Podcasts about Congolese

“Not just African musician. Everybody, even journalist, even president, even football player, even promoter. We need to do it for those people who suffer, who don't have food or security. We need everybody to denounce it. Speak louder, talk more loudly about the situation. Not just for Congo, but all Africa.”Jewel Kiriungi speaks to Congolese musician Fally Ipupa, one of Africa's biggest music stars.His music has taken brought Congolese rumba to audiences around the world, earning him the Democratic Republic of Congo's highest honour, a knighthood in the National Order of the Leopard.Fally discusses what it means to represent Congolese identity internationally as conflict in the east of the country fuels one of the world's worst displacement crises.He recognises that his global success gives him a platform to draw attention to what is happening at home, but he argues that speaking out about the suffering is a wider responsibility.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with tech billionaire Reid Hoffman and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, head of the World Trade Organisation.You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Jewel Kiriungi Producer: Osman Iqbal Editor: Justin Lang and Farhana Haider(Image: Fally Ipupa. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We're talking with Jon Thompson, senior pastor of Sanctus Church, a multisite church on the east side of Toronto. Jon has served at Sanctus for 25 years and has helped lead the church through seasons of growth, renewal, revival, and cultural change. In this conversation, he shares insights from his latest book, Presence: Resilient Witness in Times of Retreat and Revival, and explores how churches can faithfully witness in an increasingly post-Christian—and even re-paganized—culture. Learn to minister in a re-paganized culture. // Jon believes Canada offers a glimpse of where many parts of the United States may be heading. Churches are increasingly engaging people with little or no Christian memory alongside Muslims, Hindus, atheists, New Agers, nominal Christians, and people shaped by contemporary cultural movements. The challenge is not simply to defend Christian truth, but to communicate the gospel thoughtfully and winsomely to radically different audiences at the same time. Open the three evangelistic doors. // Historically, love, word, and power describe three ways people encounter God. Love demonstrates God's character through hospitality and care. Word clarifies truth through preaching, apologetics, and teaching. Power reveals God's presence through experiences such as healing, deliverance, dreams, and other supernatural encounters. Jon argues that churches need all three doors open because different people encounter Jesus through different pathways. Admit your church's bias. // Most churches naturally lean toward one or two of these categories. Conservative evangelical churches often emphasize word. Other churches may prioritize love through compassion and justice, while still others focus heavily on supernatural experiences. Jon encourages leaders to honestly identify their bias and intentionally elevate the areas they tend to neglect. A healthy church needs all three working together rather than allowing one to dominate. Don't let fear quench what God is doing. // Jon tells the story of a woman who came to faith out of Hinduism after experiencing visions, spiritual conflict, and encounters with Jesus. When her church removed those elements from her baptism testimony because leaders were uncomfortable with them, she felt that an essential part of her story had been denied. Jon warns that fear, theological bias, and lack of experience can cause churches to suppress genuine ways God may be working in people's lives. Choose encounter and systems. // Jon believes churches often falsely pit spiritual encounter against organizational structure. Healthy churches need both. Leaders should build systems that support what God is doing without attempting to control it. As spiritual activity increases, churches may need to adjust volunteer processes, pastoral care systems, staff expectations, and leadership structures. The goal is not to eliminate order but to make the organization flexible enough to respond when circumstances change. Understand renewal, revival, and awakening. // Jon distinguishes between renewal, revival, and awakening. Renewal is the recovery of first love in individual believers. Revival is a sovereign move of God that He initiates and ends where sin is revealed and there’s widespread healing. Awakening happens when revival leads to widespread conversion. Leaders should not assume revival is guaranteed, but they should remain faithful and responsive whether God brings extraordinary renewal or simply calls them to steady obedience in an ordinary season. Start by refusing to resist God. // Before changing structures or launching new ministries, Jon believes leaders should begin with a simple posture: “Lord, whatever you want to do, I won't fight you.” Many pastors love God but still struggle to trust Him when ministry becomes unpredictable. Jon encourages leaders to confront their fear, relinquish control, and remain open to correction, repentance, and change. To learn more about Jon Thompson and his books, including Convergence, Perseverance, Presence, and the upcoming re-release of Deliverance, visit jonthompsonresources.com or Amazon.com. Other Conversations with Jon Thompson Reflections on Christian Ministry at the Halfway Point with Jon Thompson // February 8, 2024 What if John Stott, John Wimber, Dallas Willard & Andy Stanley Planted a Church with Jon Thompson? // March 14, 2019 Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Your church is doing really well right now, and your leadership team is looking for solutions to keep momentum going! It could be time to start a new location. Maybe you have hesitated in the past few years, but you know it's time to step out in faith again and launch that next location. Portable Church has assembled a bundle of resources to help you leverage your growing momentum into a new location by sending a part of your congregation back to their neighborhood on Mission. This bundle of resources will give you a step-by-step plan to launch that new or next location, and a 5 minute readiness tool that will help you know your church is ready to do it! Click here to watch the free webinar “Launch a New Location in 150 Days or Less” and grab the bundle of resources for your church! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, Rich from the unSeminary Podcast. Listen, you’re going to want to lean in today for this conversation because I think this kind what you’re going to get a sneak peek on is something that’s impacting churches all over the world that’s having, I think, an interesting kind of moment and is maybe points to a bit of where God is at work. And I think could for many churches that are listening in today, give them a sense of maybe some next steps, what the kind of evolution or the development of their church, what that could look like for the future.Rich Birch — Plus, it’s one of those times where I get to talk with like a real live friend, somebody that I know from the real world, not just on the internet, which is so fun. Excited to have Jon Thompson with us. He is the senior pastor at Sanctus Church, a multi-site church in the east side of Toronto with four in-person locations plus church online. This church began in 1985 with just 40 people meeting and now averages over 2,600 weekend attendees with a plan to reach 3,600 by the end of the decade and open a sixth site in the T. Dot in Toronto in the six by 2030. Rich Birch — Jon has served at Sanctus for 25 years, starting as a youth pastor before becoming the senior pastor. He holds both a masters from Tyndale and a doctorate from Fuller. He grew up in Ecuador from missionary parents, he and his wife, Joanna, who’s incredible, have three kids. His books include Convergence, Deliverance, and Perseverance. And the brand new one that I’m excited to have him talk about today, Presence: Resilient Witness in Times of Retreat and Revival. And it’s from our friends at Zondervan Reflective.Rich Birch — Jon, welcome to the show. I am so glad that you’re here today. Welcome.Jon Thompson — Yeah great to be here. Great to be back on the podcast. Hang out with a real friend, like you said, and hi to anyone listening anywhere around the world today.Rich Birch — Yeah, this is good. I’m excited for this. For folks that haven’t maybe picked up a past episode, which you haven’t, you should go go back and find them. Jon’s been on a couple times, a few times. But give us kind of a picture of a normal Sunday at Sanctus. Who’s in the room? Give us a flavor for the church.Jon Thompson —  Yeah, so our church is located, like you said, on the east side of Toronto. And some of your viewers will know this, but lots might might not. Toronto is the most multicultural city on earth, more than London, more than, well, LA, more than New York, more than Singapore, more than Hong Kong. And so there’s between 150 and 300 heart languages spoken every single day in our amazing city, by the way, you got to come to Toronto. The food culture is unbelievable…Rich Birch — That’s true. That is true.Jon Thompson — …and unparalleled because everyone’s here. So on a Sunday morning, depending on our locations, again, because we have rural sites, urban sites, and suburban sites, which makes life interesting to say the least, but we probably got 55 plus identified nationalities. We probably I think we’re on 13 on staff right now. And so everything from someone from Hong Kong to someone who’s moved here from Pakistan. We’ve got Congolese. We’ve got Irish. I mean just fill in the blank and you’re going to discover the amazing diversity of the human race on this side of heaven. And we you know we made a decision a long time ago that we were going to fight for Revelation 7 on this side of uh the moment. Rich Birch — So good. Jon Thompson — And it’s exciting, it’s hard, it’s difficult, and it’s um and it’s worth it.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. You know, Canada is and I know we share this conviction. I know you’ve said it and I’ve said it on other podcasts when we’ve had Canadian friends on the podcast. But I think it’s really important, particularly, you know, 95 plus percent of the people listening are in the States. But I think it’s important just to to set the context. Because in a lot of ways, Canada is a few a few years ahead or behind, depending on what language you want to use, of our friends in the States. What do you mean by that? When you say that, what springs to mind?Jon Thompson — Yeah, so this is a very interesting place, right? Because Canada moved from, ah you know, Christendom worldview, to a nominal Christian worldview, to a struggling Christian worldview, to a post-Christian worldview. And now I think we’ve moved to a new place, which is not post-Christian, but repaganized.Jon Thompson — And so it’s a it’s a fascinating place. Because In our context, One moment, you’ll be talking to someone who still has Christian memory, who actually doesn’t love Jesus at all, but it’s a family thing. And it’s nominal Christianity. Jon Thompson — The next moment, you’ll still run into a Mormon telling you you’re worshiping the right and wrong Jesus. The next moment, it’s a New Ager. The next moment, it’s ah a Muslim activist. The next moment, it’s a transgender activist. The next moment, it’s someone who has no clue at all on anything.Jon Thompson — And so what’s fascinating about up here is you’ve got modern, postmodern. You’ve got conservative, you’ve got liberal. You’ve got the heart of the sexual revolution in the center center of our city. It’s one of the hubs of that globally. You’ve got every religion on earth. And you’ve got churches that are dying.Jon Thompson — I think, I don’t know of the latest stats. I still think that they’re they’re estimating one third of churches will close in the next decade in Canada, like physical ah buildings will close. And while that’s happening. And all that’s happening. You’ve got still sort of Christianity memory in certain groups, and then there are churches that are exploding. Jon Thompson — And so the the way I talk about we’re a little ahead is we are your future in some form. Because we’re facing down Jesus and how we deal with the gift of immigrants globally, but also the complication of that. We’re dealing with having to pivot the gospel to an a Muslim person, a Hindu person, a nominal Christian, and and a Mormon all in one conversation.Jon Thompson — There are Bible belts left in Canada, very small ones. But like Abbotsford, for example.Rich Birch — Little teeny tiny belts.Jon Thompson —  But but there are those places.Rich Birch — Sure. Yep.Jon Thompson — At the same time there is the post-christian thing. And the reason why I think our American friends should pay more attention to us is not because we’re we’re having a third cousin issue up here and we’re jealous. It’s because actually we reflect where you’re going. Because there are going to be sections in the United States that probably will remain nominally Christian and culturally Christian for a very long time. You know, in certain parts of Houston, for example, or maybe in sections of Kentucky or Louisiana. But then you go to New York and LA or Seattle. And here’s the point. The church has to speak to both audiences at once, which feels in contradiction. But isn’t.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. Yeah and I’ve definitely seen that. I like the uh the re-paganizing language you know I’ve used the uh the pre-christian that we’ve it’s like we’ve gone kind of all the way through. And that that totally has been my experience serving here. You know I took a break. I was in the States for a number of years better part of a decade and then came back. And one of the things I’ve noticed has been this shift kind of under the current. We used to say we used to joke actually we ain’t your mama’s church. But like, you can’t make that joke anymore because like mom didn’t go to church. Grandma didn’t go to church. Like nobody in there, you know, we run into that all the time. Like that’s, you know, really common.Jon Thompson — So like literally this week. This week, my daughter is doing swimming lessons. A woman comes up to us and says, hey, I hear you’re a pastor.Rich Birch — Yeah.Jon Thompson —  Really tragic thing. She says, my husband’s dying, 45 years old. And so my wife and I end up speaking to her, praying for her. And she’s like, I have never. So she’s 45 grown up Canada. She says, I’ve never owned a Bible. I’ve never read a Bible. Could I have a Bible? Jon Thompson — Now, for you listening in the Bible Belt before you dismiss this conversation and say not our fight, I just…May I do something for a moment? That might not be true because you’re surrounded by 400 churches. But every time you go online, it is your reality. So what we experience physically in Canada you digitally experience every day. And you have to be as as adaptive thoughtful, winsome, orthodox on your digital thinking as you do your physical thinking. And again, I’ll say this a little strongly. I find a lot of you aren’t.Rich Birch — Okay. We’re starting off spicy, which is great. Okay, so you’ve seen a lot of people. Part of what I love about Sanctus, friends like, I’m trying to, again, give some context. For folks that are listening in, Sanctus is known as a, you know this is a life-giving church. People, they come to Jesus here. This is the kind of place where people take steps towards faith in in Christ, which is amazing. You’ve seen a lot of that happen over the years at Sanctus—thousands of people. When you look back on some of the patterns in people’s lives, some of the, you know, the kind of themes that come back time and time again and how they arrived at that sort of decision. What are you noticing in people’s lives?Jon Thompson —  Well, like I just said about the diversity of our place, the diversity of conversions come from those places. And so like on a Sunday morning, I mean, our baptisms aren’t more epic than yours or anyone else. I mean, praise the Lord. Right.Rich Birch — Yes.Jon Thompson — We’ve got we’ve got 10 year olds confessing the faith of their parents. But it won’t be unusual for literally, I mean, this just happened. So we’ll have like two or three, not babies, but children who say, you know, I want to get baptized. And the next person’s like, I grew up an atheist. I’ve encountered the living God through Christ. The next person is I’m a former witch. And I just actually want to renounce Satan in the tank. And the next person’s like, I used to be a Muslim. And now I’ve actually found out that Jesus is Lord.Jon Thompson —  So, so, that is not now an uncommon experience at any of our sites. And what is behind that is not only that the gospel is good for everyone—praise the Lord—but we worked really hard to make sure that all the doors are open evangelistically to all people. And that gets to our bias in spiritual gifts. But you know—and we’ve had this conversation many times, you and I, Rich—but there are three historic categories that Bobby Clinton invented years ago we’ve used where he divides all the gifts, love, word, and power.Jon Thompson — So love gifts demonstrate the love of God in the room. Word gifts clarify who God is, who he’s not, what he likes, what he doesn’t. Power gifts evidence his presence in the room. That’s true of gifts, but to take a farther step out, those are three doors evangelistically.Jon Thompson — And this is why this is so critical. Because we have to have all three of those doors—such as, hospitality, apologetic defense of the gospel, and miracles and deliverance—open all the time. Because these are the ways people have always come to faith in our movement for 2,000 years. Jon Thompson — Now, all three doors have to lead to the true Christ because there are fake Jesuses. And