This American is fighting ISIS - and there’s footage to prove it

April 09, 2015

Writer

TheBlaze obtained exclusive video of volunteer civilians taking the fight directly to ISIS. Watch as Chris Toney and his squad are pinned down by ISIS sniper fire and forced to retreat. Even more amazing than the video itself is the personal stories of regular citizens sick and tired of watching evil rise and nothing done about it. Toney talked to Glenn on radio today.

Watch Toney's video below, via TheBlaze. The full story is a must read and can be found HERE.

Below is a rush transcript of Toney's conversation with Glenn:

GLENN: And Chris Toney is on the phone with us now. He's a U.S. Navy veteran. And he's over there on his own. He's over there because he believes in the cause. We wanted to talk to him about it. Why are you there, Chris?

CHRIS: I'm there, Glenn, because ISIS is killing innocent, women, children, men, taking over villages. And, by the way, it's nice to talk to you. Thank you for having me on your show.

GLENN: You're welcome.

CHRIS: I've been a big fan of you for a long time. And years ago, you talked about principles. And you talked about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And he said, silence in the face of evil is itself evil. We will not be held guiltless before God. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. We always grow up in the American educational system starting off with the Holocaust and what the Nazis did to the Jews. And we say as people, we will never allow that to happen again. Well, it's happening. It's happening right now. There is a Holocaust occurring in the Middle East against Christians, against Yazidis, and against Muslims. And the world is sitting back and wanting to play politics. They're saying, we don't want to get involved because we've been involved in too many wars. And it doesn't sound good politically. It doesn't help someone win an election campaign. It doesn't help someone keep their elected seats. So they don't want to get involved. They want to do the bare minimum. When an atrocity like this is occurring, we can't do the bare minimum. We have to step up and put an end to it. We have a thing on our team, what do real men do when Nazis kill Jews? Do you sit back and say that's someone else's problem. Or do you wait and hope that someone else is going to do it. When that doesn't happen, do you forget about it. No, you step up and be a man and try to do the right thing and help people.

GLENN: Chris, are you just a good American warrior. Or are you led by God?

CHRIS: I'm led by God. Now, I don't mean to say that in some sort of like crazy zealous kind of meaning. I guess it's a little bit of both, Glenn. The big question is, how do you get to this? What makes you want to go? A lot of prayer is involved. And when God calls you -- I'll kind of make a joke. When God calls you to go do some work in the Nineveh plain, you better go, or he'll get you there one way or the other. And I prefer not to go the belly of the whale, you know.

GLENN: So you're going. And, you know, you're pretty much on your own, you and your friends. When I read this story and it talks about air cover, the military doesn't have to give you air cover because you're -- you're not part of the military.

CHRIS: No. We're actually there volunteered alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga. The Peshmerga is the Kurdish regional government's official army. Technically, they're outlied alongside Iraq, and they're outlied alongside the United States. So in this fight against ISIS, the Peshmerga, the Kurdish Peshmerga are some of the abrasive people I've ever met. Glenn, I hope you get the chance to visit these people sometime. They're the most Kinds, warm hearted people you'll ever meet. They're very westernized. Their cities are more developed than my own here in Kentucky. Their shopping center is better than what I have. And they're very civilized people. The world talks about, where is the moderate Muslim standing against ISIS. I said to Jason when he interviewed me. They're in Kurdistan. The majority of the Kurdish people are Muslim. But they were so welcoming to me even, though I was a Christian and talked about my Christianity. They never treated me differently. They treated me just like a brother.

GLENN: I would be more concerned about you saying you're an American after we have turned our backs on the Kurds over and over and over again.

CHRIS: No. The Kurdish people, they -- they're smart. They don't group everyone together. They are very thankful to have us Americans there. When American volunteers show up, it is a big morale booster to their troops. And they know that we, the American people, support them. They sometimes have conflicts with the American government. And they separate the two.

Part of this conflict, from what I see, Glenn, is -- you know, ISIS is a world problem. But the Kurdish people are the ones that stepped up to the plate and are actually taking on that world problem on behalf of the world. And it's like the world is not properly supporting them. The Kurdish government is very poor. When I was there, many of their troops had not received their payroll for four months. Yet, they get up day in and day out and go to the front lines every day and they fight. They're severely underweaponized with ammo and guns. The guns they have are really outdated AK47s, RPKs, Dragunovs, some without scopes. The ammo situation is extremely low. Most of the guys I was with were former U.S. Army veterans, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they're used to going out on the lines outside the wire with 400-plus rounds on them. Every Kurdish Peshmerga soldier and ourself, we only rolled with anywhere between 90 and 120 rounds on us to a frontline battle.

