The Cory Truax Show

My latest episode is a reflection on the need for contemplation.

On This Episode:BIBLE CONTROVERSYI've heard from the Far Right and Left recently that the story of Jesus's interaction with the Syrophoenician Woman either shows Jesus is a sinner or that you should feel great about preferring your own ethnicity. Neither is true. I'll explain.TRUMP VS. ZELENSKY VS. VANCEThat was a weird spectacle in the Oval Office. I'll share why I think all 3 men made mistakes and where the real situation stands.MUCH MORE

On This Episode:CONSPIRACY THEORIES & FAMILY DYNAMICSThis American Life ran a story this week about a family in disarray because the older father has gotten caught up in conspiracy theories, fueled by YouTube "prophets." There's a lot to learn.Also this week:-What we can learn from Germany's Election-An important Proverb on taking correction-Much More

On This Episode:VANCE IN EUROPEVP Vance gave a speech in Europe that wasn't well-received, but he was correct. Let me walk you through our historic relationship to Europe.MUSK / ST. CLAIRThis should be more an outrage than it is. I'll explain why,

On This Episode:IS YOUR PHONE LISTENING?I've recently changed my answer to this question. I'll tell you why.SOUTH CAROLINA EDGES CLOSER TO SCHOOL CHOICEThe SC Senate passed a bill to provide vouchers for parents to be in control fully of their kid's education. Let's push this to the finish line.SIT-COMSArt both reflects and shapes a culture. I want to share you with you what I recently noticed about how sitcoms trace and reflect our cultural history.

Short on time, and the episode title tells you all you need.

On this week's History Highlight, we discuss the post-Civil-War Amendments. After that, a rubric I've noticed in the Christian Life.

ON THIS EPISODE:WORSHIP MUSICI noticed that repetitive worship music says very little while high-theology music repeats almost nothing. I think we're missing something there.WAR ON POVERTYWe've spent $23 Trillion and 60 years fighting poverty in the US but have made only marginal gains. I have a theory on why that is.HISTORY HIGHLIGHT: DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA BY ALEXIS DETOQUEVILLEMuch more

On This Episode:MASCULINITYThere's an renewed discussion about the trafficker and p*rn*grapher Andrew Tate's place for people on the broad Right. My argument: he has no place. Reject him.LA FIRESIs there a judgment in these fires? What should we be learning or thinking about them spiritually? I have some suggestions.COMMON SENSELet me give you a primer on one of history's most important pamphlets.A LOT MORE

On This Episode:HISTORY TO KNOWThe relationship between the US Federal Government and the States is complicated and long. I want to be sure you know about two inflection points: The Whiskey Rebellion and the Nullification Crisis.OUR DEVICESI have a lots of thoughts to throw at you regarding our relationships to our devices and technology.

Let me give you some content as your travel on Christmas.

On This Episode:ADVENT JOY IN CHAOSThere's a lot of terrible stuff happening in the world during Advent this year. It sent me into a brief spiral. Let me offer some encouragement and practical steps on finding joy in chaos.SOUTH CAROLINA POLITICSNancy Mace's recently-surfaced video is just another example why this raunchy person shouldn't be in Congress. There are other political opportunities in the next two years for South Carolina. I'll give details.HEALTHY CULTURAL ENGAGEMENTIn short, anonymous activity on the Internet is poisonous. We should avoid it.

On This Episode:THE INCARNATIONI'll let Sinclair Ferguson remind you of just how miraculous and mind-blowing this season is.MOST INTERESTING IDEAI heard one of the most interesting ideas I've heard in a LONG time from a listener. It's about the filibuster and ensuring our norms and institutions are strong. I'll share details.MISSISSIPPI VS. EUDid you know the average citizen in Mississippi (our poorest state) earns an income larger than the average citizen in the 27 European Union Countries. This is another massive demonstration of capitalism's power.MUCH MORE

On This Episode:HAPPY ADVENTI have some quick thoughts on embracing the wonder of Advent Season.WHY ARE SOME SINNERS "OPPORTUNITIES" AND SOME ARE NOT?I'm confused. There's a portion of Christianity that seems to think young men dabbling in ethnic prejudice are opportunities to reach but Christians confused about how a Biblical marriage works are toxins to reject. Why the distinction?THIS CONSERVATIVE COALITIONThis conservative coalition is too broad to be sustainable. It's going to fray and fracture. The only way to build lasting changes that move the world toward God's design is to make more Christians.A PASTOR GETS THE BIBLE WAY WRONGI'll play audio -- and correct it -- from a pastor that says "go to hell, Paul" about the Epistles.