there’s lots of heresy out there. And it has to be involved in repentance and belief and evidence by baptism. Amen. But I find most churches, theologically and experientially, are comfortable with one or maybe two of those things. And as I always lecture on this, like formally, if you sit on a three-legged stool and there are three legs…Rich Birch — Right.Jon Thompson — …and one leg is missing. You wobble on the best of days, but you usually fall down.Rich Birch — Yeah. I’d love to kind of double click on love, word, and power, these three legs of the stool. And so familiar with, some people will be familiar with that framework for gifting like you talked about, and but kind of give us a little more, you gave you kind of a quick overview of each of them from an evangelistic point of view, but kind of give me some examples or what it might look like in a church that’s opening that that door evangelistically, you know, the love, word, and power door.Jon Thompson — Yeah, and um I think we’re going to talk about this a little bit later. I mean there’s a lot behind these statements.Rich Birch — Yep. Yes.Jon Thompson —  Like almost 30 years of conversation. Rich Birch — Yes. Jon Thompson — But like this is the best way I’ll say it. I’ve seen this in my life. I’ve seen this in my kids’ life. I’ve seen this across our church for two two plus decades, almost three now. Can I tell some stories that might help?Rich Birch — Yeah of course. I love a good story.Jon Thompson — Yeah, so… yeah so like here here’s a great example guy a young adult guy is in his basement.And he’s smoking weed, high as a kite. Freaks freaks out. Okay, great.Rich Birch — Shocker.Jon Thompson — Shocker. But actually sees a demon and like panics. Calls someone at our church, a friend of his, and is like, I’m really scared. And she laughs. And she’s like, no problem. So her first thing is not. Oh you’re an idiot. Her first thing is not, oh, you’re inventing that. The first thing is not, well, of course you’re high, you’re seeing that. Her first reaction is, well, I’ve got an answer to that.Jon Thompson — She’s like, yeah, his name is Jesus. By the way, if you say his name, watch the demon leave and then come talk to us. So the guy—total pagan—does it. Rich Birch — Yeah.Jon Thompson — The demon leaves. He shows up next Sunday. He’s radically converted. Didn’t used to be able to read, by the way, very well. Now reads at a PhD level and on a theology sort of thing, like radically converted. And his starting point was a power encounter.Jon Thompson — Now the person next to it, next to him in a conversation is the one listening to John Lennox at Oxford on the the lack validity and the historicity of Jesus.Jon Thompson — Or or you know, and we’re like, yeah, of course. And then the next person, we were just talking to this on staff. So one of our so SLT members (senior leadership team) was talking about his conversion story. And his conversion story is one of his relatives—I think it was his mom—was really sick in the hospital. Two nurses come in, and and are Christians, start praying over her, and basically start committing you know hospitality in the hospital, probably in a way they’re not supposed to. She’s radically saved, ends up leading her son to Christ, and the hus…Jon Thompson — And and so so here’s all I’m trying to say. We have a gift bias that everyone should know their gifts and be using them not only internally in the church, but see how they work out evangelistically, but beyond the gift thing. This for us is normal. We talk about this in our sermons. We actually take the Bible literally in the sense of what we’ve defended is what we believe. I find a lot of conservative people defend the scriptures and don’t believe the thing they’re defending.Jon Thompson — So for us, when I look at the book of Acts, I’m like, we will see people come to faith through healings and through deliverances and through visions and through dreams, as much as John Lennox or or our good new friend Wes Huff from Canada, who’s on every podcast showing up why the Bible is reliable, and also through that incredible, Hey. Can you just talk to me? I’m really sad. Jon Thompson — And what I’m begging churches to do is this this matrix gives you the ability to pivot to multiple people, but you have to have a culture that believes this, defends it, defines it.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Jon Thompson — And makes the weird normal, as we’ve said for years.Rich Birch — Yeah, okay. So you earlier you talked about how most churches are comfortable with one or maybe two, back to the three-legged stool.Jon Thompson —  Yep.Rich Birch — Unpack that a little bit. How have you seen that? Or maybe even more pointedly, how do you fight a get that against that in your own church? Because I you know I can see naturally we would all kind of lean in one way because of our giftings.Rich Birch — you know As a leader, I always see I see the world through my lens. And so the stuff that’s important to me, if I was leading, we would be we’d love all that stuff, but we might not be into the other two. So help help me understand, what does that look like? How do you fight against that at Sanctus?Jon Thompson — So I’ll step back and just say that you know this has been almost like a three-decade journey. For us, everything changed when we got serious about spiritual gifts, unpacking them and doing all of that. That’s a different podcast we’ve done. But what I will but what i will say is this… is that there are most conservative evangelical churches are word churches: Who God is, who he’s not, what he likes, what he doesn’t, the power of preaching. I’m all for it. I preach for a living. And by the way, for people who are starting to dismiss me, I’m reformed in my soteriology. And not only that, I’m an expository preacher. So you don’t get to throw me out the window too quick. Jon Thompson — So, I mean, i’m’m I’m all I’m all for that. But that is not the answer. It’s part of the answer. And so what we continually have done is when we realize that love, word and power are things that are all needed at once, we made them equally important. In staffing, in our conversations. That’s one. Jon Thompson — Two, you need to admit as a church where you’re comfortable and where you’re not. Because there’s a lot of churches, for example, that I always say it like this. You can have all the word people on earth in your church and know all truth, but you’re cold as anything and you’re not even sure if anyone’s been saved lately. Jon Thompson — I’m in all sorts of other churches where it’s love, love, social justice, and hospitality. But I’m like, but are you believing heresy? Do you even have any compass? Rich Birch — Right. Jon Thompson — And then I’m in other environments where it’s, you know, glory clouds and all this amazing spiritual stuff. But I’m like, do you even know the source of this?Jon Thompson — Where is this coming from? Rich Birch — Yeah that’s good.Jon Thompson — Just because it’s good doesn’t mean it’s from our Lord. The spirit of Antichrist and Christ are identical in action. So so what we’ve tried doing is saying, number one, we have to admit these three things are important. Number two, we have to come up with language for each one of them and affirm them. Number three, and you just did it live so I love this, you need to admit where you’re limited.Jon Thompson — So you’re like, Jon, I mean we know each other you’re like One of my strongest spiritual gifts is leadership. That’s what you said. This is the way I immediately instinctually and spiritually react. So, Rich’s responsibility, if he was the senior pastor, is then to publicly talk about why he’s actually not biased in other directions and why he needs to be, and find other people to be that voice.Rich Birch — Yeah. That’s so good.Jon Thompson — Because a lot of people want to be open to this, but since they have not experienced it, they don’t know what to do. And I’m like, right, because it’s about interdependence. It’s not just about you.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. I think this is a great framework. And you know, it it explains what I can think think could be what’s missing in, you know, so many of our churches and you know we so many of us are are led by uh very gifted word-oriented gift people. Like our churches are led by those people… Jon Thompson — Right. Rich Birch — …and which is amazing… Jon Thompson — Yep. Rich Birch — …but we could miss the other two. And you know in the last year our mutual friend Jeff Brody said something and that resonates with what you were saying. He’s talked about, you know you might believe that it’s true, but is it real for you? And that has like resonated with me so so deeply. It’s similar to when you talked about you know conservatives defend what they don’t necessarily believe. And you know, does this actually work out in our lives, I think is a powerful idea.Rich Birch — Now, there was a story in your book about a young woman who left Hinduism and then joined a reformed church.Jon Thompson — Yeah.Rich Birch — I thought this was a vivid example. And particularly for us on the system side, I thought, oh, this is a good way to kind of systematize this…Jon Thompson — Yeah.Rich Birch — …or think about this at a systems level. Can you unpack that story?Jon Thompson — A hundred percent. And I just want to acknowledge as we keep going, I know the vast majority of your viewers or listeners are more probably on the system side executive pastor, like that type of leader, which by the way, without you, we all die. So thank you for all your service and what you do.Rich Birch — Sure. Yeah. Yep.Jon Thompson — We’re so thankful for you. But as we keep having this conversation, think this is a challenge for you to think deeply theologically, even before your systems, because what you systematize better be true. Rich Birch — That’s good.Jon Thompson — And so this is a great example of what we’re talking about. So I teach a course up here in a seminary on spiritual conflict, a very boring, non-controversial course. And so I was teaching this, I think it was two years ago now, and a young woman comes on and takes the course, and she is in tears at the end of one of the lectures. And ah and it’s all, it’s online. So so she said, can I meet?Jon Thompson — So I said, yeah. She says, look, she said, I just, I was radically saved out of Hinduism, which is incredible, and and she said soI you know I became a christian, I renounced my hinduism, and I I have no background. Either my family are Hindus or atheists and nothing in between, which even shows you the contradiction there. Her family is made up of atheists and Hindus.Rich Birch —Right.Jon Thompson — Like she is the embodiment of what we’re talking about.Rich Birch — Absolutely.Jon Thompson — And so she says, well, I’m going to find a church. She goes to a very small Reformed church locally, like a Christian Reformed, Dutch Reformed church. They’re of course excited that she’s come to faith, which is great. The average age in the church is much older. She told me, I think she’s the first adult baptism in over a decade or maybe two.Jon Thompson — So, because of course they’re covenantal, they baptize children overall. Fun. So he’s like, well, we want to hear your story. So she writes the whole story of encountering Jesus through visions and dealing with demons and Jesus setting her free. And so submits the the testimony, and the pastor edits every single encounter out of it. And this is like in the last three years in Toronto.Rich Birch — Right. Right. Jon Thompson —  This is in Toronto.Rich Birch — Yes.Jon Thompson — And so she said, why have you edited this out? And he said, because I don’t fully understand this, though it’s true. My people will be afraid and I don’t want to make them afraid. And right there, she wept. And then she said to me. When I took your class, you not only affirmed everything that happened to me was true. Second of all, you gave me the theological principles and categories scripturally and historically to show that I am in the great line of succession of the church. If anyone should be defending the great line of succession of the church, it’s the Reformed kids. I mean, those reform kids.Rich Birch — Yes.Jon Thompson —  And so what I want to point out is in that story, fear and lack of experience, and theological bias ended up quenching what the Spirit wanted to do. Jon Thompson — And I just want to say to anyone listening. I’m not saying that every environment that you’ve been in has been perfect. I mean i think a lot of us have had experiences spiritually where people with right motives have done things wrong.Rich Birch — Yep, true.Jon Thompson — And we ended up getting hurt. So it’s sort of like dating. If you’ve ever dated and broken up or you married and and then and then got divorced, the amount of intensity it takes to re-engage is a lot. Rich Birch — Yep.Jon Thompson — So there’s a lot of you listening, you’re like, Jon, I don’t want this conversation because I don’t want to touch that again. And I’m like, you have to. You have to. The scriptures are chock full of this. This is the only way we’re going to do well between retreat and revival, whether you’re in an environment where everyone’s a false nominal Christian or everyone’s not a Christian at all. This has been the pattern since the beginning. And it’s the way the Spirit works. So maybe I’d encourage some of you to pray about your fear and your anger. So you can get on with the thing.Rich Birch — So good. and And I would say um this, what we’re talking about right here, that story of um you know, this this you know young Hindu woman who came to know Jesus, praise God, amazing story. And, you know, kind of God appearing in dreams and all of that. I feel like has, been or I don’t feel like, has become more normative in my church experience in the same kind of climate that that you’re in. And that was not normative 30 years ago when I started. Rich Birch — Like, you know, it is this kind of like, you know, we have a laundry list of similar conversations where it’s like, you know people are having dreams and then wandering into church you know they’re having dreams on a Tuesday you know between Monday and Tuesday night and then they’re just wandering to the church because they’re like I think that’s a church over there. And are like hey, Jesus told me to come here. And you know then we end up having you know deeper conversations and they you know their life gets transformed. Rich Birch — I don’t remember that stuff going on. That’s happening more, which makes sense, I think, in this context of you know this uh what did you call it repaganizing or you know pre-christian kind of context because, you know, the Spirit’s got to work directly. He’s got to, you know, get directly encounter people. So I think that’s, you know, interesting. Rich Birch — So the people that might be because people listening and…you want to say something?Jon Thompson — Well, I was just going to say, yes, and…Rich Birch — Yep. Good.Jon Thompson — 30 years ago, it was happening.Rich Birch — Sure.Jon Thompson — See, this is this is what we have to admit. Rich Birch — Yep.Jon Thompson — It was happening, but we weren’t open.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s true.Jon Thompson — So for a lot of you listening you’re like, well I don’t live in Toronto. I’m like, I know you don’t. But what you legitimize from your pulpit tells your people what you’re allowed to talk about.Rich Birch — Right. That’s good.Jon Thompson — So if you’re going to have a sincere conversation about love, word, and power, and how the Spirit really works evangelistically, whether you’re speaking again to a a cultural Christian or someone else, here’s the point. I guarantee you in the Bible Belt, lots of people are having dreams too.Rich Birch — Right.Jon Thompson — They just have been told that’s weird, and we don’t talk about that.Rich Birch — Those are the kind of things we don’t talk about here. Yeah.Jon Thompson —  Right.Rich Birch — That’s good. Okay, so pivoting in a slightly different direction. One of the things that I love about Sanctus that’s, you know, if you’re kind of in the outer orbit of the church, eventually you’ll start to hear like, oh, they have a deliverance ministry over there. That’s not on the list of like, you know, men’s ministry, women’s ministry, pioneer girls, deliverance ministry that I hear like in so many churches out there. And you’ve had it for a long time. What does that actually look like? So like an average Tuesday, how does that fit into what’s going on at Sanctus?Jon Thompson — Yeah, so this is a conversation we wanted nothing to do with. Again, we were just again, you know Willow Creek, seeker-sensitive, historic church.Rich Birch — Yep.Jon Thompson — And this is like 27 years ago now where people started coming to us and they’re like, I think I have something happening in my life that is beyond psychological or biological wiring. And we were like, we are not that church that does that. That’s the weird people down the street. You know, we’ll deal with them in heaven, but you know. And the Lord wouldn’t give it up. Jon Thompson — So 27 plus years later, I think we’ve had either been involved in or helped assist globally in a thousand cases. And just for, I love how you put that. It’s just normal for us. It’s not this thing. It’s a thing. Jon Thompson — So for us, a worship team practice and, you know, a youth gathering taking place, an Alpha running and a deliverance having the same building is just normal. Because again, our bias on spiritual gifts is there’s 21 gifts, 21 directions. We need to try to make sure that all the gifts are employed in some way. And this is a certain group of gifts.Jon Thompson — So, yeah, we’ve done it for years. The whole story of that is in the book, Deliverance, which I think you and I maybe have talked about. It’s coming out again in February through Zondervan Reflective.Rich Birch — Yep. Jon Thompson — That’s the whole story. But like for us, dealing with the demonic, both in oppression issues and demonization issues and sanctification with Christians, but also evangelistically with non-Christians is just sort of normal.Rich Birch — Yeah. So good.Rich Birch — Yeah, I yeah there’s ah there’s a lot there that you I just think is kind of ah a great part of the story that God’s writing at your church, and I think can be instructive to many of us as we’re thinking about the future.Rich Birch — So let’s let’s kind of draw in the person that’s listening, maybe like an executive pastor, church of, I don’t know, 800 to a thousand, something like that. And they’re struck by this idea this like ooh maybe we are only opening one door. We’re not talking about these other these other doors. We’re not engaged in any of that.Rich Birch — Where would you suggest that they start? (Outside of actually picking up a copy of the book.) I you know I think that’s an obvious thing where we’re going to get to, but like outside of that, how would you help them think about um you know what they should be thinking about?Jon Thompson — Yeah. So just to step back a little to this question. This book conversation we’re having is about how you deal with an environment where renewal and retreat are happening in the same place. That’s very true in our social media feeds and it’s true in a lot of our cities.Jon Thompson — So I happen to know you and I happen to know your church. Because I’ve been conspiratorially involved behind the scenes at points. So your church’s own story is where all your people need to begin.Jon Thompson — And it’s this. Only when the leaders decide not to resist God will things change. And what I mean by that is not like open rebellion against God. It’s this. The lead, I just happen to know there were moments in your church’s own story where the leaders went, you know what? We’re not going to resist you anymore, Lord. What do you want to do?Rich Birch — Yeah.Jon Thompson — That was it. That and that’s not, you know, like earthquake you know, feel. But it changed everything. I mean what are you starting this week? Is it this week you’re starting? 