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: Trump is a man of action. The US warned the Iranian regime in the Farsi language. It was a special message. A US State Department post warns Iran as protests continue with reports of dozens killed, hundreds arrested, and Trump threatening similar action to capturing Venezuela's President Maduro.

Welcome to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. It's conversation, as always, with ever-increasing conviction talk that transforms. Today, I trust will be no exception. Today we take a look at Persia. Well, also known as Iran. Known formally as Persia historically and in biblical language all the way until 1934 when they decided, well, the word Iran actually better represented how the people feel about themselves, and Persia actually represents a broader concept of people groups. So they decided to call themselves Iran in 1934.

What will they call themselves when Khamenei leaves the scene? Is he going to leave the scene? He's been ruling since 1979 when he took over the Islamic Revolution, declaring over and over again, himself and through his henchmen, that Iran was going to rule the world, that Persia would rule the world under Sharia law, that this was the Islamic Revolution.

Well, the State Department's Farsi account issues a warning that you should not play games with President Trump. That warning went out today, January 4, 2026. The post featured a picture of Donald Trump alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with other officials standing behind them and contained an additional warning that President Trump is a man of action. "If you don't know, now you know." That's a quote on Saturday.

The same post was made on the State Department's English language account. This comes as reports by British outlet The Times noted that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has an escape plan to flee to Russia. An escape plan to flee to Russia. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One yesterday that if they, the Iranian regime, kill people as they have done in the past, they will be hard hit by the United States.

At least 16 people have been identified following being killed during the protests as of Saturday. At least 222 locations in 78 cities across 26 provinces in Persia, Iran, have witnessed protests. During these events, at least 990 citizens have been arrested and at least nine protesters have lost their lives. And as of today, the protests have now reached their ninth day.

While people are celebrating in Venezuela, celebrating that the United States of America via Donald Trump and the US military have, through a miraculous, almost miraculous kind of event, have captured Maduro and his wife, have taken them to New York where he was just today arraigned and pleaded not guilty to terrorist charges and drug trafficking.

So in New York today, the New Yorkers, 8 million strong, have inaugurated now their new mayor, who claims to be collectivist, a democratic socialist like Maduro in Venezuela and like Chavez who took over Venezuela before Maduro and like what's happened in Cuba and what's largely happened in Colombia. Now it has been welcomed by the American people to rule New York.

Mamdami is very much like Maduro, isn't he? Very much like Maduro. Maduro promised the Venezuelan people all these wonderful things following in the steps of Chavez that had become the president of Venezuela before him. But here was a country, Venezuela, that was the richest in all of South America, that is now one of the poorest. Why? Because it came under the same kind of leadership, the same kind of promises, the same kind of glorious promises that Mamdami has made in order to gain election as mayor over 8 million people in our nation's largest city, the city also that has the largest number of Jewish people outside of Israel.

So we look at all of this big picture here today on Viewpoint. It is rather fascinating, major changes taking place in our world even as we launch right up front here in the new year. Perhaps you've made some resolutions concerning the new year and the question is whether your resolutions are going to stick. Everybody makes resolutions. They think they're going to be a revolution in their lives, but before very long, the revolution becomes nothing more than business as usual.

So you want to become the person that you say you want to be. You want to have a new identity in your own mind and heart to motivate you. And you want to shift from thinking I need to exercise or I need to do this or that to I'm becoming someone who cares for my body and my health, or whatever else it is you're resolving to do. You want to set up your surroundings to support you, the one that you're becoming. And you want to have a kind of clarity that replaces pressure, so you want to deal in small steps rather than revolutionary steps. Why? Because it's the small things that ultimately lead to the big things.

So set your course with New Year's resolutions that are likely to happen rather than those that are grand wish fulfillments and gradually, almost quickly, evaporate in our minds and hearts. And we all have those, don't we? And God desires that we have them, especially that we become those who more truly and honestly and vigorously follow His word, His will, and His ways. He wants us to have that and that would become a revival in our own minds and hearts.

And it would involve repentance, it would involve confession, it would involve all of those things because the kindness and goodness of God leads us to repentance and leads us to a desire to follow in His ways. That's the grace of God, friends. The grace of God is His enabling power where He desires to help us, to assist us in following Him. But He's not going to make us follow Him. He's going to make everything possible for us to follow Him and to make the choices that He would have us to make in this new year, but He's not going to make us do it. He's just not going to make us do it.

