More unspeakable horrors from ISIS

September 01, 2015

WRITER

On radio Tuesday, Glenn told listeners about a nightmarish video recently released by ISIS purportedly showing a horrific killing where the victims were burned alive while hanging from a swing set.

"Meanwhile, our churches, for the most part, remain silent," Glenn said. "Evil makes itself so overwhelming that you just think you can't do anything about it."

In reality, there is so much we can and should do, Glenn said.

"We can save 2,000 people or more by Christmas," Glenn said. "And that's only if 400 churches get involved. 400 churches that say, 'hey, I will take a family.' Now, it's $25,000 to get those families here."

Donations to the Nazerene Fund at Mercury One will be used to save these lives.

Warning: Parts of the following audio clip might be disturbing to some listeners.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.

GLENN: ISIS has burned to death four Iraqi men by chaining them upside down on a swing set.

They took the chains off the swing set and took the men, put them in an orange jumpsuit, changed their arms and legs together behind, and then took the chain of the swing set and hung them there so their face and their knees were pointed towards the ground.

Then they soaked the men's clothing and their hair in gasoline. And then they took the gasoline and made a long line, a fuse, if you will, out to where their cameras were. One of the men took a torch and lit the fuse.

Before they were chained up, they had to introduce themselves to the camera, giving their names and brief description in their role in fighting against ISIS.

Underneath them, when they had been changed up, the line of fuel had been poured and slight patches of straw it been added to prepare the flames. And the video shows the slow motion footage as the fire begins to burn up the line of fuel, heading rapidly towards the men. Final few seconds of footage are too graphic to even describe. But the men are seen burning to death.

Prior to death, the prisoners are made to watch several videos showing the mutilation of bodies of the dead ISIS fighters by members of the Iraqi army and the Iranian militias.

Meanwhile, the rape rooms continue. In warehouses all across Syria, they have taken thousands of children, children as young as one to nine years old. Those are the ones that get the most money at the auction block. The one, two, three, 5-year-olds. And they can be used for rape. They can be used for slave labor. But a lot of them they keep in the warehouses. It's where they keep the Yazidi women. The Yazidi children. The Christian children. The Christians. The Muslims who are just not Muslim enough are generally killed. The Christians are used for sport.

The New York Times reports today, the Middle East, that they have photos now. There was a day of conflicting reports about the extent of what ISIS was doing. They finally got down to the bottom of it. It looks like the main building of the Temple of Baal has been destroyed now. They were all upset. They took satellite images and compared the old, ancient 2000-year-old temple. And they wanted to make sure that it was -- what the extent of damage was done to that. So that's on the New York Times' front page today because they care about the artifacts.

Meanwhile, our churches, for the most part, remain silent. America remains silent, repeating the exact mistakes we made with the Jews in the 1930s, turning our head, denying to ourselves that it's really that bad, denying that we could do anything about it. See, as I pointed out in my speech on Saturday at Restoring Unity, that's how evil works. Evil makes itself so overwhelming that you just think you can't do anything about it.

And so while we care deeply, we think we can't do anything about it, so we do nothing. And that's how evil works. Until people like Johnnie Moore get on an airplane and just leave their job. One day they just leave their job and they go and buy a ticket to Iraq and they just go and see what's going on. How can I help? To have them come back and tell the stories to us. And we think we can't do anything about it.

Do you not go to church every Sunday? If you go to church every Sunday, is your pastor talking about it? And if your pastor's not talking about it, why isn't your pastor talking about it? Why isn't your pastor and your church raising the funds right now to be able to evacuate some of these families?

We can save 2,000 people or more by Christmas. 2,000 people. Just so, you know, that's 800 more people than Schindler and his list saved. We can save 2,000 souls. And that's only if 400 churches get involved. 400 churches that is, hey, I will take a family. Now, it's $25,000 to get those families here. We'll break all those families down for you by the end of the week so you know exactly where the money is going, how it's being used. But did you see what Iceland is doing? Because Iceland is only a country of 300,000 people. 300,000 people in the entire country.