30 days of like. praying, or has that happened?Rich Birch — Well, yeah, we’ve done that already, which is amazing, and but there’s more of that coming… Jon Thompson — Yep. Right. But… Rich Birch — …like it’s there’s there’s lots of that stuff happening that wasn’t happening 10 years ago for sure.Jon Thompson — Right. The inception point, though, is when people just went like this. You know what? We’re afraid.Rich Birch — Yeah.Jon Thompson — We don’t understand. We prefer system over encounter. We prefer system over encounter and they’re not in competition, but both have to be there. So, Lord, what do you want to say? What do you want to do? That’s the starting point. Rich Birch — Right. Jon Thompson — Because before you work out the theology of love, word, and power and start thinking about how you, you know, witness to people from all the nations and not have a you know a vicious reaction towards them. And how you think through the, like all that.Jon Thompson — The first place is you say to the Lord, I won’t fight you. And the truth is the vast majority of us love God, but don’t trust him. And I said this on a former podcast with you. And and and lots of executive pastors, when they hear me talk, way more than this, get nervous because this starts sounding like Pandora’s box. Well, how do I systematize this? And what would be the implications?Jon Thompson — And I’m like, yeah, before any of that conversation, have you said to the Lord, whatever you want to do, I won’t I won’t fight you.Rich Birch — So good.Jon Thompson — Most pastors would say they have not prayed that. I don’t think. I also think, too, there are a series of systems that relate to what happens in an empowered encounterist church, a systemized church, and then a church going through a revival. Three very different things. And there’s there’s a set of systems.Rich Birch — You want to unpack…you want to unpack that a little bit?Jon Thompson — Yeah, sure. So I mean, there are lots of amazing churches that are commonly faithful who serve communion and preach God’s word and help the poor. And and and and those are all guaranteed places of encounter according to the scriptures. And so amazing. They’re that’s good. That’s right. That’s holy. And that’s one expression of it. Jon Thompson — When you start saying to the holy spirit not only common faithfulness but anything else you’d like to do? At that moment I have a saying, most people praying for revival aren’t praying for revival, they’re praying for a normal church on Monday, they just don’t know it.Rich Birch — That’s good.Jon Thompson — And what I mean by that is most people praying for revival are actually praying for a church where the Spirit is more present, there are more encounters, and everyone’s using their gifts and loving each other better. That’s not revival. That is actually what it’s supposed to be. So when you have a whole group of encounters taking place more than a system, there are other things you have to adjust like we’ve done. Jon Thompson — For example, you start asking your volunteers, what are your spiritual gifts? You start clarifying from the front what encounters look like. You start building house rules of how encounters are handled. It’s part of your intake process. You think about this through pastoral care. There’s no dismissing of experience. You now become an interpreter of experience 24-7.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.Jon Thompson — So like there’s that. And then there’s revival. And revival is a sovereign act of God where everything falls apart, and all sin is revealed, and there’s en masse healing. And if it’s a genuine move of God that moves from renewal to revival to awakening, there’s en masse conversion.Jon Thompson — And as I share in the book, because we went through a three year experience with that, it was documented. There’s another set of organizational rules. I was meeting with a lot of leaders in England for the last three years because they are experiencing this genuinely. And I was just telling them what we went through historically. And I used the analogy for the executive pastors or the admin leaders saying, You’ve got to think about renewal and revival like being on a bike. And I said, you’re all English and you all ride bikes, so you should be fine.Jon Thompson —  And I just said, you know how there are gears on a bike? And I just said, when a move of God actually takes place, you have one set of things that are in place for that. And then when you go back to normal, you use another set. And we just said, you have to have a code word for your staff where you literally say, Monday was normal. Wednesday is now not normal, so the whole system collapses and now looks like this. And when the Spirit walks back, you go, okay. We’re going back to the other gear. Jon Thompson — That thinking is incredibly important in renewal and revival environments for sustainability of staff, for clarification of experience, and also for literal helping people not burn out. Because when God shows up, all hell and heaven break loose. And and maybe I’ll just throw this out quickly too.Rich Birch — Yeah.Jon Thompson — We should never forget that a lot of people dismiss revival-like environments because a lot of things are done wrong. And that’s a horrific starting point. Actually, that’s true in all of this.Jon Thompson — So we forget that, you know, I don’t know if I said this on this pod one of this one of these episodes, but we forget that that that Moses went up the mountain. The people were looking at the physical Shekinah glory of God. And while God was present in the most magnificent of way, they still built the golden calf in real time while they’re looking at him.Rich Birch — Right.Jon Thompson — So anytime there’s a significant move of God, the devil is in the room, the flesh is in the room, and God’s in the room at the same time. If you think God’s just going to be in the room, you’re going to end up dismissing much of what he’s done.Rich Birch — That’s so good. Talk about, you kind of you breezed over this, but I think it’s an important piece of the puzzle—the connection between repentance and revival, you know, and how repentance fits into the overall picture. The reason why I asked that, I don’t know, a year ago, I was at an event where a bunch of leaders were there and there was a Gen Z leader who has been involved in some stuff that’s been going on. And led like a public confession experience with the leaders that were there. And he was challenging us around you know, basically the question was like, well, why why is why repentance? Why is that such a big deal? Rich Birch — And this leader, which I loved, you know, was like, Well, hasn’t that isn’t that always the way? Like isn’t that what isn’t that what this is about? Like aren’t we aren’t we shouldn’t repentance be a part of the transformation of Jesus in in our lives like that? How can you separate those two? And I was like, oh yeah, right. Rich Birch — But I think that that… issue could be the fear you know you’ve mentioned talked about fear a little bit could be a part of the fear that’s in many leaders lives today. Jon Thompson — Yeah. Rich Birch — It’s like man, I’m not sure I want to engage that. Unpack that. Jon Thompson — Yeah, so I’ll I’ll I’ll do it like this. The language we’ve come up with, because I always find that categories are helpful for translation and expectations. So we always talk about renewal as the recovery of first love in an individual’s life.Jon Thompson — Revival is a sovereign act of God that he initiates and he ends. Awakening is when mass conversions take place out of a revival. What you’re talking about is probably the renewal category even more than the revival. Rich Birch — That’s good. Jon Thompson — Revival people tend to mush everything together, which is never helpful.Rich Birch — Yes.Jon Thompson — And it really bothers me.Rich Birch — Yeah. That’s good.Jon Thompson — So and I’m friends with lots of the people. Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah. That’s good. Jon Thompson — So I keep helping I keep saying, please, please help us. Rich Birch — Yes. Jon Thompson — So here’ here’s what I would say about you know repentance. Yes, of course, it’s always part of the thing. Of course it is. And It’s a fascinating reflection when we look at Adam and Eve. The very first thing that Adam and Eve did when they sinned is they hid. So hiddenness is the first sign of trouble. Then they tried fashioning something to cover their hiddenness. Then, of course, God comes and finds them, exposes them and gives them a better, of course, covering. Jon Thompson — Why this matters is this gets back to the love and trust thing. Lots of us are comfortable with Jesus at the wedding of Cana. Most of us are not okay with Jesus glorified at the Mount of Transfiguration. Or actually the encounter between Jesus and John in Revelation 1. Jon Thompson — And so I think a lot of times as leaders, and and let me just say this boldly too, your people will not go beyond you. You are Moses to your movement. And so I think saying to the Lord, you know, I’m open to what you would say to me, good or bad. And would you help me be in a position where I would want to repent. Jon Thompson — And I think this is okay to say. Regularly, I pray that the Holy Spirit would give me desires I don’t have. Because I don’t have lots of desires for repentance or you know. Rich Birch — Right, right. That’s good.Jon Thompson — So I think for leaders listening, whether God decides sovereignly to bring revival to your church or awakening to your area is not the starting point. That’s actually a sovereign decision. And in in the book, I talk about how I’m really concerned these days that everyone’s saying revival’s coming, revival’s coming. I’m like, actually, the Bible says revival’s not guaranteed. You have to ask if he’s decided to come. If he says, yes, you pray back the prayers, then all Heaven and hell breaks out.Jon Thompson — But if he doesn’t do that, in other words, if summer doesn’t come and you’re stuck in winter you still have to be involved in common faithfulness, including no hiddenness as a leader. And so anyone listening, I would just encourage you to trust the goodness of the God you continually tell others to trust in.Jon Thompson — I was writing a section. yesterday for a sermon I’m doing out of Mark where, you know, Martha is serving in Lazarus’s house and Mary takes the nard and smashes it on Jesus’s feet. And Judas gets really pissed off and says, how dare you do this? Jon Thompson —  And I was reflecting on how her—everyone ready, system leaders?—her uncontrolled, embarrassing, inappropriate public activity exposed his double life. And so I just want to challenge everyone that when genuine encounter starts happening, systems are not the enemy, but it will expose double lives.Rich Birch — So good, Jon, this is I feel like we could go for so long about these things. And I’m always got I got a page of notes here and other questions I’d love to ask you. But this is super helpful.Rich Birch — So the thing for folks that haven’t been tracking along, you’ve been writing a number of books.Jon Thompson — Yeah.Rich Birch — And that, you know, and they they hang together as a bit of a the thing you’re tricking people into is it’s like they think it’s one book, but really it’s like it’s like a Tolkien, more than trilogy. Kind of talk to us how these all fit together. At least that’s how I see them. I see them as like, it’s kind of one continuous conversation around the similar kind of stuff. How does Presence, this current work, fit in the context of the other stuff that you’re working on?Jon Thompson — Sure. You are right about the conspiracy. And I’ll take I’ll take the Tolkien nod.Rich Birch — Yes, I figured you’d like that.Jon Thompson — That’s very kind of you, because I don’t deserve it. I only quote him once in all my books, though. So the only once for one section.Rich Birch — Oh nice. Yes.Jon Thompson — ah Yeah, here’s how I would say it. Convergence is the is the story and the theology of how we wrestled down love, word, and power from the gift side of things. How it was implemented. How we move, basically what is the theology thing what is it what does it feel like, how do you actually build house rules around it, all the good and bad that happened with it, and then tells the story of the renewal and revival we went through, and how we survived it. So that’s book one.Jon Thompson — Book two, well, it’s not really book two anymore, but I’ll do it like this. Deliverance, which comes out in February, is a 25-plus year theological and practical experience of how we dealt with the demonic.Jon Thompson — Perseverance, book three, which is still out which will disappear soon, is all my reflections at the midway point on survivability, because you and I have talked about this before, only 30% of leaders in the Bible end well; 70% fail. The stats have not changed. So there’s a lot of the first two things involved in this. Jon Thompson — This book Presence is talking honestly about retreat and revival, talking about incarnation and why multiple models of church that feeling contradiction to each other is the point. That’s always been the point, which again, for a lot of you as admin leaders, I’d really beg you to read this, not because it’s my book. Because a lot of the battles between churches is a misunderstanding of mission. Jon Thompson — And then I talk about how love, word, and power are employed evangelistically, and then walk again through revival and how you can ask for it and what you do if He says yes or no. But the majority of the book is actually on long-term witness to a very diverse, complicated world.Rich Birch — Yeah, so good.Jon Thompson — That’s the trellis.Rich Birch — Yeah.Jon Thompson —  And the book I’m writing right now is on suffering, but we’re not there yet.Rich Birch — Yeah, so good. Friends, I would strongly encourage you, you know, listen, I’ve had multiple friends, multiple teams who have just been incredibly blessed by by Jon’s work and has challenged and done the best kind of disruptive work that this kind of thinking can do. And so i would strongly endorse uh you know that you pick up copies of Presence for your team. Rich Birch — This could be a great um you know resource to work through with your leaders and ask the question all the time. So what does that mean for us? What does that mean for us? What does that mean for us? Don’t just let these be ideas in your head, but something you can really wrestle with. Rich Birch — Where do we want to send people to pick up, you know, to get copies and all that stuff. I’m assuming you can get them on Amazon, but are there other places we want to let people know about?Jon Thompson — Yeah, so Amazon, of course, is easy for all of us these days. But jonthompsonresources.com has it too. J-O-N. Jon Thompson Resources will have all of that. Like I said, Convergence is out. Presence comes out September 22nd. Deliverance is re-released in February 2027. And Perseverance is available now and will disappear and then we’ll come back…Rich Birch — It’s like the Disney vault.Jon Thompson — …sooner than later. It is like, it’s like the Disney. Yes, it is like the Disney vault.Rich Birch — That’s a throwback to the, the you know for people of a certain age, we’ll get that. And Gen Z friends will be like, what? What are you talking about? Rich Birch — Well, Jon, I just also want to just publicly honor you. You’re you’re doing a fantastic job. Like it’s been fun to watch over the years, your continued leadership and the positive impact you’ve been having and the community that you have stewarded. And you know I can’t I love when you know more people get a chance to interact with you. So thanks so much for being here on the show today. Appreciate your time with us. Thank you.Jon Thompson — Yeah, thanks for your friendship and your prayers. 

