11.12.25 The deal that ended the shutdown, World Tour, and helping kids develop a Biblical worldview

Summary

The World and Everything In It

Episode Title: 11.12.25 The deal that ended the shutdown, World Tour, and helping kids develop a Biblical worldview
Date: November 12, 2025
Host: WORLD Radio
Summary Prepared by Podcast Summarizer

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Overview of the Episode

This episode covers three main themes:

• A detailed look at the political deal that ended the longest U.S. government shutdown in history, with special focus on the role of the Senate filibuster and fallout from the vote.
• The WORLD Tour segment rounds up major international headlines, including unrest in Tanzania, COP30 in Brazil, and Iran’s historic drought.
• An exploration of how to help children develop a biblical worldview, featuring an interview with Hilary Morgan Ferrer, founder of Mama Bear Apologetics.

Distinctive moments include on-the-ground reporting, expert political analysis, and a practical segment relating Christian theology to daily family life.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Deal That Ended the Government Shutdown

(00:05–21:00, Main News and Washington Wednesday)

• The U.S. Senate passed a government funding package that is expected to reopen the government and extend funding through January.
  • The legislation saw uncommon bipartisan support, with eight Senate Democrats crossing the aisle.
  • Notably, Democrats joining Republicans was crucial to passing the stopgap measure and breaking the filibuster.
• The shutdown’s practical toll was especially heavy on federal employees, including air traffic controllers whose absence led to flight cancellations and delays.
  • Quote: “Virtually all of them can’t navigate missing two pay periods, which is a whole month of pay they’ve missed. So, that’s a problem. And that’s why this reopen of the government is so critical to happen right now.” – Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (01:58)
  • Quote: “This is the erosion of the safety margin the flying public never sees, but America relies on every single day.” – Nick Daniels, President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (02:26)
• The Senate filibuster came into the spotlight as both parties recognized the threat of its elimination (“nuclear option”) as a deciding factor.
  • Analysis from Hunter Baker, Political Scientist:
    “The mere threat of the filibuster triggers this 60 vote cloture requirement. ... It was done to try to force the Republican majority to pass positive legislation. In my view, that's basically an illegitimate use of the filibuster.” (10:41)
  • Both Republicans and Democrats have reason to fear altering filibuster precedents, considering the lasting impact on judicial confirmations and legislative leverage.
• Additional major political headlines:
  • President Trump laid a wreath at Arlington for Veterans Day and announced a new center for homeless veterans.
  • President Trump issued 77 pardons, including for Rudy Giuliani.
    • Quote: “Rudy Giuliani is one of the most, I think, tragic figures in American politics.” – Hunter Baker (16:00)
    • There are concerns from both parties about the normalizing of broad, preemptive presidential pardons.
• Supreme Court will review a case on mail-in ballots and the definition of Election Day:
  • Quote: “If you ask most Americans, do you want to know the outcome of the election on election day, ... I think that most people are going to say yes.” – Hunter Baker (19:12)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "I think the filibuster is not long for this world." – Hunter Baker (11:50)
• Movie reference: “No one did [filibuster] better than the fictional Senator Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1939 classic film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” (08:31)
• “He revolutionized the fight against crime in the city, made the city a lot safer and more prosperous.” – On Giuliani as Mayor of NYC (16:10)

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WORLD Tour: Key International Stories

(21:41–25:42)

• Tanzania: Electoral violence after widely criticized presidential elections. Authorities charged over 200 people with treason and cracked down on protests causing over 1,000 deaths, per opposition groups.
  • Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Ruwaichi: “Tanzania has lost its dignity and honor over the unlawful killings.” (22:13)
• Brazil (COP30): United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belem, critical review of climate action and Paris Agreement progress.
  • Brazilian President Lula da Silva called climate change deniers “a problem,” while Bill Gates advocated a shift in focus towards immediate global poverty alleviation.
  • US did not send high-level representatives. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright critiqued climate summits for not focusing on “the interests of 8 billion citizens.” (23:46)
• Iran: Driest period in a century, with only 10% of dam reservoirs full, prompting potential evacuations in Tehran.
  • UN Water Institute’s Kaveh Madani: “A problem like this was not created overnight. It’s the product of decades of mismanagement, lack of foresight and problems in planning.” (24:53)

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Helping Kids Develop a Biblical Worldview

(25:42–33:44, Feature Interview: Hilary Morgan Ferrer)

