← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
1.2.25 Legal challenges to faith and freedom, recalling 1984 famine relief, remembering those who had religious influence
00:37:18
Loading summary
Transcript136 lines
- [00:05]
Mary Reichard
Good morning. The new year is here, but the struggle for religious liberty continues. We will review the biggest cases of 2024 and what awaits us in the year ahead. Also today, aid workers reflect on the massive effort to help the people of Ethiopia.
- [00:21]
Kent Covington
Forty years ago, they didn't know when.
- [00:23]
Steve Reynolds
They were going to get the next distribution of food.
- [00:26]
Myrna Brown
We also continue our remembrances of those who died this year, this time commemor the lives of prominent religious figures.
- [00:35]
Kent Covington
We're that generation and I believe we're.
- [00:36]
Kristen Flavin
Rapidly moving toward the coming of Christ.
- [00:41]
Myrna Brown
And commentator John Wilsey says the past doesn't determine the future, but it certainly shapes it.
- [00:56]
Mary Reichard
It's Thursday, January 2nd. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard.
- [01:03]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrn Brown. Good morning.
- [01:07]
Mary Reichard
Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.
- [01:11]
Kristen Flavin
In the wake of a New Year's terrorist attack in New Orleans, investigators may still have as many questions as they do answers. The plot thickened on Wednesday with authorities now investigating an explosion in Las Vegas as a possible terrorist attack as well. More on that momentarily. As for the attacker in New Orleans, President Biden said there is no doubt about the motive, that mere hours before.
- [01:34]
Kent Covington
The attack he posted videos on social media indicating that it was inspired by ISIS expressing a desire to kill.
- [01:43]
Kristen Flavin
At least 15 people were killed in the attack. The assailant has been identified as Houston native Shamsud den Jabbar, a 42 year old US army veteran. Authorities say he rammed a rented pickup truck bearing an ISIS flag into a crowd of New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street a little after 3am Wednesday morning. One witness told reporters, after it gets.
- [02:04]
Kent Covington
Past us, the guy, I didn't know it was a terrorist, but the guy.
- [02:08]
Kristen Flavin
Ends up getting out and shooting people at that point. Police say officers shot and killed Jabbar. The FBI says it does not believe that he acted alone. And investigators last night were hunting for additional suspects. And then there is that explosion outside of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. A truck parked in front of the hotel erupted into flames a little before 9am on New Year's Day. Las Vegas Metro Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
- [02:36]
Kent Covington
We're absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in New Orleans.
- [02:39]
Kristen Flavin
Suspiciously large quantities of firework, mortars and camp fuel canisters were found stuffed into the back of a Tesla cybertruck. The blast killed the unidentified suspect behind the wheel. Seven people nearby suffered minor injuries. The cybertruck in Las Vegas and the truck used in the New Orleans attack were both reportedly rented using the same app.
- [03:00]
Kent Covington
We do know the truck was rented in Colorado. We were able to trace that truck through the Tesla charging stations.
- [03:09]
Kristen Flavin
Investigators are also looking into the possible symbolism of a Tesla cybertruck being blown up in front of a Trump hotel, given the connection between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Elect Donald Trump. Musk said on his X platform Wednesday that they picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. The body of the truck is made of specially hardened stainless steel designed to stop a small caliber bullet. Police say the truck's design helped contain the explosion, directing the blast upward. Not even the nearby glass doors of the hotel lobby were broken. The college football Sugar bowl is expected to be played today in New Orleans. After being delayed one day in the wake of the attack, Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said yesterday work is fast.
- [03:52]
Kent Covington
About to set up a safe and efficient and fun environment.
- [03:57]
Kristen Flavin
And New Orleans Police Superintendent Ann Kirkpatrick said authorities are leaving nothing to chance with regard to security for that event.
- [04:05]
Ann Kirkpatrick
Part of the safety plan is we have bomb dogs out there sweeping the Superdome and all the exterior area, and.
- [04:13]
Mary Reichard
We'Re locking that down.
- [04:15]
Ann Kirkpatrick
That will be locked down through the game.
- [04:18]
Kristen Flavin
The playoff quarterfinal between Georgia and Notre Dame is slated to kick off at 4pm Eastern in the New Orleans Superdome. In Germany, government officials are condemning violent incidents on New Year's Eve there. In Berlin, at least 30 police officers and one firefighter were injured in confrontations with New Year's Eve crowds. Berlin police spokesman Florian Nath said officers arrested more than 300 people who threw projectiles and aimed fireworks at police. He said one officer was seriously injured. Russia says it is prepared to reject the rumored terms of a proposal to end the war in Ukraine. World Kristen Flavin has more.
