**REGISTER TO RECEIVE A FREE TRIP TO WILBERFORCE WEEKEND 2021** > We're not crying wolf with the proposed and mis-named Equality Act. Instead we're standing on the shore watching the tsunami of redefinition and rewiring of hearts, minds, and souls grow closer and closer. This version of the Equality Act presents with more support and more potential to be enacted than at any point in history. John is sounding the alarm, sharing a discussion he had with a number of educators regarding the poten...
Mar 29, 2021•38 min
This month, Congress halted the rollout of the Army's new Combat Fitness Test. Unlike the old test, which dates back to before combat roles were open to female soldiers, the new test requires men and women to meet the same standards of physical fitness. That's a problem, critics and activists say, since, so far, 54 percent of women have failed this new gender-neutral test. Service Women's Action Network CEO Deshauna Barber complained , "A fitness test that is so clearly biased simply cannot move...
Mar 29, 2021•5 min
John Stonestreet and Maria Baer discuss recent acts of desperation in two mass shootings in the past week. They discuss narratives coming from both secular and Christian sources. The two pull in some recent headlines having to do with Kristi Noem's veto of a bill that would protect female sports in South Dakota. They discuss the possible forces that pushed Noem, highlight the corporate pressure likely coming from the LGBT movement. -- Resources -- Win a Trip to the 2021 Wilberforce Weekend, incl...
Mar 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min
A few weeks ago, South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem Tweeted , "In South Dakota, we're celebrating International Women's Day by defending women's sports!" She was referring to the state's "Women's Fairness in Sports" bill, which would prohibit biological males from competing in female athletics. She then added, "I'm excited to sign the bill very soon!" As it turns out, she wasn't so excited after all. After the legislature passed the bill, the Republican governor vetoed it. More specifically, sh...
Mar 26, 2021•5 min
There have been two mass shootings in a little over a week, on opposites sides of the country by individuals who, from what we currently know, sit on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum. Though quickly trotted out narratives have proven either obviously flimsy or flat wrong, Americans remains deeply entrenched in their corners and are seeing these issues through those lenses. All the while, yet another set of events reveals a country in moral crisis, with very little helpful guidance from...
Mar 25, 2021•5 min
A listener writes in to John and Shane following a recent BreakPoint commentary on restricting access to organ transplants for those with disabilities. The questioner expands the concept to talk about the challenges inside the organ transplant process. John also fields a question from a listener who wrote in to Arizona Senator Kirsten Sinema regarding the Equality Act. The Senator's office wrote to the listener claiming religious freedoms are protected inside the Equality Act. John responds, out...
Mar 24, 2021•38 min
Each year as Easter approaches, pseudo-scholars, newspapers , and cable networks make headlines claiming to offer the real story about Jesus. Their accounts assume that much of the Jesus story contained in the Gospels, especially anything miraculous is largely a myth created and propagated by, first, His followers, and then, Church leaders seeking to expand their power. Despite the skepticism, few suggest that Jesus never existed. Online, of course, that is a different story. Though there are no...
Mar 24, 2021•4 min
March Madness, the NCAA Division 1 national basketball tournament is back, and better than ever. Two interesting developments so far are the incredible number of upsets in the first two rounds and, with the notable exceptions of Liberty University and BYU, the success of the religious schools. So far, the Catholics (Loyola-Chicago), the Disciples of Christ (Abilene Christian), the Baptists (Baylor), and the charismatics (Oral Roberts University) have all advanced. The sweet 16 is quite the ecume...
Mar 23, 2021•5 min
The gospel isn't just two chapters, but four – not just fall and redemption. Rather, the whole story begins with creation – then fall, redemption – and concludes with restoration (for His glory). Pastor Matt Heard shares the importance of guarding our heart, understanding that the gospel is restoring us to the original purpose for which we were made. The heart includes – but is way more than – our emotions. It's where we experience longing. It's where we discern and understand. It's where we pon...
Mar 22, 2021•28 min
According to a recent poll published in Reason magazine , trust in American political parties is at an historic low. For the first time, more than 50 percent of Americans now identify as Independent, as opposed to Republican or Democrat. And, of course, it's not just political parties that are targets of our growing skepticism. Trust in societal institutions across the board has been on the decline for years. For example, the American people have shrinking confidence in the media, in big tech , ...
