The World and Everything in It: December 15, 2023

NICK EICHER, HOST: The World and Everything in It is made possible by your gifts.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Hey, hey-hey, it’s the last day to have your gift matched and your impact doubled!

EICHER: Right, before midnight tonight generous WORLD Movers are offering a dollar-for-dollar match to kick off our first week of the December Giving Drive.

BROWN: Please visit wng.org/donate today.

EICHER: I hope you enjoy today’s program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday another showdown over abortion is coming to the Supreme Court.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It is, and we’ll talk it over with John Stonestreet.

Also today, a new adaptation of a classic.

SCROOGE: Christmas: A time for paying bills without money, finding yourself a year older and not an hour richer. How is that merry?

And songs of waiting in hope for the Messiah in this week’s Music of Advent.

BROWN: It’s Friday, December 15th. 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, Kristen Flavin with today’s news.

KRISTEN EICHER, NEWS ANCHOR: Russia/Putin » Russian leader Vladimir Putin says fighting will continue in Ukraine until Kyiv agrees to demilitarize.

Putin made the comment yesterday during his annual news conference with media and Russian citizens. It was his first such appearance since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago.

PUTIN [Speaking Russian]: As of yesterday evening, I was informed that 486,000 had been recruited.

Here Putin says nearly 500-thousand soldiers have voluntarily signed up to fight.

Meanwhile, the European Union is meeting this week to discuss whether to admit Ukraine … as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy works to drum up more American military support.

McCarthy Farewell » Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy delivered his farewell address to Congress on Thursday, months after his ouster from the speakership.

Some conservative Republicans turned on McCarthy when he worked with Democrats to pass a government funding resolution.

McCARTHY: So if you come across that question of whether you should do what's right out of fear of losing your job. Do it anyways. Because it's the right thing to do. And this is what the nation requires.

Earlier this month he announced that he would be retiring from Congress at the end of the year.

McCarthy says he will continue working with the Republican party. He wrote in a Wall Street Journal column that he would recruit new candidates to run for office. 

Israel / Hamas » The war between Israel and the terror group Hamas isn’t going to end anytime soon.

That was the message Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had for U-S national security adviser Jake Sullivan who was in Israel yesterday.

Gallant told Sullivan:

GALLANT: It is not easy to destroy them. It will take and require a long period of time. It will last more than seven months. But we will win and we will destroy them.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sullivan’s mission in Israel was two-fold:

KIRBY: His message was consistent. The United States will continue to support Israel in its fight against Hamas. And we will continue to do everything we can to help broker another pause so that the remaining hostages can be reunited with their families.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting Hamas until the terror group has been eliminated and the 135 remaining Israeli hostages are released.

Israel / U.S. » Meanwhile here in the U.S., Israel is facing renewed pressure to narrow its offensive in Gaza, including from President Biden.

Biden was asked by a reporter yesterday:

REPORTER: President Biden, do you want Israel to scale back its assault in Gaza by the end of the year? Do you want them to tone it down, move to a lower-intensity phase?

BIDEN: I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful.

Those comments came days after the president accused Israel of “indiscriminate bombing.” During a news conference yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder reiterated U.S. support for Israel, saying its military faces special challenges.

RYDER: In Israel you have a country that is fighting to defend itself against an adversary that has publicly said on multiple occasions that they want to see October 7 over and over again and that Israel should be eliminated as a country.

But a senior U-S official says the Biden administration wants Israel to transition to a lower-intensity phase of the war within weeks.

SOUND: [Handshake, greeting, clapping]

Guyana/Venezuela » The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela meeting with each other in an airport in the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

They met in person on Thursday in a bid to de-escalate tensions that have arisen since almost all participating Venezuelan voters in the latest election said “yes” to the possibility of annexing a region called Essequibo.

The oil- and mineral-rich territory belongs to Guyana and comprises two-thirds of the country’s land mass… but Venezuela claims the area as its own.

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali says the International Court of Justice should decide the matter:

ALI: There is absolutely no retreat by Guyana in ensuring that this matter is determined by the ICJ and that the outcome of this matter by ICJ be respected by all.

Other countries in the region pressed the heads of state to meet and find a peaceful solution.

IVF » A woman is suing a doctor whom she alleges used his own sperm against her wishes during her in vitro fertilization procedure decades ago. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Carolyn Bester found out that she was related to some of the doctor’s family members after ordering genetic tests from Ancestry.com and 23andMe.com. Eventually, she pieced it all together.

And now her mother Sarah Depoian is suing doctor Merle Berger on fraud-related claims.

