The World and Everything in It: January 12, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. We are the Clayburn family. I'm Hunter, I'm Hannah, I'm Eli, and I'm Ezra, along with a dog, rabbit, and guinea pig in Cypress, Texas. Our homeschool curriculum asked us to pray for the media based on Proverbs 14:34. We are praying for World News Group. Hope you enjoy today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! Today on Culture Friday the pope on surrogacy, the press on homeschooling, and the reckoning for friends of Jeffrey Epstein.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Two out of three is going to have to do. We’ll talk it over with John Stonestreet in just a few minutes.

Also today an irreverent comedy that intends to inspire faith, but faith in what?

CLARENCE: I’m Clarence. I’m not a man without faults. I played the cards I was dealt.

BROWN: It’s Friday, January 12th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Airstrikes on Houthi targets » The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen Thursday. Fighter jets struck Houthi targets from the air while warships launched Tomahawk missiles from nearby waters.

It was a massive strike in retaliation for attacks against commercial ships. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

KIRBY: These attacks against vessels in the Red Sea pose a direct threat to lives, to freedom of navigation, and to global trade in one of the world’s most critical waterways.

Last week, the US and allied nations gave Houthi rebels what they called their final warning to halt the attacks for face a military response.

The Iran-backed terror group responded with its biggest attack yet on commercial shipping routes in the Red Sea.

The strikes marked the first U.S. military response to a campaign of drone and missile attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran Ship seizure » Meantime, Washington is calling on Iran to release an oil tanker and its crew after it seized the vessel off the coast of Oman Thursday.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel:

PATEL: Iran and Iran-abled provocative actions like this are a menace to the global economy and it must cease. We in the United States will continue to work to deter and confront the full range of Iran's concerning and destabilizing behaviors.

Iran says it commandeered the Greek-owned vessel as payback for the U.S. confiscating the same vessel–and its oil last year as it enforced sanctions against Iran.

Israel hearing » Israel is defending itself at the U-N’s International Court of Justice with a hearing now underway after South Africa accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa. He delivered opening statements yesterday.

NGCUKAITOBI: Israel has a genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza. That is evident from the way in which Israel’s military attack is being conducted.

NETANYAHU: [SPEAKING HEBREW]

But Israel says it is Hamas that chooses to use civilians as human shields and that destroying the terror network is critical for Israel’s survival.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denounced what he called an “upside-down world.”

NETANYAHU: [SPEAKING HEBREW]

He said, "We fight terrorists, and we fight lies. The State of Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting genocide."

The court ultimately has no authority over Israel. And the United States would likely veto any resolution proposed within the UN Security Council to punish Israel.

Lloyd Austin IG probe » The Pentagon’s inspector general will be investigating Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to report his recent hospitalization to the White House or Congress for several days after he checked in.

Republicans lawmakers say they have questions as well. Sen. Roger Wicker is a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee:

WICKER: Who did they tell? Who instructed them not to bring this to the attention of the President? And of the American public, and of the coequal—and of the members of the coequal branch of government.

Some Republicans have called for Austin’s resignation.

But the White House has rejected those calls.

Austin experienced complications after surgery related to prostate cancer. The secretary had also kept President Biden in the dark about his cancer diagnosis.

Inflation » Inflation surged unexpectedly in December. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The Labor Department says the consumer price index rose three-tenths of one percent from November.

Analysts say soaring energy and housing costs are largely to blame.

The news makes it less likely that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as some had hoped.

Inflation is down sharply from its 9.1% peak in 2022, but it remains stubbornly elevated, well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

American households are feeling the sting of inflation, particularly for essential items like groceries and rent. And 401(k) hardship withdrawals have spiked, underscoring the financial strain.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Trump civil fraud » In a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, Donald Trump ripped into New York Attorney General Letitia James and others. In a fiery six-minute speech, he called the civil trial a political persecution.

The judge barred him from giving an official closing argument in the civil fraud trial involving his family business. But Judge Arthur Engoron did allow Trump to deliver an impromptu speech before breaking for lunch.

He later told reporters:

TRUMP: It’s all a conspiracy to try and get Biden, who can’t put two sentences together — trying to get him into office.

