The World and Everything in It - December 10, 2021

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

What if the Supreme Court rules to uphold Roe versus Wade and our neighbor to the north has outlawed so-called conversion therapy, what might be the effect?

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

Also a new documentary about the beginning of the end for one of the greatest bands to ever take the stage.

And musical reflections on a special announcement made over the fields outside Bethlehem.

BROWN: It’s Friday, December 10th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington has today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden sounds alarm about global democracy at virtual summit » At the White House on Thursday, President Biden called on democratic leaders around the world to “lock arms” against authoritarianism.

BIDEN: Will we allow the backwards slide of rights and democracy to continue unchecked. Or will we together, together have a vision and courage to once more lead the march of human progress and human freedom forward.

The president heard there kicking off the two-day virtual meeting with more than 100 world leaders, which he is calling the Summit for Democracy.

Biden said of global freedoms—quote—“The data we’re seeing is largely pointing in the wrong direction.”

And he announced he was launching an initiative to spend up to $424 million for programming around the world that supports independent media, anti-corruption work and more.

But some lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned the president’s guest list for the summit. Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar…

SALAZAR: Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, these are your allies. They have democratic governments. They’re in your backyard. Is this a slap in the face to those democracies?

Not surprisingly, the White House did not invite China or Russia, irking leaders from both of those nations. Ambassadors from those two countries wrote a joint essay saying the Biden administration is exhibiting a—quote—“Cold-War mentality.”

Russia military chief warns Ukraine against attacking rebels » Meantime, Russia's top military officer threatened Ukraine on Thursday as a Russian diplomat warned of a new Cuban Missile Crisis. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Gen. Valery Gerasimov sternly warned neighboring Ukraine against trying to retake areas within Ukraine that Russian-backed separatists now control.

The general said Moscow will—quote—“suppress” any such attempt.

His statement comes amid soaring tensions over a Russian troop buildup near the Ukrainian border.

A senior Russian diplomat doubled down on Gerasimov's warning. He said mounting tensions could push Russia and the West to a standoff similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

U.S. intelligence officials say Russia has stationed about 70,000 troops near its border with Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion as soon as early next year.

President Biden has warned of heavy economic sanctions against Russia should it invade Ukraine.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Biden, top leaders honor Bob Dole at Capitol ceremony » A musical tribute at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday as longtime senator Bob Dole lay in state.

The morning ceremony brought about 100 invited guests as Dole's casket, draped with an American flag, rested under the dome.

President Biden praised the longtime Republican Senator as a—quote—“giant of our history.”

BIDEN: Bob and I, like many of us here, we disagreed on a number of things, but not on any of the fundamental things. We still found a way to work together. We genuinely, we genuinely respected one another as colleagues.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recalled Dole’s legendary wit and sense of humor.

MCCONNELL: Bob described is Senate management challenges with his trademark wit. ‘If I had known,’ he said ‘that we were going to win control of the Senate, we would have run better candidates.’

Dole, a World War II veteran, served nearly 36 years in Congress, and was the GOP nominee for president in 1996. He died on Sunday at the age of 98.

President Biden and other current and former leaders in Washington will join the Dole family for a private service this morning at Washington National Cathedral.

Unemployment claims plummet » The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in 52 years. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The Labor Dept. reported Thursday that new jobless claims dropped by 43,000 to 184,000 last week—the lowest since 1969.

The four-week moving average also fell to just below 219,000. And that is the lowest since the pandemic began.

Economists note that seasonal volatility likely played a part in the drop as the Labor Department adjusted the numbers to reflect job market fluctuations around the holidays. Before seasonal adjustments, claims actually rose by nearly 64,000.

But overall, claims are trending downward and the unfilled demand for workers is much bigger than it was before the pandemic began.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

FDA authorizes Pfizer boosters for teens » The FDA has authorized COVID-19 booster shots for teens aged 16 and up.

That means they could soon be eligible for a third shot, but the CDC will have the final word on that with a decision expected soon.

Scientists disagree about whether young people really need boosters.