In February 2022, British explorer Charlie Walker flew to Siberia's Sakha Republic to walk a thousand miles up frozen rivers to the Arctic Ocean, through Earth's coldest inhabited region. Days later, Russia invaded Ukraine. Tamping down his concerns, he continued on his journey, meeting indigenous people and ice road truckers along the way. Yet his trip ended in fear and confusion, with an arrest and a month in a Yakutsk jail, the story of his new book, On Thin Ice: An Explorer's Memoir of Siberia, Surveillance and Survival (Duckworth, 2026) Charlie is an award-winning explorer, author and international keynote speaker. He has travelled over 60,000 miles by foot, horse, raft, bicycle, ski and dugout canoe, in places as varied as the Tibetan plateau, the Mongolian steppe, the Congolese jungle, the Arctic tundra, the highlands of New Guinea and the Sahara desert. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Scientific Exploration Society Explorer Award winner, and the author of Through Sand & Snow (Nielsen UK: 2021) and On Roads That Echo (Nielsen UK: 2021) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of On Thin Ice. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon.Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In February 2022, British explorer Charlie Walker flew to Siberia's Sakha Republic to walk a thousand miles up frozen rivers to the Arctic Ocean, through Earth's coldest inhabited region. Days later, Russia invaded Ukraine. Tamping down his concerns, he continued on his journey, meeting indigenous people and ice road truckers along the way. Yet his trip ended in fear and confusion, with an arrest and a month in a Yakutsk jail, the story of his new book, On Thin Ice: An Explorer's Memoir of Siberia, Surveillance and Survival (Duckworth, 2026) Charlie is an award-winning explorer, author and international keynote speaker. He has travelled over 60,000 miles by foot, horse, raft, bicycle, ski and dugout canoe, in places as varied as the Tibetan plateau, the Mongolian steppe, the Congolese jungle, the Arctic tundra, the highlands of New Guinea and the Sahara desert. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Scientific Exploration Society Explorer Award winner, and the author of Through Sand & Snow (Nielsen UK: 2021) and On Roads That Echo (Nielsen UK: 2021) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of On Thin Ice. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon.Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's HeadlinesDR Congo battles record Ebola outbreak; hospital supplies running shortDisplacement leaves Lebanese children without classroomsWhen prison exposes the need for change, the gospel offers something deeper

