Dear Friends,
Charles Spurgeon once said, “You are as much serving God in looking after your own children and training them up in God’s fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of Hosts.”
1. TRUMP RESUMES IRAN STRIKES AFTER REGIME TARGETS VESSELS IN HORMUZ: The U.S. launched “powerful strikes” on over 80 Iranian targets late Tuesday in response to Tehran’s attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. A second round of strikes followed on Wednesday, while the Treasury Department reimposed sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil.
President Trump said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is “over” and that future negotiations would likely be “a waste of time.” He stated, “They’re vicious, violent people. If they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.”
Vice President JD Vance said Iran “behaved for about a week,” and said that U.S. strikes will continue until the regime opens up Hormuz and stops shooting at ships.
Axios assessed, “A U.S. official said the current escalation could last a day or two, a week or a month, depending on whether Iran continues its attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.”
2. IRANIANS RALLY FOR KHAMEINI: Iranians gathered in Tehran for the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes in late February. Attendees chanted, “We don’t want a deal, we want Trump dead.” While some reports estimated that millions assembled, others said attendance was underwhelming, with around 100,000 gathering for the high-profile event.
Four American influencers – Jackson Hinkle, Christopher Helali, Max Blumenthal, and Calla Walsh – traveled to the funeral to honor Khameini and bash America. Hinkle, founder of the American Communist Party, led chants of, “Down with the USA… Down with Israel!”
The funeral comes as uncertainty about who exactly is leading Iran persists. The new ayatollah, Mojtaba Khamenei, did not appear at his father’s funeral, and has not been seen since the strike that killed Ali Khameini, leading some to believe he is either dead or seriously wounded.
3. COURT HOLDS PRELIMINARY TRIAL FOR TYLER ROBINSON IN CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION CASE: The five-day preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, the Utah man charged with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, concluded on Friday. High-profile attendees included Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s parents, Donald Trump Jr., Jack Posobiec, Sen. Mike Lee, and Rush Limbaugh’s widow, Kathryn Adams Limbaugh. Robinson’s family appeared as well.
Much of the hearing was televised, despite the defense’s attempts to limit public transparency.
Utah prosecutors showed footage they said placed Robinson on the Utah Valley University campus four times on September 10. Utah State Bureau of Investigation agent Brian Davis testified that Robinson surrendered himself to police on the night of September 11, with his parents and a family friend.
An FBI forensic examiner asserted that Robinson’s DNA was a 95% match to that found on a towel wrapping the rifle and 89% to the screwdriver found at the scene. Robinson’s defense disputed those findings.
The prosecution played a redacted video from Robinson’s gay lover, Lance Twiggs, who has been granted use immunity in exchange for testimony (Twiggs could still be prosecuted later if further evidence linked him to the murder.)
Twiggs authenticated previous confessions from Robinson via phone and Discord, and said Robinson discussed retrieving the rifle. He stated, “I just asked him [Robinson], in person, if what he said was true the night before, and he said it was. He started crying a little bit, and said he wishes he hadn’t done it.”
The defense did not challenge the authenticity of Robinson’s alleged confessions via text and Discord.
Judge Tony Graf will now decide if enough evidence exists to take the case to a full jury trial.
4. TRUMP AND MAMDANI’S CLASHING VISIONS OF AMERICA: On July 3, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani sat in front of George Washington’s desk beside nine newly minted U.S. citizens, where he mischaracterized the American story as one of persecuted minorities struggling against their oppressors.
He claimed, “We are told that America is exceptional because we are richer, stronger, more powerful than everyone else… The truth, my friends, is that America is exceptional because here, nothing is fixed into place.”
By contrast, President Trump’s July 4 speech honored America’s Christian heritage of freedom and the American republic as “the crowning achievement of human history.” Trump declared, “We’ll never let anyone take our freedom away… We don’t want communists in our country.”
He urged patriots to civic action, reminding them, “American liberty has not endured 250 years merely because of words on paper. Liberty has prevailed here because of the culture and character of the people who declared it, defended it, and preserved it… The identity of a nation is the destiny of a nation.”
