In the first episode of 2024, we consider the tradition of New Year’s resolutions, look ahead at some of the newsmaking trends that we anticipate, and conclude with a prayer for a new year.

In this Christmas replay, we discuss several opposing pairs of virtues and vices that shape our Christian character. If you’re considering how you can grow in godliness and holiness this coming year, here are some timeless biblical concepts to consider.

Would you help support the work of the Ezra Institute before the year ends? Click to donate, and thank you for all your prayers and support!

There is a certain type of attitude or personality that creeps up this time of year that tries to suppress the joy of other believers in celebrating the birth of Christ. It alleges that Christmas was originally pagan, and that we are participating in idolatry. In today’s episode we discuss how there is good evidence that this is not the case, and that even if it were, the kingdom of God overcomes all opposition, and that all holidays ultimately belong to Christ.

Registration is open for the Worldview Youth Academy and Cultural Leadership Academy. Act now to get the early-bird rates.

We live in an age where we are told to define and live our own truth, including the most fundamental truths about our human identity. Over against such self-determination, Scripture gives us a vision for life based on the identity of God as the transcendent Creator, of human beings as image-bearing creatures, and the fundamental givenness of the world.

Would you prayerfully consider supporting the Ezra Institute this year? Donate here.

Jonathan Wellum joins us once more on the podcast to reflect on the economic year 2023, and to discuss ESG, ethical investing, and the worldview difference between a godly and ungodly approach to economics.

Learn more about Jonathan’s work.

Get tickets for Mission of God West, happening this weekend!

Ezra Institute Fellow Dan Ogden makes his podcast debut to discuss the difference between international law, which is based on common consent, and supranational law, a coercive and unaccountable system. He explains some of the strategic and economic benefits of a globally connected world, as well as the complications that arise from it, and how to think in a principled, Christian way about a tangled and high-stakes context.

The Canadian Mission of God conferences start this weekend in Windsor, Ontario! Get your last-minute tickets.

We interact with a classic interview with Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB agent who defected from the USSR in the 1980s. He explains the strategy of cultural infiltration that has been active since the 1950s, and the work of demoralization that has been accomplished in the West. As we approach election seasons in the USA, Canada and Britain, we must be diligent to also pursue personal sanctification and not compromise on principles for the sake of temporary fixes.

Get tickets to the Mission of God conference, December 2 in Windsor, and December 9 in Calgary.

Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmXiapfCs8

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/11/18/donald-trump-joe-biden-polling-2024-presidential-election-enten-nr-vpx.cnn

Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin joins us to discuss the strange bedfellows of Marxism and Nationalism that have been keeping company lately, as well as antisemitism and the recent rise of nationalism of several stripes, including Christian nationalism, and how a reformational perspective guards against the excesses and reactionism of both progressive and conservative ideologies that are not based in Christ Jesus.

Get Andrew’s latest book, Virtuous Liberty.

Register for the upcoming Mission of God Canada conferences.

As governments and law enforcement deal with planned demonstrations for this upcoming Remembrance Day, Joe Boot considers the Islamic worldview commitments that are fundamentally at odds with Christian religious worldview commitments, and discuss the true and lasting peace that was accomplished through the cross of Christ.

All month of November, save on the family advent guide Behold Your King at Ezra Press.

Get tickets to the upcoming Mission of God conferences in Windsor and Calgary.

On this Reformation Day, Tobias Riemenschneider joins us from Germany to discuss the West’s death-loving culture, expressed in the horror of abortion. He explains how the wide-scale support for state-sponsored abortion is upstream from so many other forms of murder, euthanasia, the harm that it causes to women, and the folly of referring to abortion as a human right. He also discusses how God’s people can act together to resist and push back through legal channels to bring the gospel of life to bear on our culture.

Get Tobias’ book, Resisting Tyranny: A Christian Response to Government Overreach

Register for the Mission of God Conference UK, and Canada.