The World and Everything in It: October 10, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. We are Rachel, Miya, Hannah, and Sophia Poston. We live in Newnan, Georgia, and we listen to The World and Everything in It on the way to school. I hope you enjoy today's program.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Good morning! Israel is at war with Hamas. Today the latest news, and later some context with a former member of the National Security Council.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, Christians in Pakistan face heightened persecution after mobs burned churches back in August.

And a profile of a painter who suffered a brain injury that turned her life upside down.

MARCY GREGG: They’re telling me that everything is going to be fine. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You've got the wrong patient.

And World Opinions commentator A.S. Ibrahim explains the ideology that drives Hamas.

BUTLER: It’s Tuesday, October 10th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

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

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

SOUND: [Israel strike]

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Israel continues counterattack » Israel continues to strike back at Hamas.

SOUND: [Israel strike]

As Israeli missiles homed in on Hamas hideouts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the terror group—in his words “will understand that by attacking us, they have made a mistake of historic proportions.”

NETANYAHU: We will exact a price that will be remembered by them and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.

The death toll on both sides since Saturday has topped 1,500.

While Western allies say Israel has every right to defend itself, some global leaders are now calling for a ceasefire.

But Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog says that’s like asking Americans to lay down arms the day after 9-11.

HERZOG: Hundreds of Israelis were massacred. This was a brutal attack by a terror organization, and we have to destroy that war machine. And we will not stop until we destroy it.

Israeli forces have called up an unprecedented 300,000 reserve troops.

They are also enforcing a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Biden to address nation about Israel war » President Biden will address the nation this afternoon about the war between Israel and Hamas.

At least 11 Americans were killed in weekend terror attacks against Israel.

And National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters:

KIRBY: We have to accept the very grim possibility and the likelihood that there are Americans being held hostage.

US troops are not expected to put boots on the ground in this war, but the Pentagon is supporting Israeli forces.

Reuters reports that the US is surging fresh supplies of air defenses, munitions, and more to Israel.

Speaker » But Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Monday:

WORMUTH: One thing that is really important in terms of the munitions in particular and our ability to support both potentially the Israelis and the Ukrainians simultaneously is additional funding from Congress.

But that will not happen without a speaker in the House.

Republicans are expected to hold a test vote behind closed doors this week to try and settle on a replacement for the now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy … who told reporters:

MCCARTHY: Well, let’s be honest about our conference, alright? Is our conference just going to select somebody to try to throw ‘em out in another 35 days if eight people don’t get exactly what they want and 96% of the conference does?

McCarthy is strongly hinting that he’s willing to return to the role if a handful of lawmakers who voted to oust him last week change their mind.

California Senate candidates » Meantime, several Democratic House lawmakers are vying for the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. They are U.S. Representatives Katie Porter, Barbara Lee, and Adam Schiff.

SCHIFF: When we were each called upon to defend our democracy against the most corrupt president in U.S. history, I stepped into the middle of the ring and impeached Donald Trump.

He was the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment.

The three California lawmakers faced off this week in a debate in Los Angeles.

Voters will have their say next November. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler to fill the seat until then.

Schumer China » Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met one on one with China’s President Xi Jin Ping for more than an hour on Monday.

Schumer said he tackled several pressing issues with the Chinese leader .

Schumer: We must address the Chinese government's forced technology transfers, theft of intellectual property, required joint ventures and intimidation of US businesses operating in China.

He said stopping the flow of fentanyl from China is another top priority.

Schumer’s leading a non-partisan delegation of a half-dozen senators to China.

Robert F. Kennedy » A presidential candidate made an announcement Monday that could  shake up the battle for the White House.

Robert F Kennedy Jr. was already running for president. But now he’s doing so as an independent.

Kennedy: I haven't made this decision lightly. I can stand before you as every leader should, should stand up for you free of partisan allegiance. Freed from the backroom deals. Servant, only to my conscience to my Creator, and to you.