5. NEW REPORT DETAILS MULTIPLE “MISSED” OPPORTUNITIES TO STOP TRUMP’S BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: A new Department of Homeland Security report concluded that the U.S. Secret Service missed multiple warnings ahead of Donald Trump’s attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, including over 102 radio transmissions “that local law enforcement officers in a separate communications room received concerning an increasingly intense search for a suspicious person.”
Secret Service operatives also failed to detect a reconnaissance drone flown by Thomas Matthew Crooks two hours before the attempt, failed to secure the building used by Crooks to carry out the attack, and missed radio reports from local law enforcement about Crooks climbing the rooftop with a rifle.
Ed. Note: Serious questions remain about the Butler assassination attempt: Who was Thomas Matthew Crooks, and how was he radicalized? Did he communicate with the FBI ahead of the attempt? And why were some of the same agents who missed the attempt promoted to higher positions later? One thing is clear: God overrode the schemes of the Deep State and providentially protected Donald Trump from a bullet that could have torn the nation apart. Our nation can only continue if we place our confidence in Him.
6. RUPERT LOWE BREAKS DOWN UK RAPE SCANDAL ON JOE ROGAN: In an interview with Joe Rogan, Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe shared brutal truths that could get him arrested if repeated in the UK.
He criticized global elites for forcing multiculturalism on indigenous Brits, and blasted Muslim rapists for seeking to impose their Islamic values on the country.
Lowe said, “Muslim men are taught to believe that they are superior. Not only to women, but they’re superior like yourself and myself, who are considered to be the infidels. And their job is to effectively spread Islam and effectively punish the infidel.”
He continued, “In the crusades, if you lost to Saladin and you were a Knight Templar, you had two choices. You either converted to Islam, or they killed you. And in the case of a lot of these girls [in the inquiry report], they were made pregnant, and they then had to convert to Islam. Some of them were trafficked to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, other parts of the world.”
Last month, Lowe’s 200-page report found that over 250,000 British girls were raped and trafficked by largely Muslim gangs, who used the Islamic teaching of al-walā’ wa-l-barā’ to justify horrific rape, torture, and abuse, while police, social workers, the media, and elected officials looked the other way.
7. TRUMP MEETS NATO: President Trump led a U.S. delegation to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, as strikes on Iran continued.
During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump said the U.S. needs its own Patriot missile defense batteries and promised, “We’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots.” Both Trump Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that negotiations would end the war in Ukraine.
At a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump reiterated his desire to expand U.S. influence in Greenland. The President threatened to halt trade with Spain, which refused to commit to increased defense spending last year and has publicly opposed the U.S. war in Iran.
Trump also promised to waive sanctions on NATO member Turkey and allow the sale of F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, a move strongly opposed by Greece and Israel.
He addressed assassination threats from Iran, stating, “I may be gone too, because I’m their number one target.”
8. CONGRESS HOLDS HEARING ON MK-ULTRA: Last week, Rep. Anna Paulina-Luna (R-FL) hosted the first Congressional hearing on MK-Ultra since the program since 1973 titled “Mind Control and Accountability: Uncovering the Truth of the CIA’s MK-Ultra Experiments.”
Luna said crimes were committed by the Central Intelligence Agency against American citizens and added, “This was a deliberate, systematic governmental operation…authorized by the very top of U.S. intelligence apparatus.”
Former CIA officer James Erdman III testified that the CIA “took back 40 boxes of JFK files and MK-Ultra files being processed for declassification by DNI Tulsi Gabbard.”
Investigative journalist Tom O’Neill said it was likely that the CIA simply rebranded MK-Ultra, rather than shutting it down in the 1970s. He stated, “I believe the agency misled Congress in 1977 when it characterized MK-Ultra as a failure.”
One document released during the hearing stated, “It’s feasible to take the memory of a definite event in the life of an individual, and through hypnotic suggestion, bring about the subsequent conscious recall to the effect that this event never actually took place.”
Author Stephen Kinzer warned, “There have been enormous advances in cyber technology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Covert agencies may have access to tools for mind control that Sidney Gottlieb could not have imagined.”