Mar 22, 2021•5 min
John Stonestreet and Maria Baer discuss the top events impacting culture this week. They highlight the recent, horrible shootings in Atlanta and dig into the various narratives by people making sense of the situation, including those which blame evangelicals. Maria then comments on the border crisis, pointing to the humanitarian concerns specifically impacting young people. John and Maria offer a Christian perspective to support both children and parents as the crisis is likely to grow in the co...
Mar 20, 2021•56 min
Recently, especially as a response to the revelations of particularly egregious misconduct by Ravi Zacharias, and even abuse , we've been warned away from saying anything akin to "There, but for the grace of God, go I." What is, to some an admission that, as my colleague Shane Morris has put it, everyone is made of the same clay, is, to others, excuse-making cloaked in faux humility. To them, it suggests that sexual sin, even the most terrible kind, is inevitable for men, so we shouldn't expect ...
Mar 19, 2021•5 min
In his remarkable autobiography, Confessions, St. Augustine famously wrote, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee." Solomon talked of God "putting eternity in our hearts." In other words, as John Calvin observed, humans are "incurably religious creatures." Though millions of Americans have given up on organized religion and a growing number now declare themselves as "nones" (in other words, no spiritual affiliation), these observations ...
Mar 18, 2021•5 min
John answers listener questions related to using gender pronouns, responding to employer terminology in assisted suicide, and considering statistics for support in defending marriage and parenting structures.
Mar 17, 2021•31 min
During the pandemic, the world learned that some British doctors placed "Do Not Resuscitate" orders on COVID-19 patients with intellectual disabilities. These orders reflected a tendency across Western culture to commodify human life, valuing people based on extrinsic abilities and appearances rather than assuming inherent value for all who are part of the human family. As a result, the disabled are not deemed as valuable as the non-disabled. To be clear, the pandemic didn't cause this way of se...
Mar 17, 2021•5 min
In nearly every sector of society—media, education, medicine, public policy, even sports—children are now subjects of social experimentation. As fundamental realities of life such as sex, marriage, and parenting are reimagined, we say to ourselves, "Oh, the kids will be fine." Overwhelming evidence suggests they aren't. At the same time, too many churches and too many Christians, often jaded by Christian activism either poorly done or poorly received (or both), have moved to the sidelines. At ti...
Mar 16, 2021•6 min
Cheryl Bachelder shared at the Time of Guided Prayer last week. She spoke on the importance of Proverbs 31, remembering a Proverbs 31 woman who made a significant impact on Cheryl's life. This is a special edition of the BreakPoint podcast. Cheryl is the former CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., a multibillion-dollar chain of more than 2,600 restaurants around the world. She has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, featured on Mad Money, and received top industry awards. She had prior ...
Mar 16, 2021•22 min
A recent four-day visit by Pope Francis to Iraq was bound to attract attention, given that he is the Pope and Iraq is, well, Iraq. Some of the media coverage, however, demonstrated just how little the press "gets religion." In one especially funny and now-deleted example, CNN referred to the Vatican as the "Holly Sea," instead of the "Holy See." Still, this visit was full of meetings that mattered, such as the Pope's meeting with the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leader of the Shiites in I...
Mar 15, 2021•5 min
John Stonestreet and Maria Baer discuss the sex and gender issues dominating the news this week: President Biden's new Gender Policy Council designed to promotes women's rights, but actually advances the transgender agenda; Governor Andrew Cuomo's alleged harassment and even assault of female colleagues; to the treatment of women employees--even in Christian ministries. What does the Church have to say about what it means to be a man and a woman in today's culture? Also on today's episode: Mille...
Mar 12, 2021•1 hr 13 min
According to a recent article in The Guardian , "Nearly every main voice of dissent in Hong Kong is now in jail or exile." The latest chapter of Beijing's grab for power saw "Hong Kong police charge 47 pro-democracy campaigners and politicians with conspiracy to commit subversion. All face life in prison if convicted." The protests, which began with hopes of a democratic rebuke to the autocratic regime of Xi Jinping, have seemingly come to an end, not with a bang but with a proverbial whimper. I...
