The World and Everything in It: August 6, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. Hi, I'm Debbie Slingo, and I live in Jacksonville, Florida. I'm a wife and retired homeschooling mom who is now enjoying the fruit of her children's labors, namely grandchildren. I hope you enjoy today's program.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning! The biggest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War, setting free U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and others.

PAUL WHELAN: Five years, seven months and five days of just absolute nonsense by the Russian government.

NICK EICHER, HOST: WORLD’s Jill Nelson is standing by to talk about it.

Also today a conversation with the new head of Jews for Jesus. He’ll talk about how the war is influencing the work.

ABRAMSON: What would Yeshua, what would Jesus do? How can we serve Israelis right now that are hurting and in need?

And casting a pro-life vision. Commentary from WORLD Opinions contributor Daniel Darling.

MAST: It’s Tuesday, August 6th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

MAST: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Hurricane Debby » Many thousands of Floridians are without power, and many neighborhood streets are underwater after Hurricane Debby slammed the state’s Big Bend area on the Gulf Coast Monday.

Debby roared ashore as a Category-1 hurricane packing winds of 75 miles per hour and deadly storm surge.

The storm is now a major rain event. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned residents:

DESANTIS:  Don't go out into the storm. Uh, don't drive on the roads, particularly when they're flooded. When you have flood situations, that is the number one way where we will see fatalities.

John Cangialosi with the National Hurricane Center says this storm could be remembered for “catastrophic flooding.” 

 CANGIALOSI: From very heavy rain throughout the week. So that's something we're really trying to message and get out again for portions of specifically northern Florida, southeastern Georgia, and then into South Carolina.

And Georgia Emergency Management Director Chris Stallings warned that Debby could be a generational storm, dropping as much as 20 inches of rain in the Savannah area.

STALLINGS: They're calling it a 500 to thousand year storm. And so with that, we're extremely concerned about flooding.

The eye of the storm will pass near Savannah, Georgia this evening … before pushing to the north.

Bracing for Debby » South Carolina is also bracing for the storm. Gov. Henry McMaster is telling residents to be prepared to lose power … and to stay out of harm’s way.

MCMASTER:  This is an animal that we don't think that we have seen before. So we must be very, very prepared, and that means not only those of us that have been involved in these services, but also the everyday citizen out there needs to be alert and be prepared.

He’s urging South Caroliians to stay tuned into official channels and to take all government alerts and warnings seriously.

Iran-Israel » The Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah says it launched a drone attack against Israel on Monday. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The Lebanon-based Hezbollah says it struck in northern Israel, wounding two Israeli troops.

The violence came amid fears of an all-out regional war following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.

The attack did not appear to be the more intense retaliation that’s expected from Iran and its allied militias. Iran has vowed revenge for the killing of the leader of Hamas while in Tehran.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Iran attack imminent » Meanwhile, U.S. Defense officials say several U.S. personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack at a military base in Iraq.

It comes amid a recent uptick in strikes on American forces and as tensions spike in the Middle East.

The officials said troops at al-Asad air base were still assessing the injuries and damage. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Stocks tank » All eyes are on Wall Street today as investors hope for something of a recovery after markets tanked worldwide yesterday.

SOUND: [NYSE closing bell]

At the closing bell Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 1,000 points.

Asian markets were hit even harder. Japan’s main index plummeted more than 12 percent suffering its worst day since 1987.

Friday’s disappointing jobs report as well as the Federal Reserve’s tightened interest rate policies are both cited as possible reasons for the slump.

Scott Glenn is a senior global markets specialist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute:

GLENN: I think we have a combination of a growth scare and a Fed (Federal Reserve) policy scare. So, in other words, we went from, you know, months and months of 'When's the Fed going to ease and how much are they going to ease' this year and next to one where growth is plunging and the Fed is behind the curve.

The selloff has sparked calls for the Fed to aggressively cut interest rates in order to stave off the possibility of an economic recession.

Bangladesh PM resigns » Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country following weeks of protests against her government.

The 76-year-old held power for 15 years and most recently won reelection in January though western leaders called the election unfair.

WAKER-UZ-ZAMAN (Bangla): Now we will form an interim government and continue our work to lead the country.

Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman says the military will form an interim government.

Students across the country have been protesting the government’s job quotas and crackdowns have left hundreds dead.

