The World and Everything in It: March 11, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

A change in the President’s cabinet, and the potential for change in Cuba.

TRUMP: It may be a friendly takeover, it may not be a friendly takeover, it wouldn’t matter.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: That and more is ahead on Washington Wednesday with Hunter Baker.

Also on World Tour: internal disagreement within the Church of England.

And a church seeking to meet the needs of everyone.

FARRINGTON: Our friends with disabilities, they're human, they're sinful, and they need Jesus just as much as we do.

And a courageous prisoner of war gets the Medal of Honor, decades after his death.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, March 11th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Iran latest » The US military just carried out its heaviest day yet of strikes inside Iran. That’s the word from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who said the military isn’t doing the job half-way. They’re looking to cripple the Iranian regime.

HEGSETH:  If the enemy can simply wait and then project power, that's problematic. And we've seen some spurts here or there, but ultimately the trend lines, if you look at the charts that we look at every day, have gone like this down to all a, a flat. It doesn't mean they won't be able to project.

But he said Iran’s ability to do damage has already been strongly degraded.

And the top U.S. General Dan Caine told reporters that the strength of Iran’s response is trending sharply downward:

CAINE:  Ballistic missile attacks continue to trend downward 90% from where they've started. And one way attack drone does have decreased 83%, uh, since the part, uh, beginning of the operation.

And the White House says the military operation is going exactly according to plan or perhaps even better.

But there are some mixed messages from the administration about how long the mission might last. After President Trump seemingly suggested this week that the operation could wrap up very soon, the White House clarified that the mission will only end when “Iran is in a position of unconditional surrender.”

Israel-Lebanon » In Israel:

SOUND: [Air raid siren over Tel Aviv]

...air raid sirens sounded over Tel Aviv yesterday...as flashes appeared in the sky as Israeli interceptors blocked Iranian missiles. There were no reports of any damage or injuries. Israel's military says it's already struck more than 400 military targets in Iran.

Meanwhile across Israel's northern border:

SOUND: [Explosion]

...an explosion rocked the Lebanese capital city of Beirut yesterday...as Israel's air force hit a southern suburb. Israel says those attacks are targeting members of the terror group Hezbollah who are active there.

Four Iranian diplomats were killed in a strike in Beirut. Iran's ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani:

IRAVANI: Diplomats have temporarily relocated to the hotel for their safety and security.

He called on the UN to condemn the strikes in Beirut.

Shots fired at U.S. consulate in Toronto » Canadian police are investigating after two men apparently opened fire on the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto on Tuesday.

Toronto Deputy Police Chief Frank Barredo:

 BARREDO:  Two individuals emerged from the vehicle, discharged at what appears to be a handgun at the front of the building, and then got back into their vehicle and drove southbound.

He said police received reports of the shooting and arrived on the scene soon thereafter. Police say they found spent shell casings, as well as damage to the building.

BARREDO:  There were people inside the building, however, this building is highly secure, highly fortified, and there were no injuries.

They released no information about possible suspects.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the shooting unacceptable intimidation.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is linking it to recent gunfire at two synagogues. Chow says police have increased patrols at the U.S. and Israeli consulates.

She also warns that antisemitic incidents often rise during international crises.

Thune pans Trump plan to pass SAVE Act » On Capitol Hill, President Trump’s plan for passing a law verifying voter eligibility is facing friendly fire. WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more from Washington.

HARRISON WATTERS: Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Tuesday he doesn’t have the votes to get the SAVE America Act through debate as is.

It takes 60 votes to prevent bill amendments on the floor.

President Trump wants him to use the so-called nuclear option, changing the Senate rules to end the filibuster. That would allow it to pass on a simple majority.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT:  He wants all options on the table, and he wants the Senate to move as quickly as possible through whatever means necessary.

WATTERS: But Thune says there is not enough support in the Senate for ending the filibuster.

Trump has said he will not sign any other legislation until the SAVE Act hits his desk with a few changes.

He wants Congress to include rules blocking mail-in ballots, along with bans on men in women’s sports and transgender surgeries for minors.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters in Washington

FBI finds explosives after 2 men arrested in NYC » The FBI found explosive residue in a Pennsylvania storage unit after two men were charged with bringing homemade bombs to a protest outside the home of New York City’s mayor.

Police said the FBI conducted controlled detonations after finding the materials at a public storage facility in Langhorne.

Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani reacted, saying he would not be intimidated.