- [05:02]
Ann Kirkpatrick
President elect Donald Trump intends to open negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the fighting. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week said he doesn't expect any official talks until Trump takes office. But he says he has read American news reports that cite sources close to Trump and the Kremlin is not impressed by rumored terms of a forthcoming proposal. Lavrov said Russia would reject any agreement that would station European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. He also said Moscow won't accept Ukraine's entrance into NATO even if it's delayed for 20 years. He added that if relations between the US and Russia are to heal, Washington will have to make the first move. Reporting for World I'm Kristen Flavin.
- [05:51]
Kristen Flavin
And I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead, a report on the top religious Liberty news from 2024. Plus aid workers remember what it was like fighting famine in Ethiopia in 1984. This is the WORLD and everything in it.
- [06:17]
Mary Reichard
It's Thursday the 2nd. This is World radio and we thank you for joining us today. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichard.
- [06:24]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. First up on the World and everything in it, standing up for truth. Parents, churches, schools and ministries have had to defend their right to religious expression and conviction in court quite often this year. Joining us now to review a handful of the most significant is world's religious liberty beat reporter Steve West.
- [06:48]
Mary Reichard
Steve, good morning.
- [06:50]
Steve West
Good morning, Mary.
- [06:51]
Mary Reichard
Well, Steve, this year the Supreme Court has not issued any blockbuster rulings in the religious liberty arena. In fact, they've declined to review a number of these cases. Now, lower courts do not have the discretion to decline cases like the Supreme Court does, and they have been actively hearing religious liberty disputes. So can you hit on some highlights from this year?
- [07:12]
Steve West
I'd be glad to. You know, the main area where we've seen a lot of litigation is that of religious autonomy, meaning the degree to which a place of worship, a religious school or other religious organization can govern itself without the government coming in and second guessing their operations. That includes matters of doctrine and who to employ and who can lead.
- [07:32]
Mary Reichard
Talking about who can lead, that makes me think of last year's ruling in favor of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, fca, the student group at a high school in San Jose. All rise. The United States Court of Appeals for.
- [07:46]
Anna Johansen Brown
The 9th Circuit is now in session.
- [07:48]
Steve West
Yeah, that was a big win. In 2023, a federal appeals court upheld the right of a California high school chapter of the FCA to require its student leaders be Christians. But it was this year that the ruling really hit home as a court settlement required the school district to pay the club nearly $6 million in attorneys fees and damages.
- [08:06]
Mary Reichard
Okay, so that's leaders. What about if a church or a school wants all of its employees to be of the same faith?
- [08:14]
Steve West
You know, that's less clear. You know, there's some good news there. A federal appeals court ruled in favor of a Roman Catholic school in North Carolina and said the school had a constitutional right to choose teachers that uphold its religious beliefs. It did so by likening teachers to ministers. But a gospel rescue mission in Washington and a youth ministry in Oregon continue to battle state authorities who don't accept their view that all employees must support the mission's beliefs and standards of conduct, not just those in minister like roles.
- [08:43]
Mary Reichard
And I'm assuming what's driving Most of this is gender ideology.
- [08:48]
Steve West
That's right. Many states and municipalities have expanded their public accommodation laws to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Then they seek to apply them to Christian schools and ministries. Mixed results there, too. In Michigan, a federal appeals court allowed a religious medical nonprofit and a Catholic parish and school to challenge a public accommodation law. That law was interpreted by courts to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. But that's not always the case.
- [09:15]
Kristen Flavin
A Christian school in Bangor is suing Maine's education commissioner and other state officials over an anti discrimination policy around gender and sexuality.
- [09:25]
Steve West
Authorities in Maine have been very aggressive about their anti discrimination law. Christian parents there are still embroiled in a dispute over the state's discrimination over tuition support for private schools. So, you know, eventually the Supreme Court's going to have to weigh in again on the scope of religious autonomy under the First Amendment.
- [09:42]
Mary Reichard
Well, I know it's not a First Amendment concern, but there seems to be more emphasis on parental rights. So what's going on in that area?