But one woman got on Facebook. She's a prominent author in Iceland. And she couldn't take it. And so she went on Facebook and she launched a campaign after the government said we'll take 60 refugees. We'll take 60. She thought, that's not enough.

So she went on Facebook and she said, who else will take some? Who will volunteer as a family to take a family in? I'm asking you, which churches -- will your church volunteer to take a family in? In the space of 24 hours, 10,000 Icelanders offered up their homes and urged their government to do more.

People wrote in, I'm a single mother with a 6-year-old son, I can take a child in need. I'm a teacher, I'll teach a child to speak, read, write. Adjust to our society. Another one wrote, I have clothes, a bed, toys, everything children would need. I'll pay for the airline ticket even to get them here.

Out of a country of 300,000 people, 10,000 people in 24 hours said, I'll offer up my home. I'll offer up my money. I'm asking you to do the same thing today. I'm going to post in a few minutes just a quick note that just says, what churches will take a family? What people will take one person? Will you offer up your home? See, when I started telling you that we are going to repeat the 1930s, everybody thought I was nuts. When I said, we're going to have to be a people that will hide or take people. Are you -- are you willing to be one of the righteous among the nations?

I thought this would happen with the Jews. I didn't think it would happen with the Christians. I thought it would happen with the Jews. But it's happening with the Christians. So now, what are we going to do? I ask you again what I asked you six, seven, eight, ten years ago. When the world goes mad and the world is crucifying people, when they're building houses of horror and concentrate camps -- I mean, what's the difference between the concentrate camp at Auschwitz and the one barrack in Auschwitz that held female prisoners that were used as prostitutes, used as pleasure receptacles, forced to have sex -- what's the difference between that and the 8-year-old girl that just escaped ISIS, who has testified that she was raped up to ten times a day every single day? What is her life like? What's the difference?

There is none. We said never again. Well, never again is now. I have a goal of raising $10 million by Christmas. That's a huge goal. I don't know if we can even make that. That's the largest amount of money we've ever asked to raise, by far. By far.

Maybe we can only make 5 million. I don't know. We've already raised 3 million. And not from big donors. Big checks. The average check is $100. It's the average listener. But it's the average listener that wants their name in the book of life. They want their name. This is the time that giants are born. And you're either going to sit on the sidelines. And not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. You're going to sit on the sidelines, and your name is going to be written in the book of death. Or you'll find a way -- if you have no money, can you house somebody? Can your neighborhood house somebody? Can your church house a family? Can you help spread the word? Can you help just as a prayer warrior? What is it that you can do? Because everybody has something.

You don't have to be the one out front leading. You don't have to be the one with all the money. The greatest donation we've ever received at any time was right before Restoring Honor in Washington, DC. Somebody sent in -- a man sent in 8 cents. He said that at the end of the month, that's all he had. But he took and he cashed those eight pennies. And he said, I just want to do my part. And I'm sorry. That's all I can do. That happened the week before Restoring Honor, where we were behind and we were in debt. We didn't know how we were -- and the government was telling us we needed extra security. Another $500,000 in extra security. We didn't know how we were going to be able to raise it. I thought we were going to have to call off Restoring Honor. We were a week away.

It was a Saturday that I got that note. On Monday, I had to go on the air and say, we might have to cancel this because we don't have enough money and the government is asking us more. Instead, I went on, and I put those 5 cents or 8 cents down on the table. Jeffy, will you go get them? They're right over there in that corner. They're next to the horns.

STU: Usually not a good idea to trust Jeffy with loose money.

GLENN: I know. Off in the corner, Jeffy. In the last row. It's a little picture with 8 cents in it. See it? Down towards the bottom. It may have been moved.

STU: Jeffy made it disappear. Shocking.

