The World and Everything in It: December 6, 2024

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday the beauty queen and a woman with a mustache team up at the Supreme Court, and a political role reversal where the left opposes assisted suicide and the conservatives embrace it.

NICK EICHER, HOST: John Stonestreet is standing by. We’ll talk about that.

Also today:

SOUND: What am I to do with these stowaways

WORLD Arts and Culture editor Collin Garbarino reviews two new streaming projects, including Disney’s latest adventure in a galaxy far, far away…

Later, Ask the Editor and Music of Advent.

MAST: It’s Friday, December 6th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

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

MAST: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: House Secret Service hearing » On Capitol Hill

CHAIRMAN: [gavel strikes] The task force is convened today to present the American people with the facts, what went wrong, what the Secret Service is doing to address it … and most importantly, what other changes may be necessary …

The final meeting of the House task force investigating the near-assassination of Donald Trump.

Members grilled Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe about numerous security failures at that Pennsylvania campaign event in July.

Those included inadequate planning, communications failures, and failure to secure key areas.

For his part, Rowe conceded that the agency clearly failed its mission.

ROWE:  That abject failure underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations. And I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public.

Rowe took over for former director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned in July the wake of the shooting.

He said the agency is “reorganizing and reimagining” its culture and how it operates.

Senate health FDA hearing » Meantime, across the Capitol rotunda, members of a Senate panel pressed top officials from the FDA about unhealthy foods in America.

Senator Tommy Tuberville asked FDA Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones why red dyes, one of which is known to cause cancer after being in cosmetics, are still available in some foods.

JONES: So Red 3, um, we have a petition in front of us to revoke the authorization for it.

He said he’s hopeful that the FDA will be able to act on that in the next few weeks.

And Sen. Bill Cassidy, who is also a gastroenterologist, said the numbers tied to unhealthy eating in America are alarming.

CASSIDY: Near one in three Americans live with obesity, including 14 million children. Nearly one in 10 have type two diabetes.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf served up a few more troubling statistics.

CALIFF: Six in ten Americans have at least one chronic disease, and four in ten have two or more chronic diseases.

He said, after cutting out tobacco, improving the typical U.S. diet is the best thing we can do for the health of Americans.

Donald Trump’s pick to head Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vowed to tackle that challenge.

DOGE meeting » And elsewhere at the Capitol, speaking of unhealthy lawmakers discussed how to trim up a bloated federal government meeting for several hours with business titans Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

The duo is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE for short.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says government does too many things and almost none of them well.

JOHNSON: And the taxpayers deserve better. They deserve a more responsive government, a more efficient government, one that is leaner … And that’s the opportunity that we have here now. And these two gentlemen are going to help navigate through this exciting new day.

Musk and Ramaswamy will need to meet regularly with lawmakers. DOGE will be an independent office operating outside of government with no authority on its own. So it will rely on Congress and the White House to enact its recommendations.

France latest » French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation Thursday declaring that he has no intention of resigning after parliament voted to oust the French Prime minister on Wednesday.

MACRON: The mandate that you entrusted with me was a mandate and a term for five years. And I will see it through for the entirety of that term.

Macron's comments came as thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Paris …

AUDIO: [French demonstrators]

They're protesting proposed cuts in civil services amid a massive budget deficit.

Macron has been facing calls to resign after left- and right-wing joined forces on a successful no-confidence vote to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

Macron accused those lawmakers of failing to act in the best interests of the French people.

MACRON: They voted for disorder. That is the only reason the far right would ever rally with the far left. They voted not to create, but to break down.

Macron has not yet said who he plans to appoint to replace Barnier.

West coast earthquake » A powerful earthquake on the West Coast triggered a brief tsunami warning on Thursday. More than 5 million people in California were warned to stay away from the Pacific coastline until officials canceled that warning hours later.

The 7.0 magnitude quake struck a little before 11am off the coast of Northern California, not far from the Oregon state line. And it was felt as far south as San Francisco.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom:

NEWSOM:  We're concerned about damage, particularly in the northern part of the state and Del Norte Mendocino in Humboldt County. As a consequence of that, I just signed off on a state of emergency declaration.

