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The World and Everything In It
9.30.25 Indictment of James Comey, LGBTQ crisis hotlines, remembering Voddie Baucham, and Britain’s strictest headmistress
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Good morning. Former FBI Director James Comey, now facing federal charges, will talk with a former prosecutor about the substance and ending the special option for LGBT callers on the suicide hotline. It's reinforcing falsehood that LGBT identifying youth are facing greater challenges. Also today, the legacy of Pastor Vodi Bacham. My flesh wants to be the center of attention and I can't make much of me and make much of Christ simultaneously. And a profile of Britain's strictest headmistress. It's Tuesday, September 30th. This is the world and everything in it from listeners supported world Radio. I'm Mary Reichardt. And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning. Time now for news. Here's Kent Covington. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and the prime minister of the state of Israel. The introduction at the White House Monday as President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed reporters in the state dining Room after a closed door meeting this afternoon. After extensive consultation with our friends and partners throughout the region, I'm formally releasing our principles for peace. The 20 point Gaza peace proposal calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all Israeli hostages within days and the creation of a Board of Peace to be chaired by Trump to oversee a post war Gaza government under the framework Israel would slowly withdraw from the Gaza Strip while preserving a security perimeter. For his part, Netanyahu said he is on board with the plan, but added that the war in Gaza will end one way or the other. This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done. We prefer the easy way, but it has to be done. The White House is awaiting a response from Hamas. The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the west bank, welcomed the announcement and pledged to implement reforms. But the Palestinian Authority does not speak for Hamas. Meantime, in Tel Aviv, demonstrators gathered last night to call for an end to the war. World's Travis Kercher reports from Tel Aviv. Hundreds of demonstrators protested outside the branch office of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv last night, waiting to hear the results of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Trump. Activists waved Israeli and US Flags and called for an end to the war in Gaza as the two year anniversary of the October 7th attack approaches. Participant Tamar Berman said she blames both Hamas and Netanyahu for the failure to reach a ceasefire agreement. Most of the people in the country want to live in peace. It just very few ministers and prime ministers. Stupid prime minister. That doesn't do it with Trump and Netanyahu now on the same page for a ceasefire plan. All eyes are on Hamas to see if the terror group will agree to the terms. Demonstrator Sippy Dudet Frank is calling on Trump to pressure the government of Qatar to force Hamas to cooperate. Qatar is the fuel of this war. Qatar give the money for the weapon. So if they stop it, no Hamas. Finished reporting for WORLD from from Tel Aviv, I'm Travis Kercher. Back in Washington, the deadline to avert a government shutdown is now just hours away. Lawmakers gathered at the White House on Monday in a last ditch effort to strike a deal. But the two sides left just as far apart as they were when they arrived. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. It's up to the Republicans whether they want to shut down or not. We've made to the president some proposals. Our Republican leaders will have to talk to them about them. But ultimately he's the decision maker. House Speaker Mike Johnson says yes, Democrats did make a proposal, but in his view, not a serious one. You should go take a look at what they requested. $1.5 trillion in new spending that is unrelated to the ongoing appropriations process. Republicans insist on a clean stopgap spending bill extending current funding levels with no policy add ons. Democrats, though, refuse to cooperate unless the GOP negotiates on health care, including on Obamacare tax credits. The deadline to pass funding and avoid a shutdown is midnight, but there is no bill on the table right now that would be able to pass in both chambers. And the House is out of session this week, making a shutdown at least a brief one. Increasingly likely. President Trump says he wants to make Hollywood great again using tariffs. World's Benjamin Eicher explains major studios are making more and more of their movies outside of Hollywood and the United States as a whole. And they're finding lower costs and tax incentives overseas. Disney just moved most of its big Marvel productions from Atlanta to the UK Continuing that trend. And President Trump has announced a proposed 100% tariff on films produced outside of the United States. He says the move is designed to protect Hollywood from unfair foreign competition. The directive is still vague. The White House hasn't explained how the tariffs would be applied or or when. Supporters say the move could revive US Jobs in the film industry. Critics warn it could invite retaliation and add new costs for audiences. For World, I'm Benjamin Eicher. The FBI is investigating Sunday's deadly attack at a Mormon chapel in Southern Michigan. Special Agent Reuben Coleman. I can confirm at this time that the FBI is now leading the investigation and is investigating this as an act of targeted violence. At least four