• Hilary Morgan Ferrer discusses the mission of Mama Bear Apologetics, aiming to equip parents—especially mothers—to spot harmful cultural ideas (“weeds”) and train their kids to think biblically and critically.
  • Quote: “When people don’t understand the seed of an idea … they have no idea basically what they are planting left and right.” (26:01)
• Ferrer references the shift in culture since 2019—especially the rapid rise of transgender ideology and its overt presence in schools.
• Handy Tools for Parents:
  • Ferrer developed the “ROAR Method” for discernment:
    • Recognize the message
    • Offer discernment (start by identifying truth, then error)
    • Argue for a healthier approach
    • Reinforce through discussion, discipleship, and prayer
  • Quote: "Everybody thinks they're on the right side of history, and so you need to understand why they're championing for the values that they do before you can start to refute it." – Hilary Morgan Ferrer (27:22, reiterated at 29:57)
• Ferrer explains the “Founder’s Effect”: the first person to introduce an idea to a child becomes the expert in their eyes.
  • Laying a truthful foundation early is much easier than tearing down false beliefs later (29:10).
• On balancing logic and love in apologetics:
  • Quote: “When you learn how to have these conversations in a way that acknowledges all the good points they’re trying to make before they even have to make all of them, I think that is a place where we can present things in love.” – Hilary Morgan Ferrer (32:03)
  • Public settings require clarity and truth, while private counsel allows for nuance and gentleness.
  • The church’s diversity of roles (confrontation, comfort, teaching) is a feature, not a bug, in responding to cultural challenges.

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Practical Theology Segment: “A Christian Life is Like a Pot of Soup”

(34:16–38:19, Janie B. Cheney Commentary)

• Janie B. Cheney draws an analogy between making soup from scratch and Christian sanctification:
  • Just as a soup requires both vegetables and meat, simmered together patiently, Christians undergo transformation through God’s work.
  • Quote: “He gathers us with our sharp angles and hard surfaces, our squishy and acidic selves, and chops us with the sharp blade of his word. He adds us with all our imperfections and cooks us down to a mellow whole, conforming to him and confirming each other. ...Today’s controversies become tomorrow’s table fare. Meanwhile, we’re cooking in the Lord’s kitchen.” (34:30–38:19)
• Emphasis on unity, patience with ourselves and others, and spiritual growth through ongoing “cooking” in God’s hands.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:05] – Start of News; government shutdown deal
• [01:21] – Bipartisan action in Congress; shutdown’s impact
• [10:41] – Analysis of filibuster and its political future (Hunter Baker)
• [13:15] – Trump’s Presidential Pardons and Rudy Giuliani’s legacy
• [19:12] – Supreme Court to review mail-in ballots and election law
• [21:41] – WORLD Tour: Tanzania, COP30 in Brazil, Iran’s drought
• [25:42] – Training children in a biblical worldview: interview with Hilary Morgan Ferrer
• [27:22] – Cultural shifts since 2019; explaining the ROAR method
• [29:10] – The “Founder’s Effect” in shaping children’s beliefs
• [34:16] – Janie B. Cheney’s practical theology: life as soup

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Notable Quotes

• Hunter Baker (on filibuster abuse):
  • “If that is going to become the new normal, then I think the filibuster is not long for this world.” [11:50]
• Hilary Morgan Ferrer (on discernment):
  • “Most lies are wrapped in partial truth… we have to identify what’s true first before we can even extract them.” [29:57]
• Nick Daniels (on air traffic safety):
  • “The erosion of the safety margin the flying public never sees, but America relies on every single day.” [02:26]
• Janie B. Cheney (on spiritual growth):
  • “He gathers us with our sharp angles and hard surfaces… cooks us down to a mellow whole, conforming to him and confirming each other.” [34:30–38:19]

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Tone and Language

• The tone is direct, thoughtful, and firmly rooted in a biblical worldview.
• Experts and hosts speak plainly, addressing both practical current events and deeper cultural and spiritual themes.
• Quotes and discussion points are presented as they were spoken—with humility, clarity, and conviction.

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Useful For:

This summary provides a comprehensive overview of the episode’s key topics: national politics, international affairs, and practical theology for Christian family life. It’s especially valuable for listeners seeking to understand how cultural, political, and spiritual narratives intersect, all in an accessible and biblically grounded format.

Transcript

[Lindsay Mast]

Good morning. Today on Washington Wednesday, the political collides with the practical.

[Kent Covington]

I've got some folks who didn't like to vote, but I'm gonna have a.

[Hunter Baker]

Whole lot of federal employees who are.

[Kent Covington]

Going back to work and they're getting their paychecks.

[Nick Eicher]

Hunter Baker is standing by. Also today, our international roundup world tour. And later, why cultural understanding is key to training the next generation.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

Everybody thinks they're on the right side of history, and so you need to understand why before you can start to refute it.

[Nick Eicher]

And world's Janie B. Cheney on how the Christian life is like a pot of Soup.

