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: The Bible tells us that hope makes not ashamed. So why is it that we have so many ashamed Christians today, or Christians that are not walking in true biblical hope? They're despairing, they're fearing, they're fretting and losing the battle, losing the battle that we should be winning if we're truly overcomers. We should be winning the battle, but we're not. So many are not. And so today on Viewpoint, we're going to talk about this matter of hope, persevering in hope. And without the promise of hope, we're just not going to prepare for what's ahead.

That's the unfortunate reality that pervades the fleshly nature of all people, including professing Christians and especially probably Americans in the Western world. Therefore, we cannot lose sight of hope, which is the light at the end of the tunnel. So what is the light at the end of the tunnel? See, our persistent problem in this country is that we're largely circumscribed by our earthly viewpoints. To rest our hope on our prevailing circumstances, for instance, or on who's occupying the White House or on what the condition of the economy is and so on, and then pursuing our best life now—a theme that has hovered over American life both secularly and spiritually since the turn of the seventh millennium. It's become a metaphor for the locus and focus of our hope.

Whether it was Oprah Winfrey or whether it was Pastor Smiley Face down there in Houston, both of them wrote their books, *Your Best Life Now*. But is that what God has in mind for us? There's nothing wrong with wanting to live your best life as you can here on terra firma. God's not against that, but that's not our hope. That's not our hope. But it has become a metaphor for the focus of our hope. Reality unfortunately is striking at such confidence and raising the head of horror to smash much of our earthly-based hope.

In fact, that hope defrauds us of a genuine and eternal hope, ultimately leaving us ashamed and devoid of biblical hope that enables us to persevere in times of peril and persecution. So, it's like what the Apostle Paul said, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." He understood that very well. So perhaps, if we think about it, much of our increasing misery, anxiety, and even despair—not only through the secular world but also to define much of the life of professing Christians—is that we have in significant measure misplaced hope. It's left us weak, disillusioned, and unable to truly stand by faith amid rising fear that torments us.

So, today on Viewpoint, we're going to take a look at some of the circumstances that surreptitiously eat away our sustaining hope and assure you that hope lies ahead. So welcome to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. It's conversation, as always, with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms. Now it's been said that the only thing we learn from history is we don't learn from history. We hear it all the time, right?

But as if that were not a sufficient warning, we're further advised that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So why is it that we're so doomed to repeat it? It's because human nature is such that it deceives us. We're deceived by the flesh, by the world, and by the devil. So that's one of the reasons why it was necessary to write the book, *The Power to Overcome*. If you don't have the book, you need to get it. People are buying it repeatedly now, *The Power to Overcome*.

In fact, I just got off an hour's interview in Dallas, Texas, that covers over 200 stations dealing with *The Power to Overcome*. It's a big deal. A really big deal. Bigger than you might imagine. So if you don't have the book, get a copy of the book. It's on our website saveus.org. Give us a call 1-800-SAVE-USA. Write to us at Save America Ministries, P.O. Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255, or write a check at $6.00 for postage and handling.

So, when we look at this matter of hope, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Yet we understand we just don't learn from history. That's the history of humanity. So but it shouldn't be that way for followers of Yeshua, Jesus, in our generation here on the near edge of the Second Coming. No. So whether historical record prevails for you or for me or for all who profess Jesus as Savior is going to depend upon the genuineness, notice the genuineness, of our alleged faith.

Our true love for the Lord, the preparation of our hearts and minds to, as Jesus said, endure to the end so as to be partakers of the eternal hope that lies beyond temporal suffering in this world. So here's the question that kind of hovers over our program today. What is the current level of your spiritual preparation? Are you just entering boot camp, or have you truly progressed to being a fully-equipped saint for the battles that lie ahead? Are you going to go AWOL? Will you continue amid persecution to press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?

Interesting questions that hover over our conversation today. So, again, you're listening to Viewpoint. Viewpoint does determine destiny, and our viewpoints are not neutral. Our viewpoints concerning these issues are not neutral. One of the things that I find is necessary, and what I found interesting as I responded to the various questions that were presented to me today for an hour's interview concerning the book *The Power to Overcome* out of Dallas, Texas, there, was how probing they were to allow me to really speak into the real issues about overcoming. What is our problem? Why is it we're so easily overcome? Why are we so easily deceived? Why are we so easily seduced?