MAMDANI:  I think first and foremost, just to make it clear to everyone that extremism and hatred of any kind will not be tolerated in our city.

Eighteen-year-old Emir Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi were arrested Saturday near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan.

According to investigators, they said they were inspired by ISIS.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Hunter Baker is here for Washington Wednesday. Plus, how one church welcomes those with special needs.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Wednesday, March 11th. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Time now for Washington Wednesday!

Joining us now is political scientist Hunter Baker. He is a WORLD Opinions Contributor and provost at North Greenville University. Good morning Hunter!

HUNTER BAKER: Good morning!

MAST: Well, Trump’s pick for the new head of Homeland Security is gearing up for his confirmation hearing next week. Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin will face colleagues he’s served with for the last three years.

Mullin is a business owner and former MMA fighter … and he’s brought some of that fight into the Senate. In 2023, a verbal fight with the Teamsters President Sean O’Brien during a committee hearing almost turned physical.

MULLIN: Sir this is a time, this is a place. You want to run your mouth we can be two consenting adults we can finish it here.

O’BRIEN: Okay that's fine perfect.

MULLIN: You want to do it now?

O’BRIEN: I'd love to do it right now.

MULLIN: Well stand your butt up then.

O’BRIEN: you stand your butt up

SANDERS: Oh hold, stop it…

Mullin later said he’s forged a working friendship with O’Brien…and he’s got wide support on the Hill to take the job at Homeland Security.

Hunter, what does Trump’s choice of a replacement for Kristi Noem tell you about his priorities?

BAKER: Just want to say that in Mark Wayne Mullins short, MMA career, he was three and oh, so the teamsters President may have been wise to avoid that confrontation. This is a, this is a big deal. The Secretary of Homeland Security is a major position in the cabinet, despite its relative newness, starting after September 11.

For [Kristi Noem] to leave at this point is, you know, it's, it's not a good development for her political career. I mean, I know that she's going over to be the envoy for the Shield of the Americas, but what this tells you is, is that she has lost the President's favor. She's lost his confidence. And I think there's a couple of reasons for that.

I think that, first of all, that the action in Minnesota did not go well. I think that it hurt the president on his strongest issue, which is immigration. I think that, you know, he may have lost, I don't know, 12 to 15 points of approval on that issue alone. And so what had been a strength has turned into a vulnerability. And in addition to that, there was the controversy over her spending considerable amount of money on ads that put her front and center, and then saying that Trump had approved that massive expenditure, therefore embarrassing him.

So that leads to going to Markwayne Mullen. Markwayne Mullen is a total Trump loyalist. He has built his reputation alongside of Trump, basically all the way. And despite that, I'll say, despite his sort of pugnacious reputation, my understanding is that he is well liked across the aisle, and that he may be able to leverage those relationships into good things for Homeland Security.

BROWN: Hunter, as you just said, Noem will be joining Marco Rubio’s Latin America team as Envoy to Shield of the Americas … a new partnership with 13 core member countries in Central and South America aimed at combatting drug trafficking and cartels. During the opening summit, Trump announced that with improvements coming to Venezuela, his attention is moving closer to home.

TRUMP: We're also looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba. Cuba's at the end of line, they're very much at the end of the line.

When asked about it on Monday, Trump said Marco Rubio is working on a deal.

TRUMP:It may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover, it wouldn't matter because they're really in they're down to, as they say, fumes.

So Hunter, Cuba has been an American national security challenge for the better part of a century, what kind of changes do you think could be coming?

BAKER: I'm interested to see how this works out. Obviously, the relationship with Cuba has been fraught ever since the revolution at the end of the 50s, and of course, we had the disaster of the Bay of Pigs during the Kennedy administration. Then of course, the terrifying Cuban missile crisis after that, and we have been in a tense, sort of a standoff situation with Cuba ever since you might have thought that once the Soviet Union collapsed and with it their support for Cuba, that Cuba would fall apart. And yet that hasn't happened. They have survived as a highly ideological regime headed by the Castro family now for decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.

But if, let's imagine if, if it happens that that regime falls and they enter into a constructive relationship with the United States, could be amazing. I. Can just imagine what a tourist mecca Cuba would become. I could imagine a Major League Baseball team in Cuba. It could be just a total transformation, but I'm waiting to see. I'm excited about what could be, but I don't know if we're going to get there or not.

BROWN: Well, let’s go to the main event, the war with Iran. We saw dramatic swings in oil prices early in the week with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed. We talked about the economic side of this a bit with David Bahnsen on Monday… but I understand you think there’s an important political aspect to this. What are you watching there?

