The World and Everything in It - December 7, 2021

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning.

Schools counted fewer homeless students during the pandemic. But that’s not necessarily a good thing.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also a gang in Haiti released missionaries kidnapped in October, but the island’s problems continue to escalate.

Plus our Classic Book of the Month: The Loveliness of Christ by theologian Samuel Rutherford.

And we’ll remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, this day 80 years ago.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday December 7th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

REICHARD: It’s time for the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: NYC plans strict employer vaccine mandate » Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a strict new vaccine mandate on all private employers in the Big Apple.

DE BLASIO: All employees and patrons to have, from 12 years old and up, two doses. And that will take effect on Dec. 27th.

Residents will have to flash their vaccine card to get into many businesses—including restaurants, gyms, and theaters.

The city already requires vaccines for hospital and nursing home workers, city employees, and public and private school teachers.

The mayor said he expects his mandate, one of the most aggressive in the country, to withstand legal challenges.

Federal courts have put President Biden’s similar nationwide mandate for businesses on hold as lawsuits play out in the courts.

Justice Department sues Texas over new redistricting maps » Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that the Justice Department is moving to halt a redistricting plan in Texas.

GARLAND: The Justice Department has filed suit against the state of Texas for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The Lone Star State will soon add two new congressional seats due to its population growth. It’s not unusual for the party in power in a given state to redraw district lines for a political advantage, a process sometimes called gerrymandering. But the Biden Justice Dept. says Texas has gone too far.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said minorities represent most of the state’s growth. And the Justice Department alleges that the plan discriminates against those minority voters.

GUPTA: These redistricting plans will diminish the opportunities for Latino and black voters in Texas to elect their preferred representatives.

The Republican Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, condemned the litigation. He called it an “absurd” intrusion by the Democratic administration and a “ploy to control Texas voters.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that it won’t referee partisan gerrymandering disputes.

Forecasters now expect larger and long-lasting inflation » In a new survey, business economists in the United States say that inflation will be greater and last longer than previously expected. WORLD’s Leigh Jones has more.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: The National Association for Business Economics released the survey on Monday.

Its panel of about 50 forecasters now expects consumer prices to rise 6 percent this quarter compared with a year ago. That’s up from a September survey, when that same panel predicted a 5 percent rise.

Most of the panelists—87 percent—say supply chain bottlenecks are a major factor, inflating consumer prices on almost everything.

Nearly 60 percent of the panelists expect the job market to reach full employment over the next year. And two-thirds of the forecasters think wage gains will keep inflation elevated over the next three years.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

David Perdue launches primary challenge against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp » A former Republican U.S. senator is aiming to unseat Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

PERDUE: I’m David Perdue. I’m running for governor to make sure Stacy Ambrams is never governor of Georgia.

Perdue’s Monday announcement sets up a bitter 2022 primary fight while Democrat Stacey Abrams is likely to await the winner.

Perdue lost his Senate seat last year to Democrat Jon Ossoff and has been flirting with a bid for governor for months. And former President Donald Trump has been publicly urging him to run against Kemp.

A spokesman for Gov. Kemp said—quote—“The man who lost Republicans the United States Senate” now “wants to lose the Georgia governor’s office.”

Perdue says he’ll campaign on a platform of ditching the state income tax and giving parents more say over what’s taught in public schools.

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi convicted » In Myanmar, a military-ruled court has convicted ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on two criminal charges. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: A court said Aung San Suu Kyi was guilty of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions and sentenced her to four years behind bars. That sentence was, however, quickly cut in half.

Many global leaders blasted her conviction on Monday as another effort by the ruling military to roll back the democratic gains of recent years.

The military ousted her in a de facto coup earlier this year, claiming massive voting fraud in last year’s election.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won that election in a landslide, and independent observers did not detect any major problems with the vote.

This was only the first in a series of cases brought against the 76-year-old Suu Kyi since her arrest on Feb. 1st.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: the number of homeless students drops during the pandemic.

Plus, remembering Pearl Harbor.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 7th of December, 2021. You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you are! Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. First up on The World and Everything in It: homelessness among young students.

The number of homeless students in K-12 schools has more than doubled since 2008. That’s according to the National School Boards Association.

During a recent school year, it counted nearly a million and a half homeless students, but survey results released this month seemed to offer some good news out of New York City. They show a nearly 10 percent drop in homeless students this most recent school year.

REICHARD: But those who work closely with at-risk families in the Big Apple warn these lower numbers may not reflect reality. WORLD correspondent Lauren Dunn explains.

LAUREN DUNN, REPORTER: Barbara Duffield began working with homeless students three decades ago. She’s advocated for changes in housing and income policy. But her passion has always been education.