Now, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has some choices to make. Is he going to stay there in Iran or is he going to flee because the people are uprising? Maybe it's a major choice that's about to be made there. We'll take a look at that when we get back. You're listening to Viewpoint at viewpointradio.net.

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: Welcome back to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. Today we take our primary focus on Iran. We're grateful, even the Venezuelans are grateful for what our president did in an almost miraculous kind of military venture to go into Venezuela and arrest Maduro and his wife and deport them, export them so to speak, to New York for trial, and we'll see what happens there.

But the people of Venezuela are celebrating. It's interesting that the people that are protesting in America against what our president did are not Venezuelans. They're other people. You know, the same kind of people that put Mr. Mamdami into office as Mayor of New York. On the other hand, the Venezuelans are giddy with gratitude and praise because they now see there is possible hope lying ahead. Possible hope.

Now much of Maduro's regime is still in power. The vice president has now been made the president there in Venezuela. But the President of the United States says now we're going to run Venezuela for a period of time to get things stabilized. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there in Venezuela because a regime that once had the blessing of the greatest wealth in South America, largely because of oil, has now been, at least the head of it has now been removed.

When you chop off the head of the snake, perhaps the rest of the snake can still keep wriggling around, as some of you have probably noticed if you chop off the head of a snake. But finally, the snake dies. So there is hope. There is hope in Venezuela that perhaps freedom and justice and liberty can reign again and perhaps the Christian faith can once again gain increasing dominion there when the Maduro regime has had no favor whatsoever toward Christ or His followers.

But the same is true in Iran. In Iran, Khamenei and his crew with the Islamic Revolution took over, deposed the Shah in 1979 and from that moment on, all hell broke loose in Iran. In the effort to control Iran under Sharia law and to impose and prepare the way for Iran to do that, to superimpose Sharia law upon the entire world, the Islamic Revolution gained its momentum.

In fact, you remember Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam, here in this country traveled to Iran and he met with the then-president of Iran, Rafsanjani, and he declared to the President of Iran, "You are the vanguard of the Islamic Revolution worldwide." So that's how Iran sees itself. That's how Khamenei sees himself. That's how those who support him, including a fellow by the name of Ahmadinejad who had been elected to president, saw himself.

But the Islamic people, that is the Iranian people, are not seeing things so positively. They're just not. So the regime now is weakened. There are protests. Iran is at a very critical juncture, according to the Jerusalem Post. In 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022 major protests in Iran shook the Islamic regime, but all were put down by a combination of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Islamic Revolution Guard, and the Basij stormtroopers willing to beat and kill their fellow citizens without a second thought.

The coming days now will likely dictate whether the ongoing protests which began on December 28 will finally be the wave that drowns Khamenei's 36-year rule or whether the demonstrators will meet the same fate as in prior rounds. But there have been two major advantages to the protesters this time as opposed to those prior rounds. One is that the regime's military power is at a decades-long low.

After Israel attacked Tehran in June of 2025, Khamenei not only lost most of his nuclear program, but also half of his ballistic missiles, 80 percent of his air defense, and over 30 top military and IRGC commanders. The IRGC and the Basij also took specific hits from the IDF in the final days of the campaign. And that included striking the infamous Evin Prison, facilitating some prisoners fleeing and forcing the Islamic Republic to relocate 1,500 prisoners elsewhere.

Finally, Khamenei himself hid for much of the war, harming his brand of having absolute control. So in that sense, Khamenei is at his weakest military, having lost many assets of repressive power and psychologically regarding his perceived status. And the second reason is that the protests have been spurred on by broad economic problems which impact all Iranians, including the regime's Shiite supporters and the bazaar merchants traditionally viewed as an influential collective in political trends.

So this is as opposed to some protests which involved mainly Sunnis, Kurds, reformers, and other minorities and a weaker critic's regime. So people are protesting high fuel prices, inflation, and lack of running water. Well, they got a lot of that problem in Venezuela. They really do. You remember when they had a hard time finding toilet paper in Venezuela? That wasn't very long ago.

In other words, now no one really disagrees with the arguments of the protesters in Iran or considers their complaints invalid. Possibly because of all the above factors, while Khamenei has started to use some IRGC and Basij oppression to date, the crackdowns have not yet reached the viciousness of earlier protest periods. In fact, Khamenei has actually come out and said, "You know, I kind of understand why you're upset." Yeah, because he knows things economically are not good. It's very, very bad.