And listen, if persecution comes to America like it's happening in China or Iran or other countries, what are you going to do? Where's your hope? You see, we have to answer those questions now before it comes, otherwise we'll be unprepared. It's not that we want to walk in all kinds of bad thoughts and think about terrible dangerous circumstances coming upon us and dwell on them. It's not about dwelling on them. It's a matter of preparing. It's about thinking significantly about where our true trust really lies.

Do we really have genuine biblical hope? Do we? Is it just a matter of confession, or is it a matter of something more than just a confession? Do you see the majority of the people who make a confession of faith aren't going to follow the faith when the pressure comes? They're just not. They're going to fall away, especially when persecution comes. That's the ultimate pressure. So let history be our friend, realizing that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history, and those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So we don't want that to happen. We want to walk in hope. We want to press on, persist in hope. That's what we want to do for the balance of the program here today. Stay tuned. You're listening to Viewpoint.

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: You may remember from your studies in college or high school that the famed Alexander Pope wrote an essay called *An Essay on Man*. And in that essay he said, "Hope springs eternal in the human breast." You probably recognize that you just didn't know where it came from. Hope springs eternal in the human breast. But hope has to have an anchor. There has to be a solid foundation for that hope, otherwise it is just a feeling.

The Christian hope is not a feeling; it's based on faith. It's based on truth. It's not based on something like what Joe Biden once said, "We believe in truth, not facts." No, our hope as Christians is based on facts that are the foundation of our faith. And if those are not solidified deeply in our minds and our hearts, then we are not going to be anchored. So the soul of man, you and me, yearns for an anchor.

We cry desperately with internal tears and maybe a passionate voice for that which we can truly trust to provide hope amid the usual or even seemingly surpassing trials and tribulations that assault our deep desire for peace and security. We have those, right? So many in desperation for that hope that perpetually seems to elude are forsaking biblical hope as an eternal illusion, resulting in what you might call self-martyrdom to the hope that has been so long betrayed.

I'm thinking right now of a young lady who purportedly, after a life of promiscuity, decided to come back to the Lord and started going to church and seemed to be repentant and wanted to commit her life to Christ. So then she prayed. And she wanted God to do something for her. And within six weeks, it didn't happen. So she said to herself, "God is not real, therefore I'm not going to follow Him anymore." Now what kind of hope is that? Is that biblical hope? No, that's not biblical hope. That's human hope. That's human hope based upon feelings. It's not based upon faith because faith requires a long obedience and endurance in the same direction. You don't give up. You press on.

We used to sing a song, "We have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll, anchored to the rock that cannot move, anchored firm and deep in the Savior's love." Very few people have that sense of anchor today. Very few people. Because their faith is based on feelings, and feelings are fickle. You can't rely upon them. They change from day to day, from minute to minute sometimes. And certain biological conditions in your body, chemical things, can cause your feelings to change even more dramatically. Just ask a lot of ladies out there.

So welcome you might say to the new world of perilous times of which all humanity has been forewarned by our Creator through both Jesus and His apostles. So the catalog of hope-breakers given by the Apostle Paul is both profoundly descriptive but also prescriptive of these extraordinary times. So we are to walk in the glory of God, truly walking in the hope of the gospel because without the hope of the gospel, we are going to be overtaken by the times that try men's souls. We just are. Many Christians are looking for a false hope that lies ahead.

You know, we used to sing another song, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground, all of my feelings, all of the culture's ideas, all of the other things that people tell us about, all of the psychologists tell us about, all other ground is sinking sand." Do we really believe that, or is it just a theory? Is it just a theory?

So there is genuine hope. Our hope must be built. The foundation of that hope is Jesus' blood that when received gives us righteousness by which we must thereafter live in righteousness. We can't allow our trust to be swayed to promising alternatives, and we must wholly and entirely without reservation lean on the name of Jesus and no other name, however popular or powerful. Alright. That having been said, I want to share with you the most recent information that has come to me just in the last day. These are three articles that have come to me concerning persecution.