DUFFIELD: That was really once I started to work with children directly and just saw the circumstances that they were in, but also the promise, their talents, the same as every other child and the role that education could play.

In 2016, she co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based SchoolHouse Connection. She’s now its executive director. The group’s work relies heavily on a federal law adopted in 1987 called the McKinney-Vento Act.

DUFFIELD: It sets out broad protections for children and youth who are experiencing homelessness. And one of the things that does is require every school district to designate a liaison for students experiencing homelessness. And those liaisons form really the bulk of our network as a national organization.

The liaisons Duffield’s group works with have reported a drop in the number of homeless students. But that’s mainly because they’re having trouble finding them.

DUFFIELD: When schools turned to virtual instruction, and when there was no more in person classes, at least for a spell, the numbers went down. But you know, the eyes and the ears of the school system, all the ways a school might typically know whether it's rerouting a bus, or a change of address, or a conversation that happens in the hallway. All of that went away for a while, and families were very mobile, and they were moving around.

Duffield says preliminary results from a more recent liaison survey suggest student homelessness is higher now than it was before the pandemic. But schools often have to look for those students.

DUFFIELD: You have a population that's largely invisible. So the very nature of homelessness is hidden. Plus, there's fear, and stigma, a lot of shame that goes with it. So it's not a population that readily comes forth. And certainly that's true for children.

In November 2020, SchoolHouse Connection reported that districts across the nation flagged 400,000 fewer students as homeless that semester.

Duffield says identifying homeless students is about more than just keeping good records. It also helps the students.

DUFFIELD: It's essential that schools are able to identify children and youth experiencing homelessness, because once they're identified, then a set of educational protections and services go into place.

Anasofia Trelles works with Advocates for Children of New York. It also raises awareness for the educational needs of low-income students.

TRELLES: To be honest, there's been like a slight dip of families that have entered shelter as a result of the pandemic. But we see that more as like not because families have found permanent housing, but like, there was a lot of fear of going into shelter and potentially catching the virus.

Some students also struggle with getting to school. The McKinney-Vento Act mandates homeless children can remain in the school they attended before becoming homeless. But Trelles says New York City doesn’t have a system to track which schools students attend when their families apply for space in a shelter. That means they might be assigned to a shelter a long distance from their school.

TRELLES: So in some cases, you have some students who like maybe were attending school when they were permanently housed, you know, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, but now are in shelter all the way up in the Bronx. And so it can be really challenging to do that commute, especially if the transportation is delayed and so like all of these educational barriers can result in just poor attendance.

Homeless youth are more likely to be absent from school. In New York City during the 2016-2017 school year, about a third of homeless students were considered chronically absent. That means they missed at least three weeks of school throughout the year.

And even when students do go to class, homelessness can impact their school day.

DUFFIELD: Homelessness comes with trauma, the traumatic events that lead to becoming homeless, it's typically not just not having your home, there may be violence involved, and maybe other issues going on. And then the trauma of being homeless. So all of that affects a child's ability to focus and learn.

Less than 70 percent of homeless students graduated in the 2018-2019 school year, compared with about 85 percent of all students. And that creates a vicious cycle. Young adults without a high-school diploma or GED are more than three times more likely to be homeless.

Duffield says school is often “an oasis of stability” for homeless students.

DUFFIELD: That one place that doesn't change, even if they don't know where they're going to sleep, they know they're to come to school, same adults, same peers, and can have that stability and normalcy and get transportation. But again, if we don't have this, if we don't know who's experiencing homelessness, then that piece isn't there.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Dunn.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: gang violence in Haiti.

Three more missionaries kidnapped in October are free. Leaders of the 400 Mawozo gang released them Sunday night. That leaves 12 of the 17 originally taken hostages still in captivity. On Monday, Christian Aid Ministries called for three days of fasting and prayer for their safe return.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Haiti has long struggled with political and social instability. That’s partly what’s made it fertile ground for U.S. mission and aid groups. But their work has grown increasingly difficult due to increased gang violence. And foreign missionaries aren’t the only ones laboring under the threat of kidnapping and extortion.

WORLD national editor Jamie Dean knows Haiti well and is keeping tabs on the latest developments there. And joins us now to talk about it.

REICHARD: Good morning, Jamie!

JAMIE DEAN, NATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Mary.

REICHARD: It’s certainly good news that more of the missionary hostages in Port-au-Prince have been released this week. But you say kidnappings are an everyday reality in Haiti. Tell us about that.