Loah released her debut album Materia Medica on June 5. She says: "The ambition was to create a hypermodern body of work that sonically exemplifies the changing definition of what Irishness is, what femininity is and indeed what musical ‘genre' is and its flexibility in the modern context. We have many excellent producers and musicians on this album - it is a collage of sound!" The album features Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, her sister Fehdah, Gambian kora player Suntou Susso, harpist Allanah Thornbourgh, producer Ben Bix (Meltybrains?), drummer Dylan Lynch (Soda Blonde), and the Crash Ensemble. It was produced by Brian Dillon and Danny Forde. Loah is part of Sirens and will appear at the National Concert Hall on Saturday, September 26, and Cork Opera House on Sunday, September 27. The show is hosted by Lisa Hannigan with arrangements by the Theodora Byrne Trio and featuring a host of amazing female voices such as  Amanda Bergman, Kate Stables, Angie McMahon, Anna Mieke, The Staves. It will also be at Inis Oirr and at the Barbican, London, on October 17 (Loah won't be a part of these shows). Buy Materia Medica: https://loah.bandcamp.com/album/materia-medica

“There's no exit in capitalism.” — Jeremy Adelman Is that ongoing quarrel of modern politics, the battle over capitalism, just a storm in a teacup? Economic historian Jeremy Adelman thinks it might be. In The Capitalist Era, Adelman argues that all camps — left and right, Keynesian and Hayekian, socialist and libertarian — accept the unavoidability of global capitalism. There is no alternative, as Mrs Thatcher used to annoyingly say. Although Adelman, certainly no Thatcherite, isn't celebrating the apparent inevitability of our capitalist epoch. What interests Adelman is the making and unmaking of what he calls the “global mind.” The revolutionary quality of capitalism, he says, is that we now think of strangers as somehow part of our community. So when Adam Smith, the moral philosopher father of economics, drank his Chinese tea while reading of a deadly earthquake in China, he recognized that capitalism inevitably entangled our moral thoughts with our self-interest. It wasn't just economists who began to think differently of strangers. Artists as varied as Picasso, Joseph Conrad, and the photography-obsessed Émile Zola all made this moral inquiry of strangers the heart of their work. Yes, Adelman is probably right to say there's no capitalist off-ramp in our post-global economy. But capitalism's octopus-like “global mind” and its (mis)treatment of strangers should turn all economists into moral philosophers and all artists into observers of economics. Five Takeaways •       The Mind, Not the Material. Against Sven Beckert's material history (which Adelman admired and reviewed in Foreign Affairs), The Capitalist Era studies how we think about capitalism — because the thinking sets the policies, creates the attachments, fuels the wars, and builds the institutions. Capitalism, on his dating, is an eighteenth-century invention that dawns with Adam Smith's “commercial society”: the first economic system to tie strangers across the whole planet into one interdependent web — global from the very start. Its founding text is a thought experiment: Smith's gentleman of humanity, drinking Chinese tea while reading of a Chinese earthquake, asked whether he minds the deaths of thousands as much as the pain in his little finger. The marketplace entangles our moralities — and the question of whether sympathy can keep pace with self-interest has governed the global mind ever since.•       No Exit in Capitalism. For or against? A fair question with a layered answer: we are all heirs to the Marxist tradition — inequality and exploitation are inherent to interdependence, and “the propensity to be predatory coexists with the propensity to be empathetic.” But the trap is real: “there's no exit in capitalism” — leaving is so punitive that every socialist revolution has paid catastrophically, a logic Adelman calls part of “the awful cunning” of the Trump administration's economic statecraft. Keynes versus Hayek? When Andrew suggested it amounted to a family squabble — a storm in a teacup — Adelman largely agreed: both camps accept that we live inside capitalism, arguing only over how to live interdependently. No exit, though, doesn't mean no alternatives: the argument worth recovering — lost since the globalization of the 1980s was “dumped on us” — is which form of interdependence we actually want. Gramsci's interregnum, the time for monsters, is exactly when that argument matters.•       The Veil Between Strangers. The book's gallery: not only philosophers but artists — Picasso, the poets, Borges (“I have a hard time writing any book without” him) — and above all photographers, because how we think about strangers is mediated through media. Smith's verb was to see: the stranger's invisibility was the whole problem, and photography — cheap to reproduce, claiming realism — promised to remove the veil. Zola was obsessed with it; street photography made New York and London legible as cities of vice and poverty; and the Opium War photographs that reached London in the 1860s forced a scandal, because this suffering was inflicted by our own troops. But seeing bred a new problem Smith never foresaw: indifference — too many images numbing the sympathies they were meant to awaken. In today's supersaturation of digital and artificially generated strangers, the early doubters' warning compounds: market interdependence plus growing indifference between the interdependent is “a recipe for calamity.”•       Earth Hunger. The charge that capitalism is eating the planet is as old as capitalism: the era of Hobson's Imperialism named the West's insatiable appetite to conquer and carve — “earth hunger” — after the Boer War. Joseph Conrad and Roger Casement traveled the Congo River together: Conrad turned it into Heart of Darkness; Casement wrote the first great humanitarian reports — rubber for Europe's bicycles and tires, extermination for the Congolese and then Amazonians — before renouncing the crown, joining the Irish rebellion, and hanging for treason. Slavery runs through the same river: on Smith's mind from the start, the plantation bonanza's awkward foundation, with dehumanization as extraction's precondition — a through line to the 1930s. To James Crawford's vanishing earth (last week's episode), Adelman offers a friendly dissent: the earth isn't vanishing, but the accelerating metabolism of resources — extracted inhumanely for those who live there — is stressing the system. Alternatives exist; exit does not.•       Hoard the Returns, Externalize the Burdens. Adelman refuses the apocalypse chorus: end-time arguments breed cynicism — grab what you can while you can — which is precisely what turned the 1930s murderous; and the great debate the 2008 crisis should have sparked was stifled by crisis management that worked too well. “Neoliberalism” he finds overblown — the world is a mixed, messy hybrid, China neither socialist nor neoliberal — and the Thucydides Trap is a “silly metaphor”: Sparta and Athens were never as interdependent as China and the United States. Hence the closing duel: Carney versus Trump as two arguments inside the global mind about how to need strangers. Trump, the Toronto-born historian argues, is no isolationist — his is a global vision that wants to “hoard the returns and externalize the burdens,” punishing the asymmetrically dependent (Canada above all) through a predator's bilateralism whose 1930s pedigree Adelman names with discomfort. And China? Sitting on the sidelines, courting Canada, playing “an old game” of constructing and dividing markets — as old as the global mind itself. About the Guest Jeremy Adelman is the Henry Charles Lea Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and professor of history and director of the Global History Lab at the University of Cambridge. Born in Toronto and educated at Toronto, the LSE, and Oxford, he has lived and worked in seven countries. His many books include Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman and Sovereignty and Revolution in the Iberian Atlantic. The Capitalist Era: The Making—and Unmaking—of ...

When the Democratic Republic of Congo is in the news, it's usually related to poverty, or conflict— most recently it was the Ebola outbreak. But the country is a cradle of design creativity. Congolese artists have few places they can showcase their talents but in the last few years DRC Fashion Week has given them an outlet. We go to annual celebration of color, creativity and fashion.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

 Rukukuye Mastaky was a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who arrived in Australia from the Tanzania refugee camp.He is now an Australian citizen, and is active in the Congolese community. *Special thanks to 3CR's Madison Moffat for this show's audio capture.

Uganda's parliament has approved plans to deploy it's troops to Gaza under a U.S.-backed International Stabilization Force mission. This is an invitation from President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative which is meant to oversee post war transition. The International Stabilisation Force (ISF) would be made up of countries willing to send their troops to take over some of the security tasks that were managed by Hamas for so many years. And, for World Photography Day, we follow a Congolese photographer's journey through the lens, as he captures the meaning of home.Presenter: Nkechi OgbonnaProducers: Keikantse Shumba and Ayuba IliyaSenior Producer: Bella TwineTechnical Producer: Jonathan MwangiEditors: Rhoda Odhiambo, Charles Gitonga and Maryam Abdalla

In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we begin a journey into one of the darkest and most overlooked chapters of the 20th century: the establishment of neocolonialism in Africa after the formal end of European empires.After the Second World War, the dreams of a genuinely independent Africa – of nations free from exploitation, able to chart their own futures – were mercilessly snuffed out by Western powers. Drawing on Susan Williams's brilliant White Malice: The CIA and the Neocolonialisation of Africa, we explore the relationship between Ghana and Congo, and the forces that destroyed the hopes of the independence era.We begin with the brutal history of King Leopold II's Congo Free State – a territory nearly 80 times the size of Belgium, where an estimated 10 million Congolese people died as a consequence of forced labour, mutilation, and murder. The purpose of Belgian rule, as Kwame Nkrumah observed, was not to suppress slavery but to change its nature, to make it more profitable.But the exploitation did not end with formal decolonisation. The Congo's Shinkolobwe mine produced uranium of unparalleled richness – up to 75% uranium oxide, compared to ores from America that contained just 0.2%. This uranium was essential to the Manhattan Project, powering the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, the resource extraction continued, but through new means: corporate infiltration, debt, coups, and the tools of the Bretton Woods system.We trace the origins of American intelligence operations in Africa, from the OSS bases in Accra, Cape Town, and Addis Ababa, to the top-secret mission to protect Congolese uranium from falling into enemy hands. And we consider the broader tragedy of neocolonialism – how the West used every tool at its disposal to ensure that Africa's resources remained under its control, long after the flags of empire had been lowered.Topics covered:The Belgian Congo and the crimes of King Leopold IIThe forced labour system and the rubber tradeThe Shinkolobwe uranium mineThe Manhattan Project and the atomic bombThe OSS and early US intelligence in AfricaKwame Nkrumah and Pan-AfricanismThe tools of neocolonialism: debt, coups, and corporate powerThe continuing relevance of resource exploitation todaySusan Williams's White Malice is available from all good bookshops. Please consider buying from an independent retailer.If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Crime of the Congo" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle offers a harrowing examination of the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through meticulous analysis and powerful witness testimonies, particularly in chapters eight and nine, Doyle documents the brutal killing and torture of indigenous people under King Leopold II's rule and the subsequent Belgian administration. This poignant non-fiction account not only sheds light on the exploitation and suffering endured by the Congolese but also critiques the complicity of missionaries, traders, and corporate representatives.

Welcome to The Cris P Show! This week, Cristian Putallaz is joined by Aldo Canale to talk all things World Cup. Aldo, one of Houston's top soccer photographers, had the summer of a lifetime, combining his two biggest passions, football and photography, while traveling with the Democratic Republic of the Congo throughout their entire World Cup run. From a nap that almost cost him the opportunity of a lifetime to finding himself documenting a historic moment for Congolese football, Aldo's story is one you have to hear to believe. Grab a seat, turn it up, and enjoy the story behind the photos!-All that and much more in this episode!-We invite you to follow us at Bayou City Soccer!-BayouCitySoccer.net-@BayouCitySoccer on Facebook, IG, and Twitter-Hit us up using our hashtag #AskBCS-Hosts:@crisputallaz on Twitter-Again, BayouCitySoccer.net for everything!

In 1894, when the Belgian city of Antwerp was hosting a World's Fair, 144 Congolese people were forcibly brought to the city to be exhibited in the Congo Pavilion. In this "human zoo", seven Congolese men ultimately died of disease. Today, this shocking episode still haunts Belgium as one of its colonial history's darkest chapters.