In fact, the majority of the Iranian people now have fallen below poverty level in their income because of the current situation there in Iran. But the current protests have no central leadership or figures, which makes it difficult to achieve a specific outcome. So merely protesting in public with no defined end goal and no specific program to reach it is usually a recipe for not achieving very much, except having the people killed. There have been no protests yet of hundreds of thousands or even close to that.

So one wonders what really is going to go on. Paradoxically, the war with Israel or its aftermath may have actually strengthened Khamenei's hand. There was a brief moment after the war ended in June 24th, on June 24th, 2025, when Khamenei and his supporters were terrified that they might lose control. But when Khamenei saw that no one global or domestic was seeking to topple him, he ordered one of his widest and most brutal crackdowns in years. Many regime opponents were killed, beaten, or detained indefinitely.

Now what people may not understand is that Iran under Khamenei has executed more people than any other country in the world this last year. As I recall, it was about 1,200 people just executed, hang them over and over and over again. It's like a public display. So this fellow Khamenei is not to be trifled with. He is desperate to remain in power.

Iranian protesters are urging Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu to take action. The line on the other end of the phone went silent, says this article. Then suddenly a voice broke through. This is one of the ways Iranians inside Iran have managed to communicate when it has been difficult for the outside world to understand what is truly happening inside the country. As protests grow stronger and more dangerous by the day, offering a clearer picture of realities on the ground has become essential to shaping informed responses at a moment when the Iranian regime is under pressure and the world is watching very closely.

Dr. Iman Forottan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New Iran and founder of what is called SOS Iran, spoke about the current situation, translated for the New Iran's Director of Civil Disobedience based in Turkey and identified only as Hesam, as well as two protesters in Iran identified only by their aliases to protect their safety. So this SOS Iran is a network created to help activists inside Iran connect and operate securely when communication is risky or disrupted.

So things have to be done in secret because of the brutal crackdowns carried on by Khamenei. And it's a very frightening situation, very frightening situation. Can you imagine yourself in that kind of a situation? Really, where you have millions and millions of people, regular people, and then you have a regime that is so tyrannical and religiously tyrannical, such that it will compel every man, woman, and child to bow down to Allah and to follow Sharia law. And if you don't, there will be hell to pay.

Well, to a certain extent, by the way, if you do not understand it, that's exactly what Mr. Mamdami there in New York now as the new mayor is basically projecting. Now he's not going to say we're going to come in here with military force and we're going to start killing people. He's not saying that. He's starting with the basics, like they did in Cuba and like they did in Venezuela. A new collectivist vision, he says. A new collectivist vision.

Well, what is the collectivist vision? He calls it democratic socialism. Most of us would call it communism. So he brought in to assist him in his inauguration Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is his model. Bernie Sanders long has identified himself as a democratic socialist. But that's the term that might fly in America. But why is it that he and his wife had their honeymoon in Russia under communism? Because that was what they worshipped, that is what they like, that's what they follow, that's what they believe in, this collectivism viewpoint.

Well, Khamenei there in Iran has a similar kind of viewpoint. It is just strict Islam, collectivist Islam. And you either conform or else. In Maduro's Venezuela, you either conform or else. Now we're going to provide you under these despotic terms, we're going to provide you with the wonders of collectivism, the wonders of can't we all just get along and let's just be nice and let's just share everything that we have together and execute communism, excuse me, execute capitalism as if it were the tyrannical criminal of all time, but usher in something far worse.

You remember, perhaps you will, statements that were made concerning democracy by our founders. They said democracy is the worst of all governments, yet the best. In other words, it is potentially the worst, but given the alternatives, the best. And that's why we were given a republic to actually temper the dangers of democracy, which is collectivism. You may not have seen it that way, but if the people are ungodly and the people are going to be selfish, then the collective group of those people is going to be tyrannical. Therefore, democracy without coming under the governance of God and His word, His will, and His ways inevitably will become tyrannical.

So where are we going now in the United States, Venezuela, or Iran? 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 broadcasts live and archived, Save America Ministries website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Welcome back to Viewpoint. Today we're taking a look at what's taking place in Iran, but at the same time, relating it to what has been taking place in Venezuela and also in New York. Because when Mr. Mamdami was elected as Mayor there over 8 million people, the largest city in America and also the city that houses the largest number of Jewish people outside of Israel, something very big was taking place.

The very first thing that Mr. Mamdami said was, first of all, I'm going to do away with all of the protections for Jewish people. All of the edicts that Eric Adams has set forth, executive orders, he cast them away, which were designed to protect the Jewish people in Israel. It was like a declaration of war, a declaration of open antisemitism against the Jewish people in New York. Well, what would you expect to happen there? Are the Jewish people going to rise up politically against Mamdami? I don't think so. But what would be their reaction? Well, the reaction would be to flee. Not to flee to Texas, not to flee to Florida, not to flee to California. But where would they flee? Israel.