Ed. Note: For more on MK-Ultra, see our previous episode, How Black Is the Darkness of Evil?
9. GLOBAL PERSECUTION INDEX EXAMINES INCREASING SUFFERING OF CHRISTIANS: The 2026 Global Persecution Index from International Christian Concern highlights over 20 countries where Christians face persecution, including Nigeria, Cuba, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, China, and North Korea.
ICC President Shawn Wright said, “This year’s Global Persecution Index is a sobering reminder that millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ continue to pay a high price for their faith.”
Despite intense opposition, the Christian church continues to grow in “unexpected places.” According to the report: “The Iranian house church movement remains one of the fastest growing in the world, driven by underground networks and digital evangelism. In China, believers meet in homes and encrypted online gatherings despite constant surveillance, proving again that faith can endure even where freedom does not.”
Ed. Note: Hebrews 13:3 states, “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
10. ROD DREHER WARNS OF “WEIMAR AMERICA”: In a New York Times interview, Rod Dreher explained the thesis behind his forthcoming book on the “Weimarisation of the West.”
In 2020, his book Live Not By Lies urged Christians to push back against “soft” totalitarianism; now he argues that the ingredients exist for a new authoritarianism: loss of cultural and spiritual identity, social atomization, fertility collapse, economic pain, and technological surveillance.
He said, “We have created in America today, perhaps throughout the West, the psychosocial conditions of Weimar without having suffered the traumas that Germany did – losing the First World War, hyperinflation, and the Great Depression… It may not be Hitler 2.0. It may not be Stalin 2.0. It might be something all-American, but it’s not going to be what we’re used to.”
Dreher compared modern addiction to drugs, porn, and entertainment to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and warned, “We have created a world, and especially with the generation raised on digital culture, in which they cannot bear any friction. They see any friction as intolerable suffering, and they will surrender their liberties, and even, I think, ultimately their humanity to escape that anxiety.”
He echoed the sober assessment of British academic David Betz that the UK and Europe, and even parts of the U.S., are ripe for civil war.
Dreher urged, “If we don’t recover Christianity in the West – in some meaningful way, not just a nominal way – then Islam will be the heir, because you can’t fight something with nothing.”
11. NOTEWORTHY STORIES:
- Biohacker Bryan Johnson, who spends $2 million a year in his quest for longevity and was featured in Netflix’s 2025 documentary Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, has been diagnosed with a rare “stomach-eating” autoimmune disease. Just two weeks before his diagnosis, Johnson wrote, “Some of us will live forever… I am so bullish on this that I just renamed my company to Immortals.”
- The American Parents Coalition is pushing back against a policy from the YMCA that allows men pretending to be women to access women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. The coalition said the policy violates a recent Supreme Court’s ruling and the YMCA’s founding values.
- Last week, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. voted overwhelmingly to support a resolution in favor of transgender surgeries, including for children.
- An unknown American patriot in Houston celebrated Independence Day by cutting down two Flock cameras and spray painting them with the Stars and Stripes.
- Far-left Muslim influencer Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy (“Sneako”) celebrated Zohran Mamdani’s New York City with these words: “Allahu Akbar! This is the Islamic Republic of New York-istan. Islam will be in every household. Inshallah, the whole world will be Muslim.”
12. INTERNATIONAL STORIES:
- Pope Leo XIV faced renewed criticism after welcoming African immigrants to Europe, while maintaining strict security against illegals for the Vatican itself.
- Conservative leader Marine Le Pen said she will run for President of France in 2027, as she continues to fight lawfare from her country’s leftist government.
- The Al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Council of Britain has called on the British government to stop X from hosting the film Citizen Vigilante, alleging that it promotes “Islamophobia.”
- German statistics reveal that 53% of rapes in the country last year were perpetrated by foreigners, mostly from the Muslim nations of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Turkey.
- The British government reportedly blocked Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen from entering the country due to her “hate speech” conviction for quoting Bible verses opposing homosexuality.
- Hamas announced the dissolution of its government and said it will transfer governance to the UN’s National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. However, Hamas has yet to disarm.
