The World and Everything in It: December 16, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

President Joe Biden this week signed the so-called Respect for Marriage Act into law. What’s ahead for those who hold to a Biblical view of marriage?

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

Also, Avatar: The Way of the Water opens today. WORLD’s Collin Garbarino has a review.

Plus Word Play with George Grant—and the story behind a well-loved Christmas carol.

And the next installment of our series Music of Advent from around the world.

BROWN: It’s Friday, December 16th. 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 FLAVIN, NEWS ANCHOR: Russia warns of consequences if missiles sent » Russia on Thursday threatened “consequences” for the United States if it delivers Patriot missile systems to Ukraine.

The Pentagon is reportedly planning to send the advanced missile defense systems soon. Moscow said that would be—quote—“another provocative move by the U.S.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre fired back …

PIERRE: The provocative moves are being made by Russia. Russia is the aggressor here, and we should never forget that.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to reports that Washington will send Kyiv the most advanced surface-to-air missiles it has shared to date. She said “the U.S. has effectively become a party” to the war in Ukraine.

She added that delivering the systems “would mean even broader involvement of military personnel in the hostilities and could entail possible consequences.” She did not explain what those consequences might be.

Iranian soccer player to be executed » Authorities in Tehran have sentenced an Iranian soccer player to death by hanging after his arrest for joining nationwide protests. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Iranian police arrested Amir Reza Nasr Azadani last month after he joined protesters in the streets condemning the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody.

The government claims he was connected to the deaths of three security personnel during protests.

Human rights groups say he’s being put to death simply for speaking out against a tyrannical government.

Azadani is one of more than two dozen protesters set to be executed in Iran.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Spending down » Retail sales dropped last month at the start of the holiday shopping season.

Americans have kept their spending steady ever since inflation first spiked almost 18 months ago. But that may be changing.

Prices rose more than 7 percent in November from a year ago.

And the government reports that sales fell 0.6% from October to November after rising in October.

Senate bans TikTok on fed devices » Lawmakers in the Senate have passed a bill that would ban the social media app TikTok on all government devices.

The app is owned by a Chinese company. GOP Senator Marco Rubio says it’s basically a subsidiary company of the Chinese Communist Party.

RUBIO: We shouldn’t have the Communist Party of China having access to a treasure trove of American data that they can use to try to influence and divide us at the same time as they collect valuable information now and for the future.

The Senate bill passed unanimously.

Numerous states have already banned TikTok from government devices—most recently, North Dakota and Georgia.

DOJ suing Arizona » The Biden administration is suing Arizona for stacking shipping containers at the southern border as a makeshift wall.

The administration says Arizona has no right to place the containers on federal property. And the administration wants a court to force the state to remove them.

Illegal border crossings are surging. National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd:

JUDD: When you look at a typical month, we should be apprehending somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 a day. We’re already at 8,000.

And with the pandemic-era Title 42 rule set to end on Tuesday, Judd predicts 10,000-12,000 migrant encounters daily by January with numbers possibly even higher after that.

Death toll rises in floods in Congo capital » In the Congo, the death toll continues to rise from widespread floods and landslides. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: More than 140 people are now confirmed dead in Congo’s capital city of Kinshasa.

At least 12 others are still missing and presumed dead.

The country’s minister of health said, “There is no hope of finding survivors.”

Heavy rains starting Monday night triggered the flooding, damaging nearly 40,000 homes. Some 12 million people live in the devastated areas.

At least one main road into the capital was cut off, and much of the city is still submerged.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

I’m Kristen Flavin. Straight ahead: Culture Friday.

Plus, a review of James Cameron’s Avatar sequel.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s the 16th day of December, 2022.

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. It’s Culture Friday!

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

Morning, John. 

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning.

EICHER: John, the White House was all lit up in rainbow colors after the president signed into law the so-called Respect for Marriage Act. Let’s hear what it sounded like at the White House on Tuesday.

