The Christian Worldview

GUEST: CHRIS ANDERSON, pastor and author, Theology That Sticks“Houston, we have a problem.” That’s a slight misquote version of what an Apollo 13 astronaut said to NASA Mission Control in Houston after an explosion harmed their spacecraft back in 1970.That was a physical, life-threatening problem. But there are even bigger God-dishonoring problems in the Evangelical church today. The preaching of weak or unsound doctrine is one. Another is the message and methodology of music in the church.While music in sound churches over the centuries was mainly congregational singing of Psalms and hymns with or without musical instruments, that all changed over the past 60 years with the introduction of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM). The worldview driving this believes that the form of rock ’n’ roll, soft rock, and rap glorifies God and attracts people to Christianity by simply swapping secular lyrics for Christian lyrics.And yet the result has been compromise. Instead of congregations belting out inspired Psalms or sound hymns, shallow, repetitive, mesmerizing, error-filled songs fill nearly every space in Evangelicalism.The water may have flooded over the dam but our guest this weekend and next will help Christians and churches select “songs, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5) that are sound in theology, honoring to God and edifying for us. His name is Chris Anderson. He’s a former pastor of 25 years and author of several well-known hymns, including “His Robes for Mine”. He is also the author of the new book, Theology That Sticks—The Life-Changing Power of Exceptional Hymns.

** This program was previously aired 11/27/21 but the DVD offer is available again for a short time.GUEST: DR. JERRY NEWCOMBE, producer, The Pilgrims documentaryA small group of biblical Christians known as the the Pilgrims are widely considered to be “the founders of America”.Numbering only about 400-500 souls, they had fled religious persecution in England to settle in Holland. But after ten years there, they decided on another move across the Atlantic Ocean to an unknown land that would become the United States.About 50 Pilgrims were on the first vessel called The Mayflower, arriving in modern-day Cape Cod in Massachusetts in November 1620. One year later in November 1621, after a brutal winter in which many of them died, they celebrated a bountiful harvest with local Indians who had helped them in what has become known as the first Thanksgiving.The Pilgrims and their biblical beliefs which led directly to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution 150 years have been mostly forgotten by the majority of our population. “Separation of church and state” is a sacrament of mainstream society today…but it wasn’t to the Pilgrims. They said they came to America “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”Dr. Jerry Newcombe, producer of the documentary film, The Pilgrims, joins us this Thanksgiving weekend on The Christian Worldview to discuss the Pilgrims’ story and what they believed and lived by. For in them we have an example for how we can live in our pilgrimage in a contrary world.

Guest: Cal Beisner, President, The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation This past week, the U.S. Senate passed a bill, with every Democrat and 12 Republicans voting in favor, that is deceptively called “The Respect for Marriage Act.”In fact, the bill, now sure to be passed by the Democrat-majority U.S. House (before the Republican majority kicks in next year) and then signed by Democrat president Joe Biden, will overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and codify homosexual “marriage” into federal law.But aren’t homosexuals already able to “marry” one another? Yes, but this bill would federalize homosexual “marriage” so states could not establish a contrary law and will be a bulwark should the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision be overturned. That case banned any state from denying homosexual “marriages”.But even more sinister is the authority the bill offers to prosecute those individuals and organizations (like Christian schools) who hold to the Biblical one-man one-woman definition of marriage. This sets the stage for far more persecution of truth-tellers than ever before.It may not seem related but the end goal of the United Nation’s COP 27 climate change conference that just concluded in Egypt is the same—to control and command people into compliance to a new world order of God-rejecting values. During the conference, an interfaith delegation held an event at Mt. Sinai (where Moses received the 10 Commandments) called “Returning to Sinai—A Prophetic Call for Climate Justice and Ceremony of Repentance” where they laid out and then smashed their own 10 climate commandments.Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).The whole point of these events is to promote evil and punish those who stand for God’s word. Unless or until the Supreme Court intervenes, it will likely be open season on Christians who stand for Biblical truth.Cal Beisner, president of The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, joins us this weekend to examine these issues and how they will impact you.---------------------Related Resources:Global Warming Skepticism for Busy PeopleGlobal Warming DVD