He had been running for the Democratic nomination up till now. But some polls suggest Kennedy may have greater appeal to Republican voters.

And party leaders fear he may peel away just enough GOP votes to sway the election in President Biden’s favor.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the history behind Hamas’s attack on Israel. Plus, painting life on a blank canvas.

This is The World and Everything in It.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 10th day of October, 2023.

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

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

First up on The World and Everything in It: Israel’s war with Hamas.

Joining us to talk about it is Will Inboden. He’s a former member of the National Security Council under President George W. Bush.

Now he’s in academic life at the University of Florida, and he’s a columnist with WORLD Opinions.

Will, good morning to you.

WILL INBODEN, GUEST: Good morning. It's great to be with you.

EICHER: Will, this attack is being characterized as Israel’s 9-11. What parallels or differences do you see between the Palestinian attack and Al-Qaeda's attack on America, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, back in 2001?

INBODEN: Yes, there are a number of parallels, all very troubling. You know, first and most gruesomely is both attacks were by jihadist terrorists who intended to kill as many innocent civilians as possible. The September 11 attacks were a catastrophic intelligence failure on the part of the United States not to have detected that it was coming in and not to have been better prepared for it---so it's a policy failure too. And again, it's very clear this was a massive intelligence failure on Israel's part not to have detected this plotting the, you know, hundreds of Hamas terrorists, and it looks like some of their Iranian supporters who are behind planning for this for months. And then it's also a policy failure of not having better security in place there at the Gaza-Israel border, to prevent, you know, the hundreds of Hamas terrorists from flooding through, the air and sea attacks as well, the rocket attacks, which overwhelmed Israel's famed Iron Dome defense system. So yeah, some very troubling parallels to 911—both from human suffering on to the intelligence and policy failures.

EICHER: The timing is no accident. Saturday the Jewish sabbath, and last Monday was Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday that commemorates the Day of Atonement. It was also the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Will, can you give us some background on that conflict and how it connects to what’s happening now?

INBODEN: Sure, and a couple of things need to be said. First, the deliberate timing of the attack on the Jewish Sabbath and on the anniversary of this previous war around what are the most sacred Jewish holidays remind us that this is not by any means just a territorial dispute between Hamas and Israel. This is an attack on the Jewish faith and the Jewish people itself.

But there's also are those perverse historical references with the 1973 Yom Kippur War was previously the worst surprise attack in Israel's history, when Egypt and Syria, neighboring Arab states that were very hostile to Israel, ganged up to do a surprise attack trying to invade and destroy Israel, and they very nearly succeeded. And so Hamas is very mindful of that they know that 50 years ago on Yom Kippur War was when Israel's enemies came closest to exterminating Israel. And so they decided to make their own try here on the 50th anniversary of that war.

EICHER: One big difference from the Yom Kippur War is that Israel has now normalized relations with Arab nations around the Middle East. Now, this isn’t just because Israel is an economically valuable ally, but it’s also because Iran is emerging as a dangerous adversary. Initially in this conflict, nations like the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have stayed fairly hands off…but do you see them coming down on Israel’s side of the conflict at any point?

INBODEN: Yes, an important point to bear in mind is one of the key differences between the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago and now is back then most of the Arab states were sworn enemies of Israel. Whereas over the last few decades, more recently with the Abraham Accords, most of the Sunni Arab states have made some sort of peace with Israel or even become diplomatic partners and friends with Israel.

Hamas, of course, is not a nation state, it is a terrorist actor that happens to control-control Gaza. But the big exception is the nation state in the Middle East that remain so hostile to Israel is, as you mentioned, Iran which has also sworn to Israel's destruction. And Iran seems to have at a minimum, green lighted this attack and potentially even helped plan it. And so that's one of the challenges for Israel. It's not just about defeating and deterring Hamas, but deterring a larger attack by Iran on Israel itself. And so there's a big deterrence challenge there.