The one begins, "Detained Chinese pastor says prosecutor used his children in an attempt to force confession." The pastor detained in China amid a crackdown on his unregistered congregation—in other words, he refused to be part of the three-self patriotic church movement that is controlled by China that prevents you from teaching the fullness of the gospel and you have to lift up Xi Jinping and his image before all of the people. He said, "No, I'm not going to be part of that." So they're cracking down on the unregistered congregations.

So the prosecutor invoked his young children in an attempt to press him into a confession. He made the claim in a letter that he sent while in detention, according to the US-based advocacy group China Aid, which tracks religious persecution in China. He wrote that a prosecutor in Beihai, a city in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, warned him to think about his children while pursuing a confession. The prosecutor said, "Your children are still very young. You need to consider them." Lou said the remark left him deeply pained since he wants to see his children grow up.

So the charges he's facing were designed to intimidate the house church movement nationwide, discouraging future pastors and pressuring detainees to give up under threat of prosecution. So what would you do? Under Chinese law, using family members as leverage to obtain a confession would violate rules governing lawful evidence collection. But they do it anyway. They do it in the United States, friends. Yes, they do. I have watched it happen in America's courts.

For instance, they'll take your child because somebody contends that you're teaching about Jesus and they take you to the children's protective services and you start the investigation and then the court takes you and the accusations come that you're treating the children to the doctrines of Jesus Christ and Christianity and somebody in CPS doesn't like it and they're out to get Christians and so you become threatened. If you continue in teaching your children this way, your children will be taken away from you or taken and given to a spouse through a divorce case.

I have watched this happen, friends, over and over again. I remember one of the most famous cases that I handled shortly before leaving the practice of law in Los Angeles. It involved a divorce situation where the father of the children did not like the fact that the mother was teaching the children about Jesus. Did not like them taken to church. And so he brought the case saying that he was not in favor of the children being indoctrinated with the Christian faith. So he wanted full custody.

So the case was presented to the judge, who happened to be the supervising judge of the family law court in the largest family law court of the nation, Los Angeles Superior Court. I happened to know that judge quite well. And I prepared this case thoroughly with all kinds of points and authorities and so on, knowing full well what we were facing. We were facing the law offices of Gloria Allred, who despises the Christian faith and is a radical liberal lawyer. Famous radical liberal lawyer.

So the case was presented, and the judge finally in frustration and anger said, "We are not going to use this court to control somebody's spiritual direction," and he dismissed the case. That was a wonderful result. But many judges are not like that. So children are being used—yes, even in the United States of America—to persecute parents for teaching their children. In Britain, kids have been taken away from their kids. In Germany, kids have been taken away from their parents because they were teaching the Christian faith.

Those countries do not like people teaching the Christian faith. They are very anti-Christian even though they come from so-called Christian Europe. This is the progression of persecution, friends. Now you can call that persecution under color of law or lawfare, and that's generally the way it happens in America and in the Western world. But it's very real. It's very real for dozens and dozens, hundreds of families who are having this happen to them not only in America, but in Germany, in Norway, in Sweden, in the UK, in France. It's happening everywhere.

What would you do? What would you do if you understood that to teach your children about Christ and to take them to church regularly would imperil you and your ability to have custody of your kids? What would you do? What are you doing already? Some of you may already be facing that. Given the tenor of our culture and child protective services' ideas that are radically liberal across the country through ungodly sociologists, I'm telling you this is the way things are happening.

What would you do? Are you prepared? Do you truly have hope and on what is your hope based? How strongly are you able and willing to stand in the evil day when everything else is falling apart? You see, that's why I wrote the book *When Persecution Comes: Preparing Hearts for Perilous Times*. Because if we're not prepared in our hearts ahead of time, we're going to fall apart. That's what's going to happen. Jesus warned about that.

He said, "But he that endures to the end shall be saved." In other words, he that is faithful and perseveres to the end shall be saved. That's where the eternal hope lies. It doesn't lie in making a confession 30 years ago. It lies in persevering to the end. Now you may think that, well, that's not what my pastor teaches. Well, then your pastor isn't teaching the whole Word of God. I'm just sorry. It's just the truth.