GUEST: ROBERT KNIGHT, columnist, Washington TimesFor the last two years, Democrats held majorities in both the US House and US Senate and the White House with President Biden. This has allowed them to push through all manner of God-rejecting policies on the country.But as the mid-term election loomed, and pundits, polls, and history all concurred that a Red Wave of Republican victories would hold the Democrats in check. After all, the party out of power typically does very well in the mid-terms, as voters sour on one-party rule.With 70% of people saying the country is headed in the wrong direction, a Red Wave seemed inevitable. But the results were more of a Red Ripple—Republicans gained a slight majority in the House, won some governorships, and are hoping three not-yet-called races in Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia will put them in the majority in the US Senate.One bright spot for Republicans was Florida. The voting process was cleaned up and Ron DeSantis won in dominating fashion for Governor, as did Marco Rubio for US Senate.The question we will examine today is—why didn’t Republicans do even better? Robert Knight, columnist for the Washington Times and author of the new book, Crooked: What Really Happened in the 2020 Election and How to Stop the Fraud will join us.

GUESTS: Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman, Liberty Counsel Pastor Andrew DeBartolo, Director of Operations, Liberty Coalition CanadaPresident Biden and the Left have held majority power in the White House and Congress for nearly two years. And what a wicked two years it has been for the country.The federal law allowing abortion in all states may have been rightly overturned by the Supreme Court but those on the God-rejecting Left are relentless in their blood thirst to restore the “right” to murder the unborn.Transgenderism, the abominable, destructive lie that a person can change their gender, is pushed down our throats at every turn—in schools, the military, corporations, government, media, drag queen shows…everywhere. Children are having their body parts surgically mutilated or taking powerful hormonal drugs in the futile and harmful attempt to be something they can not be. This abomination has full-throated support of the Biden administration.Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of illegal immigrants have been allowed to enter our country across the southern border. Murder, carjackings, and violence are rampant in our major cities. The foolish decision to print trillions of dollars has inflated the cost of everything, thus devaluing the money you currently have. Throttling fossil fuel production due to the climate change hysteria is another nation-diminishing policy of the Left.This is a short sample of what the Democrats have inflicted upon this once-great and God-revering nation in their attempt to cast off God and remake the world in their Tower of Babel globalist dystopia.Who Americans choose in the mid-term election, which concludes on Tuesday, November 8, will tell us much about the worldview and spiritual condition of the people. It’s hard to believe that anyone would conclude the country is on the right track but such is the level of deception when one sees evil as good.Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, an overtly Christian organization that advances “religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the family through strategic litigation” joins us to discuss what is at stake in this election.Also, Andrew DeBartolo, Canadian pastor and Director of Operations for Liberty Coalition Canada, will update us on what is taking place in Canada and explain why the accusation of “Christian Nationalism” is just a ruse to keep Christians silent.

GUEST: JOEL BEEKE, host, Puritan documentaryIt’s sad that the legacy of the Puritans is either not known or misconstrued today. They rose to prominence in the second half of the 1500s and influenced Protestant Christianity and Western Europe and the forming of America more than any other people or movement.The Puritans were born again Christians who applied Scripture to every area of life. No doubt they would be pejoratively labeled “Christian nationalists” today. Some sought to “purify” the compromising Church of England. Others, as in the case of the Pilgrims, a more independent branch of the Puritans, sailed to the New World to establish their own colony.There is much that present-day Christians need to learn and apply from the convictions and lives of the Puritans. Joel Beeke, president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and founder of Reformation Heritage Books, the largest publisher of Puritan resources, joins us on The Christian Worldview for part two of our discussion of the Puritans.--------------------Related Resource:Puritan DVD: All of Life to the Glory of God

