about a dozen states that protect the unborn in totality. And the use of this type of abortion-inducing drug is illegal. But under this a protocol of the FDA, those state laws don’t matter.
SPEAKER 21 :
No. No, and that’s the whole purpose of what the Biden administration did by taking that in-person, you know, a visit away is so they could do that. And you couldn’t track this drug coming across state lines. And, you know, it’s just a detrimental thing. And it’s widespread. It’s not just Louisiana. It’s not just Tennessee. There’s many other states, I’m sure. If you can get it… Look… Honestly, getting a chemical abortion shouldn’t be as easy as going on the Internet and ordering a drug. For goodness sakes, that’s not it’s not healthy for the woman. You know, you’re going to abort a baby that should, you know, our states are trying to uphold pro-life statutes. And all they’re doing is going behind their back with and going against the Dobbs decision. And in my opinion, it’s just ridiculous. It’s terrible, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the Democrats are going to step in, and I think they may have an amicus brief now trying to keep this going to where we can’t do anything about it.
SPEAKER 07 :
They did. Every Democratic senator and 212 House members of the Democratic Party signed a brief that was filed today. One final question, just a minute left. Senator Hawley was on the program last month talking about this. He has been pressing the Department of Justice to investigate Danco Laboratories, which is the manufacturer of mephiprestone, first registered in the Cayman Islands, receiving backing from prominent liberal billionaires like George Soros. Do we not need transparency and accountability from these manufacturers?
SPEAKER 21 :
Yes, we do. And, you know, you said it at the beginning of the segment. I sit on energy and commerce and we have jurisdiction over the FDA. And one of the things that we absolutely need to do, you know, the bottom line is change the indication of the drug. Put those measures back in place and make these people accountable. I mean, why wouldn’t we make them accountable for sending the drug in? and making a drug, but that wasn’t its original indication. So we have to be tough on this, and we have to let the FDA know to be tough, and we’re just trying to codify things that should have been done a long time ago.
SPEAKER 07 :
Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger, thank you so much for joining us, and I appreciate your leadership on this issue.
SPEAKER 21 :
Thank you. My pleasure.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, folks, coming up, tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. We’ll talk about it next.
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I think all people really need to have this type of education. Well, I can tell you that it’s been an amazing course, period.
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I think this course is a reminder that a biblical worldview should really impact everything. It impacts our government from the federal to the state to the local. It should impact what we’re doing with our families and
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with our work. God and Government is a video-driven, Bible-based training course from Family Research Council that explores the connection between biblical principles and American government. In this six-session video series, FRC President Tony Perkins equips participants with a practical understanding of civil government from a biblical worldview.
SPEAKER 02 :
I would encourage all people to take it. I almost wish I would have took it earlier that I could have taught my kids this. I wish I had known these things when we were homeschooling because I think children and my adults now would just greatly be influenced by that information.
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So I’m an attorney, and for me, it gives me some direct practical knowledge of what I can do to try to impact my legal community to make better legislation, to try to encourage legislators to make choices that have a biblical worldview, which is what we really want.
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Any pastor would benefit from taking this course. Because we are dual citizens, right? We are citizens of the kingdom of God, but we’re also citizens of this great land, and that comes with responsibility.
SPEAKER 12 :
Even as someone who has been involved in these types of issues for a while, you’re learning little bits and pieces of new stuff all the time. But it’s also approachable enough that newer people, younger people, high school, college students, they can really glean something from this. So… I would encourage everybody to take this course, whether it’s the videos, whether it’s doing it in person, bring your Bible study group through it, bring your homeschool group through it and equip yourself for these challenging days ahead.
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View the course at frc.org slash God and government or on the Stand Firm app.
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When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them. A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal That they’re endowed by their Creator. With certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.