DEAN: Sadly, that’s true. Abductions aren’t new in Haiti, but they’ve definitely surged in recent months. A human rights group based in Port-au-Prince reported that criminal gangs kidnapped at least 119 people in the first half of October alone. Just two weeks before the missionary kidnappings, criminals abducted 20 people on a single day in Port-au-Prince.

REICHARD: And it sounds like almost anyone could be a target.

DEAN: That’s right. That’s one of the things that has been especially frightening for many Haitians over the last year or so. I recently spoke with a missionary couple working outside of Port-au-Prince who said it’s not unheard of for a gang member to pluck a child off the road while he walks to school, and then demand whatever ransom the family can afford.

So these gangs aren’t just after big bucks anymore. They’ll take smaller amounts, even if it’s all the money a family has saved. A UNICEF report in October said that the kidnapping of children has been a lucrative business in Haiti. So, essentially, no one is off limits.

REICHARD: And that includes churches?

DEAN: That’s another disturbing development in the last year. Most churches in Haiti have operated with a measure of security as they meet. The most dangerous part of church involvement right now is probably the drive or the walk to church. That’s where a lot of Haitians might worry about a carjacking or a potential robbery or even kidnapping as they walk along the street.

But we’ve also seen gangs willing to snatch Haitians from churches as they meet. In April, a group of gunmen walked into a Seventh-Day Adventist church during a livestream of the church’s worship service, and kidnapped four worship leaders live online.

In September, gunmen attacked First Baptist Church in downtown Port-au-Prince on a Sunday morning. They kidnapped a deacon’s wife and killed the deacon as he tried to prevent his wife’s abduction. During October, we saw the kidnappings of the Christian Aid missionaries, and we also saw reports of a group of men dressed like police officers abducting an elderly pastor and later releasing him.

So gang members crossing the line into actual church services or mission compounds is something sort of new. That’s a line they haven’t crossed as much before. And it’s probably less about opposition to the gospel than opportunism, but again, it shows no one is off limits.

REICHARD: This is a broad question, but how did Haiti get to this point?

DEAN: It’s definitely a complicated question, and I don’t think there’s a simple answer. Haiti has gone through a series of political oppressions, dictatorships, corruption, and really devastating natural disasters.

More recently, some of the Haitians I spoke with point to the departure of the U.N. peacekeeping forces as a turning point. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in 2017 to begin drawing down those forces, because they said the nation had begun stabilizing.

But by the next year, the instability had returned and began devolving again. We saw gang attacks on whole communities, and gang members really just began taking over large parts of the capital.

Then earlier this year, Haiti’s president was assassinated, which led to what seems like a nearly unsolvable power vacuum in such an unstable country. They need to hold elections, but they really can’t hold elections without security, but it’s hard to pursue security without the government officials that can only be put in place through elections.

So it’s a vicious cycle at the moment, and gangs have really stepped into that power vacuum.

REICHARD: What can be done?

DEAN: That’s a question I really can’t answer. And most of the people I asked didn’t have great answers either. Some are hoping the country will find a way to hold elections and maybe claw its way back to a sense of normalcy—but it’s going to take a lot of force to dislodge these gangs, and it’s just not clear how that might happen.

RECIHARD: Christian Aid Ministries has called for three days of prayer and fasting for the missionaries that remain in captivity. Is it too simple to say we should pray?

DEAN: I don’t think so at all. That’s not the least we can do at this point, I think it’s the most important thing we can do. It’s the one thing the missionaries and pastors I spoke with emphasized.

And I’m happy to report that those pastors haven’t lost hope. They report growth and joy in their congregations, even with all of the sorrow and loss. They are clinging all year to the Advent hope that Christ does come to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found, no matter how far that is.

REICHARD: Jamie Dean is WORLD’s national editor. You can read more of her work at WNG.org. Thanks, Jamie!

DEAN: You're welcome, Mary. 

NICK EICHER, HOST: A man in New Zealand was out hoeing his garden when he struck something big and tough buried in the soil. At first, he thought it might be some kind of weird gigantic fungus.

So Colin Craig-Brown and his wife Donna persisted. The audio here from a New Zealand news site called “Stuff.”

COLIN: We were just pokin’ around over there pullin’ out weeds. And once I dug it up, it was just a massive potato. I just couldn't believe it. We both couldn't believe it. Had a taste and it was the real deal.

The real deal—the big, heavy, real deal: 17 pounds! That beat the standing record at the time, up to that point, of 11 pounds. So this spud beat that spud by 6 pounds.

So big the couple even named it!

COLIN: Yeah, he's named Doug. Yeah, we well, we dug up the potato. So yeah.

DONNA: That's a good name for it. Isn't it?

