The World and Everything in It: April 14, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Ryan Austin, and my name is Rylan Austin, and we live here in Clarksville, Tennessee. And I pastor a church in Herndon, Kentucky, while Rylan homeschools with her mom. We hope you enjoy the show.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Good morning!

Some Republicans seem to be getting tired of the abortion battle. How should pro-lifers respond?

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Culture Friday with John Stonestreet.

Also today, Collin Garbarino reviews a Nintendo movie and the faith-based film titled Nefarious.

And, everyday Australians are helping a museum gather data on the local frogs.

LYNETTE PLENDERLEITH: Most people either come down to “I love frogs,” or, ‘“Oh, my goodness, frogs are disgusting. How could you?”

BUTLER: It’s Friday, April 14th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BUTLER: Up next, Kent with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Guardsman to be arrested over doc leak » The FBI hauled away a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman in handcuffs on Thursday in connection with leaked classified military documents.

Attorney General Merrick Garland:

MERRICK GARLAND: The Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira. FBI agents took Teixeira into custody without incident. He will have an initial appearance at the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Agents converged on his home Thursday.

The guardsman is an IT specialist. He is suspected of disclosing highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top national security issues.

The incident has raised concerns about the military’s ability to safeguard America’s most sensitive secrets.

Pentagon Press Secretary Gen. Patrick Ryder:

PATRICK RYDER: We have procedures. We have protocols in place. We receive regular training on the proper handling of classified information. As I mentioned, we sign nondisclosure agreements.

But former Vice President Mike Pence asked the same questions many U.S. lawmakers are asking right now.

MIKE PENCE: How could a Massachusetts National Guardsman have access to this type of classified and sensitive information?

Pence noted that the documents didn’t just reveal information related to the war in Ukraine, but also about China’s testing of hypersonic missiles, among other things.

Mifepristone » The Fifth U.S. Circuit court of Appeals has issued an interim ruling on a legal challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone.

The court says the drug will remain legal as the case continues, but only by prescription, and it cannot be sold by mail .

Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Erin Hawley:

HAWLEY: The FDA put politics ahead of the health of women and girls when it impermissibly failed to study how dangerous the chemical abortion drug regimen is and when it unlawfully removed every meaningful safeguard that it previously implemented.

A federal judge in Texas last week ordered the suspension of the drug’s FDA approval, but the Biden administration filed an appeal on Monday.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: We believe the law is on our side and we will prevail.

Also under Wednesday’s order, mifepristone is prohibited after seven weeks of pregnancy.

Biden in Ireland » After a visit to the UK’s Northern Ireland, President Biden is in the EU’s Ireland today.

SOUND: President Biden, I invite you now to address the houses.

Speaking to the Irish parliament, Biden stressed the importance of economic ties and a united front on the war in Ukraine.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Today, Ireland and the United States are standing together to oppose Russia’s brutal aggression and support the braves people of Ukraine.

Biden discussed his own Irish ancestry. And he told lawmakers that the story of Irish immigrants setting sail for the U.S. is at the very heart of "what binds Ireland and America together.”

Earlier Thursday, Biden met with the Irish prime minister, praising the nation for its humanitarian work welcoming Ukrainian refugees.

Russia open to prisoner swap » A Russian official says his government may consider a prisoner exchange for jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

The official told a Russian news agency that a decision would come after a Russian court decides whether to declare him guilty of espionage.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken says Russia is wrongly detaining Gershkovich.

TONY BLINKEN- I think it sends a very strong message to people around the world to beware of even setting foot there lest they be arbitrarily detained.

The Russian official said any talks about Gershkovich would be conducted through a special channel, and those talks could also include another detained American, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelen.

Unemployment » New jobless claims rose last week. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: Unemployment applications are at their highest level in more than a year.

The Labor Dept. says new claims for the week ending April 8th rose about 5% from the prior week to 239,000.

That’s the most since January of last year.

The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose slightly to 240,000. That's the most since November of 2021.

