The World and Everything in It: July 18, 2025

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday, Joanna and Chip Gaines stir controversy with a new show and a new worldview—or so it seems.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Katie McCoy is standing by to talk about that, and offer some Biblical thinking on immigration.

Also today—Smurfs the musical.

KEN: You don’t get a name until you earn it.

A dubious name at that, reviewer Collin Garbarino says it gives Snow White a run for her money, not in a good way.

BROWN: It’s Friday, July 18th. 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: Ukraine latest » More U.S. Patriot missile defense systems will soon be on their way to Ukraine.

That from NATO’s top general, Alexus Grynkewich:

GRYNKEWICH: I'm not going to reveal to the Russians or anyone else the exact numbers of weapons that we're transferring or when those will happen but what I will say is that preparations are underway. We're working very closely with the Germans on the Patriot transfer. And the guidance that I've been given has been to move out as quickly as possible.

And the White House says the clock is ticking on President Trump's 50-day ultimatum for Russia to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT: If Russia refuses to legitimately agree to a ceasefire, then they will face very steep tariffs and they will also face secondary sanctions, so countries that are purchasing oil from Russia will be sanctioned as well, and of course that will do deep damage to Russia's economy.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv, a shakeup at the top of the Ukrainian government.

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulating Yulia Svyrydenko after she was appointed as the country's new prime minister.

She replaces Denys Shmyhal, who is now heading up Ukraine’s defense ministry.

Recissions package » Lawmakers debated on the House floor through the night and into the early morning hours today ahead of a vote on a bill that would cut billions in federal spending.

Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks:

MEEKS:  Mr. Speaker, this Rescissions package is disastrous. It cuts $8 billion in lifesaving and critical US aide assistance.

Republicans argued the legislation cuts only wasteful spending and foreign aid programs that do not align with American interests.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Republicans were determined to send it to President Trump’s desk:

SCALISE:  Despite so many attempts by the Democrats to block this effort to cut waste, fraud, and abuse and government spending.

The bill would also claw back about a billion dollars of taxpayer money that went to NPR and PBS each year.

The bill passed in the Senate early Thursday morning.

Trump health » Karoline Leavitt also spoke with reporters Thursday about a health concern involving President Trump.

The White House says the president had a recent medical checkup after he noticed “mild swelling” in his lower legs.

LEAVITT:  Doppler ultrasounds were performed and revealed chronic venous insufficiency, a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70.

That condition occurs when small valves inside the veins that normally help move blood against gravity gradually lose the ability to work properly.

Leavitt said doctors found no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease.

She said the 79-year-old president remains in—quote—“excellent health.”

Jobs, Retail sales numbers » New jobs and retail spending numbers suggest the US economy remains solid. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Initial jobless claims unexpectedly edged lower this week. They fell by 7,000 to 221,000. That was well below economists’ expectations. It marks the fifth straight weekly decline, reaching the lowest level since mid‑April.

The drop suggests hiring is steady, even while job openings remain modest. Many analysts say it’s another sign that the job market remains solid.

Despite some economists’ fears about downstream effects from tariffs, the Commerce Department says spending rose six-tenths of a percent (0.6%) in June after dipping in May.

President Trump, reacting to the numbers Thursday, again called on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.

For WORLD, I’m Benj Eicher.

Suspect arrested for threats against rep. Greene » Federal authorities have arrested a Maryland man who they say repeatedly threatened to assault and kill Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and her family.

Interim US Attorney for the District of Colunbia Jeanine Piro:

PIRO:  The United States Capitol Police executed an arrest warrant resulting in the arrest of an individual by the name of Seth Jason.

An indictment unsealed Thursday says the 64-year-old suspect repeatedly threatened violence during several calls to the Republican Congresswoman’s district offices for more than a year.

Police say Jason worked for Voice of America and made threatening calls using phone lines connected to studios and control rooms at the news agency’s Washington headquarters.

Connie Francis Obituary » Singer Connie Francis has died.