BIDEN: Today's a good day. A day America takes a vital step toward equality toward liberty and justice, not just for some, but for everyone, everyone, toward creating a nation where decency, dignity, and love are recognized, honored and protected. It's one thing for the Supreme Court to rule on a case, but it’s another thing entirely for elected representatives of the people to take a vote on the floor of the United States Congress and say loudly, clearly: Love is love. Right is right. Justice is justice. These things are fundamental things that America thinks matter.

So not only did we not hear about the religious liberty protections in the new law that helped win over some Republicans … I’m talking about the protections that were supposed to make this a win-win for all sides. We heard none of that.

But here’s what we did hear—and I have to say, interesting choice of pre-speech entertainment from Cyndi Lauper, singing her old hit "True Colors," because it seemed the true colors came shining through—we heard that the Respect for Marriage Act is just not enough.

The president called for passage of the Equality Act. He specifically called out states passing laws that would prohibit doctors from castrating or mutilating children, said that to prohibit those practices was cynical public policy.

But all told, it was pretty clear what’s next on the legislative to-do list for the LGBT movement and the Biden administration.

Do you think we’re just an election or two away from that? Or are there signs that the tide is turning at least where kids are concerned with surgeries and puberty blockers and so forth?

STONESTREET: Well, I think we are getting to hear more and more stories right now of trans regret, and they're going to have to be reckoned with and I think that's going to be the wildcard factor right now. But I guess what concerns me far more is this critical theory mood that seems to be permeating this entire debate and almost all the cultural debate. And what I mean by Critical Theory mood is that we have this tendency to group people by these identifications, and then to call some of the good guys and some the bad guys. It wasn't just that Biden called out states with laws that are trying to protect children, particularly as we see more and more detransitioners and examples of trans regret. It's that he then listed anyone who is not fully on board with the agenda in the same list as racists and bigots. It's exactly the opposite attitude that was said to have inspired the religious liberty protections in the Respect for Marriage Act. And it really, I think, demonstrates how foolish conservatives—so-called conservatives—who supported this bill have been. And I'm going to use the word foolish. There was no reason whatsoever to suppose that these religious liberty protections would somehow be enough when immediately the first thing that the president did was welcome a bunch of drag performers to the ceremony. These are people who actually target the hearts and minds of children, teach them to question the goodness of their own bodies, and teach them things that just flat out aren't true. So it doesn't matter if we have a billion religious liberty protections, the spirit of the age, what's driving this whole movement right now is evil. It's evil, evil stuff. And we have to be able to say that not only is what's driving this evil, but that those who are driving in are calling everybody on the other side evil to the same degree as racists and bigots. So the religious liberty protections become far more vulnerable. And can I just say that if President Trump's tweets really matter in terms of how we're supposed to think about him, then President Biden's speech should really matter. Because I think that's what we'll hear. This is just a speech. It's not really what's in the law. But we just spent the last term of the last president being told that everything that he sneezes and tweets and everything else is the most important thing that ever happened, and that you have to take it seriously. Well, here. He didn't hold back. President Biden, in a moment of lucidity, which, of course, he doesn't always have, was really clear about his intentions. It wasn't up in the air at all. By the way, one things you got to put in context of, and maybe I have a different perspective being in Colorado Springs is the barrage of press blaming this horrific shooting at Club Q on Focus on the Family and groups like it with no justification whatsoever. In other words, it's going to take one or two cultural events like that to take that critical theory mood where we know who people are based on these identifications. And oh, yeah, we know who the good guys are and the bad guys are upfront, apriori without any sort of further conversation. And then something's going to have to "be done." We're going to have to do something about such hate speech. That's how all this works. It's a mix of law. It's a mix of cultural mood. And it's a mix of cultural incidents and then language. So I guess I came out of that less upset about President Biden because I was pretty sure I knew where he was coming from on all this. But it did make me think, man, all those evangelical groups and all those major evangelical voices, who assured us that this Respect for Marriage Act was exactly what we needed, and had all the protections, I hope they were paying attention to this speech.

