Archives

Monday, January 4, 2010

400-408Hugh Ross, founder and president of Reasons to Believe (reasons.org), who's both an astrophysicist and a pastor, and author of over a dozen books, including his latest, Why The Universe Is The Way It Is.  Every Sunday morning at 11:15am he hosts his free-and-open-to-the-public "Paradoxes" apologetics class at Sierra Madre Congregational Church.  And, don't forget to sign up for his daily Today's New Reason to Believe Email at reasons.org.  Today we talk about the development of "intellectual steroids" that have been "successful" in creating "super smart" rats, however with terrible side effects.  The goal would be to create something helpful to fighting Alzheimer's.  

We also talk about Hugh's forthcoming book that talks about the Ten Animals out of Job 38 and 39, and how God gave us these animals for service and pleasure with divine foresight – they were critical for launching and sustaining a high civilization.  The Ten are lion, raven, goat, deer, ox, horse, donkey, ostrich, hawk, and eagle.  Interestingly, the lion makes an incredibly loyal pet.  Hugh had a friend at Cal Tech who had a pet lion, and it would play wonderfully with toddlers!  Check out "Christian the Lion" on YouTube here.  Also, the raven is the smartest of all the animals, able to use tools to recover tools to get a treat, something even chimps can't do.  And the goat, was the breakthrough for animal husbandry, tamed easily and able to provide wool, milk leather, meat, and even its horns can be used for musical instruments – and they're even used to today to cut firebreaks in rough terrain.

413-423Hugh Ross

428-437Bruce Wilkinson, (brucewilkinson.com) best-selling author of more than 60 books, including his huge hit The Prayer of Jabez, which remains the fastest selling book in history, now with over 20 million copies in print.  Bruce is out with his latest entitled You Were Born For This:  7 Keys to a Life of Predictable Miracles (youwerebornforthis.com), a book that helps us learn how we can partner with God to deliver His miracles to others, if we learn His miracle-related signals.  He spoke at the Crystal Cathedral this past Sunday, and he'll be at E.V. Free Fullerton later this month.  We talk today about setting a spiritual New Year's Resolution this year to spend more intentional time with the Lord.  He suggests you set a special time and place to be with Him each day, and to structure your time together.  Then, secondly, learn to pray specifically this year, write them down, with the date requested, and the date answered.  The answer may be "No," or "Not now."   

443-452Bruce Wilkinson

458-508Mark Baker, Clinical Psychologist and Executive Director of the La Vie Christian Counseling Centers (laviecounseling.org) in Pasadena and Santa Monica.  His book, Jesus, The Greatest Therapist Who Ever Lived, has sold almost a million copies around the world!  You can listen to Mark teaching on emotional and spiritual growth at DrMarkBaker.com, or you can contact La Vie Counseling Centers at (626) 351-9616.  Today we talk about the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, and what to do for those (of us) who tend to "stuff the stuff" – the painful memories from our childhoods.  

512-523Mark Baker

528-538Todd Pierce, former rodeo champion and now full-time pastor to the PBR (Professional Bull Riders), (ridinghighministries.org), is partnering with Steve Wilburn and Harvest Christian Fellowship, for a special evangelistic outreach on Friday night, January 22, at the Honda Center in Anaheim.  After the PBR event, there'll be a concert by Seventh Day Slumber, with testimonies from the riders themselves, and special messages from both Todd and Steve.  We need you to plug into this!  The PBR has been gracious enough to provide 5,000 half price tickets ($10.00) to churches.  For more info, go to www.goswat.com, and bring the two-minute video to your church or ministry!

544-554Todd Pierce and Steve Wilburn

558-608Let's talk about Avatar!  What messages did you pick up?  What's the "take away" value of the movie?  Did you enjoy the predictable stereotypes and over-used cliches?  How will it make people feel about certain things?  I.e., indigenous peoples, cultural sensitivities and Christian missionaries?  Worldviews like pantheism, animism, monism, and the New Age Movement?  Primitivism vs. American technology, capitalism, colonialism, corporatism?  Global warming?  Vegetarianism?  The American military ("shock and awe")?  Collectivism vs. The Individual?  Etc.

(:08) Avatar 1, fresh start in new world...