[Lindsay Mast]

It's Wednesday, November 12th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast.

[Nick Eicher]

And I'm Nick Icker. Good morning.

[Lindsay Mast]

Time for the news now with Kent Covington.

[Kent Covington]

Members of the US House are on their way back to Capitol Hill where a vote could happen as soon as today on a government funding package that the Senate just passed that would reopen the government and fund it through the end of January. But the vote could be tight. Republican Congressman Brian Mast noted that eight Senate Democrats supported the stopgap measure.

[Hunter Baker]

And I would be surprised if in the end, we have a total of.

[Nick Eicher]

15 Democrats between the House and the Senate.

[Kent Covington]

But it is widely expected to pass nevertheless. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was one of those eight Democrats in the upper chamber who crossed the aisle to break a filibuster and approve funding. He said he is elated that the government will likely soon reopen.

[Hunter Baker]

People have went five weeks without being paid. I mean, that's a violation of my core values, and I think it's our party's as well.

[Kent Covington]

Among those who have gone without paychecks are air traffic controllers across the country, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

[Nick Eicher]

Virtually all of them can't navigate missing two pay periods, which is a whole month of pay they've missed. So that that's a problem. And that's why this reopen of the government is so critical to happen right now.

[Kent Covington]

A surge in unpaid controllers calling out sick has forced the FAA to reduce flight traffic for safety, and that has led to thousands of flight cancellations and delays each day this week. Nick Daniels is president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

[Nick Eicher]

This is the erosion of the safety margin the flying public never sees, but America relies on every single day.

[Kent Covington]

If lawmakers cannot get back to Washington in time, that could delay the funding vote. And even when the government does reopen, that does not mean flights will immediately return to normal. The the FAA says There is currently no timeline for when traffic will get back to full capacity. President Trump paid tribute to fallen soldiers on Veterans Day Tuesday, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. But the president said the holiday should also be known as Victory Day.

[Hunter Baker]

America's warriors never quit, never surrender. They fight, fight, fight, and they win, win, win. That's what we do. We win battles.

[Kent Covington]

Trump said his administration is reducing wait times for medical care for veterans and working to create new opportunities for veterans after leaving the military.

[Hunter Baker]

And I'm pleased to report that since January, the veterans unemployment rate has fallen by more than 26%.

[Kent Covington]

The president has also signed an executive order to build a center to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans by 2028. A surge of arctic air has knocked temperatures into record territory across the Southeast while dumping early snow in the northeast breeze. Warnings now cover 18 million people in Alabama, Georgia and even in Florida, where officials warned residents of falling iguanas as the frigid air paralyzes the tropical reptiles. Scott Kleebauer with the National Weather Service said Tuesday that in Lakeland, Florida, between Orlando and Tampa, their records go back to 1948 and they were at 36 this morning. And the old record, the old daily record, was 44 back in 1996, so.

[Hunter Baker]

Actually beating it by a whole 8 degrees.

[Kent Covington]

And farther north, lake effect snow is coating parts of Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania with 4 to 8 inches of snow already and more on the way. Israel has agreed to allow more than 100 Hamas terrorists to be peacefully exiled, but the plan is reportedly hitting a snag. The Times of Israel reports that the plan cannot move forward because there are currently no countries willing to accept them. Meantime, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country is taking steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. Macron says France and the Palestinian Authority will work together on a first draft of a constitution for a future state. And in central Israel, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered for the funeral of Lt. Hadar Golden. Golden was 23 years old when he was killed, just two hours after a ceasefire took effect in the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. The terror group has held his body for the past 11 years, but released his remains this week as part of the current cease fire deal brokered by the Trump administration last month. At least 12 people are dead and more than two dozen others wounded after a suicide bombing outside of a district court in Islamabad, World's Benjamin Eicker reports.

[Hunter Baker]

Police say the attacker tried to enter.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

The courthouse Tuesday but detonated his explosives.

[Hunter Baker]

Beside a police car after being stopped at the gate. Authorities say the bomber targeted officers, calling the assault part of a wider wave of militant violence. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat Al Arar, claimed responsibility, though its leaders later issued conflicting statements. Meanwhile, Pakistani security forces foiled an attack at an army run college in a northwestern province. Prime Minister Shabazz Sharif condemned both attacks and called for a swift justice for WORLD I'm Benjamin Eicher.

[Kent Covington]

And I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead this WEEK IN POLITICS on Washington Wednesday and our International Roundup world tour. And later, help for parents wanting to strengthen their children's faith. This is the world and everything in it.

[Nick Eicher]

It's Wednesday, the 12th of November. Glad to have you along for today's edition of THE WORLD AND Everything In It. Good morning. I'm Nick Iker.