Francis was a groundbreaking pop star who in 1961 became the first female artist with a N0. 1 hit on Billboard’s top 100 chart with “Everybody's Somebody's Fool”.

MUSIC: [Francis–Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool]

She was also well known for pop hits like “Where the Boys Are” and “Stupid Cupid.”

MUSIC: [Stupid Cupid]

That song and others found a new audience among younger generations, surging in popularity across social media over the past year.

Connie Francis was 87 years old.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Katie McCoy is standing by for Culture Friday. Plus, saying goodbye to a dear friend.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, July 18th. 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.

Before we get underway I think we owe you an update on the June giving drive. It always takes a little bit to get the final tally, because of mail delays, some like to send physical checks. The delays were an even bigger deal this year, because some mailed checks to our old address, which is, as you probably know, gone, and so that complicated things a bit. But I want to report we did make our budget for the year.

Was talking this over with Andrew Belz. He’s one of our major gift officers and Andrew really wanted to grab a mic and thank you personally. Andrew

ANDREW BELZ: Hey, thanks for the opportunity to speak to your great podcast listeners. I’ve got so much to say in gratitude—but to keep it short and make sure I don’t leave out anything important, I wrote it down. So here goes:

Our WORLD donors—we call you our WORLD Movers—you really came through for us over the last several months.

So to each one: THANK YOU.

In October, when Hurricane Helene destroyed our Asheville offices and studios, you rallied! Your response to our short SOS campaign blew us away. You reminded us we’re not alone.

Then in December, many gave again—above and beyond. And that even after the generosity you had already shown in October.

And in June, you brought us over the finish line. Now we feel prepared and strengthened for the year ahead.

So as I say thank you, I hope you can hear a chorus of gratitude from our team: not just my friends and colleagues in development … I mean the whole team … from the business offices to the people behind the microphones here at WORLD.

We all know it’s your giving that makes our work possible, and so for that team, I’m honored to get to say: We couldn’t do this work of Christian journalism without you. So thanks!

EICHER: Andrew, good news! Thanks for your work; this was helpful.

BELZ: Great. Thanks.

BROWN: Alright, it’s Culture Friday and joining us now is author and speaker Katie McCoy. Good morning, Katie.

KATIE MCCOY: Good morning, Nick and Myrna.

BROWN: Let’s start with the lifestyle influencers Chip and Joanna Gaines. They are what you might call “Christian celebrities” and they’ve created controversy over a new show that features a same-sex couple. Chip offered a pointed defense of that choice—on social media at least.

Here’s how he framed it up: “Talk, ask questions, listen. Maybe even learn,” he wrote. And then, “Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture?”

Chip and Joanna built their platform on a brand of Christian wholesomeness. So for them to lean into LGBTQ rhetoric feels a little like a pivot away from who we understood them to be … or maybe we’re wrong about that and it’s more of an unveiling of long-held views. What do you say, Katie? Departure or reveal?

MCCOY: Oh, Myrna, this has been so disappointing, but not surprising. I’ve got a lot of thoughts about this, but the first one is: compromise is so boring. It’s just such a boring narrative of someone who gets all of this ascendancy, builds an empire, has this enormous brand, and then—right at, if you want to say, the height of their success—they do what we could probably call Bud Light-ing themselves. It certainly seems like they’re about to be in that Bud Light territory, where they’ve really forgotten their constituency and the values of the people that helped them build this brand and this empire.

It’s not only disappointing, but it’s more than a little offensive. They know the people that have supported them over the years. And now the people that they really made a lot of material wealth off of—they now seem to scorn and accuse of lacking God’s love. They are platforming what they know is not just offensive but antithetical to Christian values, to the Scriptures. Then they seem to cry foul. A lot of his tweets seem to cry foul and almost play the victim. This is one of the defining issues of our time because of how much compromise there has been. The Bible is clear. Christian teaching and the history of the church are clear, but now, all of a sudden, we live in a society where people believe they are more enlightened than the Bible and that they can judge for themselves what is right and wrong. And now, in the name of God’s love and the name of God’s grace, it looks like they are going the way of so many others in our culture today.