- [09:50]
Steve West
You know, this has certainly come to the forefront with the emphasis on so called gender affirming environments in schools. Parental rights have always been at the forefront of countering attempts by some public school districts to promote controversial gender ideology. Schools argue that parents rights end at the schoolhouse door. While parents contend that they have interests that overlap with those of school administrators, they're primarily responsible for their children. And that's true. Parents have a constitutional right to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their children. That's long recognized by the Supreme Court. But the breadth of that right is unclear and hasn't really been clarified by the Supreme Court.
- [10:26]
Mary Reichard
Well, one thing is for sure, Steve. School board meetings are no longer just run of the mill, routine affairs. It seems there's a lot of community participation.
- [10:36]
Steve West
There sure is. And often there's a lot of, you know, contentiousness.
- [10:40]
Ann Kirkpatrick
This is our regular business meeting of.
- [10:41]
Anna Johansen Brown
The St. Louis Park School Board.
- [10:43]
Steve West
Lawsuits really show the concerns. You know, some of those lawsuits focus on curriculum.
- [10:47]
Anna Johansen Brown
Our primary concern is that our children are encountering material that's sexualized and not age appropriate in a school environment.
- [10:54]
Steve West
After facing a lawsuit, a Minnesota school district allows Somali American Muslim families and others with religious objections to opt their children out of an LGBTQ curriculum. But the Supreme Court is still considering whether to review a federal appeals court ruling that sided with a Maryland school district that refuse to allow religious families to opt out of that kind of materials.
- [11:16]
Mary Reichard
I know that some of these religious liberty disputes are really framed as free speech issues.
- [11:22]
Steve West
Yes. And again, These are often the result of aggressive efforts to push transgender ideology. Students, parents, teachers, and professors have raised free speech concerns over school districts, pronoun policies, or policies barring students from misgendering or policies that censor conservative viewpoints, those speech policies. I expect those kinds of battles to continue into 2025. Yet it's promising that a number of cases settled late in the year on terms favorable to teachers or others with free speech claims.
- [11:52]
Mary Reichard
Well, looking ahead to 2025, just as you were doing, what's on your radar?
- [11:57]
Steve West
Well, huge for me is religious autonomy, as I've mentioned before, and specifically the right of religious organizations to employ only co religionists, you know, those who have the same faith. That issue still winding its way through courts of appeal. The Supreme Court did just accept a Wisconsin case that may flesh a few of these things out. The state has a religious exemption from some state unemployment taxes. You know, the controversy comes from the way it defines who is religious enough to qualify for the tax exemption. It has to be an organization run by a church or church association, and it has to be operated for primarily religious purposes. And that's where the questions begin. Can the government decide what's a church and what is sufficiently religious to qualify? It's a fundamental question. How much can the government do to define what counts as religion?
- [12:41]
Kent Covington
First of all, I want to thank the attorneys for their tremendous work.
- [12:45]
Steve West
And that brings me to Apache stronghold versus United States, another case the court has agreed to review. The question in that case is whether the government's plan to allow copper mining in Oak Flat, a site sacred to Apaches and other Native American groups, violates religious freedom protections declared in Indian country.
- [13:04]
Kent Covington
That anything on federal land is not safe.
- [13:07]
Steve West
It's one thing to say the government may have an interest so compelling that it overrides a religious liberty concern. But the appeals court ruled that this wasn't a substantial burden on religious liberty for Christians. This amounts to saying destroying a historic church is not a burden on religious liberty. Doesn't seem right. I think these cases and others, should the court accept them, offer the court the opportunity to better define what counts as religion, what counts as a burden on religion, and how important religion is in the constitutional scheme?
- [13:36]
Mary Reichard
You know, I thought we knew the answer to those questions. No.
- [13:40]
Steve West
Well, apparently not. But I think the real question is, are we still religious enough as a society to value religion as something paramount in the Constitution, something at the very heart of who we are? We'll just have to see. You know, these are all defensive moves to shore up space for religious expression and witness all important, but our prayer should be for more, for not only the defense of, but the advance of the Gospel.
- [14:08]
Mary Reichard
For sure. If you want to see the change, then be the change. Very good reminder. Thanks so much, Steve.
- [14:13]
Steve West
Yeah, Happy New Year, Mary.
- [14:18]
Mary Reichard
Coming up next on THE World and everything in it on the front line of famine. Earlier this week we told you about the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s and how journalists and celebrities helped raise awareness and money for the cause.