people were found dead at the scene after a 40 year old suspect killed at least four people after he drove a truck into the building, began shooting at parishioners and then set the chapel on fire. ATF Special Agent James Deer added, I will confirm that there were some suspected explosive devices that were located, but as far as using them to initiate the blaze, I can't say that. The FBI said they're still working to understand the attacker's motives before labeling the incident as religiously motivated. Meantime, Dr. Michael Danik of the Henry Ford Genesis Hospital gave an update on the injured. We had a total of eight patients from the ages of 6 to 78. Five were gunshot wounds and three were smoke inhalations. Two of the smoke inhalations have been discharged. One is still intubated beta at this time for the gunshot wounds. One of the victims did die in the emergency department, Danik said. Two more of the gunshot victims were in critical condition. Some residents in Georgia and other coastal communities in the Southeast are breathing a sigh of relief after Tropical Storm Imelda began tracking to the east away from the US Shoreline. But as one lifeguard on Georgia's Tybee island noted, rough surf and dangerous rip currents remain a threat. We're trying to keep people out of the water. We just keep them knee deep so that nobody has the opportunity to get swept into a rip. But the Bahamas were bracing one day for tropical storm conditions. Imelda was forecast to start pulling away from the Bahamas this morning while strengthening into a hurricane. The storm already triggered flooding in the northern Caribbean and was blamed for at least one death in Cuba. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, an indictment for former FBI Director James Comerman. Plus making education meaningful and challenging. This is the world and everything in it. It's Tuesday 30th September. So glad to have you along for today's edition of THE World and Everything In It. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichardt. And I'm Nick Eicher. First up, former FBI Director James Comey, indicted on allegations he lied to Congress about the Trump Russia investigation. Here is Texas Senator Ted Cruz asking Comey about allegations of leaks to the media. Who's telling the truth? I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by what the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017. So your testimony is you've never authorized anyone to leak and Mr. McCabe, when if he says contrary, is not telling the truth, is that correct? Again, I'm not going to characterize Andy's testimony, but mine is the same today. So is it enough to put the former FBI director behind bars? Joining us now is veteran prosecutor Bobby Higdon. He was U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina and served 24 years as Assistant U.S. attorney before that. Bobby, good morning to you. Good morning, Mary. Well, this is just the latest chapter in a long saga. Can you briefly remind us how we got here and why this indictment is coming now? Well, as you will recall, over the last number of years, Mr. Comey, as director of the FBI, was involved in a number of very high profile investigations that the current president believes were handled wrongly. Those included the investigation into Hillary Clinton and her abuse of her position, as well as her meddling or being involved with the investigation into Russian, alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. And so time has passed. There have been additional investigations around that. And now with the Trump administration in charge of the Justice Department, they've taken that opportunity to look back at Mr. Comey's behavior and the statements he's made to Congress and have brought charges against him that arise out of questioning. That was conducted by Senator Ted Cruz during that hearing back on September 30th of 2020, which means the statute of limitations on the matter runs today. I think it's good to remind ourselves that an indictment is not proof of guilt. But do remind us what an indictment is and what does this one say? Well, an indictment is the means by which a grand jury notifies an individual or an entity that they've been charged with a crime. And it lays out, usually in the language that is based upon what's in the statute, the criminal statute. It lays out in that language exactly what the charge is in this case. It informs Mr. Comey and all of us about the specific exchange that he had with Senator Cruz in terms of the counts that are moving forward. And it refers to what was actually said. Now, it doesn't provide the entire context, but it refers to the specific question and the specific response. And so that provides Mr. Comey with notice of the crime with which he's been charged. And then, of course, the government will provide him with the evidence as part of the discovery process so that he'll know the details of those. But this is really just a notice document, and it's the formal means that the Constitution requires us to use to initiate criminal charges and get the criminal proceeding underway. And how about the charge of obstructing a congressional proceeding? Well, that's sort of the follow on the count Two in the indictment is based upon the specific exchange between Mr. Comey and Senator Cruz. And then count three, the count that you refer to is based upon the idea that when you lie to a congressional committee or to Congress that you have obstructed justice, you've obstructed the course and scope of their investigation by providing false testimony. So it's another way of charging the same type of act. Mm. Bobby, how does the Justice Department's case against Comey