On this Episode:

CHRISTMAS DAY IS ALMOST HERE

The joy of Christmas is upon us. Almost always, though, I (and maybe you) have a moment on Christmas night where I ask, "Was that it? That's what we waited for all year." Let's talk about that feeling, the promises Christmas breaks and keeps, and how to prepare.

THOUGHTS ON JUPITER AND SATURN'S CONVERGENCE

What an incredible sight that was! How can that event help us get perspective on our own lives?

RAPID THOUGHTS ON SEVERAL STORIES

-The Media's reaction to Pete Buttigieg's 

-OnlyFans is making prostitution possible in a broad sense. We should be aware of it and fight it.

-President Obama gets several points wrong that I correct.

-Pop-star Lizzo did a juice cleanse. For an idiotic reason, some people on the internet cared.

On this Episode"

The story of Scripture is God purposing himself toward the gathering of a people. We trace from Adam to Noah to Abraham and finally to Jesus to see how the love of God is made abundantly clear at Christmas.

If we recognized all we have -- resources, family, skills, talents, households, etcetera -- are entrusted to us by God as stewards, we would think, plan and behave differently.

After every election, some folks bring up secession. It's being revisited again. The idea often is brought up by overly emotional people and radicals. However, that shouldn't stop level-headed adults from calmly and maturely considering the options for a nation as deeply divided as ours.

A pagan, nationalist religion was on display in DC last week. It was full of degrading the role of Scripture and plenty of ecumenism too. I have details.

On this Episode:

-Week 3 of Advent has the theme of Joy. Joy might be the emotional marker of this season for most people. I'll take the time to differentiate between deep-rooted joy and situational happiness. We also examine the 4 core places the human heart goes for joy (approval, influence, comfort, and control), and why those place never lead to joy.

-Over the years, from all sides, I have heard predictions so wild that they would fundamentally alter the world. We heard plenty of those about last month's election, for example. Nevertheless, here we are. The world is actually really normal. If we'll embrace that and stop searching for secret meanings or worrying about impending dooms, we'll all be happier.

-Covid restrictions are leading to conflicts between governments and citizens. We really need to decide what a government can do to us and what they can't.

-I give a full 15 minute to the voter fraud allegations of the last month.

On this Episode:

When we truly have hope that something is going to happen, we prepare for it. We know Christmas is coming, so we put up the tree, decorate the house, prepare the meals, wrap the gifts, and make a ton of plans. We prepare.

This Advent week is also a reminder that we have a living hope for Jesus's second coming. As sure as Christmas commemorates that He game, we can be sure He is coming again. So, let me help you prepare.

The Church is waning in North America and Western Europe, but demographers are showing that the Church is growing wildly in other parts of the world. I'll share the numbers and the implications.

The Governor of Maryland recently said something that allows us to get to the core of our rights as humans and Americans. I even get to remind everyone how crucial the 9th Amendment is in recognizing that our system is one that sets human freedom as the default setting. We never have to justify our freedom. People who want to LIMIT freedom are the ones with the burden of proof that they should be allowed to limit it.

We're in a public health crisis. I'm not at all jealous of leaders who are making policy in an uncertain world. At the same time, we need clarity on how much power governments get to have in times of crisis.

On this Episode:

-Advent Week 1: Hope

Christmas is a day; Advent is a season, and we just started it. The first theme is holding to hope in a seemingly hopeless world and anticipating the justice and plenty of the world to come.

-Voter Fraud Allegations

I tire of these allegations. We now have an attorney claiming what would be the most significant crime of at least the last 500 years. If she can't produce evidence, she should be disbarred.

-Listener Submissions

--Responding to COVID Conspiracies

--Do Christians harm their message when they identify with ANY politician?

--Is national unity possible?

-Student Loans and Higher Education

I oppose vehemently any sort of student loan absolution. It's bad policy and deeply unfair and unjust. Higher education is largely broken, though, and if we allow market forces to affect it, it can be saved from itself.

On this Episode:

Now lower income American lives in more luxury than King George III or King Louis VIII. We take for granted that when we turn the faucet, hit the switch, and toggle the knobs that we get, on demand, clean water at the temperature we want and electricity to power our lives of relative leisure.

We even get angry when the miracles of technology we enjoy don't work the exact way we want the moment we want. Our culture breeds in us all a wanton entitlement. Let me help you cultivate gratefulness even in the face of challenge. There's joy there to be had.

I hope, after all my years have passed, that the message for which I am most remembered is Christ and him crucified and resurrected. I count on my credibility to say to an unbelieving world that the Maker of All of Things put on flesh, dwelt among us, was crucified, and nevertheless lives even now. 

If that's my primary claim, I want to be really careful about the other claims I make about the world: elections, culture, other people, etcetera. I hope you'll join me.

A Senate candidate says the Bible teaches government-controlled socialism. I may not like socialism, but I dislike bastardizing the Bible even more. I explain near the end of the show.

#Bible #Christian #ChristianTalk 

I am grateful for the dozen or so of my listeners who have reached out to me to express gratitude over my voice being one of hope and optimism right now.

I've kept this refrain: we're all going to be okay.

Part of this episode explores this reality: my adult lifetime, for political administrations, I've lived through the most ideologically radical (Obama) and the most personally erratic (Trump), and.... we're all fine. The Lord is good. We've all made it.

There's more of that and a lot more on this week's show. I would be honored if you give it a listen.