Still, unemployment levels remain relatively low. And American employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Florida abortion / DeSantis » Republican lawmakers in Florida have passed a bill that would protect the unborn past six weeks of pregnancy.

The legislation would provide exceptions for rape and incest up till 15 weeks.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he will sign it into law.

DeSantis was in Ohio on Thursday where he spoke to Republicans in Summit County.

RON DESANTIS: Nationwide, the Republican party has developed a culture of losing. I think that needs to end. No more excuses. Just get it done so we can save our country.

DeSantis continues to raise his national profile ahead of an expected presidential campaign.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, finding frogs down under.

This is The World and Everything in It.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: It’s the 14th day of April 2023.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I'm Nick Eicher. It's Culture Friday!

Joining us now is John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. John, good morning.

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning.

EICHER: John, I want to start with pro-life. Since Dobbs and the reversal of Roe versus Wade last summer, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. So far, the unborn are fully protected by law in 13 states. Eight other states have protections that are blocked for one reason or another. There are three states allowing gestational age exceptions, but fairly robust protections, for a total of 24 states.

But everywhere else, it’s pretty much pre-Dobbs status quo or worse. And in one of the pro-life states, that may very well flip, talking about Wisconsin, where pro-abortion activists succeeded in electing a state Supreme Court justice who all but promised to legalize abortion in that state.

So here’s what I’d like to talk about. It feels like Republicans would just as soon duck the abortion issue right now, because they sense the wind is blowing in a pro-abortion direction.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page—which is typically fairly pro-life—was highly critical of the attempt this week to block mifepristone mail-order abortions. Donald Trump refuses to commit to a 15-week nationwide ban, which is the Susan B. Anthony List litmus test for presidential candidates. And Trump, by the way, blamed a firm pro-life position for underperformance in the midterms.

Beyond that, generally, I’m just seeing a lot of chatter from political types on social media that Republicans really need to sidestep pro-life, at least right now.

So, I want to get your sense on this: Is pro-life politically toxic,  and even if it is, should pro-lifers take a pragmatic back seat and not harm their Republican friends? How do you see this?

STONESTREET: Well, you know, I think when it comes to defending life, it doesn't matter if it's politically toxic or not. You say what's true, and you don't say what's not true, and you continue to do that, because actual lives are at stake. The political pragmatism is a different question, because you have to be able to make incremental steps. And that's, of course, what we have seen on both sides, except in places where it was definitive. I really, though, question this narrative that somehow pro-life was the problem in the midterms. I mean, look, there is as a legitimate an analysis of the midterms that says, you know, the former president was the problem in the midterms, because the candidates that he endorsed, and the candidates that shared his inability to articulate their positions in any rational way, were ones that did not do well. And there were very pro-life candidates that did very well. I think the whole narrative can be read quite differently. And I think there also needs to be, you know, just a better articulation of what it is that the pro-life position holds, and why and you have a media that's going to paint any restrictions on abortion rights, to not only be wrong, but to be actually fascist and dangerous. So it's interesting that in the years prior to the Dobbs decision, or dealing with Roe, there was a culture war over abortion, but as Ryan Anderson, I think, has pointed out helpfully wasn't the same as the culture world for LGBTQ rights, where you're either a good person or a bad person, depending on where you stand. You might be foolish, if you have, you know, views about the unborn or that sort of stuff. But that's not the same thing as being evil. But we're increasingly hearing this critical theory mood, where groups of people are being assigned moral status. And we know who the good guys are and the bad guys are ahead of time, not based on their arguments, but based on which side of an issue they're on. And that's already being applied to the abortion issue. Last thing I'll say is, you know, it's dangerous to be prophetic in this business, particularly, when we're talking about political futures. But if this sort of critical theory mood continues to corrupt the conversation, especially about so-called abortion rights and protecting the unborn, you're going to have an awful lot of pressure put on the Supreme Court as an institution. One can, for example, for see, not only as more and more radical pro-abortion laws are enacted, that actually target pro-lifers as being bad guys and states like is happening in Colorado, but then as you know, kind of the gender movement just hijacks another movement, which is what they're doing now with the abortion regulations that are happening state by state. There are going to be lawsuits filed and those lawsuits are gonna have to be decided by the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court is conservative and this is no longer like, oh, we disagree because we're progressive. It's conservative justices are bad people because they are conservative, and that means the institution is in question. And that pressure that those headlines are just going to increase the number and intensify, this is going to be an issue going forward, I think. I think Supreme Court justices lives are going to be in danger, I think there's going to be increased violence threatened. That's the future I foresee is that the pressure on the Supreme Court and Supreme Court justices is going to be incredible.