Even the Apostle Paul said there's going to be a great falling away. The farther we get into these end times, there's going to be a great falling away. Why? Because people are going to feel threatened. They're not going to persevere to the end. They will not endure to the end. They will not be overcomers, but they will be overcome. So you see, the book *The Power to Overcome* is almost like a corollary to the book *When Persecution Comes: Preparing Hearts for Perilous Times*. Okay, now what do we do?

Now, I urge you to get a copy if you don't already have a copy of the book *When Persecution Comes*. You need to get it for yourself, your family, those you love. Pastor, you need to get a copy for yourself so that you can allow the Holy Spirit to dig a little bit more, shall we say, deeply into your own mind and heart concerning what it means to prepare the flock that God put under your care. Because you see, God says clearly that there's going to be a greater judgment on people who purport to be teachers of the Word than those who are not.

This is a tremendous responsibility that we have. I take it very seriously. I took my cases as a lawyer very seriously. People knew that I came to the court tremendously prepared. I remember a judge. I went into his court for a criminal case that I didn't normally handle and was so prepared and after a six-day trial, he said, "Mr. Crismier, you are always welcome in this court." Now why did he say that? Because of complete preparation. You're always welcome in this court. So why would we not be prepared today? Are we going to be welcome in God's court? The court of heaven? Now there are a couple of other documents, issues, that I want to present to you as we move forward here on Viewpoint. We'll be right back.

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 broadcasts live and archived, Save America Ministries' website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: There are many authors and voices of false hope out there. We hear an awful lot in the political world about Democratic Socialists. Democratic Socialists. Well, what is a Democratic Socialist? A Democratic Socialist is one who promises false hope. It has no basis in reality. It has a basis only in feelings and a false hope. Democratic Socialism fails because it's a false hope.

Communism fails because it's the end result of Democratic Socialism that is also a false hope. It substitutes these political ideas—are substitutes for the biblical foundations that precede them, such as set forth in the book of Acts, that have to do with trusting God, not trusting government. Government then becomes an alternative to God. So why then would Christians, including Christian young people, be adopting Democratic Socialism?

It's because they have a false hope, friends. They don't truly trust God. They trust government. They trust man. They don't trust God. And a false hope lies directly ahead. It's being announced in profound pronouncements throughout the whole world by presidents and prime ministers, corporate presidents, even priests, pastors, and popes. It's just happening. The whole idea of a New World Order, a utopian fulfillment of the eternal hopes of mankind from the God-defied Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 to the resurrected Roman Empire or Pax Romana to precede the Second Coming of the Prince of Peace. It's all happening right now.

So we should expect that this unique moment of prophetic history will present an alternative hope. An alternative security, an alternative faith, alternative promises of prosperity and purpose, all to be as it were incarnated in the serpent's chosen human emissary, ultimately a counterfeit Christ. Not God, yet gloriously human prince of peace. The very definition of orthodox Jews' anticipated messiah: the Antichrist. That's what's happening.

Tikvah Israel, the term Tikvah Israel means the hope of Israel. That hope resides in the expectation of a messiah who would restore Israel, the Jewish people, to the fullness of biblically defined prophetic promises and purposes. Therefore to restore the world for God's glory, called Tikkun Olam, the restoration or repair of the world. So the Jewish anticipation of that messianic moment in history will then bring what is called global Shalom, that is world justice, security, and prosperity.

It's a false trust. It's a false hope. Having rejected the hope of Israel, that is Yeshua the Messiah, they have substituted a false hope. And yet are crying since the late 1970s, "We want Moshiach now," that is "Messiah now." This is the spirit of our age, friends. You can call it the anti-gospel, global governance. Not a conspiracy theory but a confrontive truth. The gospel of global governance and the unification of the world is secularly described as globalism. It's a spiritual belief system that rejects God and puts trust in man and one ultimate man, the Antichrist, who will rule the final beast empire as an alternative to God's rule in creation. It's just the simple the way it is.

So there's an unbelief of false hope. Nature abhors a vacuum. When our general trust in God and His Word wanes, Satan is quick to interject an alternative. That's a shift of our focus from true authentic faith to a fleshly counterfeit. Israel and the West or the Western Gentile church suffer from acute spiritual anemia right now. We're wide open for Satan's final spiritual deception designed to entrap both Jew and Gentile in its final manifestation, soon to be revealed for those who have an eye to see.

