Right-wing talk, Jim Franklin Live-opposing views

This is a reply to Jim Franklin’s show of April 5, 2026.
Jim Franklin quoted C.S. Lewis writing that Jesus’ claims to be the Jewish Messiah commit him to being either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. Was Jesus lying to us, or was he crazy like the many psychotic residents of mental wards who claim to be the Messiah, or was He as He said He is, the Lord of the time and eternity. We can ask as similar question of Franklin and his implication that if California eliminates the state gasoline taxes, fuel prices will go down. Is Franklin a liar, or ignorant of economics, or a prophet of lower fuel prices? As the Bible says, “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights I men who are truthful.” (Proverbs 12:22) Giving Franklin the benefit of the doubt, let’s assume that he is not lying, but simply ignorant of economics and explain it to him.
First, in Franklin’s defense, an interviewer on National Public Radio made the same error in a comment, asking if canceling gas taxes would make up for the increase in gas prices that are now higher after the mining of the Strait of Hormuz. The incorrectness of this suggested corrective is understandable as we consider why the prices went up after the Strait was blocked—even though filling station’s gas tanks were not yet empty and in need of refilling—and anyway, the U.S. is the world’s largest petroleum driller, and Kern County (a county of large land area) is the largest oil drilling county in the nation: the recent increase in the price of motor fuel is unrelated to the costs of producing and delivering it, including the cost of taxes.
As the news tells us, oil is a world-wide-traded commodity, and the local price is a function of the world price. That is, oil companies are not loyal to their nation, selling petroleum first to their own people, but loyal to their profit. They can make more profit by selling as much oil as they can to oil companies in countries that do not drill, or as much, petroleum as the U.S. does, and thus they must pay more for it as it comes from elsewhere. After this, our oil companies don’t have sufficient petroleum to fuel the U.S., thus they raise the price. Why?
Oil companies raise the price of the smaller supply of their products IN ORDER TO reduce the demand for it and thus the purchase of it. As prices rise, buyers drop out of the market. These buyers buy the product at the lower price, but their budgets and their lesser needs for the product motivate them not to buy. The higher the price, the greater the number of buyers who stop buying. (Some products, including gasoline, resist this buyer-drop-out effect since the buyers have built their lives around use of the product without other options available, and they have needs more than desires for the product. Yet ultimately the price may go so high that they must accept the suffering of not having it, and they will drop out, too.) Now consider how gas taxes fit into this situation.
The reason why fuel prices must go up is to move some buyers to get out of the market, to stop or reduce buying. This reason has nothing to do with the suppliers’ costs of drilling, refining, storing, and delivering the fuel. It has to do with its more limited supply. Gas taxes, which are collected by both the state and federal governments, are part of the costs of producing and delivering the fuel product. As explained above, the price increases are unrelated to the costs of buying, producing, and delivering the gasoline. As such, gas taxes are UNRELATED TO the price of gas. Eliminating or lowering these taxes will not have an effect on the price of gas chosen by the oil corporations.
What if we the people, misguided by commentators such as Franklin, move our legislators to eliminate the state and/or federal gas taxes. This is something that could be done. But after that, the oil companies’ gas prices would be kept the same, to fend off buyers of their newly limited product. But oil company profits would be raised by the amount of the reduced tax. Gas tax reductions simply would be gifts to oil companies.
Do we want to give oil companies this gift? We certainly do not. They should be taxed to cover some of the costs of the air and water pollution that their product gives off, which raise our health care costs to treat emphysema and cancer. Their executives should be heavily fined and imprisoned for their campaign of lying to us, saying that global climate change from carbon dioxide released from burning their product was a matter of controversy in science when actually the evidence was incontrovertible by all who knew the facts about chemistry and atmospheric science.