EICHER: Past U.S. Presidents have sought to broker peace deals between the Israelis and Palestinians…generally with terms extremely favorable to Palestinians. But each time, the Palestinians have refused because they are unwilling to recognize Israel’s legitimacy as a state. Do you think this attack by Hamas will change how the West treats Israel and the Palestinians?

INBODEN: I don't think anyone in the West will see there being any prospects in the near term for a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement. You know, obviously the most immediate task right now is Israel defending it's very survival.

One distinction to keep in mind though here is the West Bank is primarily governed by Fatah or the Palestinian Authority. And Hamas, the terrorist group, of course, controls Gaza. And Fatah, it's very corrupt. They've certainly been behind a lot of attacks on Israel, but they are in relative terms, the more moderate of the parties who at least in theory have somewhat accepted Israel's right to exist. It's a, you know, complicated story there. Fatah is the arch nemesis of Hamas. The two parties hate each other and Hamas thinks Fatah is too moderate, too accepting of Israel. So part of what's going on here is Hamas not only is trying to kill as many Jews as possible, Hamas would love to eject Fatah from the West Bank and take over-take over the West Bank itself. And so you know, the US should not be wasting any time trying to broker some sort of peace deal right now. Part of the key is just preventing Hamas from taking over the West Bank and taking a bad situation and making it even worse.

EICHER: Question about American politics, and I’m thinking of the situation in the U.S. House, no House speaker, do you think this conflict changes anything there? What does it mean for supporting Israel financially while the House currently can’t function?

INBODEN: There's never a good time for the House of Representatives to be paralyzed without a speaker, but especially during an international crisis and war in the Middle East. And so without getting into any particulars of the House Republican caucus politics or the succession race. I just say, as a concerned American, I hope that very soon we can get a Speaker of the House, because until then the House just cannot function—it cannot pass any legislation. And there is an urgent need to pass an emergency aid package for Israel of both economic and weapons support, which has to be done by Congress, and that—it just cannot take place if the House can't constitute itself and actually vote and pass it into law.

So I hope that as awful as this war and this crisis are, that it will have the effect of concentrating the minds of you know Republicans in Congress to get their act together and get a speaker chosen, whoever it may be, and get the House functioning again. 

EICHER: Where do you see this conflict going in the coming days and weeks?

INBODEN: Yeah, very difficult to say. It's certainly clear that, you know, Israel is, while we're talking here is preparing an impending ground offensive into Gaza. The challenge for Israel will be managing and deterring potential escalation. And the things to watch for there are possible attacks by Hezbollah in Israel's north, you know another Iranian sponsored terrorist group that also is sworn to Israel's destruction, and then possible Iranian military action itself against Israel which can't be ruled out and so those will be the factors to watch even as you know, the main focus of the action will be Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

EICHER: Will, thank you for joining us on short notice. Will Inboden is a professor at the University of Florida and a columnist with WORLD Opinions. Thank you for joining us, Will!

INBODEN: Thanks, it's been great to be with you.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: scars of persecution.

According to this year’s Open Doors Watch List, Pakistan is the 7th worst country in the world for persecution of Christians. That’s ahead of countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and India.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A small Christian community in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province faced record attacks back in August. On the basis of scant evidence, angry mobs destroyed homes and churches—accusing Christian believers of blasphemy against Islam. Authorities did hunt down the attackers and offered financial aid to families who lost their homes.

BUTLER: But many of those affected fear more attacks as religious tensions continue to rise across the country. WORLD’s Onize Ohikere reports. 

AUDIO: [Church singing]

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: In late August, about 200 Christians sang together as they stood next to chairs lined up in a narrow alley.

The makeshift worship took place next to the Salvation Army church in Pakistan’s city of Jaranwala. Black soot covered the ceiling and walls of the church. Crowds had pulled down the cross from the top of the building.

AUDIO: [Sound of mob]

The previous week, angry mobs had rampaged through Christian neighborhoods after allegations broadcast over mosque loudspeakers that Christians had ripped out pages from the Quran.