He called the attorney general “corrupt.” But James fired back:

JAMES: This case has never been about politics or a personal vendetta. This case is about facts and the law. And Mr. Donald Trump violated the law.

James alleges that Trump’s company falsified numbers it used in business contracts. But this, again, this is not a criminal trial.

Judge Engoron presided over the case without a jury and will announce his decision in the weeks ahead.

His previous rulings indicated that he’ll likely find Trump and his co-defendants liable on some claims.

James wants to bar Trump from doing business in New York and fine his company nearly $400 million dollars.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, a different kind of faith-based film.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 5th of January, 2024.

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

Morning, John!

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

EICHER: Well, John, we talk about the pope a lot, because he’s just always making news, and the Roman Catholic church is a huge institution: 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, one in 6 people is a Catholic believer, so what the pope says and does is important or at least newsworthy.

John, interesting the pope this week urges governments around the world to ban the practice of surrogacy, by which he means he thinks it should be illegal for so-called surrogate mothers to conceive and give birth to a child for the sole purpose of adopting out that child. Pope Francis calling the practice “despicable.”

Per The New York Times: the unborn child must not be turned into an “object of trafficking,” the pope’s words.

Unlike his ambiguous words on blessings for same-sex couples, he leaves no doubt here, doesn’t he, John?

STONESTREET: Well, he's exactly right. And I was actually thrilled, absolutely thrilled. And I feel like I also I need to say that because I wasn't necessarily, you know, easily on the the pope the last time we talked about him, which was, it feels like it was just quite recently, when there was an intentional seed of confusion. So in the church about same sex relationships, and certainly we have seen that confusion, bear out, but he was morally clear on this one. And so I really appreciated that. And, you know, I think it's also important to say in light of this, that he exhibited with that statement, a kind of moral clarity that many Protestants have not exhibited, in their decisions, our willingness to kind of go down the line of artificial reproductive technologies of various forms. without really thinking through the ethical analysis, we've kind of embraced the, if it's possible, it must be okay. And if it lets me have what I want, then it must be okay mentality. And I say that despite understanding, of course, that infertility is one of the most painful things that a couple in particular a woman can experience. And of course, that pain itself points to the sort of creatures we are the sort of humans that we were made to be by God, male and female and male and female together. But of course, what's driving much of the International surrogacy market right now are Western gay couples, who hire surrogates. And then when they get the babies, they lay on the bed as if one of them actually just gave birth. I don't know where this trend started. We certainly saw it with Pete Buttigieg. But can I just say, good heavens that needs to stop. But you know, what else needs to stop is a widespread problem and Protestantism not making the connection to the understanding of who we are as human beings, male and female, and babies born in the image and likeness of God not products, and then drawing out those ethical implications for these technologies. And these practices which have been largely accepted. Case in point, you know, I think it was two, three years ago, were a major Christian publication, Christianity Today, had a cover article featuring the Christian surrogates, the Christian women who think of surrogacy as their ministry, and without any sort of accompanying and ethical analysis in that piece. This was a level of ethical clarity from this Pope that is needed, and is actually needed for Protestants as well.

BROWN: John, in my mainstream media days, there was this phrase that was sometimes used in the newsroom, “Such and such is scaring the people again.” And that means exactly how it sounds. Typically, it was used in the context of preparing viewers for some type of natural disaster and the hype that can go with that. But I heard you say recently that this phrase could also be applied to what’s happening right now in the mainstream media and their treatment of homeschooling.

Talk about the narrative that’s been pushed.