Godfrey is joined by Dante Nero, Akeem Woods, and Vishnu Vaka to talk about Toronto Tempo coach Sandy Brondello calling Angel Reese a "protected specie" on a hot mic and only getting a one-game suspension, why she looks like Dobby, Rumpelstiltskin, and Bilbo Baggins all rolled into one, Black women built the WNBA and don't get the credit, why Black athletes should be going to HBCUs instead of Ivy Leagues that don't want them there, Godfrey's dad swinging on a gangbanger student back in the day and jumping in a taxi before the cops showed, a Congolese caller getting checked on the difference between racism and bigotry, an Australian troll named Barry trying to say Godfrey is racist, a Black rally car driver from Redlands calling in about being the first American AND first Black driver going for the WRC title, Argentina still catching heat over the Big Nigga Burger, and Dante refusing to stop calling Godfrey fat for lying about where he parks. Legendary Comedian Godfrey is LIVE from New York, and joins some of his best friends in stand up comedy, Hip-Hop and Hollywood to talk current events, pop culture, race issues, movies, music, TV and Kung Fu. We got endless impressions, a white producer, random videos Godfrey found on the internet and so much more! We're not reinventing the wheel, we're just talking 'ish every week... with GODFREY on In Godfrey We Trust. ----------------------------------------------

Sudan: Women and girls face impossible choice over waterUN rights chief Türk calls for protection for thousands of stranded seafarers Burundi: Food aid for Congolese refugees is at risk, WFP warns

This Lafayette, La., band fuse their Louisiana French roots with a Congolese rumba-inspired sound.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

INTRO (00:24): Kathleen opens the show drinking a Sunset List Golden Ale from Dogfish Head Brewing Company.    TOUR NEWS: See Kathleen live on her “Day Drinking Tour.”   TASTING MENU (1:53): Kathleen samples Fisher's Popcorn, Eaglewinz Chesapeake Bay Hot Sauce, and Frank's Red Hot Seasoned Bagel Chips.    QUEEN NEWS ( 13:36): Kathleen shares that Tom Brady had his photo taken with Stevie Nicks at Fanatics Fest.   HOLLYWOOD HAPPENINGS (29:50): HollyBobby provides the latest news in Hollywood.   UPDATES (52:40): Kathleen reports that the FBI has new info on the Nancy Guthrie ransom letters, and Meghan Markle's Emmy nomination is snubbed by Netflix.    WHAT ARE WE WATCHING (17:14): Kathleen recommends watching FIFA Uncovered on Netflix.    HOLY SHIT THEY FOUND IT (56:45): Kathleen reports on the discovery of orange-lipped Likweli monkeys in the Congolese rainforest, and a black king penguin on a South Georgia island.    NEWS (59:36): Kathleen reports that a passenger was sucked out of a plane window on a RyanAir flight bound for Greece, Everest's most famous body finally has a name, a man is attacked by a bison in Yellowstone, Idaho is searching for volunteer police officers to carry out state executions, the kissing daredevils who scaled the Empire State Building are released from jail, a killer elephant is stalking a specific family in Nepal, the Seattle Seahawks are sold for a record $9.6B, torrential rains release thousands of cobras in a Chinese city, the Top 10 worst states to live in are announced, and a traveler hits a $3.3M jackpot on a Wheel of Fortune machine in the Vegas airport.    SPANISH PHRASE OF THE WEEK (1:20:35): The Spanish phrase to learn this week is “la FIFA es corrupta” or “FIFA is corrupt” in English.   PATRON SAINT OF THE WEEK (1:28:28): In honor of World Cup ending, Kathleen reads about Saint Luigi Scrosoppi, the patron saint of soccer.   FEEL GOOD STORY (1:22:41): Kathleen shares that Bette Midler has owned acres of undeveloped land in Hawaii, and in March 2025 she restored wetlands and leased 87 acres to a nonprofit for conservation initiatives.   

The Trump administration takes aim at the International Criminal Court, and a Canadian judge who works there. One of her friends says she's paying a professional and personal price for doing her job. A wildfire forced them to evacuate this week -- and now, members of Whitesand First Nation are anxiously waiting to hear what's become of their community.After his son died fighting for Ukraine, a New Brunswick is launching an organization to help other families of foreign fighters who've been captured, killed -- or gone missing. In the UK, Labour eagerly turns the page on the disastrous Keir Starmer era by confirming Andy Burnham as the new leader of the party -- and soon, the country. A technology reporter embarks on an investigation of the author who published a biography of her that was written by AI -- a book that's nothing more than a slop in the face. Our guest was overwhelmed to finally see -- and smell -- an elusive monkey that lurks in Congolese rainforests, pursing its bright-orange lips and emitting a unique and unavoidable odour. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that does the funky monkey.

"If God has placed an immigrant group in your community, we have the opportunity to reach out and share the lovely gifts that God has given us," said Rev Jeff Thormodson, the executive director of the Lutheran Society of Missiology. "The Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology raises up leaders who speak Congolese, Aramaic, Telugu. It's a wonderful opportunity to make disciples of all nations." Learn more about how the Lord is raising up leaders in his church through Concordia Seminary, St. Louis!

How did you discern whether those experiences were genuinely from God?Why did you decide to tell this story publicly in Impossible Love?Why does suffering feel abnormal to modern Christians when it seems so normal throughout the Bible?Support this show!! : https://www.bibspeak.com/#donateGrab your free gift: the top 10 most misunderstood Biblical verses: https://info.bibspeak.com/10-verses-clarifiedJoin the newsletter (I only send 2 emails a week): https://www.bibspeak.com/#newsletterShop Dwell L'abel 15% off using the discount code BIBSPEAK15 https://go.dwell-label.com/bibspeakDownload Logos Bible Software for your own personal study: http://logos.com/biblicallyspeakingSign up for Riverside: https://www.riverside.fm/?utm_campaig…Use Manychat to automate a quick DM! It's great for sending links fast.https://manychat.partnerlinks.io/nd14879vojabStan.Store—way better than Linktree! It lets me share links, grow my email list, and host all my podcast stuff in one place.https://join.stan.store/biblicallyspeakingSupport this show!! : https://www.bibspeak.com/#donate Dr. Craig Keener is one of the world's leading New Testament scholars. He holds a Ph.D. from Duke University and serves as F.M. and Ada Thompson Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is the author of roughly 40 books, with more than 1.4 million copies in circulation worldwide. His works on biblical backgrounds, miracles, Acts, John, and the historical context of Scripture have earned numerous national and international awards, including multiple Christianity Today Book Awards. Through both his scholarship and ministry, Craig has helped countless readers better understand the Bible within its original cultural setting.Dr. Médine Moussounga Keener holds a Ph.D. from the University of Paris 7. Born and raised in the Republic of Congo, she survived the Congolese civil war and lived as a refugee for 18 months, enduring displacement, hunger, sickness, and loss while helping care for her family. Her experiences during the war profoundly shaped her understanding of faith, forgiveness, perseverance, and God's presence in suffering. Today, she teaches and speaks internationally alongside Craig on suffering, ethnic reconciliation, and Christianity in both Africa and the United States. Website: https://craigkeener.com/Recommended reading from Dr. Craig & Medine Keener:

As the US and Iran trade strikes in the Middle East, huge crowds have gathered in the holy city of Mashhad ahead of the burial of Iran's late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.We'll try to gauge the mood in the country and assess the options now for both the US and Iran. Also in the programme: The disinformation about Ebola fuelling attacks on Congolese health workers; we'll remember the life of the smash-hit gravel-voiced pop star Bonnie Tyle; and the Norwegian rowing sensation that's become one of the sounds of the men's football World Cup.(Photo shows mourners gathered on the day of the burial of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Mashhad, Iran on 9 July 2026. Credit: Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters)

On your Thursday 'Breakfast Wrap' on the morning after England broke Congolese hearts and Belgium staged a late comeback against Senegal. Neil Atkinson is joined by Teza Simukulwa and John Gibbons to reflect on yesterdays fixtures before trying to make sense of what's going on at Nottingham Forest. Subscribe to The Anfield Wrap for more on Liverpool's summer plans... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Phil Egan is back with World Cup Daily as England survive a major scare against DR Congo, with Harry Kane once again bailing out Thomas Tuchel's side to book a last-16 date with co-hosts Mexico.We hear from Tuchel, Kane and Ebere Eze after a nervy 2-1 win, plus Antonio Rosique on why the Azteca is the ultimate “cathedral” — and why the Mexico-England narrative feels loaded with history.Elsewhere, Belgium pull off a stunning extra-time comeback against Senegal to set up a knockout clash with the USA.And Dion Fanning explains why this France team are the most watchable force at the tournament — whether they win it or not.World Cup Daily on Off The Ball, brought to you by Lynx, “A Proud Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026“. Smell Your Best When You Look Your WorstBecome a member and sign up at offtheball.com/join

One month after Congolese authorities officially declared a new Ebola outbreak, the virus is still spreading in the east of the country and the death toll continues to rise. There are now more than 1,000 confirmed cases and more than 250 confirmed deaths. FRANCE 24's Aurélie Bazzara-Kibangula reports from eastern DR Congo, with Paula Séville.

Paul Hawksbee and Charlie baker are in the hot seats picking through the bones of last night's action in the World Cup!The brilliant Graeme Le Saux drops by to explain why France looked so formidable and what Thomas Tuchel's men can learn from them. Plus, we look ahead to England's clash with Congo tonight, featuring a special report from Max Scott who has been catching up with the Congolese fans. To top it all off, we chat with Vincent Kelly, the coach who helped shape both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Djed Spence.Instagram: @tSHandJTwitter: @tSHandJWebsite: Live Radio, Breaking Sports News, Opinion - talkSPORT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colombia-Portugal was een interessante 0-0, volgens Filip Joos dan toch. In de studio had sidekick Lennart Mertens een andere vragen bij de Portugese intenties. Ook Engeland, Congo en Argentinië komen aan bod op de laatste matchdag van de groepsfase. En dan moeten we het nog hebben over de (salon?)remise tussen Oostenrijk en Algerije.

This is the 7th episode in this 7 part series about the mission work of the Evangelical Free Church in the Belgian Congo. The work started in 1920 with Titus Johnson being the visionary and initial driver of establishing the work. The last 6 episodes has been a detailed journey of the founding of our mission, the long journey and process to establish mission stations in the Ubangi area, the physical and emotional losses of the early missionaries, including health issues and loss of life. 19 so far have died in the effort. 3 evacuations due to political and military turmoil disrupted the work. Governmental restrictions in the early 1970's along with friction in handling the hand-off from the missionaries to the Congolese church was also part of the journey. One more saint dies, and you will hear that story. Yet, from 1998 through the present, the church has grown and flourished, and you will hear about that.  Thanks to Norma Colby for sharing about the passing of her husband, Dr. Bill Colby. Jim Snyder gives a recap of the 100 year celebration of the mission work held in 2022. Also Jim and Craig Wickstrom share about how the Congolese Free Church and Congolese Covenant church are continuing their work with the home missions boards only providing guidance, support and counsel. And appreciation is given to Nubako Selenga who gives the Congolese perspective of the work. He now is a missionary to his own people, the Congolese. Also thank those that provided voice-overs for this episode.  The lookback of the past 100 years of this journey is humbling and amazing. Trials, too many to count resulted in many triumphs. The faithfulness, sacrifice and perseverance of all the missionaries over the years to do their part in furthering the mission work and establishment of the church is evident. **Rated in 2026 to the TOP 25 Best “Life Stories” Themed Podcasts Worldwide – https://blog.feedspot.com/life_stories_podcasts/

Everyone is wondering why the Democratic Republic of Congo has the fan that stands and poses as a statue for the duration of their matches. He is channeling the likeness of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo. Today we're telling the Cold War story of Lumumba. This is a fascinating chapter of Africa's decolonization and a turbulent chapter of the cold war that took place deep in the heart of Africa. Lumumba is seen as a martyr for Congolese independence and “Lumumba Vea” hopes his schtick inspires the Congolese squad to victory.

Declan Walsh, the acclaimed New York Times Africa correspondent, visited the hot zone of the Ebola outbreak in Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from May 22 to June 12, the "perfect petri dish." How to explain the "enormous lag" in acknowledging the outbreak and responding to it? "It all boils down to two factors, conflict and gold."  Will the outbreak grow exponentially or burn out? Insecurity will dominate, but it is not at all certain how that is to be managed. Things have begun to go better in expanding testing and treatment capacities, while contact tracing lags, at just over 50%. There are worries that the outbreak is spreading already from Ituri into North Kivu province, potentially into areas controlled by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the Uganda-origin Islamist armed group. Interest is rising inexorably in seeking a cease-fire, given the acute vulnerability of health and emergency assistance providers. The United States is now coming in strong with over $700m in investments, but on a parallel track, separate from the incident management mechanism run by WHO and the Africa CDC, which is stirring some tensions with Congolese authorities. The U.S. effort to create a treatment unit on a remote air base in Kenya has generated considerable protests and political challenges for Kenyan President Ruto.