Zaman said the interim government will investigate the official response to the protests.

I’m Kent Covington.

Coming up: A historic prisoner exchange. Plus, Jews for Jesus in wartime.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 6th of August. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. You have no doubt missed the voice of our friend and colleague Mary Reichard the last several days. I’ll cut straight to it: She is facing a serious health challenge involving her heart. We’ve been in touch by phone and Mary’s now in the hospital in St. Louis getting the best care possible. But we have to expect that she’s going to need to be away for a bit.

But Mary being Mary, she wanted to stay in touch with you, so I did encourage her to keep a diary, knowing you’d be interested.

So she did one better. And before she was admitted on Monday afternoon, she made this recording for you. And let’s listen to it now.

MARY REICHARD: I’m part of a club I never wanted to be in, one with membership of more than 20 million people! That’s the group of Americans with coronary artery disease. The most common type of heart disease, and notably the leading cause of death in the United States.

I just got that diagnosis last week. And thank the Lord for my husband, who is my advocate! Because after a bunch of tests the hospital told me to go home just to see what might happen  even though I had a terrible calcium score, recommend you get one, even worse family history, and pain in my chest, neck, and jaw going on for several weeks.

My husband just wasn’t going to have it. He’d seen me on the floor in pain enough times that he insisted on another test, an angiogram. I think staff did it mainly to placate him. But guess what? The angiogram came back with news of major blockage of the left anterior descending artery, a diagnosis also known as “the widow maker.”

So, for the next few weeks, I am going to be away from here to focus on my health. I plan to keep a diary of sorts to share with my fellow club members what I’m learning. You know I’ve wanted to be on the medical health beat for awhile now, but Nick kept saying, No, he wanted me to do that legal stuff. Well, lookie here, I’m finally getting my way!

Most importantly, I’m living with the faith that I can be a believer in the promises of Jesus Christ, with or without a disease. He’s got me, He’s got you, and it’ll be alright, no matter what. Psalm 46, verse 10, my favorite: Be still, and know that I am God.

I’ll check in with you later. Bye for now.

EICHER: Get well Mary. We’re praying for you. 

MAST: And we know we’re not alone in that!

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: That multinational prisoner swap from last week.

It was Thursday when news started to break that three Americans in Russian captivity were coming home. Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Radio Free Europe reporter Alsu Kurmasheva.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: When they landed in the U.S. President Biden and Vice President Harris were on hand to greet them.

Whelan later spoke with reporters after arriving in Texas.

PAUL WHELAN: Looking forward to seeing my family down here and just recuperating from five years, seven months and five days of just absolute nonsense by the Russian government.

EICHER: Absolute nonsense, but ending it did come at a cost. How high a cost? Joining us now to talk about it is WORLD Correspondent Jill Nelson.

Jill, good morning.

JILL NELSON: Good morning, Nick.

EICHER: Jill, this situation sounds like the prisoner swap in the film Bridge of Spies, based on the story of an American lawyer negotiating the release of U-2 spy pilot Gary Powers and an American student in exchange for a Soviet spy. But last week’s deal was considerably more complicated than that, because of the many parties involved. Can you be specific about how many countries and how many people were involved in this putting this exchange together?

NELSON: Yeah, this was a very complex deal, and in fact, it was the largest prisoner swap between the West and Russia since the Cold War. It involved seven different countries, including the United States, Poland, Germany; months of high level negotiations that involved our President, our Vice President, a number of government organizations, including the CIA. But essentially, in the end, you had 16 people released from Russia and Belarus sent to the West. And then you had half that number, which I think is worth noting, sent back to Russia from the U.S. So it was a very complex deal that involved a lot of moving parts.

MAST: Remind us the background for Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich’s arrests and detainments.

NELSON: Evan Gershkovich was the Wall Street Journal reporter. He was detained over a year ago while he was actually on a reporting trip in Russia. He was actually there covering the Wagner Group, which, as you may remember, is the Russian mercenary group involved in the war in Ukraine, as well as several African countries accused of war crimes all over the world. So he was wrongfully convicted on false charges of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison. And then Paul Whelan was a former U.S. Marine. He has, he is a U.S. citizen, also citizenship in several other countries. He was detained six years ago. He was in Russia for a wedding and also sentenced to 16 years in prison.

