Save America Ministries

Guest (Male): This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: Air-raid sirens sounded Sunday night in Israel as Iranian ballistic missiles were intercepted by the Israeli Defense Forces. The missile launches were identified at roughly 3:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time. The IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel. Defensive systems were operating to intercept the threat.

At least two other waves of missiles had been detected, said the Israel war room. A third wave of missiles had been detected. Red alert sirens currently sounding in multiple areas of northern and central Israel. Iranian missiles were fired at Kuwait and Bahrain. Israeli defenses intercepted all incoming missiles.

And earlier Sunday, yesterday, Israel announced it struck a Hezbollah command center in Lebanon in response to rocket attacks on communities in northern Israel. Iran has threatened retaliation against Israel over the strikes against the radical Islamic terrorist group. Israel began its latest campaign against Hezbollah on March 2nd, after the Iranian proxy launched rockets and suicide drones at Israel following the start of the US Operation Epic Fury in Iran.

President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran on April 7th, but it's not there yet. It's certainly not going to help negotiations, Trump said yesterday in response to Iran's strikes. We're very close. I would say an agreement would be signed on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of this coming week.

And now as this takes place, you've shot your missiles, he said. That's enough. Get back to the table and make a deal. You've shot your missiles and that's enough, Trump reacted. Get back to the table and make a deal. On the other hand, Professor Phyllis Chesler says, what is our American president doing? Has he finally met the deal that he cannot make?

All of that here today frames our conversation, and I'm glad that you've joined us. This conversation is always with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms. And today, of necessity, we go back to Israel. we go back to Iran. And we go to Washington, DC, where the words of the president continue to echo across the seas.

It's pretty amazing. Here are headlines: Trump orders Israel and Iran to stop shooting. Trump says, I call the shots. Trump reveals a dramatic call with Netanyahu over Iran and urged Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid escalating the conflict with Iran and claimed that he, Donald Trump, limited an Israeli strike. Who is in control here?

Who is in control of the Israeli-Iranian issue that encompasses Lebanon in the north with Hezbollah, Hamas in the south, and then also the Houthis over in Yemen? Who is in control here? I remember Benjamin Franklin coming out of the Constitutional Hall as they had been laboring through the Constitutional Convention that defied any kind of resolution and a constitution.

I think they had been involved for about 50-some days there in Independence Hall. There was no air conditioning. Everything was locked up because they didn't want anybody seeing or hearing what was going on in the convention. So it was stale, hot, horrible, clammy air as the men there, 55 or so of them were continuing to argue back and forth with all of their petty grievances and their various colonial positions regarding their places that they represented and nothing was done and nothing was happening.

In that context, Benjamin Franklin stood up and addressed the President of the Convention, George Washington. And he said, "Sir, when we were at war during the Revolution, we prayed every day. We prayed every day in this house and God answered. And gave us a resolution, gave us peace, gave us victory."

And he said, "How is it, sir, that we have gone all these days, a month and a half almost, and have not once put out a plea to the Lord of nations to help us?" Then he made this statement: "The longer I live," and he was about 80 years old, "the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see that God governs in the affairs of men."

Now, I want you to take that statement there and superimpose it upon the Iranian-Israeli issue that seems intractable, notwithstanding all of our president's promises that we're right on the near edge of a deal. How many times have we been on the edge of a deal? Just in a day or two or three days, or within a week we'll have a deal. And that's been going on since March 2nd.

So, who's governing in the affairs of men? Is God governing? Is Yahweh governing? Is Jehovah Jireh governing? Is the Lord of nations governing? Or is Donald Trump governing? Or is it the flesh of men governing? Or is it Allah governing on behalf of Iran to prepare the way for the Islamic Mahdi Messiah to come in amid all of the chaos and convert the entire world to Sharia law? Who is governing?

Guest (Male): Once upon a time, children could pray and read their bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown, as was child abuse. In our once-great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Crismier and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the fourth commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Again, I welcome you to Viewpoint where we're confronting, as always, the deepest issues of America's heart and home from God's eternal perspective. And so you wonder, well, what is God's eternal perspective in this matter of Iran and Israel and the whole Middle East and America's involvement and around the peripheral nations of the Earth like China and Russia governing over the top of the Earth there?