[Lindsay Mast]

And I'm Lindsay Mast. First up, shutting down the shutdown. The House is expected to vote as soon as today on legislation that will end the longest government shutdown in US History. The breakthrough follows the defection of eight senators on the Democrat side breaking ranks to back a spending bill that extends federal funding to the end of January.

[Nick Eicher]

We reported yesterday that progressive commentators were livid and even some Democratic officials were surprised that the long standoff left them no better off on day 40 than they were on day one. For one of those who broke ranks, it came down to a conclusion that the confrontation actually gave the White House greater political advantage. For another, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, it was purely practical.

[Kent Covington]

I've got some folks who didn't like to vote, but I'm going to have.

[Hunter Baker]

A whole lot of federal employees who.

[Nick Eicher]

Are going back to work and they're getting their paychecks.

[Lindsay Mast]

The breakthrough also followed threats from President Trump to end the Senate rule that oftentimes is the only leverage a minority party has. The filibuster. The word itself comes from an old Dutch term for pirate, because in the early days, a senator who launched a filibuster was seen as seizing the floor and refusing to let go.

[Nick Eicher]

You won't find the filibuster in the Constitution, though. It's a Senate invention that allows 41 senators to to stop the other 59 calling a vote. It used to mean standing on the Senate floor and talking till you dropped. These days, it mostly means threatening to.

[Lindsay Mast]

But back when it really did mean talking, no one did it better than the fictional Senator Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1939 classic film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

[Nick Eicher]

You all think I'm late.

[Hunter Baker]

Well, I'm not late.

[Nick Eicher]

And I'm gonna stay right here and.

[Hunter Baker]

Fight for this lost cause, even if this room gets filled with lies like these.

[Lindsay Mast]

In September 2013, during a filibuster over Obamacare, Senator Ted Cruz used some of his 21 hours of talk time to read a goodnight story to his children watching back in Texas on C Span.

[Nick Eicher]

Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam.

[Hunter Baker]

I am.

[Nick Eicher]

I do not like green eggs and ham.

[Lindsay Mast]

What the Senate really loves is not so much the speaking as the gumming up of the works. According to the progressive group the Brennan center for justice, there have been more than 2500 votes to end a filibuster since the year 1917, more than half of those coming in the last 12 years.

[Nick Eicher]

Joining us now, political scientist and World Opinions contributor, Hunter Baker. Hunter, good morning.

[Hunter Baker]

Good morning.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, I wonder, Hunter, whether the threat of nuking the filibuster was enough to end this thing, because I think there is a real fear and I'd love to hear what you have to say about this. A lot of Republicans did not want the filibuster ended. I'm sure Democrats didn't either, especially as they have another year to go before the midterm elections. And I wonder whether there wasn't a fresh memory of Republicans making Democrats rue the day they tampered with the filibuster rule. It was back in 2013, Democrats went for what was known as the nuclear option, changing Senate rules so that most presidential nominees, including lower court judges, could be confirmed with a simple majority. So Republicans then would double down by 2017. And that cleared the way for President Trump's three nominees, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett, to be confirmed to the Supreme Court with no filibuster. What do you think?

[Hunter Baker]

The Senate is not supposed to be the same kind of body as the House. Sometimes there's been a metaphor employed setting up the House as the cup of the hot coffee and the Senate as the saucer. You know, some of you may have, as I did, saw my grandfather, he would drip some of the hot coffee into his saucer to cool it down. And the Senate is supposed to cool down the passionate, hot ideas that come out of the House. And so that's the idea behind the filibuster, that you can slow things down and cause there to be greater debate and consideration. But I think that what we've seen with these shutdowns is an abuse of the filibuster. The filibuster, as mentioned earlier, is not in the Constitution. It's just a Senate rule. And I just think it's important that everybody look at how it was used here. The mere threat of the filibuster. Right, Not a real filibuster. The mere threat of the filibuster triggers this 60 vote cloture requirement. And this was not done by the Democrats to stop something. It was done to essentially try to force the Republican majority to pass positive legislation. It was meant to try to force them to pass an extension of these Covid era Obamacare subsidies. In my view, that's basically an illegitimate use of the filibuster. This is the minority party trying to force passage of legislation that they could not ordinarily get. And if that is going to become the new normal, then I think the filibuster is not long for this world.

[Nick Eicher]

So just a quick question. Do you think that it was the threat of blowing up the filibuster that caused everyone to walk back from the brink here?