EICHER: When I heard who the Russians were releasing, I immediately wondered who we had to give up to make this happen. Go back to 2022, we ended up releasing—what was his nickname?—the merchant of death, the arms dealer Viktor Bout in order to get the basketball player Brittany Griner out of jail. And the administration tried to get Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich that time, but Vladimir Putin said no-go. I guess it’s just a simple matter of economics that the U.S. is clearly willing to pay a high price. Putin knows that, and so he’ll hold out for the right deal. Is that what’s different this time?

NELSON: Well, I think there's a couple things at play here. I think Putin was really pushing for a deal that he could spin as a win for the Motherland, a propaganda victory. I mean, remember, this war in Ukraine has really been going on since 2014. The second invasion was 2022, and so you have a country that is still involved in what seems like an endless war. So I think this is a way to say, “Hey, look, the Kremlin always goes to bat for its people” and maybe to get the Russian population's eyes off of what's happening in Ukraine and onto some sort of tangible victory. But I do think that there were a number of people that Putin really wanted to be free. All of these people were jailed for things like spying, cyber crimes, but most notably, there was one person who was a Russian assassin who was convicted of a daylight murder in a Berlin Park in broad daylight. I'm thinking of Vadim Krasikov, and I think that's who he really has been wanting for quite some time. And that's where we needed the help from our allies and a German government willing to release Krasikov as part of this deal. So, I think that's probably what was different this time around, is we were able to get kind of that key person that Putin wanted as part of this deal.

MAST: One of the sixteen people the Kremlin released was Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza. He gave a news conference in Germany after his release, and he talked a bit about the late Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in detention earlier this year. Let’s listen to a little bit of that:

KARA-MURZA: I cannot help but think yesterday and today about Alexei Navalny. And to think that if these processes had worked a little faster, maybe Alexei could have been here with us.

Jill, with Navalny dead and dissidents like Kara-Murza out of the country, what’s left of the opposition in Russia?

NELSON: Well, it's really not the best situation right now for the Russian opposition movement inside Russia. I mean, you have a Russian president who's been eroding democratic freedoms for decades now. He's been in power the Russian president, Vladimir Putin since 2000 and in mid-March, secured his fifth term in office. And he's really faced no serious challengers in the elections, because most of his legitimate opponents are either they've either been poisoned, or they're scattered in exile, or they're dead, like Alexei Navalny. So you have what amounts to a growing number of Russian dissidents abroad. Lithuania has become a primary hub. Germany has become a hub. You also have a number of political dissidents in the United States. I'm thinking of former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who is part of the renewed democracy initiative. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian political prisoner and oil tycoon who now lives in London. So the question is, can this group put aside their differences and unite together and be a force for change within Russia? And what I'm hearing from some of these connections is that really one of the best things that could happen to support this group is a Ukrainian victory in this war that would really upend some of the Russian narrative and some of the support that Russia has from his people.

EICHER: Haven’t we simply incentivized the unjust taking of Americans with this deal? Does anything else stand out to you about this story?

NELSON: I think that is a factor, and I think there is concern, particularly among even some human rights activists, that deals like this will incentivize Putin or really other evil actors around the world to detain more people, Westerners, in particular, on these trumped-up charges, which is really what they amount to. Right? Arresting journalists, arresting political dissidents. This really has become a game, I think, for Putin and perhaps could become a game for others around the world. So, I know the Biden administration claims they've looked into this. They've looked into past deals. They have concluded it does not increase the arrests of Westerners or has not in the past, but this is a high profile case. I do wonder whether or not this is sending a really strong message to some of our enemies out there that these sorts of deals are deals we're willing to make.

MAST: Jill Nelson covers foreign conflicts as a correspondent for WORLD. Thanks for this report!

NELSON: Happy to be here.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Hey, so we just got back from the beach yesterday, the low country South Carolina, and not a moment too soon. Just one step ahead of an unwanted intruder by the name of Debby.

But beachgoers in Rhode Island—speaking of unwanted intruders—they had to deal with something that called to mind a Biblical plague.

AUDIO: Get away from me! (screams)

This was late July, and the screaming was about a cloud of dragonflies that’d swarmed the beach.