Alexandra Cochran with the U.S. Geological Survey said Californians are fortunate that the quake was centered well offshore, which likely helped mitigate damage.

COCHRAN: So far since this magnitude 7, we’ve had an aftershock as large as magnitude 5.

There were no immediate reports of any serious injuries.

California school shooting » Two children are in critical condition today after a gunman opened fire on Wednesday at the Feather River Adventist School in northern California.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

HONEA: There were two students who sustained gunshot wounds. Both boys, one five, one six.

Authorities say the gunman took his own life shortly after he shot the boys, he likely did not have a connection to the victims.

Authorities say the suspect may have targeted the K-8 school because of its connection to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: cultural analysis of this week’s Supreme Court argument regarding children and transgender treatments. Plus, the music of Advent.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Friday the 6th of December, 2024.

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

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

It’s time for Culture Friday, and joining us now is John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

Good morning!

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

EICHER: We’ve obviously devoted considerable airtime this week to the landmark case at the Supreme Court. The question is whether states can ban doctors from attempting sex-change procedures on children—whether surgery or using drugs.

I know you’ve been following this. But what hit me were the advocates before the court, arguing that protecting children in this way is unconstitutional.

Quite a contrast of characters.

What you had was the solicitor general of the United States, Elizabeth Prelogar, a beauty queen 20 years ago. She was the 2004 Miss Idaho before going to law school.

And next to her making the same argument slightly differently was the attorney for the ACLU, a mustachioed woman who goes by the name of Chase Strangio, and billed as the first-ever transgender lawyer to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

This will no doubt go down as a significant cultural moment.

STONESTREET: Oh, it was, and part of it was just how different the two sides argued. People on the opposite sides of this issue aren't just disagreeing about an issue. They're disagreeing about what they think the nature of reality is. It was really, really stark. And as you pointed out, those who were representing each side, and even before you get to what happened in the courtroom, the fact that the mustachioed, is that the official way to say that is that the adjective form of mustache?

EICHER: It sure is, John. I looked it up.

STONESTREET: I didn't know that. I learned something new here on Culture Friday.

The mustachioed woman was called and heralded as being historic. And this, of course, is a forced narrative that has been the case over and over and over when it comes to those who announce to the world either their sexual orientation or their gender identity, and then do something new: That basically the attraction or behavior that someone displays somehow makes them different.

It doesn't, actually. Because all of us have twisted desires. To celebrate one form of them and then to be heralded as historic tells you everything you need to know about how far apart we are.

You could also see how far apart we are in the behavior of the justices themselves. Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito asking questions very specifically on, really, “Is the science settled on this issue like we've been told?” Compare that to the line of questioning from Justice Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, both of whom ask questions along the lines of critical theory—being committed already to a narrative of identity and a narrative of discrimination.

I'll say one more thing, and that is the difference of worldview here goes to the depth of what counts as child abuse. Because essentially, you have each side accusing the other of child abuse.

So when Jim Sire wrote his book years ago, The Universe Next Door, that you could be right next door to someone and not just disagree on specifics, but disagree on the nature of reality itself. You know, this is about as far apart as we can get.

It underscores something that even if the good guys win on this one—and make no mistake, the good guys are those who are trying to prevent the abuse of children in the name of so-called gender-affirming care—what's obvious, given how far apart we are is that you're going to have pro-child abuse states and anti-child abuse states. We know there's 20 some-odd states that have passed laws to protect young people from this harm. That means you're going to have a double down from the legislatures of the most progressive states that's going to leave a lot of children vulnerable. So we're going to have another issue of incredible moral gravity, and it's going to divide our nation further.

EICHER: Another cultural moment, John, and you alluded to the dramatic differences among the justices …

But isn’t it significant that Justice Alito brought up the Cass Review and we’ve talked about this before the research review that led to the UK backing off of these procedures on children? That came up and it seems significant.