STONESTREET: Well, it's certainly widespread, but the case in point is over the last couple of months, the Washington Post, and this is something obviously that's close to my heart. I started to notice an increasing number of scare stories, but there was this whole series three in the month of December, basically, we no one telling a story of abuse and neglect. That was a horrific story, the mistreatment of a child. Of course another huge factor in this story was the fact that this was a broken home and a blended home, which is the most dangerous home for a child statistically. And again, I'm not saying that all blended homes are dangerous by any means. Some of them are very redemptive and hopeful. But the breakdown of the family is the most dangerous context in which a child actually lives. Because that was never mentioned. Then you have the articles. And they ran one of these as well, where experts are concerned with the big growth in homeschooling. And you know, that homeschooling has grown explosively. Since the pandemic over a million. It's almost doubled in size. And that's not even counting, of course, all the other alternatives that have also exploded. And if that's all the case, maybe the headline of the story should be why parents are choosing so many alternatives, you know, other than the ones that the experts except as the status quo. And that was what was bizarre in this whole piece. Nowhere did anyone look at the best exes and assume, well, maybe the reason that parents have chosen this is they didn't buy the line from the various politicians who in the last couple years said it out loud that we know better than you. Maybe it was because parents got the see into what happened at the Loudoun County School Board and other school boards. Like it, maybe it was because they actually saw what their kids were being taught. And the ideological indoctrination. Maybe, you know, there have been an awful lot of stories of sexual abuse that have come out of the public school that goes completely unscrutinized Oh, yeah, here's the other great one was another article by the post highlighting the controversial researcher who's been doing this for homeschooling for years guy named Brian rea. And of course, the data that he has produced for a long time has really shown very positive results for homeschooling, excelling, compared to public school peers in so many ways. And of course, the attack there was not on his methodology or anything like that it was the fact that he has an estranged daughter, because you know, no public school teachers or public school researchers or school board leaders have a strange daughters. It's just it's such a bizarre kind of tactic. That is really fear mongering. And I really hope we're in this moment, it seems like we are where there's such disruption to the status quo in the state system that you get pieces like this. But it's important than I think, to point out the ideological, and the the really the methodological flaws and how they write these pieces.

EICHER: Older story here, but I did want to get your comment on the much-anticipated release of the Epstein list that turned out not to tell us anything we hadn’t already heard. John, it’s hard not to get cynical about this, that we hear there are so many on this list, influential people, and there’s going to be a reckoning, but it just never happens. And it needs to happen, and it’s kind of frustrating — isn’t it? — that the truth is being kept from us on such a consequential matter.

STONESTREET: Yeah, I mean, it is. I mean, I think the rumor mill had kind of, you know, preceded the release of the documents, there really wasn't anything that a whole lot of people didn't suspect for a really long time. And then of course, at that point, you're just like, Well, why all the secrecy? Why all that and that just kind of increases, that constant erosion that seems to be taking right happening right now, in terms of our ability to trust the institutions we should be able to trust. And we just don't and, you know, it's like, stop making the conspiracy theorists, I'm ready to stop being one if you can help, you know, just by not kind of doing all this secretive hiding stuff. And, of course, the positions of power. And, you know, the more we know, even you know, about the Hunter Biden involvement with foreign entities and the laptop and all that it's like, you know, we were sure that there was nothing here until there was, you know, and the problem is, is that this is just run on a kind of a consistent stream of other stories from COVID policies and medical lock downs, and all that sort of stuff is that we just kind of know now that we're not being told the truth, or at least not the sufficient truth. And I think that's the bigger issue. This is not a sustainable situation. It's not a sustainable way of living together. And I think, too, it underscores the fact that the sexual revolution gave birth to the Epstein's and the Harvey Weinstein's. It's not that there was not exploitation of children and other times in other places. Of course, there was it's this sort of sexualization of younger and younger people was consistently argued in the name of ideas than the name of beliefs about sexual freedom and sexual fulfillment. And what it's turned out is is all of that stuff. Not only was not true, but it was actually harmful. And so were the chickens have come home to roost again, just like with the me to movement and some other things. And this is all part of that narrative. And so it does need to be resolved so we can move forward and we can actually help the victims and bring justice to those who deserve it. And then also move forward so that we can be a kind of a community and a culture that protects children instead of exploits them in the future.

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

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Christmas tree lots are closed until next year, but what about the trees that didn’t find a home?

ZOO DIRECTOR: Let the animals have them and let them. Either, they'll either eat them or it's great enrichment for them at the same time.

Sound there from 13 WMAZ of Macon, Georgia. In early January, zoos from Tennessee to Berlin in Germany take unwanted trees and give them to the animals.