Depoian claims he lied decades ago while helping her and her husband get pregnant when he said the sperm would come from an anonymous donor.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Mickey Public domain » Walt Disney’s original sketches of Mickey and Minnie Mouse are entering the public domain next year.

The early drawings of both characters were protected by copyright for 95 years after their 1928 debut in Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” cartoon.

SOUND: [Steamboat Willie]

More recent versions of Mickey and Minnie are still under copyright.

The Disney corporation also maintains a trademark on Mickey Mouse as an overall mascot, meaning mouse ears and other brand identifiers are not up for public use.

Winnie the Pooh’s Tigger will also enter the public domain next year, joining the rest of the 100-acre-wood characters whose copyright expired last year.

I'm Kristen Flavin. 

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, a Christmas Carol podcast.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 15th day of December, 2023.

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

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

Well, it's culture Friday. Joining us now is John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. Good morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

EICHER: Alright, really big case, John, coming to the Supreme Court having to do with the abortion pill, you will remember the lawsuit brought in Texas, that made the case that the federal drug regulator, the FDA in Washington, should not have approved the drug in the first place. And certainly, the FDA had no business more recently making access to the abortion pill too easy, essentially creating a mail order abortion process, instead of requiring a doctor's care. Now, this is complicated, and the pro-lifers did not get everything they wanted. But they did succeed at the appeals court level in rolling back some of the provisions easing access. Well, now comes news this week that the Supreme Court is getting involved in this case, because the Biden administration sued. And this is absolutely not what the pro-life side wanted. As a story I read in the New York Times put it, the lawyers wanted to continue working on the case down at the trial court level, quoting from the legal brief here, "to allow the parties to develop a full record." John, obviously, I don't want to get into the legal finer points. But there are a lot of legal finer points here, and what we're not really able to do with this case, moving so quickly to the Supreme Court, is to have the discussion of the abuses of easy access to the abortion pill, talking about what some women go through with Do-It-Yourself abortions, the fact that the FDA approved non-doctors prescribing the abortion pill, those kinds of conversations. So it seems as though this might short circuit that conversation. And so going back to the Supreme Court seems to have the potential to backfire, don't you think?

STONESTREET: Well, it does. And the frustrating part about this, of course, is that we will, you know, here, in fact, CNN's headline and others on this story was basically, uh, you know, here we have another opportunity for the Supreme Court to roll back abortion rights, this time, you know, with chemical abortions. But the truth of the story is it's been two decades not of access to this, but two decades of a process in which the FDA has refused to take accountability for pushing this thing through as quickly as it did, and without the sort of regulation and oversight and kind of the back end evaluation that it did. It should not have handled this the way that it did. And then it just went along and ignored requests for Comments, questions, complaints that were leveled at the FDA, trying to get them to explain what it was that they did. And of course, at the same time, we have official government health care spokespersons saying things like, well, the abortion pill reversal was dangerous, the abortion pill reversal was unproven. In other words, taking something that's been used also for decades, to help women who have an at-risk pregnancy, to overcome that with a shot of progesterone, suddenly, that is what's controversial when that's been in practice now for so long. So it's obviously true that the FDA has decided, you know, which side they want to come down on this, and they're not considering both sides on the same merits. Now, whether the lawyers here for ADF and others are going to have time to really work through that and be able to make that case. And, and certainly, it's even been made worse, as you said, because of, you know, kind of COVID era, additional removal of more regulation, that, you know, it's just really this isn't getting a fair hearing. And at the same time, making the abortion pill reversal process play by completely different rules than the abortion pill. So look, it's almost impossible right now for mainstream media to get an accurate description of what is actually happening in these cases or with these questions. You know, you can look also with this incredible story happening out of Texas with a woman who wanted to have an abortion because her child was diagnosed in utero as being disabled, you know, just wild claims that were just made out loud about the condition about what the condition always means, which wasn't true about, you know, what's really happening in Texas and things like that. And it's just almost impossible to get the right information right now.

EICHER: Well, you know, John, I'm glad you brought this Texas case up, because I did want to hear what you had to say about this. The Texas case, of course was touted as a hard case and from our personal experience with it, it is a hard case. But that doesn't change the fact that we're talking about a human life. God created the Trisomy 18 baby the precise way he intended to create the Trisomy 18 baby. And we have had this discussion many times John about another type of trisomy, trisomy 21, known as Down Syndrome, where the nation of Iceland, for example, was patting itself on the back for "eradicating" Down syndrome. And it turns out it does so by killing everyone who has it before they have a chance to be born. Clearly these populations of Trisomy kids are being targeted for extermination. And the media narrative is how sad how cruel this poor woman couldn't have an abortion. And that's the framing. So it's kind of difficult to even have an honest conversation these days.