What if an elimination of gas taxes were to come with a requirement that the price of gasoline had to be lowered by that amount? The lower gas price would then fail to discourage fuel buyers from buying, and more people would be lining up to buy the cheaper fuel. They would literally be lining up their cars, as people did during the “fuel crunch” of 1977 (after a problem with getting oil out of Saudi Arabia), lined up at filling stations that extended into the streets and around blocks. These motorists strongly desired to buy gasoline even at the near-double cost of fifty-two cents per gallon, which had suddenly gone up from twenty-nine cents per gallon. That price had not gone up enough to stop people from getting in gas lines. Is that what we want? The gas lines would w**d out gasoline purchasers who would be unwilling or unable to wait it in those lines, with the same result, of fewer people buying the reduced supply of fuel.
What the people of the U.S. should do in this time of globally fungibly priced fuel is to forget buying as much of it as we once did by using alternative ways of transporting ourselves. The Fresno FAX bus system will continue operating using the higher priced gasoline. It may have, or will get, battery-powered buses, too. Each bus has 35 seats, ten straps for hanging, more room to hang from ceiling rails, ramps and fasteners for wheelchairs, and bicycle racks to hold means for getting to and from bus stops. And bicycles can be used for entire trips.
For faster and less exerting travel, electric bicycles are increasing in popularity. The bigger the battery they come with, the farther and faster they’ll go. At the low end new electric bikes are available for $700. Most of our gasoline powered travel is for short, urban trips that electric bikes will cover. Bicycle trailers are available for children, doubling for carrying cargo. The ultimate transition away from fossil fuel are electric cars, which already are part of the state’s passenger fleet, more expensive than internal-combustion cars, but running on electricity at the equivalent of $2.50 per gallon gasoline.
At the end of the first hour of Jim Franklin’s show, he said that he would be back in the second hour to have more to say about the fuel situation. Instead, after the commercials and station breaks, he said the same thing as the first hour, and again that hour ended saying he would be back to talk more about the topic. Instead, after those commercials, “The Real Money Show” came on. Is Franklin a liar, a lunatic, or a prophet? The liar was the KMJ show programmer who chose to broadcast the parts of “Jim Franklin Live” that contained these falsehoods.

This is in response to Jim Franklin’s broadcast of February 22, 2026.

This may not be an issue of right-wing talk, but Jim Franklin mentioned UFOs in the news after a reporter asked Pres. Obama if they are real, and he said, “Yes, they’re real,” then denied that they are in Area 51, unless a conspiracy is keeping the information from the president.” Franklin went on to comment on Pres. Trump’s reply to the same question, sidestepping it as a breach of classified information.
Franklin brought in the television series “The X-Files” as evidence of public interest in the question. In the broadcast the matter was simply a point about how Trump deals with questions. Yet the question remains, which is surprising that Rev. Franklin did not explore, of what UFOs are (now called by our government UAPs: unidentified aerial phenomena, which is a more general designation). An evangelical is likely to have an answer.
Some have suggested that the Bible includes information about UFOs, the vision of Ezekiel, when “Ezekiel Saw a Wheel/Away Up in the Middle of the Air,” as the negro spiritual sings. Ezekiel 1:4-6, 13-18, 22, 24, 26-28 says, “I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—and an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces …
“The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. …
“I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. …. They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.... Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.…
“Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome.… When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their winds like the roar of rushing waters …
“Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire.… and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.”
Is what Ezekiel saw similar to what people saw who report seeing UFOs? In the First Century did people at a distance see Jesus ascending as similar to what people have seen who report seeing UFOs? Acts 1:9-11 reports, “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
“They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee, ’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?’"
These acts of God were possibly unidentified aerial phenomena for some who saw them without Godly interpretation. But there are other beings, alien from our experience, with the power to bring on aerial phenomena. Jesus referred to them when he spoke of what He will say from his throne, judging, “ ‘Depart from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ” Before these angels of the devil are cast into the fire, they can create unidentified phenomena and more serious trouble for people on earth, for those who open the door to their activity.
There is a statistical correlation of reports of people who have seen aerial phenomena that they cannot identify, jet pilots, and others, with activities they have engaged in that open doors to the supernatural. Are they participating in seances? Using oija boards? Water witching? Pendulum Dowsing? Tarot card reading? Automatic writing?