THIS WEEK's BIRDS: new music from Ensemble Infini; vintage African rock from Abeti; Congolese rumba from Papa Wemba as well  as Orchestre Kamale & Mbilia Bel; Ovimbundu music (from Angola); vintage rock from Comoros: Leleu & Menwar;  vintage Stephen McCraven (newly available!); Johnny Dyani (South Africa) w. ensemble; extended blassing/tributte  from improvisational string quartet We Free Strings; cante jondo from Manzanita (vintage) & Maria del Tango (new);  tenor player Rob Brown w/ trio; Reigakusha (from Japan); Turkish Sufi legend  Kudsi Erguner w. Yusuf Bilgin, Aziz Bahriyeli, Fevzi Mısır, et al; more Sufi poetry/song (Qawwali) from Pakistan w/ Hassan Kassayi; . so much, much,much more..   Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on WRFI & WINO 88.1 FM Ithaca/ 88.5 FM Odessa;. and WORLDWIDE online via our MUSIC PLAYER at WRFI.ORG. 24/7 via PODBEAN: https://conferenceofthebirds.podbean.com via iTUNES: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conference-of-the-birds-podcast/id478688580 Also available at podomatic, Internet Archive, podtail, iheart Radio, and elsewhere. Always FREE of charge to listen to the radio program and free also to stream, download, and subscribe to the podcast online: PLAYLIST at SPINITRON: https://spinitron.com/WRFI/pl/22468819/Conference-of-the-Birds and via the Conference of the Birds page at www.WRFI.ORG https://www.wrfi.org/wrfiprograms/conferenceofthebirds/  Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/conferenceofthebirds/?ref=bookmarks Find WRFI on Radio Garden: http://radio.garden/visit/ithaca-ny/aqh8OGBR NEW MAILING ADDRESS:  Stephen Cope  @ Conference of the Birds, POBOX 428, Tivoli, NY, 12583, USA. 

Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, the renowned South African epidemiologist, chairs the Africa CDC Emergency Consultative Group. In that role, he just completed a visit to Bunia, capital of Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, site of the dangerous Ebola outbreak. His focus included laboratories, test centers, isolation units, along with PPE, safe, dignified burials, contact tracing, the WHO/Africa CDC Incident Management Team, and security challenges. The United States has made major commitments, but US experts and US-funded groups operate outside the IMT. The moment you arrive in Buria, it is very obvious you are inside a conflict zone. Care providers—true heroes—are rushing in. They are "fire fighters running into the fire."

"We dress good, we know how to play soccer, we know how to do everything," said Clement Kalamba Moise, of Portland, barely able to contain his excitement. "For me, we already win the World Cup. I'm good. We already win the World Cup."

This Day in Maine for Thursday, June 18th, 2026.

The Steve Harvey Morning Show for Tuesday June 16th, 2026: Steve Harvey's Morning Inspiration | Show Open - Intros | Nephew Tommy's Run That Prank Back - "Carl Thomas" | Ask The CLO | Trending & Entertainment News | Democratic Republic Of Congo's World Cup Team | Father's Day Question | Nephew Tommy's Prank - "Your Son Peed In The Pool" | Strawberry Letter - "Is My Reputation Ruined?" Pt. 1-2 | Junior's Sports Talk | Social Media Advice | Trump Name Off Of Kennedy Center | Would You Rather | Steve Harvey's Closing RemarksSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Directed by Congolese filmmaker Jean Luc Herbulot, Saloum is horror action thriller with twists and turns that will keep you on your toes. Join Juliet and Theresa to talk about platonic love and masculine care amongst mercenaries, not explaining too much lore and why not every villain needs a redemption arc. CW/TW: mentions of child abuse, rape, and enslavement Buy us a coffee!Become a Patron!Theme music: "Book of Shadows" by Houseghost (Rad Girlfriend Records) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Congolese authorities signal the highest increase in Ebola cases in one day, as weak contact tracing and insecurity continue to hinder a full regional and international response.

AP correspondent Donna Warder reports on how Ebola is affecting the lives of Congolese citizens.

Lu Ming who leads the Chinese team says they will work with local medical and disease control institutions to provide support in epidemic assessment, case management, and other areas. A representative of the DRC's health ministry said China's dispatch of the medical experts represents timely and strong support for the Congolese government and people.

Congolese pastor Rachel Uwiringiyimana kicks off our My Side of the River Series sharing what we have to learn from female protagonists in scripture whose identity intersects with location and dislocation, with being home and being an immigrant.  The message will be translated by her daughter, Sandra, who works for World Relief. Speaker: Rachel and Sandra Uwiringiyimana Part of the series “My Side of the River: An Artisan Spring Read”

Karawa station Dr. Paul Carlson Funeral Cessna 185 – 9Q-CMU This is the 5th episode in this 7 part series about the mission work of the Evangelical Free Church in the Belgian Congo. The work started in 1920 with Titus Johnson being the visionary and initial driver of establishing the work. Episode 1 discussed the difficult journey to get to the Ubangi region in NW Congo and the long process to establish the first 3 stations. Episode 2 saw 3 more stations established. Yet these advancements included missionary adults and children succumbing to the harsh climate and disease. One person died at from a German submarine torpedo in the Atlantic. Episode 3 included 4 more stations established and an infant and 1 adult tragically passing away. The 4th episode entailed 3 more stations set up and 3 more people dying on the field. This episode covers 1963 – 1972, which included a rebellion, evacuation, a coup d'etat and considerable political turmoil.  Dr. Paul Carlson was martyred by the rebels, and that became international news. But from that, a medical foundation was established. Paul Noren shares about Loko and Doug Thorpe elaborates on Karawa.  Also, an airplane was secured, which eased traveling considerably.There was a 50 year celebration commemorating Dr. Titus Johnson's initial efforts in establishing the mission work. But the transition from the missionary oversight of the church to the Congolese was fraught with disagreements and friction, as well as governmental intervention, nationalization and other changes. Thanks too for Craig and Marv Wickstrom's insights regarding this difficult time period.   I extend special thanks to Lois Carlson Bridges for sharing about the loss of her husband. Also thanks to those that provided voice-overs for this episode. **Rated in 2026 to the TOP 25 Best “Life Stories” Themed Podcasts Worldwide – https://blog.feedspot.com/life_stories_podcasts/

Global worries over the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic of Congo and Uganda filter to Canada after news Ontario is testing a man who recently been to the African region, and a Paris-bound flight to Detroit was diverted to Montreal because of a Congolese passenger, and new U.S. travel restrictions.Plus: Referendum Contemplation. The questions facing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, and whether she plans to trigger a fall referendum asking voters if they want to stay in, or secede from Canada.And: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert signs off for the final time, ending 11 seasons of celebrity interviews and political satire after CBS axed the program amid speculation the cancellation was motivated by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.Also: Carney government mulls changes to Canada's labour laws, Pentagon's Canada-U.S. defence board pushback, SpaceX's IPO, and more.

//The Wire//2300Z May 19, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: DETAILS EMERGE REGARDING YESTERDAYS SHOOTING IN CALIFORNIA. TENSIONS INCREASE IN IRELAND FOLLOWING DEATH OF CONGOLESE NATIONAL. WAR POTENTIAL IN MIDDLE EAST REMAINS AS ALL PARTIES CONTINUE PREPARING FOR CONFLICT.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----  -International Events-Ireland: Tensions have increased sharply following the death of a Congolese man on Friday. Yves Sakila died while resisting arrest, after he shoplifted from a local store and broke an elderly man's leg. This death has resulted in a mobilization of the Congolese population of Dublin, with mass protests planned for tonight and the next few days.Analyst Comment: It's too soon to tell, but many locals are saying this is Dublin's version of George Floyd in terms of civil unrest and the large Congolese population in Ireland. Roving bands of Congolese gangs commonly cause problems within Dublin, and since local tensions were already boiling before this, clashes are likely if the Congolese decide to escalate the situation.Middle East: The potential for a resumption of the war remains on the table, as rhetoric on all sides continues to escalate. The creation and streamlining of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (the Iranian organization that has claimed administrative control of the Strait) has continued to be of cause for concern for western-aligned vessels. The handful of ships that are transiting the Strait are sailing with their transponders turned off, and so far all vessels have transited with Iranian approval. This afternoon, President Trump stated that he was only one hour away from ordering the resumption of the fighting yesterday. He also stated that the fighting may resume in a few days regardless, and all parties around the region remain ready for the ceasefire to come to an end.-HomeFront-Alabama: Yesterday a suspect was arrested in conjunction with a missing person investigation in Northport. Two weeks ago, Karen Deann Hollis was reported missing, after concerned family members failed to locate her. On Saturday, her remains were located at an undisclosed location in Greene County. At the scene, authorities arrested Randall Lendell Dejourney on charges of abusing human remains for 8 days. He is being held in jail on a $15,000 cash bond and no murder charges have been filed.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Few details have come to light regarding yesterday's shooting at the San Diego Islamic Center, however the suspects have been identified as Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez. The two shooters attempted to conduct a mass shooting at the facility, and began the attack by killing the security guard at the front entry point of the building. After making entrance to the facility, the suspects killed two more people, before re-entering their vehicle and driving a short distance from the facility. Both suspects were found deceased inside the vehicle with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.Concerning the suspects themselves, the very few details that have emerged indicate this was very likely the standard transgender shooting. Both suspects were of questionable status, though both appear to have been born male. Slogans and statements were written on the firearms with a white paint pen, which has become a staggeringly common calling card of most trans-affiliated mass shootings (as the shooters often try to copy previous attacks). Both attackers appear to have been Hispanic, but also used symbols from political movements that would not have approved of their lifestyle choices, which is another hallmark of such attacks as well.No official link to the Order of Nine Angles (O9A) or the 764 Network has been made, however this would be wise to investigate as this shooting is nearly identical to all prior O9A/764 mass murders from years past. The attackers also allegedly livestreaming the attack fits with many other similar attacks as well.Of note, another bit of amplifying information might be helpful for factoring in to risk assessments. Five days ago, a nationwide shortage of Progesterone was reported. Among many other more traditional uses, this medication is used by transgender individuals to level out mood changes during their process. More strategically, this could be nothing or it could be something. There's no indication at all that the two shooters in California were affected by this drug, and there is no evidence linking this attack to any drug shortage as drug shortages happen all of the time for varying reasons. However, copycat incidents are an extreme risk in the wake of attacks like this, and a drug which is intended to affect mood changes among this population is in short supply. Again, this might be a loose correlation at best, but it's worth being aware of when trying to calculate the risk of future copycat attacks.Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

Richie Allen with unique and sometimes humorous analysis of the day's top news stories. On today's show: Vigil held in Dublin for Congolese man who died in shoplifting incident. Some are calling it Ireland's "George Floyd moment." Polls show Donald Trump's approval rating is in the basement. Does it matter? Rural Ireland is seemingly in the grip of a drug epidemic. If so, why? And Richie asks listeners what does "Love conquers all" mean in practical terms? The answers are very interesting. 

Eastern Correspondent, Samantha Libreri reports on the death of Yves Sakila, who was restrained after an alleged shoplifting incident on Friday.

AP correspondent Donna Warder reports on a new Ebola outbreak in Africa's Congo.