This all reminds me of something that, early in ministry, a very dear friend told me: Jesus doesn’t call us to be famous. He calls us to be faithful. And I’m afraid it looks like Chip and Joanna Gaines—they’ve become very famous—but from the looks of it, they have chosen not to be faithful.

EICHER: Ooh, yeah, I did pick up the strawmanning and the not-so-subtle scorning with comments like, “Love one another, it’s not difficult.” Just misapplying the whole concept.

I want to stay on the subject but make a slight turn, Katie. You and I were texting about this idea this week, as the story was developing. And as it was, remember I said, this capitulation seems really dated … this is “so 2022” … and you made the point that unlike just a few years ago, there’s less cultural pressure. There’s more of a permission structure to say no to the demands of the LGBTQ movement. Say a little more about that.

MCCOY: Yeah, isn’t it interesting—the vibes have shifted and the tides have turned since 2022. I think about on HGTV, there were these brothers—the Benham brothers—and they did lose their show over holding fast to Biblical beliefs. So you juxtapose that with what we’re seeing now with Chip and Joanna Gaines, and it just adds to not only the disappointment but kind of the bewilderment.

Now there is even more outspokenness among Christians to say, “Look, we understand that the world is going to oppose a Biblical sexual ethic. We’re not expecting to be accepted.” And there is that solidarity and community with other believers who are saying, “Here we stand. We are going to stand on Scripture and nothing else.” So it’s so unusual that they would choose now to make this revelation.

I don’t know if this has sort of been what they always believed. I don’t know if it is the familiar story that there are friendships and relationships that they have that, in the name of keeping those friendships and relationships, they’re going to compromise on what God really calls love.

Nick, you brought up his tweet about how he said, “It’s not difficult,” and I think that might be one of the biggest things that we could push back on. It is difficult. It’s very difficult to die to your desire for acceptance and approval by the world. That is unbelievably difficult. Jesus calls it taking up our cross and following him. He calls it being hated by the world. “Woe to you,” he says, “when all people praise and think well of you,” because that’s how they treated the false prophets. In fact, he told us that we would be despised.

It might be simple—it’s not complicated to love other people—but it is very difficult when loving them looks like telling them what they don’t want to hear, in the name of confronting them with the truth that will set them free: being reconciled to their Creator and repenting and turning to Christ. That’s difficult. The easy thing is to just say, “Oh, we have a new hermeneutic. We have a new way of interpreting these Bible verses that the church has accepted for 2,000 years.” That’s the easy way. The difficult way is to stand on what is true, in the name of serving and representing God.

EICHER: Let’s turn to immigration. One of the major features of the big spending bill signed into law this month was a significant increase in funding to beef up immigration enforcement. Of course, it’s also led to a new wave of sometimes violent protest.

I thought Andrew Walker’s piece at WORLD Opinions was timely. He’d returned from an overseas trip with some fresh thinking on what the Bible says about borders. He titled the piece “Borders are Biblical” … pointing to Acts chapter 17 … about God having determined the boundaries of our dwelling places. He makes the argument that national boundaries are not a modern invention, but a creational good. They’re meant to uphold justice, support the rule of law, and preserve cultural distinctiveness.

But others cite Old Testament commands to welcome the foreigner and remember Israel’s sojourner status. Where do you land on all this, Katie?

MCCOY: Well, like a lot of things that we glean from the Old Testament, we have to make sure that we are interpreting it in context. So first of all, let’s take a moment and note how so often we hear these Old Testament verses when we’re talking about immigration, but that same book of the Bible—whether it’s Leviticus or Deuteronomy—has very stern punishment for things like sexual sin. And we certainly don’t hear some of those same people quoting those Bible verses and talking about those Bible verses as patterns for how we should organize society. But when it comes to immigration, all of a sudden, people are scholars and experts in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Let’s look at the context of ancient Israel, especially in Deuteronomy. Here’s what I want listeners to know: It is a staggering amount of grace that God gave to foreigners among his people. It is nothing short of beautiful. Israel welcomed people from other nations with this humanitarian spirit that was absolutely unknown in the ancient Near East. They gave dignity to other people, no matter what their ethnicity, no matter what language they spoke, no matter their socioeconomic status. So if you were impoverished, if you were disadvantaged, there were legal protections that God put in place. And he did that because ancient Israel was supposed to be like, “Hey, this is Exhibit A of what it looks like to live under the law of God—the good, righteous, and just law of God.”