They want to have their hands in this mess too. In fact, they do. They have their hands in Iran. China has its hands in Iran big time economically and has relied upon Iran to provide its energy to run its machine for its industry. It's got to have the energy. It has no oil, no gas of its own, so it has to get it somewhere. And about 15, 13 percent of all of its oil and gas come from Iran.

And now with the Straits of Hormuz having been shut down, China has been gasping. So even our president has been trying to find a way to help China get its oil and gas so that it doesn't starve to death over there without energy. Russia has committed itself to form more nuclear reactors in Iran. Russia was the one to assist and form the very first nuclear reactor in Iran, the Bushehr reactor, and has committed itself even the more so.

Russia has a hand in this issue. Also, China has a hand in Israel. Believe it or not, a few years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu gathered together with leaders in China and they had a big celebration about how these two ancient civilizations were banding together to accomplish something that would bless both nations. Really? Well, one nation supposedly is under God, the other is under the tyrannical leadership of a dictator that is against God. How do you work these things out? Who is in control?

Well, is it possible then that God is playing divine chess, maybe on two or three different levels? Is he playing chess? Is he moving the pieces around? Nobody can quite figure out what he's doing because he has an eternal mind and divine insight and he's moving the pieces around, allowing them to play their game with one another so that eventually he brings the whole thing together and voila, we have peace on Earth, goodwill toward men. Is that how it works?

And in the meantime, if that be true, how are we supposed to look at Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Khamenei, Putin, Xi Jinping, and all of the other big players out there? How are we supposed to look at them? Right now, I have in front of me a coin. It is a coin that came from Israel. It's called a temple coin. And on this silver temple coin is an image of King Cyrus of Persia.

He's the one that actually enabled and paid for the rebuilding of the second temple. After the people, it had been destroyed by Babylon and they had been out from the temple for 70 years, he actually facilitated the rebuilding of the temple out of his own coffers. That was King Cyrus the Great. Well, looking at that in history, Israel says, yes, that man was great. God used him as a great beneficiary to Israel.

In fact, not only did God use him as a great beneficiary to Israel, God actually called him his servant. In fact, went even further and actually gave him a title or a name so to speak that was like calling him a Messiah. That's right. That's how the Bible depicts this Cyrus the Great. Now, on this coin, superimposed over the image of Cyrus the Great is another image of Donald J. Trump. This was put together by Israel.

On the back of the coin is an image of the temple, a rebuilt temple that doesn't exist now. So, is this coin, was this coin produced in the belief and commitment and trust that Donald J. Trump was going to do the same thing for Israel in rebuilding the temple, a third temple, after the Roman destruction in 70 AD? Just as Cyrus the Great had done way back there in antiquity.

Is that what's happening here? Was this a prophetic declaration by the leaders of Israel that that is what they are counting on? What would you be counting on? How would you, how do you look at, how should we as followers of Jesus Christ, who is King of Kings and will be King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and he shall rule the nations with the rod of iron, Revelation chapter 19.

And of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David to order and to establish it with justice and judgment from this time forth and forevermore. How do we understand this when Donald Trump says today to Benjamin Netanyahu, if you don't stop attacking Iran, if you keep firing missiles at Iran, even if they're firing missiles at you, you may be having to act alone. In other words, I'm going to withdraw my support and you're going to be all by yourself.

Well, there is a sense in which the Bible does say that Israel ultimately will be all by itself. Zechariah chapter 12, that all the nations of the Earth will gather against Israel. It doesn't say some, it says all. Though all of the nations of the Earth be gathered against her, yet God will intervene to accomplish his purpose with regard to a people group that he called the apple of his eye.

Originally called them the chosen people and said that I didn't choose you because you were so wonderful, so sweet, so loving, so kind, even so obedient or righteous, I chose you because I chose you and because I chose you and I'm God, I'm not changing my mind. Now, I'm going to govern you, I'm going to cause some very dire circumstances to come upon you. You're going to be judged double for all your sins, God said right there in the book of Zechariah. Double for all your sins.

Wow. So God's not going to mess around either. He's not messing around with Israel. Some people say, "Yes, you see, that's why we say that Israel doesn't even count anymore. God's not interested in Israel, he's only interested in the Church." Well, the Church has done the same thing that Israel did. We're not walking in righteousness either. We're not walking in holiness either. We're not walking in purity of heart.