[Hunter Baker]

I think that that's part of it. It gives significantly more power to any senator because they have the potential to kind of stop everything. And so that makes every one of them an important player on the board. But I think in practical terms, there are just some senators, like Angus King from Maine. I think he just felt responsible. He just thought, you know, this is a disastrous situation and I need to do something to help with that. I think you look at somebody like Tim Kaine in Virginia, which has a ton of federal employees, and of course he referenced that, that, you know, he needed to vote to end this thing so that the federal employees could get their paychecks.

[Lindsay Mast]

Presidential pardons are back in the news with 77 issued over the last few days by President Trump. Want to call attention to the most famous pardon recipient, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. In a real sense, this may be one of the last chapters in a highly interesting political career. Depending upon how you define it. Giuliani may be the only true Republican mayor in the last 100 years. In New York City, you had Michael Bloomberg, but he became a Democrat, as did John Lindsay. But if you count Fiorello LaGuardia as a Republican and Bloomberg and Lindsey, it's still just four in the last century. Giuliani is one of those, but he.

[Nick Eicher]

Was a cultural curiosity. Even just as he was coming on the scene, Giuliani made a cameo in the popular TV comedy Seinfeld. Remember this? Well, it's hard to understand because I've.

[Hunter Baker]

Been doing everything I normally do. I've been watching my diet very carefully. I exercise Regularly. My only indulgence, I guess, would be that I eat a lot of frozen yogurt, but it's non fat, non fat yogurt.

[Nick Eicher]

They got Giuliani and he doesn't even know it.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

Now look what you've done.

[Nick Eicher]

We've got to do something that Mayor.

[Hunter Baker]

Giuliani will do everything possible to cleanse the city of this falsified non fat yogurt.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, he did more than simply fight phony yogurt, though. He did do that. Giuliani was credited with making the city livable again by aggressively fighting crime. And his term was ending while when 911 struck and he was a steady presence on the scene. All that we know right now is.

[Hunter Baker]

That two airplanes struck the two large towers of the World Trade Center. We spoke to the White House.

[Nick Eicher]

There also apparently was an attack on the Pentagon.

[Lindsay Mast]

As a New Yorker, of course, he was friendly with Donald Trump. After serving as Associate Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Giuliani later became Trump's personal attorney. Work that drew him into the post 2020election battles, multiple lawsuits and landing in more popular culture venues. Here he is in April 2022 on the set of the celebrity singing competition the Masked Singer.

[Hunter Baker]

Oh my goodness. Former Associate Attorney General, former mayor of New York City.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

Is that Papa Duo?

[Hunter Baker]

No, that's not Robert Rudy Giuliano.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, Hunter, what do you make of this new and possibly last chapter for Giuliani receiving a presidential pardon to head off any federal charges stemming from the 2020 election? In the hubbub around January 6, Rudy.

[Hunter Baker]

Giuliani is one of the most, I think, tragic figures in American politics. After 9 11. I'm not sure that you could think of an American politician who was riding higher than Rudy Giuliani. He had before he became mayor in the early 1990s. He had actually gone up against the mob in New York and really had won. Then he becomes mayor and just revolutionized the fight against crime in the city, made the city a lot safer and more prosperous. And so for a person like that to end up as kind of a remainder, an afterthought in the Donald Trump story is really shocking. You know, at the beginning of the century, if you said Rudy Giuliani may be president, a lot of people would have said, yeah, I could see that happening. But if you had said, I can see Donald Trump becoming president, nobody would have thought that was the case. But Giuliani ran for president as a Republican and he really failed, I think, because he would not reverse his pro choice views. He could not get past the Republican primary electorate. As a pro choicer, Donald Trump shrewdly learned that lesson. And sincere or not, it took us to the point of the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, Hunter, let's not skim over these pardons. As we said, there were 77 of them connected to widespread concerns about the 2020 election challenge. The pard clear people from Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to Sidney Powell, another personal attorney, cleared them of any wrongdoing, preempting any federal charges that might come in the future. And these were the same kinds of pardons President Biden issued for many of his family members under federal investigation. What do you make of all this?

[Hunter Baker]

I think that the practice is worrisome on a pragmatic level. You can kind of understand it because you see this increasing sort of lawfare practiced by both sides and you, you worry about people sort of ending up on an enemy's list or being hounded really in the same way that I think Donald Trump was hounded prior to this 2024 election. But on the other hand, when you put these preemptive pardons out there, you're really damaging the truth finding process and our ability to investigate certain things and figure them out. So I am worried that we'll enter into a period where both parties will start doing this as a matter of course.

[Lindsay Mast]

You know, Hunter, it is interesting in light of the fact that this week's pardons stem from January 6th and 2020 election results, that the Supreme Court has decided to take up the question of mail in ballots. Now, this is a case out of Mississippi centering around the definition of election Day. What are the ramifications of counting mail in ballots received after that day? If they are in fact ruled impermissible, the decision may cast some of the events of November 2020 and January 2021 in a different light. So what are you watching here?