- [14:32]
Myrna Brown
But there were also many Christian aid workers on the ground helping people throughout the crisis that took hundreds of thousands of lives. World's Lindsay Mass talked to two of them about what it was like when.
- [14:47]
Ann Kirkpatrick
The BBC aired its initial report on the great Ethiopian famine in October 1984. Its graphic images of starving men, women and children shocked the world.
- [14:57]
Steve West
Those who die in the night are.
- [14:58]
Kent Covington
Brought at dawn to be laid out on the edge of the plain. Dozens of them, men, women and children.
- [15:11]
Ann Kirkpatrick
The report did not shock 25 year old Steve Reynolds. He had already come face to face with the suffering earlier that year when he went to Ethiopia as a photographer with a survey team from World Vision. They had gotten word that farmers in the agrarian society were selling their hoes.
- [15:27]
Steve Reynolds
That was pretty much a sign that they were given up on ever growing anything again.
- [15:34]
Ann Kirkpatrick
He describes his first day at a feeding camp, seeing a snaking line of thousands of emaciated people hoping to receive a ration of one coffee can of the cereal grain sorghum, and that was it.
- [15:45]
Steve Reynolds
And they didn't know when they were going to get the next distribution of food.
- [15:49]
Ann Kirkpatrick
Reynolds saw children with burn marks on their bodies from parents who thought touching a hot stick to the skin would ward off evil spirits and cure them of their malnutrition.
- [15:59]
Steve Reynolds
They would pull back the gabi, the garment from their child and show me their child and the children. Every single one of them was just skin and bones, like no muscle left.
- [16:14]
Ann Kirkpatrick
It wasn't long before the work overwhelmed him.
- [16:16]
Steve Reynolds
I remember sitting down under a tree at one point and not even knowing what to pray. It was an honest like, this is the most godforsaken place I could imagine being. I felt like that was when God said, look, this is what the work I've called you to do. And are you serious? Do you want to do this? Because if you do, this is what it is.
- [16:42]
Ann Kirkpatrick
Reynolds picked up his camera and got back to work. Later he would show his images to a colleague in Kenya who shared them with a reporter from the BBC. He says it was part of a chain of Events that ultimately brought the British BBC TV crew to Ethiopia. Their report spread news of the famine to the world.
- [17:00]
Kent Covington
People scrabble in the dirt as they go for each individual grain of wheat. For some, it may be the only food they've had for a fortnight or more.
- [17:09]
Ann Kirkpatrick
By the time it aired, Reynolds was back in California. But within days, the media blackout of the communist Ethiopian government ended. He returned to help facilitate press visits and document the work.
- [17:19]
Steve Reynolds
And there was just a rush of media at that point when I looked back, whereas nobody was there in June of that year. Like, you know, we didn't see any journalists or anybody.
- [17:32]
Ann Kirkpatrick
Soon, relief, much more relief was on its way. And someone needed to organize the distribution centers. It was like setting up a small village where everybody was sick and dying, essentially. Ghislaine Binney and her husband Chuck arrived in Ethiopia in late 1984. She had just converted to Christianity that year after a lifetime of atheism. She was 40, with a lucrative career as an executive in Manhattan. But now she and her husband wanted to volunteer their energy and experience helping others. World vision put them to work. There was absolutely no infrastructure once you got out of Addis. There was no paved roads, there was no trucks, there was no trains that we had no access to a port, receive goods. They set up an office in a rundown hotel in Addis Ababa and got to work. He managed logistics. She handled finances, human resources, facilities. She felt guilty sleeping. There was so much to do. When she did leave the hotel, the desperation of the people she saw left her in tears. They would gather around, asking, begging. Howard was for food or whatever, and it was just, I will never forget that. It seared my soul. It absolutely made me feel, how can a nation, how can anybody inflict so much suffering on others? She focused on doing the next thing she could. Things slowly got better. In the interim, she says, she saw God at work. Christians in Kenya helped drive trucks into Ethiopia when they couldn't access other routes. She and Chuck once flew back from Kenya with two huge suitcases of contraband Christian material. The normally hyper vigilant airport security guards simply overlooked them, she says. Despite the suffering she saw, the famine didn't shake her young faith in God. It strengthened it. It was very obvious that the pain was caused by people, not by God. The fact that Christians were there to help was more of a testament to the effectiveness of God's power in the lives of his people, she says. By mid-1985, their team had established 12 relief camps and 135 development projects and was feeding about 2 million people.
