Podcasts about throughout western

[00:30] Biden Bribery Scandal (7 minutes) In a campaign speech four years ago, Joe Biden accused Donald Trump—without evidence—of doing side deals with and taking bribes from Ukrainian officials. Biden, as we now know, was accusing Trump of committing the crimes he was guilty of. [07:00] Wannabe Dictator (21 minutes) In his latest Twitter monologue, Tucker Carlson outlined how America is being ruled by an authoritarian administration. The only thing Tucker failed to mention in his segment is that Biden isn't the real dictator—he's controlled by Barack Hussein Obama. [28:00] Trump's Crime: He Likes Mementos (8 minutes) The New York Times published a laughable piece last night exposing Donald Trump's true motivation for keeping documents “bearing classification markings.” The Times's headline read: “At the Heart of the Documents Case: Trump's Attachment to His Boxes.” Former George Bush aide, Karl Rove scolded President Trump for his “childish impulse to keep mementos.” Meanwhile, the media continues to laugh off the legitimate Biden bribery scandal. [36:30] Current News Segment (3 minutes) [40:00] Celebrating Perversion (15 minutes) Throughout Western nations, leaders from the top down are forcing people not just to accept but to celebrate perversions like homosexuality and pedophilia.

  Advancing Thru Adversity #0  Know It – Who I Am By Louie Marsh, 11-15-2020   A college student was unhappy that he had to take a course in ornithology, which is a study of birds. This class had the reputation of being the most difficult class in the whole curriculum. And the professor was an extremely difficult professor. Everybody feared him. But it was a required course. As the course began, the professor announced there would be a test in 40 days & it would compose a large portion of the grade. Everybody studied. They took copious notes. They made sure they understood everything the professor said.  On the 40th day the students filed into the lecture hall extremely nervous. On the stage was a table with 5 cages on it. Each cage had a cover & beneath the cover they could see the feet & spindly legs of a bird.  At the sound of the bell, the professor addressed the students, “Here’s the test. You can see there are 5 birds & they’re all covered except for their feet & legs. You must tell me the identity of each of those 5 birds by looking only at their feet & legs.” Everyone had studied long & hard, but no one had anticipated such a test. And they were all sweating, trying to remember something, anything, that could help them pass the test.  Finally, one student stood up & said, “This is ridiculous. This is the craziest test I have every seen, & you’re the worst professor in this whole school.” He said, “I quit. I‘m out of here. I’m not going to take this test.” And he turned & walked toward the door. “Just a minute young man.” said the professor. “Who are you? I demand your name right now.” The young man stopped, took a long look at the professor & then pulling up both of his pant legs said, “You tell me."   1) START with a big question: WHO AM I?   "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV)   SHOW BONHOEFFER PICTURE & POEM   Who Am I? by Dietrich Bonhoeffer   Who am I? They often tell me I stepped from my cell’s confinement Calmly, cheerfully, firmly, Like a squire from his country-house. Who am I? They often tell me I used to speak to my warders Freely and friendly and clearly, As though it were mine to command. Who am I? They also tell me I bore the days of misfortune Equally, smilingly, proudly, Like one accustomed to win.   Am I then really all that which other men tell of? Or am I only what I myself know of myself? Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage, Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds, Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness, Tossing in expectation of great events, Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance, Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?   Who am I? This or the other? Am I one person today and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others, And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling? Or is something within me still like a beaten army, Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved? Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine. Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God, I am Thine!   Bablyon 5 – Vorlons & Shadows – The Shadows always asked, “What do you want?”  Vorlon’s always asked, “Who are you?”   2) UNDERSTAND what Jesus said.   “You – you alone are the salt of the earth…” Matt. 5:13 (RCH Lenski translation)   ONLY BELIEVERS are Salt & Light   I AM Salt & Light!   Not SHOULD, COULD, OUGHT   SHOW YODA PIC/QUOTE Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'  - Yoda (Fictional Star Wars Thing/Dude   Salt changes the nature of what it’s applied too. Light changes how we perceive reality.     3) CHOOSE to believe Jesus.   