But here’s something that people often forget about these laws, Nick: For Israel to treat foreigners with compassion, they had to know who they are. Now, let that sink in when we’re talking about some of our modern conversations related to immigration. It’s baked into the law. It’s assumed. They knew who was living among them. And people who were foreigners or resident aliens—they also assimilated into Israelite culture. They certainly weren’t free to worship pagan gods. There were limits to these liberties.

Even as there were these huge nationwide celebrations that would benefit foreigners—there would be offerings made that the priests would share with the foreigners—they were included into even Israel’s celebrations. However, there was still a difference. There were certain privileges that were reserved economically for Israelites with other Israelites. Not to mention—here’s the big one—it was a theocracy, meaning it was a government ruled by God. Israel was a theocracy in this time in history to be God’s missionaries to the pagan nations. They were his missionaries not only in their care for the poor and how they treated the foreigner but also in their holiness and their moral purity.

So we can’t just cherry-pick these verses in the Pentateuch and then claim that it harmonizes with a specific social policy. This is not the kind of point-for-point correlation to support partisan ideas. We can glean principles, and we should glean principles and wisdom from them. We should understand that the God of justice has the right to define what justice and dignity for every human being looks like. But we can’t say that these verses support one side of the partisan aisle on immigration policy.

BROWN: Well, before we let you go, Katie, would you reflect with us on the death of Pastor John MacArthur? Of course MacArthur died this week at age 86. He pastored Grace Community Church in California for more than half a century. He founded The Master’s Seminary. He wrote nearly 400 books. He taught the Bible verse by verse on Grace to You radio. MacArthur took strong public stands … never fearing controversy … took on those he considered to be false teachers … and more recently defied Covid restrictions and kept his church open. Would you share a thought on the legacy of John MacArthur?

MCCOY: Well, we certainly lost a giant earlier this week—not only in his pastoral ministry but all the things that he wrote. He was certainly a man of courage, and he leaves quite a legacy. I can tell you, when I was a young Christian, I happened to find this little booklet on assurance of salvation, and I will never forget reading it. It soothed my soul in a way that few things did, just reading the very logical, Biblically grounded assurance of salvation. I have carried that with me, used it in my ministry in talking to other people. That’s just one little booklet, and I’m just one little person that John MacArthur influenced in his multi-decade ministry. I’m sure there are many people whose lives and ministries were influenced by him as well.

BROWN: Author and speaker Katie McCoy, I’m glad to catch up with you … and we’ll do it again next week, too.

MCCOY: Sounds good. See you then.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, July 18th. 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: the little blue Smurfs are back on the big screen this weekend. And this film had WORLD’s reviewer coming out of the theater seeing red. Here’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino with his verdict on the new Smurfs movie.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Last year PG movies ruled the box office. This year is shaping up similarly with A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch as the two highest grossing movies so far. But we’ve had plenty of disappointments too. Pixar’s Elio was terribly mediocre and Disney’s Snow White remake was just terrible. And now we have the animated musical Smurfs. I’m sad to say it’s giving Snow White competition for the worst thing I’ve seen this year.

MUSIC: [Everything Goes With Blue]

This is our fourth Smurf movie in 12 years, and none of the previous three were really that great. Pretty forgettable stuff really. This one is a little more memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.

In this film, the main villain is the evil wizard Razamel, younger brother of the Smurfs’ archenemy Gargamel. He’s busy trying to get his hands on a magic book that’s been hiding in Smurf Village for hundreds of years. Meanwhile, Smurfette is helping No Name Smurf figure out what his special role will be in their community. After all, every Smurf needs a job.