compare to cases the previous DOJ launched against President Trump over handling classified documents in the response to the 2020 election results? Is that. Is this lawfare now, or do you think it's something else? Well, I think it depends on how you see the process that's underway. I mean, many would say this is lawfare. Many would say this is a fair response to improper proceedings against President Trump in the past. So I think it's a matter of perspective, but it certainly is. We've talked about this in prior interviews. It certainly is another one of those instances where a line is crossed. No FBI director has ever been indicted before. It is very difficult to prove perjury charges because you have to get into the mind of the individual that made the statements. You do that through the circumstantial evidence and what other people can tell you about what they knew or should have known. But at the end of the day, you have to be able to prove that the statements were made falsely and corruptly, and that's what is going to be very difficult, as it is in any perjury case. So I think it's a matter of where you sit. But there is no question that this is a hard type of case to prove. And then what happens next? Well, what happens Next is Mr. Comey is scheduled to make an initial appearance in US District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, I think sometime next week. And he will have the charges formally read to him. He'll enter a plea, I'm sure, of not guilty, and then the case will get underway. Things move fairly rapidly in the Eastern District of Virginia, which prides itself on referring to its docket as the rocket docket. But there will have to be an exchange of discovery information, which means the government has to show its evidence. Mr. Comey may have to show certain types of evidence if he's going to offer any, and, of course, he doesn't have to, but there'll be that exchange of evidence and information. There'll be pretrial motions filed, I'm sure, motions to dismiss the indictment, motions to narrow the scope, motions to narrow the type of information that can be used as evidence in trial. So there'll be a motions practice that goes on and then unless the case is dismissed or Mr. Comey pleads guilty, there'll be a trial in the future. As I said, given the history and the practice of this district, it may move fairly fast. Bobby Higdon is a former assistant US Attorney now in private practice in North Carolina. Bobby, thanks so much. Thank you, Mary. Coming up next on the World and everything in at the suicide hotline, change that dropped an LGBTQ option and sparked debate over why it was ever there in the first place. World Marriage and Family reporter Juliana Chan Erickson reports. This is what you hear when you dial 988. You've reached the 988 suicide and crisis Lifeline. We are here to help. It's an automated female voice. If you call it today, you will hear two options to reach the Veterans Crisis Line. If you are a US veteran or service member or are calling about 1, press 1. Otherwise, please remain on the line while we rouse. Until recently, there used to be a third option. It would have asked you to press 3 if you are an LGBTQ youth and want to be connected to a counselor who specializes in LGBTQ youth issues. That option, which began as a pilot program in 2022, ended abruptly on July 17. A spokesperson for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which runs the 988 service, said the $33 million allocated for the LGBTQ youth service had all been spent. The White House did not announce any plans to renew the program. Plenty of youth pressed 3 when it began in late 2022, fewer than 25,000 callers pressed 3 per month. But shortly before the option ended, that had nearly tripled with nearly 70,000 contacts in June, its last full month of operation. Since the option ended, some states have stepped in to fill the perceived gap. The state of California is stepping up to pay for a crucial mental health hotline for LGBTQ youth. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a $700,000 partnership with the Trevor Project to provide what he called LGBTQ affirming crisis care for youth in the state. Illinois launched a new hotline offering resources for people in the LGBTQ community. Illinois said it also would increase the amount of counselor training. On average, about 9% of the kids that were reaching out were talking about LGBTQ related subject. Patricia Behrens is the co director of second floor, a 24 hour anonymous helpline for youth in New Jersey. She said the percentage of youth Contacting their helpline to talk about homosexuality and transgender concerns has doubled since the press three option ended. August went up to 10.8, and then now in September, we're seeing 18.3% and our views on our message board, where we had seen a pretty steady number of LGBTQ views on the subjects as posted on the message board, we now seen that that number has tripled, almost quadrupled. Everyone I spoke with emphasized that the 988 suicide and crisis hotline is still open to youth, even those who have sexual or gender identity issues. They may not be able to press 3, but they will still get help. But Barron says more youth who identify as LGBTQ are probably reaching out to state hotlines like hers because they assume they have to go elsewhere to get help because it's a matter of you have it, and then when it's gone, it's where do you go? Who am I going to talk to? Some people don't think suicide hotlines need a separate option for LGBTQ youth. Elizabeth Wanning is the co founder of the Changed Movement, a Christian support group for people who formerly identified as lgbtq. By doing that saying, oh, we need