STONESTREET: Oh, it's completely difficult, almost nearly impossible. When you, you know, you have these kind of euphemisms, too, that are just commonly used, like, you know, "incompatible with life" a condition incompatible with life, it's just not true. I mean, there are babies with trisomy 18 that are born alive. There, you know, there are some that die shortly after but you know, as you said, it's still alive. And no one would say, Okay, well, you know, I missed that diagnosis. So, once this baby is born, 4, 6, 8, 10 hours later, we have the right then to actually end that baby's life after it's born. So then you have to actually ask the fundamental question, it's the fundamental question, what is it that we're talking about? What is the unborn? It matters what it is, and you know, basically saying, look, okay, so a baby diagnosed with trisomy 18. And that diagnosis is missed in utero, but then we know as soon as it's born, or you know, does the length of one's life change the value of one's life, is there any difference between you know, the person we are in utero and the person we are outside of the utero that would justify killing one and not the other? I mean, the differences are and you know, is a wonderful analogy to remember called SLED: size, level of development, environment and degree of dependency. You know, that we don't say that Shaq is more valuable than the rest of us, because he's enormous. We don't say that the level of development, you know, means that a teenage boy is less valuable than a grown man. You know, environment, how does where I am determined who I am. And dependency I mean, every husband is dependent upon his wife for survival, and every child is, is completely dependent on mom, you know, throughout all of life, and even into the 20s. So, you know, none of this changes the inherent value of kind of who we are the identity of who we are. And that's what's betrayed in this story. So you have to have these kinds of word games that are played on this issue that just kind of sell the conclusion upfront, you know, oh, this is a condition incompatible with life. I mean, that is as evil a phrase as, you know, unworthy eaters, or, you know, whatever was used.

EICHER: Useless eaters.

STONESTREET: That's right. Yeah. If that's a qualification, you know, I'm, I have a short future.

BROWN: Well, as we're talking about making it easier not to have kids or to do away with them with a pill. And I'm noticing a very online trend concerning so called DINK couples. DINK is an acronym for dual income, no kids. So these DINKs go viral with frivolous videos, showcasing the perks of not having children bragging about being childless and carefree. The owner of the social media site formerly known as Twitter weighed in saying he didn't care for it. Elon Musk called the trend, "awful morality to those who deliberately have no kids." So John, what do you, do you think Elon Musk is right?

STONESTREET: Yeah, absolutely. And this is an example of the cultural status of the you know, the issue is that we've already been talking about - abortion and why is it the case that we haven't gotten further than we have now that Roe v. Wade is gone and even when you put the vote to the people, that so many pro-life votes have failed. And it has to do with the same sort of cultural ethos that is behind this DINK movement. You know, Dual Income No Kids where basically they get on and say, you know, we never, we can sleep in if we want. We don't have to clean anybody else's throw up. We don't have to take anyone on a plane with us who's a whiny kid, we basically telegraphing, we can have whatever we want, whenever we want. And I think about all those family movies, you know, that star Jim Carrey there for a while or Robin Williams, that you know, where you have basically an introduction to a character who's a parent, but then who immediately says how selfish they are, and I'm going to get whatever I want you immediately find out just kind of how self-centered they are. The self-centered selfish character is always the bad guy in the movie. It's always the one that's going to be visited by three ghosts before you know the next morning. And yet here you have people kind of celebrating a sort of vision of thorough going narcissism kind of a rabid individualistic narcissism, as if that makes them the good guys. And so it really I think does betray the fact that A: morality is upside down. B: there's a complete fabrication, a fantasy that having more stuff and more leisure is actually going to fill the God-shaped hole in my heart that we're actually made to satisfy ourselves and not made to satisfy anyone else. And that's a fundamental, I think, misunderstanding of what it means to be human. And, you know, frankly, look, I don't think if one of these DINKs made a video when they're 80, it's going to be nearly this optimistic. It's going to be I didn't have any kids. And now there's no one to come and visit me. And the whole thing reminded me of a story that came out, I don't know, four or five years ago out of Japan, where you kind of fast forward the, the numbers reality of birthright, that's not anywhere near replacement, far worse even than the United States, and decades already into the process. And so you can kind of there get a picture of what this sort of lifestyle looks like, especially if it's on a societal level, down the road. And the story was elderly, Japanese women who were shoplifting hoping to get caught so that they could be in prison so that they would have a friend. And look, it's as a friend says, It's not magic, it's math. There's just, you live for yourself, and you think life is all about you. Eventually, you get what you want, and it's not going to be all that it's cracked up to be. And between now and then, is a mindset that makes abortion more and more and more and more thinkable. And so it's very much related, these stories.