They tout the Vitamin C, supposed to be good for ’em.

SVENJA EISENBARTH: Maybe it's like the same like the treats we have here on the Christmas market. You don't eat it every year, but when you find it on the Christmas market, then it's really yummy.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Oooh, ja, sehr lecker. But I dunno. I don’t think even my dog would eat those. And you know she likes to eat.

BROWN: Oh I know! But she’s got her standards! 

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, January 12th, 2024. 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: another faith-based movie debuts in theaters this weekend. Last Friday, we talked about how faith-based movies filled an important niche at movie theaters in 2023. But the movie that comes out today takes the genre in a different direction.

Here’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino to talk about The Book of Clarence.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Director Jeymes Samuel has said he loves Hollywood’s Bible epics from the 1950s—movies like The Robe and Ben-Hur. But Samuel is also a British rapper and musician who goes by the stage name “The Bullitts.” His new film, The Book of Clarence takes these various interests and mashes them together in a swords-and-sandals hip-hop movie about faith that centers on the black experience.

MUSIC: [Hallelujah Heaven]

The Book of Clarence takes place in A.D. 33, and the opening scene depicts the crucifixion of a number of criminals. One of them is Clarence—played by the talented LaKeith Stanfield. The movie immediately flashes back to tell the story of how the movie’s hero came to this painful fate.

CLARENCE: I’m Clarence. I’m not a man without faults. I played the cards I was dealt.

Clarence is a hustler and minor drug dealer on the dusty streets of “Lower Jerusalem.” He’s got ambition, but that ambition puts him sideways with a local mobster known as Jedediah the Terrible. Clarence has just a few days to repay Jedediah the money he owes him or face some terrible consequences.

ELIJAH: Clarence, it’s him.

CLARENCE: Jesus of Nazareth.

After seeing Jesus of Nazareth walk through Jerusalem, Clarence gets some inspiration. Though Clarence doesn’t actually believe in God, he decides to embrace religion.

Clarence decides to pose as a messiah. He gives fake sermons and stages fake miracles. Maybe messianic pretensions can get Clarence the money, power, and influence—as well as the girl—he desires.

The Book of Clarence is an irreverent comedy made in the spirit of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. But most of Samuel’s satirical updates focus on what it means to be black. In this story, all the Jews of Jerusalem are black, while the Roman occupiers are all white. Black British actor Nicholas Pinnock plays Jesus as a wise and somber man with super powers. White British actor James McAvoy plays Pontius Pilate as a Roman leader who is relatively uninterested in the various messiahs of Jerusalem, but who nonetheless continues systematic oppression when called upon.

PONTIUS PILATE: If you give me Jesus of Nazareth, I will let you walk free. And I will give you power. Wealth. You’ll be somebody.

The duplicitous Clarence gets caught in the middle, and in the process he learns something about faith.

The movie The Book of Clarence is a little like its main character. It defies expectations and easy explanations. It mocks sacred cows. It revels in absurdities and anachronisms. And it gets its PG-13 rating by replacing first-century Jewish society with present-day urban black culture. We get depictions of smoking and drug use and plenty of strong language. There are also a couple of scenes reminiscent of a nightclub that feature suggestive dancing. But even without those elements, the beatings meted out by the Romans would have justified the rating.

CLARENCE: I’d die before I gave him up to Rome.

PONTIUS PILATE: Then death it is.

While The Life of Brian used its comedy to subvert religion, Samuel hopes his satire will inspire faith. Despite the irreverence and inappropriate content, there is a sincerity at the heart of The Book of Clarence. Jesus’ apostles might seem dimwitted, but the gospel writers also portray them that way. And John the Baptist might be portrayed as a sharp-tongued no-nonsense preacher who doesn’t tolerate religious fakery, but that seems spot on too. Samuel offers sly critiques of charlatan preachers of the prosperity gospel whose first priority is their own prosperity. The filmmaker really wants the audience to take Christianity seriously as they watch Clarence embark on a journey from faithlessness to faithfulness. And we actually get a startling depiction of the suffering and sacrifice required to follow Jesus.