a youth hotline that is specific for LGBT identifying youth, it's reinforcing a falsehood that somehow LGBT identifying youth who experience depression are facing greater or different challenges than their peers. Still, LGBTQ advocates say this particular group is four times more likely to contemplate or commit suicide than average youth. Wanning acknowledges the elevated risks, but argues that the care for suicidal young people looks the same regardless of their sexual orientation or gender. She says she knows this firsthand. Back in 1998, she faced a crisis of her own. At that time, I was estranged from my parents and I had come out as lesbian, moved to a metropolitan area. I was living on the opposite side of the nation from my parents and found myself struggling with self harm. So Waning called the local suicide hotline from her apartment in Sacramento, California. So I know the feeling of despair and I'd say hopelessness, but also desperation that goes on when you need to call. Wanning said she required multiple hospitalizations and psychiatric treatment. Sexual orientation, she says, was the least of her concerns. When you're calling a suicide hotline, you're calling for suicide issues. You know, when I was calling the crisis hotline, I was concerned about surviving my moment. I wasn't concerned whether they knew that I was a lesbian. Calling the suicide hotline saved Elizabeth Wanning's life, but she said it took years of personal reflection and a renewed understanding of God to heal her completely. So as I explored experiential Christianity and began to have a spiritual awakening, then a lot of the ideological commitments that I had began to be questioned and ultimately I repented of lesbianism and feminism and began moving away from that culture. She stopped identifying as a lesbian and is now married to a man. I had struggled so deeply with bipolar disorder and during the course of my kind of discovery journey, a lot of the oppressive mental illness that I had experienced fell away. I truly have been changed by the grace of God. Reporting for world, I'm Juliana Chan Erickson. Additional support comes from Barnabas Aid, providing hope and support for our suffering brothers and sisters around the world. Aid from Christians through Christians to Christians more@barnabasaid.org from WatersEdge, offering church building loans that are ministry backed, ministry built and ministry bound watersedge.com loans and from Asbury University, where students are known, supported and prepared to lead customized visits. Available Asbury Eduardo Reformed Baptist pastor and author Vodie Bauckham Jr. Died last week at the age of 56. Here now with a reflection on his life and legacy is world's Myrna Brown. Vodi Bakam loved to tell how God changed his life. I was raised in the projects in gang infested, drug infested South Central Los Angeles, raised by a single teenage Buddhist mother. The first time I ever heard the gospel was my freshman year in college. I didn't know Jesus from the man in the Moon. A Campus Crusade staffer introduced Bauckham to Christ. Baucom excelled in college football and earned a master's degree and doctorate from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. It was that combination that first struck Delano Squires. When a man who looks like he can start at middle linebacker on any NFL team talks to you about strength, you sit up and listen. Squires is a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. But when he talks to you about tenderness and when he weeps, when he delivers a gospel message behind the pulpit, no part of you says, oh, this guy's weak, he's soft. That would never cross anybody's mind. So he actually, in his physical presence, embodied that aspect of manhood that is equal parts tough and tender. And I think a lot of men were drawn to that, squire says. People also admired Baucom's courage and how he boldly stood for his faith. An Excerpt from a 2021 interview with the Black Lives Matter supporter. If Jesus was here, do you think he would say black lives matter? Well, if Jesus was here, he would say lives matter. I know, for example If Jesus was here, he would say that the black lives that are being obliterated in the womb matter. And as a Christian, I believe that lives matter from the moment of conception all the way to their moment of natural death. Squire says Bauckham's steady voice was important in those heated debates. I think it was important because he represented a perspective that was not often heard, particularly with respect to debates around race and faith. Squyers calls Bauckham a race man. Many people may not understand why I bring that up, but that's actually important to people like me at times. In conservative evangelicalism and in mainstream Christianity, blackness is set up as an opposing theological construct in some ways to biblical Christianity. So in order to be biblically Christian, you have to be less black. And I never saw him as someone who buckled to that tension, either from the left or from the right, so to speak. Squire says he was most influenced by Bauckham's commitment to marriage, biblical manhood, and home education. I was 20 years old, had just turned 20. I met her January 21, 1989. We got married six months later, June 30, 1989. Oh, I knew what I wanted. Bauckham met and married his wife Bridget, while in college. Despite the high divorce rate in their families, they remained married for more than 30 years. Seven of their nine children were adopted, and they were all homeschooled. I grew up in New York City. I went to public schools almost my entire life. I didn't know anyone who was homeschooled. When I thought about home education, like most people, I