Recent Viewpoints

Penna Dexter The massive National Defense Authorization Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week. The Washington Stand reports that the bill “takes a sincere stab at some of the worst forms of military wokeness.” The bill was a compromise, but the election results spoke volumes to senators who previously insisted on expanding the draft to women and on rolling back Biden transgender policies. The Washington Stand calls this a “Christmas miracle.” The legislation strips out Senate language that…

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…

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 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 This is Christmas week, and I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a moment to reflect on the words to the hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” It was written in 1867 by Phillips Brooks (an Episcopal pastor from Philadelphia). He had been in Israel two years earlier and had celebrated Christmas in Bethlehem. He wrote this song to reflect on what the night of the birth of Jesus might have been like. O little town of…

Penna Dexter We are about to have our first openly transgender member of Congress. Democrat Sarah McBride won Delaware’s lone House seat and will be sworn in this January. Since Rep.-elect McBride is a trans woman (a biological male) there’s a bit of uncertainty regarding restrooms and other women’s spaces. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced a couple of measures aimed at protecting women and the spaces designated specifically for their use — i.e. restrooms, changing rooms, and…

Kerby Anderson Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institute of Health (NIH). If you are not familiar with him, he is a Stanford University professor of medicine and health research policy. Allysia Finley calls this the “revenge of the Covid lockdown skeptics.” During the pandemic and lockdowns, Dr. Bhattacharya attempted to inject some common sense into the government’s policies. The head of the NIH during that period was Dr. Francis Collins, who referred to the…

Kerby Anderson Before the election, I would often do a feature on “problems the next administration will face no matter who is elected.” Now we know that it will be a Trump administration that will face these issues. One of the most difficult to resolve will be federal deficits. Lyn Alden (author of Broken Money) has written about this and appeared on the Fox News program “Making Money with Charles Payne.” Federal deficits are hard to fix for many reasons….

Kerby Anderson Yesterday, I talked about some of the tests Glenn Beck proposes in his new book Propaganda Wars. The first three are the “liar-liar test,” the “what is a woman test,” and the “egg-throwing gorilla test.” If you don’t know what those are, you might consult the transcript for yesterday’s commentary. His fourth test is the “bias test.” People and institutions are more likely to cite facts that support their ideological or religious views. If a secular, liberal news…

Kerby Anderson Propaganda Wars is the newest book by Glenn Beck. His opening chapter has a “Welcome to Clown World” section that will cause most readers to shake their heads and roll their eyes. His chapter on “The Propaganda Industrial Complex” is a warning for all of us to use discernment when using media. His later chapters address the problem of deepfakes and various other forms of deception. One chapter that will be helpful to you is how to discover…