[Hunter Baker]

I really don't think that this is a partisan issue. I think that if you ask most Americans, do you want to know the outcome of the election on election day, do you want to be able to on election night, do we really want to know who won the election? I think that most people are going to say yes, I want to know that. I just think that the court should really think seriously about requiring that ballots be received by election Day. Nobody is surprised by an election. We have a gigantic run up that is covered by the press ad nauseam day in and day out. So if you want to cast a ballot by mail, it should be a very simple thing to submit that ballot, say, a week in advance. If we do, don't do that if we allow ballots to come in. And sometimes you hear, you know, the desire to let ballots arrive as much as 14 days after an election, then you just create an impression that you can sort of find out what has happened on election day and then there's room for all kinds of potential tampering and messing around after the fact of the election to try to change the result. I hope that the court will take this opportunity to nail this down and say that, look, yes, we need to have the convenience of mail in voting, especially for people who may find it difficult to get out and vote physically, but we can certainly have a responsible timing when it comes to submitting the ballot.

[Lindsay Mast]

Hunter Baker is a political scientist and provost at North Greenville University. Hunter, thank you.

[Hunter Baker]

Thank you.

[Kent Covington]

Additional support comes from Asbury University's Honors program, where rigorous academics meet, deep thinking and spiritual growth. Asbury. Edu honors from His Words Abiding in you, a podcast where listeners memorize Bible verses in each episode. His Words Abiding in you on all podcast apps and from Cedarville University, equipping students for professional excellence and gospel impact. Cedarville. Edu World.

[Nick Eicher]

Coming up next on the World and Everything in It World World Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onise Adua.

[Onise Adua]

We begin today in the East African nation of Tanzania, where church leaders and rights groups have condemned electoral violence. Authorities have also charged more than 200 people with treason after violent protests over the outcome of the late October poll. President Samia Suluhu hassan scored nearly 98% of the widely criticized vote. The main opposition party was barred from the election. According to the opposition, more than 1,000 people died after security forces clamped down on the protests. Jude Thaddeus Ruwaichi is the archbishop of the city of Dar es Salaam. He says here that Tanzania has lost its dignity and honor over the unlawful killings. Authorities have not released official details on the number of dead or injured. President Hassan formerly served as vice president. She emerged as Tanzania's first female chief executive in 2021 after former President John Magufuli died in office. Next we go to Belem, Brazil, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. 50,000 people from nearly 200 nations gathered this week for the COP 30 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The conference marks 10 years since the signing of the Paris Agreement, when the group agreed to fight global warming. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva opened this week's event by castigating what he called climate deniers.

[Nick Eicher]

Cop 30 will be the cop of truth.

[Onise Adua]

World representatives called for new pledges to reduce emissions and financial assistance for developing nations. The United States did not send any high level representatives to the conference. U.S. energy Secretary Chris Wright recently criticized the gathering.

[Kent Covington]

Gatherings of global leaders and businesses should be about humans. The world has 8 billion citizens.

[Nick Eicher]

Let's focus on the interests of 8.

[Kent Covington]

Billion citizens, not on the desire to scare children and grow government power and enrich some businesses and impoverish other businesses.

[Nick Eicher]

Let's focus on humans.

[Onise Adua]

Billionaire Bill Gates released a memo ahead of the conference saying that a doomsday outlook to climate change was mistaken. He called for diverting resources from near term emissions goals to improving the lives of the world's poorest people. COP30 runs through November 21st. We wrap up in Iran, where the worst drought in decades has prompted officials to prepare for water rationing. The capital city of Tehran is facing its sixth consecutive year of drought. Local officials say rainfall in the city is at its lowest level in a century. Dam reservoirs in Tehran and other cities have also fallen below 10%. Kaveh Madani is the director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

[Nick Eicher]

A problem like this was not created overnight. It's the product of decades of mismanagement, lack of foresight and problems in planning.

[Hunter Baker]

In not only the water sector, but the other sectors that the water sector is interconnected with.

[Onise Adua]

Iranian President Massoud Pezechian has said Tehran could face evacuations if the city does not get any rainfall before winter. That's it for this week's world tour. I'm Onize Adua.

[Lindsay Mast]

Today is Wednesday, November 12th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Lindsay Mast.

[Nick Eicher]

And I'm Nick Eicher. Coming next on THE World and everything in it, how ideas take root. Hillary Morgan Ferrer says she used to have a yard full of dandelions.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

And I remember thinking, man, how are we getting this many? And so I would see kids like out blowing. It's like when the dandelion was in the white puffy version, they'd be out there blowing. Those are all the seeds. And then you have the actual dandelion weed that comes up. And so when people don't understand the seed of an idea and all they want to do is complain about the weeds, they have no idea basically what they are planting left and right.