said, oh, how are they gonna be socialized? And I thought, like, weirdo. You know, crunchy kids. But Squire says Bauckham's clarity on the need for Christian parents to give their children a Christian education and pass on their faith convicted him. And my wife and I have been homeschooling for about five years now, largely because of the work that he did. In 2015, Bauckham took that work and his family to Zambia, Africa. For nine years, he served as the dean of the School of Divinity at African Christian University. That's where Lennox Kalafanwa met Vodi Bakkem 18 years ago. It's been an amazing 18 years. I mean, your family is like family to me. You very much are my uncle, you know? Californwa, originally from South Africa, is a writer, speaker, and podcast host. Bauckham's interview with Califomwa is one of the last recorded conversations Bauckham gave before his death. It was recorded the same week Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Califonwa asked Bauckham for his take on the need for Christians to be willing to suffer for their faith. Like Kirk. What I worry about is the individual who's not willing to be persecuted in smaller ways. Yes, almost nobody is going to face an assassin's bullet as a consequence of being faithful. But there are a lot of people who are going to face the consequences of negative comments online, negative reviews from their boss, negative opinions from co workers. You know, I don't look at this and say, yeah, you need to be able to, you need to be wise to go out there and face an assassin's bullet. No, man, just be willing to face your family members. Voddie Bakkem is survived by his wife Bridget, their nine children and their three grandchildren. For world I'm Myrna Brown. Today is Tuesday, September 30th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Nick Iker. And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on THE WORLD and everything in it, Britain's strictest headmistress. Fed up with failing school, she launched her own. Now she's showing the world why it works. World's Lindsay Mast reports. Fifteen years ago, a deputy headteacher of a British school stood before England's Conservative Party with harsh words about the educational system. I am fighting a generation of thinking that has left our education system in pieces, where all must have prizes, all must have a place at university. We have a situation where standards have been so dumbed down that even the children themselves know it, she warned of dire consequences. My experience of teaching for over a decade in five different schools has convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that the system is broken because it keeps poor children poor. That speech changed Catherine Burblesing's life. She got a standing ovation afterward and then lost her job. That's when she decided to start a school of her own. It's called a free school, kind of like a charter school in the US There was so much opposition against us, trying to stop us from opening, she says. Outsiders came into the city to protest at her parent meetings. It took three years, but in 2014, she was back, determined to educate students differently. We teach them old fashioned, I call them small C, Conservative values, traditional values of personal responsibility. Birbalsing opened the Michaela Community School in a diverse area of northwest London. Many children are not from native English speaking families. Some are low income and the more than 700 students span a wide range of other demographics. So we've got children Muslim Children, Hindu children, Sikh children. We've got Christian children, we've got black kids, brown kids, white kids. It is a secular community school, but it emphasizes Judeo Christian values and traditional academics think deep foundational knowledge in the basics like math, history, science and English. Cassios. I receive tempest in the scalding wind. Tempest Jumping fire. Audio from a performance of Julius Caesar the year after the school opened. There's no fear in him. Let him not die. Friends, the differences go far beyond academics. The children practice showing kindness and gratitude. They abide by a strict dress and discipline code. No talking in the halls, no gathering in groups of more than four. Tripping somebody up in the corridor. Okay. Or interfering with someone else is a bad thing to do because, you know. Audio of a teacher and student from a 2022 documentary released by the school. You know that the most important thing is that you're getting to your lesson quick, quickly, so that you can learn as much as possible, okay? Now, Ms. Jones cares a lot about your progress. So Ms. Jones is going to pull you up on that. She's going to give you a detention because it means that next time you won't make that mistake again. Do you understand? Verbal Singh also holds Michaela students to high academic standards and emphasizes self discipline. You know, there's an expression which is, you know, you take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. It's the same thing at Michaela. Your ties need to be up to top and your uniform, your shirts need to be tucked in, you need to be on time, you need to turn up with your homework. All of that has earned her the reputation of Britain's strictest headmistress. I mean, it's funny, people think I march up and down the corridors with whips and chains. Of course that's not true. What is true? The school gets outstanding ratings from the Office of Standards and Education. The majority of students get top tier scores on exams, but it faces stiff criticism. Yeah, the school sounds absolutely dreadful. That's British parenting blogger John Adams on GB News in 2021. It sounds