Pfizer’s data does show that protection wanes after six months and that booster shots restore that protection. But it’s still unclear how well current vaccines protect against the omicron variant.

While U.S. officials are promoting booster shots, the World Health Organization continues to push back. The WHO’s vaccine chief, Dr. Kate O’Brien said we must ensure poorer countries have access to vaccines before giving booster shots in wealthier ones.

O’BRIEN: We are not going to get out of this unless we actually have true vaccine equity and distribution of vaccines in a timely fashion to every country around the world.

The WHO says omicron is further proof that countries with low vaccination rates are breeding grounds for variants.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: preparing for a possible Supreme Court disappointment.

Plus, two hymns celebrating the announcement of Jesus’ birth.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Friday, December 10th, 2021. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Thanks for the terrific first week in our December Giving Drive! An encouraging start, but still a long way to go to reach our goal.

I want to stress that everything we produce does require significant resources and so much of what we do, we make available to the public at no cost because we want to equip as much of the world as we can reach with sound journalism grounded in God’s word.

EICHER: Right, for example, the Sift, which is our daily online news, that is not behind a paywall. And in fact, if you want that delivered to your email each day, it’s a convenient way, bright and early each morning, to get a quick read on the big stories of the day. You don’t even have to visit the website, and that’s completely free.

As are WORLD’s excellent series of reporting-based newsletters on key areas of interest, I think of Steve West’s “Liberties” newsletter on first amendment freedoms, Mary Jackson on family issues—we call that the “Relations” newsletter—Esther Eaton reporting from Washington in The Stew, Leah Savas on life issues in “Vitals.”

We have 10 newsletters in total, plus the daily Sift, available free at WNG.org/newsletters.

BROWN: In addition, we have an entire family of podcasts—including the one you’re listening to right now—that we make available to the public. Again, we’re here because we think sound journalism and trusted opinion, all from a Biblical worldview, is just that important. And if you do, too, I hope you’ll support it during this crucial time, our December Giving Drive. Please visit WNG.org/donate.

EICHER: Well, it’s Culture Friday. Time now to welcome John Stonestreet. He’s the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning. And I want to officially go on record here and concur with that call for listeners and readers to support World News Group as a trusted resource for me and for the Colson Center. And it's a privilege to be able to weigh in each and every Friday here, too.

EICHER: I want to ask a sort of counterintuitive question: A lot of people on the pro-life side were talking about the likelihood of the Mississippi abortion law being the vehicle for overturning Roe versus Wade. I want to come at it from a different angle: Suppose it doesn’t. How do you suppose pro-lifers would react to a shocker like that and how should they?

STONESTREET: Well, you know, I think we have had plenty of times of disappointment from the Supreme Court, since Roe v. Wade, there has been a lot of story. So it would actually be within the kind of the consistent narrative, that there would be another one, you know, you don't put your hope in, in princes or horses or the Supreme Court, that's, I think that's in the Old Testament somewhere. It just continually lets you down. And many people who have been quite sure that their predictions about a particular Supreme Court ruling and the scope of it have been, you know, disappointed, and others kind of have been, you know, surprised. And then we've, we can never, you know, underestimate the power of the court to come up with some third way narrow ruling, you know, that speaks to the merits of a particular case, but doesn't actually pull off what we had hoped or what we had thought. So all of those things are live options, even though I do agree based on oral arguments, in particular, that Roe's in real trouble.  But here's the zinger in my book. Whatever happens to Roe v. Wade is not a finish line. If it is not overturned, it's not a finish line for the pro life movement. If it is overturned, it's not a finished line for the pro life movement. I mean, it neither one of those, mark the end, because the goal is not nearly as we've said many times, quoting our friend Scott Klusendorf , that abortion becomes illegal, it's that it becomes unthinkable. The work is to bury it in the annals of history with the same moral status as chattel slavery. You know, in the early days of the United States, it's got to be just completely a thought where we look back and go how do we ever tolerate such a thing? Certainly, if it gets overturned, the best that's going to happen here is abortion rights are going to go back to the state. If it's not overturned here, then we have seen incremental victories. This is the closest we've come, we continue to move ahead. This is a chapter in the story, it's not the final chapter in the story. And that just needs to be clear whichever way this is decided.