On This EpisodeREFLECTION FOR THANKSGIVING1. Be more aware of what you have -- not what don't have.2. Reject materialsm.3. Thankfulness is a spiritual necessity.LISTENER SUBMISSIONS-Ukraine Russia War Escalation-Amending the SC ConstitutionCNN HOST WITH SOME WISDOMA CNN Host offered some surprising wisdom regarding the new "Department of Government Efficiency"

On This Episode:DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONThe President-Elect joins every other Republican president since 1980 to express his desire to abolish it. He won't have the votes, but we SHOULD abolish it. I'll tell you why. In summary, it's existed for only 40 years, and we're only dumber than ever. Let's return education to the States.GAETZ AND KENNEDY SHOULD BE REJECTEDCall me quaint and old-fashioned. I just don't think we should elevate sexual deviants to positions of power. I oppose Matt Gaetz and Robert Kennedy's appointments on character grounds.MUCH MUCH MORE

EP419: 7 Reactions to Tuesday's Results

I like to do show summaries here, but I'm just all out of time. I hope you'll listen, and I'm grateful when you do!

I'm really exhausted by Election 2024 -- badly, and just discouraged.I find undue guilt being heaped on Christians for two categories of voting choices that I think are unfair.I want to talk about that and a lot more on this episode.

ON THIS EPISODE:State of the RaceAre beards wordly?Wisdom from The Golden GirlsA Depopulating PlanetOnlyFans needs to be stopped.

There's a ton on this episode, but it's mostly going to cover the response to Hurricane Helene and some of the resulting conspiracies around it.

ON THIS EPISODE:LESSONS FROM HELENEHelene has left wreckage. I have a few personal lessons from the aftermath to share.VP DEBATE REVIEWJust about everyone agrees Vance came out as the better debater. I have some take-aways for your consideration.CRUSADES SURVEYI'll keep it brief, but I want to get you a little more familiar with the Crusades.

ON THIS EPISODE:AMBER THURMAN AND GEORGIA ABORTION LAWSHave you heard that Georgia's abortion law has murdered a woman? Yeah, I heard that too. I'll debunk the lies the pro-aborts are telling about Amber Thurman.BLAST FROM THE PASTA 1992 presidential debate gives a golden answer on what's gone wrong the last 30+ years.MARK ROBINSON IS A SYMPTOMTwo thoughts: people on the Right, like me, have to start voting with their head -- not their loins.Second thought: we might need to be a ruthless with candidates as the Left was with Biden.IS $150K Enough?Does it feel impossible to get by financially. I'll share a recent study saying families of 4, making $150k in the US are just living paycheck to paycheck.

A ton on this show, and no time to preview it. Thanks for listening!

On This Episode:DEBATE PREVIEWWhat should both candidates do? I have a pre-analysis.ELECTION LONG GAMESI'll provide some historical examples of how losing one election led to great outcomes for conservatives. In short, the people who catastrophize election outcomes don't respect history.SPEAKING OF HISTORY...There's been some controversy on Christian Twitter regarding historical events like the Crusaders and World War 2. I'm more interested in this movement question the history. They are, in some ways, similar to a Woke Deconstructionism.A LOT MORE

On This Episode:LIFE UPDATESI've been gone for a couple weeks. I have some life updates for you.A CONTROVERSIAL CHURCH HANDOUTA church recently distributed a flyer that advertised their church as having "smiling wives," "obedient children," and some other qualities. I have some response to the criticism they received.KINGDOM STRATEGYThere's an online controversy among a couple Christian groups about how to go about actually making kingdom progress in this culture. They've been rude about it. I have some, hopefully, helpful thoughts.A LOT MORE

