Doubletake

When Thaddeus Hall was born, the room went silent. From then on, every day has been a struggle for survival–kind of a race, really. As Thad’s family pushes through the obstacles of raising a medically fragile child, it seems like life will never be the same. What do you do when something goes wrong? What does life look like? What do you lose—and what do you gain?Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (wng.org/donate). Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from AMG, Atomica, and STKA. News clips from CNA News and HBO.

This is the story of two Iranian women who brought about a revolution in one of the world’s most notorious prisons–just not the kind involving protests and violence. It all came down to the courage to answer a few questions from a judge.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (https://publish.blubrry.com/s-1467414/episodes/e-116647184/edit/wng.org/donate).Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from ALIBI, 5 Alarm, AMG, Atomica Music, Manhattan Production Music, and Strike Audio. News clips from ABCNews, the BBC, ITVNews, CBCNews, PBS, NBCNews, and NPR.Ambient sound from Sound Effects Pod and Stockmusic. “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus” from http://youtube.com/instrumentalworship

Laurel Marr is a Christian who helps people find comfort and meaning in their last days. In the past, death was a preparation to meet God. But our secular culture today thinks this life is all there is. Laurel asks—and answers—the question: what does it mean to die well?Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (wng.org/donate).Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from ALIBI, AMG, Atomica Music, and STKA. Amazing Grace keyboard by lorenzobuczek from Pixabay. News clips from Reuters and The Guardian. Audio clip from Ghost.

When he was 15, Connor Clough taught himself how to become aware he was dreaming while he was dreaming. It seemed kind of fun–until it wasn’t. Along the way he faced a question that has puzzled thinkers for millennia: Are dreams just collections of memories and emotions dredged up from our subconscious? Or are dreams really some sort of window into transcendent reality?Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (wng.org/donate.) Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from Strike Music, Figure and Groove, ALIBI, Atomica Music, and Pink Shark Music.Song: “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland” by The Mills Brothers.

In 2005 Tani Prroj was pastor of a small Albanian church and his wife Elona was a stay-at-home mom. But then Tani’s uncle shot and killed a mountain man, casting the family into a cycle of revenge that can go on for generations. Albania is one of the last places on earth that still practices “blood feud.” It’s a cultural imperative and an impulse most of us recognize all too well: the desire for justice–and then some.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate). Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from ALIBI, Atomica Music, Strike Audio, Merge Music, Pink Shark MusicAudio clips from Taken 2, and Sons of Cain.

Two years ago Stewart Freeman built a church in a virtual reality app called VR Chat, reputedly one of the wildest places in the metaverse. On this episode we’ll tag along with Stewart and the VR ministry of Cornerstone Church as they try to bring the Gospel into virtual reality. Instead of allowing virtual reality to distort the Gospel that they preach. It’s the second in our short series exploring the implications of technology that shapes our perception of the world around us.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (https://gift.idonate.com/world-news/WNG)Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from ALIBI Music, Strike Audio, Atomica Music, 5 Alarm, Manhattan Production Music

About three years ago Stewart Freeman went online, into virtual reality, to meet girls. Instead he found Christ through a California church called Cornerstone, one of a handful of ministries trying to preach the Gospel in a new digital world called the “metaverse.” Mark Zuckerberg predicts that within a few years a billion people will be in the metaverse–but at what cost? It’s part one of our two-part series exploring the implications of technology that shapes our perception of the world around us.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (https://gift.idonate.com/world-news/WNG)Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from ALIBI Music, 5 Alarm, Atomica MusicShort Story “Pygmalion’s Spectacles” by Stanley G. Weinbaum, produced by The MixVR

Larry and Connie Van Oosten were awakened one morning in 2017 by a masked intruder with a weapon. He stuffed them into the trunk of an old Caprice and hauled them off to a secret room. It seemed at first like a sophisticated heist designed to clean out their bank accounts–but the truth was both weirder and more unsettling than they could have imagined. They’re still dealing with it.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (https://gift.idonate.com/world-news/WNG)Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from Stockmusic, Atomica Music, ALIBI MusicNews Clip: WQADFinal song: Jimmie Rogers, “In the Jailhouse Now”

When Rachel Cochrane was 17, she headed off with her mom to attend an Air Force Academy ball with her brand-new, first-ever boyfriend. It should have been so romantic. It wasn’t.Music licensed via (http://podcastmusic.com/)podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from 5 Alarm, ALIBI Music, Atomica Music. News clips from KOAA News. Final song: The Manhattans, "Kiss and Say Goodbye”

On April 12, 1999, Air Force cadet James Busch stepped out of an airplane 6,000 feet in the air for a routine practice jump. But his parachute didn’t open. Neither did his reserve.And then things got really bad. It’s a helpless feeling to watch a big problem come rushing up from a long way away, knowing that you’re out of options. But sometimes God works in unexpected ways.