[Nick Eicher]

Ferrer is general editor of Mama Bear Apologetics, a book that became a ministry specifically to moms, helping them learn how to spot cultural weeds and to help their kids to think critically and Biblically, about the world around them. Significantly, Ferrer is not a mother herself, but she says she has an advantage that busy moms don't have. That that is time to research.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

How can I boil this down in a way that you can read one chapter instead of reading 20 books? I'll read the 20 books and then put it into the one chapter and then further distill it down to where you can equip your kids.

[Lindsay Mast]

That research took the form of the book Mama bear apologetics in 2019. A lot has changed in the culture over the last six years. So I spoke with Ferrer about what's different now and how she thinks parents can help their kids face today's challenges. Here's that conversation.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

I would say that it's just amazing how quickly culture is changing. Probably one of the biggest ones would have to do with the transgender revolution. And this really does go back to a lot of the critical theory and queer theory, which we. We kind of talked about the seeds of that in the first book, which would be in the Marxism chapter, but it had not come to full bloom. And secondly, one of the biggest things is it's so much more overtly being taught in the schools. It was kind of trying to just tiptoe its way into the schools back maybe in 2019, but it's very, very overt now.

[Lindsay Mast]

Your book is part history book, part culture study, part handbook. How do you envision people when they pick up your books, using them?

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

People say, I've seen all this happening. I just didn't have the words to talk about it. I didn't have the language to discuss it. And now that I see it, I can't unsee it. And now that I have the language to talk about it, I want to talk to everybody about it. And so we see it not as trying to dump a whole bunch of new information onto people, and especially moms, but to really give them the language to interact with what they already see happening. And I would say the goal with this book is to show them that we need to be looking at, how does every single idea affect every other idea? How can I understand it? How can I have conversations about it, and how can I help my children to recognize it before it becomes a problem? And so I'm trying to give it more of a holistic look so that we're very intentional in what we're discussing and what we're analyzing and really how we're interacting in culture.

[Lindsay Mast]

Explain the founder's effect for us, this idea of the influence of the first person to Introduce a topic as applies to what you write about, which is helping children understand issues.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

So the Founders effect means that the first person to introduce a new idea to someone, that person immediately files them away as the expert. So it's the first worldview that they hear is that we were created for a purpose, as opposed to we can create an image of ourselves however we like. That's going to. Those are two radically different worldviews that change the concept of what should I do next? How do I be a human? What is the right thing to do? What's the moral thing to do? It's laying that groundwork before the lies. It's a lot easier to establish a foundation than it is to tear up a bad foundation and replace it.

[Lindsay Mast]

Well, I know another running theme throughout your books is what you call the ROAR method. So can you just briefly explain what that is and how that becomes a framework for your chapters?

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

Yeah. So the Roar method is how we're going to be breaking down these ideas. Everybody thinks they're on the right side of history, and so you need to understand why they're championing for the values that they do before you can start to refute it. So ROAR stands for recognize the message. This is where you look at movie, music, whatever, and say, what is the main message that anybody watching this can. Can come away with? Next we go to offer discernment, because we don't want to turn discernment into. We're just out there bashing everything, saying, what's wrong with everything. So in offering discernment, what we do is we first say, most lies are wrapped in partial truth, which that means we have to identify what's true first before we can even extract them. A is argue for a healthier approach. That's where you say, okay, here's the truth that we can all agree on. Now, we might disagree on the solution to this, or we might disagree on how this is supposed to play out. So that would be how anybody can discuss anything with anybody. And then that final R is reinforced through discussion, discipleship, and prayer. And that's where we want to say, okay, now how do I have practical conversations with my kids? How can we do practical activities with the kids to where it's getting these ideas across? And if we see something that's really, really a stronghold in culture, how do we specifically pray through that? Because ideological things need to be addressed in an ideological way, but spiritual strongholds need to be addressed in a spiritual way. And we can't conflate those two.

[Lindsay Mast]

I think when we Talk about apologetics. I know that sometimes people who are very skilled in apologizing and what I'm thinking about is they have lots of knowledge, they have the ability to reason, they have logic, they have, frankly, a whole lot of things that a lot of other people who have very strong emotions may not have. And sometimes those people who present those strong skills in a way that is very effective, that you would think would be very effective, they get criticized for not being loving enough. So as people get more skilled in apologetics and understand the importance of it, how can we present reasoned arguments? Still with love.