GUEST: JOEL BEEKE, host, PURITAN documentaryIn 2000 years of church history, the two most prominent eras for the propagation of sound doctrine were in the first century when the apostles of Christ took the gospel across the Roman Empire and then in the 1500s and 1600s when the Protestant Reformation took place.But as always, Satan, along with those who knowingly or unknowingly are used by him, attack and undermine anything that accurately represents God and His word.In the mid-1500s in England, just 40 or so years after Roman Catholic monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses for church reform on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany (Oct. 31, 1517), a group of devout Christians known as the Puritans emerged. Some Puritans worked within the Protestant Church of England to “purify” it from the influence of Roman Catholicism and the British monarchs while other Puritans separated from the state church, suffering persecution, dispersion, and martyrdom.The Puritans—men like John Bunyan, John Winthrop, Samual Rutherford, William Perkins, John Foxe, and others—were marked by everything the current-day mainstream Evangelical movement is not—a high and holy view of God, the absolute authority of God’s Word on all matters of life and faith, an accurate proclamation of the gospel, and a deep commitment to personal sanctification. Put another way, the Puritans were laser-focused on a precise understanding of God and applying His word to every area of life.This week and next in the lead-up to the commemoration of Reformation Day (Oct. 31, 1517) and Thanksgiving (i.e. the America Pilgrims were a branch of the Puritans), we will be joined by a man who is an expert on the Puritans—Joel Beeke. Joel is president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, minister of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and also the host of the excellent documentary film, PURITAN: All of Life to the Glory of God.There is a lot for Christians and churches today to learn and apply from the Puritans and so we hope you are able to join us for this two-part series.--------------Related Resource:  Puritan Collector's Edition DVD

GUEST: SOEREN KERN, Christian Geopolitical AnalystAs Jesus pointed to the temple, He told His disciples, “Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”Just as Jesus predicted, the temple was torn down and destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans. But the question the disciples then asked is the same one Christians are asking today: “What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”Jesus called Christians to discern the times to be ready for His return. That is what we aim to do on this week’s program with our guest, geopolitical analyst Soeren Kern. Soeren will offer insight from a biblical perspective on some of the most significant issues and events, such as Covid, the Russian war against Ukraine, updates from Israel and the Middle East, and the influence of China.We’ll go around the world, knowing that God is in perfect control of what appears to be an out of control world.Related Resources:Rob Roos: Vaccine never tested on preventing transmission

There are many pressing issues in the world right now, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Ian which decimated areas and lives along the west coast of Florida or the sabotage of the undersea Nord Stream pipelines which transport natural gas from Russia to Germany.No matter the current event, the most important issue is always how sinful man can be reconciled to Holy God.We are living in an era of our nation where God-rejection is rushing forward at an alarming rate. The statistics (such as The State of Theology that we covered last week) show that the nation, and particularly the younger generation, is turning away from Christ and Christianity. Many of our civil authorities lead the way in suppressing the truth and advocating for sin.So what should the Christian response be to this God rejection? Evangelicals have widely different answers to this question. Most want to soften the sharp edges of the faith and present the faith as “what we are for rather than what we’re against.” And they would define what we are for as “radical love, compassion, and forgiveness.” This sums up the “He Gets Us” campaign that we will discuss today.And there is a small minority of believers, who despite what the market researchers say, know that they must faithfully proclaim all of God’s Word, trusting in His Holy Spirit (instead of human reasoning) to change people’s hearts. This sums up John MacArthur’s "An Open Letter to CA Governor Gavin Newsom", which we will also discuss today.

GUEST: Dr. Stephen Nichols, Ligonier MinistriesTheology is defined as “the study of the nature of God and religious beliefs.” So “what do Americans believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible?”That is how Ligonier Ministries frames The State of Theology survey that they and LifeWay Research partner together to produce every two years.If you’re a Christian and are paying attention to the shift away from God and Scripture that has taken place in our country over the past 75 years, you won’t be surprised to learn that Americans have an unbiblical, syncretistic worldview, which is a mix of flawed human reasoning and remnants of religious moralism borrowed from Christianity.The survey made 35 theological statements to over 3,000 respondents of differing backgrounds and regions. Respondents could answer “strongly agree, somewhat agree, not sure, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree”.Here are a few examples of the theological statements in the survey:“God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”(67% agreed with this falsehood, as did 56% of Evangelicals).“Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.”(53% agreed with this lie, as did 43% of professing Evangelicals)“The Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.”(52% overall agreed, with 94% of Evangelicals agreeing…thankfully)Dr. Stephen Nichols, chief academic officer of Ligonier Ministries and president of Reformation Bible College, joins us on The Christian Worldview to discuss The State of Theology survey for 2022.