BROWN: Nick mentioned Mary Jackson’s “Relations” newsletter a few minutes ago, and I want to call your attention to some of her reporting. She wrote about a bill in Canada to ban so-called conversion therapy and it’s set to take effect in 30 days.

Her story said that the bill is pretty draconian: If, for example, anyone preaches what the Bible says about homosexuality and transgenderism could be in danger of a prison sentence.

I guess we won’t know until we know for sure how this is enforced, but how long before that hits here in the United States and do you expect to see pastors behind bars for simply preaching the Bible?

STONESTREET: Well, that's a great question. I think in America, the the robust religious freedoms, and certainly the aim of the Supreme Court, even when it was under a more liberal, you know, kind of ideological bent, was very reticent to remove freedom of speech, or freedom of assembly, or any of the First Amendment freedoms from religious bodies. So I don't really foresee anytime soon, pastors being behind bars for preaching the Bible, I'm way more concerned not about the rights of pastors to preach what they want from their pulpit, but the rights of parishioners to order their lives publicly around their deeply held beliefs. And I'm less concerned about honestly, the government supporting the rights of everyday Christians, wherever God has called them as churches that are strangely silent on this, plenty of pastors that are willing to protect their own religious freedoms, but not really acknowledged the religious freedoms of the bakers, and the florist and the videographers and the other people in their pews. And that's a long term recipe for failure. In other words, if we can't understand, defend and articulate what religious freedom is in our churches, we're gonna have a really hard time doing it in the court of public opinion. Canada doesn't have that same robust historical vision of religious freedom that the states do, and they don't have that - certainly the checks and balances in government that the United States has, and so the basically the secular ideological tyranny of the Canadian government has happened in a hurry. and Canadian Christians that I've talked to are alarmed. And they know how quick this is going. But let's be clear, a ban against so called Conversion therapy is shocking, because it means that someone that preaches the Bible about homosexuality and transgenderism could be in danger of penalties of some kind, maybe even prison. But that also means, let's be clear, that Christian counselors are in danger of this, that also means that you know, Christian university professors and Christian professors in universities are in danger. That also means everyday mom and dads who want the best for their children, and don't want to go along with their children's dysphoria are in real danger. So I just want to be real clear what we mean by religious freedom, we mean the entire scope of people of faith, to order their lives according to their deeply held convictions. It's not just an issue of pastors. So when are we going to see, you know, pastors jailed in America? That seems to me to be far off. When are we going to see more and more restrictions on public expression in the so-called public square in the world of commerce? That's happening all around us. And if we're not alarmed already about that, then we're not paying attention.

BROWN: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John.

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: A small town in Queensland, Australia just sold blocks of free land for hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s no freebie!

Here’s what happened:

The Quilpie town council marketed six plots of land as—quote—“essentially free.”

Buyers would have to pay a reserve price of about $12,000 dollars. But they were offering new homeowner grants for the very same amount.

To receive that grant, they had to agree to build a house in the tiny town and live in it for six months.

Lots of interest, more than 600 inquiries from people as far away as Hong Kong.

The council settled the competition by auctioning off the plots of land. Each plot eventually sold for $45-to-$75,000—3 to 6 times what it was worth! And the plot thickens...

After the success of the first offer, the town is considering making more plots available. Surprise, surprise.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, December 10th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the Beatles.

They’re arguably the best known band in history. Fans were devastated when the fab four broke up in 1970. Lots of speculation surrounded the real reason for the split. But a new three-part documentary streaming on Disney+ helps to show how the end began.

Here’s reviewer Collin Garbarino.

MUSIC: [Beatles’ “Get Back”]

COLLIN GARBARINO, REVIEWER: The Beatles: Get Back is directed by Peter Jackson—the guy who gave us the Lord of the Rings. He created the documentary by distilling more than 60 hours of footage into three fascinating episodes totaling about 8 hours.