Some people take UAP reports seriously. They do not dismiss them as unidentified natural phenomena such as meteors, the planet Venus, ball lightning, St. Elmos’ Fire, lenticular clouds, “caliche gas,” swamp gas lighting up Will-o’-the-wisps (ghost lights), various lamps at night, pranks, or hallucinations. They believe that UAPs are sightings of “multidimensional” objects, that is, of alien beings existing in spatial dimensions that we have no means of investigating from within our three-dimensional world.
This connection between opening doors to the supernatural and breaking our hedge of protection from demonic influence and possession should serve as a warning to us to that there is a real supernatural realm, probably in multidimensional spaces, where demons, angels, Satan, and the Creator, God dwell, a God who has communicated to us through His Word, the Bible, which warns us that unless we believe in Jesus as our Savior (Acts 16:30-32), take the narrow gate that leads to life (Luke 22:12-30), and we are born from above (John 3:3), we will be damned to be thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12-15)

This is a response to Jim Franklin Live of November 30, 1925
Jim Franklin was critical of Gov. Newsom’s statements at the annual United Nations climate conference, representing the United States since Pres. Trump, a climate-change denier, didn’t attend. Gov. Newsom’s Catholic upbringing may have led him to understand Revelation 11:16, 18, prophesying that “… elders … seated on their thrones before God … saying ‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty … because you have taken your great power … for destroying those who destroy the earth’ ”
Franklin reported that in an interview after the conference the governor said that we had “doubled down on stupid,” which Franklin rightly interpreted as referring to the nation and the federal government following the Trump administration. Franklin’s contrary claim is that it is the Democratic party doubling down on stupid, with leaders who “can’t define woman,” and who permit transexual women into women’s locker rooms and restrooms. But it is the Republicans under Trump’s leadership who have doubled down on stupid, accepting the leadership of the most corrupt president in the nation’s history, who is treating our federal government like his personal profit center and the Dept. of Justice like his own law firm, tasked with going after his personal enemies.
Trump wants the support of Christians and issued a Trump Bible edition, but his statements such as that he doesn’t ask for God’s forgiveness because he has no need to; he doesn’t sin. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Corinthians 2:14) A man who regards as foolishness the things that come from the Spirit of God may double down on stupid.
“Do I have to list his achievements?” Franklin asked. Then he declined to provide a list. That’s probably because what Franklin regards as Trump’s achievements are crimes, including refusing to administer agencies approved and funded by Congress, instead shutting them down, and destroying achievements that we took ride in such as the Centers for Disease Control. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sued Pres. Trump eighteen times at the last count, all due to Trump violating laws.
The enforcement of law against presidents, particularly since the Supreme Court ruled that presidents cannot be prosecuted by the courts for his official actions, is impeachment and removal from office. This requires a 2/3 vote of the senate. The senators are half Republicans, who are loyal to Trump. They, too, are doubling down on stupid, by deciding not enforce laws broken by Trump. Why is Jim Franklin unconcerned about these moves by Trump in the direction of authoritarianism and ignoring of our constitution? Franklin, too, is doubling down on stupid.
Franklin criticized the direction that the Democratic Party is moving as voters elect self-declared socialists including the Mayor of New York and a congressional candidate in Tennessee. His criticism of these officials is that we have a free-market nation, and socialism won’t work. He objected to giving away things—people will suffer (?), and new taxes, taxing the rich! Franklin did not go into detail about the one thing that may lift our nation out of the economic desperation that is making voters reach for anything new they think will make it practical: taxing the rich. Why would Franklin object to taxing those who have the wealth our nation has produced? Jesus’ attitude toward the rich was not one of following their leadership or supplying them with what they seek. He corrected our undeserved respect of rich people when he taught, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it es easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:23-24) Jesus taught, in Luke 8:14, “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Paul teaches in 1 Timothy 6:9, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” By heavily taxing the rich, we’ll be doing them an eternal favor. For the Lord’s sake, vote in the Democrats, and tax the rich!

This statement is a response to the Jim Franklin Live broadcast of June 22, ‘25.