EICHER: We haven’t talked about the incredible revelations Twitter’s celebrity CEO Elon Musk is serving up to, interestingly, two of the most independent-minded journalists on the left—Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss. It’s a fascinating picture of how incredibly one-sided this supposed digital town square operated before Musk came in and cleaned house.

What’s your sense of what we’ve heard so far? Lots of crickets in mainstream media, but do you see this as a positive cultural development?

STONESTREET: I do. I do see it as a positive cultural development because, you know, this sort of thing needs to be exposed and it is being exposed. And it, I think, is becoming less and less believable. Whereas the mainstream media is crickets on this, but man, everyday we get six stories about how Elon Musk is the biggest threat to free speech or to the republic or to a democratic world or to our highways in outer space and, and everything else. I mean, it's getting kind of bizarre. It's so bizarre, by the way, that I think it's jumping the shark. It's beyond the pale of believability. I have said for a long time, Twitter's not the real world. Even if you could trust what we clearly were not able to trust and many people since, in terms of the whole editing and blacklisting and darkening and quieting process, it's a very few amount of people in the world that are on Twitter. And is a very few amount of people who do the vast amount of tweeting. And so it just has I think a reputation that's far bigger than the reality. But at the same time, you got to say that there was a, if this sort of coordination is happening here it's probably happening in some of these other places that are being strangely quiet. Now, I know there are some that said, well, this isn't about free speech or free press, because Twitter is a privately held company. Yes. But when a privately held company is directly coordinating with public officials, it does become a freedom of speech issue. And that's the revelation that we're seeing.

BROWN: John, here’s a question for you.

LINUS: Is there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

That famous line of course from one of the all-time favorite television traditions, Charles Schultz’s A Charlie Brown Christmas.

But what’s most memorable, at least to me, is the minute-long monologue of Linus reciting word for word from the Gospel of Luke!

WORLD’s Maryrose Delahunty wrote about Charles Schultz on what would’ve been his 100th birthday if he’d lived to see it. So I asked Maryrose what was her one big takeaway from her cover story in the current WORLD Magazine:

DELAHUNTY: Who doesn't look forward to the Charlie Brown Christmas special. But even more than that, I remember my mom, I was a kid in the ’70s. She bought me the Peanuts Parade books. So those were compilations of Peanuts from the beginning. And I remember poring over those books over and over. 

And it wasn't until I was much older that I realized that the Red Baron was a real person in World War II. 

And, you know, it's like C.S. Lewis books, right, the Chronicles of Narnia, you get introduced to something as a child, but you get different and nuanced understandings depending on what year of life you read it. And you're like, what?! Oh my gosh, total enlightenment, and so many things in the history of all the people he mentions in the comic strip. I mean, he really lived his life out and thoughts out through the characters of Peanuts.

In her piece, Maryrose wrote about Schultz’s ability to elicit opposing responses on controversial topics like prayer in public schools. After one of his Peanuts Sunday strips, he had both sides of the school prayer debate labeling him an ally.

John, What do you think we can learn from him more than 20 years after his death?

STONESTREET: I think he's another example of the power of art. And I know, you know, look, to call Snoopy art is not in the sense that it's a Van Gogh or a Rembrandt. But you know, the difference between a good book and a bad book, and I think, a good painting and a bad painting, and a good movie and a bad movie—and I owe this thought to a former professor at Moody Bible Institute named Rosie de Rosae and I still remember this from a chapel that she spoke at when I was teaching at a college—and she said, you know, the difference between a good book and a bad book is a good book takes you deeper into life and a bad book distracts you from life. And I think that's really profound because it doesn't have to do with whether it's realistic or abstract. It doesn't have to do with whether it is for children or for grownups, it doesn't have to do with whether it is super sharp and precise, or whether it kind of has an extra dose of creativity and imagination. Compared to a lot of cartoons, The Peanuts cartoons were really simple, right? They were simply drawn. But there was a way in which when you spend some time in Peanuts, which we do a lot, by the way, right now with my son, Hunter, you're getting deeper into life. It's different than just being distracted from life. There's a qualitative difference, even when you compare it to things maybe that are a little bit more artistically embellished. And of course, that comes from a Christian worldview that there is a real world, and that it is the job of art in some way or another to paraphrase the real world. And you can do this directly. You can also do it through the imagination. And Schultz had an ability to do that. Those characters, many of us would see our childhood friends in those characters and the conversations that they had and the questions that it brings up—whether it's about our own insecurities, or about whether we should be grateful or complaining, all kinds of different things. And I think that's what it tells us about Schultz. He was a true artist, in that sense. And you can laugh at yourself. You can laugh at life. You can laugh at the inconsistencies and ironies of life. But there's a difference between being distracted, and being more thoughtful. And I think Schultz did that for us.

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

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 16th. 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 sequel to the biggest movie of all time.

Thirteen years ago Avatar became a phenomenon, making almost $3 billion world wide. It currently holds the record for highest grossing movie ever.

EICHER: Today, the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water arrives in theaters. But will it live up to the original? Here’s arts and media editor Collin Garbarino.

AUDIO: [Avatar music]

COLLIN GARBARINO: Let’s start with perhaps the most important detail about James Cameron’s long-awaited Avatar sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. The movie is more than 3 hours long—3 hours and 12 minutes to be exact. And since 3D costs extra, seeing the new Avatar in the theaters turns out to be pretty costly in both time and money. Is it worth it? Well… that depends on what you’re looking for.

The movie begins more than a decade after the events of the first Avatar, when a scrappy band of blue natives called Na’vi defeated the humans trying to exploit the resources of the alien planet Pandora. Sam Worthington returns as Jake Sully, the disabled human marine who joins the native Na’vi tribe after his consciousness is transferred to an alien body. Zoe Saldaña is back as his Na’vi wife Neytiri.

Jake and Neytiri are busy raising their family. At the film’s opening they have four human/Na’vi hybrid kids and serve as unofficial parents for an orphaned human boy nicknamed “Spider.”

JAKE: The humans are returning. They’re hunting us.

NEYTIRI: What is our plan?

But the humans, or “sky people” as the Na’vi call them, come back, and they don’t just plan to mine Pandora’s resources. They plan to turn the planet into the new home for humanity since humans have ruined Earth’s ecosystem.

The first thing on the humans’ list of things to do is find Jake and kill him. The Sully family flees their home in Pandora’s forest seeking refuge among the Na’vi who live in the sea.

TONOWARI: Why do you come to us?

JAKE: I just want to keep my family safe.

These Na’vi are different from the forest dwellers with green skin instead of blue and thicker arms and tails for swimming.

TONOWARI: Treat them as our brothers and sisters. Teach them our ways.

TK: Keep up forest boy.

Cameron introduces viewers to an entirely new aspect of Pandora. And the Sully family must adapt to a new way of life, even while the threat of discovery still looms.

The original Avatar earned its accolades from its stunning special effects and use of 3D technology. But the script was a little predictable and preachy. This sequel surpasses the original in both the highs and the lows.

LO’AK: The way of water connects all things. Before your birth and after your death.

James Cameron has been pushing the technical boundaries of filmmaking for his whole career. In the ’80s he created groundbreaking effects for Terminator and Aliens. Then in the ’90s he upped the ante with Terminator 2 and Titanic. 2009’s Avatar merged live-action and computer-generated imagery in an immersive 3D world unlike anything movie goers had seen before.

The Way of Water is a technical triumph. Big water set pieces have always been a challenge for Hollywood, and Cameron’s mastered it. He even created new technology to film the actors with motion-capture cameras while free diving. The end product is crazy good. It’s beautiful and dizzying, and the 3D aspect is subtle enough to enhance the experience without calling attention to the technology.

JAKE: I know one thing. Wherever we go, this family is our fortress.

The movie is visually exhilarating, but it suffers from the same problems as the original. The movie is punishingly long, and its thin storyline with its cast of imminently forgettable characters don’t provide much payoff. You’ll have trouble remembering even the main characters' names after the movie’s over. And the eco-warrior plot about saving the planet feels even more derivative this second time round since it mostly rehashes the events of the original Avatar movie.

JAKE: So what is it?

KIRI: I feel her, Dad.

JAKE: Feel who?

KIRI: Eywa. I hear her breathing. I hear her heartbeat. She’s so close. She’s just there. Like a word about to be spoken.

The biggest change is that the story focuses on Jake and Neytiri’s kids. But Cameron opts for chichéd teenage drama instead of offering a satisfying story about family.

LO’AK: I’m a warrior like you. I’m supposed to fight.

We see too many familiar tropes. There’s the stern father and the moody son who don’t understand each other. We get a predictable sibling rivalry. There’s an awkward teenage girl who feels different. We get a lesson in teenage bullying. And don’t forget the teenagers who fall in love despite their differing backgrounds.

LO’AK: Outcast. That’s all they see.

TSIREYA: I see you.

There aren’t many surprises in this film. The scenes proceed about how you would expect, and the subplot keeps preaching the idea that the earth is our goddess mother.

The movie is rated PG-13 for strong language, violence, and partial nudity. Let’s be honest—those little bits of flower petals and seaweed don’t cover much of the Na’vi women’s chests. The skimpy attire gets even more cringey in this sequel since most of the protagonists are so young.

Also a little cringey is the way Cameron depicts the green-skinned Na’vi as being Pandora’s version of New Zealand’s Maori people. He crosses the line from inspiration to caricature when they launch into a war haka.

This film promoting eco-worship has plenty of faults, but its groundbreaking effects are visually stunning. I don’t think the movie will translate well to the small screen. If you want to experience the immersive effects, go see it on the biggest screen you can find, and maybe spring for 3D. Be warned the spectacle is impressive, but the story isn’t worth the time or money.

If you don’t see it in the theater, you shouldn’t bother seeing it at all.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, December 16th. 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. Time now for Word Play for December. Commentator George Grant on the not-so-hidden meaning behind one familiar Christmas carol.

GEORGE GRANT, COMMENTATOR: Every day, from December 25 to January 6, has traditionally been a part of the Christian Yuletide celebration. Dedicated to mercy and compassion—in light of the incarnation of Heaven’s own mercy and compassion—each of those twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany was to be noted by selflessness and charity. Gift giving was not concentrated on a single day, but rather, as in the famous folk song, spread out through the entire season.

In that song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” each of the gifts represent some aspect of the blessing of Christ’s appearing. They portray the abundance of this present life and the ultimate promise of heaven. Though theories vary on the origin of the song, it is likely an urban legend that it was intended to be a secret catechism song during the tumultuous days of Tudor England.

That rather fanciful interpretation attached very specific meanings to the symbols: the partridge in a pear tree, for instance, was assumed to be Christ, Himself, symbolically presented as a mournful mother hen—an expression of His lament: “Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How oft would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks.” The two turtledoves were said to represent the Old and New Testaments. The three French Hens symbolized faith, hope, and love.

The four calling birds portrayed the four Gospels. The five gold rings were said to be the books of the “Pentateuch.” The six geese a-laying represented the six days of creation while the seven swans a-swimming were taken to be the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes while the nine ladies dancing represented the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments. The eleven pipers piping were the faithful eleven apostles and the twelve drummers were the doctrines of the Creed.

These interpretations are likely exaggerated. For one thing, the first seven gifts all refer to birds. The fourth day’s four “calling birds” are actually “colly birds.” “Colly” literally means “black as coal,” thus “colly birds” were blackbirds. The “gold rings” on the fifth day refer not to five pieces of jewelry, but to ring-necked birds, such as pheasants—thus, altering the symbolism.

But, even though symbolic maximalism likely goes too far, it would be just as wrong to assume that the song is “strictly secular,” as debunking websites declare. Secularism in sixteenth century England was about as credible then as an Elvis sighting is today. The answer to over-wrought allegoricalism is not the equal and opposite error of over-wrought reductionism. Symbols don’t have to mean everything to mean something.

Very likely, this delightful folk song was just intended to portray the abundant riches of our covenantal inheritance and the promise of heaven—the good news, glad tidings, and great joy of Christmas. Sing, therefore, with new gusto and zeal. For, “every good and perfect gift comes from above.” Even partridges, pear trees, and leaping lords!

Merry Christmas. I’m George Grant.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Up next, our Music of Advent series. This week, we head to three different African countries to hear the sounds of Advent in different languages. WORLD correspondent Onize Ohikere starts us in her home of Nigeria.

MUSIC: DAYSTAR CAROL by Daystar Christian Center

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: December feels different in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. For one, the dry, hot, weather that’s synonymous with Christmas sets in. Schools close out for the term, and billboards on the streets display carol invitations to prepare for Christ’s coming.

These music festivities often include some hymns that point to that longing.

MUSIC: OLUSEGUN-ALASEGUN by The Apostolic Church of Nigeria student choir

A student choir at The Apostolic Church of Nigeria in Ibadan, a city in southwest Oyo state, sings a live rendition of “Olusegun-Alasegun.” That’s Yoruba language for “The Great Conqueror.”

Godwin Adedayo Dedeke composed the song in 1963 - first published in one of his popular books. Dedeke is the son of an accomplished choirmaster who introduced him to music.

He later wrote the popular “Keresimesi Odun De” - or “Christmas is Here” - one of Nigeria’s first indigenous carols.

MUSIC: OLUSEGUN-ALASEGUN by The Apostolic Church of Nigeria student choir

The lyrics here echo a lament for the Savior, saying: “Our world is steeped in sin and suffering. Please come quickly.”

MUSIC: ALINKUDZA WASONI MUNTHU by Evangelical Lutheran Church, Malawi

In Malawi, the praise and worship team of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the capital city of Lilongwe sings “Alinkudza Wasoni Munthu,” or “He is Coming, Man of Sorrows.”

The hymn was originally composed by Fanny Crosby, an American missionary. Blind from six weeks old, she composed more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs.

MUSIC: ALINKUDZA WASONI MUNTHU by Evangelical Lutheran Church, Malawi

The hymn points to a joyful expectation, longing for the arrival of Jesus. The final verse reads: “The ransomed of every nation, For His own He shall claim.”

MUSIC: OH COME, O COME EMMANUEL by The Joyous Celebration Choir

The Joyous Celebration choir in Johannesburg, South Africa, sings the Advent classic, “O Come Emmanuel.”

The original Latin chant called “Veni Emmanuel” first sprung from the antiphons—or chants—used on the last seven days before Christmas Eve in the medieval Roman Catholic Vespers.

In 1851, John Mason Neale, an English Anglican priest and hymn writer, published the first documented English translation. A later version is now popular in hymnals across the world.

Each stanza refers to a title of the coming Messiah: Key of David, Root of Jesse, Lord of Might. The lyrics call on the Key of David to open the heavenly home for saints from all over the world to dwell.

MUSIC: OH COME, O COME EMMANUEL by The Joyous Celebration Choir

I’m Onize Ohikere, celebrating Advent in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week: Mary Reichard, Lauren Dunn, Collin Garbarino, Onize Ohikere, Jenny Lind Schmidt, Joel Belz, Addie Offereins, Leah Savas, Kim Henderson, Cal Thomas, George Grant, John Stonestreet, Anna Johansen Brown, and David Bahnsen.

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

Plus, the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz. Production assistance from Lillian Hamman, and Benj Eicher.

Kristen Flavin is our producer. Paul Butler is our 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 Bible says: …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. (2nd Corinthians 4:18 ESV)

Our December Grassroots Giving Drive is going well, but if you’ve not given yet, I hope you’ll do it today. WNG.org/donate. And thank you!

Go now in grace and peace.

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