I much prefer to write more full synopses, but I'm in a rush today. Here's the short version:I have an encouragement on changing your desires instead of FIGHTING THEM.We should reject bad teaching from Left and Right.The State of the Presidential Race

On This Episode:THE MEN WE NEEDA New York Times editorial rightly sees the masculinity from Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock, and Dana White at the RNC as unhelpful, but he gets the CORRECT source of masculinity all wrong.CODDLING LEFT AND PUNCHING RIGHTPeople like me can be critiqued with this phrase. I want to provide a different paradigm on why it may seem like some of us are softer than some others want us to be.OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONYWas it a Lord's Supper parody? Maybe. Probably.Was it a celebration to a pagan god? Yes.Was it definitely an immoral perversion? Yes.POLITICSI have some quick thoughts on JD Vance's 2021 thoughts on "cat ladies" and why I'm confident VP Harris's polling bump is going to fade.

On This Episode:MATT CHANDLER WITH SOME POLITICAL THOUGHTSThe Village Church pastor recently said, "the Left wants the Kingdom without the King. The Right wants the King without the Kingdom." He took some heat for that, but I want to push back on his detractors.WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!You are living in a genuinely unique time in American history. I have some thoughts to add context and then some examination of the a forming Trump vs. Harris race.

On this Episode:What else? The biggest story of the year was almost the biggest story of my lifetime. I have some sobering thoughts on the near-assassination.I'll address Trump himself, and what I hope can be a transformative experience that makes him consider his mortality.I also have thoughts on the Secret Service's failure, what the killer's profile tells us about young men in the country, and why our entire national temperature has to come down (like I've been saying for a decade).I'll also give you my initial reaction to JD Vance being announced as Trump's VP nominee (spoiler: it's meh).

On This Episode:GOP PLATFORMRepublicans released ⁠their platform⁠ one week ahead of their Convention. I'll review it and provide details.WINNING IN THE CULTURE AS A CHRISTIANI'll play two Christian figures -- one is Tim Keller. I'm asking the question in this darkening culture: what does it mean for Christians to WIN. It's more complicated than you may think.MUCH MORE

On This Episode:CHEVRON DEFERENCE CASEWhen the Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference case, they created an environment where we might be able to start chipping away at the massive federal bureaucracy that largely rules the American people. I'll break it down in detail.DISHONEST ABORTION STATISTICPro-Aborts are touting a statistic out of Texas regarding infant mortality being HIGHER after strict abortion laws were enacted. I'll explain why this is misleading.OKLAHOMA TO ADD BIBLE TEACHING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLSHaving the Bible present in public schools is a great idea. Having it taught introduces some challenges, though.CHRISTIANS & POLITICSI revisit my oft-visited struggle on how Christians respond to an interact with the world's governments, prompted by an online blog battle between two Christian academics.

On This Episode:DEBATE PREVIEWOur two elderly presidential candidates will be meeting in Atlanta, well passed their bedtimes, to "debate." I'll provide a preview and predict the strategies of both "men."TEN COMMANDMENTS IN CLASSROOMSOf course then 10 Commandments should be posted in classrooms. I'll explain why those arguing for "Separation of Church and State" have that all wrong.A LOT MOE

I sure do like to write show synopses, but I'm in a huge rush. So, please enjoy the show, and genuinely, thank you for listening.

ON THIS EPISODE:ALITO'S RECORDINGSThe media is acting like Sam Alito said something akin to theocracy. It's actually normal, anodyne, and obvious.ANDY STANLEY DOUBLES DOWN ON WRONGThe "pastor" of one of the largest churches in the country says AGAIN that the Bible is the wrong foundation for Christian faith. I'll critique that.THE WOKE RIGHTThere's a certain section of the Right making the same mistakes the Woke Left are. I'll give details.MUCH MORE

On this episode, Cody and I discuss:-Thinking about politics through a Covenantal Theology framework-Why Christianity needs BOTH wall builders and bridge builders-The new North Greenville University mascot-About a dozen other things along the way.

I have commentary on the Trump indictment that will anger and enliven everyone at various times.