Jim Franklin spent most of his show providing justification of Pres. Trump’s bombing of three Iranian sites of enriched uranium and the equipment to enrich it. He included Iran as the major source of terroristic action in the region including funding the October mass killing and hostage taking at an Israeli concert, Iran’s attacks of Israel since Hamas’s bombing of the concert, Iran’s declarations of death to America, their failure to keep past treaties, and the unpopularity of its leadership with the Iran’s own people.
As valid as these justifications of the bombings may be, they have a major problem: Iran was attacked without authorization by congress, with a declaration of war, as the U.S. Constitution requires. Some past U.S. presidents have taken action before getting a declaration of war, in times of emergency, when a response was needed before congress could be convened to authorize it, or when secrecy of an operation was important to permit a surprise attack. In those cases congressional authorization was obtained later. But in the case of Trump’s bombing, there was no emergency and his announcement of his intention to consider bombing eliminated the possibility of a completely surprise attack. These conditions for an attack did not apply to Trumps bombing attack.
After being informed of the bombing after the U.S. planes had left Iranian air space, some members of congress, citing Trump’s non-compliance with the constitution and the law, called for his impeachment. This offense, as one of Trumps most blatant rejection of being controlled by law—which he swore to uphold in his oath of office, impeachment and removal from office is appropriate. It should be a double impeachment, with removal to include Vice Pres. Vance after his strong support of Trump’s illegal act.
There is teaching in the Bible, Christian Bible and the Jewish Torah, giving us a precedent for such impeachment, the story of King Saul’s disobedience of God’s directive through the judge and prophet who anointed him, Samuel.
Israel’s first king, Saul, received a command of God to wipe out a nation deserving death since they harassed the Israelites on their journey from Egypt to their promised land, the Amalekites, by killing its men, women, children, and livestock. It is instructive to read the story of Saul and his rejection by God because of Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel 15, and consider applying this scriptural teaching to Pres. Trump.

“Samuel said to Saul, ‘I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel, so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says, “I will punish the Amalekites for what thy did to Israel … Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” ’ So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand men from Judah. Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. … Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amaekites alive, and all is people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good.
“Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ‘I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions. Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
“When Samuel reached him, Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’
“But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?’
“Saul answered, ‘The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.’
“ ‘Stop!’ Samuel said to Saul. ‘Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’
“ ‘Tell me,’ Saul replied. …
“ ‘Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.’
“Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instruction. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.’
“But Samuel said to him, ‘I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!’ …
“And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
(1 Samuel 15:1-5, 13-16, 23b-26, 35)

Saul showed himself unable or unwilling to carry out the word of the Lord as conveyed by judge Samuel. Donald Trump showed himself unable or unwilling to carry out the word of the Constitution, which he swore to uphold. We can conclude that the Lord has rejected Trump as president/king over the United States, and the Lord is grieved that he had made Trump president over the U.S. We who live by God’s Word should work to see that Trump is impeached and removed from office, as God and Samuel rejected Saul in the office of king.

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This commentary is in response to the Jim Franklin Live broadcast of June 15, ‘25.
Jim Franklin criticizes protesters, condemning those who burn the American flag. In Fresno, where Jim Franklin lives, there were more American flags than Mexican flags, with some American flags flown upside down, as a signal of disaster.
I saw no American flags burned. He offered us his source with a clip of a Trump speech condemning flag burners and advocating prison for them. Without disagreeing with them, does this apply to any of the No Kings and Los Angeles protesters? Who are Trump and Franklin talking about? Those carrying American flags were showing their allegiance to the U. S. republic and its constitution and laws. Trump has not earned such respect. Trump lied taking his oath of office by violating our constitution and laws immediately afterward with the stack of illegal executive orders he issued. God condemns those who sin by lying. Jesus associated liars with Satan, saying to Jewish inquirers, “You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was … not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) By his constant lying, Trump follows the way of the devil.
I agree with Franklin’s criticism of those carrying flags of Mexico during the No Kings Protest. Like Franklin, I don’t know what the protesters were trying to say as they carried foreign nations’ flags. Do they have trouble getting back to their homeland, and they are protesting that?