BAKER:  One of the things that we've been saying now for several weeks, maybe even months, is that Americans are highly focused on affordability. When Trump tells Americans how good things are, there tend to be two things that he focuses on. One is the stock market, which is down right now, you know, couple 100 points at least. And the other is gas prices. He loves to talk about low gas prices. And with this action in Iran, we have seen the price of oil go up substantially. And you know, Americans may have noticed, depending on where you live, I live in a relatively low gas price area of the country. A couple of days ago, we had a shock increase to about $3.20 per gallon. And so that gives people the impression, regardless of how big a piece of the pie, gas prices are, and they do affect the price of everything, that price is constantly in your face and it gets people's attention.

And so we saw the price of oil spike, you know, went up from, say, about $70 a barrel to something like $119 a barrel. Now it's come back down some since then, but that just shows you the political risk. If those prices go up and stay up, then Trump is going to be in a real fight on the affordability front. So it's in his interest to figure out how to deal with this strait of Hormuz problem. Something like 20% of the world's oil goes through that strait. So if Iran can impose enough economic pain through the Strait of Hormuz, then Trump could lose political support for his war. So he's got to figure out a way to gain control of the strait, and to do so fairly quickly.

MAST: Hunter let’s move to what New York Times columnist David French is calling “The Talarico Moment.” He’s referring, of course, to James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, who will face off against either John Cornyn, who currently holds the seat, or Attorney General Ken Paxton–they still have a runoff to get through.

Here’s a bit of Talarico in his speech after he defeated Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the primary last week.

TALARICO: We're a threat to their corrupt system. 2,000 years ago, when the powerful few at the top hurt those at the bottom, that barefoot rabbi didn't stay in his room and pray. He walked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice. To those to those who love this state, to those who love this country, to those who love our neighbors, it's time to start flipping tables.

He’s supposedly running on the “politics of love” and often uses references to Jesus in his speeches–he went to seminary and is affiliated with the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA).

In French’s article this week he seems to be taking up Talarico’s cause to an extent, calling him decent, and one of the few Christian politicians who actually acts like a Christian.

We played a good bit of Talarico’s comments on the program yesterday so I won’t rehash them here. You notice how often he cloaks his progressive ideology in scriptural references. Yet even French himself says he thinks Talarico’s far too progressive to win over many conservative Christians … But says there are quote- “legions of weary Americans who aren’t motivated primarily by ideology.”

So Hunter, here’s my question: is French right?

BAKER: So he may be right that there are Americans who are interested in hearing a Christian type of political appeal that is not conservative or right wing in nature. But what I think that Tallarico is peddling is not necessarily Christian at all. I think that he has Christian language. But if you look at what he has had to say, we are, we are not in the neighborhood of Orthodoxy, there's nothing there. I mean, we're talking about classic progressive Christianity of the type that that, as Al Mohler pointed out, J. Gresham Machen referred to as liberalism, as opposed to Christianity. In other words, it's a different religion altogether.

I was wondering about this as I watched the primary campaign. I wondered how he would do. And then after he won, and I started to hear more of the things from his recent past, the past. Last five or six years, I realized that the opposition file on him is going to be incredible. I mean, when people see the things that he said, and I understand it's been played here on the podcast, you know, trans people need abortions too, that kind of stuff, I think that most people in the state of Texas are going to be seriously turned off. And I don't think he's even going to present the kind of threat that Beto O'Rourke did a few years ago.

MAST: Hunter Baker is provost at North Greenville University. Thank you, Hunter.

BAKER: Thank you.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: an Anglican divide, and the way forward.

A group of conservative Anglicans gathered last week in Abuja, Nigeria. They took another step toward what they call the reordering of the Anglican Communion.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: WORLD’s Africa reporter Onize Oduah attended the conference, and brings us details on the group’s decisions and how they may affect churches across continents.

ONIZE ODUAH: Last week, more than 400 Anglican clergy and lay people gathered at GAFCON in Abuja, Nigeria, to sing, pray, and discuss issues in the denomination.

SOUND: [Choir Singing]

At the end of the event, Rev. Laurent Mbanda reiterated its theme. He’s the archbishop of the church of Rwanda.

LAURENT MBANDA: Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

GAFCON claims to represent the majority of the world’s approximately 90 million Anglicans, most of them across Africa and Asia.