Yep, dragonflies, but by the hundreds of thousands! Sound here from the social media account GetLucky,  this is on the X platform.

AUDIO: Why did we come today?

Evidently the dragonflies came today because they were looking for a new habitat as summer heat dries the ponds out and so were just passing through.

MAST: Yeah, make it snappy, or you know what, stay. I'll leave.         

EICHER: It’s The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Tuesday, August 6th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: A new leader for the evangelistic group Jews for Jesus.

Israel’s war with Hamas and reports of rising anti-semitic incidents have brought new challenges for the Messianic Jews who work with Jews for Jesus.

MAST: The group began more than half a century ago, in San Francisco. Audio here with a Jews for Jesus Leader in Israel, courtesy of TBN Israel.

AUDIO: At the end of the Jesus Movement a lot of those that came to faith in the states as part of the Jesus movement were hippies, a lot of the hippies were Jewish people, and hence Jews for Jesus began.

Those Jewish hippies handed out tracts and practiced street preaching.

SOUND: [STREET CORNER SINGING]

EICHER: Today, Jews for Jesus also leads aid and community outreach efforts. But the group remains controversial in the Jewish community. The Guardian called co-founder Moishe Rosen one of the most detested figures in some Jewish circles. Critics say it’s misleading to tell people they can be both Jewish and Christian, and take issue with evangelizing Jewish people.

Audio here from YouTuber Rudy Rochman:

RUDY ROCHMAN: It is extremely offensive to try to proselytize and try to force or manipulate or trick Jews into converting to Christianity. We don’t want to accept Jesus as a part of our tradition. It’s your right to keep it for you. But keep it away from us.

MAST: But Jews for Jesus continues its work—and the task hasn’t changed in the 10 months since the beginning of Israel’s war with Hamas.

Joining us now to talk about how the war has affected Jews for Jesus’ evangelism efforts is Aaron Abramson. He recently became the group's new CEO–the first Israeli to lead the organization. Aaron, good morning.

ABRAMSON: Good morning.

MAST: Tell me about evangelism in Israel since October 7th? How has the war affected those efforts?

ABRAMSON: Yeah, so when October 7 happened, and you have to understand, everybody was so in shock. It was just traumatic across the board. But our team pivoted very quickly and said, “What would Yeshua, what would Jesus do?” “How can we serve Israelis right now that are hurting and in need?” Suddenly things were closed down, or people were, you know. Kids weren't able to go back to school right away. People were being displaced, because they were, they were actually moving from their locations where they were living. If they were living up north, they were living near the Gaza border, so suddenly they were in hotels, displaced, and so we started delivering meals like 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 meals a week to people who are in need. And we were partnering with other organizations like Samaritan's Purse and other ministries in Israel to do that. When people experience something like this, everything looks bleak. Well, then they start looking around and they start asking, “What's out there? What's going on?” Because some of this doesn't make sense to people. “Why do people hate us so much?” Or “Why are people so against us?” And so that's been one of those perceptions that has led a lot of people to start asking deeper spiritual questions. And so that's something that we positioned ourselves to be able to do, because it's not just about providing for people's physical needs, as well.

MAST: How have things changed because of the war, if at all, in places outside of Israel?

ABRAMSON: People in a lot of different places who are Jewish are starting to feel less confident being public about their Jewishness. They felt more ostracized or more demonized as a result of being either Israeli or even just Jewish. And so we've extended that invitation to Israelis and to Jewish people just to come in. And we were hosting events in the evening just to have people come talk, have a free cup of coffee and a baked good. Jews for Jesus is not a political entity or political organization. We realize that that's a complicated issue, but we love people, and we know that Jesus loved people. And Jesus had a heart for His own people, and so, you know, he came to the lost sheep of Israel. He came to His people. So we really want to provide that space for Jewish people to come to feel safe, to be able to engage with other Jewish people, whatever they may believe. And in the midst of that, many of them are getting to hear more about the hope that we have as Messianic Jews, and what Jesus has done for us and how he's impacted our lives directly.

MAST: The Anti Defamation League reports that there has been a substantial rise in incidents of anti semitism since October 7. Can you speak a little bit more about what you've observed on that front?