On This Episode:PRAY FOR PEACEThe death of the Iranian president makes me a little nervous. Let's pray for peace.POPE IS WRONG... AGAINThe Pope says human nature is good -- defying literally thousands of years of Christian teaching. I'll give details.VACATION TO THE GLORY OF GODIt's vacation season. We should recognize vacations, historically, are a reality for the tiniest groups of humans. We should be grateful for them and use them to the glory of God as we enjoy them.WHY TRUMP IS WINNINGTrump is leading in the polls for a reason interesting to a politics nerd. It seems ECONOMIC identity is starting to overcome ethnic identity for a lot of people.WHAT HAPPENS IN A TIE?Did you know there's a VERY realistic scenario for a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College? In that scenario, House DELEGATIONS from the States choose the President and the Senate chooses the Vice-President. In this scenario, there's a sit-com level set up where Biden could win the presidency and Republicans make Trump Vice-President

On This Episode: ARE MEN LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY? Chris Rock echoes a lot of the manosphere out there, bemoaning the "inequity" and "unfairness" of being a man when it comes to love. I think Chris is missing one vitally important point for a man. I'll explain. CHRISTIANS AND AUTHORITARIANISM I'll play audio from a Christian who correctly says the Constitution is ill-equipped to govern a people as immoral as we are. Then he suggests we need something like a Caesar. He's wrong there, and I'll explain why. AN ELECTION MAILER TO MY HOME It's primary season in South Carolina, so my mailbox is full. One piece gives us a good opportunity for discussing the need for political wisdom for the Christian. FALLING BIRTHRATES About 30 years too late, world leaders are finally panicking over the plummeting birthrates in the West. There is MUCH I could say, but I want to use this to recognize that ideas have consequences. Teaching people that the purpose of their life is their own fulfillment/joy and that sex can be separated from marriage and procreation has real consequences, and these consequences are going to make life worse.

On This Episode:SPECTACULAR IMPLOSION OF KRISTI NOEMThe Governor of South Dakota thought it was politically wise to tell a country that largely exchanged kids for dogs that she once shot a 13-month-old dog to death -- oh and shot a goat too.It's funny when politicians make fools of themselves, but there's also some lessons we can learn. I'll share those.PRIMARY CANDIDATESI have chosen candidates for my Primary votes. I'll give you my method and some tools to make your own choices.LONG MARCH THROUGH THE INSTITUTIONSIf you're unfamiliar with this term, you should learn it. We need strategy like this if we're going to be effective for the Kingdom of God.

On This Episode:TAYLOR SWIFT'S NEW ALBUM AND LYRICSSwift's new album has drawn fire from some Christian thinkers. I'll lay out the controversy and try to bring some clarity to how the Christian intakes secular entertainment. CIVIL WAR MOVIE REVIEWI saw the new movie, Civil War. It's mostly an argument to NEVER actually go to war; wars are just horrific. It also seems to make an argument, to me, for a negotiated severance when the need arises.

On This Episode: JOHN NEWTON ON "ACCEPTABLE SINS"I have to share with you some BRILLIANT points from John Newton (writer of "Amazing Grace") about sins we just accept in ourselves. He makes a good point that real joy comes in GROWTH, and growing out of these sins will be joyous. ARGUING THE A-BOMBTucker Carlson recently said America was deeply immoral for dropping the Atomic Bomb on Japan. I just want to be sure everyone has the historic facts. UKRAINEThere's a lot of disagreement on the Right regarding Ukraine funding. I want to make my argument.