These Christians say they have remained true to the Anglican Communion, while the Church of England has strayed from Biblical teaching.

The conference theme of choosing whom to serve signals the group’s effort to reorganize Anglican leadership apart from the authority of Canterbury.

Some observers of the disagreement had expected the group to appoint its own replacement for the Archbishop of Canterbury. Instead, the group set up a council led by a top bishop. The council also includes other clergy and lay members … who all have equal voting rights.

SOUND: [Applause]

The group selected Mbanda as chairman. He will serve as the primary spokesperson in both ecumenical and international contexts.

MBANDA: And so it’s more of a conciliar structure. It’s a shared leadership. It’s not just one-man show.

The group said the unexpected change in direction for its leadership followed prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit.

Rev. Paul Donison is the group’s general secretary.

PAUL DONISON: The Global Anglican Council has discerned that if we are to move past old structures, we must leave behind old titles as well.

Donison told WORLD he sees the meeting in Abuja as the most important, since the group was first founded in 2008. At that first meeting, attendees signed the Jerusalem Declaration, which all incoming members of the Global Anglican Communion must now sign. It lists out 14 affirmations, with points including Biblical inerrancy and God’s design for marriage and sexuality.

Since then, the group has increasingly called out the Church of England for changing its stance on several doctrinal issues. The latest objections emerged after the Church of England confirmed the first female archbishop of Canterbury.

Donison insisted the group isn’t leaving the Communion but is rejecting the Church of England–led “Instruments of Communion” —the traditional leadership structures of global Anglicanism.

DONISON: For a time, maybe they did their job, but they certainly, in the last 50 years, haven't done their job well. And structures come and go. I mean, the word of our God stands forever, but the structures, just like the grass of the field, fades and withers.

The new structuring will also forbid its leaders from attending the Anglican Communion’s traditional gatherings, including the Lambeth Conference and Primates’ Meetings. They can’t approve any financial contributions to the Church of England and must eventually remove any reference to communion with Canterbury from their constitutions.

A spokesperson from the Anglican Communion acknowledged the division among the groups but insisted that Christ calls them to be one.

Donison says he and others in the Global Anglican Communion expect the changes to come with challenges.

DONISON: The truth is, you cannot reform anything without there being pushback. And so we are always prepared for it.

Some attendees found the week of prayers and conversations encouraging in light of the coming changes. Bishop Yassir Eric is originally from Sudan.

ERIC: There’s a narrative that’s developed, or a theology in the West, where it’s our ideas are starting to guide the gospel and the Bible, and it’s totally wrong. Our ideas and whatever we think should submit to the word of God and never be above the word of God.

The Global Anglican Communion isn’t the only conservative group disillusioned with the Church of England. The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches has also said it is open to hearing plans for reform.

Donison says some may see last week’s decisions as radical, but people have to make a choice on where they stand.

DONISON: Everyone's got to work through this at their own speed. But my posture is, friendship with the world is enmity with God. And I don't say that, you know, without any lack, with a lack of compassion. I mean that we're here to seek the world, but friendship with the world over friendship with God is enmity.

That’s this week’s World Tour. I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: When is dinner more than dinner? Denmark wants to know. The country’s culture minister is exploring whether gastronomy should officially count as art.

One chef says his elaborate tasting menus are designed for more than a full stomach.

CHEF: We convey messages through our food. Our food is our medium of expressing ourselves.

Yeah, but not everyone’s convinced. One Danish art critic says the whole debate is one big category error.

CRITIC: Art is art. Gastronomy is gastronomy. But it's not like a very good bicycle turns into a car. It doesn't happen.

Denmark’s parliament would have the final say. But if the idea passes, Danish chefs could one day have the same cultural cachet as painters or opera singers. Meaning the next masterpiece in Copenhagen might be plated instead of painted.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, March 11th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: A church welcomes people with special needs.

Most Protestant pastors and churchgoers say someone with disabilities would be welcome at the church. But one estimate states that about 80 percent of churches have no form of special needs ministry. And as autism rates rise, more and more families will face the prospect of feeling excluded from church life.

MAST: WORLD senior writer Mary Jackson takes us to Scottsdale, Arizona, where one church took up the challenge to keep that from happening in their own church family.

GLORI NUESSLE: We can go to the right, Cody. We’re following you bud, you’re the leader

MARY JACKSON: On a Saturday afternoon in October, Glori Nuessle and her son Cody gave me a quick tour of Highlands Church. It’s a congregation of about 2,000 people.