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Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Happy 250th. Happy 250th. Happy 250th. Happy 250th birthday, America. May God bless America. Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. Just got a message from the Republican leadership. They’ll be filing their brief in the Louisiana case regarding the Mepheprestone. It’s being circulated and been finalized yet, but they will be filing one as well in support of the state of Louisiana and a restoration of the protocol surrounding the Mepheprestone that protects women from the dangers of this drug. All right, registration’s open for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit coming up this fall. The summit will be held September the 24th through the 26th at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, which is just outside of our nation’s capital here. As America marks its 250th anniversary, now this powerful gathering will bring together Christian leaders, issue experts, and believers from across the country for a time of prayer. encouragement and preparation for action. So register today and get a summit pass for $69, a savings of $50 with the early bird discount. This special rate is available through June 15th. To learn more, Or to register, go to PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org. Well, speaking of prayer, tomorrow, that is Thursday, will mark the 75th annual National Day of Prayer, an opportunity for Americans to pray together in faith, standing on promises, on the promises of God. And it comes as our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary. The founding fathers of our country knew and understood that our future depended upon our dependence upon God. And with all that our nation is facing today, we need to turn back to God, not just in words, but in action. Joining us now to discuss this more is Dion Elmore, Vice President of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. He is also the co-author of A Prayer Warrior’s Guide to Spiritual Battle. Dion, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Hey, thanks, Tony. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Well, coming to Washington, D.C. and engaging in prayer requires a handbook in spiritual battles.
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It does. Yeah, we have come into town, but it’s more than just what happens in Washington, D.C. One of the things that we tell people all the time is that we have 19,000 volunteers around the nation And they’re going to be rallying tens of thousands of gatherings tomorrow in their community. So all 50 states, the territories of the United States, and we will rally millions and millions of people to pray.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, before we run out of time, how can people find out more? I mean, obviously not everybody’s going to be able to make it to Washington, D.C., nor would they necessarily want to, but they will want to pray, and they can do that right there in their local community. How can they find out more?
SPEAKER 05 :
What they can do is they can go to the National Day of Prayer website, which is nationaldayofprayer.org, O-R-G. And we have a tab on the top that says events. You can click on that and find a gathering in your area. And we encourage you to go and to join with those in your community, to pray for the leaders in your community and the influencers who are in the process of influencing us. You know, we always tell people, pray to the influencer of influencers so that he will influence those who influence you and your family and your communities.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, Dion, every year there is a theme, a scripture, a focus. Tell us about this year’s prayer theme.
SPEAKER 05 :
The prayer theme this year, it’s based upon 1 Chronicles 16, 24, and it’s glorify God among the nations seeking him in all generations. And so we’re calling people to glorify God. As we look at our founding fathers, they were focused on establishing God and establishing prayer in our nation from the very beginning. And we encourage people to focus on the God that they were focusing upon. Our role is to bring glory to God this year and to seek him for everything that we need in our nations.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and I also, I like that verse, and I like the focus on seeking him in all generations. And I think it’s very important because in this city in particular, here in Washington, we tend to think on election cycles. And we need to be thinking generationally. We need to think about how to reach our children with that life-changing message of the gospel and to the next generation, not just the next election. But I want to talk about the need for prayer. I mean, as I mentioned, you’ve written a book. You’re the author of A Prayer Warrior’s Guide to Spiritual Battle. Now, I don’t know what passage you took that out of, but it sounds like it comes right out of Ephesians chapter 6, where we are in a spiritual battle. And prayer… is one of our key instruments of this spiritual warfare. In fact, next to the Word is the most powerful thing that we have. But unfortunately, I think we often treat it as a last resort.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think you’re absolutely right. And we need to treat it as a first resort. You know, God tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They’re not fleshly. They’re not earthly. But they are mighty in God for the tearing down of the strongholds of the enemy. And so what I encourage people to do is to tear down the strongholds that you see God point out to you in your community. In the Washington, D.C., I come here and I pray. I look for the strongholds. And I ask for the Lord to tear those down and make His way clear so that we can establish Him, you know, again, one nation under God as the true leader of our nation.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and I think in this 250th anniversary of our nation, I can’t think of a better time for us to rediscover the source of our independence as a nation is, as I referenced earlier, it’s our dependence upon God and our declaration of that dependence, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
And our liberty comes from Jesus himself. And that’s the focus. We focus people back on the Lord and we focus people to seek him. And it’s interesting because we are a nation of nations, right, Tony? I mean, people all around us are from every nation around the world. And so I wanna encourage people this year as you’re seeking God, as you’re praying to him, and as you’re glorifying him, you’re glorifying him by reaching out to the nations that are all around you. God’s put you right in the middle of it. And you are seeking his face because we know that 2 Chronicles 7, 14 says that if we seek his face, we spend time seeking him, then he will hear us. It’s at that point in time, once we repent, that he heals us and heals our land.