But if you don't want to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Even if you choose the gods your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, my family and I will still serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (GW)   Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Mark 9:50 (ESV)   4) REFUSE to be discouraged.   7  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 (ESV)   Throughout Western history, Christianity has endured seasons when our faith should have been forever defeated, if not obliterated. The church of Jesus Christ should have had a funeral with the fall of the Roman Empire, the spread of Islamic armies, the Enlightenment, political upheaval in Europe, or the philosophical attacks led by Marx, Darwin, Hume, Nietzsche, and Freud. But God brings dead things to life, and at the heart of our faith is belief in resurrection. InRead more at location 2979   Top of Form Bottom of Form The truth is, the world we live in today is a lot like the first-century context in which Christianity flourished. The Romans worshiped their nation and political leader; Pontius Pilate asked, “What is truth?”[234]; Paul encountered an “unknown god”[235]; the Greeks were openly pro-gay; the Ephesians were converted from witchcraft and demonic spirituality; and the Corinthian Christians needed to stop their cross-dressing and cancel their memberships at the pagan temples. But the gospel—the same gospel that’s alive and well today—transformed lives and spread despite all the conflict.   16  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)   In order to do ministry in the odd world of intolerant tolerance, Bible-believing Christians will need to toughen up and turn the other cheek—rather than crumple in a heap—when slapped with words like hateful, bigoted, intolerant, shameful, cruel, unloving, homophobic, prejudiced, discriminatory, and more. Jesus told us to love our enemies; his assumption was that we would have enemies to love. Top of Form   The tolerant god is curiously tolerant of everyone and everything except the real God—because the tolerant god is the same serpent who appeared in the Garden so long ago   5) PROVE I believe it.   14  My brothers and sisters, what good does it do if someone claims to have faith but doesn't do any good things? Can this kind of faith save him? 15  Suppose a believer, whether a man or a woman, needs clothes or food 16  and one of you tells that person, “God be with you! Stay warm, and make sure you eat enough.” If you don't provide for that person's physical needs, what good does it do? 17  In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it doesn't cause you to do any good things. 18  Another person might say, “You have faith, but I do good things.” Show me your faith apart from the good things you do. I will show you my faith by the good things I do. 19  You believe that there is one God. That's fine! The demons also believe that, and they tremble with fear. James 2:14-19 (GW)

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” God's commandment to Israel could not have been clearer, but for Israel, keeping it was not so easy. Each time God's people turned to “other gods” like Baal or Molech—despite the dire and repeated warnings by the prophets—the result was disaster. Of course, worshiping false gods is not a Middle Eastern specialty. The history of the Church is filled with battles against pagan gods, such as Zeus, Athena, Odin, or any number of Celtic and Slavic deities. Even today, we'll sometimes hear of a pagan revival, but it's typically some fringe story of an Icelander worshiping Thor. Still, it would be a grave mistake to think idol worship is a thing only of the past or of primitive cultures. Throughout Western culture, scientifically advanced as it is, we are guilty of the sin of idolatry—including many Christians. The gods we worship don't have personal names, but they do have their “high places.” They may not have statues or altars like Asherah poles, but they do have prophets and priestesses. Here are four big idols of our age (and because I used to be Baptist, they all begin with the letter S):  Sex, State, Science, and Stuff. Each of these things are good, in and of themselves. Without sex, there would be no us. Without state, chaos. Without science, ignorance. Without stuff, poverty. But when even good things come to occupy a place in our heart where only God belongs, when we put our trust in them and see ourselves in their image, they become our gods, and we become idolaters. This is the topic of our next online short course: “The Gods of Our Age.” I'll kick off the course talking about the god of Stuff, followed by Dr. Hunter Baker on the god of State. In so many ways, we look to government to supply our deepest needs, from safety to meaning and fulfillment. Then the one and only Dr. J. P . Moreland, who has just written an excellent book on scientism, the idea that science is the source of all knowledge, will join the course to talk about that idol. Finally, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse will talk about how sex has become an ends of personal fulfillment, rather than a means of something higher, and in that sense has become a god of our age, too. There are many reasons why we must understand our idols. One reason is that they