The story begins in January 1969. The Beatles are in a funk. They’d stopped playing live shows two years before, and they hadn’t even interacted much on their last album. They’d recorded their own parts separately and mixed them in the studio. In hopes of reviving their interest in making music together, they come up with a plan. They decide to write an entire album, rehearse those new songs, and to play a live show for a television audience—all in the space of a few weeks. And to top it all off, they want to create a documentary about the whole process.

It’s the footage from that documentary that Jackson found languishing on a shelf. The director of the original documentary was a guy named Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and the Beatles frustrated him throughout the process.

LINDSAY-HOGG: And at the moment the documentary is really like No Exit. It’s just going around and around with no payoff. There’s no story. There’s a lot of good stuff that we shot in the documentary, but there’s no story yet.

He doesn’t know what his documentary is about. But with 50 years hindsight, Jackson does. It’s a story about the creation of music and the destruction of relationships.

This film isn’t for kids. The four drink and smoke incessantly as they work. They sometimes use crude language. But Get Back offers a fascinating glimpse into the creative process. Over the course of the month, we see the band members bring iconic songs from nonexistence to completion.

AUDIO: [Paul playing the bass]

One morning, John Lennon is late again. A frustrated Paul McCartney picks up a bass guitar and starts strumming. That moment would be the beginning of the band’s next single “Get Back.” McCartney begins with rhythm, finds a chord progress, and eventually works out a melody.

Later he and Lennon try out nonsense words until some sounds stick and become real words. Then they start writing lyrics.

PAUL: Leave that verse, eh, cause it’s—It could be all right that verse. It sings all right. Okay the next verse.

JOHN: Jo Jo Jackson.

PAUL: [singing] Jo Jo Jackson left his home in Arizona— “Left his home in Arizona,” is it?

JOHN: That’s all right.

PAUL: Yeah, “home in Arizona.”

JOHN: But he knew it couldn’t last.

PAUL: No, that’s not good. “But he knew it couldn’t last.”

JOHN: [singing] Jo Jo Jackson left his home in Arizona [mumbling]

PAUL: [singing] Jo Jo left his home in nuh-nuh Arizona [mumbling] Jo Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona [grunt] Jo left his home in Tuscon, Arizona.

JOHN: Is Tuscon in Arizona?

PAUL: Yeah, it is, yeah.

The songs start to take shape, but the Beatles can’t agree on a concert venue. At one point they even consider taking a cruise ship full of fans to Libya for a concert in a Roman amphitheater.

JOHN: Nobody else wants to go on the stage or do a TV show. You know that’s what it’s about. Nobody wants to get out there. You know?

PAUL: I suppose that’s true, you know.

JOHN: I think so, you know? I’m only going by what’s happened.

PAUL: Yeah. Yeah.

JOHN: What are you trying to make a show out of now?

PAUL: I can’t answer it, you know.

JOHN: I know.

PAUL: I know that there’s no sort of answer for it, but—

GEORGE: The things that have worked out best ever for us haven’t really been planned any more than this has.

In the end they give up on the television special and the documentary culminates with their famous unannounced rooftop concert—a concert that gets broken up by the police for disturbing the peace. It was the last time they performed together in public.

Throughout the film we watch the cracks in the band widen. They acknowledge they lack discipline, but they don’t know what to do about it. George Harrison craves respect from his older bandmates and wants to be more involved with the songwriting. McCartney seems too preoccupied with the loss of his relationship with Lennon, who’s now obsessed with Yoko Ono.

PAUL: We’d cooled it because we were not playing together. Cause we lived together when we played together. We were in the same hotel, up at the same time every morning, all day. As long as you’re this close all day, so something grows. And then when you’re not this close, just physically, something goes. Actually musically, we can play better than we’ve ever been able to play. You know, we’re all right on that. It’s just that being together thing.