Release International, a Christian advocacy group, says the attackers burned down five churches, damaged 21 others, and burned down the homes of 40 Christians. But Human Rights Focus Pakistan reported a much higher estimate saying the mobs gutted 19 churches and destroyed 89 homes.

Police arrested more than 160 Muslims over the attacks. Authorities also gave nearly $7,000 to each family who lost their home, and deployed security across the affected areas.

One month later, the community is still struggling.

Gibram Gill led the crisis response in Jaranwala for Pak Mission Society aid group.

PAK MISSION: So now the wave of fear is mounting day by day and the people are getting insecure.

He says some workers lost their jobs because their employers feared mobs could target their businesses.

PAK MISSION: Another aspect which is the basic livelihood is that the majority of the women there, almost 85 percent of the women there are domestic workers, and they used to work in the houses of the Muslim community.

Many of them did not return to those jobs. He says many children have also stopped going to school. Earlier in September, Gill said some men beat up a 13-year-old boy on his way back from school. Authorities managed to stop the attack from escalating.

PAK_MISSION: He was about to be hospitalized because he was bleeding and he was beaten on the way to school.

In Pakistan, a person convicted of blasphemy can be punished with death. But accusations alone often incite mob violence.

Andrew Boyd is the spokesman for Release International advocacy group.

BOYD: So it doesn’t matter really whether an allegation of blasphemy is proved in the courts or not. Once that allegation has been made, you're a marked person and we've covered it, Release International, case after case of people who've been accused of blasphemy, who've gone to the courts, they've been acquitted, but vigilantes have attempted to kill them afterward. So just to cry blasphemy in that nation is a death sentence, often, on the individuals who've been accused of it.

More blasphemy allegations and religious attacks have continued since the Jaranwala violence. Last month, a schoolteacher beat up a six-year-old student after accusing him of blasphemy for fiddling with a workbook that had Quranic verses.

Authorities also arrested a Christian couple on blasphemy charges after they reportedly found torn pages of the Quran on their rooftop. Christians have also reported Islamic slogans scrawled on the walls of church buildings.

BOYD: What's really quite interesting here is that part of the allegations of blasphemy being put forward by Muslims is that Christians are scrolling graffiti on their mosques or pinning posters to their mosques, which they say are blasphemous. Those haven't been proven, but what is absolutely for certain here is that Islamist graffiti is being scrawled on churches, the Christian churches have been burned down, Bibles have been burnt in the streets, and Christians have been attacked.

AUDIO: [Protest chant]

The Jaranwala attacks sparked protests elsewhere in Pakistan. In the city of Karachi, Christian protesters chanted “We remember the injustice.”

Boyd said such attacks point to growing religious nationalism in Pakistan. Persecution has also extended to the minority Ahmadi Muslim sect.

BOYD: So this is a sect of Islam, which is considered to be heretical by the dominant Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims in the area.

Boyd says it’s a larger problem that also goes beyond Pakistan.

SOUND: [Protesters chanting]

Dozens of Sikh protesters in Pakistan chanted “Sikhs demand peace” late last month.

That’s after Canada said it had credible evidence that India was involved in the assassination of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil back in June.

Christians in India have also decried targeted attacks under the Hindu nationalist government.

BOYD: Wherever you've got autocratic governments, they often look for an enemy without and an enemy within. The enemy within is a way of controlling their own people, and the enemy without is a way of rallying their own people.

As such cases persist, Boyd said Release International and its partners continue to call for an end to blasphemy laws. They are also pushing for dialogue with Muslim community members who are open to helping.

BOYD: There was one example where Muslims who had seen what had happened in this area of Jaranwala actually opened up their mosque for Christians to come and pray because their churches have been burnt down.

AUDIO: [Worship service]

The destruction means several Christians still don’t have places to worship. But Pak Mission says they still continue to find ways to gather and draw support from Christians elsewhere in Pakistan.

For WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 10th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: blank canvases. 