COLIN: Yeah, potato has been dug. (laughs)

Colin built a little trolley to tote Doug around town as the minor celebrity spud he became.

But that’s soon to end. Doug’s losing weight.

COLIN: Yeah, but he shrunk.

DONNA: As he's dried out, he's got a bit lighter. Yeah, Yeah. (both laugh)

All in good fun. Colin and Donna’s only advice to grow a big tater? Get some straw and cow manure. Wait long enough, see what happens.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday December 7th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Emily Whitten now with our Classic Book of the Month. Today, she brings us one final gift book idea for the Christmas season.

EMILY WHITTEN, REPORTER: You may not know much about our author today, Samuel Rutherford, but you might know a hymn based on his writing. A well-known verse begins this way, “The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom’s face…” Here’s the Altar of Praise Chorale.

CLIP: [LYRIC]...dark, dark hath been the midnight, but dayspring is at hand. And glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel’s land...

Pastor, author, and theologian Samuel Rutherford lived in Scotland during the 1600s. Beyond Christian circles, he may be best known for his treatise against the divine right of kings, Lex Rex. But among Christians, Rutherford’s 365 pastoral letters continue to comfort those who suffer bereavement, loss, or injustice.

Our Classic Book of the Month for December, The Loveliness of Christ, contains a few choice selections from those letters. It’s admittedly a very small book, so please check the dimensions before you buy a copy online. I don’t want you to be disappointed. That said, the book’s poetic one-liners and metaphors really pack a punch.

Ian Hamilton is president of Westminster Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Northeast England. He shares Rutherford’s Scottish background, and he often teaches about Rutherford in his seminary lectures.

HAMILTON: So Rutherford brings tremendous pastoral warmth, pastoral insight, spiritual tenderness and sensitivity into his letters. He's writing to all kinds of people, bereaved mothers, troubled fathers. He wrote to one woman who had just lost a little child: “Dear, dear sister in Christ, trust the good husbandman. He knows when to pluck his roses, whether at the first blush or in the full bloom.”

Rutherford holds a high view of God’s sovereignty and the power and majesty of God. But he also sees God as near to the brokenhearted. To him, Christ is the shepherd of Isaiah 40, carrying his lambs gently in his arms.

HAMILTON: He wants them to know that they don't ever need to keep Him at a distance because He will never keep them at a distance. There's a great one of his early letters in 1637. He wrote to the Laird of Cali, a gentleman of social standing, “Give Christ your virgin love. You cannot put your love and heart into better hands. Oh, if you knew him and saw his beauty, your love, your liking, your heart, your desires would close with him and cleave to him.” And then these words, “Oh fair sun and fair moon and fair stars and fair flowers and fair roses and fair lilies and fair creatures, but oh ten thousand thousand times fairer, Lord Jesus.”

Hamilton explains that quote like this.

HAMILTON: He’s saying to this man who is who is troubled, ‘If you could but see how glorious your savior is, your troubles wouldn't disappear. But would be put in their proper perspective.’

These Biblical truths were pressed into Rutherford’s heart through great losses in his life. Two of his children died in infancy. And a church leader who disliked his politics tried to sabotage Rutherford’s ministry.

HAMILTON: In 1636, he's exiled to the northeast of Scotland. But during that exile, he writes 222 of the 365 extant letters. So if Satan sought to silence Rutherford, what he intended for evil, God turned for good.

While isolated in this small, Scottish town, Rutherford saw his ministry grow in surprising ways. He found an audience far beyond his church pews through letters and the social media of his day—old fashioned word of mouth.

HAMILTON: People would walk miles, sometimes for days, to go to Communion seasons. Because there was something about Rutherford.

The title of our Classic Book of the Month, The Loveliness of Christ, comes from a story about an English merchant who traveled to Scotland.

HAMILTON: He goes round four different significant centers and he says, I heard a man in Irvine near Glasgow who preached the sovereignty of God and it was delightful. I went to Edinburgh and heard another man and he showed me the majesty of God and I was profoundly humbled. And then I went to Anwoth. And I heard a little fair man called Samuel Rutherford. And he showed me the loveliness of Christ.

That focus on Christ really became the hallmark of Rutherford’s preaching as well as his letters.

HAMILTON: “Christ is a well of life, but who knows how deep it is to the bottom?” That's just Rutherford. “What a fair one, what an excellent, lovely ravishing one is Jesus. Put the beauty of ten thousand thousand worlds of paradise in one, it would be less to that fair and dearest well-beloved Christ.” I mean, people are reading this and thinking, goodness me, this isn't just someone teaching the Bible. This is someone holding out to me Jesus Christ.