- [20:07]
Steve Reynolds
And you can almost see the desperation in the father's eyes. He can't really do anything for his family, so he waits.
- [20:19]
Ann Kirkpatrick
Four decades later, Steve Reynolds looks back on pictures he took those first days in Ethiopia. The memories can still be emotional sadness at the hundreds of thousands who died, but also delight remembering believers in Ethiopia.
- [20:33]
Steve Reynolds
They showed me what real faith looks like when there's nothing else you know to fall back on. Their faith sustained them. They worshiped God at risk to their own lives in many cases.
- [20:51]
Ann Kirkpatrick
Aid continued to come in and rain fell again in Ethiopia in 1985. Reynolds went on to do aid work around the world. Ghislaine Binney had a long career with Mission Aviation Fellowship. Both recognized those difficult days in Ethiopia helped save lives. Reynolds once again, the enemy thought, in.
- [21:13]
Steve Reynolds
My opinion, but the enemy thought he had won in Ethiopia. But then God came along and said, no, no, no, you're not destroying anything. Let me show you what I'm going to do in the hearts of people who actually believe in me and my church alive and it's well and it's not going to sit around and be conquered by this.
- [21:39]
Ann Kirkpatrick
Reporting for world I'm Lindsay Mast in Greenwood, South Carolina.
- [21:49]
Kristen Flavin
Additional support comes from Dort University. Service opportunities at Dort give students a chance to gain practical wisdom for lives of service until all is made new. And from Commuter Bible, the Workweek audio Bible in four annual plans available via podcast app and commuterbible.org.
- [22:29]
Myrna Brown
What began as a picture perfect romantic photo shoot turned into a holiday story the couple will not forget. Kim Za and Phil Mooi visited snowy Park City, Utah for an engagement photo shoot when something rather important went missing.
- [22:47]
Kent Covington
Ten minutes into our shoot, we lose the ring. Hearts are sinking. We're just, we're just kind of freaking.
- [22:52]
Steve West
Out a little bit.
- [22:53]
Mary Reichard
Oh, no.
- [22:54]
Myrna Brown
Yikes.
- [22:54]
Anna Johansen Brown
You heard them.
- [22:55]
Myrna Brown
They lost the ring. The couple, the photographers, strangers, even the Park City ski patrol came to look for the ring. Even bringing a metal detector. Mary. But even after hours of searching, no ring. When hope was fading, Phil spotted the ring sparkling in the snow.
- [23:15]
Kent Covington
The way I found it, I was always already on a knee and she was standing over me. I figured take the opportunity to do it again.
- [23:21]
Mary Reichard
Hey, quick thinking.
- [23:22]
Myrna Brown
Yes. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Thursday, January 2nd. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [23:48]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on the World and everything in it. Notable deaths in 2024. Now we know everyone is notable in the eyes of God. Perhaps you've lost someone this year who was dear to you. Today we mark those who died, who were notable in a broader sense, who were widely known or who exerted great influence, whether for good or maybe not.
- [24:10]
Myrna Brown
So good today, people who were known in the realm of religion. Here's world reporter Anna Johansson Brown.
- [24:20]
Anna Johansen Brown
For Benedict Fitzgerald, it all starts out with a call from Mel Gibson.
- [24:24]
Kent Covington
And he just called me up out of the blue and said, why don't you come and see me? There's something I want to talk to you about. And I went.
- [24:30]
Anna Johansen Brown
Fitzgerald is a screenwriter. His father was a former poet laureate of the United states and Flannery O'Connor was his childhood babysitter. He's written a few successful scripts, but none have made much money. So when Gibson calls, Fitzgerald listens.
- [24:44]
Kent Covington
You know, we just talked as two fellows talk, and he just said, why don't you just go and try and write a first draft.
- [24:53]
Anna Johansen Brown
It's the first draft of the Passion of the Christ. Fitzgerald steeps himself in the Gospels as he writes. He says the Catholic faith he learned as a child slowly returns and transforms his his life. The Passion becomes the single most successful independent film of all time. But it also draws controversy. The Anti Defamation League denounces it as anti Semitic. Fitzgerald never makes it big as a screenwriter, though he continues to write smaller projects. He died in January at age 74. Next, a soldier turned theologian.
- [25:35]
Kristen Flavin
When I was 16, I was drafted to the German army.