STONESTREET: It is. I mean, look, the Cass Review is as significant as we said it was, and it absolutely countered the "science-is-settled" narrative. And I think Alito had a very important question to the solicitor general, which is, “Why isn't this mentioned? It's only in a footnote and it's significant?” And her response was essentially, “Look, I didn't mention it because it didn't go as far as the Tennessee law.” In other words, it said that there's still more research to be done. I mean, she really downplayed the results, but said even these nations that have backed off of this care haven't made it illegal.

But that's exactly what a government supposed to do: to make illegal those things that are harmful to its citizens, especially its children, which are its future. So Tennessee is completely within the realm of common sense, natural law and the mandate given to it by our nation's laws, both at the state and federal level, to do this sort of protectionary legislating. So that's exactly what a government should do. So good for Tennessee for doing it

MAST: Another massive story from a cultural perspective, John, is the movement in Britain to bring assisted suicide to that country.

The New York Times story was interesting. It had a Labor Party member of parliament who voted no and a Conservative who voted yes. Exactly what you would not expect. But one Labor MP who’d worked in medical care openly worried about people being coerced into killing themselves … saying “People often recognize coercion only after years have passed, yet within a month someone could be dead. … As a clinician working at the fringes of life, I heard my patients frequently say, ‘I don’t want to be a burden,’ or ‘I’d rather the money went to the grandchildren than on my care.’”

Then the conservative MP Kit Malthouse argued in support, saying, “The deathbed for far too many is a place of misery, torture, and degradation, a reign of blood and vomit and tears. I see no compassion and beauty in that — only profound human suffering.” A conservative. WOW!

STONESTREET: Yeah, wow is right … and it underscores just speaking of the conservative lawmaker of the great crisis of conservatism around the globe right now, because conservatism only makes sense as a political philosophy if you're absolutely clear on what's worth conserving.

But even so, the doctor-assisted suicide, or the new nomenclature “medical assistance in dying,” which is none of those things, narrative here actually doesn't advance autonomy. Because the situation that Kit Malthouse, this conservative lawmaker, described, is the situation for people who are forgotten, who did not make it up the list in time for the nationalized health care system in the UK, or who are relationally disconnected from anyone who will care for them in their latter years.

Those are the people who face a deathbed that looks like that because we have remarkable palliative care in the West. But even so, a deathbed that is like the one that's described is still a death of an individual made in the image of God and of infinite value.

This UK thing, the whole debate, would be interesting to watch if we weren't talking about something so grave as we are, because there were two audiences that the lawmakers and those who were trying to promote this bill were trying to appeal to: the old and the young. For the old, it was all about autonomy. But the other thing that was fascinating, if it weren't so serious, was that the same sort of pitch was made to the young, and it was made in the same way as kind of lifestyle choices. Like really cool cars, that you can have the career that you want, you can travel, and you know what, when it's all done, you can choose to die on your own terms. So because this was being sold to the public, this was new for me. But there was a big push in the UK, not just on the grounds of so-called compassion, which is not compassion, but also on the grounds of the young. Don't you want the right to have life completely on your own terms, and that means also having death on your own terms?

So we've already redefined possessions along those lines. We've redefined work along those lines. We've redefined marriage along those lines. We've redefined parenting or having children along those lines, and now we're redefining death along those lines. That's a tough reality, and it tells you about the Triumph of the Therapeutic that Rieff wrote about so long ago, or the triumph of radical expressive individualism like Carl Trueman wrote about in recent years. It was front and center in this debate.

EICHER: Interesting piece in WORLD Opinions, John, don’t know if you saw it. I do know you’re familiar with Aaron Renn’s “Negative World” thesis … where there are these periods of time ranging from positive world, pre-1994, to neutral world for 20 years, then negative world from 2014 to the present … where “Christian morality is expressly repudiated and seen as a threat to the public good and the new public moral order.”

So this piece by Seth Troutt suggests we’re in “Ambivalent World,” highlighting the diminishing influence of legacy media and the rise of podcast-driven paradigms. He points to Joe Rogan and calls him a “Reality Respecter,” and Jordan Peterson as a “Meaning Maker.”