So there's a tremendous lure in a false hope. Now, before we go any further, again, I want to make available to you the book *When Persecution Comes: Preparing Hearts for Perilous Times*. And you're going to see why when we get into these two additional articles, why this is so critically important. It's a $25.00 book, yours for $22.00 on the website saveus.org. saveus.org. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA, that's 1-800-SAVE-USA. Write to us at Save America Ministries, P.O. Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255. Write a check at $6.00 for postage and handling. *When Persecution Comes: Preparing Hearts for Perilous Times*. Okay.

Now, today, a pastor and six others from the Jerusalem of China disappeared after a police raid. The police in Wenzhou, the Chinese city sometimes called China's Jerusalem, raided a house church and took its founding pastor, David Tang, into custody along with six colleagues, all of whom have since vanished. Now what do you think that means, vanished? Do you think that means that they're subject to law and genuine being faced with the charges against them and genuine conviction? No. It's already determined. Because Beijing is forcing the closure of Protestant congregations that are not part of the three-self patriotic movement.

All house churches are being forced closed. And so then these congregations have to gather discreetly. In other words, they can't gather publicly; they have to find ways to gather otherwise. People with knowledge of the situation were quoted as saying that officials had tightened controls on information about the episode and blocked posts about it online. And word only reached the public two days later when an account called "Day of Prayer and Fasting for Persecuted Churches in China" was posted on X.

One called the case an incommunicado detention that has cut off Tang, Pastor Tang, and the others from any word on their location or legal status. Calling enforced disappearance, they pressed Beijing to disclose the group's location, granting them access to lawyers and relatives, and free them unless it can be produced solid evidence of a crime. Hasn't happened. China has no intention of giving them proper legal process.

Other clergy in the area have faced similar treatment. Pastor Huang Xi of Pingyang County has been taken into custody. Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, who leads the local Catholic diocese, has lived under restrictions for years. And another, a state-recognized priest, was imprisoned on a business-related charge until his release in July. Rights advocates say the disappearance fits the Chinese Communist Party's trend of using criminal or bureaucratic tools against religious leaders instead of invoking faith directly, citing numerous cases built on claims of fraud or other financial or online wrongdoing.

That's happening in the United States, friends. That's why we call it lawfare. On December 14, 2025, more than a thousand police officers in China descended on a congregation in one night, questioning hundreds and arresting upwards of 20 after they objected to the flag's placement inside—that is, the Chinese flag's placement inside the building. Demolition crews began tearing down the church the following January and finished it in May.

Missionaries brought Protestant Christianity to Wenzhou, a port city on China's southeast coast, which has been referred to as the Chinese Jerusalem, in the 1800s, and believers now make up an estimated 10% of its residents—a legacy that has not spared it from Beijing's tightening grip on independent congregations. So this is a growing problem. It's a seriously growing problem. Church members endure surveillance cameras, monitor sit-ins on sermons, and believers among civil servants risk discipline, demotion, or dismissal.

Persecution of Christians worldwide, according to Open Doors ministry, says the faith is treated as a threat by the CCP, leaving believers under close watch and tight controls. Anyone younger than 18 is barred from attending church, and new Christians in regions with Muslim or Buddhist majorities can face threats or violence from their own families and communities on top of what's happening through the Chinese government.

In other words, the persecution against Christians is growing dramatically. And it's not just in China, friends. It's in the UK. It's in France. It's in Germany. It's in the Scandinavian countries, all of which purport to be democratic countries. But they do not like the Christian faith because it's not democratic in and of itself. You freely choose who you will worship and who you will serve. That is free. But they do not like the fact that you either follow the Lord and submit to His Word, His will, and His ways, or you don't. And if you don't, there are consequences, and that they refuse to abide.

So the opposite forces say you must abide by our viewpoints. You must abide by our anti-Christian viewpoints because we're not going to allow you to impose your Christian viewpoints on us, so therefore they impose theirs on Christians. It's as simple as that. It's happening in this country. Just watch it. It's everywhere. This is part of the culture wars, friends. But the bottom line of it all is not culture war-ish; it's spiritual war.

