Generations Radio

Every Christmas season we cherish the Christmas carols that articulate a Biblical understanding of God’s incarnation as the Baby of Bethlehem. But do you know the stories behind them? Based on the research of Kenneth Osbeck, author of 101 Hymn Stories​ and 101 More Hymn Stories​, guest host Adam McManus​ gives you a behind-the-scenes peek at “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Silent Night,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” and “Joy to the World.”

In the rush to get out the Christmas card and attend the Christmas productions, we can lose sight of special ways to draw the family closer to one another and to Jesus Christ, the Baby in Bethlehem. Guest host Adam McManus​ suggests 8 Christmas projects for your family: 1. Make homemade cookies for the neighbors and pass them out with a note. 2. Go caroling with your family and pass out candy canes with the “Legend of the Candy Cane”​ attached which points them to Christ. 3. Throughout December, start an Advent wreath over dinner. Get the 3 purple candles and pink candle and the Advent wreath ring to hold them at Hobby Lobby or on Amazon. Use the Scriptures, prayers and songs in the Advent devotional guide by Dr. Mark Roberts​. 4. Volunteer as a family to ring the silver bell in front of the Salvation Army’s red kettle outside of Walmart for 2 hours on a Saturday. Call your local Salvation Army office. 5. Purchase, wrap and deliver gifts to the children of their imprisoned father through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree​. 6. Bless your garbage man with pictures from your kids, a hand-written thank you note, and a $10 gift card to Subway or a $10 tip. 7. Make an inexpensive Christmas ornament for a parent or grandparent by gluing a 3-inch miniature Christmas tree to the roof of a Hot Wheel as if a family just bought their Christmas tree and put the red ribbon through the windows. 8. Invite your children to think of acts of service–like wash the car, shovel the driveway or give a hug–that they would write down on slips of paper and place in a Christmassy mini-cookie tin from Hobby Lobby. If your family does any one of these by Monday, December 14th , email adam@theworldview.com and include your name, city and state, and your phone number. Adam could be calling you to interview one of your children to include a soundbite in an upcoming www.TheWorldview.com newscast.

Do churches have to carve out a new category for SSA (Same Sex Attraction), as well as every other type of sexual attraction Same Sex Attraction. (Mrs. Jones Sex Attraction. Sibling Attraction, Animal Attraction.  etc. etc.) and pretend that these heart-oriented attractions are sinless, autonomous, and neutral territory? We revisit the Dordt College discussion briefly, but spend most of the time analyzing the latest Christian Reformed Church report on homosexuality. What is the difference between temptation and “natural attraction?” Is it okay to have a heart that defaults on a desire for that which God has expressly forbidden? Must Christians be labeled as with these orientations, identities, or attractions? Why must we always use the psychological terms the world has come up with, instead of sticking with biblical truth and biblical categories? When the world gives us a label, now we have to live down to the label!

In a world where there is rising persecution towards Christian preaching and intense push-back from the ungodly, what is the best way to spread the Gospel? Jesus confronted the rich young ruler with the hardest thing for him to hear, but He didn't browbeat him. For the ungodly to be converted, it will take the working of the Holy Spirit in an individual's life. For men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

'Tis the season for sickness, so it behooves us to ask the question: What is God teaching us? What is the correct way to view trials? Certainly, sickness humbles us, reminding us once again of how dependent we are upon God.  At the end of the day, though, we must have a vision of God, beholding His infinite wisdom and goodness in the midst of suffering, while having a wonderful opportunity to see the power of God at work in our weakness. We also take a look at the hospital occupancy rates over the last 30-40 years, comparing them to today's on this edition of the program.

Education is largely what has corrupted the Christian faith over the last 800 years and is central in the battle of the war of the worldviews. Is it time for another education reformation to salvage human civilization? It can only be salvaged, ultimately, by the discipleship of the nations through the education of Christ. On this edition of Generations Radio, Kevin Swanson interviews author Vishal Mangalwadi about the need for Christian influence in higher education.

The metastasis of faith downgrade in the United States occurred between 2011 and 2014. Barna Research recorded a precipitous drop-off of church attendance within just a few years, continuing well into 2020. For a hundred years plus, church attendance continued above forty percent until 2011. Within just nine years, 54% of the professing Christian population abandoned the church. Arguably, it was the worst per-year bloodletting for the Christian church in recorded history. What was the catalyst? What happened in 2012 to trigger the metastasis? It all started in New Mexico. . .

These are critical moments in American history. Will pastors go to jail? Will Christian counselors be fined? The stakes are pretty high for American elections, in that Trump’s appointee to the Supreme Court seems ready to defend religious liberties. Given a political apparatus that kills babies, promotes the breaking of the 6th, the 7th, and 8th commandments with great zeal, what are the possibilities they would break the 9th commandment? We wouldn’t be surprised. What is the Christian response to the election controversies?

We are in an age of rising skepticism, atheism, and an aggressive resistance to the Christian faith, capturing the minds of tens of millions of the younger generation. Now is the time for a robust equipping in a distinctively Christian way of thinking, a biblical ethic, biblical epistemology, and biblical apologetics. Here are some resources that will help. Free online training in apologetics can be found here: https://bahnsenproject.com/sample-of-titles/

Happy Thanksgiving! The Greek word of thanksgiving is literally translated: “The giving of thanks for God’s grace.” We are constantly aware of being graced, we say grace, and we share grace. The Christian life is a three-way grace! We give thanks for 400 years of a tremendous heritage handed down to us by the Plymouth Pilgrims.  Such a strong contrast between the slave-based economies and the family economy espoused by the Pilgrims! They experimented with socialism, and then settled on a free market economy early on. And they were strong on family discipleship. We are the next generation of Pilgrims.