I want to read a bit of this: “Those who respect reality won’t stand for the erasure of biological facts, and the Meaning Makers won’t settle for nihilistic existential answers to questions about meaning. They’ll be open but cautious about the Bible.” Seth Troutt writes: “[T]oo many pastors read The New York Times and The Atlantic instead of listening to the podcasts that are shaping the minds of the future converts who will be the next generation of elders in our local churches.”

Is that of interest to you, John?

STONESTREET: It is of interest, but it's especially true of young men. And you know, that's one of the you-are-here lessons of the last election season—and really, of the last three or four years, is that men and women are headed in opposite directions in terms of their worldview, in terms of who they think the good guys are and the bad guys are, and so on.

It's not because one's listening to the traditional media and one's listening to podcasts. They're both listening to podcasts. They're listening to different kinds of podcasters.

But I think it's important also to realize both the opportunity and the threat here. The opportunity is that many of these podcasters, these reality respecters, as was described, it's coming out of not appreciating the truth of Christianity. It's coming from looking at what happens when Christianity gets pushed out of the Western world, and the world is remade along the lines of various forms of postmodernism. Because postmodernism basically ends in a denial of reality, the only way to enforce it is through big government, through authoritarianism, and that's what people are pushing back on. It hit its pinnacle, kind of post COVID, 2021, 2022, and that's what people really reacted against. In a sense, they were then going to some of the historians that had recognized—historians like Tom Holland—Christianity is the source of human rights and human dignity. They wanted cultural Christianity, even somebody like Richard Dawkins, who I don't think is really less hostile to Christianity. He's just now more hostile to kind of the woke culture that has infected his own reality.

But that's the opportunity. There's also going to be the Ayaan Hirsi Alis who maybe get to Christianity from cultural Christianity. But because God is gracious and kind, you realize, “Oh, wait, cultural Christianity is because of Christianity, and Christianity's influence is because of Christians, and Christians are the people who really believe this stuff that Richard Dawkins calls nonsense.”

So we should not settle for halfway cultural Christianity, but we shouldn't condemn it either. We should welcome it and then point to its source over and over again. So I, you know, it's an interesting analysis. I will say that the negative world thesis still has an awful lot going for it. In other words, you can't look at what happened in the last four weeks politically in one country. I think there's more to point to, and I think there's a lot more that we're going to need to have happen for a culture not to retreat back into a level of hostility.

MAST: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thank you John!

STONESTREET: Thank you both!

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 6th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: two new streaming options debuting this week.

Here’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Today Netflix releases its new film about Mary the mother of Jesus, just in time for the holiday season. The movie, simply called Mary, traces the story of Jesus’ mother from her childhood through Jesus’ presentation at the temple when he was an infant.

MARY: I was chosen to deliver a gift to the world. The greatest gift it has ever known.

Now you might be saying to yourself how can someone make a two-hour movie on the life of Mary based on the barebones accounts of the gospel writers? That’s the thing. This movie includes some, let’s just say, extra material.

MARY: You may think you know my story. Trust me. You don’t.

Director D.J. Caruso, who is also responsible for the adaptation of Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love, has created a film with high-production values filled with dramatic tension. We even get to see the illustrious Anthony Hopkins play a deranged Herod the Great… a jealous king whose paranoia leads him to commit despicable acts.

HEROD THE GREAT: Should I spare him, should I set him free, or tell me, Salme, should I have him stoned to death in the marketplace?

But anyone looking for Biblical faithfulness in the movie will be disappointed. The screenwriter draws from 2nd-century apocryphal stories which reinforce Roman Catholic ideas about Mary’s perpetual virginity and enhance her role in the work of redemption. Protestant viewers will cock an eyebrow when at the beginning of the film, the archangel Gabriel appears not to announce Jesus’ birth, but Mary’s birth. Then, as a young girl, she’s devoted to the Lord and sent to live and study in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The movie is very pretty and filled with suspense, but it feels like overly indulgent pious fanfiction.

Our second item for today is the new Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Many Star Wars fans have been up in arms over Disney’s handling of the franchise—both because it hasn’t created any feature films lately and because the quality of its TV shows has been uneven to say the least. Fan backlash came to a head earlier this year when Disney released The Acolyte… a truly terrible show that was high on wokeness and low on plot.