SPEAKER 07 :
Dion, we just about 50 seconds, about 45 seconds left. You mentioned the website where people can go to find out about events in their community, but there’s also a live stream of tomorrow’s event. Talk about that.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s actually not a live stream. It’s a broadcast tomorrow night. So we’re going to be recording. I’m here in Statuary Hall. We’re recording in the Capitol tomorrow. And we have Will Graham. Billy Graham’s the one who stood on the steps of the Capitol in 1952 to help get this established. Will’s going to share, and he’s going to share the gospel on that broadcast. It’ll air tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, Dion, thanks so much for joining us. And we’ll be praying that the prayer goes well tomorrow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tony, thank you so much. We really appreciate you having us on.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. Folks, you can find out more. Go to nationaldayofprayer.org. That’s nationaldayofprayer.org. Pray. Don’t go away.
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For I know that my Redeemer lives. Job 19, 25. God raised Jesus from the dead because it was impossible for death to take hold on Him. Acts 2, 24.
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Join Family Research Council in standing on the Word. Visit frc.org slash Bible for free resources to help your family follow the way. Jesus, the risen Savior of the world.
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One Nation Under God, America’s undeniable foundation of faith.
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The United States Capitol, an iconic symbol of the American Republic. But few know that this building at the heart of our nation’s government was once something more, the largest church building in America. Since its inception and for decades following, several rooms throughout the Capitol, including the House and Senate chambers, were used to host church services weekly. These services were filled with individuals from all levels of government. The attendance was so pervasive that often it was standing room only. Quote, going to the Capitol on Sundays was then one of the most common things in Washington. Margaret Bayard Smith. This practice was not merely accepted, but encouraged. Quote, I consider it as one of my public duties as a representative of the people to give my attendance every Sunday morning when divine service is performed in the hall. President John Quincy Adams. Housing worship at the center of our capital was a living representation of the role that biblical principles played as a cornerstone of our nation’s foundation of faith.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch on this Wednesday afternoon. It’s great to have you with us. Speaking of prayer, yes, we do a lot of praying, and we need to do a lot of praying. We need to pray, we need to vote, we need to stand. As I mentioned earlier, we have our Pray, Vote, Stand Summit coming up in September. You can go to PrayVoteStand.org. You don’t have to wait until once a year. We have launched an initiative just a couple of months ago, and it’s spreading very rapidly, Pray, Vote, Stand chapters. It’s equipping believers to engage locally, prayerfully, and biblically. And we are establishing our goal over the next 10 years is a chapter in every county in America anchored in a Bible-preaching church. And as I said, it’s spreading rapidly. To find out more about how you can join a chapter or start one, text CHAPTERS, that’s chapters, that’s plural, to 67742. It can change your community by having a Pray, Vote, Stand chapter in your community. DR. GEORGE BARNA AND THE CULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER AT ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY HAVE A NEW REPORT OUT THAT EXAMINES SIGNIFICANT TRENDS IN GEN Z OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS. THE REPORT ALSO ANALYZED THE TIME SURROUNDING THE ASSASSINATION OF TURNING POINT FOUNDER CHARLIE KIRK WHEN MEDIA REPORTS WIDELY SUGGESTED THAT THE TRAGEDY WAS A CATALYST FOR A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE. SO DOES THE DATA SHOW A Genuine Revival Among Gen Zers in America. Joining us now to discuss this is Lynn Munsell. He’s the president of Arizona Christian University and author of Transforming Culture with Truth. Lynn, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you, Tony. Good to be with you.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, so let’s talk about the report. What’s it showing us? What’s happening among Gen Zers?