- [25:39]
Anna Johansen Brown
It's 1943 and Jurgen Moltmann is stationed in his hometown of Hamburg, Germany. He's manning an anti aircraft gun as the British Royal Air Force bombs the city into devastation.
- [25:49]
Kristen Flavin
And I was in the midst of.
- [25:51]
Kent Covington
It and at that time I cried out to God for the first time.
- [25:57]
Anna Johansen Brown
In 1945, Moltmann surrenders to the first Allied soldier he meets on the front lines. He spends the rest of the war as a POW where he reads the Bible for the first time. After returning home, Moltman studies theology. He teaches at multiple universities and writes more than 40 books. He comes to believe that God doesn't just have compassion on human suffering, he actively experiences that pain along with us. Much of Moltman's theology emphasizes hope and the kingdom of God.
- [26:27]
Kent Covington
How the hope in the coming kingdom of God, the new creation, can influence our behavior here, how we deal with social questions, political questions.
- [26:37]
Anna Johansen Brown
Moltmann is heavily influenced by Marxist thought. Classes of oppressor and oppressed. Many evangelicals question his theological method. Moltmann calls scripture a stimulus to his own theological thinking, not quote an authoritative blueprint and confining boundary. He often uses personal experience as a litmus test for theological truths. Nevertheless, Moltman becomes highly influential in the 60s and 70s, shaping the theology of a generation. He died in June at the age of 98.
- [27:09]
Kent Covington
Well before we close today.
- [27:12]
Anna Johansen Brown
Next, Taiwan's godmother of English education.
- [27:15]
Myrna Brown
Have you learned any new words today, Sally?
- [27:18]
Steve West
Yes, I've learned the word.
- [27:21]
Mary Reichard
Contest.
- [27:23]
Kent Covington
Contest. Shi bi Sai Jiang Zheng.
- [27:26]
Anna Johansen Brown
Doris Brom died in August at age 98. She spent over seven decades in Taiwan teaching English and sharing the gospel. Brom is 12 years old when she first feels God calling her to Asia. She turns down a full scholarship to study music and instead goes to Bible college to prepare for missionary work. In 1951, she arrives in Taiwan.
- [27:48]
Kent Covington
I thought, how can we reach these people? Because every day people dying and moaning and crying and going to the temple and I said, we're not reaching them fast enough. So I thought, why don't we use radio?
- [28:05]
Anna Johansen Brown
Taiwan is a Buddhist country. Christians make up 1/10 of 1% of the population. Brom starts the first Christian radio station in Taiwan. The program includes sermons, choral music, skits and Brom's trumpet playing. The show is an instant hit. Brom later starts Studio Classroom, a TV and radio program specifically for teaching English. Her approach impresses some of Taiwan's top leaders. The island's president even sends members of his cabinet to learn English from Bram. She becomes a beloved household name across the country. Brom never retires, working in the studio until the age of 97. Next, an apocalyptic prophet.
- [28:52]
Kristen Flavin
This generation will not pass away until.
- [28:54]
Kent Covington
All these things are fulfilled. We are that generation.
- [29:00]
Anna Johansen Brown
It's the 1960s, the Cold War, the new state of Israel, communism in China, cultural revolution. Hal Lindsay sees all of those recent events as sure signs that Jesus is coming back soon. By 1988, in fact, we're that generation.
- [29:16]
Kent Covington
And I believe we're rapidly moving toward.
- [29:19]
Kristen Flavin
The coming of Christ.
- [29:21]
Anna Johansen Brown
Lindsay has been leading Bible studies with Campus Crusade for Christ, focusing on the end times. In 1970, he publishes a book, the Late Great Planet Earth. It introduces wide audiences to concepts like the Rapture, the Antichrist and the Mark of the beast. It becomes the nonfiction bestseller of the decade. Lindsay soon launches a TV program making specific interpretations of biblical prophecy.
- [29:46]
Kristen Flavin
And so that's how the war goes. The first sequence is an all out invasion of the Russian Muslim Confederacy. They're counter attacked by the west, led by the revived Roman Empire, which.