This week, the latest Star Wars saga hit Disney+. Is it more of the same? Or something different?

JOD NA NAWOOD: Fear not. I only want to help you.

I can’t speak definitively on whether the show is a home run because Disney only allowed reviewers access to the first three of eight total episodes. But I can say, it’s much better than The Acolyte.

Skeleton Crew was created by showrunners Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, the creative team responsible for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, which in itself is a promising sign. The series takes place after the events of Return of the Jedi, and it doesn’t have much direct contact with the Skywalker saga.

The show is about four children who get lost in space and are trying to find their way back to their home planet. During their travels they get tangled up with space pirates and get some help from a mysterious force-wielding rogue played by Jude Law.

JOD NA NAWOOD: I can help you get to your ship. Find that planet of yours. All I ask is that you take me with you.

The show skews toward the sillier side of the Star Wars spectrum, but it has some things going for it. Watts and Ford have brought the feeling of a coming-of-age adventure film from the 1980s into the galaxy far far away. You’ll definitely pick up on some Goonies and E.T. vibes in Skeleton Crew.

WIM: This is mine. I already claimed it.

FERN: I called un-claimsies then claimed it for me and KB. No boys allowed.

WIM: No calling un-claimsies without the claimer. Everyone on the whole planet knows that.

There are also plenty of callbacks to the original Star Wars trilogy. And I was entertained by the theme of space pirates hunting lost treasure. Skeleton Crew is like a mashup of Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean complete with a one-eyed droid acting as first mate.

SM-33: What am I to do with these stowaways?

I’m not sure why space pirates speak with stereotypical pirate accents, but I found it amusing.

Skeleton Crew is rated TV-PG, which is a refreshing change from some of the grittier fare we’ve been getting. But parents ought to know that in the third episode it appears that one of the lost children has two mothers. It’s not explicitly stated she has two moms, so given Star Wars’ recent track record if this is the only bit of agenda pushing in the series then fans are getting off easy. But as I said, I’ve only seen three episodes, so I’m not sure if it gets more overt. I’m hoping the show keeps its focus on the entertaining adventure rather than the culture wars.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Friday, December 6th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

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

Up next: Ask the Editor. WORLD Radio executive producer Paul Butler responds to a couple listener emails.

PAUL BUTLER: We’ve gotten a lot of encouraging notes over the last few weeks from listeners who are grateful for the special episodes and occasional long-form interviews we’re running on the weekends.

Dale Touchstone wrote this after last Saturday's extended conversation with Dallas Jenkins:

I very much enjoyed this extended interview. It was nice to have it on Saturday so I would have something to listen to over the weekend from THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT podcast.

Thank you.

Doubletake producer Les Sillars encouraged listeners to write in after Leah Savas’s two part special on IVF…and Melissa Robbins’s response was short and sweet: “I'm listening! And I love them. Thanks for taking time to create them.”

One of our faithful listeners who signs his emails as “Zac from Atlanta” has been checking in with us regularly…asking when we were going to finally launch the promised weekend program that we mentioned last year. Well, after months of development, we determined that the program we were planning just wasn’t going to be sustainable in the long run, so we’ve gone back to the drawing board…

In the meantime, we have a bunch of stories and interviews already produced…and we didn’t want to keep holding on to them. So we’re releasing those each weekend throughout the rest of this year and into 2025.

Shifting gears a bit, I want to pass on a correction we neglected to make. It was back in October when we ran a story about the debate over federal funding for private schools in Kentucky. In that story we misidentified teacher Laura Wilson. We apologize for the mixup, and we’re grateful for her gracious note pointing it out. We have corrected the story online.

And finally this morning, we continue to get emails from listeners who greatly appreciated our election week prayers. It’s led Gary Helms from Bristow, Virginia, to start something new:

GARY HELMS: On Wednesday morning, I was moved to tears by the sweet prayers of your listeners that were offered for our elected and appointed leaders. I was also convicted that I have not been faithful to the biblical mandate of First Timothy Two. As a reminder in the future, I plan to pause after each Washington Wednesday segment of your podcast to pray for all in authority. Maybe others would like to join me. Thank you for your show.