And it's exactly what Jesus said was going to happen. When He said, "But he that endures to the end shall be saved," He wasn't kidding. He wasn't kidding. He wasn't kidding. Get a copy of the book *When Persecution Comes: Preparing Hearts for Perilous Times*. How to prepare your family, what to do, fathers what can you do, pastors what can you do, what should we do? We'll be right back.

Guest (Male): 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: Churches continue to grow in the face of persecution across the globe. That's the next report. Just took place. Just came out on, well, July 20. Christian congregations are expanding in some of the world's most hostile countries, even as an estimated 380 million believers face persecution every year for their faith. That's according to a report from the US-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.

So the interesting thing is that this report found that the church is adding members in places where worship can bring arrest, imprisonment, or death, pointing to underground and digital networks that let believers gather outside the reach of the state. Despite mounting repression, Christianity continues to grow in unexpected places. For instance, Iran is the most extreme case. According to the report, which calls the country's house church movement among the quickest to expand anywhere, sustained by hidden networks and online evangelism, even as converts from Islam are arrested, jailed, and in some cases executed under blasphemy and national security statutes.

Now please be aware that Iran just last month executed over 50 people. There's no country in the world that does this. Nothing like this. They don't care. Human life is relatively irrelevant in Iran. The only thing that matters to the Iranian leadership is whether fundamentalist Islam rules the world. Their lives even don't matter. As far as they're concerned, if they're martyred for protecting and preserving Sharia law, they've achieved the ultimate. It's a completely different viewpoint than the Western world understands and believes. Completely different viewpoint than apparently our leaders including our president understands.

He thinks that he can just put economic pressure on Iran. They don't care about economic pressure because it only affects the little guys. It only affects the middle class. It doesn't affect the big guys that are leading it. I hope you understand what we're saying here. So it's an absolute fundamentalist religious system that is a combination of civil government and religion. The ultimate uniting of church and state. Sharia law must prevail. And they're willing to sacrifice everything. Their people, their wealth, anything, everything, in order to allow Allah to achieve the domination.

Now, in the midst of all of that, how is it that we can see such a growing underground church? How can we see house churches multiplying? Friends, here's the deal. History tells us that when persecution arises, it accomplishes two things. One, it suppresses those who are not true believers and oppresses them, but as to those who are true believers, it empowers them. And they are empowered to follow through and demonstrate their faith in ways that otherwise they never would.

In other words, the pressure or the tribulation actually causes them to stand in the evil day and stand having the loins girt about with faith and truth. That's what's happening. The same thing has happened to China. Some say there are 100,000 people in house churches in China. We don't know exactly because they're hidden. But there are those churches. And in order for them to gather, guess what they have to do? They go out in the dark of night and they find clandestine ways to gather so that they can't be identified. That's what they do. And that's what they're doing in Iran.

Anonymous reports rank Iran's Christian population as one of the fastest-growing Christian populations in the world. Though still a tiny part of the population, Iranian Christians are proving resilient to the government pressure that surrounds them every single day. In China, believers gather in private residences and through encrypted online meetings, even under constant state monitoring. But such expansion is happening alongside a rise in religious nationalism, a leading force behind shrinking freedom of belief.

The same problems are happening in India. In 2025, July, a group counted more than 1,100 Christians in India driven from their homes and 276 recorded cases of physical or mental abuse. Yet amid repression, faith continues to grow. Reports from underground networks in India and Pakistan indicate steady increases in conversions and discipleship. Believers gather in private homes, remote villages, and online fellowships.

Their quiet courage affirms that the flame of faith cannot be extinguished even in the crucible of persecution. Even in North Korea, small underground church networks operate in total darkness. But they continue to hold services, conduct radio broadcasts, and smuggle in materials. Yet North Korea remains among the hardest persecutors of Christians and religious life in the world. Zero tolerance against any belief system outside state ideology.

So Christianity is seen not as a faith but as a dangerous and external subversion. Nevertheless, the clandestine church persists. Now this is the nature of what Jesus was talking about when persecution comes. He said, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Don't you think that you're going to be different than your Lord." In Nigeria, 500 Christians were killed in nearly 500 attacks on churches in the year ending in July 2025. Nigeria is number three in terms of Christian persecution. Some of the most horrific events of persecution and execution are happening in Nigeria. Burn churches, and the people keep worshipping even as their cries descend into flames.