KEN: You don’t get a name until you earn it.

While Smurfette and No Name experiment with possible talents that No Name might possess, they accidentally alert Razamel to the secret location of Smurf Village, which leads to Papa Smurf’s abduction.

PAPA SMURF: Everyone, listen to me. Your lives are in terrible danger. Smurf Village isn’t safe anymore.

So of course, the Smurf gang must leave the village and brave new worlds to free Papa and stop Razamel. Along the way they get some help from new furry friends called Snooter poots.

More than anything, this Smurfs movie strikes me as an opportunistic ripoff of the vastly superior Trolls franchise. It’s about magical creatures living in a magical forest. They spend their time singing and dancing. And the group tends to get bossed around by a female character with a big personality.

SMURFETTE: Come on, we gotta rescue Papa!

But while the Trolls movies tend to have catchy songs and clever writing, the filmmakers for Smurfs give us a lackluster soundtrack and lazy writing.

I’ll admit that I actually liked the style of the animation, but the song melodies and lyrics are instantly forgettable. And the storyline doesn’t fare much better than the music. Tracking down Papa requires the Smurfs to visit contemporary Paris, a side trip that serves no point other than allowing the filmmakers to blend live-action footage with computer-generated imagery. I’m not sure why they thought spending five minutes in a Parisian disco would help the story. There they meet Papa Smurf’s brother, “Ken” Smurf. Is this blatant disregard for Surf naming conventions meant to be funny? I found it irritating. Anyway, Ken ominously tells them Papa has been hiding a not-so-terrible secret from his children. And then they’re off to Razamel's castle.

RAZAMEL: We’re going to play a game called Let’s Squish a Smurf Until All You Smurfs Are Squashed!

[SQUEAL]

HEFTY: That doesn’t sound like a fun game.

One minor quibble I have with this film is that the Smurfs are much smaller than the canonical three apples high. A much more serious problem is the voicework. Paramount spent their seemingly small budget on recognizable actors. But most of them are miscast. Pop singer Rihanna, with her smoky, raspy voice, makes for a terrible Smurfette. James Corden plays No Name Smurf, and one would think just having a British accent would be enough to qualify as a Smurf job. John Goodman is a serviceable though uninspiring Papa Smurf. And Nick Offerman as Ken feels like a gimmick.

Also, the film relies heavily on impolite humor, frequently having the characters substitute the word “smurf” for expletives.

[SMURFS SCREAMING]

SMURF: I think I just smurfed my pants.

And the filmmakers rely on clichés rather than craft in creating this film. The movie tries to leave the audience with the typical feel-good messaging you see in the most tired children’s programming. But it unironically offers two conflicting themes. First, we’re told that we can choose our own identity. It doesn’t matter what you were born to be. How progressive. But then we’re told, we each need to find and embrace our innate talent to live a fulfilled life. Which is it? Am I born this way or do I get to choose who I am? Smurfs becomes an unintentional object lesson in the silliness of contemporary pop psychology.

It’s as if the filmmakers think families are too dumb to notice whether a movie is good or bad. No need to put any effort into it. Just give us a recognizable character that tickles our nostalgia and throw in the celebrity of the moment. The money will follow. I sure hope they’re not right.

MUSIC: [Everything Goes With Blue]

I’m Collin Garbarino.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, July 18th. 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. As we conclude today, a tribute to someone whose fingerprints are all over WORLD’s story. Bob Case died this week. He was more than a board member, more than the founding director of the World Journalism Institute. He was my friend, he was a mentor to many … and a joyful force behind our mission.

Truly one of WORLD’s founding fathers.

Bob helped train a generation of journalists with theological depth and intellectual clarity. Many of our senior staff today can trace their calling back to his efforts.

BROWN: He retired in 2013, but he brought his big, growly baritone to WORLD Radio in August of that year with a piece he did on the Great American Songbook … It became a regular feature of WORLD Radio back in those early years—if you’re a longtime listener you may remember it.