ABRAMSON: Sometimes people misconstrue the fact that they think, “Well, people who believe in Jesus believe X, and they're against us.” And what we want to show is Jesus, you know, came to his own, he loved his own people. He gave His life, not just for the Jewish people, but for the world. And so Christians and Jewish people both are beneficiaries of that. And we want them to be able to hear that and meet other Christians and hear from other Christians. So another piece of what we're doing is really encouraging Christians to just reach out to their local Jewish friends and say, “Hey, I'm praying for you right now.” Even something small like that can make a world of a difference, especially right now, during this tough time.

MAST: How do you encourage hope among your employees and the people you're helping when things feel dark?

ABRAMSON: We go back to the gospel. I don't know exactly what the future holds, only God does. But I do believe that division and hatred and wars make us ask those deep questions like, “Who are you, God, and who am I? And why is this happening?” You look at Israel and the exile, and you look at the history through the Hebrew Scriptures, and you see how challenging different times were. But how it also would bring men and women back to the Lord and back on their knees. In a sense, it's drawn us back onto our knees to say, “God, you save us.” We actually feel an immense sense of purpose, and our mission is really boosted - it encourages us to really get out and do the work that we do, even in deeper ways.

MAST: Aaron Abramson is the CEO of Jews for Jesus. Thank you for giving us your time, Aaron.

ABRAMSON: Thank you so much, Lindsay, for having me, and it's been a pleasure.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, August 6th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. World Opinions Commentator Daniel Darling now on what pro-lifers need to understand about the new core of the Republican party.

DANIEL DARLING: Many pro-life activists were understandably upset at the new language proposed by the Republican Party’s platform committee for adoption at this year’s convention. The GOP’s wording offers a head nod toward the sanctity of human life but lacks the robust moral language that was part of the platform for 40 years. Several pro-life groups petitioned the committee to reverse this decision while others signaled that they could work with the scaled-back draft. In the end, the draft passed without much comment. The silence has to do, in part, with the new core of the Republican party.

Political parties are, by necessity, a coalition of coalitions. Every few years, the voting maps shift. In this current moment, the Republican Party has won over large segments of disaffected, unchurched, non-college-educated, working-class voters who either sat out previous elections or voted for Democrats. This has led to surprising GOP gains in Midwestern and Rust Belt states.

These voters form the core of Donald Trump’s voting base. These are the folks who show up at rallies and enthusiastically voted for him in primaries. And these folks are often lumped together with churchgoing evangelical Christians, both by pundits and self-appointed prophets who confuse faithful church ladies with the rally goers who wave “Let’s go Brandon” signs. There is alignment between these two voting blocs when it comes to casting ballots in November, but there is some divergence on important issues— including abortion.

The new unchurched, working-class Republicans will vote for pro-life candidates, as they did in 2016. But while churchgoing evangelicals and Catholics vote Republican primarily because of social issues such as life, liberty, and family formation, this new cohort prioritizes other issues, such as immigration and trade. This is one reason why a state like Ohio, which overwhelmingly votes red in elections, also voted in favor of a 2023 referendum expanding abortion rights.

As a reaction, the Trump campaign has tried to soften its approach to abortion, including adjusting the platform language, opposing six-week bans in red states, and approving the abortion pill. This is reflective of the desires of his strongest voting bloc.

So how should pro-live activists react? One thing we should not do is yield to the temptation to take our ball and go home. Leaving the political process only cedes more influence to those who don’t share our pro-life convictions. Instead, we should stay and fight, urging our leaders to courageously stand up for the unborn and train them to articulate the moral language that helps Americans see human dignity in our most defenseless neighbors. Pro-life activists have always had to fight for influence in the Republican Party, whether it’s been the country club set from a generation ago or today’s populists.

We should also recognize reality and adjust our outreach. The pro-life cause has been primarily focused on winning over those to the left of us. This moral witness should continue, but we must recognize that there are many to the right of us who do not yet understand that the baby in the womb is a human being worthy of the promises of America’s founding documents.

This means resisting calls from our coalition to water down our ethical instincts, recognizing political realities, and joyfully educating our neighbors, whether they bear rainbow flags or red hats.

I’m Daniel Darling.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: The veepstakes on the Democratic side and the state of Kamala Harris’s campaign. That’s Washington Wednesday. And, bringing a firmer foundation to the unstable region of Papua New Guinea. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible records the words of Jesus: “Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” —Mark 9:50

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