Franklin spent and hour of his two-hour show denouncing Gov. Newsom for criticizing Trump for nationalizing the California National guard and sending U. S. Marines. He repeatedly sought to make the point that Democratic officials were standing by and choosing not to police the violence of ICE protesters. Why would he say that?
What the governor and mayor said was that the Los Angeles police and county sheriffs were handling the situation, and did not need reinforcements. That’s why TV broadcasts needed to show, over and over, the video of the same burning car and the same looting. There simply wasn’t enough going on to show more. Also maps of the area of the riot show that it spread over a few blocks of the city, a tiny area of LA. It was something that the local police dept could handle without need of reinforcements.
Of greater concern is how Trump called up the National Guard and Marines. There is a law regulating this process that involves consultation with the governor. Trump did not abide by. Trump broke the law another way: call-up and deployment could legally be done immediately in case of an emergency; no such emergency existed. Trump knew this, and so should have Jim Franklin before he ranted about it on radio.
A lawbreaking president is of greater concern than the control of a small riot in one city. By failing to mention this, Franklin endorses Trump’s lawbreaking. Apparently he does not have full information about the situation, listening only to propaganda in his information “silo.”
The call-up of troops was not a response to an emergency, it was theater, for Trump to make himself look tough against political violence and illegal immigration, even though he acted illegally. His action helped him erode the constitution’s separation of powers, including rights designated for the states. But we’re to believe that now it’s about what Trump decides, not what the law says.
The Bible does not directly teach democracy or republics. But the rulership of God’s people, Israel and Judah, began as a family, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then after centuries in slavery in Egypt, they were ruled by judges, who sometimes led the tribes of the nation into battle. Political power was diffuse then, not highly centralized. There were both good and bad times, with Judge Gideon leading the people to militarily drive out their oppressors and cut down shrine-poles to demonic “gods.” Judge Samson also drove out an oppressing tribe, despite Samson’s moral failings. But there was also out-of-control crime, including the revenge taken after the r**e of Dinah, violating an agreement they had made with the rapist’s tribe.
Yet the Israelite nation eventually asked Judge Samuel to anoint a king for them, a military leader. Before Samuel gave in, he gave a warning about kings, urging Israel to discard the idea. As narrated in 1 Samuel 8. “… all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel ‘… now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’ … this displeased Samuel, so he prayed to the Lord. ‘... it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. … forsaking me and serving other gods … warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.’ Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ‘… He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses … Some he will assign to … plow his ground and reap his harvest. … He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. … He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.’ ” (1 Samuel 8:4-8, 10-15, 18)
Franklin is defending Trump’s illegal action, whereby he sets himself up as an absolute sovereign, not a constitutional president. Franklin and the 46% of supporters of Trump who elected him, are demanding a king. They are repeating the mistake of the ancient Israelites. If this process goes far enough, they will ask God to deliver them from King Trump or his successor, but the Lord will not answer them in that day.
Last Saturday hundreds of people gathered around Shaw and Fresno Streets and Nees and Blackstone Avenues in Fresno and several million people around the nation to protest President Trump assuming dictatorial power, supporting the No Kings Act, now under consideration in Congress. Instead of justifying Trump’s kingly acts, Franklin should be supporting our constitution and the No Kings Act, and advocate that our nation protect a government more in harmony with God’s Word, the Bible, a government which respects individuals loved by God, according to law, rather than respecting whims of a king.

This commentary is in response to the Jim Franklin Live broadcast of June 15, ‘25.
Jim Franklin criticizes protesters, condemning those who burn the American flag. In Fresno, where Jim Franklin lives, there were more American flags than Mexican flags, with some American flags flown upside down, as a signal of disaster.