Israel. In other words, they would be prepared given all the facts and circumstances to finally be willing to leave the Big Apple and the protection of what seemed to be the protection of the United States of America and go to their homeland, the land that had been prepared for them, called Eretz Israel, the land of Israel. God said that it was going to happen. He didn't say Mamdami was going to be elected, but He said He would set up circumstances throughout the world that would ultimately result in the Jewish people yearning to get back to Eretz Israel, the land of promise.

And you say, well, how is all this connected? It seems a little disjointed. I understand why you would think it seems disjointed. But here's the problem. We don't understand how God works, you see. We don't understand fully how God works, but what we do know or should know is that He works. We don't understand how He works, but we do know that He works. And what God declares is that He is going to bring the Jewish people back after 2,600 years or 2,000 years of dispersion throughout the world that had been done because of discipline for their disobedience and rebellion against His word and will.

But He's going to bring them back because He had declared to His friend Abraham that the land was going to belong to him and to his descendants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants. So God says I'm going to fulfill my part of the bargain. For two days, 2,000 years, I have dispersed you and you've experienced the pain of that dispersal, but I'm going to bring you back. Now the question is going to be up to you. I'm going to bring you back to fulfill my promise, but will you fulfill your promise to me? That's basically the situation.

So if God is doing that, which He is with regard to the Jewish people, which began back there when a million fled Russia and the Russian pogroms, God said I'm going to bring them back from the North, the South, the East, or the West. And He's doing it. And if we had an eye to see and an ear to hear, a heart to understand, we would see that God is very active in history and in our time. It's happening right in front of us.

So then the question comes up, okay, if that's what God is doing with Israel and with regard to Eretz Israel the promised land, then where do things like Venezuela and the election of a Muslim communist, aka socialist Democrat, to the mayorship of the largest city in America that professes to be a nation under God, where do all these things fit? And then what's happening in Iran or Persia?

They all work together, friends. They do, they all work together. In one sense, they're working to prepare choices for people to make. What will the Venezuelan people do if they have genuine freedom, liberty, and democracy returned to them? Will they choose the ways of the God who made them the wealthiest nation before Maduro and Chavez in South America? Are there Jewish people there that are going to be fleeing because of all of this? I don't know, I don't know how many Jewish people are in Venezuela. We're not told that it's a major gathering of Jewish people, but whoever they are, God is drawing them from all over the world to make Aliyah back to Eretz Israel.

Now with regard to Persia, there were many Jewish people in Persia, Iran. But because of the extreme Islamic Revolution, they found that Persia or Iran was no friend of grace, no friend to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so they fled. Some were killed, others fled. The same thing is happening in Syria. It's happening in Syria with regard to Jews and it's happening in Syria with regard to Christians. The same thing has been happening with regard to Christians in Venezuela and in Iran, and we'll find that Christianity is not well-pleasing to Mr. Mamdami as Mayor of New York either because he is a dedicated Islamist.

So what's happening is that pressure is building. Choices are being made and are being available to people through the pressure that is coming. What will you do? How will you respond? God gives opportunities through pressure. Many people have realized in their own lives, perhaps you are, even in this new year, that there are choices, there are situations that have arisen in your life that are requiring you to make some decisions.

Sometimes as human beings, we're not really prone to make movements to make decisions until we're under pressure. Have you noticed that? Pressure is both a painful thing, but it also is a good thing in the sense that it can drive us to make decisions that we should have made without the pressure, but were unwilling to make. Another illustration of that would be a person gets cancer and people have been praying for that person for years and years and years, and the person has been stubborn, unwilling to yield to the Holy Spirit and so on, and then all of a sudden, the person begins to realize that life isn't eternal, that their life on earth is not eternal.

And then they see, oh, maybe, maybe I should have made some decisions that I've been refusing to make because of my pride or whatever up till now. And so come a cancer diagnosis and the fact that the person isn't healed, hasn't had a respite in that, they realize their days are numbered. It's called pressure, friends. It's called pressure. Now what are you going to do? You have a choice. Are you going to continue in your stubborn ways? Are you going to continue to resist what God has said, the repentance that God has called for in your life?