- The European Union has mandated that all new vehicles sold in all 27 member states be fitted with AI monitoring systems.
13. POLITICAL STORIES:
- Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner suspended his campaign following fresh allegations of sexual assault and coordinated demands from top Democrats to step aside. Democratic leaders and mainstream media who previously dismissed Platner’s Nazi tattoo and other allegations swiftly turned on him once they were convinced he would imperil their chances of retaking the Senate.
- Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-KY), said they recently spoke with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who was hospitalized for “cardiac arrest” on June 16. However, others claim McConnell is brain-dead, as the Senator and his office have yet to offer any public statements.
- President Trump said he will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling on birthright citizenship, pointing to billboards near the Southern Border and Mexico that advertise childbirth packages.
- Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said her mission in Congress is to help create “a different kind of neighborhood, city, and country.”
- The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officially ceased operations on July 4 after reaching its 18-month limit. DOGE promised that “the mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse will continue.”
14. NOTEWORTHY QUOTES:
- “It’s an incredibly short list [of countries that recognize the right to own guns], and none of them have anything in theory or practice that is what I would say [is] a true equivalent of the American right to keep and bear arms.” –Amy Swearer, the Heritage Foundation
- “The principles…which went into the Declaration of Independence…are found in…the sermons…of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live… They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image.” –President Calvin Coolidge, July 4, 1926
- “The approval of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on the 4th of July, 1776, represented the ultimate political gamble… While the odds were slim, the consequences for failure were severe. All 56 men who later signed the Declaration faced an assured death by hanging were the Revolution to fail… We as Americans in 2026 are inheritors of this legacy of liberty and the beneficiaries of the courage, wisdom, and dedication of the Founding Fathers.” –Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
- “There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened, and maintained.” –CS Lewis
- “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” –Deuteronomy 6:6-7
FAITH, FAMILY & FREEDOM REPORT
1. YOUNG WASHINGTON FILM HITS THEATERS: The movie Young Washington performed very well on its opening weekend in theaters, bringing in $19.4 million at the box office. Angel Studios also announced that a sequel to the movie, 1776, is in production. Movies that are safe for families and promote freedom have been making a comeback in recent years.
2. PASTOR EZRA JIN FREED: Chinese house church leader Ezra Jin was miraculously released from prison after being held for nine months. Jin made it to the United States on July 3, reuniting with family in Los Angeles, whom he had previously been barred from seeing. The Trump administration had pushed for Jin’s release, and thousands of Christians had been praying for a miracle. However, many more pastors are still jailed in the communist country.
3. ROY PROPOSES PLAN TO CIRCUMVENT BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP RULING: Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is working on a congressional solution to end birthright citizenship following the Supreme Court’s ruling. Roy detailed his plan on X, writing, “First, define the phrase ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ very specifically to make clear that citizenship is tied to the citizenship of the parent, not the soil. Second, completely restrict funding from DHS or any other agency or state that provides documentation and status to anyone not subject to the ‘jurisdiction thereof.’”
4. VANCE INVESTIGATES HB-1 VISA HOLDERS: Vice President JD Vance announced an investigation into HB-1 visa holders, who are allegedly cheating the American system. Vance said, “Here’s a simple principle, ladies and gentlemen: American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters, and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it.”
5. DOJ CRACKS DOWN ON ILLEGAL CRIMINALS: The Department of Justice concluded a week-long crackdown on criminal illegal aliens, arresting 325 in Operation Take Back America. U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin explained, “Our citizens deserve to know that our federal government is committed to securing our borders and enforcing our immigration laws.”
6. MIRACLE BABY CELEBRATES FIRST BIRTHDAY: Baby Safir, born at just 22 weeks and given a 10% chance of survival, has just celebrated his first birthday. Nurse Allie Soderholm recounted, “He’s really a miracle. He’s just a miracle. He’s so strong. He just lights up the room. Every nurse, every doctor, every therapist just loves him.” Angeline Tan of Live Action wrote, “[A] child may be small, fragile, and medically vulnerable, but that does not make him less human or less deserving of protection.”