It’s easy to forget how young these guys are—all in their twenties. But they’re already burned out. They don’t have any satisfaction in their success or in each other. They don’t know who they are, and they don’t know where they’re going. McCartney wants direction and vision. He asks Lennon what’s next after this album. Another album? He says without an overarching purpose, it’s all become so pointless.

We don’t see the Beatles break up in this documentary, but after 8 hours we know we’ve seen the beginning of the end.

MUSIC: “Let It Be”

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday December 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

God’s promise to redeem the world goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. But he made the announcement of his fulfilled promise to a most unusual audience.

EICHER: This week’s advent music features two different songs about that one glorious event.

And just a reminder that we’ve created a Spotify Playlist again this year with all our selections. We’ve put the link in today’s transcript at wng.org/podcasts.

Here’s WORLD correspondent Bonnie Pritchett.

BONNIE PRITCHETT, CORRESPONDENT: The people God chooses to speak to and through is fascinating. Often-maligned prophets. A small-town, teenage girl. And a group of men whose job kept them segregated from, well, decent folks.

The hymn, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night, is a faithful rendering of Luke 2 and the angels’ proclamation that God’s promised Messiah was born. The Choir of Norwich sings this traditional arrangement by Sir David Willcocks.

CHOIR: While shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground, the angel of the Lord came down, and glory shone around. "Fear not," said he for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind "glad tidings of great joy I bring to you and all mankind…"

The hymn’s author, Nahum Tate, had an impressive resume, including his appointment as England’s Poet Laureate in 1692. But his work as a poet and playwright brought no financial success. He died in a debtors’ refuge in 1715.

Arguably, his only enduring work is the New Version of the Psalms. He which he co-wrote the collection of metrical Psalms with Nicholas Brady in 1696. While Shepherds Watched the Their Flocks by Night is part of that collection.

Indie singer and songwriter Jilian Linklater gives the hymn a chorus in her 2015 album.

JILIAN LINKATER: Oh, hallelujah! I lift my hands up to praise you this Christmas. Oh, thank you Jesus. O, cuz what other king would come as a baby to save me. O glory be to God on high and to the earth be peace. Goodwill hence forth from heaven to men begin and never cease. You begin and never cease. 

Angels We Have Heard on High is another telling of the shepherds’ story. The French carol dates from the 1700s but its author is unknown. In 1862, James Chadwick published the English translation.

MUSIC: [A BIG BAND CHRISTMAS CHIZ RIDER]

Christmas motifs often depict an angel playing an ancient trumpet to herald the good news of Jesus’s birth. This version of Angels We Have Heard on High by Chiz Rider, with his modern trumpet, is from his 2003 album A Big Band Christmas.

From the Big Band sound of last century to the modern tones of acapella choruses, people around the world have used their varying languages, instruments, and rhythms to sing the same praises.

MUSIC: [JUST 6]

The 6-man acapella group called Just 6, from Johannesburg, South Africa, performs on their 2020 album called uKhisimusi. That’s “Christmas” in Zulu.

VOICES: Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains. And the mountains in reply, echoing their joyous strains, singing “Gloria! In Excelsis Deo…”

From shepherds to Brits to Frenchmen to South Africans, the angels’ invitation remains the same—Come adore him, Christ the Lord.

I’m Bonnie Pritchett.

JUST 6: [SINGING - NOT IN ENGLISH]

NICK EICHER, HOST: Time now to thank the dedicated team that made this week’s programs possible:

Kristen Flavin, Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Katie Gaultney, Kent Covington, Lauren Dunn, Jamie Dean, Emily Whitten, Onize Ohikere, Jenny Lind Schmitt, Joel Belz, Josh Schumacher, Kim Henderson, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, Collin Garbarino, and Bonnie Pritchett.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Carl Peetz and Johnny Franklin are the audio engineers who stay up late to get the program to you early! Leigh Jones is managing editor. And Paul Butler is our executive producer, and Marvin Olasky is editor in chief.

Please consider your part in our December Giving Drive—WNG.org/donate and thank you.

The Bible says “...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”

I hope you’ll worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ this weekend.

Lord willing, we’ll meet you back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.