WORLD’s mission is “Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.” And when listeners let us know how our coverage motivates them to then go and do something, it is truly one of the highest compliments you can pay us. I also hope many listeners will follow Gary's lead in praying for those in authority as they listen to our program.

Hebrews 10:24 encourages us as believers to “stir up love and good works” … and that’s my prayer for our program.

I’m Paul Butler.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Up next, Music of Advent.

NICK EICHER, HOST: This Sunday marks the second week of Advent. Christians around the world are preparing for—and reflecting on—the coming of Christ.

“Music of Advent” has been a recent tradition here at The World and Everything in It …

Where on Fridays during this season, correspondent Bonnie Pritchett will guide us through a variety of Advent music.

MAST: And just a quick note, we’re creating a Spotify Playlist again this year.

We’ll update it throughout the month and we’ve included the link in today’s transcript at wng.org/podcasts: 

MUSIC: [Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates]

We’ll update it throughout the month so you can find the music for your own enjoyment. We’ve included the link in today’s transcript at wng.org/podcasts.

SINGER: Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors. And the King of Glory will come in…

BONNIE PRITCHETT: The musical and theological thread of the hymn “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates” begins with King David, the author of Psalm 24. Bible scholars believe the psalm celebrates the arrival of the ark of the covenant – and God’s presence – into Jerusalem.

SINGER: And the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? Who is the King of Glory? Who is the King of Glory? The LORD of Hosts. The LORD of Hosts…

In 1741 George Frederick Handel composed “Messiah,” condensing the Biblical story arc of God’s promised messiah into the enduring musical masterpiece. The Toronto Symphony and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir provide this rendition.

SINGER: The Lord of Hosts.He is the King of Glory. The LORD of Hosts. He is the King

A century before Handel wrote “Messiah,” pastor Georg Weissel wrote the hymn “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates.” The singer invites the King of Glory to sit on the throne of their heart.

One verse cries, “Redeemer, come, with us abide; our hearts to thee we open wide; let us thy inner presence feel; they grace and love in us reveal.”

Weissel served in what was then war-torn Konigsberg, Prussia where European nations and kingdoms were locked in the horrifically deadly 30-Year War. Millions died from conflict and famine.

It was into that world that Weissel invited the Redeemer to come.

MUSIC: [Make a Way]

In their song “Make a Way” the band The Porter’s Gate acknowledges sin and darkness clutter the path between us and God.

SINGER: Come, Son of God, and make us new. Light of the world, our hearts renew. Hope in our inner darkness lies. Oh, healing sun of justice rise…

Sin’s curse has held humanity captive since the Garden of Eden. But there is hope in the one who can set us free and open the gates of our hearts.

SINGER: Oh, make a way open wide the gates. O make a way through the sorrow and the pain. Oh, make a way, though the road is dark and winding. Oh, come, come…

King David’s psalm echoes through Weissel, Handel, and Nathan Clark George, a worship pastor in Matthews, North Carolina. From his 2009 album, this is George’s contribution to the psalm’s musical lineage.

MUSIC: [Psalm 24 - Live]

SINGER: So lift up your heads, O you gates. Be lifted up you ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this glorious king…

While the psalmist’s melodies are lost to time God’s word is not – it endures forever. And, for three millennia his word has inspired musicians to offer praise and lead others to do likewise.

SINGER: Who is this glorious King? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle…

For WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett.

SINGER: …And lift up your heads o ye gates. Be lifted up, you ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this glorious king? Yahweh Almighty, he is the King…

Spotify Playlist

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

Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Emma Perley, Mary Muncy, Todd Vician, Candice Watters, Leo Briceno, Carolina Lumetta, Onize Oduah, Brad Littlejohn, Juliana Erikson, Cal Thomas, Myrna Brown, John Stonestreet, Collin Garbarino, and Bonnie Pritchett.

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

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

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Our producers are Paul Butler, Kristen Flavin, and Harrison Watters, with assistance from Lauren Dunn and Benj 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: “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.” —Psalm 125:1-3

Be sure and worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ in church on the Lord’s Day! 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.