We're walking in stubbornness, stiff-neckedness, disobedience just like Israel did. So now what's God going to do? Because he chose the Church too. But Israel was called the church in the wilderness. So Israel was originally called from God in the Torah the church in the wilderness. Okay, that being the case, then what is the Church or what is Israel from the mind and heart of God?

You see, God has a picture, a greater picture of this entire enterprise. Whether you want to call it the gospel enterprise, you want to call it the biblical enterprise, you want to call it the prophetic enterprise, you want to call it the divine enterprise, whatever you want to call it, God has the bigger picture. So, he has given it to the children of men, though, to play the game, using the term loosely.

Because it's not about playing, but from God's perspective, you see, if he is the ultimate chess player, then these pieces being led by men, whether it's Donald J. Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Khamenei, or anyone else on the planet, they're just chess players. And each one has a viewpoint. Each one has a viewpoint. And their viewpoints are determining destiny.

Their collective viewpoints are determining destiny. So which one is right? Or are any of them right? Does each have a little corner and piece of the puzzle that when it's all put together, you will see, well, each one had a little rightness to it. But how ultimately it all comes along and forms the bigger picture which is called prophecy fulfilled. God's vision fulfilled.

Guest (Male): There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on his mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry marriage and morals. saveus.org.

Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors: the Hosea project. saveus.org and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's Viewpoint broadcast live and archived on Save America Ministry's website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Again I welcome you back to Viewpoint, and we're taking a careful look at the dynamics that are involved in this do-si-do, shall we say, between Donald J. Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Khamenei there and his troops, the IRGC in Iran, Vladimir Putin in Russia, and Xi Jinping in China. And also the smaller players in Lebanon and Yemen.

All of these are players and part of the bigger picture in terms of is there a deal or a settlement to be reached here? And if so, on what basis? Now, if Donald Trump calls the shots, and he's calling the shots, he better make sure that he's got, shall we say, God's favor on his side. Not just because he's Donald J. Trump, not just because he wrote the book The Art of the Deal, but because all things considered, he is a humble servant before God to do his will with regard to a nation that God chose to put his name there.

Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and a people called the children of Israel. God has already said, "I'm going to discipline them from my viewpoint. I'm going to discipline them double for all their sins." That's not Donald J. Trump's responsibility, and that's not yours. A lot of people get confused in that way. Neither is it Donald J. Trump's or Benjamin Netanyahu's job to judge the church.

That's God's decision. God is the one who judges. We can give forth information, corrective information, we can do everything we can to try to urge correction, repentance, correction of attitudes, but ultimately these things, these nations are in the hands of the Lord. As Benjamin Franklin said, "The longer I live, the more existing proof I see that God governs in the affairs of men." Well, he either does or he doesn't.

Right? God either does or he doesn't. Our problem is we don't totally see the end from the beginning. We just don't. If I had known, for instance, my wife and I were talking about this this morning, if I had known that the four or five years that I was involved in mountaineering in my 20s would have such an impact upon what I do and how I see things and persevere amid great difficulties to keep this ministry going and to keep the word going out for 31 years, I would probably have said no way, no how, ain't going to happen.

If I had known that the two political campaigns that I went through in the mid to late 1970s where I walked a thousand miles door to door day after day after day after practicing law all day, if I had known then that it might lead to ultimately being able to be faithful to do what we do here every single day, it might have made a difference. But I didn't know that. I just had to do what God put in my mind and heart to do at that time.

And that's where we miss the point a lot of times. We don't see the end from the beginning. That's where trust comes in, friends. We have to trust that God is going to act and work in and through us both to will and to do of his good pleasure to accomplish his purposes. And a lot of people don't seem to grasp that. We can't make it all happen.

Donald Trump does not have the Lordship to make it all happen. And if he thinks he does, he's in deep trouble because that's the grip of pride. And pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. So what we need to do with regard to that is pray for Donald J. Trump that he will walk in humility, that somehow the Spirit of the Lord will get a hold of him and he will not walk in arrogance and pride.

On the other hand, he has been ordained, shall we say, to be a leader at this time. Yes, on behalf of a people group called the United States of America, yes, even at our 250th anniversary celebration which he is leading to the max. But then again, is that being led by pride or by a genuine spirit of thanksgiving of how God has worked in and through this nation to accomplish his purposes in the Earth? It's a whole different attitude.