Some people will say, yeah, I'm just going to continue to resist. If I haven't yielded up to now, why should I change my mind? Others will say, you know what, they'll humble themselves and they'll realize how stubborn they've been, how rebellious they've been, and they will come crying, come to the mercy seat of God and cry out to Him for forgiveness and life change. Now maybe that speaks to you right now in this new year. But I guarantee you that there are people in Venezuela and people in Persia, aka Iran, who are in very pressurized situations.

As the pressure is on, they can make choices, or are more prone to make choices. When the pressure is released, they're less prone to make those choices. And that's why the Bible says that prosperity turns people away from God, but adversity turns people toward God. Isn't that interesting? It's called pressure.

Now there is coming a time when the people of Iran, Persia, are going to be included in another pressure point. It's called the Battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38. The Bible says that Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, will be gathering together from the north a group of nations, including Persia which is Iran, including Libya, Gomer, Togarmah, and many other nations with them, who will in a propitious moment that they believe is necessary for their survival will attack Israel to take a spoil. When Israel is in relative peace, they will attack Israel to take a spoil. Well, what would that spoil be?

I shared with a pastor today over lunch, I believe that spoil is going to be oil. Shared with him how I think it's going to come about. I didn't say, "Thus saith the Lord," and I'm not saying that to you. It's my viewpoint, my opinion. But there is going to be a pressure point that's going to be applied to Israel through those nations, including Iran. We'll be back.

Chuck Crismier: Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century?

Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold, how they love one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Cell Church. We can revive first-century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click Cell Church.

Chuck Crismier: Welcome back to Viewpoint. Just as a point of interest concerning Venezuela, Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. They say 300 billion barrels of oil. 300 billion. And so China has gone to Venezuela to get their oil. Oil for what? To keep their engines going, to keep their military going, because China doesn't have any oil to speak of. Venezuela as a socialist, aka communist country, has played footsie with China and provided them with the necessary oil.

But in order to get that oil, they had to take it from America, from American companies that had gone in and invested in Venezuela. And so Donald Trump says, "Look, Maduro, Chavez, you guys that are heading up Venezuela, you have stolen American investment. We're going to take it back. We're not going to let you continue to fund all these nefarious ventures that are destructive of the way of life of God-fearing people. We're not going to let you do that anymore. We're going to come in and we're going to take it back."

That's what Donald Trump is doing. He said for a period of time, we're going to take dominion and control over Venezuela, not that we become ultimately lords over Venezuela, but until such time as Venezuela can get back on its feet with a legitimate government. And we're going to take back all of those oil and gas investments that were made by America that were captured or taken over by the communist government of Venezuela.

Now isn't it interesting in Ezekiel 38 that it says that Gog and Magog together with Persia and Libya and Gomer and Togarmah and many other nations with them will confederate and conspire together, conspiring together to attack Israel in the latter days. Now it hasn't happened yet. But it's going to happen. Why is it going to happen? God tells us: to take a spoil. What will the spoil be? I happen to believe that it's oil.

Oil is energy, it makes the world go around. It's the most valuable resource other than gold and silver today on the planet. Everybody wants it, but very few people have it. So if Israel were to suddenly gain oil, which petrogeologists are convinced is underneath the land of Israel, Eretz Israel, but they have not been able to reach it yet because they didn't know how to access it. It would be way too expensive to access it. So it hasn't happened.

Well, all the surrounding Arab nations seem to have oil, except for Turkey. Turkey is not Arab. So what if, through the tremendous earthquakes that Israel is expecting anytime, any day, massive earthquakes, tectonic shifting under the ground, I happen to believe that through that, God is going to release—you can call it divine fracking, whatever you want to call it—God is going to release the oil that has been pent up and held for this moment in time for Israel.

And when that happens and it is going to so affect the energy situation picture in the world, the economy of Russia and Iran and Venezuela and Libya and all the countries that have oil and depend, their economies are dependent upon oil and gas, are going to be so dramatically and drastically affected that those nations will confederate together to attack Israel in secret to take a spoil and take over that oil.

So we're seeing interconnections that normally would escape the eye, would not be part of the geopolitical kinds of discussions that you would find in the New York Times or on your television screens. Just wouldn't find them. But if we have a sensitivity to God's view of history, to God's view of Israel, then we can begin to gather understanding. We may not be able to pinpoint exactly the timing or exactly how things are going to happen, any more than we could have pinpointed exactly how Maduro and his wife would have been captured in such an amazing way. But it did happen.

