The Cory Truax Show

On this Episode:

THE HOPES AND FEARS OF ALL THE YEARS

Jesus's coming was the long-awaited answer to all our hopes for a good world being fulfilled. I want to walk through those details and demonstrate how Jesus fulfills our every hope and quells our every fear.

ORIGIN STORIES

Christmas is the Christian's origin story. Another compelling origin story is how Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came to write, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I want to tell you that story.

JESUS CAME AS A BABY -- BUT ALSO A KING

Christmas is good for reflection and celebration. I want to close the show by challenging you to find some silence to question where the arrived and soon-coming King's kingship hasn't fully claimed your life.

On This Episode:

ADVENT WEEK 4: Love

The Christmas story is filled with love – Elizabeth choosing joy instead of jealousy about Mary’s pregnancy and Joseph choosing belief instead of skepticism about the same. But the greatest act of love was the incarnation itself. I have some thoughts from Romans 5 about how this Christmas seasons exemplifies God’s love for his children.

CHRISTIAN LOCALISM

There’s a lot of debate right now about something called “Christian Nationalism.” I want to tell you why Christian Localism is the much better idea. This is the idea that first being concerned with your street, neighborhood, school or workplace will be much more effective than trying to win the government of a country.

NATIONAL HEALTH CRISIS

I know the holidays are a terrible time to talk about this. However, I saw, back-to-back, a story about our obesity rate and then another about how giant food makers give millions to dietician and nutritionist programs. I have just a few thoughts.

BEWARE OF WHO YOU LISTEN TO

For the Christian, it’s tempting to listen to the voices that agree with you politically. It’s important to recognize, though, that many of those voices are not Christian voices.

On This Episode:

ADVENT WEEK 3: Joy

When hope is fulfilled, there is joy. We’ll take a brief look at the shepherds, Simeon, and Ana to examine how the first Advent brought joy. We’ll also take that cue to think about the first Advent as a signpost, pointing us to the second and final Advent of Christ. If we’ll live in that light, we’ll walk in joy.

WHAT DOES “REIGNING WITH CHRIST” MEAN?

I heard a challenging sermon this week about what it would mean or us to actually reign with Christ right now – reigning in our households and over the parts of Christ’s Kingdom he’s entrusted to us. I’ll play you some of that audio that has a particular challenge for Christian parents.

THE 303 CREATIVE VS. ELENIS CASE

Seeing the progressive, secular Left react to that case crystalized three things for me. First, there’s a segment of the secular hard left that despises Christians. Second, the modern Western world has concocted a novel system where one’s sexual desires are a CORE identity. That’s new in human history, and most of the planet now has no paradigm for sex being someone’s core identity. Finally, the just ruling is clear. The Supreme Court should end Colorado’s prejudiced law.

On This Episode:

ADVENT WEEK 2: Preparation

Week 1’s theme was hope. As we hope for ultimate Advent of Christ, though, we prepare. I’ll note in this segment that a too-common experience is that a promise – even a fulfilled promise – can sometimes leave us underwhelmed. Sometimes we overestimate our joy at an experience. The Second Advent will not be that, though. Whatever hope you have for Jesus’s Second Coming, you’re not hoping enough. So, as we await that hope, we prepare. I’ll give you some ideas on how to do that.

WHAT HAPPENED, WHERE WE ARE, AND WHERE WE’RE GOING

I saw data this week that recorded the rapid secularization of the United States. As Christianity’s influence has plummeted, the consequences have been devastating to the culture. I also want to point you to even more secular societies as a warning of where we might be headed if the church doesn’t go about its own purity and renewal to lead the culture around it in renewal.

OUR MEDIA DIET IS MAKING US SICK

Just as a bad nutrition regimen will make us sick, our media diet of relying on social media and internet is making emotionally, mentally and even physically sick. I have a solution.

On This Episode:

GRATEFULNESS IN AN ENTITLED TIME

Happy Thanksgiving! We live in a time totally unimpressed with our relatively easy lives. I have some thoughts to encourage you to be blown away by the physical and spiritual blessings we enjoy.

ADVENT WEEK 1: HOPE

One of main themes of Christmas is light invading the darkness. We live in a weary world that needs the thrill of hope. We live in a captive world that longs for Emmanuel – God with us. To appreciate fully the light that has come and will come again, we need to take the time to understand how dark it is.

INCARNATION – WHAT WE DO WITH OUR BODIES MATTERS

God chose to put on flesh and dwell among us. This means A LOT. One implication is God’s value of the physical world and how when we live, where we live, and what we do is eternally meaningful.