7. SOUTH CAROLINA PROTECTS CHRISTIANS IN FINANCE: Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed the Guarantee Banking Act, a bill that prohibits debanking individuals based on their religious or political beliefs. Senior Counsel Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom stated, “No one should be denied access to basic financial services based on their political or religious beliefs. But when big banks weaponize their control of financial services…they are just as threatening to freedom as Big Brother.”
8. FLORIDA FIGHTS MEDIA CENSORSHIP: Florida continues combatting media influence in state politics, with a budget provision barring state agencies from hiring ad firms with “misinformation” ratings. In previous years, these “misinformation” ratings discriminated against conservatives. Christine Czernejewski of Independent Media Council explained, “Florida is sending a clear message that taxpayer-funded advertising should be focused on reaching the broadest possible audience, not filtered through politically motivated media blacklist systems.”
9. ELECTION INTEGRITY WINS IN ARIZONA: The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in favor of Maricopa County recorder and election integrity activist Justin Heap, ruling that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors had unjustly seized Heap’s “personnel, systems and equipment and [refused] to return them.” Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote, “[T]he Board cannot use budgetary authority to usurp an independently elected officer’s statutory functions.”
10. IDAHO BRINGS BACK FIRING SQUADS: The state of Idaho has instituted the firing squad as a way to carry out death sentences for state criminals, including some convicted of abusing children. Idaho is the fifth state to allow firing squads, along with Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and South Carolina, but the first one to make firing squads the primary execution method. One America News reported, “Currently, eight people are on Idaho’s death row, seven men and one woman.”
11. NURSE WINS IN THE UK: The British Nursing and Midwifery Council dropped its case against Christian nurse Jennifer Melle after persecuting her for her religious beliefs. Melle responded, “It has been devastating to be labelled a risk to the public for holding beliefs which are lawful, mainstream and central to my faith. Nurses should not have to choose between their conscience, the truth, and their profession.”
12. LOBBYISTS BACK AWAY FROM CCP: U.S. lobbyists are backing away from companies that have ties to the Chinese military, as the Trump administration seeks to distance itself from the CCP. The Epoch Times added, “A provision included in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits the Pentagon from contracting with companies represented by lobbyists that also represent companies linked to the Chinese military.”
13. RUBIO CELEBRATES AMERICA’S HERITAGE: In his Independence Day speech, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Founders were heirs to “the whole expanse of Western memory stretching from Athens and Rome to the Magna Carta and Jamestown and Plymouth Rock.” He added, “A Constitution is only as strong as the people it belongs to… This is the greatest nation on Earth.”
14. HOMESCHOOLER WINS PRESIDENTIAL CIVICS SHOWDOWN: President Trump met with the three top scorers in his Presidential 1776 Award competition, where he presented them with a Presidential Challenge Coin. The final winner in the competition’s “Ultimate Civics Showdown” was homeschooler Miriam Washut. Education Secretary Linda McMahon exclaimed, “What better way to celebrate 250 years of this great nation than by honoring those who will carry us into the next 250!”
15. U.S. SOCCER PLAYER SHARES JESUS: Despite experiencing a 4-1 blowout by Belgium in the World Cup, United States soccer player Mark McKenzie continued to share his faith in Christ with the watching world. McKenzie stated, “The Lord is at the center of it all. He is the main purpose. And I’m just trying to bring people into His light in some way.”
HYMN OF THE WEEK
King Jesus Reigns by Daniel O. Teasley
King Jesus reigns from pole to pole,
O’er land and sea in sweet control!
Wherever men or angels bow,
Our Shiloh reigns supremely now.
On earth below, in heav’n above,
His scepter sways—’tis that of love!
His throne on high shall ne’er decay;
He holds supreme, unbounded sway.
Come raging storm, come rolling sea,
King Jesus reigns victoriously!
And He shall reign when, like a scroll,
The burning skies together roll!
King Jesus reigns, O sinner, hear!
Come, seek His grace while He is near!
Risk not thy soul till one more sun,
For that may mark thy doom begun.
Jesus reigns! Let the nations rejoice!
Make Him now thy only choice!
Here alone shall His favor abound,
Seek Him while He may be found.