More than a dozen deportees from the US, reportedly from South America, have arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the beginning of April, the DRC government announced a deal with the US under which Kinshasa would accept individuals known as “third-country” deportees. The arrival of these deportees has raised concerns and questions among Congolese people and opposition figures.We also explore a different kind of journey - discipline in the African diaspora, where some parents have gone as far as sending their children back home for schooling. What is it like to be sent back to Africa?Presenter : Charles Gitonga Technical Producer: Davis Mwasaru Senior Producers: Blessing Aderogba and Keikantse Shumba Editors: Priyanka Sippy and Maryam Abdalla

8. Jihadist Threats to Congolese Mining Guest: Caleb Weiss. Caleb Weiss reports on an Islamic State attack targeting a Chinese-owned mine in Congo, led by a violent Tanzanian commander. Meanwhile, Nigeria struggles with internal instability as regional alliances like ECOWAS continue to fracture. (8)1871 UK IRONCLAD GLATTON

Ralph welcomes international human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber to discuss the U.S. and Israel's illegal war on Iran. Then, Ralph speaks to investigative reporter David Cay Johnston about the finances of Donald Trump.Craig Mokhiber is an international human rights lawyer and activist, and a former senior United Nations human rights official. A human rights activist in the 1980s, he would go on to serve for more than three decades at the United Nations, with postings in Switzerland, Palestine, Afghanistan, and UN Headquarters in New York. In October of 2023, he left the United Nations, penning a widely read letter criticizing the UN's human rights failures in the Middle East, warning of unfolding genocide in Gaza, and calling for a new approach to Palestine and Israel based on international law, human rights, and equality.Anyone who pays attention knows that Iran wasn't attacked because it has nuclear weapons. It was attacked because it doesn't have nuclear weapons, and was therefore viewed by Israel and the U.S. as being a state that could be overcome militarily. But what really is, I think, most telling about this is the hypocrisy of the claims, because the only party in the region that has stockpiles of nuclear weapons (which are entirely undeclared and unsupervised) is the Israeli regime, not the Iranian. And the Israeli regime was joined in attacking Iran by another nuclear power—the United States.Craig MokhiberIsrael (which has attacked the United Nations throughout its entire life and declared that the United Nations is an anti-Semitic terror organization) fights like hell to stay in the United Nations, pays its dues every year to make sure that it stays in…and renews its treaty obligations as a member of the United Nations (that, of course, it violates with impunity). So it's very funny that Israel calls the UN an anti-Semitic terror organization, yet it insists on being a member and paying its dues to fund that so-called anti-Semitic terror organization.Craig MokhiberI don't think that putting Iran in an existential crisis is the best way to tell them you don't need nuclear weapons. I think stopping attacking them, their economy, their currency, their scientists, their political leaders, their military personnel, their civilians, their girls' schools—if you want a country to believe that it doesn't need to arm itself, this is not the way to go about it.Craig MokhiberDavid Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, specialist in economics and tax issues, and a professor of practice teaching law, public policy, and journalism at Rochester Institute of Technology. He is the author of several books, including The Making of Donald Trump and It's Even Worse Than You Think: What The Trump Administration Is Doing To America. He is also the co-founder of DCReport, a nonprofit news service that reports what the President and Congress DO, not what they SAY.Convicting Donald Trump of tax fraud would be very easy. You establish these corporations [reporting major losses] don't exist. You establish that he took tax losses from these multiple corporations (in all, about 60 entries over the six years of tax returns). And there's no defense for that. It's flat-out fraud. It's blatant fraud. So Trump has gotten away with this because we don't seriously treat high-level tax fraud in this country.David Cay JohnstonNews 3/20/26* Our top story this week concerns a new study titled “Inequality, not regulation, drives America's housing affordability crisis.” As summarized in Hell Gate, this study demonstrates that the precipitous rise in rent prices are not primarily the result of insufficient housing supply or of vacancy rates. Moreover, contrary to the claims of the so-called Abundance movement, reducing regulations to spur new construction is unlikely to create significantly more housing. Even if it did, that would probably fail to bring down rents, because the real cause of the rental spike is “Steep national inequality.” So, what can be done to bring down rents? Maximilian Buchholz, the lead author of the study, puts it bluntly in this interview: “rent control, tenant protection policies like just cause eviction, and income supports for people toward the bottom.” Simply put, the best policies to lower rents are policies that lower rents. This has been demonstrated time and time again in different policy areas, yet on the whole, Democrats still seem to prefer byzantine policy formulae instead of straightforward policy solutions to the glaring issues facing the American people. * Speaking of rising costs, Washingtonian magazine is out with a new story on the Washington Post hiking prices for subscribers. Yet apparently not all subscribers are created equal. According to this story, these increases are accompanied by a simple yet insidious message: “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.” This is the latest deployment of what has become known as algorithmic – or “surveillance” – pricing. This piece notes other examples of surveillance pricing, ranging from the Princeton Review charging more for the same SAT tutoring package in areas with higher Asian populations (they called it the “tiger mom tax”) to Amazon charging local school districts vastly different prices for the same supplies. However, this new policy from the Post is especially brazen given the straits the paper has recently found itself in, declining by a million subscribers between 2021 and 2026 and hemorrhaging key reporters to a new rival paper sponsored by Robert Albritton, including Dana Milbank, Jeff Stein, Paul Kane and Paige Cunningham, among others, per the Hill.* In more media news, Variety reports that ratings for CBS Evening News are cratering, falling back to where executives at the news division behind the show “hoped never to return.” The nightly news program, anchored by Tony Dokoupil, has fallen below 4 million viewers; when the previous iteration of the program anchored by Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson fell to this nadir, Paramount Skydance pulled the plug. While this is perhaps just a symptom of the collapse of cable news, Variety notes that ABC's “World News Tonight,” averaged nearly 8 and a half million viewers and “NBC Nightly News” scored just over 6 and half million. Dokoupil did score a slight uptick in viewership when he took over the Evening News, but that seems to have been nothing more than a flash in the pan. This pathetic showing seems to confirm what seemed obvious all along: there is simply little audience for the editorial viewpoint espoused by CBS's new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.* The bad news for Bari doesn't end there, either. According to the Wrap, the new chief is locked in contentious negotiations with the unionized staff of CBS, specifically the 60-person unit behind the network's streaming service, “CBS News 24/7.” These workers staged a 24 hour walkout earlier this week. Their grievances include everything from new grueling 12-hour weekend shifts – despite no weekend-specific live programming – as well as CBS News' reported plans to lay off 15% of staff. CBS News already laid off roughly 100 people in October after Paramount merged with Skydance and many believe more layoffs will come if the merger with CNN, which is not unionized, goes through as part of the Paramount Warner Bros. deal.* In other news, a recent study reveals a fascinating disconnect between the self-description of Democrats and their policy preferences. The study, conducted on behalf of the New Republic by Embold Research, gave respondents five choices to describe their ideology: conservative, moderate, moderate-to-liberal, liberal, and progressive. Only 12% identified as moderate, but another 21% called themselves moderate-to-liberal. Yet, among this combined group, approximately 70% said Democrats are “too timid” on taxing the rich and corporations, and cracking down on corporate criminals. Fewer than 5% of moderates said Democrats are “too aggressive” on these issues. In a word, even the moderates among the Democratic base think the party should take a more strident economic populist line. This tracks with polling conducted during the Texas Democratic Senate primary which found that 47% of voters who identified as socialists also identified as moderates.* Our next several stories this week have to do with the intersection of foreign policy and energy. The AP reports that on Tuesday, Cuba reconnected its energy grid following a 29-hour long nationwide blackout. This story notes that this reconnection will only provide scant and temporary relief, because not enough power is being generated. The energy crisis in Cuba has gotten progressively worse since the beginning of the year, as the new government in Venezuela and the newly reinforced sanctions regime have both served to cut off the island from energy imports. That said, cracks in this blockade are beginning to form. Bloomberg reports that a “tanker carrying more than 700,000 barrels of Russian crude is expected to arrive in Cuba by the end of the month,” and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that her administration is “looking into different possibilities” to resume fuel shipments to Cuba as well. Sheinbaum stressed that Mexico is “sovereign” and able to “have trade agreements with any country in the world,” per the Latin Times. The U.S. government has already eased sanctions on Russian oil sales to India, but has now announced that they will not allow the Russians to send oil to Cuba, per Bloomberg. As the ship is already on its way, it is an open question of how far the U.S. will go to prevent Russia from sending lifesaving resources to the country that has held out against American pressure for so long.* Next, a stunning story in the Wall Street Journal documents how the Trump administration settled on their final course of action in Venezuela. According to this piece, the Central Intelligence Agency consulted former Chevron executive Ali Moshiri, described as the oil company's man in “Man in Venezuela—and a CIA Informant.” Apparently, Moshiri warned that if the U.S. government tried to oust the Chavista government of Nicolás Maduro and install María Corina Machado and her exile comrades in its place, the country would turn into “another quagmire like Iraq.” Moshiri specifically warned that Machado did not have the support of the country's security services or control of its oil infrastructure. For their part, Chevron issued a statement claiming that “between spring of 2025 and the removal of Maduro, Chevron did not authorize anyone working for, or on behalf of, the company to engage with the CIA related to Venezuela's leadership, including assessments of government officials or opposition leaders.” Moshiri, formally left Chevron in 2017 and ended his consulting relationship with the company in 2024. Unlike many other oil companies, Chevron maintained a presence in Venezuela over the years, positioning the company to benefit most from the new extraction political environment under the leadership of upjumped Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.* Meanwhile, a story from NOTUS highlights why this kind of outside advice is likely more heeded than ever in the halls of power: the publication reports that six months ago, the State Department under the leadership of Secretary Marco Rubio, fired its in-house oil and gas experts, including laying off staff who “would have been responsible for gaming out possible scenarios if the Strait of Hormuz was closed” and “staffers with close professional relationships at oil and gas companies in the Middle East and experts tasked with maintaining diplomatic contacts at foreign energy bureaus.” This is a final nail in the coffin for the misguided logic of Elon Musk's DOGE initiative and serves as a crystal clear example of why it is so dangerous to purge experts with significant institutional knowledge from the federal bureaucracy.* Another consequence of this lack of diplomatic expertise is the ultimate cost to the taxpayer – $200 billion in additional Pentagon funding, to be exact, per CNBC. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, defending the request in typically childish terms, said “It takes money to kill bad guys.” In similarly childish terms, President Trump, asked why the Pentagon is seeking so much money, said, “We're asking for a lot of reasons,” and while he told a reporter he would not send U.S. troops to the region, he added, “If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you.” Beyond the flippant attitude towards the immense sums of taxpayer money they are requesting from Congress, to say nothing of the cost in American and Iranian lives, the American people would do well to remember how casually the political class treats $200 billion when it is to be spent on war instead of social programs. All this as gas prices spike, with price increases rippling out to all other consumer goods.* Finally, the BBC reports a Belgian court has ruled that a former diplomat, Etienne Davignon, can stand trial in connection with the 1961 killing of Congo's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. Davignon, 93, is the “only surviving member of the 10 Belgians accused in a criminal case brought by Lumumba's family in 2011.” At the time, Davignon was a diplomat in training. He would go on to become a vice-president of the European Commission. Lumumba meanwhile was ousted in a Belgian and U.S.-backed coup led by Mobutu Sese Seko, who would rule Congo (renamed Zaire) until 1997. In 1961, Lumumba was executed by a Belgian-backed Congolese firing squad and his body was dissolved in acid. Lumumba's grandson, Mehdi Lumumba, is quoted saying “We are all relieved…Belgium is finally confronting its history.” Many have remarked that while this has taken over 50 years, it sets a powerful precedent that justice can be found even after so many decades. Many of the war criminals that walk the Earth today are far younger than Mr. Davignon.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe