The World and Everything in It: May 17, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Randy, I am a retired public communications specialist, and continue to be a deacon servant of the Lord and a lay preacher to an assisted living facility in the town of Issaquah, Washington. I hope you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The Durham report released this week shows an FBI caught up in partisanship and shoddy practices. What else does the report reveal?

NICK EICHER, HOST:  We’ll talk with a former federal prosecutor today on Washington Wednesday. Also a special report on ethnic and religious unrest in India. Plus, how a homeschooling mom of five turned curiosity into a cause.

AUDIO: Our whole entire team had prayed. And I remember hearing the drillers shout and so we knew immediately they’d gotten water.

And World Commentator Janie B. Cheaney on uncovering lies by asking good questions.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, May 17th. 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: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Debt limit » Possible progress toward a debt ceiling deal in Washington.

After a White House meeting Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters:

KEVIN MCCARTHY: Appoint someone from the president’s team who can work with the speaker’s team to see if we can come to an agreement. That is what the decision was that was made in this meeting. So the structure of how we negotiate has improved. So it now gives us a better opportunity.

He said a deal is possible by the end of week, but said the two sides are still far apart. Still, it was the first sign of progress since top level talks between the two sides began.

President Biden remarked:

BIDEN: There was an overwhelming consensus I think in today’s meeting with the Congressional leaders that defaulting on the debt is simply not an option.

Democrats object to a Republicans’ proposal to reduce overspending while raising the debt ceiling.

The Treasury Dept. says the two sides have until early June at the latest to reach a deal to avoid defaulting on US debts.

AI hearing » On Capitol Hill, the head of the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT was in the hot seat Tuesday. OpenAi CEO Sam Altman told senators that the government should step in and help limit the risks of AI.

SAM ALTMAN: We understand that people are anxious about how it could change the way we live. We are too. But we believe that we can and must work together to identify and manage the potential downsides so that we can all enjoy the tremendous upsides.

Altman proposed forming a U.S. or a global agency that would license the most powerful AI systems and have the authority to “take that license away and ensure compliance with safety standards.”

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal voiced some concerns about the new technology.

BLUMENTHAL: We have seen how algorithmic biases can perpetuate discrimination and prejudice, and how the lack of transparency can undermine public trust.

Lawmakers said they’re also worried about the potential for AI to unpend jobs, among other things.

Banking hearing » In a separate hearing, lawmakers grilled top former executives from two banks that failed this year.

The former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, Greg Becker, told members of the Senate Banking Committee:

GREG BECKER: We took risk management seriously and worked closely with and were responsive to the various regulators who oversaw SVB.

But Republican Sen. Tim Scott fired back:

TIM SCOTT: It’s hard to believe that comment as it relates to the uniqueness of your bank. Your bank had about 90% of its deposits uninsured.

Signature Bank’s former Chairman Scott Shay said his bank was reasonably sound financially, blaming the failure on unprecedented outside forces.

Federal regulators have suggested mismanagement was to blame.

Retail » Americans spent slightly more money with retailers last month than in March. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: The Commerce Department reports that sales rose 0.4% in April, including online shopping and dining out, buoyed by a solid job market.

Sales at car and auto parts dealers rose 0.4%. Business at gas stations fell 0.8% despite an uptick in prices at the pump.

But retail sales data from the U.S. are not adjusted for inflation unlike many other government reports. And all indications are that shoppers are struggling to keep up with inflation.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Ukraine » The Ukrainian military said Tuesday that it shot 18 Russian rockets including six hypersonic missiles Russia has touted as impossible to shoot down.

Ukraine says none of the missiles made it through.

But the Russian defense ministry spokesperson, heard here, claimed a missile destroyed a U.S.-made Patriot missile defense system.

Meantime, European leaders will meet today in Iceland to discuss alleged human rights violations during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

NM shooter » Police have identified the 18-year-old man who shot and killed three people and injured six others in a New Mexico neighborhood on Monday as a high school student named Beau Wilson.

Farmington Deputy Police Chief Kyle Dowdy:

KYLE DOWDY - We have come across some indication that potentially he had some mental health issues, and that's through interviews with involved parties in his life.

Dowdy says the shooter marched up and down a neighborhood shooting randomly at people, houses, and cars.

Police responded to emergency calls and killed him within minutes.

I'm Kent Covington. 

Straight ahead: Durham report. Plus, one mom’s story of clean water and sharing the gospel. 

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday, May 17th, 2023.

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

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday.

The Durham Report was released on Monday … after a years-long probe of the FBI’s handling of allegations of collusion … between candidate Donald Trump and the government of Russia.

Special Counsel John Durham led the investigation into potential misconduct in the FBI’s probe. He found much to criticize, although not a lot of new revelations.

Former Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham in 2020 as Special Counsel …. His job was to look into possible misconduct within the Justice Department.

And the report concludes that the Russia probe was hastily launched based on highly questionable information … that the FBI did not do its due diligence … and that some within the bureau may well have had political motivations.

Senator Ron Johnson—Republican from Wisconsin—spoke with FOX news Monday:

RON JOHNSON: In 2016, it was the Clinton campaign working with the FBI to go after President Trump in his election, his campaign in 2020. It was 51 former CIA agents and Intel officials working with the Biden campaign to do the same thing. So we've seen it twice. The same objective to go after President Trump and keep him from being president.

REICHARD: Durham’s investigation resulted in three indictments over alleged wrongdoing within the DOJ. But two of those charged were later acquitted.

Defenders of the Russia probe say that’s a far cry from the major crimes former President Trump predicted the Durham probe would reveal.

Nevertheless, why don’t these revelations rise to criminal conduct? GOP California Congressman Doug LaMalfa raised the question many are asking:

DOUG LaMALFA: So what do we do to put at least the confidence of the American people back into the upper echelons of the Department of Justice and the FBI? So that we don't have to think that they're going to be doing this sort of thing to anybody they disagree with politically, on top of what we just saw. Indeed, how do we regain trust?

EICHER: How to regain trust? Here to talk about that and more about the Durham report is Bobby Higdon, who has decades of experience in federal law enforcement. He’s now a lawyer in private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina. In government service, he was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and before that, he served 24 years as Assistant U.S. Attorney.

REICHARD: Good morning.

BOBBY HIGDON: Good morning.

REICHARD: What’s the bottom line of the Durham Report? I know I’m asking for a lot given it’s 306 pages and it took four years to complete. But what would be your brief summary?

HIGDON: Well, my brief summary would be an unbelievable concern about the FBI’s failure to live up to its nonpartisan fact-based, law-based obligation to the American people. And I think that's a concern that ought to really resonate with every American, it is a very disturbing report.

REICHARD: The report is organized into several sections, the first category being FBI policies. Things like principles of federal prosecution, how the FBI assessed and investigated counterintelligence matters, things like that. What strikes you about that section?

HIGDON: Well, when you look at section 1, really what the report is saying is that the FBI failed to find and develop proper predication for its investigation. In other words, they didn't have sufficient facts to even begin to investigate in the manner that they did. And that's required in every federal investigation, regardless of the scope or the importance or who the target is. Is that any investigative agency must have some level of predication—in other words, you need to have evidence and information…that you find reliable to base your investigation on because in this country, we don't go around and investigate people, we investigate crimes. So you need to have some basic set of facts to give you the reason to launch an investigation. So that's the first to me, that's the first and most important takeaway from that section.

REICHARD: And then Section two is on background facts and prosecution decisions.

HIGDON: Well, what they seem to be saying in that section is that as that investigation developed—from the beginning—that there was inadequate predication. That the facts were not sufficient to launch it. But that as they developed additional evidence, they developed it from questionable sources, that being a political opponent. And that's always a very suspect source, because anyone that's engaged in political activity, you know, has a motivation to harm the other side. And so you have to be even more careful when that's the source of your information. And the report talks about the absolute failure to develop independent verification of the information that was being provided by the campaign. And so there again, the FBI is not conducting the investigation in the normal way. And that is testing the facts and information that are provided to you, and only moving forward when you have verified and have reached some level of certainty that those facts are reliable. And it talks about in the report that there were people that admitted, as they moved forward, they did not believe that there was sufficient basis to take that next step because they didn't believe the evidence was reliable.

REICHARD: Section two also talks about the disparate treatment at the hands of the FBI between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. What do you think about that?

HIGDON: Well, you know, I don't have a lot of visibility into those two investigations. But it appeared from…as you watch what's happening with respect to those two investigations, that the Clinton investigation was very carefully reviewed by the FBI. In fact, they provided Secretary Clinton an opportunity to participate in the investigation. Her attorneys negotiated. They provided evidence and information and the FBI reviewed that and made certain judgments about that. According to this report, none of that was provided to President Trump, or to members of his campaign. Everything was done clandestinely, which is not unusual, but it is not the same level of interaction that was provided to Secretary Clinton. It was a very different way of handling this.

REICHARD: Talk now about about Carter Page would you? I’m interested in Page and his FISA application, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. At the time, Page was Trump’s foreign-policy adviser for the presidential campaign in 2016.

HIGDON: Well, what the report talks about is the fact that that was one of the initial things that was done was they developed a request for the FISA court and went to the court to seek opportunity, the authority to basically intercept communications. And the FISA court is a court that conducts business in secret. It…only prosecutors and investigators go before that court. So there's no opportunity to challenge that. And so there is really a heightened responsibility to make sure that the information you bring to that court is reliable. And what the report says is from the beginning, that the FBI knew that that information they were putting in front of the FISA Court was not reliable. And so you've got multiple levels of concern here: you've got the FBI not conducting business the way it should be conducting it according to the law, and then doing so in front of a clandestine court that has to rely on them to make sure that the information is in fact reliable, and it wasn't in this case. So it's just there's multiple levels of concern here about the FBI’s ability to really reach into the private lives of Americans, and in this case, in the context of a political campaign, so the concerns are even more heightened.

REICHARD: Now on to the section of general observations and the conclusion of the report. I’m looking at the last page, quoting now: “It seems highly likely that at a minimum confirmation bias played a significant role in the FBI’s acceptance of extraordinarily serious allegations, derived from uncorroborated information that had not been subjected to the typical exacting analysis employed by the FBI and under other members of the intelligence community.” Bobby, isn’t the FBI supposed to corroborate information with exacting analysis?

HIGDON: Now, that's exactly what it's supposed to do. And it's very important that the FBI and federal prosecutors, that they set aside their own opinions, their own bias and that they review matters and just with the cold hard look at the facts in the law, and what they're suggesting here. What they're saying here is that the FBI relied on information because it was what it wanted to hear, at least those individuals that are participating in the investigation. It was consistent with their preferences, thereby as their political opinions, and that that's really improper. And I'll tell you that in all the years I've spent with the Justice Department, I saw many, many investigators and prosecutors very carefully set aside their own opinions and review matters in a dispassionate way. Because they knew and understood that it would be improper to do anything otherwise. And that's what was not done here, apparently.

REICHARD: I want to ask you about public confidence. It was on the last page of the Durham Report quoting former Attorney General TK Levi: "Nothing can more weaken the quality of life or more imperil the realization of the goals we all hold dear than our failure to make clear by words and deed that our law is not the instrument of partisan purpose." So my question to you is how can the DOJ and FBI regain public trust after this all of this?

HIGDON: Well, my answer is probably similar to what members of Congress are saying. There is going to have to be a real review of the leadership of the FBI, and I don't have any particular person in mind. But those that were involved in this undertaking, that led this investigation, that approved this investigation, and participated in it, in my mind, cannot continue in leadership and work with the FBI. I just don't know how that's possible. And unless and until there are significant personnel changes made in the FBI, I don't know that the American people can or should have confidence in the leadership of the FBI.

And I have felt that way for the last, you know, four or five, maybe longer years, because I'll tell you, I even was concerned in the when the Clinton investigation was going on that you had the director of the FBI publicly expressing opinions about whether the investigations showed wrongdoing or didn't show wrongdoing, as to Secretary Clinton. That to me was wrong, whether she's running for office or not, but he was particularly wrong in the context of an ongoing political campaign. And so I have felt uncomfortable about decisions made by the FBI going back to even then because those that's not the way the FBI should do business.

REICHARD: Robert Higdon is a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in North Carolina. Robert, thank you so much.

HIGDON: Thank you. My pleasure.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Ethnic violence in India. More than 30,000 people have fled their communities in northeast India this month after a spike in ethnic violence.

NICK EICHER, HOST: The conflict between a Hindu majority community and a mainly Christian tribe has fueled rioting. A pastor in the region worries that rioters are targeting Christians, including Hindu converts to Christianity. WORLD’s Onize Ohikere reports.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Thousands of people, some holding children climbed into waiting military trucks this month, fleeing violence in India’s hilly northeastern Manipur state.

Behind them, smoke and ashes rose from what was once home.

The fighting mostly centered between the dominant Meitei Hindu community, and the mainly Christian Kukis  who make up one of the larger tribal communities.

Both sides have a history of clashes. The Meiteis mostly reside in the valley while the Kukis and other tribal groups live in the hill districts.

AUDIO: [WOMAN CRYING]

The latest violence began on May 3 after the Kukis staged a protest to oppose the Meitei’s quest for Scheduled Tribe status.

That designation gives marginalized communities like the Kukis guaranteed quotas for education, health, and government jobs, and also land access.

The tribal communities worry that granting the majority Meitei’s tribal status could threaten their protected lands.

The protest quickly dissolved into violence in a matter of hours. Mobs set churches and cars on fire and looted stores. Rioters burned down entire villages.

AUDIO: [POLICE PATROL]

More than 70 people died in the violence, and 30,000 people fled. Security officials say mobs from both sides contributed to the violence that burned nearly 2,000 homes.

Authorities shut down the internet, imposed a curfew, and deployed hundreds of military troops to the state.

This resident watched his friend get killed while trying to defend his village.

RESIDENT: Some of the Meitei gangs, which they call Meitei Leepun, they came along with the commandos. The commandos were taking lead holding automatic rifles and some of the Meiteis were taking pistols along with them. He was shot at the back and when he fell down they approached him and shot him point-blank at the forehead.

Open Doors ranks India as the 11th worst country for Christians. The organization says Hindu nationalism fuels attacks against Christians, Muslims, and other religious minorities.

Pastor Matthew Tyndale is a Meitei Christian who has gone into hiding. For his safety, WORLD is not using his real name and we are distorting his voice.

MATTHEW TYNDALE: Within 24 hours in the six Meitei districts of Manipur, about 200 churches were either destroyed or burned. And there is no explanation. Nobody talks about this.

From his window, Tyndale watched the smoke rise across his street. He says it looked like a war zone.

Tyndale pastors an independent church.

TYNDALE: So we are first generation Christians. Christianity is growing among our people group at a very alarming rate. That's a big concern, I think, for the ruling, for the government. When I was a little boy, you could go for miles and you couldn't see a church. And today, almost in every locality there is a little church.

While the clashes continued between the Meiteis and Kukis, Tyndale says Meitei rioters also targeted churches within their own communities.

TYNDALE: We have 28 churches in our mission field. Not a single one stands today. And my friend from another denomination, they have 28 churches among the Meiteis, 27 were burned or destroyed.

Last week, his brother received threats over a Christian school he runs in another district.

TYNDALE: Five young men come to my brother and said, ‘You have to decide now whether you're going to do any Christian thing in this school or not. If you're going to do like your prayers, say your prayers, talk about the Bible in this school, there is no option. We will have to burn this school.’

He says he’s heard about groups targeting well-known local Christian leaders.

His brother and some of his friends who also lead churches have left the area and switched off their phones.

Tyndale says these threats are attempts to stop the church from growing. Despite the danger, he believes the church will adapt — and survive.

TYNDALE: No one will be able to go in public and preach the gospel now. We will not be able to gather like before. It will have to be small groups here and there in secret.

That’s it for this week’s WORLD Tour.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, May 17th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Next up: Clean water!

Most of us don't think twice about it. But in some places, water’s dangerous. In developing countries around the world, dirty water is responsible for eight of every ten illnesses.

EICHER: For many people living in these communities, clean water is right underneath them. But the challenge is getting to it.

It’s not the kind of job that can be done by hand. Drilling for clean water can be time consuming and costly.

But WORLD's Myrna Brown has the story of an unlikely drill team and the difference it’s making.

LISA BRODIE: Oh my goodness! Wow! I still remember it like it was yesterday.

SOUND: [DRILLING]

MYRNA BROWN, CORRESPONDENT: The year was 2010. Lisa Brodie was standing on rocky, red dirt watching a steel pipe drill 600 feet deep into the ground. The sun was going down and time was running out.

LISA: It was the final day. There were a few pipes left and our whole entire team had prayed. And I remember hearing the drillers shout and so we knew immediately they’d gotten water. And I remember standing there just crying and looking around. We were kind of in a valley and there were mountains all around us and I remember seeing people all around coming with their buckets.

In the East African country of Tanzania, only five out of ten households have access to clean, safe drinking water. Over the past 13 years, Brodie has led more than 50 clean water projects, digging wells and drilling for water in a country 8-thousand miles from her home. The 55-year-old wife and mother of five isn’t an engineer. She’s a former first grade teacher, full of wonder.

LISA: From the time I was very young, I always was drawn to people that looked different than me.

Growing up in rural Arkansas, Brodie’s parents supported a missionary family that had served for many years in Zambia, a country in Southern Africa.

LISA: They were coming back to the U.S. to retire and shortly before their time to return there were two children, a boy and a girl whose families needed them to adopt the children. And so, these missionaries in their old age, they adopted these two young Zambian children and the girl Vivian became one of my very best friends.

Brodie says she wanted to know everything about Vivian, especially her homeland.

LISA: I just wondered about where she had come from and so I would always say…some day I’m going to go to Africa. Some day I’m going to go to Africa.

Inseparable throughout middle school, Brodie and Vivian attended different high schools. The two eventually lost touch. Decades later, Brodie was living in Alabama, married and homeschooling her five children. In 2007, she decided to join church members on a medical mission trip to Tanzania.

LISA: And I remember a very specific mama had a bottle that was just an empty old water bottle that she had. She had her baby toddler tied to her back and that baby had that bottle and you could not even see through the water. And I just remember thinking I would wish that someone would care enough to do something.

But do what? Her husband Curtis wondered, back in Alabama.

CURTIS BRODIE: I was like…ok I don’t know how to start this because I’ve only been a teacher. I don’t know about drilling and clean water projects.

Brodie was unwilling to move forward without her husband’s full support. She asked him to join her on the next trip to Tanzania.

LISA: There was a church building nearby and it doesn’t have a roof, it’s just the walls. It just has a dirt floor and there’s some little chairs in there. And they started singing this song about blessings. And I look over at my husband and he is weeping. So, I look at him and I’m like, he’s sold.

In 2009, Brodie established the nonprofit, Maji Hope. Maji means water in Swahili. After building her website, she was ready to share her story. She started where she felt most comfortable: in the classroom.

LISA: And what I knew was talking to children. I took the photos that I had taken from my three previous trips and I showed the pictures of mamas walking for water, what the unclean water looked like.

Before long, Brodie and students in her community had raised about $50,000 enough money to pay for that first clean water project… or so they thought.

LISA: What we didn’t realize was that the American driller was over there making money as they would drill. It wasn’t nonprofit, so we paid a lot more for that first well than we should have.

Brodie says about four times more. Not only were they overcharged, some drilling companies shunned outside participation.

LISA: Very few people wanted you to go with them and I mean even less than that would let you take students with you.

Since 20-12 they’ve partnered with a South Korean, Christian driller, as well as other Tanzanians.

LISA: We ask the community to sell some cows and make some money and contribute maybe to the fence or maybe the concrete to finish off the bottom.

TANZANIANS: Maji, Maji, Maji, Water, Water, Water

For more than a decade, Brodie has recorded the jubilant voices and smiling faces of hundreds of Tanzanians celebrating the clean water flowing through their villages. But Brodie says there was one voice missing.

LISA: I was speaking at a school and I was telling these children about Vivian and one of the kids asked, do you still talk to Vivian.

So, after 36 years, Brodie went looking for her long-lost friend Vivian and found her through social media.

LISA: She was like, Lisa, I cannot believe this. She knows from living in Zambia what it’s like to not have water. It’s a big deal.

What started as a friendship has turned into a mission as Brodie has introduced more than 300 people to clean water projects. She says she’s grateful conversations about clean water often lead to an introduction to the Living Water.

LISA: When you come to give water for someone, the first thing is they want to know why. You just say, oh the One who created the Universe loves you so much that He sent people from the other side of the world to come give you water.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Silver Hill, Alabama.

REICHARD: Myrna produced a companion piece on Lisa Brodie and her clean water projects for WORLD Watch, our video news program for students. We’ve included a link to that story in today’s transcript.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, May 17th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. World Commentator Janie B. Cheaney now on the creators of a popular podcast, and their rediscovery of the wisdom of the Bereans. That’s a reference to Acts 17, by the way.

JANIE B. CHEANEY: She held signs with shocking slogans even before she was old enough to read them. In her late teens she was an ardent apologist for her group’s controversial views and confrontational style. At the age of 23 she opened a Twitter account to reach a wider audience, but instead found her beliefs beginning to unravel. Too many tweets pointed out too many contradictions for her rational mind to process, and at age 26 Megan Phelps-Roper left the cult founded by her grandfather, Fred Phelps.

Westboro Baptist Church gained notoriety in 1998 for protesting at a gay college student’s funeral, and they made news again in the early 2000s for picketing the funerals of fallen servicemen. Their chief beef was the swift march of LGBT activism, a stain on America that they said brought down God’s wrath in the form of slain soldiers and school shootings. “God hates” was their central message, a word they believed America and its soft-bellied churches desperately needed to hear and heed. Though Fred Phelps died almost ten years ago, the Westboro Baptists still faithfully picket concerts, political events, and other churches.

Phelps-Roper’s crisis of faith began in her Twitter feed, with direct challenges to dogmas she’d never questioned. Doubts entered her mind for the first time, clashing with family love and loyalty. During her intellectual and emotional dark night, she developed a series of questions to help her distinguish truth from dogma. She shared these in a viral podcast with J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, who came under fire herself years ago for challenging the dogmas of transgender ideology. The questions Phelps-Roper posed to herself are:

• Can I determine the evidence I would need in order to change my position?

• Can I articulate my opponent’s position in a way they would approve?

• Am I attacking ideas, or people?

• Am I willing to cut off relationships with people who disagree with me over secondary issues?

• Am I willing to take extraordinary measures against them, such as forcing them out of their jobs or damaging their reputations?

• Do I celebrate their misfortune?

Rowling added another question:

• Do I get a kick, or righteous rush, out of attacking a perceived enemy on social media?

This seems like a worthy list for a culture mired in bad-faith arguments and strawmen. Neither Rowling nor Phelps-Roper is an ideal model: the former is leftwing and the latter, according to her memoir, has settled on no particular faith since leaving Westboro’s twisted interpretation of Christianity. But both strike me as people I could talk to. They recognize that hellfire flame-throwing and woke canceling are of the same self-righteous seed. They seem open to questioning where they are wrong. But what criteria do they use to determine where they are right?

Biblical truth is our criteria: precious, reliable, and easy to pervert. Like the Bereans, we should search the scriptures daily to see if what we are being told is true. And that includes questioning our own interpretations from time to time.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: many cities and towns are passing ordinances for special rights for LGBT groups. We’ll hear about one small town’s stand against the tide.

Plus, an update on what’s been going on this week at the Southern Border. And, ancient cooking traditions from the island of Bali. 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 Psalmist writes: The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119, verses 57 and 58.

Go now in grace and peace.

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