So what's going to happen with Iran? You see, Iran is one of the largest oil-producing countries and gas in the world. But what happens if its economy based upon that is severely limited because Israel now competes economically with a vast amount of oil and gas? We've seen what would happen because Israel actually did gain that gas, going back about ten years ago, the discovery of massive gas formations off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean within 50 miles. So Israel has already developed those things and has delivered Israel from dependence upon Egypt and dependence upon other nations heretofore for gas. Now Israel has an abundance of gas that can last them for at least 70 years. Who would have ever thought it?

But how about the oil factor? Just throwing that out because it's connected with Russia and Iran and Libya and Turkey and perhaps Germany and who knows, other nations, many other nations, maybe Venezuela because of their oil. Now we go back to Iran. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to yield after US President Donald Trump threatened to come to the aid of protesters as the rights groups reported a sharp rise in arrests following days of unrest sparked by soaring inflation.

Khamenei said the Islamic Republic will not yield to the enemy and that rioters should be put in their place. So putting them in their place means shooting the rioters or the protesters with live ammunition, killing them. Khamenei addressed the protests through his official Farsi-speaking account, calling upon what he called the bazaaries among the most loyal Iranians in the country to protect him and follow him. Their merchants. He said among the loyal strata in the country to the Islamic system, as Islamic Revolution.

So he's trusting them, he's pleading with them to come alongside and support him. When a bazaar looks at the country's monetary situation, the decline in value of the national currency and the instability of the currency in foreign exchange, which makes the business environment unstable, he says, "I can't do business," and he's right. And the country's officials accept this. He says, "I know that the honorable president and other senior officials are seeking to remedy the problem."

So Khamenei is really understanding, he's trying to say, "You know, I understand why you're so upset and we've had to devalue the currency horribly so you can't get what you thought you were going to get for the money that you have, but we're here to stay," he says, "and I'm not fleeing." Well, the next report from Israel National News states this: Khamenei preparing to flee to Moscow if his forces desert. He has a secret plan to flee Tehran with close aides if Iran security forces falter as nationwide protests and economic unrest intensify.

He's prepared a secret escape plan. He's 86 years of age, intends to flee Tehran with a small circle of aides and family members if he detects desertions or refusal to follow orders. That's plan B. Former Israeli intelligence officer Ben Sabti predicted Khamenei would head to Moscow as there is no other place for him, noting that the Iranian leader admires Putin while the Iranian culture is more similar to the Russian culture.

So he is already put in a plea to Vladimir Putin. "Come help me, protect me. The people are rising up against me. You're my friend, you're my buddy, Mr. Putin, come help me." Well, that's the same thing that Maduro did. He cried out to Vladimir Putin, "Come help me, we're buddies aren't we? Socialist, communist, we're buddies, help me." But there hasn't been any help incoming because it would make the world a far more difficult place.

The pressure is increasing. Wars, rumors of wars, just as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24. Famines, in fact, people are finding it very hard to find food to eat in Iran right now. It's that bad. They have a water problem in Iran that is so severe that people were being moved out of their entire regions in order to find water. You can't live without water.

So Iran is under pressure, and pressure tends to produce results. Will they be good? Will they be bad? Will they be ugly? Something is going to happen. Will it be pleasing to God or not pleasing to God? Well, let's put it this way: God knows what is going to happen in our world. He's omniscient, He's omnipotent, He's omnipresent, and He has a plan. He lets human beings, humankind get by with their shenanigans for a period of time, and then He says, "Okay, that season is up. Now I'm going to bring about my intended goal. I'm going to bring the world to its knees. I'm going to bring the whole world to its knees," God says.

Jesus Christ ultimately is going to come again, and the Bible says that every knee shall bow. Every knee shall bow. And every tongue confess whether it be Venezuelan knees, whether it's going to be New Yorkers' knees, whether it's going to be Iranian knees, Russian knees, Ukrainian knees, or your knees. Every knee will bow. That is those who are still surviving. And every tongue will ultimately confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So when we see these things happening, wars and rumors of wars and things that you and I can't control, we need to understand that there is a God in control. And we need to rest and trust in Him. Trust in Him with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge Him and He'll bring the necessary things to pass. Trust in the Lord. That's the word that we have to have this year going forward. Do you really trust in Him or is that just a theory? Is it just a concept or is it reality in your life? That's the first thing that we ought to be desiring as Christians, all the other resolutions to the contrary. That's the most important.

Thanks for joining us here on Viewpoint. Become a partner. Send your gifts by faith, friends, as we launch into the year to keep us going here to get the message out and prepare the way of the Lord for history's final hour.

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.