GLENN: Wow. Holy cow.

CHRIS: You didn't have a lot of extra ammo to engage in a blind shoot firefight with ISIS. You had to pick your shots, which was tough. Something that I noticed was fighting ISIS is a lot like fighting ghosts. Glenn, on the Kurdish Peshmerga side very much remind me of something you would see on World War I. There's a lot of open fields. That you have to cross without any cover. As the line advances, the blows are still following you. It will actually push dirt up making a reverse trench for us to use as cover. ISIS's side reminds me a touch of Vietnam in that they dig spider holes in the ground and have underground tunnels all over their defenses. So they'll pop up in one area and engage you. Then when you're engaging them, they disappear. And you don't see where they went. Basically, they go down that hole. And they're crossing the battlefield underground. Then they'll pop up somewhere else unexpectedly and engage you from your flank or even behind you in different areas. It's very dangerous. It's like fighting ghosts.

GLENN: How, well-equipped are they? And how much of their equipment is our old equipment?

CHRIS: They are very well-equipped. They obviously have a lot of ammo. The big battle that we engaged in, they had four T62 tanks that were rolling up to start pounding where we were at, so they have tanks. They are very well-trained soldiers, Glenn. That was -- that was some of the discussion that myself and the guys that I was with. The guys were telling me that these were not like fighting the insurgents that they fought in Iraq before. That they just picked up a gun and fought them.

PAT: Where are they getting the tanks, Chris?

CHRIS: I honestly don't know exactly where they got them. A lot of them were left by the Iraqi army when ISIS first started invaded. And the Iraqis dropped their weapons and left their Humvees and left these tanks and ran away. ISIS just took them over.

GLENN: You in your article said that France is actually doing a better job, and I'm seeing this every single time, France has picked up almost the position of the big dog in the world, where we used to be. And we've become France. You said in the article that France is doing a better job than the United States is.

CHRIS: Yes. Absolutely. As a matter of fact the big operation on the 18th of March that the United States was supposed to provide the air support, we had another big op two days prior on the 16th where we were liberating two people. And France was providing the air support that day. They did an amazing job. They blew up whatever tanks were in the area. They took out all the trucks that had the DShK guns on the back of them. They took out all the hardened bunkers and whatever -- if there was a group of ISIS guys clumped together, they would take them out. They leveled those villages before our advance. Which that saves a lot of lives.

And what happens is, you know, France is providing that. And we knew that. But when you get the news stories that come out here in the United States, it's always U.S.-led coalition forces did this. That's saying that the United States is getting the credit. Because it's the U.S.-led coalition. Not France.

GLENN: We're running out of time here. You're fascinating to talk to. I hope we can have you back. And I would like to join you sometime. I'm trying to get over to the Middle East this summer. And I would love to meet these people.

I want to ask you a kind of two questions. If you combine your answer into one. It is this, do you see more people coming like you -- more, you know, soldiers and former soldiers coming over and joining the fight because we're just dropping the ball and they can't sleep at night, you know, seeing this go on and somebody has to stop it, and what can the average person do to assist you?

CHRIS: Yes. A lot more men and women are going over to volunteer. They're -- it's becoming more common. I'm personally aware of at least six people. More people that have volunteered and joined the unit that I was part of over the last two weeks. And there's about five more that will be there in another week. So more people are doing this.

I would say this, Glenn, is that, there's a lot of ways to get involved. You can get involved in funding by meeting these people online. That are actually over there and making donations to help them buy the equipment --

GLENN: How do we do that?

CHRIS: There's different ones. There's not a centralized location for that, Glenn, right now. A lot of these guys, they started GoFundMe pages with their photos on there. They show the photos of them over there. If you see those, those are good guys to support.

GLENN: I tell you what, can you do me a favor? Because I don't want to be taken by a scam or something and give it to the wrong guys. Will you be willing to send me an email or get us information on maybe whose pages we can trust and which GoFundMe and we'll post it and make sure -- that way we're not giving our money to somebody we shouldn't be giving our money to.