BROWN: They’re all connected. John Stonestreet is president of the Coulson center and host of the breakpoint podcasts. Thank you, John.

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: All right, most of the time these kicker stories write themselves, and today is no different.

We bring you six eye roll-worthy puns courtesy of the U.S. government.

So now, Congressman Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, speaking in favor of a bipartisan bill that passed the House this week.

And with a name like Smucker, it has to be good!

AUDIO: Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of HR 1147, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. And I urge my colleagues to support this udderly [ding!] fantastic bill.

And let's not skim [ding!] over the facts here: whole milk is truly the cream [ding!] of the crop in delivering key vitamins and nutrients to growing children. And we can only begin to cow-culate [ding!] the impact that has on their long-term health.

So let's not curdle [ding!] away the opportunity to expand dairy consumption in our nation's schools.

Mr. Speaker, all milk puns aside, healthy kids and supporting our dairy farmers are moo-tually [ding!] important.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 15th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a Christmas podcast recommendation.

As the Christmas song says, “there will be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago.”

NICK EICHER, HOST: Program Producer Harrison Watters now with a review of a new take on the classic ghost story, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

NARRATOR: Jacob Marley was indeed dead. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. And this must be distinctly understood or nothing can come of this story. 

HARRISON WATTERS: Back in November, Hope Media Group released Scrooge: A Christmas Carol… a 4-part podcast series sponsored by Compassion International.

John Rhys-Davies, better known for performances in Indiana Jones and the Lord of the Rings movies, narrates the story. Ebenezer Scrooge is a selfish and heartless miser in 19th century England and on Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of his long-dead business partner and three spirits. They show him how he’s wasted his life and give him the chance to make amends.

SCROOGE: Christmas, bah! Fools. 

Sean Astin of Rudy and Lord of the Rings fame plays Scrooge.

SCROOGE: Christmas: a time for paying bills without money, finding yourself a year older and not an hour richer. How is that merry?

At first, that casting decision seems backwards. Shouldn’t the actor with the older voice play the scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner? Sean Astin’s Scrooge hardly sounds old enough to be Frederick’s uncle.

FREDERICK: I’ve come, as I do every year, to invite you to dine with us tomorrow.

ASTIN: And I, as I do every year, will decline. Thank you.

But Producer Mark Ramsey sees Scrooge from a different angle.

RAMSEY: We wanted to create it so that you could relate to the fact that this man had time left, that this wasn't someone who was 80 years old who decided to change his life forever. This was someone who was maybe 50 years old, who had time to change and to live the life he had so far denied himself and those around him.

The cast also includes Ben Barnes from the 2008 Prince Capsian movie as the ghost of Christmas present.

PRESENT: Look at you, cute as a kitten, and none the brighter.

SCROOGE: Who are you spirit?

PRESENT: Not who so much as when am I, mortal. 

Barnes isn’t exactly the “jolly giant” of Dickens’s Christmas Carol. In most of Episode 3, his voice is basically unfiltered and sounds like he’s down at Scrooge’s level, speaking right into his ear. Perhaps this implies that the present is up close and personal.

The writers also depart from convention by reworking many memorable moments in the story.

For example, Bob Cratchitt takes several lines from Scrooge…which seems out of character for a clerk trying to avoid annoying his boss.

SCROOGE: If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about—

CRATCHIT: —Who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on their lips would be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake in his heart.

Ramsey explains the decision.

RAMSEY: Isn't it very likely that this is a mantra of Scrooge that this is something he said a hundred times to Cratchit? And by the way, it’s not the first time you’ve heard that, or that I’ve heard that. So of course, Cratchit has heard it a hundred times, and he can finish the sentence for that reason.

Other instances of creative license go further. The writers add whole storylines to the plot, including one involving Scrooge’s father and the role he played in poisoning Ebenezer’s soul.

SCROOGE’S FATHER: You don't think I'd be here if it wasn't for you, your mother—God, rest her soul—and your sister? Do you have any comprehension of the burdensome cost of fatherhood? Of course, you don’t.

Other scenes condense parts of the narrative. For example, one scene begins with an invitation to dance at Fezziwig’s party and ends with a broken engagement after just two minutes of dialogue.

Another aspect of this production that’s unique is how it connects the dots between Scrooge and the lives of listeners. Halfway through each episode is an ad for a Scrooge devotional. The free digital guide applies scripture to conversations about greed, joy, contentment and mercy.

