Today we discuss more personalities and cultural issues and news items. Pope Francis was recently elected Pope and was in the news. We note that the pressures in society and the hostilities against Christians have in effect to a degree, pushed Christian traditions together and we appreciate each other more, now that the world is attacking Christianity with such fervor. We discuss the resignation of Benedict. He remains a Bishop, and no longer has the authority that he once had in the Roman Catholic tradition. The new Pope Francis has a Jesuit background. We try and be fair to the Roman Catholic views as we describe them, putting the most charitable description upon that tradition, even though as Protestants we have major differences. Back to our first point, the issues in our world force the various Christian traditions to work together in order to stand against the onslaught of secularism and the erosion of our religious freedoms. The rule of ideas is real and we have almost reverted back to paganism. A side note, we take some time to encourage pastors to be studious in their approach. We must be as the Apostle Paul or St. Augustine. That is, well read in order to confront the forces of our day. We desire our fellow pastors in "sister" churches to be successful in the gospel. We mention some of the books that Pastor Vance is reading (from the standpoint of good scholarship). We encourage reading St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and others. But secular works are also mentioned so that we can better understand for ourselves the other side and be able to effectively interact with all views. What are you reading? Light devotional works are fine as far as they go, but what about a weightier book? We need to train our minds. After the break we talk about Christians and their involvement in this world, including politics. Jesus expects Christians to engage the world. The Church itself has a role of preaching and teaching the gospel so that we have a Christian mind. But the individual Christian has an extra responsibility through our membership in the body politic. We must apply the Christian view to the times in which we live. That is, we must understand our times so that we can engage the world for Christ. Finally we touch upon some issues. One issue is that Obamacare is a threat on our religious freedoms. Further, Utopian Statism is a huge threat for us right now. Finally there is an attack upon charitable giving. These are bald attacks upon what we took as the basic freedoms that we once had. Participants: Dr. John Vance, Dan Elmendorf