EICHER: John, you also mentioned LGBT rights, and once again T-rights are in the news. Every single week it seems there’s something on that. The Biden administration this week put out a proposed rule dealing with transgender students and sports. And it’s all, ironically, around Title IX, which is supposed to protect women’s sports, threatening to pull federal funding from schools if they issue blanket bans quote-unquote “targeting” transgender athletes. So they’re on a collision course. You’re headed toward another clash on this issue around women’s sports.

STONESTREET: You are, and you know, the Biden administration here basically managed to anger all sides of this debate, because they did not do a blanket, you know, enforcement of Title IX, to force all schools in all states to comply. And so that wasn't enough. And what they did, essentially, was to, you know, create some kind of loopholes for, you know, the level of competition and whether a team has a cut or non cut team. And, you know, things like that. And all of this reminds me, by the way, strategically, of what happened with civil unions back prior to the same-sex marriage debate, right, where civil unions were advanced, as a way of meeting a middle ground. And then once that middle ground was achieved, the middle ground was used as proof of discrimination against same-sex relationships, like, you know, in other words, if we're good enough to be called civil unions, there's no reason why we shouldn't be called married as well. And can we just be clear that there's not a whole lot of women that are biological girls that are trying to compete in boys sports, it's certainly not a whole bunch of biological women that are trying to make the NBA, you need to understand this. I mean, this is observably, we're only talking about men competing against women. And so what these regulations essentially say is basically schools need to do everything they can to allow that unless there's some level of competition or something like that, that that makes it you know, so it's completely muddy, it's completely befuddled. It's a draws no clear lines here. And it's going to basically allow some people and not others, which is again, that same sort of middle ground that just gives new ground by which to cry discrimination. So I think this is what the Administration believe that it could do. I think they're setting up some sort of case to be tried at a later time at a Supreme Court, probably not this one. And, you know, we'll see what happens. But this is an incremental step to advance this. And we'll have new cries of discrimination based on these kind of really muddy lines that have been drawn by the administration and enforced through Title IX.

EICHER: We don’t have a ton of time here. We talked about two issues where you’ve got a chasm between the people of the country. You’ve got half the states that are pro-life states and half the states that are pro-abortion states. Half the states completely bought in on LGBT questions, half the states resisting. We don’t have much in common anymore, do we?

STONESTREET: We don't have anything in common and, you know, we're talking about the understanding of reality itself, we're talking about, you know, weird associations, like, you know, reproductive rights, including sterilizing someone, I mean, you know, the language is all up in the air, it doesn't make any sense. But it has to do with a vision of the human person that is embraced by one and a vision of the human person that's at least, if not thoughtfully embraced, it underlies the kind of the way we think about things like babies and the way we think about things like men and women, in places that want to preserve, you know, these things that the world has always agreed on, left, right, pagan, Christian, you know, throughout all of history until, you know, just right now. I also think too, and you know, maybe this is a conversation for a different program, probably but somebody needs to do a history of the transgender movement and show how they've never had their own movement. They've never been able to make their own arguments, and pushing narratives that are completely false, like the suicide myth and, and the trans violence myth and the trans genocide myth, and all these things are just observably not true. And, and yet here you have the most effective, at least in terms of the American culture, in changing things socially. That tells you a lot about the people that are being changed, maybe even more than the movement itself. It tells you a lot about the churches that remain silent and the pastors that refuse to talk as if, you know, we can't, you know, speak out on this thing. It just says a lot more, I guess, in my mind about us than it does even about those who are pushing the movement forward.

EICHER: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast, It's always great to talk with you, John. We will see you next time.

STONESTREET: All right, sounds good. Thanks so much!

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, April 14th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: pop culture on the big screen.

Last week, the highly anticipated Super Mario Bros. movie arrived, bringing crowds of families to the theater. Also today, a new faith-based spiritual thriller inspired by a classic book. It makes its debut in theaters across the country.

Here’s WORLD’s Media-and-Culture Editor, Collin Garbarino.

MUSIC: [Super Mario Bros. theme song]

COLLIN GARBARINO: Super Mario Bros. is one of the world’s most beloved video game franchises, but no one was prepared for how many people would turn out last week to watch the new movie from Nintendo and Universal Pictures. The movie debuted to over $200 million, making it the biggest film of 2023 so far. But is the movie actually any good? Well, that depends on what you’re looking for.

Mario and his brother Luigi are trying to make their way as plumbers in New York City, when they get sucked into a magic sewer pipe that deposits them in a fantasy world. The two brothers get separated, and Mario must rescue Luigi from the evil Koopa King Bowser.

TOAD: Excuse me, everybody, coming through. This guy’s brother is going to die imminently. Out of the way please. Just trying to clear a path. That’s all I’m doing. He’s going to be fine.

Mario enlists the help of Princess Peach who’s trying to rally her kingdom to resist Bowser’s imminent invasion.

PEACH: If you can finish this, you’re coming with me. Watch and learn.

Along the way, we also get Donkey Kong and some Super Smash Bros. style battles, along with an exciting go-cart race.

The best part of the movie is it’s a franchise that both parents and their kids can enjoy with a shared attachment. The story is family friendly. It really leans into nostalgia and contains easter eggs galore. The animation is beautifully done, and the action is fun to watch.

But the movie has its definite downsides. The script is paper thin, and sometimes one scene jumps to the next without much sense of connection. The cast contains stars like Chris Pratt as Mario and Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, but their voice work is flat and uninspiring. The only exception is Jack Black’s Bowser, which steals the show.

BOWSER: [singing] Mario, Luigi, and Donkey Kong too, a thousand troops of Koopas couldn’t keep me from you.

While this movie is a “yes” for Nintendo fans—of which I am one—it’s probably a “pass” for everyone else.

MUSIC: [NEFARIOUS OPENING MUSIC]

For viewers interested in a very different kind of movie, Nefarious opens in theaters this weekend. Nefarious is a Christian horror movie, and that’s not a genre we see everyday.

RADIO ANNOUNCER: Meanwhile, in the state of Oklahoma, today is the scheduled day of execution for Edward Wayne Brady.

Almost the entire movie takes place in one long day at a prison where a serial killer awaits execution. James Martin is a psychologist who’s tasked with discerning whether the prisoner is mentally competent. If Edward’s crazy, he avoids execution. But this killer has a reputation for manipulation.

WARDEN: You listen to him, by the time he’s done with you, he’ll have your head so twisted around you’ll think you’re the killer, not him.

James attempts to do his job, but Edward doesn’t seem to be trying to get off death row. In fact, he seems to want execution. And very quickly, the already dark film takes a darker turn.

EDWARD: Death doesn’t scare me, James.

JAMES: And why’s that?

EDWARD: Because I can’t die. You see, James, I’m a demon.

Edward claims to be a demon named Nefarious and begins showing some supernatural abilities and knowledge.

The movie is rated R, for a disturbing scene and its discussion of heavy topics. But this is a faith-based movie, so there’s no bad language or inappropriate content. The filmmakers seem to be aiming for an updated version of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, but there’s a key difference. Lewis’ book pointed the finger at complacent Christians. This movie points the finger at secular American culture, especially the aspects that oppose human life.

JAMES: Well, that would probably be very intimidating if I weren’t an atheist.