On This Episode: THE MASTER'S WINNERThe winner of the Master's gave some compellingly strong and theologically astute responses to questions after his win -- regarding identity and even the cross of Christ. I have a theory why the great athletes of the next generation will be majority Christian. 2024's ABORTION POLITICSI grew up with one "pro-choice" party, advocating for "safe, legal, and rare" abortion access and one pro-life party. Recently, after Donald Trump said the matter should be left to the States, that leaves us with one pro-ABORTION party and a pro-choice party. There aren't any true pro-life national figures now. BILL MAHER TELLS ABORTION TRUTHThe audio is ghastly, but at least he's honest and owns the horrific position. INTERESTING QUESTION FROM THE RIGHTI'll try to answer this Twitter question. What's better:-4 years of Biden followed by 8 of Desantis; OR-4 years of Trump followed by 8 of Gavin Newsome? A LOT MORE

On This Episode:MITIGATING SMARTPHONE DAMAGE FOR KIDSWe now have evidence that religious families are doing better at diminishing the deleterious effects of smartphone usage in kids. I'll share the details. ENCOURAGING GEN-Z NEWSGeneration Z is pursuing trade schools in numbers we haven't seen in decades. This is good news for crucial industries that need youth infusion and for the income stability of the next generation. BEWARE THESE PREACHERSMarc Driscoll and Tullian Tchividian are both gifted communicators. They also both disqualified themselves from ministry. Both are also making a comeback in popularity. I have a warning. MUCH MORE

On This Episode: BIDEN AND TRUMP FAIL AT EASTERBefore Easter, the former president decided to sell a patriotic Bible. On Easter, the current president released a proclamation recognizing a pagan holiday for "transgender visibility." Both of these are bad, and the Christian can say both are both. I'll give details on each and my response to varying reactions to both. My major conclusion is that in our country:The blue team is antagonistic to Christianity and wants hostility to it.The red team likes to co-opt Christianity and makes us passive to the real faith. ATHEIST RICHARD DAWKINS SAYS HE'S A "CULTURAL CHRISTIAN."In truly astounding audio, the most prominent atheist in the world admits we need Christianity. He recognizes both leftist Wokeism and Islam (the growing religions) are ugly and disastrous. But he wants the form without the substance -- a Christless Christianity. That might PROLONG our demise in the West, but it won't fix our problem. MUCH MORE, INCLUDING AN INTERACTION I HAD AT QT THAT IS INSTRUCTIVE

On This Episode:SOUTH CAROLINA CLOSE TO SCHOOL CHOICEA bill passed that House that makes true school choice more likely in South Carolina than anytime in my lifetime. Let me encourage you: find your Senator at scstatehouse.gov and politely encourage them to pass House Bill 5164 to empower parents to choose their child's education. CANDACE OWNS, BEN SHAPIRO AND "CHRIST IS KING"In the dramatic breakup between Candace Owens and the Daily Wire, somehow her "Christ is King" declaration became a rallying cry for many on the political Right. I want to offer a word of caution: not everyone who declares "Christ is King" is a brother or sister. Some are USING that phrase for other reasons. Listen, I get the enemy. I know the secular Left is a threat to my family and yours, our culture, and our future. That might require with being temporary ALLIES with some folks, but don't mistake them for brothers and find your unequally yoked. GET YOUR KIDS OFF SMART PHONESLet me tell what I've learned thus fair from Jonathan Haidt's new book, "Anxious Generation." In short, smartphones and the apps thereon are hurting our kids. We need to preserve them.

On This Episode: JOHN MACARTHUR ON CHRISTIAN NATIONALISMJohn MacArthur got into the Christian Nationalism discussion recently. I'll play you the audio and respond, I hope, with some grace and humility. SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGEPerry Noble is now cursing in sermons and benching 400 pounds on stage to "make a point." How do we help people drawn in by these personalities to come out of these places? WHY DO WE GO TO CHURCH?A recent Instagram posed that question recently. It was a GOOD question, but it SHOULD be a secondary question. I'll give details.

