Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson As this year is winding down, you may be thinking of any final gifts you might want to give to your church or Christian organizations. If you are listening to this right now, I would certainly recommend you support the radio station that is carrying this commentary. If you are reading it, you might follow the links to the platform that provides it. One of the issues of Outlook produced by the Point of View radio program focused…

Penna Dexter New research on the gender divide shows that young men want marriage and family more than young women do. The Daily Signal reports that, as recently as 1993, 83 percent of 12th grade girls told researchers they were likely to get married, while only 76 percent of boys that age thought they would tie the knot. Two recent surveys reveal that the status quo has flipped. A November Pew Research study shows 74 percent of 12th grade boys…

Kerby Anderson The carol “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is an English translation of a Latin hymn that is sung during Advent and Christmas. The text goes back to at least the 18th century (and perhaps much earlier) while the music put to it goes back to the 15th century. “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”…

Kerby Anderson On this Christmas day, I think it would be good to reflect for just a moment on the Incarnation. God became man and took on human flesh. This is a great theological wonder and mystery. Malcolm Muggeridge wrote this to describe the importance of the birth of Christ. “Thanks to the great mercy and marvel of the Incarnation, the cosmic scene is resolved into a human drama. A human drama in which God reached down to relate Himself…

Kerby Anderson This is Christmas week, and so I thought we might reflect on the hymn, “O Holy Night” by John Dwight. “O holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.” Jesus came into the world to save us and so we feel valuable and our soul feels its worth. Perhaps the most quoted…

Kerby Anderson During this Christmas, we have been providing a theological perspective on some of the classic Christmas carols. But today, I thought we might look at a contemporary song associated with the Christmas story. “Mary, Did You Know?” is a Christmas song addressing Mary, mother of Jesus. The lyrics were written by Mark Lowry in 1984. The music was written by Buddy Greene in 1991. It was originally recorded by Michael English on his 1991 solo album. The song…

Kerby Anderson During the Christmas week, I like to revisit some of the Christmas carols we sing at this time of year. In this case, I not only want to talk about one of those songs, but also point you to a film that gives you the back story. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was known as America’s poet, and is known for the song, “I Heard the Bells.” His story is faithfully told by the ministry, Sight & Sound, which is…

Penna Dexter According to Fortune magazine, Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley “thinks America needs a wake-up call.” Mr. Farley told Monica Langley, host of Office Hours: Business Edition podcast, his company has 5000 open jobs for mechanics. He said these jobs pay six-figure salaries. It’s not just Ford that’s having trouble finding people to fill manual labor positions. Mr. Farley said, “We are in trouble in our country…We have over a million openings in critical jobs, emergency services, trucking,…

Kerby Anderson It is estimated that Charles Wesley wrote over 6500 hymns. Perhaps his best-known hymn is “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Over the years it has been edited slightly, but the meaning and theology remain as he wrote it more than two centuries ago. It begins with a proclamation of the birth of Jesus: “Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” The hymn reminds us why…

Kerby Anderson The electoral buzzword these days is “affordability.” As I have mentioned in previous commentaries, politicians need to take seriously the concerns of average Americans who are having a difficult time economically. But the other side to affordability is affluence. In a recent commentary, Kelsey Piper reminds us that “Medieval kings would envy you.” We live in a world of affluence that people in other centuries could not even imagine. She walks you through her house and counts 27…

Kerby Anderson Glenn Beck has been writing about a coming reset in his books, The Great Reset and Dark Future. Now he has been talking about an economic reset that will trigger a cultural and political reset. He explains that every debt-based system will end in one of three ways. The country will inflate the money so they can pay off the debt. That is what the German Weimar Republic did. That is what Rome did. The second is a…