are so subtle. No one would ever stand up and announce, “I trust in stuff to fill the God-shaped hole in my heart,” of course. And yet the pull of materialism is so strong. How many Americans find themselves in debt, or addicted to the promise of the next adventure, or just being less generous than they should be out of worry or concern? Another reason we should understand our idols is because our idols diminish our understanding of God. T. S. Elliot said that the essence of idolatry is entertaining thoughts about Him that are not worthy of Him. Our idols make us think less about God, and at the same time, make us think about God less. Either of those paths leads to disaster. And finally, how we think about God affects how we think about people. Psalm 135 says that those who worship and trust in idols become “like them.” The false gods of our age—including sex, stuff, state, and science—are the primary drivers behind the dehumanization we see across our culture. There's so much more we can say about that. Our short course, “The Gods of Our Age: Sex, State, Science, and Stuff” is completely online and begins Tuesday June 4. The course is held on four consecutive Tuesday nights, and includes a presentation by our guest instructor and a Q&A session after that. Each session is recorded and made available to you, in case you have to miss a session or wish to review it. Go to BreakPoint.org to register while space is available. Again, that's BreakPoint.org. The warning of the prophets is as true as ever: The path of idols is the path of destruction. But the promise offered throughout Scripture remains just as true: to know God is to know ourselves and to know life. What other reason would we need to rid ourselves of idols and restore the worship of God in our lives, in our families, and in our culture?

Throughout Western history the clean-shaven face has been the default style. However, the ideal of the cleanly-shaven face has been challenged across time in Western society. Facial hair is a symbol of masculinity and the sculpting of facial hair allows men to negotiate their manliness in public spaces. In Of Beard and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Dr. Christopher Oldstone-Moore discusses Western history of the beard and how beard movements have been developed to challenge the ideals of masculinity presented in wearing facial hair. He traces the history of the beard from Hadrian in the second century to the more recent bristled resurgence of today. Dr. Oldstone-Moore presents the beard as being a symbol of self-reliance and being unconventional, whereas the clean-shaven face presents a virtuous and sociable man. Christopher R. Oldstone-Moore, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of History at Wright State University. Dr. Oldstone-Moore’s research focuses on gender and masculinity, and particularly the aspect of the hair and body. He is currently researching the history of adventure. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He earned his doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Walden University. His most recent paper, to be presented at the upcoming American Society for Environmental History conference, is titled “Down Lovers Lane: A Brief History of Necking in Cars.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout Western history the clean-shaven face has been the default style. However, the ideal of the cleanly-shaven face has been challenged across time in Western society. Facial hair is a symbol of masculinity and the sculpting of facial hair allows men to negotiate their manliness in public spaces. In Of Beard and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Dr. Christopher Oldstone-Moore discusses Western history of the beard and how beard movements have been developed to challenge the ideals of masculinity presented in wearing facial hair. He traces the history of the beard from Hadrian in the second century to the more recent bristled resurgence of today. Dr. Oldstone-Moore presents the beard as being a symbol of self-reliance and being unconventional, whereas the clean-shaven face presents a virtuous and sociable man. Christopher R. Oldstone-Moore, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of History at Wright State University. Dr. Oldstone-Moore’s research focuses on gender and masculinity, and particularly the aspect of the hair and body. He is currently researching the history of adventure. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He earned his doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Walden University. His most recent paper, to be presented at the upcoming American Society for Environmental History conference, is titled “Down Lovers Lane: A Brief History of Necking in Cars.