On This Episode: WHAT DO KIDS LICKING TOES, A LOCAL FIGHTING LEAGUE, AND ONLY FANS HAVE IN COMMON?I recently noticed that an event is coming to my area where local, random men, can sign up to fight other random men, so other people can pay money to watch them punch each other. I then heard a story about children licking peanut butter off of toes at a school in Oklahoma and another story about OnlyFans. All of these fans demonstrate our low anthropology and how lowly we think about what it means to be a human. The entire discourse sent me back to CS Lewis's "Abolition of Man." It has some lessons we need to learn quickly. LOS ANGELES SCHOOL INDOCTRINATION VIDEOA video has surfaced that is used in training L.A. teachers. In that video, they do a skit that informs a man he must use the "preferred pronouns" of a co-worker. They then tell him he "can believe whatever he wants," but he must "keep it out of the workplace. Wait. Believing men and women are distinct has been every human's take for over 6,000 years of human history. About ten years ago, Woke white people changed their mind on fundamental biology. If anyone is bringing a cultic "belief" to work and forcing it on anyone else, it's the "transgendered" person. EXPERTS ARE FINE, BUT SOMETIMES COMMON SENSE IS ALL YOU NEEDA recent conversation about what books should be in school libraries had me witness a grown woman claiming she didn't know if lewd, pornographic images should be available to elementary schoolers and that only "sex educators" would know. We have over-romanticized the role of "experts." Sometimes, you just need some obvious, common sense.

On This Episode:OUR ROTTEN MASCULINE/FEMININE DYNAMIC Over a period of three days last week, I had several experiences that made me evaluate how rotten the dynamic is now between men and women. It made me wonder what broke it. I've been watching "Masters of the Air" on AppleTV and noticed how healthy the masculine/feminine dynamic was back then. I think the distinction was that era told men their duty was to sacrifice themselves for their families, communities, and culture. A generation of women saw men rising to their task, respected those men, and those men thrived. We have something to learn there. SOCIAL MEDIA GOES TO COURTMeta (Facebook & Instagram), TikTok, and Alphabet (YouTube & Google) are suing Texas over a law that says those social media companies cannot show favoritism to some content while artificially constraining other content. This is a confusing set of arguments with no clear left/right, red/blue divide. I'll try to walk you through it. OH HOW THINGS CHANGEThe 1995 State of the Union address from Bill Clinton recently resurfaced. In that address, he celebrates the bipartisan effort at more border security, faster deportations, restrictions on giving welfare benefits to illegal migrants, and more hardcore efforts against illegal immigration. The room erupted into applause. Only THIRTY YEARS ago, that was a bipartisan issue. Consider how much we've changed. That experience led me back to other audio when Barack Obama chided Mitt Romney for Romney thinking RUSSIA was a chief enemy, everyone on the Left saying marriage is for one man and one woman, and even Biden saying into 1987 that all rights come from God. It's a stark realization of how much the world has changed in a short 35 years,

On This Episode:THE MASCULINITY WE NEEDNancy Pearcy is one of my favorite authors, and made a fantastic point of not contrasting manhood to womanhood. We need to first contrast it to BOYHOOD. We must hold to the male/female distinctions, but first, let's have men who want to leave childhood behind. EXAMPLE OF BAD MANHOODAn absolute lout went off at a New Hampshire school board meeting. I'll play the audio as an example of "what not to do." YOUR ENEMY'S ENEMIE AREN'T YOUR FRIENDSI'll use two examples, primarily Tucker Carlson' visit to Russia, to be sure we know that our the Machivellian alliances we make are often terrible. TAX FACTAlmost always, when we lower tax rates, our revenue GOES UP. That is very true of the 2017 tax cut. I know that's not intuitive, but I'll explain it and why it's important we get that right.

On This Episode: 8 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL TALKI enjoy this Chiefs dynasty. I have mostly disliked other dynasties. I'll use 8 minutes to indulge in sports talk. SUPER BOWL CONSPIRACIESThe "NFL is rigged" people have zero arguments. I'll break down and refute these conspiracy theories. CONSPIRACY THINKINGS MUST STOPI'll itemize why conspiracy thinking is so damaging to culture and humanity. Also in this segment, I do get the damage of secular leftism. It's godless paganism with terrible ideas, leading to ruin the West. While that is totally true, on the Right, we do have a growing conspiracy problem that needs response. TRAVIS KELCE NEEDS TO GROW UP.The Tight End's screaming at his coach was embarrassing and the opposite of the masculinity we need modeled. Adults, regulate your emotions. HE GETS US ADOne of the advertisements was incomplete. One improperly applied Jesus washing his DISCIPLES feet. It also coddled some sins. On the brightside, it creates conversations where theologically sound people can speak truth to error.