GLORI: We’re just going to follow you, Cody. Do you want to tell Mary more about this? This is the worship center itself. And the nursery’s here, go in through the front way on that side.

Cody is able to use some words, but he’s considered nonspeaking. He has autism and a motor disorder that makes it difficult to speak. It’s called apraxia.

In 2004, Cody became the inaugural member of Highlands’ special needs ministry. Missy Farrington leads that work.

MISSY FARRINGTON: So, um, we started with one little boy, his name was Cody, and when he was four years old he was diagnosed with autism. He was just struggling in the typical Sunday School classroom. So his parents at that time decided that one would stay home with him every Sunday and one would come to church with his older brother, and then they would swap weeks.

Cody’s dad was an elder at the time. But he had to tell the church leaders why they would not be seeing the family together very often.

FARRINGTON: The leadership said, well, that’s unacceptable, that’s an unacceptable solution. If this is happening in your family, this must be happening in other families. You need to be in church together as a family and Cody needs to come to church and realize God has a plan and purpose for his life, too.’

Missy was a stay at home mom at the time. But she has a background in special education. So she agreed to spend time with Cody during the service.

FARRINGTON: We would pray and I would tell him about Jesus and we would play on the playground and if we could go into the classroom I would sit with him in the classroom. It just grew from there.

Cody has grown a lot, too. He’s 24 now. 6’5, 225 pounds. The morning after I toured the campus, I met Cody and his parents in the noisy foyer just before Sunday service.

AUDIO: [Noisy foyer]

CODY: [Humming]

GLORI: Good morning, how are you guys?

Cody usually sits with his family for the singing portion of the service.

WORSHIP LEADER: [“It Is Well with My Soul”]

Then, he heads to the special needs class. On a given Sunday, up to 100 people attend classes. Missy says the ministry is not babysitting. It’s built on the premise that participants understand a lot more than we may think.

FARRINGTON: We believe, without proof, that they are understanding everything that we're teaching. I believe that someday I'm going to be held accountable, and I never want to stand in front of the Lord and say I didn't teach them because I didn't think they would understand. My job is to teach them, and it's God's job to do the rest.

The lesson is from 2 Kings.

AUDIO: [Jeopardy music] All right let’s see what you learned today.

That’s Steve Richards. He’s been volunteering in Highlands’ special needs ministry for about 4 years.

RICHARDS: Here we go. Are you ready? In today’s story, who is God’s prophet? Is it Elisha, Elijah, or Jeremiah? Show me. Jeremiah, that’s right, good job. [Clapping] Good job listening.

He’s roving the room with the mic. Most of the participants are at a table coloring. One looks out the window. Another fiddles with a toy.

The next question is for Cody.

RICHARDS: K Cody this one is for you. Did God decide it was time to stop giving second chances and third chances and fourth chances and fifth chances?

CODY: Yes.

RICHARDS: That’s right, God decided it was time.

Steve teaches the adult class every Sunday.

The church hopes to recruit more teachers. Missy admits that as the ministry grows, staffing is a challenge. Especially since volunteers need specialized training to handle the range of physical and emotional needs they encounter.

FARRINGTON: Probably the biggest obstacle is always having enough volunteers. There are so many things that we would love to do, but we just need more help.

But she tries to keep focused on the mission.

FARRINGTON: Our job is to as teachers, to teach them about Jesus. Our friends with disabilities are, they're human, they're sinful, and they need Jesus just as much as we do.

She hopes to find more ways to involve everyone in the church.

VOLUNTEER: Latte for Vickie and another one for Vicki

After class, Cody volunteers at the church’s coffee spot, serving drinks between services.

VOLUNTEER: A couple more minutes and we’ll close up shop cuz service should have started. Cody, you’re still in here, we’re not done yet.

Cody and his friends have put on plays with the church’s theater ministry. Every year, the church hosts a prom experience sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. They call it Night to Shine.

Missy and her husband, who is the special needs pastor, have helped other churches start special needs ministries. They hope more catch the vision.

FARRINGTON: We tell them our story and how we started. It's also important for me for them to realize that their story is not going to look like our story. Just because this is what, especially as ministry, looks like at Highlands, doesn't mean that that's what God has planned for their church.

Back in Cody’s class, Steve closed with prayer.

RICHARDS: Thank you for this morning. Thank you for this lesson, Lord, we learned there are consequences for sin but the good news is, the good news is, Jesus and as we trust in him as our Lord and Savior we get to walk free, we are truly free. Thank you Father

And James says, Amen.