EDWARD: You ignorant sack of meat.

Nefarious is made by the guys who wrote the scripts to the first two God’s Not Dead movies, and it’s another example of improving quality from Christian filmmakers. I could have done without the last few minutes used to plug the novel that inspired the film, but on the whole, the script, the cinematography, and the acting are all well done.

The movie offers some insightful social commentary, but you shouldn’t go into Nefarious expecting robust theology. The movie’s understanding of the relationship between spirits and humans gets a little wonky. I also found its explanation of God’s sovereignty and human freedom unhelpful.

But the biggest theological problem is that in trying to build narrative tension in this spiritual battle between good and evil, the film forgets to mention that God has already won. If you go see Nefarious this weekend, remember it’s not up to us to defeat the Devil. Jesus already declared His victory at the cross.

I’m Collin Garbarino

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is the 14th of April. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

KERMIT: It’s not easy being green

You may recognize the voice there of Jim Henson playing one of the most famous frogs of our time. We’re talking about Kermit the Frog, of course.

BUTLER: But other frog voices aren’t as easy to recognize, like this Cave Frog.

SOUND: [CAVE FROG]

Or there’s this one.

SOUND: [TASMANIAN SMOOTH FROGLET]

If you didn’t know, that’s a Tasmanian Smooth Froglet.

EICHER: Nope. I didn’t know that.

BUTLER: Well, a new app and thousands of volunteers are helping Australian scientists slow down, turn around, bend down, and catalog frog species on their continent—putting them on the map, quite literally, for the first time. Here’s WORLD Correspondent Amy Lewis.

AMY LEWIS, REPORTER: Many people go outside for exercise or to get from Point A to Point B. But Dorothée Heibel is not like many people. Heibel goes outside to sit—and to listen. She also goes outside—at night.

SOUND: [BACKYARD NIGHT SOUNDS]

HEIBEL DOROTHÉE: I usually go out around 10, after dinner or when it's dark and I have my peace, and you see the sky as well, you know. It just gets you outside at the time where you wouldn't be. I always enjoy that.

Heibel and her husband live in the Hunter Valley, about two hours northwest of Sydney. By day, Heibel is an artist. At night, she’s a citizen scientist.

For the past three years, Heibel has been recording frog songs for the Australian Museum.

SOUND: [DOROTHÉE’S FROGS]

DOROTHÉE: So I've sent in 536 recordings so far. And 1190 frog calls. It just adds up. (laugh)

Heibel is one of 35,000 users of the FrogID app. It’s an app that the Australian Museum developed in 2017 to pinpoint the exact location and distribution of frogs in all their many species. Along with their volunteers, the Australian Museum hopes to map all 246 frog species on the continent. After a half a million recordings, they have only 33 species left to go.

But what’s the big deal about frogs? Lynette Plenderleith is president and founder of FrogsVIC, a networking hub for frog scientists and enthusiasts.

LYNETTE PLENDERLEITH: Most people either come down to “I love frogs,” or, ‘“Oh, my goodness, frogs are disgusting. How could you?”

Plenderleith has learned a lot since she first met an elusive frog as a 5-year-old in the UK. She says frogs serve a greater purpose than just grossing people out or making them swoon. Their presence in a waterway encourages a diverse ecosystem.

PLENDERLEITH: Frogs bring with them things that eat frogs. So by having frogs around, we've also got waterbirds and, and snakes and other things that like to eat, eat frogs, like kookaburras.

SOUND: [LOUD NIGHT FROGS]

Frogs are small and may seem insignificant. But if they disappeared, their main food source—insects—would rule the world.

PLENDERLEITH: I don't think people realize, you know, kilogram per kilogram just how much of the world is made up of frogs, and amphibians. It's quite, quite a hefty amount. And water, of course, is an utterly vital resource for every single living animal, plant, fungus on the planet. And frogs have so much to do with water, that makes them a really significant part of the ecosystem.