For an artist in Charlotte, North Carolina medical complications caused her to forget how to paint. To cope with that loss, she first had to learn to rely on her faith. WORLD reporter Jenny Rough has the story.

MARCY GREGG: Red is one of my favorite colors.

JENNY ROUGH, REPORTER: Marcy Gregg is standing next to one of her paintings, titled Perfectly Prepared. At six feet, it towers over her. It’s mostly blue, with brown, white, black, a patch of yellowish-green and of course red, strategically placed throughout.

GREGG: And red literally to me was the place that was going to kick your eye. So it goes from there to there to there to there.

Gregg is an abstract oil artist. In 1980, she graduated from Southern Methodist University with a double major in studio art and art history. She married her college sweetheart, Dev. And set aside her art to start a family. They had three kids. Two sons and one daughter.

But Gregg doesn’t remember any of that. Not her wedding. Not her pregnancies. Not a single thing she learned about art in college.

She does remember waking up in a hospital bed one day.

GREGG: I wake up and I remember I'm tied down so I can't really move. And I remember thinking, why am I here? What is going on?

She thought she was a 17-year-old freshman. She had no idea why she was in the hospital. No idea that, just days ago, she’d given birth to her daughter. Or that 36 hours later, doctors found her standing up in the hospital bed screaming.

GREGG: They thought I was having a psychosis initially. But then when they touched me, they realized I was burning up with fever. And by the time my husband got to the hospital, I had slipped into a coma.

IVs hung off her limbs. She was on a ventilator. Doctors drilled a hole in her skull to relieve the fluid buildup in her brain. Gregg was still unresponsive, but by then the doctors knew what she had.

GREGG: Pneumococcal bacterial spinal meningitis, which is the one that you die from.

Gregg says it’s a miracle she lived. But the illness did take a toll. When she woke up, the last 13 years of her life were gone.

GREGG: They're telling me that everything's going to be fine, that I have a husband and three children, and they're fine. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You've got the wrong patient. I don't have a husband. I don't have children. I'm a 17-year-old.

Doctors said her memories would return soon, when her brain swelling went down. But they didn’t. When her husband walked in and tried to kiss her, she thought he was a doctor and pushed him away.

Thankfully, she had met Dev as a 17-year-old college freshman. So technically, she did remember him. Just not old-looking Dev. She remembered young-looking Dev.

GREGG: I didn't remember getting married to him. But the more I talked to him, the more I began to recognize that my Dev was in that man. That was my Dev.

And her kids? She was scared to “meet” them when they came to visit in the hospital.

GREGG: But when they walked in and they got on the bed and I touched them, I knew they were mine.

Back at home, she hoped familiar surroundings would trigger her memory. Nothing. Not family photographs. Not the clothes in her closet.

GREGG: My clothes, I hated. They looked old and I remember saying, who would wear these?

Every morning, she prayed God would bring her memory back. He didn’t.

When Gregg realized that she was probably never going to remember those lost years, she turned to alcohol. But one night, she understood something important. She wanted God—and His will for her life—even if that meant a life without her memories.

She started a 12-step program.

GREGG: I knew I was done. I was gonna trust him. Totally.

Soon after she quit drinking, she suddenly had a burning desire to paint. When she told Dev, he said, “Well, paint!”

GREGG: And I said, well, I need to take lessons. He said, “You don't need to take lessons. You majored in art in college.” I don't remember college.

She started with realism, but quickly turned to abstract.

GREGG: But then I kind of did things that were a little wonky. Like this?

She points to two half circles that kind of look like sideways mountains.

GREGG: I have a circle in every painting and it’s because in Christ we’re complete. Sometimes you can find them and sometimes you can’t.

Gregg credits God—and the prayers of her pastor and family—that she didn’t die of meningitis there in that hospital bed. And now, decades later, she expresses her faith in every piece of artwork she creates.

Gregg starts by painting a scripture verse on the canvas. You can’t see it when the painting is done. But she uses the verse to guide the composition and colors.