like a soulless place. It just sucks the life out of the kids. Frankly, I would hate my kids to go there. We're trying to get children prepared for the outside world. And that is not just about getting nine A star GCSEs. It's about producing well rounded individuals. And I don't think walking down silent corridors or getting an after school detention for forgetting a pen is the way to go. One major challenge came from within the school community itself. In 2023, a Muslim student took the school to court over a ban on prayers in the schoolyard. Berbil Singh says allowing prayers would have been divisive. I'm not going to divide children according to race and religion, so I refused to do it and I went to the high court to defend our belief in multiculturalism being able to succeed. The student lost the challenge. Burblesing remains unapologetic about Michaela's exacting standards. Everybody is treated in exactly the same way. You never hear children saying that's unfair because everybody has the same strict discipline. She also stands by its traditional educational practices. We believe that the adult should be the authority and the they're standing at the front. They are in charge, not the children. The school says over 1,000 people a year come to see the school firsthand. People come to the school and they say, my goodness, the children are so kind and grateful. The kids are so interested and polite and they're so ambitious and they're so resilient. Yes, I'm very proud of our results and how the kids do academically, but I'm even more proud of who they are as people. Verbal Singers says that's the outcome she wants for students, the character traits that no school exam can quantify. Reporting for World I'm Lindsay Mast. On Saturday we will release Lindsay's full interview with Kathryn Burblesing. You can find it on the World and everything in it feed wherever you get your podcasts. Foreign Today is Tuesday, September 30th. Good morning. This is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert. And I'm Nick Eicher. Coming up next, the end of the world. With pandemics, wars and turmoil abroad, many are wondering whether we are in the last days. World Opinions contributor Daniel Darling says Christians ought to face the future with confidence and hope. Christians are not immune to fear. We see the same images and hear the same headlines. COVID 19 cases are rising in the US amid a summer wave. Nuclear saber rattling from the crowd. Kremlin this morning with Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, neighboring Ukraine Russia launched around 500 drones. Well, throughout the day here, the Israeli military has been recovering the bodies. And we are getting very disturbing reports of a shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic church. Bad news abounds. It leads many Christians to wonder if we are living in the last days predicted by Jesus. Believers throughout the church age have held differing views on exactly how the end times will unfold. The latter half of the 20th century was a high watermark for pre tribulation dispensationalism with best selling book series, movies and prophecy conferences. While belief in this strand of eschatology has waned somewhat in the 21st century, believers look at world events and wonder where they fit into God's plan. This is a good instinct. Every believer, regardless of his or her eschatology, has a hope that a fearful world lacks. We have the promise of Jesus coming. We have confidence that God is gathering history to himself. Scripture tells us to eagerly anticipate the coming of Jesus, who said in Luke 21:28 to look up for your redemption is near. Christians aren't to be asleep and adrift amid the cultural tides, but to be watchful, alert and sober. For Christians, war, rumors of war, an Orwellian technology should not provoke us to fear. But faith, the sovereign Lord of the universe is not wringing his hands at any of this. In fact, Psalm 2 says that God sits in the heavens and laughs at human machinations. Trust in God doesn't imply naivete or withdraw from the world. Rather, we are told in Scripture that anticipating the end should motivate us to double down on Christian faithfulness. Writing after World War II and at the dawn of the Cold War, C.S. lewis wrote of Christ's second coming in an essay, The World's Last Night. He urged Christians precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments. The Apostle Paul urged the first century church toward a holy the night is nearly over, the day is almost here, so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. In one of his final letters, Paul urges Christians to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews says the end of days should find us gathering more, not less, with the people of God. So while believers will differ on the exact timing and details of Jesus coming, we are united by a hope that he is indeed returning victoriously to finish his work of making all things new. We can state with confidence that we are in the final stages of God's redemptive plan, not because of a headline, but because we have God's sure word. And so with the Apostle John, we watch and say, come Lord Jesus. I'm Daniel Darling. Tomorrow another government shutdown looms. We'll talk about that and other D.C. stories on Washington Wednesday with Hunter Baker and a conversation with Jefferson Fisher. How he became the Internet's go to Communication Coach. That and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Icker. And I'm Mary Reichert. 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 psalmist writes, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Verse 10 of Psalm 84. Go now in grace and peace. Sa.