Scientists gather all sorts of information—like habitat change, or the presence of disease-susceptible frogs, or the prevalence of common species that might crowd out threatened ones. They can then apply what they learn in practice elsewhere.

PLENDERLEITH: The more data you've got the better–always. Always, always, always.

But getting all that data relies on a troop of citizen scientists.

PLENDERLEITH: So professional scientists tend to be sort of centered around a research institution or their house. But of course, the general population is spread through all sorts of corners of Australia and around the world as well. So, so they stand to really fill a gap in, in data collection that we can’t do with people that are paid to do it.

SOUND: [ONE FROG FOOTHILLS]

Dorothée Heibel’s corner of Australia was stark and barren when she moved there 25 years ago. The 45 acres only had a few gum trees—and certainly no frogs. Heibel and her husband worked hard to rejuvenate the land. A lot has changed.

SOUND: [BIRDS]

HEIBEL: When there is bird count twice a year in winter, and in summer, we counted up to 40 species on our property. But we know that there are many, many more because we hear a lot and can't identify them because we don't see them. Not every bird comes to a bird box.

Their property has become a haven for native animals. They’ve seen a dingo, an iguana, beautiful snakes, and plenty of kangaroos. Plus, some quail.

HEIBEL: Eight little quails walked over the veranda, like little soldiers, one after the other. We don't see them very often anymore. Sadly, we're almost a little bit of an island here, because around us, lots of bush has been removed.

But she is encouraged by what she does see and hear on her property. When she visits one of their dams to record for frogs, Heibel has a hard time picking out the various species from the whole frog chorus.

SOUND: [DOROTHÉE’S FROGS]

The museum put a dot on the map for each of the frog species Heibel recorded. And they emailed her the results. She was surprised at what came back.

HEIBEL: So I just looked it up yesterday, and I was surprised that we have 17 different species. I would have thought we have about two different frogs, you know, but it's, it's incredible.

Not everyone is enamored with frogs. Lynette Plenderleith of FrogsVIC says that’s ok.

PLENDERLEITH: If you're one of those people that is horrified by the thought of an animal that is constantly covered in snot, then I would encourage you to consider how interesting and how amazing that is. You can still observe them with curiosity from a distance and, and be amazed by them, because they, they do help us out. They are part of an important part of the global ecosystem. And they’re great to have around.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Amy Lewis.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Before we roll the credits to end the week, we want to take a minute to ask for your prayers. As you probably noticed, our regular Thursday and Friday co-host Myrna Brown has not been on the program. That’s because she is caring for her father, who just received a heartbreaking diagnosis of advanced colon cancer.

If you would, would you join us in praying for Johnny Davis, Myrna’s dad, and for his family and doctors?

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Lord, our times are in Your hand. You redeem our life from destruction and crown us with loving kindness and tender mercies. Everything comes at Your direction. We bless You. Thank you for hearing our prayer. We come to you now on behalf of our sister Myrna and her family, lifting up especially her father Johnny. Lord, the prognosis for his earthly body is not good, but we praise you that you have set him apart as your child, we are grateful that He is in your care. If it be your will we pray for physical healing. But if it is your will to bring Him home, grant Johnny the confidence of his salvation and strengthen his hope in the resurrection. In these days ahead grant him peace. We pray that you would comfort the family as they prepare to say their earthly goodbyes. And may you receive the glory for a life well lived. We ask all these things in Jesus name. 

Amen.

EICHER: Amen.

BUTLER: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week:

Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Addie Offereins, Lindsay Mast, Steve West, Onize Ohikere, Ryan Bomberger, Lauren Dunn, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, Collin Garbarino, and Amy Lewis.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Mary Muncy, and Josh Schumacher.

And thanks also to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early, Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz.

Our producer is Harrison Watters with production assistance from Lillian Hamman, Benj Eicher, Emily Whitten, and Bekah McCallum.

EICHER: The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says, “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph. ” - Deuteronomy 33:29

Remember to worship the Lord this weekend with your brothers and sisters in Christ! Lord willing, we’ll meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

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