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout Western history the clean-shaven face has been the default style. However, the ideal of the cleanly-shaven face has been challenged across time in Western society. Facial hair is a symbol of masculinity and the sculpting of facial hair allows men to negotiate their manliness in public spaces. In Of Beard and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Dr. Christopher Oldstone-Moore discusses Western history of the beard and how beard movements have been developed to challenge the ideals of masculinity presented in wearing facial hair. He traces the history of the beard from Hadrian in the second century to the more recent bristled resurgence of today. Dr. Oldstone-Moore presents the beard as being a symbol of self-reliance and being unconventional, whereas the clean-shaven face presents a virtuous and sociable man. Christopher R. Oldstone-Moore, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of History at Wright State University. Dr. Oldstone-Moore’s research focuses on gender and masculinity, and particularly the aspect of the hair and body. He is currently researching the history of adventure. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He earned his doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Walden University. His most recent paper, to be presented at the upcoming American Society for Environmental History conference, is titled “Down Lovers Lane: A Brief History of Necking in Cars.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout Western history the clean-shaven face has been the default style. However, the ideal of the cleanly-shaven face has been challenged across time in Western society. Facial hair is a symbol of masculinity and the sculpting of facial hair allows men to negotiate their manliness in public spaces. In Of Beard and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Dr. Christopher Oldstone-Moore discusses Western history of the beard and how beard movements have been developed to challenge the ideals of masculinity presented in wearing facial hair. He traces the history of the beard from Hadrian in the second century to the more recent bristled resurgence of today. Dr. Oldstone-Moore presents the beard as being a symbol of self-reliance and being unconventional, whereas the clean-shaven face presents a virtuous and sociable man. Christopher R. Oldstone-Moore, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of History at Wright State University. Dr. Oldstone-Moore’s research focuses on gender and masculinity, and particularly the aspect of the hair and body. He is currently researching the history of adventure. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He earned his doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Walden University. His most recent paper, to be presented at the upcoming American Society for Environmental History conference, is titled “Down Lovers Lane: A Brief History of Necking in Cars.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narratives and Metanarratives in Star Trek.   Throughout Western history, grand narratives, or metanarratives, have been used to define who we are and where we should be going as a people. These metanarratives have included things like the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, Democracy, Marxism, Emancipation, and many other competing metanarratives that have made up the tapestry of Western civilization.   Star Trek, likewise, has its grand metanarratives, which tie together individual stories and narratives into a unified message about the future potential of humankind. These Star Trek metanarratives include things like technological progress, political unification, eliminating economic scarcity, and so on. But having seen the collapse of many of these grand narratives of Western civilization, or at least their dark underbellies, many people in today's postmodern times now take a skeptical view, or even a cynical one, about the plausibility of these idealistic grand metanarratives.   In this episode of Meta Treks, hosts Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling, discuss the use of narratives and metanarratives in Star Trek, addressing the fundamental question of whether Star Trek's grand narratives will end up on the same ash heap of history as other discarded metanarratives of Western civilization, or whether the grand narratives of the Star Trek worldview have the staying power to persist into the 24th century and beyond.   Chapters  Intro (00:01:20)  Distinguishing Between "Narratives" and "Metanarratives" in Star Trek (00:05:08)  Collapse of the Grand Narratives of the Western World (00:12:08)  Star Trek Snake Oil (00:14:57)  The Power of Oratory - Motivating Change with Metanarratives (00:24:47)  TNG "The Neutral Zone" - Timeless Ideals vs. Contemporary Metanarratives (00:32:08)  The Importance of Critical Skepticism (00:45:23)  DS9 "The Storyteller" - Telling a Great Story (00:50:58)  TNG "The Inner Light" - Appeals to the Heart (00:57:28)  Cultural Apathy - Working for the Weekend vs. Working for the Future (01:03:15)  Non-Reductive Perspectivism - Embracing Grand Narratives (01:08:25)  Hero of Your Own Story - The Center Seat vs. Scrubbing Plasma Conduits (01:13:24)  Final Thoughts (01:20:12)  Closing (01:29:53)   Hosts  Mike Morrison and Zachary Fruhling   Production  Mike Morrison (Editor) Zachary Fruhling (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Patrick Devlin (Associate Producer) Kay Shaw (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)