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it’s interesting. It’s kind of a mixed report because there are some positive signs. And I think as you think about some of the reports that we’ve seen, you know, broadly that, oh, there’s this big, you know, movement toward God among, you know, Gen Z young people. We aren’t seeing that in the data, but we do see some positive signs. The number who claim to be Christians, the number who claim to be deeply committed to practicing their faith, the number that say that they’re reading their Bibles on a weekly basis, those all had significant increases since the time of the Charlie Kirk assassination. And so that’s very positive, but it’s not necessarily affecting behavior. There are a number of categories where we don’t see any change at all, including the number who have a biblical worldview. And as you know, that just means that people who are thinking and living biblically. And that number in Gen Z is just 1%. That’s unchanged, 1 in 100. Gen Zers is thinking and living biblically. And that compares to 6% of, you know, baby boomers and Gen Z, 6 to 7%. So the numbers are much lower in the younger generation. Those numbers haven’t changed. And sadly, Tony, this is the hard thing to see is that some of the outgrowths of, you know, that if you have a biblical worldview, you believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And among Gen Z, the number who believe that has declined by 18 points over the last four years, the number who have embraced socialism over capitalism, also a non-biblical perspective, is up 17 points over the last few years. So, like I said, a very mixed bag.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. I know I don’t need to explain this to you, but I know I think the media, I do need to explain it to them because, you know, a worldview is not changed by an event. it’s changed by an ongoing encounter. And, you know, Jesus, when he prayed for his disciples in John chapter 17, he said, you know, I pray, Father, you don’t take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them by your word. Your word is truth. The sanctification, the changing of our behavior comes about by the abiding in the word of God. So the one thing I find encouraging in this data that you have presented is that the increase in the number of young people in the Word of God, that’s the transformational power. It’s in the Word.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely, Tony. We know that God’s Word does not return void. I know you and I both participated in America Reads the Bible recently. And so we believe the Word of God is very meaningful in people’s lives. And you’re exactly right. The sanctification process takes time. And so I think we can be hopeful that if you have more young people reading their Bibles, saying that they’re followers of Jesus, wanting to learn God’s Word, say that they’re deeply committed to practicing their faith, those are all very positive signs that over time we should see worldview change from these young people. And if people are coming to faith in Christ and identifying as Christians, that’s the beginning step. And it’s not typically an overnight worldview change. It takes years sometimes to understand, to be discipled, how to think and live biblically.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you’re not just this is not theoretical to you. It’s very practical because at the university, at Arizona Christian University, you’ve actually been doing this and tracking it. And over a four year period, you’re seeing the effect on the worldview.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And the one that really stands out for us, we have now six years of longitudinal data. The graduation class that happened last Friday night will have all of their data this summer. But what we’ve seen in that time, Tony, is exactly what we’re talking about. And that is that our students, although they meet the rigorous definition as born again Christians, they’re saved when they come to ACU. We’re a covenantal school. So we’re trying to grow Christian leaders. They’re saved, but they’re largely thinking and living like their peers. So as George says, one to one. But by the time they graduate, after four years in our discipleship community, they are 28 times more likely to have a biblical worldview than their peers. So they go from one to one to 28 to one in just four years.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s intentionality. We have to be intentional, and it involves the Word of God. Very quickly, Lynn, how can people find out more about Arizona Christian?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. They can go to azcu.edu was our main website. There’s a link there to the research of the Cultural Research Center, which is all free and available to everyone. And also the acuworldview.com where they can take the worldview test themselves and see how they’re doing.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, Lynn, you’re doing a great job. Stick with us, folks. We’re back after this.
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This is Mission Control Houston here in the Artemis flight control room. Splashdown confirmed at 7.07 p.m. Central Time. A new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete. Integrity’s astronauts, back on Earth.
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When I got back on the ship, I’m not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything. So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute. And when that man walked in, I’d never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar, and I broke down in tears. It’s very hard to fully grasp what we just went through. And when the sun eclipsed behind the moon, I think all four of us, I turned to Victor and I said, I don’t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we’re looking at right now, because it was otherworldly, it was amazing.
SPEAKER 14 :
That was Commander Reed Wiseman of the Artemis II mission, reflecting on their journey around the moon. So here’s a question. Does that sound like a man that just entered space, an empty, cold vacuum of nothingness? Or did he encounter something so profound, so full, so warm and bursting with life, it’s almost as if someone was breathing on it? Perhaps it was so meaningful that the word space doesn’t do the journey justice. Well, it sounds like he didn’t encounter space, but something else, what the Bible calls the heavens. As the psalmist says, the heavens declare the glory of God and continually pours out speech. And that speech just might leave you speechless if you’re seeking it. It seems like Commander Wiseman discovered the truth of Psalm 139 in reality. Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven and orbit the moon, you are there. So here’s the glorious news for Commander Wiseman and all of humanity. The heavens aren’t far from any one of us. In fact, the Christian story proclaims that the one who sits in the heavens didn’t stay there. He came down into our broken world, forsaking heaven’s treasure to make you his treasure. And something truly incomprehensible happened the day he died, when the one who stretched out the heavens like a curtain stretched out his hands for us on the cross. But it was impossible for death to keep its hold on life itself. He rose from the grave, He lives, and every sunrise since reminds us that the darkness of night will never eclipse the light behind all light, Jesus, the light of the world. Family Research Council prays that families across America would look up and join the song of the heavens. Praise God in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thanks for joining us on this Wednesday afternoon as we’re talking with Lynn Munsell, President of Arizona Christian University, about the Bible. I just want to encourage you to, if you’re not in a daily Bible study, program, Bible reading program, join us for Stand on the Word because it is a two-year chronological, very simple, 15 minutes a day of reading. You do it as a family, do it as a small group. But I tell you, the reports that have come back in, transformational, families, relationships. So, it is the power of God to change us and transform us. We all need it if we’re going to be sanctified and set apart for the work of God. And speaking of that, our word for today comes from Judges chapter 13. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son and no razor shall come upon his head. For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. That, of course, is the account of Samson, the 12th and final judge recorded in Judges. From birth, he was set apart as a Nazirite. What was a Nazirite? Well, anyone could voluntarily take a Nazirite vow to be separated unto God, typically for a limited time, but that was not the case with Samson. He was called to be a Nazirite from birth until death. There were three primary provisions of the Nazirite vow. First, nothing from the vine, no wine, no grapes. Second, no contact with anything dead. And third, no cutting of the hair. Well, as we read Samson’s story, he broke all three. In many ways, Samson’s story was the story of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, called by God, filled with promise, power, and potential, yet morally compromised, choosing unbridled passion over faithful obedience to God. It’s a picture of many today. We have the power, but we have to be obedient. Find out more about our journey through the Word, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742 to find out more about our journey through the Bible. Well, as we’ve discussed this week, the legal case against the Biden era policy on Mifeprestone is back on the Supreme Court’s docket. It does not, it will not go away. And I hope it won’t go away until it’s finished, until it’s resolved. Well, this week, It follows last week’s ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in my home state of Louisiana that temporarily restored the in-person requirement for the abortion drug as the case makes its way through the court. So it was like a temporary stay of the current policy. Well, as we wait for the briefs to be filed and for the Supreme Court to determine how to proceed with the case, the Supreme Court has let the current policy stay in place. Now, we want to remind everyone that the real people, there are real people that have suffered real harm from these chemical abortions. So joining us now to share her story is Elizabeth Gillette. Also joining us is her attorney, a very familiar face to our viewers. Erin Hawley, who serves as of counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, supporting the Center for Life team, she argued alongside Louisiana at the district court in this case. Elizabeth, welcome to Washington Watch. Erin, always great to have you as well.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Elizabeth, let me start with you. Please share with our viewers and our listeners what happened.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I became unexpectedly pregnant in 2010. And like most young women in my age bracket, I went to Planned Parenthood and they offered me an abortion, a chemical abortion through some pretty extreme coercive tactics. Then when I went to the facility, they did an ultrasound and I asked to see that ultrasound and they initially refused. When I finally pressured them to show me my ultrasound, which was my medical record, they instead showed me a still photograph. They did not show me the live image, so the one was moving inside me, but the screen was not moving. And they told me that I was miscarrying and that was a lie. They told me that the medication abortion was the safe and easy way to end a pregnancy. And they told me that it would be like a double period and I would be going back to work the next day and I would feel relieved. At no time did I receive any kind of counseling about what this medication would truly do to me, both physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally. I did not know that it had a black box warning. I did not know that there were severe side effects. And I ended up taking the medication and having a full labor and abortion at home in my bathroom in which I bled profusely. I thought that I would die from the blood and the extreme pain. And I reached down at one point with a full labor contraction and in my hand came out a perfectly round amniotic sac with a fully formed tiny baby inside it. And I had to decide whether I was going to flush the child down the toilet or throw it away. And I decided to flush him down into a septic tank. And I developed post-traumatic stress from that traumatic experience. And I still suffer with that today. Wow.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. You’re not alone in that. Erin, Elizabeth’s story is just one of many. And in her case, she went to Planned Parenthood. They lied, not surprising. But there are many girls that don’t have any place to go to because they just get this through the mail and there’s no one to talk to. Tell us about some of the others that you have encountered and heard about.
SPEAKER 18 :
Sure, that’s absolutely correct. So under the Biden administration’s 2023 REMS, women, girls don’t talk to a doctor at all. You can get the abortion drug online in a couple of minutes and it ships your home or your dorm room to take all alone to have those horrible symptoms that Elizabeth described. In addition, it has allowed for coercion that wouldn’t be the case if you had to see a doctor in person. One of the plaintiffs in the Louisiana lawsuit, for example, her name is Rosalie Markovits. And she’s told her story about how her boyfriend ordered the drugs for her, forced her to take them against her will. She tried to throw them up, couldn’t do it, lost the child she deeply wanted. And that’s just one of the many coercion stories we hear, not to mention just the lies that Planned Parenthood tells women. They tell them it’s an easy fix, that it won’t hurt, that nothing’s wrong with it. And as Elizabeth says so eloquently, It’s difficult for women. It kills an unborn child, and it risks their health as well.
SPEAKER 07 :
Elizabeth, let me ask you another question. As we’re talking about the FDA’s policy that was put in place after the overturn of Roe, I know that the politics of this is not your focus. Unfortunately, you’re caught up in that now. But are you surprised that this drug is treated in such a casual manner as it is with no oversight?
SPEAKER 15 :
I am shocked that this drug is used over the counter through the mail. This is not a safe drug. This is not like taking Tylenol for a headache. This drug originally had a black box warning, which means severe side effects like sepsis. Women have died. The fact that we can get it through the mail without any oversight, I don’t know of any other medical procedure that a woman could get without that is so reckless. Um, you, you can’t even, you know, get your child’s ADHD medication through the mail because it’s, it’s considered a dangerous drug because you can build chemical dependency.
SPEAKER 07 :
Or you could give it to someone else and not be for you, which is the same thing as Aaron was just talking out of been happening with this drug. Um, Elizabeth, I want to ask you one final question. How can we pray for you?
SPEAKER 15 :
Oh, that’s a wonderful question. Just for healing emotionally and continued healing and continued courage. This is something that I think I will deal with probably for the rest of my life. And I think that the Lord has allowed that because in my weakness, he is strong. So prayers to continue to be courageous and continue to say yes to his request that I speak out.
SPEAKER 07 :
Um, if it’s all right with you, I’m just going to pray for you right now. Um, Lord, I pray for Elizabeth and you’ve heard her request and I just pray for her for healing physically, spiritually, emotionally, Lord, but I pray that you would give her the courage. Lord, as you, you forgive, you heal, you restore, but I pray the Lord, you would take her courage and her boldness to share this story to prevent others from going down this same path and experiencing the trauma that she has experienced. So I pray for her, Lord, and I pray for Erin, who’s doing a wonderful job in standing with these women, and just give her strength and wisdom and insight. And we pray for a court that will do the right thing when they take this up. In Jesus’ name, amen. Elizabeth, Erin, thank you so much for joining us. All right, I want to bring in Christopher Mills. He is the founder of Spiro Law, LLC. He is actually working very closely with us. Earlier today, the Family Research Council submitted an amicus brief in support of the state of Louisiana. And Christopher is the one who worked on this for us. And he’s actually worked with us on a number of amicus briefs. He was a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Chris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us and appreciate your great work.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks, Tony. Happy to be here.