I saw no American flags burned. He offered us his source with a clip of a Trump speech condemning flag burners and advocating prison for them. Without disagreeing with them, does this apply to any of the No Kings and Los Angeles protesters? Who are Trump and Franklin talking about? Those carrying American flags were showing their allegiance to the U. S. republic and its constitution and laws. Trump has not earned such respect. Trump lied taking his oath of office by violating our constitution and laws immediately afterward with the stack of illegal executive orders he issued. God condemns those who sin by lying. Jesus associated liars with Satan, saying to Jewish inquirers, “You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was … not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) By his constant lying, Trump follows the way of the devil.
I agree with Franklin’s criticism of those carrying flags of Mexico during the No Kings Protest. Like Franklin, I don’t know what the protesters were trying to say as they carried foreign nations’ flags. Do they have trouble getting back to their homeland, and they are protesting that?
Franklin spent and hour of his two-hour show denouncing Gov. Newsom for criticizing Trump for nationalizing the California National guard and sending U. S. Marines. He repeatedly sought to make the point that Democratic officials were standing by and choosing not to police the violence of ICE protesters. Why would he say that?
What the governor and mayor said was that the Los Angeles police and county sheriffs were handling the situation, and did not need reinforcements. That’s why TV broadcasts needed to show, over and over, the video of the same burning car and the same looting. There simply wasn’t enough going on to show more. Also maps of the area of the riot show that it spread over a few blocks of the city, a tiny area of LA. It was something that the local police dept could handle without need of reinforcements.
Of greater concern is how Trump called up the National Guard and Marines. There is a law regulating this process that involves consultation with the governor. Trump did not abide by. Trump broke the law another way: call-up and deployment could legally be done immediately in case of an emergency; no such emergency existed. Trump knew this, and so should have Jim Franklin before he ranted about it on radio.
A lawbreaking president is of greater concern than the control of a small riot in one city. By failing to mention this, Franklin endorses Trump’s lawbreaking. Apparently he does not have full information about the situation, listening only to propaganda in his information “silo.”
The call-up of troops was not a response to an emergency, it was theater, for Trump to make himself look tough against political violence and illegal immigration, even though he acted illegally. His action helped him erode the constitution’s separation of powers, including rights designated for the states. But we’re to believe that now it’s about what Trump decides, not what the law says.
The Bible does not directly teach democracy or republics. But the rulership of God’s people, Israel and Judah, began as a family, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then after centuries in slavery in Egypt, they were ruled by judges, who sometimes led the tribes of the nation into battle. Political power was diffuse then, not highly centralized. There were both good and bad times, with Judge Gideon leading the people to militarily drive out their oppressors and cut down shrine-poles to demonic “gods.” Judge Samson also drove out an oppressing tribe, despite Samson’s moral failings. But there was also out-of-control crime, including the revenge taken after the r**e of Dinah, violating an agreement they had made with the rapist’s tribe.
Yet the Israelite nation eventually asked Judge Samuel to anoint a king for them, a military leader. Before Samuel gave in, he gave a warning about kings, urging Israel to discard the idea. As narrated in 1 Samuel 8. “… all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel ‘… now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’ … this displeased Samuel, so he prayed to the Lord. ‘... it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. … forsaking me and serving other gods … warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.’ Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ‘… He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses … Some he will assign to … plow his ground and reap his harvest. … He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. … He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.’ ” (1 Samuel 8:4-8, 10-15, 18)
Franklin is defending Trump’s illegal action, whereby he sets himself up as an absolute sovereign, not a constitutional president. Franklin and the 46% of supporters of Trump who elected him, are demanding a king. They are repeating the mistake of the ancient Israelites. If this process goes far enough, they will ask God to deliver them from King Trump or his successor, but the Lord will not answer them in that day.
Last Saturday hundreds of people gathered around Shaw and Fresno Streets and Nees and Blackstone Avenues in Fresno and several million people around the nation to protest President Trump assuming dictatorial power, supporting the No Kings Act, now under consideration in Congress. Instead of justifying Trump’s kingly acts, Franklin should be supporting our constitution and the No Kings Act, and advocate that our nation protect a government more in harmony with God’s Word, the Bible, a government which respects individuals loved by God, according to law, rather than respecting whims of a king.

Send a message to learn more