Of course, Rutherford wasn’t perfect. He often spoke bitterly about his political opponents, especially later in life. And some of his letters seem a little over the top in their use of marriage language for Christ and His church. That said, The Loveliness of Christ avoids these pitfalls and presents some of the best quotes of Rutherford’s letters.

HAMILTON: I would give it to anyone. I would give. I would give it to anyone who had an appetite for the Lord. I would give it to anyone who wanted to know Christ better. I'd give it to anyone who was struggling, who was finding life hard. I would actually give it to any professing Christian in the hope that reading it, they would either discover, I don't know who this Jesus Christ is, I need to get to know Him. And it might awaken them to their need of Christ. Or at the same time, the Christian might realize, this is the Christ that I know, but here is a man who will help me to get to know him better.

Here’s hoping we all get to know Christ a little better this Christmas. To help with that, I’ll close with John Yany’s remix of The Sands of Time are Sinking. The words may not be direct quotes from Rutherford’s writings, but they draw on the heart of his work.

I’m Emily Whitten.

CLIP: [LYRIC] The king in all his beauty, without a veil is seen. It was a worthy journey, though death lay in between. The lamb and all his ransomed upon Mt. Zion stands. His kingdom won’t be shaken. It’s Emmanuel’s land. 

I’d like to add one more thought about knowing Christ better: One practical way we do that is by looking for how He’s at work in the world … and that’s precisely what journalism at its best can do.So, for example, whether we’re listening to a report on the Supreme Court and legal obstacles to protecting human life. Or a report on the economy that emphasizes how God created men and women to be productive. Or my discussion each month on the richness of Classic Books, it’s what we strive for here at WORLD: To bring you faithful Biblical reporting in a variety of ways.

This month is WORLD’s December Giving Drive. My colleagues and I work hard every day of the year reporting and producing news and opinion for your ears and eyes and hearts and minds, all from a perspective that puts Christ at the center. That work requires resources and we rely on you for that. Please consider a gift of support today and visit WNG.org/donate. That’s WNG.org/donate. Thanks.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 7th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

It was eighty years ago today that Japan bombed the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. The attack killed 2,403 Americans and destroyed much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Congress declared war on Japan the next day, and thus would enter the conflict that would become known as World War II.

REICHARD: Most of the brave men and women who witnessed the events of that day are no longer with us. But their memories live on, thanks to technology.

Over the years, WORLD reporters have talked to several veterans about their experiences in World War II. We’ve gone back through our production archives and pieced together this tribute to the men and women of the armed forces, and their loved ones, who lived through the attack.

EICHER: In order of appearance: Fred Aldridge, Bill Muehleib, Edith Fridely, Jack Cornelison, Tom Bass, Jim Downing, Jones Penwell, and Leonard Livingston.

FRED ALDRIDGE: Yeah, it was a regular Sunday morning. Everybody wanted to sleep in but of course, they had revelry and made everyone get up.

BILL MUEHLEIB: We heard these noises and we could see the aircraft attacking the installations on Hickam Field. And remember, this happened in the daytime, but because of the burning oil and fuel and ships and so forth, it was dark, tremendous amount of noise.

EDITH FRIDLEY: I first heard about Pearl Harbor being bombed when I came home from church, and I heard the radio telling all about it. We knew we had to do something.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANOR ROOSEVELT: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.

JACK CORNELISON: I don't know how you explain terror (laugh). It’s not easy. I still have flashbacks.

FDR: The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

TOM BASS: They didn't want the war. But they were forced into it of course. That is one day, I will never forget.

FDR: I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost.

JIM DOWNING: So just while I was fighting fires, I said “now the parents will never know what happened to their sons.” So I began to memorize these names. I was the postmaster on the ship, so I had access to their addresses. So that's what I did until the fires were out.

FDR: With confidence in our armed forces. With the unbounding determination of our people...

JONES PENWELL: The battleship is turned over with bottom-side up. It was slick when I bailed off into the water there and the water was on fire. No one else out of that battleship Oklahoma came up after it was bombed and rolled over of course.

FDR: ...we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.

LEONARD LIVINGSTON: I've been to God-awful places. So you know, when you come back to the United States, you learn to appreciate it. I know I do.

FDR: No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion. The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory! [APPLAUSE]

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: trade policy. We’ll talk about the Biden administration’s approach to doing business with our closest neighbors.

And, football. Or soccer, if you prefer. We’ll visit France, where the game is also an opportunity for ministry.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

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 the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

Please remember WORLD’s December Giving Drive to keep our journalism strong and supplied—WNG.org/donate.

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.