[Hilary Morgan Ferrer]

Yeah. So I would say just for Mama Bears in general and for women in general, we've stayed away from apologetics in the past, I think because we're not super confrontational. A lot of times we want everybody to get along. And so I really do think the roar method is one of those ways to where we are building that bridge. First. When you learn how to have these conversations in a way that acknowledges all the good points they're trying to make before they even have to make all of them, I think that is a place where we can present things in love. Now, we can't always do that if we have limited amount of time. So we look at how Christ really ministered in his ministry when he was out in front of crowds, he kind of gave the whole truth, nothing but the truth. And people think of the Sermon on the Mount as this kind of, oh, blessed are the poor. It's like, yeah, he says all that and then he goes into the biggest spanking that we've seen since Job. So when we're speaking in a public setting, we need to be presenting things without all the wiggle room. And then when we're dealing with people in a private setting, that's when we start doing the interpersonal ministry where we start dealing with the individual. It's okay for certain spheres to be a little more truth based. Like I think of even Charlie Kirk. He had to say his piece, and that was absolutely appropriate. And people who are doing one on one counseling need to be able to go slow and build that relationship. This is the body of Christ. It's okay for us to have different roles within the body. And when we start really appreciating the purpose for those roles, that's when we as the body of Christ are the most effective in culture.

[Lindsay Mast]

That was Hilary Morgan Ferrer, founder of Mama Bear Apologetics. Her new book, called Mama Bear Apologetics A Guide to Sexuality and Gender Identity, comes out in March. Today is Wednesday, November 12th. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it. From Listener Supported World Radio, I'm Lindsay Mast.

[Nick Eicher]

And I'm Nick Icker. Next up, world commentator Janie B. Cheney welcomes us into her kitchen for a healthy serving of practical theology.

[Janie B. Cheney]

When the bright October days give way to gray November, there's nothing like a bowl of old fashioned beef and vegetable soup to remind us of what chilly days are for. Three ways to make it open a can ready in 15 minutes open lots of cans takes about an hour or start from scratch, a process that fills an afternoon. The first two options are easy enough, but if you've never taken the time to make soup from scratch, here's a quick guide. Set a large, heavy kettle over medium low heat for about 15 minutes while you cut chunks of fat from two to four meaty soup bones. Throw them in the pot to melt. When the chunks are spongy and a layer of tallow greases the bottom of the kettle, add the bones. Turn the heat to low to let them brown. Don't rush. Slow browning develops a depth to the flavor that can't be shortcutted. When a rich, savory smell fills the house, add two to four quarts of water and salt to taste. Bring to boiling, skim the foam and lower the heat to a simmer while the tough and gristly meat slowly tenderizes. Assemble your vegetables and make sure your knife is good and sharp. Vegetables come from everywhere your garden, farmer's market, produce aisle, freezer case, even a can. They come in every color, reds and oranges and yellows and greens. Bright as crayons, they come with contrasting textures and flavors. For example, carrots are hard, onions are sharp, but when they cook together, one becomes tender, the other mellow, still themselves, only better. Remove the bones from the broth and toss in the vegetables while they come to a boil. You'll be picking meat from the crevices of bone and sheaths of fat. It will come off in chunks and slivers. Cut up the big pieces and throw them back into the pot for another hour or so while the meat and vegetables settle in together. A soup made with only vegetables can be delicious, but it's a little thin. Flesh gives body richness and character. It begins and finishes the job that bloodless vegetables complement. It forms the medium in which they consist, and it requires someone's ultimate sacrifice. In John 6:56, we hear Jesus say, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Of all his sayings, this one shocks us as much as it did the original hearers eat his flesh, drink his blood? Yes, it's metaphorical, but he literally offered his flesh and blood, the former to abide with us, the latter to pour out for us. He gathers us with our sharp angles and hard surfaces, our squishy and acidic selves, and chops us with the sharp blade of his word. He adds us with all our imperfections and cooks us down to a mellow whole, conforming to him and confirming each other. He sanctifies the garden and the butcher's block and the kettle. As we cook, a pleasing aroma rises to his father, and when we're done, he serves us up. The world stumbles on, and today's controversies become tomorrow's table fare. Meanwhile, we're cooking in the Lord's kitchen. Let's be patient with ourselves, the world and each other. Someday we'll be done. I'm Janie Buchane.

[Lindsay Mast]

Tomorrow, what obligations do pastors and church staff have when it comes to reporting abuse? Also, the FDA removes obstacles for women seeking menopause treatments. And a Christian, the Christian punk band is back on the scene after two decades off of it. Arsenio Ortezza will be along that and more tomorrow. I'm Lindsay Mast.

[Nick Eicher]

And I'm Nick Iker. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says, teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end. Give, give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Psalm 119, 33, 36. Go now in grace and peace.