I don’t doubt the sincerity of Samuel’s faith, but I feel like the content of the faith he offers in this movie leaves something to be desired. Clarence does plenty of bad things, but there’s not really any emphasis on sin. He’s just a guy who’s trying to figure things out.

JOHN THE BAPTIST: Clarence, in spite of your selfish ways, there’s a beautiful soul in there somewhere.

Part of his journey is exploring the connection between belief and knowledge. Samuel suggests that ignorance, rather than sin, is humanity’s true problem, so what we need is more enlightenment rather than redemption. But if Jesus isn’t offering redemption, then what is he doing in this movie? Samuel says that through faith in Jesus we learn that those dreams of ours that seem out of reach might be attainable after all.

Despite some amusing scenes and strong performances, the gospel according to The Book of Clarence is a far cry from “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

I’m Collin Garbarino.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, January 12th, 2024. 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. Up next: WORLD Opinions Commentator Jerry Bowyer on something so simple as saying the day, date, and year, and how we declare the sovereignty of God when we do.

JERRY BOWYER: “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar … the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.…” Why would it matter that John the Baptist’s ministry started fifteen years after Tiberius became emperor of Rome? Regnal dating is why. The people of Christendom have gotten used to a calendar that doesn’t restart every time a monarch dies. But the revolutionary shock of a universal and unending calendar should not be lost on us any longer. Every time we sign a contract or a check and write the number 2024 we are declaring the sovereign dominion of Jesus the Christ.

Regnal or “kingly” dating was the common practice among pagans to reset the calendar whenever one king died and another took his place. In ancient Rome, the announcement of a new emperor was a “euangelion,” in English a “Gospel.” But what happens when we have a King who will never die? What happens is that the calendar keeps adding numbers as that new kingdom accumulates more years of reign.

Sometimes, especially in the East, dynastic dating is used, as in the Quin Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty of China. But the principle is still the same—it is still rulership according to the flesh and it is subject to decay and death.

The modern world often attempts to reset history according to new ideologies. The French Revolution tried to reset the clock with “year one,” but the experiment lasted less than a generation. The dictator Pol Pot’s murderous regime also declared a Year One. But that too passed and has been forgotten. The current dynasty in North Korea has attempted to blend ideology and lineage into one by launching the Juche Calendar, dated from the birth of the grandfather of the current dictator. Who wants to take bets on whether it will still be around 2,024 years from now?

The American “Revolution” largely avoided the Year Zero ideology that would be adopted by the French shortly thereafter. The Novus Ordo Seclorum on the national seal (which you can find on the back of your dollar bills) does indeed mark a “New Order of the Ages,” but one that exists within the Gregorian dating of the era of Christ, not as an interruption of it.

The academic trend to scrap BC and AD in favor of BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) unintentionally emphasizes the sovereignty of Christ. No one is leading the charge to change Thursday into a generic Day 5, because no one fears Thor any longer. Jesus is He who must not be named, even in Latin. There is some Christian talk about keeping BCE and CE intact but redefining them as Before Christian Era and Christian Era respectively. But this concedes too much. Some hope that this Christian Era will fade away as did the Ming. But A.D., Anno Domini, declares that He is Lord, not just that we think He is, but that He actually is.

So, let’s commit ourselves to live as faithful believers in this Year of Our Lord, 2024.

I’m Jerry Bowyer.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, now it’s time to thank the team who put the program together this week:

Mary Reichard, Jenny Rough, David Bahnsen, Daniel Suhr, Bonnie Pritchett, Daniel Darling, Onize Ohikere, Mary Muncy, Janie B. Cheaney, Will Inboden, Carolina Lumetta, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, Collin Garbarino, and Jerry Bowyer.

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

Thanks also to our breaking news interns…Tobin Jacobson, Johanna Huebscher, and Alex Carmenaty.

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

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Our producer is Harrison Watters. 

Our Senior producer is Kristen Flavin and Paul Butler is Executive producer.

Additional production assistance from Benj Eicher, Lillian Hamman, Bekah McCallum, and Emily Whitten.

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, “Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.” —Matthew 14:19-20

Worship with brothers and sisters in Christ in Church this weekend, and Lord willing, we’ll meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

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