[Cheering]

Thank you for being such good students this morning, awesome.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona.

MAST: To read more about how nonspeaking individuals are learning to communicate using a method called spelling, you can read Mary’s story in the February issue of WORLD Magazine.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

President Trump last week awarded the Medal of Honor to three soldiers—two of them posthumously, one of them in person. One of those honors went to a World War II prisoner of war whose courage saved the lives of more than 200 fellow soldiers.

Here’s WORLD Opinions’ Bethel McGrew.

BETHEL MCGREW: On a cold February night in 2009, Christopher Edmonds sat at a laptop googling his father’s name: Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds.

Almost 24 years had passed since Roddie’s death from congestive heart failure. Christopher had grown up to become a pastor and have a family of his own. One of his daughters had just done a history project that focused on her “papaw” and how he had been a POW in World War II.

The family kept a couple of fading diaries she’d carefully scanned. But Christopher still felt like he hadn’t helped his daughter enough—because the truth was, his father never wanted to talk about those days.

To make things more mysterious, some of the diary pages were missing. Others were taken up with a list of names and addresses—Roddie’s fellow POWs.

How many of them were still alive?

Christopher couldn’t shake the nagging drive to learn more.

That night he scanned the results of his search and clicked on a 2008 New York Times article that seemed, at first, to have nothing to do with his father.

It was about how Richard Nixon had struggled to find a residence after his famous scandal—and how a Democrat named Lester Tanner had generously stepped forward to sell the disgraced ex-president his own townhouse.

In one passing sentence, Tanner said he felt moved to do this because a man had saved his life in a POW camp during the war.

A man named Roddie Edmonds.

Soon Christopher would learn the full story.

AUDIO: “On the evening of January 26, 1945, the Germans announced that only Jewish American prisoners would fall out for roll call the following morning at the threat of execution. Master Sergeant Edmonds directed his senior leaders to have all 1,200 American prisoners present themselves for roll call.

The Nazi commandant became incredulous after realizing that so many Americans were standing in formation. The commandant removed his pistol, pressed it hard against Master Sergeant Edmonds’ forehead, between his eyes, and demanded that he order all Jewish American prisoners to step forward, or he would be shot.

Master Sergeant Edmonds fearlessly held his ground …”

“We are all Jews here,” Edmonds said in reply. He told the commandant that not only would he have to kill Edmonds first, he would have to kill every last man standing—because the end of the war was coming soon, and judgment with it. At that, the German officer holstered his pistol, turned around, and walked away.

One of the Jewish men who stood by Edmonds’ side that morning would later change his name—from Tannenbaum to Tanner.

Over lunch at a club in New York decades later, Tanner told Christopher Edmonds that he believed his father deserved the Medal of Honor. Yet despite his efforts to build a campaign, Tanner would not live to see it succeed. At first the government judged Edmonds ineligible because his actions had not taken place in combat. But that judgment was reversed this year.

At a special White House ceremony last Monday, Christopher Edmonds stood in for his father.

TRUMP: Chris, thank you. Today, your father gets the honor he so courageously earned. And really amazing, right? Amazing story. Congratulations to the family of Master Sergeant Roddy Edmonds.

Although Christopher grew up knowing none of this remarkable story, he saw his father as a hero for simpler, quieter reasons. His constant fatherly presence. His steadfast Christian faith.

In church he became famous for belting out “How Great Thou Art” in a strong, booming voice.

His favorite Bible verse was Romans 8:37: “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” He put that faith into action through faithful service to the community of Knoxville, Tennessee. After the war he worked as a sales manager and quickly earned a reputation for honesty and customer care. “Just go see Roddie,” people told their friends. “He’ll treat you right.”

In a documentary interview, Tanner laughs and jokes that Edmonds had “probably never met a Jew in Knoxville.” Yet when the moment of truth came, Edmonds met it unflinchingly. 

Roddie Edmonds is the only American serviceman named in Yad Vashem’s “Righteous Among the Nations.” An honor he never sought and never lived to see. But through the memories of those he saved—and the children’s children who would never have been born without him—the story will endure for generations.

For WORLD, I’m Bethel McGrew.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Tomorrow: Congress hears about a new threat from China. We’ll have a report. And, the benefits of family care across the generations. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Lindsay Mast.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

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:

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” —Luke 6:27–31

Go now in grace and peace.

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