MUCH MORE

On This Episode:

ON MARRIAGE

I’m finally a married man, and I couldn’t be happier. I highly recommend marriage, first because of the companionship. There’s nothing like coming home to your best friend (I’m also fortunate my best friend is a beautiful woman). But second, I recommend it because it calls us higher and to be better. I also recommend all inclusive resorts in Cancun! I have some other thoughts to share on my wedding and the first two glorious weeks of marriage.

DON’T LET THE ELECTION GET YOU DOWN

Elections used to affect me emotionally. If you’re disappointed, let me challenge you on that to ask if elections have too much a hold of your heart.

MY ELECTION 2022 TAKE-AWAYS

1. It was a tie – maybe a slight win for the Right.

2. The only political brand more toxic than liberalism is Trumpism. I’ll prove it.

3. Abortion, sadly, mattered a lot – but not as much as the Left is saying.

4. Ticket-splitting is back and favors candidates just being the more normal of the two.

5. Conservatives need to USE early voting and mail-in voting instead of being skeptical of it.

6. Marriage and parenthood are starting to be emerging voter blocs.

On This Episode:

ELECTION 2022 PREDICTIONS AND ANALYSIS

What happened in this election is one party talked about the economy, crime, and inflation while the other talked about a terrible event at the Capitol 2 years ago, “threats to democracy,” and their love for abortion. The issues people care about right now aligned with the first party while the second party yelled at them for not caring about other things. That will ultimately mean a 25-30 net pickup in the House for Republicans and a 53-47 control of the Senate for Republicans.

GRANTING COVID AMNESTY?

An Atlantic writer recently proposed that we grant amnesty for those that ended up getting so much wrong about their Covid response. I definitely want to offer grace and understanding to regular people who were driven into semi-madness because of media manipulation and a bad news bias. However, for the leaders who imposed their policies with the attitude of being the only arbiters of truth, we must accountability. Fortunately through court rulings, election outcomes, and new paradigms, we’re getting a lot of that accountability.

THE PAUL PELOSI STORY

I’ve noticed that too many conservatives – and way too many Christians – are given to conspiracy theories. That is happening around this story. At the same time, I’m noticing an opposite delusion on the other side that this attacks is directly related to conservative rhetoric or that violence is uniquely on the Right. We have to be people who diminish temperatures, call people to reality, and pray for peace.

On This Episode:

LEARNING FROM BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY

A listener sent me an effective line from this popular series of books that highlights a them of my show: our crisis of meaning and the negative effect thereof. This also served as a great reminder to watch, listen, and read with discernment – filtering everything through Scripture.

ELECTION SEASON BRINGS MADNESS TO PULPITS

From a “Renew America” rally in a church to Stacey Abrams taking the mic at a church on Sunday morning, Biblical illiteracy ranging to heresy is pouring out of our political process. I’ll play you the audio and provide critique.

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PANIC

Near the end of the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, various hysterical people warned us of martial law impositions or an unwillingness to give up power. That’s happening again regarding right-leaning candidates likely gaining majorities in a few weeks. These claims have always proved false, and our institutions always hold up. There needs to be accountability for the panic-causing press.

THE CHANGING MUSCULAR CONSERVATISM

I’ve been chronicling the change in the church and on the Right regarding the role of government and the role of Christians in government. I’m still wrestling through it myself. In this installment, I have an argument from the Federalist that makes the full-throated argument that folks on the Right need to embrace the thinking of the Left: get power and use it to impose our ideas.

On This Episode

THE U.S. UNDER JUDGMENT

I recently heard a sermon that, in part, itemizes the actions and attitudes that invite God’s wrath on a people. As I heard it, I was personally convicted, but I also saw that the US is INVITING God’s judgment on us in very specific ways. I also lay out how His judgment is already being made clear.

THE “HE GETS US” CAMPAIGN

Some group is spending $100 million to “re-introduce” and “re-brand” Jesus to the United States, using slick TV ads and a clever website. As the adage goes, “clarity is kindness,” and I’m finding an issue that the campaign is clear about almost nothing. They seem to want to generate interest and curiosity about Jesus – and it stops there. I’ll give details.

ECONOMIC POLICY MATTERS BECAUSE IT HELPS OR HURTS PEOPLE

A fundamental Biblical worldview holding is that we desire flourishing and dignity for every human. History has demonstrated particular policies are best for humans. I recently saw stories on retirement funds being decimated by the market and middle- and lower-income families struggling with inflation. We should pursue policies that encourage growth and an environment where people have the dignity of self-reliance through work.

COVID FOLLOW UP PART… I DON’T REMEMBER

We just found that ACT scores are at an historic low, and it’s being blamed, in part, on a year of lost schooling. From time to time, I like to re-visit how we responded to Covid and the years-long consequences that response will have. I have a couple stories to this end.