SPEAKER 07 :
Alright, so I’ve gone through the brief, looked over it and two issues that we deal with in our brief addressing probably the biggest issue here from these drug manufacturers is they’re trying to say Louisiana and the young woman who was given this course to take this drug has no standing. They have no standing before the court. You address that in your brief.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right, Tony. So when another case was before the Supreme Court before on this issue, the court dismissed it for lack of standing. And basically the abortion pill manufacturers are trying to do the same thing here, even though Louisiana has shown that – allowing this flood of abortion drugs through the mail causes it a lot of injuries. It causes it financial injuries from women who are harmed by the drugs and show up at hospitals in Louisiana needing Medicaid care. It harms Louisiana’s sovereign interests in protecting preborn life by allowing this flood of abortion drugs to be mailed from out-of-state prescribers into the state. But the abortion drug makers are saying that despite all that, Louisiana shouldn’t be able to sue because ultimately the injury is imposed by the prescribers of these drugs rather than the FDA directly.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and you talk about that in the brief, is that the drug manufacturers have a website directing people to go to the prescribers who will prescribe these through the mail for them. So, I mean, it’s like they’re saying, oh, we’re not a party to this. We’re not making it happen. But they’re directing people to where they can get this drug through the mail.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right, Tony. I mean, it’s totally disingenuous. They make their money off of these pills, and they make more money when people need telehealth pills because states like Louisiana try and protect pre-born life. And so their website has links to groups like Plan C, whose tagline on their website is abortion pills by male in every state. And so they’re consciously and very intentionally directing women who need help to plan out of state abortion prescribers who can just send them drugs in the mail and leave the consequences up to Louisiana and the women.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, we were just talking with Erin Hawley regarding how these drugs are taken and sometimes are ordered and given surreptitiously or coercively to women. That’s a large portion of our brief that you have prepared for us is addressing the intimate violence between partners and how this is accelerated in situations like this.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s exactly right. And this is something that the FDA didn’t address at all in its 2023 action that expanded abortion drugs so that you can get them via telehealth. The problem is that many women will be coerced with these drugs if men, family members, abusers are able to easily obtain them via remote means with no protection against coercion. When you don’t have a doctor in the room talking to the woman, you don’t know what’s going on. away from the Zoom audio or video. And so especially for women experiencing this type of violence or abuse, bypassing an in-person interaction with a doctor puts them at much higher risk of harm and really coerced abortions.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’ve got just about two minutes left, Chris. And today, more than 250 House and Senate Democrats filed a brief in this case in support of the FDA policy, essentially saying that mifeprestone already undergoes a rigorous FDA approval process and the medication has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective. And they go on to talk about how this protocol is reasonable, it’s been in place. I mean, in our brief, we cite that this was done, and the record is very clear. This was done to circumvent the Dobbs decision by the Biden administration. There was no oversight given to this.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right. This wasn’t a question of science. And the FDA in this case has conceded that. They said, we didn’t adequately study it. We should have adequately studied it. So the FDA has conceded the point. But it’s crystal clear, Tony, that exactly what you said. After Dobbs, the day the Supreme Court decided Dobbs, President Biden directed HHS to identify all ways to make the abortion drug as widely accessible as possible, including through the mail. And he said jump and the FDA jumped. And it’s it wasn’t about science. It wasn’t about women’s health. It was about politics. But unfortunately,
SPEAKER 07 :
when they jumped, they’re still in the air because that policy is still in place. Despite the fact the Biden administration is gone, we have a new administration. They have not changed this policy. They could, but they haven’t. That’s why it’s before the court. And that’s why these briefs have been filed. And Chris, I want to thank you again for working with us in filing an excellent brief. And I think it’ll probably be cited by the state of Louisiana when they make their filing. So, thanks so much for joining us today. Always great to talk with you. Thanks, Tony. All right, folks, another matter of prayer as we pray tomorrow, the National Day of Prayer. We need to be praying we get this issue right, the sanctity of human life. I think it is a fundamental issue, one that we cannot afford to get wrong. That’s all we have time for today. Continue to pray, vote, and stand.
SPEAKER 09 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council. To support our efforts to advance faith, family, and freedom, please text GIVE to 67742. That’s GIVE to 67742. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information, please visit TonyPerkins.com.