That said, I was surprised to discover that the podcast itself ends on a somewhat shallow note.

NARRATOR: We all need God's blessing, each and every one of us. Tiny Tim said it. Ebenezer Scrooge said it. And he who blesses us every day manifested it. 

This ending is spiritually clearer than Charles Dickens’ conclusion to the original story…but it still leaves a lot out. Jesus Christ didn’t merely manifest or display God’s blessing when he came to earth in bodily form…he is himself God’s blessing as Paul says in Ephesians 1…and only through faith in him can scraping, clutching, covetous old—and young—sinners find forgiveness and redeemed purpose in life.

So, if you happen to be a connoisseur of Christmas Carol adaptations, there’s a good chance you’ll end this podcast with “bah, humbug!” on your lips. A more faithful dramatization I’d recommend is Focus on the Family Radio Theater’s 1996 production…available for purchase as an audio download.

But for those willing to be surprised by a new take on A Christmas Carol, available for free wherever you get your podcasts, Hope Media Group’s Scrooge podcast is worth queueing up.

I’m Harrison Watters.

[WORLD Radio Advent 2023 Spotify playlist]

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, December 15th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

This is Week 3 in our series Music of Advent. Last week’s hymns drew inspiration from Isaiah’s prophecies—God’s promise to send a Messiah whose kingdom would never end.

BROWN: This week correspondent Bonnie Pritchett brings us three songs about waiting in hope—the belief that what has been promised will occur.

BONNIE PRITCHETT: Not long after God spoke through Isaiah, God’s people sank deeper into sin and, ultimately, into the hands of captors. In exile—and then back in the promised land—a faithful remnant clung to the truth of Isaiah’s words and prayed in hopeful expectation.

MUSIC: Oh you, O Lord our souls in stillness wait. For you, O Lord our souls in stillness wait. Truly our hope is in you.

Songwriter Sandra McCracken and the band Rain for Roots put prayer to music in this 2015 release, Come Light of our Hearts.

MUSIC: O, Lord of life, our only hope, your radiance shines on all who look to you in the dark. Emmanuel come, come light our hearts. Truly our hope is in you.

Over 700 years later, the priest Zechariah was among the hopeful. While performing his duties in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared and announced that his barren and elderly wife, Elizabeth, would have a son.

MUSIC: [Zechariah’s Song]

In disbelief, Zechariah asked for a sign. In reply, Gabriel declared that he would be mute. The priest could not speak until his son, John, was born.

MUSIC: Praise to the Lord God of Israel. He has been ransom for us. In the house of David he has raised up Salvation for us all…

With his tongue loosed, the old priest blessed God and prophesied saying, “You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the LORD to prepare his way.”

The band Ordinary Time produced this 2016 adaptation of Luke 1:67-79—calling it simply Zecheriah’s Song.

MUSIC: He will show his mercy to us. Mercy that shines bright as the sun and in the shadow of death. He will guide us on to peace...

Only a few months after Gabriel spoke to Zechariah, he visited Mary, a young woman from Nazareth. She was a virgin betrothed to Joseph. Luke 1 chronicles their exchange.

MUSIC: [Gabriel’s Message — Sheku Kanneh-Mason]

An unknown 14th century author encapsulated that passage in a hymn called The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came, or Gabriel’s Message.

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason performs this 2022 version from his EP called, Gabriel’s Message.

In verse two Gabriel proclaims, “I come from heaven to tell the Lord’s decree: a blessed virgin mother you shall be. Your Son shall be Immanual, the seers foretold, most highly favored maiden. Gloria!”

That good news contrasts with the music’s driving rhythm and minor key hinting at things left unsaid, scenes from a story still unfolding.

For WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett.

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

Mary Reichard, Jenny Rough, David Bahnsen, Leah Savas, Amy Lewis, Daniel Darling, Onize Ohikere, Emma Freire, Lauren Dunn, Alexandra Ellison, Mary Muncy, Jenny Lind Schmitt, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, and Bonnie Pritchett.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Travis Kircher, Lauren Canterberry, Christina Grube, and Josh Schumacher.

And, breaking news interns Tobin Jacobson, Johanna Huebscher, and Alex Carmanaty.

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

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Our producer is Harrison Watters. Our production team includes Kristen Flavin, Benj Eicher, Lillian Hamman, Emily Whitten, and Bekah McCallum.

Anna Johansen Brown is features editor, and Paul Butler is executive producer.

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 Psalmist writes, “Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.” —Psalm 135 verses 13 and 14

Be sure to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, in church this weekend. And Lord willing, we’ll meet you right 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.