Mar 12, 2021•5 min
At the start of the pandemic, many expected the lockdowns and quarantines to lead to a "baby boom." Well, the data is in. Instead of a "boom" it's been a "bust." As CBS recently reported , records from more than two dozen states show a "7% drop in births in December — nine months after the first lockdowns began." While 7% may sound like a small dip, it's not. As the New York Times puts it: "The pandemic's serious disruption of people's lives is likely to cause 'missing births' — potentially a lo...
Mar 11, 2021•5 min
John and Shane field a follow-up question they answered last week from a single woman considering adoption. The question last week asked if the listener should move forward with an adoption knowing that the child would not receive a fatherly influence in the adoption. This week a listener wrote in to ask what the difference would be in a same-sex relationship where two parents of the same gender are unable to provide the mothering or fathering a child needs. Another listener reflected on work an...
Mar 10, 2021•45 min
The overall cost – room and board – to attend Smith College, an elite women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, is in the neighborhood of 78-thousand dollars per year. An allegation of racism, made by an African-American student against a school janitor in 2018, has prompted a complex cultural discussion there that is full of worldview implications. It also exposes the significant limitations of critical theory and intersectionality, the dominant lenses by which our culture discerns issues ...
Mar 10, 2021•5 min
On March 8, International Women's Day, President Biden signed an executive order establishing a Gender Policy Council. According to USA Today , the Council will seek to "advance gender equality in domestic and foreign policy . . . [and] combat systemic bias and discrimination, including sexual harassment." Until recently, we could assume that by "gender equality," the president planned to deal with discrimination against women. But times have changed. The new council "will also focus on transgen...
Mar 10, 2021•1 min
The fundamental assumptions of a Christian worldview are straightforward. The universe is created, not eternal or random. Humans are made in God's image, not mere animals and not gods themselves. Right and wrong are grounded in eternal truths, not subject to the whims of a person or a culture. Christ's death and resurrection have cosmic implications, in direct contrast to both utopian and dystopian narratives. Applying the fundamental truth of a Christian worldview, particularly in this cultural...
Mar 09, 2021•6 min
Our culture proclaims a narrative, that what kids need are parents not moms and dads. Movies, television shows, music, public policies, they all call us to a new way of organizing the family. This new organization prioritizes adult desires, wishes, and needs over kids. We hear, over and over, that the kids will be fine. But the kids aren't fine. Katy Faust has been on a campaign for years to tell the stories of children who are victims of the sexual revolution. These are often unheard voices in ...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Imagine a young man with every advantage. He's well-educated, goes to church, lives in a nice neighborhood, able to secure strong employment... But he grew up without ever having known his father. Even as he moves into adulthood, his desire to know his father, his sense of loss for what he missed, is somewhere between insistent and consuming. There used to be a time when fatherlessness was considered a tragedy. Now, raising a child without a father or, in some cases, without a mother is a perfec...
Mar 08, 2021•5 min
Bethany Christian Services, one of the nation's largest faith-based adoption and foster care agencies, has decided to begin placing children with same-sex couples: John Stonestreet and Maria Baer wonder why and discuss the implications not only for the children but for Christians organizations that seek to remain true to the biblical understanding of family and human sexuality. As John points out, this issue is certainly not about ensuring that same-sex couples have access to adoption, because t...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 5 min
If the last two Presidential elections, the last midterm elections, and every exit poll ever conducted can teach us anything, it's to not put too much faith in polling. Still, a new Gallup poll released last month deserves a serious look. In a remarkable jump from prior years, one in six adult members of Gen Z (that is, ages 18 to 24) self-identify as LGBT. The first thing to unpack is the definition of terms; specifically, what does it mean to identify as LGBT? The disconnection of biological r...
Mar 05, 2021•7 min
In just the last few weeks, two mass kidnappings took place, both at schools in northwestern Nigeria. In the first, "unidentified gunmen" attacked a boarding school in Niger state, killing one student and kidnapped 42 others -- 38 of the abducted were rescued a week later , presumably by government forces. The day before that rescue, "unknown gunmen" in neighboring Zamfara state kidnapped over 300 girls from a boarding school . On Tuesday, the AP reported the release of 270. It's not clear wheth...
Mar 04, 2021•5 min