GLENN: They're eight pennies. I still have them. Because they changed everything. Because of the faith of one person that just said, I'm going to do my part. I don't know what your part is. But I'd like to suggest that we go on Facebook today and we see how many people are willing to say, I'm willing to take a family. My church will take a family.

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.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stand with Voddie Baucham’s family in this time of loss

In the quiet aftermath of a profound loss, the Christian community mourns the unexpected passing of Dr. Voddie Baucham, a towering figure in evangelical circles. Known for his defense of biblical truth, Baucham, a pastor, author, and theologian, left a legacy on family, faith, and opposing "woke" ideologies in the church. His book Fault Lines challenged believers to prioritize Scripture over cultural trends. Glenn had Voddie on the show several times, where they discussed progressive influences in Christianity, debunked myths of “Christian nationalism,” and urged hope amid hostility.

The shock of Baucham's death has deeply affected his family. Grieving, they remain hopeful in Christ, with his wife, Bridget, now facing the task of resettling in the US without him. Their planned move from Lusaka, Zambia, was disrupted when their home sale fell through last December, resulting in temporary Airbnb accommodations, but they have since secured a new home in Cape Coral that requires renovations. To ensure Voddie's family is taken care of, a fundraiser is being held to raise $2 million, which will be invested for ongoing support, allowing Bridget to focus on her family.

We invite readers to contribute prayerfully. If you feel called to support the Bauchams in this time of need, you can click here to donate.

We grieve and pray with hope for the Bauchams.

May Voddie's example inspire us.

Overcoming loneliness: Connecting in a disconnected world

Loneliness isn’t just being alone — it’s feeling unseen, unheard, and unimportant, even amid crowds and constant digital chatter.

Loneliness has become an epidemic in America. Millions of people, even when surrounded by others, feel invisible. In tragic irony, we live in an age of unparalleled connectivity, yet too many sit in silence, unseen and unheard.

I’ve been experiencing this firsthand. My children have grown up and moved out. The house that once overflowed with life now echoes with quiet. Moments that once held laughter now hold silence. And in that silence, the mind can play cruel games. It whispers, “You’re forgotten. Your story doesn’t matter.”

We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

It’s a lie.

I’ve seen it in others. I remember sitting at Rockefeller Center one winter, watching a woman lace up her ice skates. Her clothing was worn, her bag battered. Yet on the ice, she transformed — elegant, alive, radiant.

Minutes later, she returned to her shoes, merged into the crowd, unnoticed. I’ve thought of her often. She was not alone in her experience. Millions of Americans live unseen, performing acts of quiet heroism every day.

Shared pain makes us human

Loneliness convinces us to retreat, to stay silent, to stop reaching out to others. But connection is essential. Even small gestures — a word of encouragement, a listening ear, a shared meal — are radical acts against isolation.

I’ve learned this personally. Years ago, a caller called me “Mr. Perfect.” I could have deflected, but I chose honesty. I spoke of my alcoholism, my failed marriage, my brokenness. I expected judgment. Instead, I found resonance. People whispered back, “I’m going through the same thing. Thank you for saying it.”

Our pain is universal. Everyone struggles with self-doubt and fear. Everyone feels, at times, like a fraud. We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

We were made for connection. We were built for community — for conversation, for touch, for shared purpose. Every time we reach out, every act of courage and compassion punches a hole in the wall of isolation.

You’re not alone

If you’re feeling alone, know this: You are not invisible. You are seen. You matter. And if you’re not struggling, someone you know is. It’s your responsibility to reach out.

Loneliness is not proof of brokenness. It is proof of humanity. It is a call to engage, to bear witness, to connect. The world is different because of the people who choose to act. It is brighter when we refuse to be isolated.

We cannot let silence win. We cannot allow loneliness to dictate our lives. Speak. Reach out. Connect. Share your gifts. By doing so, we remind one another: We are all alike, and yet each of us matters profoundly.

In this moment, in this country, in this world, what we do matters. Loneliness is real, but so is hope. And hope begins with connection.