GREGG: So I, in the morning, will spend time with the Lord. And I read a passage, and whatever passage that morning really stands out to me. I will take that scripture into the studio.

Perfectly Prepared—the big abstract painting with splashes of red—was inspired by 1 Corinthians 2:9.

GREGG: Which says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can imagine what God has prepared for those that love him.”

No matter what she’s going through, she knows God has an eternal plan.

GREGG: And when I was painting, the whole thing I kept thinking was: I needed to make it so beautifully colorful and bright because I do believe that's what it will look like when we get there. But also how he prepares for us now.

This Thursday, Gregg will hold a solo exhibition at an art gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, called Colors of Light. Her last one. It’s becoming too painful to paint. She’s hit another roadblock with her health: Rheumatoid arthritis.

But she’s come to terms with that. She points to a painting titled “Every Layer Matters” based on Romans 8:28: God works all things together for good.

GREGG: So if He's always at work, and He's working all things together for good. Then He’s going to finish the painting of your life. So I don't worry when I'm in a bad place because I know the next layer's coming.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jenny Rough, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next: World Opinions Commentator A.S. Ibrahim explains the worldview of violence that drives Hamas.

A.S. IBRAHIM, COMMENTATOR: When the militant Muslim group Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, it named the assault “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.”

While there are various political angles in this dreadful situation, we should pay close attention to the political and religious ideology that drives Hamas.

As a group, Hamas emerged in the 1980s from the larger Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood. Both organizations explicitly tie their militant actions to the Quran and Muhammad’s precedent as sources for legitimacy. This is why Hamas named their attack after the Al-Aqsa Mosque, due to its religious esteem.

Palestinian and Israeli media outlets announced that many Israeli soldiers were taken captive by the Hamas fighters. And videos of Israeli women and children captured by Muslim fighters were soon circulating on the internet. An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader “congratulated Palestinian fighters for launching the biggest attack on Israel in years.”

Why does Hamas say Jews are the enemy? Because the Quran explicitly states that the “strongest in enmity” to the Muslims are “the Jews.” Notice the designation of a religious group as an enemy. This forms and fuels hatred against humans based on their religious loyalty.

For Hamas, the Islamic designation of the Jews as enemies doesn’t distinguish military commanders from civilians—all are in one basket, because of their adherence to Judaism.

Whether Hamas and its militias actually care about Islam and its advancement is not the issue, as they use its ideological claims to advance their political agenda. This is evident in the way Hamas persuades Muslims to serve as suicide bombers and human shields, by encouraging them to wage jihad against the Jewish enemy, Israel.

In Islam, jihad is chiefly an armed fighting with religious meaning. Jihad is the most commendable of actions and martyrs are promised immediate admittance to paradise. Hamas uses this claim to encourage Muslims to fight the Jews, saying that if killed, Palestinians will receive the best eternal reward. Hamas also understands that the Israelis will hesitate to bomb buildings full of humans, and so the group uses these buildings to secure weaponry and launch attacks.

Hamas preachers say that attacking the Jews means following Muhammad’s example. In Muhammad’s biography, he fought “the three main Jewish tribes of Medina,” after calling them hypocrites and unbelievers of his religious message. The example is loaded with religious weight for those who want to follow Muhammad’s model. In one account, Muhammad seized the Jews, and “all adult males are executed, and the women and children are enslaved.” His followers can hardly escape yearning to imitate such a model.

The current political dilemma is indeed surprising and complex, but the ideological hatred towards a religious enemy is based on an ancient foundation.

With such a foundation, the conflict between militant Muslims and Jews fighting back is unlikely to stop anytime soon.

I am A. S. Ibrahim.

NICK EICHER, HOST: On tomorrow’s program: The House of Representatives is going nowhere until it picks a new Speaker. We’ll talk about that on Washington Wednesday. And, what it takes to do campus ministry in difficult places. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler.

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 Apostle Paul speaking to the philosophers of Athens said: 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” —Acts 17 verses 30 and 31.

Go now in grace and peace.

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