Now, in a couple of weeks, we're going to be joined by an Iranian woman. I just solidified this arrangement today. She has started a unique digital kind of input effort to disciple Iranian Christians. And she's going to join us here on this program. I'm very excited looking into that. She's agreed. She's become quite well known here in the States for what she is doing. She's an Iranian, and when an Iranian has the courage to do what she is doing, it's a very, very important thing that we should recognize.

So the persecution actually is bringing about greater strength, greater courage, greater willingness to stand, greater faith, greater standing in the evil day so to speak, putting on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day, having done all to stand. So those are good things. It's not just about bad things; it's about good things. And the Bible tells us that tribulation is going to bring about this final kind of expression of genuine faith.

Tribulation. That's pressure, friends. So the hope lies ahead. Amid the suffering and persecution, the true hope of our calling is confirmed—not in anxiety, but in rejoicing. Hope is on the horizon. Yet true hope in Jesus as Savior and Lord must reside presently with total conviction and unswerving expectation in our hearts. The very depth of our hearts. It has to be woven through the membranes of our minds.

And that's the hope that is the anchor that keeps our soul steadfast and sure while the billows of persecution threaten to swamp our spirits. And they will. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, we're reminded, the evidence of things not seen. Faith secures our hope both in eternal salvation and in the Second Coming of Jesus, who will come as King of kings and Lord of lords.

True hope is secured by faith, and we should not be ashamed of such ultimate hope. And that's why the Bible says that the true gospel, if we're truly believers in the gospel, we shall not be ashamed. Rather true faith is defined biblically as active belief such that it defines and governs every aspect of our being, including the breadth of our very thoughts and behaviors. Such faith breeds and sustains unwavering hope in the promises given by the King of kings, the Lord of our souls, both to us and to the patriarchs of the faith that have gone before us.

The just shall live by faith. Not by feelings, but by faith. We're only justified by faith, but we must also live by faith. And that reality is often overlooked or brushed aside, thus compromising our fullness of hope. So it reminds me of a song, "My Hope is Built." Here's what the words say, "When He shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand."

Better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in man or government. Better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in princes or our feelings. Thanks for joining us, friends. I hope this has been helpful, encouraging. It's like a coach before the great game that's going to determine the destiny of the team. Coming before the team and saying, "Hey guys, this is it. It's time to get ready. It's time to be prepared. Stop messing around. Let's get with it."

That's why there are some people that call me Coach Crismier. I was a coach for five years before I practiced law, and it's still a little bit in my blood as is the lawyer business still a little bit in my blood and fathering is in my blood, husbanding is in my blood. In fact all of these things you see, we're called to be all of these things in times like these. In times like these we need a Savior. In times like these we need an anchor. Be very sure, friend, be very sure that your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.

Get a copy of the book *When Persecution Comes: Preparing Hearts for Perilous Times*. The $25.00 book, $22.00 on our website saveus.org. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA. If you don't have the book *The Power to Overcome*, that's a $25.00 book, get a copy of that as well. If you do and get both *When Persecution Comes* and that book, it'll only be $6.00 postage and handling plus $2.00 for the second book. In other words, you'll save $4.00 that way. Alright.

Again, I'm so grateful that you have joined us here. We're confronting the deepest issues of America's heart and home, not from the Republican party's perspective or the Democratic party's perspective, but from God's perspective. That's why Viewpoint determines destiny. It really does. So again, become a partner, friends. Become a partner. Yes, in prayer, but also financially because as you know, you can't live, you can't conduct life without finances, right? You just can't. You have to have them.

Likewise a ministry like this cannot conduct itself, cannot pay for the airtime, cannot pay for any of the other things that make the program available to you without your loving generosity. You see, we trust God, and He trusts you. We don't trust you, we trust God. And He trusts you. So can He trust you? Just asking. You might want to consider whether or not you should become a partner. I hope you'll do that. You can go to the website saveus.org, you can call us at 1-800-SAVE-USA, you can write to us. I hope you'll do those things. I believe that God will bless you. He's promised to bless those that give freely, but we're not going to make promises, only He makes such promises. God bless and be a blessing.

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.