CHRIS: I'll be happy to do that, Glenn. Number one thing for Americans to understand. And this is something I came to learn -- you know, when I watch your show, I didn't take your word for things. I read books and started studying things like you told us to do. And what I've learned is, Americans have got to stop thinking that they can't do something. We can do something. We're Americans. We're not Americannots. And we have to stop waiting for someone else to do it all the time. This next election coming up, whoever the president will be, it may make some things better. But we can't expect them to magically make something perfect. And it's the same thing with God. When we pray to God to do something, we can't expect God to do it for us. God will give us the wisdom and the intelligence and the passion and the courage and the strength to do it ourselves. And we have to step up as Americans and start doing more. If you want to go over and fight, if that's what your calling is, you can go do it and you can find a way to get there. You can find a way to support a family while you're there. You can make that happen. If you want to help support the people that are there, and I'll help you out, Glenn, and get you a list of people that you can help there.

GLENN: We will post that at GlennBeck.com by the end of the day today and post it up on my Facebook page as well. Chris, we will pray for you. We wish you all the best. Please stay in contact with us. Let us know how we can help you. God bless you.

CHRIS: Thank you, Glenn. God bless you as well.

Colorado counselor fights back after faith declared “illegal”

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

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What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

When did Americans start cheering for chaos?

MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND / Contributor | Getty Images

Every time we look away from lawlessness, we tell the next mob it can go a little further.

Chicago, Portland, and other American cities are showing us what happens when the rule of law breaks down. These cities have become openly lawless — and that’s not hyperbole.

When a governor declares she doesn’t believe federal agents about a credible threat to their lives, when Chicago orders its police not to assist federal officers, and when cartels print wanted posters offering bounties for the deaths of U.S. immigration agents, you’re looking at a country flirting with anarchy.

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics. The struggle we’re watching now is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between good and evil, right and wrong, self‑government and chaos.

Moral erosion

For generations, Americans have inherited a republic based on law, liberty, and moral responsibility. That legacy is now under assault by extremists who openly seek to collapse the system and replace it with something darker.

Antifa, well‑financed by the left, isn’t an isolated fringe any more than Occupy Wall Street was. As with Occupy, big money and global interests are quietly aligned with “anti‑establishment” radicals. The goal is disruption, not reform.

And they’ve learned how to condition us. Twenty‑five years ago, few Americans would have supported drag shows in elementary schools, biological males in women’s sports, forced vaccinations, or government partnerships with mega‑corporations to decide which businesses live or die. Few would have tolerated cartels threatening federal agents or tolerated mobs doxxing political opponents. Yet today, many shrug — or cheer.

How did we get here? What evidence convinced so many people to reverse themselves on fundamental questions of morality, liberty, and law? Those long laboring to disrupt our republic have sought to condition people to believe that the ends justify the means.

Promoting “tolerance” justifies women losing to biological men in sports. “Compassion” justifies harboring illegal immigrants, even violent criminals. Whatever deluded ideals Antifa espouses is supposed to somehow justify targeting federal agents and overturning the rule of law. Our culture has been conditioned for this moment.

The buck stops with us

That’s why the debate over using troops to restore order in American cities matters so much. I’ve never supported soldiers executing civilian law, and I still don’t. But we need to speak honestly about what the Constitution allows and why. The Posse Comitatus Act sharply limits the use of the military for domestic policing. The Insurrection Act, however, exists for rare emergencies — when federal law truly can’t be enforced by ordinary means and when mobs, cartels, or coordinated violence block the courts.

Even then, the Constitution demands limits: a public proclamation ordering offenders to disperse, transparency about the mission, a narrow scope, temporary duration, and judicial oversight.

Soldiers fight wars. Cops enforce laws. We blur that line at our peril.

But we also cannot allow intimidation of federal officers or tolerate local officials who openly obstruct federal enforcement. Both extremes — lawlessness on one side and militarization on the other — endanger the republic.

The only way out is the Constitution itself. Protect civil liberty. Enforce the rule of law. Demand transparency. Reject the temptation to justify any tactic because “our side” is winning. We’ve already seen how fear after 9/11 led to the Patriot Act and years of surveillance.

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor | Getty Images

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic. The left cannot be allowed to shut down enforcement, and the right cannot be allowed to abandon constitutional restraint.

The real threat to the republic isn’t just the mobs or the cartels. It’s us — citizens who stop caring about truth and constitutional limits. Anything can be justified when fear takes over. Everything collapses when enough people decide “the ends justify the means.”

We must choose differently. Uphold the rule of law. Guard civil liberties. And remember that the only way to preserve a government of, by, and for the people is to act like the people still want it.