- [30:00]
Anna Johansen Brown
But Lindsay's work begins to draw criticism. 1988 comes and goes and the world doesn't end. Theologians point out inconsistencies in Lindsay's interpretations. Lindsay begins to shift and qualify his statements. But even denounced by many, he continues connecting biblical prophecy to current events for decades, right up until a few months before his death. Lindsay died in November at the age of 95. Finally, we remember George Sweeting, evangelist, chalk artist and former president of Moody Bible institute. Sweeting was 15 years old when he gave his life to Christ in a summer tent meeting. It was August of 1940 and the guest speaker was preaching on James 1.
- [30:44]
Kent Covington
Verse 22 Be doers of the Word and not hearers. Only that night I said, lord, with your help and by your grace, I will be a doer of the word of God and not just a hearer.
- [31:00]
Anna Johansen Brown
Sweeting later goes to college at Moody Bible Institute and also gets a degree in art. At the age of 20, he's ordained as a pastor. Sweeting begins traveling as an artist evangelist, drawing illustrated sermons with his portable easel. In 1971, he becomes president of Moody. Under his leadership, Moody's campus grows from covering just two city blocks to 10. After his time at Moody, Sweeting returned to pastoral ministry. He continued writing and drawing until he died in September at age 99. For World I'm Anna Johansen Brown.
- [31:54]
Mary Reichard
Today is Thursday, January 2nd. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Mary Reichert.
- [32:03]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. As we mark the ending of one year and the beginning of another, world Opinions contributor John Willsie says understanding our relationship with the past is key to the future.
- [32:18]
Kent Covington
What's past is prologue. Those are the words inscribed on future a statue that stands in front of the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. the quotation comes from William Shakespeare's the Tempest. The idea is that the past sets the context for the present and the future. Who our ancestors were and what they did establish the setting in which we move and have our being in the present. Our actions, attitudes, beliefs and wishes will also make up the setting for the world our children and grandchildren will inhabit. The year 2024 is now past. A new year dawns. I was born in 1969, and for 30 years the 21st century was a figment of my imagination. Now this century is nearly a quarter of the way completed. What happened? The great 20th century champion of Western civilization, Richard Weaver, wrote in his book Ideas have Consequences, that the past comprises all our knowledge, the present is a thin line ever advancing, and the future is what we imagine about days to come. It's made of images from our past, playing on the screen of our mind. We often think of history as an abstraction. We look at old photographs of people who are now dead. They often seem to stare back at us with expressionless faces. The dead seem so distant from us, inhabiting a world so different than our own as to seem almost unreal. But history is not abstract. History is made up of real people who lived in real places, facing real circumstances at real times. They laughed, worked, loved, hated, played, planned, hoped, feared, lived and died. History matters a great deal, not because those who don't learn from it are doomed to repeat it. Guess what? We will repeat our mistakes of the past, no matter how much knowledge of it we possess. History matters because those who inhabited past time had a nature like ours, on the one hand possessing great dignity as divine image bearers, and on the other hand, fallen in sin. The Hungarian born historian John Lukash took human nature seriously in the way he thought about history. Human nature, he said, is not half good and half bad. Rather, it's a mixture of real dignity and real fallenness, which, when mixed together, makes a third thing. He said. In mathematics, with its rigidly fixed and immobile numbers, 100/100 makes 200. In human life, 100/100 makes another kind of 100. When we think about the dead, we have to remember that they were complex, and casting them in simple good versus evil narratives does little to give us real understanding. Some people find history irrelevant. Some find it entertaining. Others think it's a dull exercise in memorizing dry as dust, details like names and dates. But everyone ought to love history because God made each of us with an awareness of our place and time. A person may not enjoy every historical subject, but who doesn't love to tell stories about how they met their spouse, how they became a Christian, or what they did on last summer's vacation. Historical thinking is central to who we are as divine image bearers. Adjacent to the statue Future, in front of the National Archives is the statue Past. That statue is inscribed with the simple exhortation, study the past. As one year dies and another is born, let us remember that we who live today will die tomorrow. Therefore, let us examine ourselves, study the past to get knowledge and wisdom which begins with the fear of the Lord. I'm John Wilsey.
- [36:26]
Myrna Brown
Tomorrow johnstonestreet returns for Culture Friday and an introduction of sorts during this month's Ask the Editor. That and more tomorrow. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [36:37]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichardt. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically available journalism that informs, educates and inspires. A reminder to step outside tonight for a spectacular meteor shower. It's going on from about 12:45am Eastern into the early hours of tomorrow. After all, the heavens declare the glory of God. The Bible says, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Verse 2 of Matthew, chapter 3. Go now in grace and piece.