No, he is not called to be the Pastor-in-Chief. He's called to be the Commander-in-Chief. Yes, that is his God-ordained job given we the people and our Constitution. That's his job. So he has to do that with confidence. Our previous presidents have been weaklings. They have been willing to compromise at every point and have not dealt properly with Israel. For 15, 20 years, the Congress all had voted to cause the American embassy to be placed in Jerusalem.

But president after president after president, both Republican and Democrat, refused to do it. Why? Fear. That's why. They weren't legitimate leaders. They claimed to be, but they weren't. They were fearful. This man does not appear to be fearful in that regard. The one thing he is fearful of is not being able to make a deal. I want you to listen very carefully now to what I'm about to say.

The one thing that Donald J. Trump is very fearful about is not being able to make a deal. Because now his reputation is on the line. He said, "I was able to stop this war over here, able to stop that war over there, able to stop this war over here," and it's true. He was. On the other hand, if you think that your reputation is on the line, not for righteousness but for pride, then you have a new horrific weakness that has come upon you.

And that is the willingness to make compromises that you should never be willing to make just because you want to say, "I got the deal." And friends, that's what happened with Barack Obama. You remember all that? How ultimately he was so intent on trying to get a reputation for having resolved something with Iran that he was willing to virtually sell out America on the altar of his personal pride to say, "I got a deal."

How many billions and billions and billions of dollars did he ship over to Iran that have paved the way for all of their attacks on Israel and America and so on in order to protect his pride? It was sheer wickedness, friends. It wasn't about the American people and it wasn't about Israel, it wasn't about anybody but Barack Hussein Obama. Now, is Donald J. Trump in the same position today? Potentially. But I hope not.

An article came out from the Israeli National News today from Judah Honickman, and here it is: "The decree is being executed. Faith drives this story forward, not the political calculation, not the military strategy, not only the courage of soldiers. All of that matters, but underneath it, holding it all up, is what really matters: Israel's trust in God." Now, to what extent does Israel trust in God?

Well, that's a big question because two-thirds of Israel right now are definitely not strong believers in even practical Judaism. But the writer of this article says the story is the same as it was back in the days of wicked Haman, who tried to conspire together to destroy the entire Jewish people in the days of Ahasuerus. So the writer here says, as I type this right now, Israel is striking Iran.

That's Persia again. Last year, I said we'd seen this before and I told you we knew how it ends. That decree is no longer being written that God ordained the Jewish people to do in response to wicked Haman's conspiring together. He told them, "Destroy all the people that were involved in this effort." So Haman is dead now, the modern-day Haman.

The man who spent decades preaching about and funding our destruction, arming our enemies, chanting for our annihilation is gone. That was Haman. Today it's Haman, the same name, same goal, same fate. And the story isn't finished yet. True, the story is not finished yet. How will the story end? Well, I will give you an idea as to how this story will end.

And it's interesting because this comes from a letter that I received today from a friend of mine, Pastor David Decker in Israel. He says, "The economy of Iran already is in bad shape, has been reduced to that of a third-world country at best. Any sympathy or solidarity for Iran once held by some of the Muslim neighbors in the region has been reduced to practically zero. This is due to Iran's foolish timed military targeting of these countries over the past three months.

After the dust settles from this conflict, many new countries in this region will likely join the Abraham Accords, including major players like Saudi Arabia. This will likely result in producing a prolonged period of peace and great economic prosperity. Meanwhile, 90 million people in Iran are under the cruel and absolute control of a few million religious fanatics.

It would take a miracle for them to successfully rise up against their ruthless and heavily armed taskmasters. However, the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, is a God of miracles. I agree." But here's the problem: what will happen before the ultimate miracle? When this writer says that the deal that Donald Trump will bring about will join the Abraham Accords, cause all these countries to join the Abraham Accords, including Saudi Arabia, that would produce a prolonged period of peace and great economic prosperity.

It sounds to me like that actually is an earthly vision and a projection of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy where a peace, a temporary peace will be entered into as men cry, "Peace, peace," and it will bring about what appears to be great prosperity in the world until, until there arise a counterfeit Christ figure who through pursuit of peace will destroy many and will bring about his own declaration as the Prince of Peace.

Judge nothing before its time, friends. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Pray for our leaders that they also will humble themselves and deal honestly before God both in Israel and America. Thanks for joining us. Become a partner, friends. Send your gifts by faith to Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 23255. Don't wait for the other guy to do it, friends. We're confronting the deepest issues of our hearts and homes.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.