EICHER: If not, you surely remember that we reprised that project last year … WORLD Radio’s executive producer Paul Butler collaborated with Bob to make that happen, and he comes now with a tribute.

MUSIC: [SAY IT WITH MUSIC: IRVING BERLIN]

PAUL BUTLER: I knew Bob Case primarily as a musical enthusiast who loved the music of the early 20th century. He emailed me out of the blue two years ago with the idea of resurrecting his decade-old songbook feature. He sent me a demo he’d put together for a music radio network that turned him down.

I liked what I heard…

DEMO (BLUE POMEGRANATES WITH BOB CASE): Irving Berlin wrote his monster hit Say it With Music in 1921...

After working up a handful of new scripts together I flew out to see Bob last September in Seattle. When he picked me up at the airport it began a memorable conversation that lasted for two days, with few interruptions … we talked a lot about music, but I slowly learned that he was a true Renaissance man.

He told me about his time with Campus Crusade for Christ where he met his wife Kathy. His visit to L’Abri under Francis Schaeffer. His life as a husband, father, grandfather. His service as a Presbyterian minister. How he became the first national director of the pro-life Christian Action Council. He sold real estate, earned multiple post graduate degrees. And frames lined the walls of his office studio—pictures of him with many political leaders from the 80s and 90s. The certificate from Ronald Reagan appointing him to the National Council on Vocational Education had an honored place.

And as much as Bob enjoyed telling me about all those things, he kept coming back to his passion project …

BOB CASE: The music of Gershwin and Berlin and Porter and the lyrics of Johnny Mercer and Ira Gershwin…the lyrics are clever. They speak to the human condition in a chaste way. There is just love begun, love lost, love regained agsain. I just think it's fascinating, sophisticated, and surprising melodies that no other music can offer me anyway.

Me, too. I’m more likely to listen to the 40’s channel on satellite radio than modern pop music, so I shared Bob’s affinity for the topic … but as we worked together on this project, I pushed him on why it was important for WORLD to devote time to it once again. He was ready with an answer.

BOB CASE: Almost every American Songbook song has in its lyrics, creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. It supports our view of marriage. It supports our view of Christian anthropology. That we are lovers. And the American Songbook talks about love, about how to get love, how to keep love, how to treat your wife, how to treat your husband, all that is involved in the lyrics of the Great American Songbook. And the Christian audience needs to understand that this music is worth preserving.

PROGRAM EXCERPT: The yearning and searching for love in our lives and the sadness when that love is missing is an age-old problem, caused by our finiteness and our Fall. We wait for everything, including human love, and the full expression of God’s Love.

Bob Case believed that music mattered. Not just as entertainment, but as a window into the human condition. And a bridge to eternal truths. He had an ear to hear the gospel in melody … to trace Biblical patterns in lyrics. For Bob, the Great American Songbook was not some dusty cultural artifact. In sharing that with us, he helped us listen more closely, more thankfully, and more hopefully. That legacy sings on.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

MUSIC: [LOUIS ARMSTRONG: WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN]

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s time now to name the team who helped make it happen this week:

Jenny Rough, David Bahnsen, Emma Eicher, Lauren Canterberry, Josh Schumacher, Addie Offereins, Daniel Suhr, Hunter Baker, Amy Lewis, Kim Henderson, Flynn Evans, Juliana Chen Erickson, Mary Muncy, Cal Thomas, Katie McCoy, and Collin Garbarino.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Mark Mellinger, Travis Kircher, Christina Grube, Steve Kloosterman, and Lynde Langdon.

And thanks to the moonlight maestros: Benj Eicher and Carl Peetz.

Harrison Watters is Washington producer, Kristen Flavin is features editor, Paul Butler is executive producer, and Les Sillars our editor-in-chief. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

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, “In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, ‘Ask what I shall give you.’ And Solomon said to God, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?’” —2 Chronicles 1:7-10

Ready for your weekly reminder? Go to church…a Bible-believing church. And on the Lord’s Day, celebrate with other believers.

Lord willing, we’ll be right back here with you 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.