(:42) Avatar 2, I became a Marine... You're not in Kansas anymore... An indigenous population called the Na'Vi

(:33) Avatar 3, A Marine in an avatar body...you'll get your legs back...

(:58) Avatar 4, I want you to learn from the inside, and earn their trust... Did you forget what team you're playing for?

• Jonah Goldberg (12/30/09) Avatar and the Faith Instinct: It's the norm to speak glowingly of spirituality but derisively of traditional religion.

// In short, Avatar tells the tale of a disabled Marine, Jake Sully, who occupies the body of a ten-foot-tall alien so he can live among the mystical forest denizens of the moon world Pandora. Sully is sent in mufti, like a futuristic Lawrence of Arabia, to further the schemes of the evil corporate nature-rapists desperate to obtain the precious mineral "unobtainium" (no, really). Jake inevitably goes native, embraces the eco-faith of Pandora's Na'Vi inhabitants and their tree goddess, the "all mother," and rallies the Pandoran aborigines (not to mention the Pandoran ecosystem itself) against the evil forces of a thinly veiled 22nd-century combine of Blackwater and Halliburton.

The film has been subjected to a sustained assault from many on the right, most notably by Ross Douthat in the New York Times, as an "apologia for pantheism." Douthat's criticisms hit the mark, but the most relevant point was raised by John Podhoretz in The Weekly Standard. Cameron wrote Avatar, says Podhoretz, "not to be controversial, but quite the opposite: He was making something he thought would be most pleasing to the greatest number of people."

What would have been controversial is if — somehow — Cameron had made a movie in which the good guys accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts.

Of course, that sounds outlandish and absurd, but that's the point, isn't it? We live in an age in which it's the norm to speak glowingly of spirituality but derisively of traditional religion. If the Na'Vi were Roman Catholics, there would be boycotts and protests. Make the oversized Smurfs Rousseauian noble savages and everyone nods along, save for a few cranky right-wingers.

• Nick Rizzuto (12/28/09) Avatar: The Atlas Shrugged of the Left.

612-623Calls

628-638Calls

644-652Calls

 • Focus on the Family Press Release (12/30/09) Focus on the Family Looks To Bright Future: Ministry wishes founder James Dobson well in new radio endeavor with son.

• CNS News (1/4/10) DHS Plans to Catch Only One in Four Travelers Committing 'Major' Criminal Violations While Entering U.S. on International Fights in 2010.

• ABC News (1/4/10) Nigeria slams 'discriminatory' flight checks.  Nigeria has criticized new security measures for passengers flying to and from the United States as unfair and said they amounted to discrimination against 150 million people.

• Edward Whelan, NRO (1/4/10) Staging a Show Trial on Same-Sex Marriage: Judge Walker's New Year's Eve surprise on California's Proposition 8.

• Mark Steyn, NRO (1/2/10) The Joke's on Us: The Pantybomber wasn't the big joke. We are.

• Andrew C. McCarthy, NRO (1/4/10) The Constitutional Crisis and the Security Crisis: On detainees, either ignore the judges or rein them in

• WSJ Editorial (1/3/10) The Real Blackwater Scandal: Another example of prosecutorial abuse in a political case.

• WSJ Editorial (1/3/10) The Biggest Losers: Behind the Christmas Eve taxpayer massacre at Fannie and Freddie.

• Bruce Bialosky, Townhall (1/4/10) A Very Green Christmas for Fannie and Freddie.

• Chris Adams, McClatchy Newspapers (1/3/10) Mortgage foreclosures still swamping federal efforts to help.

• AP (1/4/10) Confusion in Europe after US demands more security.

• Washington Post (1/4/2010) TSA tries to assuage full-body scan concerns. Calls: Are you for or against full body scans?  Do you have a problem with someone seeing the image of your naked body, or is a small price to pay for a safe flight and country?

• Fox News (1/4/2010) Security Guard Killed, U.S. Marshal Shot in Federal Building in Las Vegas.

• LA Times (1/4/2010) Four Blair High graduates team up to succeed at college. Calls: What are some of your mentoring success stories?  Do any listeners have plans to get involved and volunteer in 2010?

(:38) Brit Hume on Tiger (Fox News Sunday @ 1/3/2010) Hume encourages Tiger to find forgiveness and transformation in the Christian faith.

315 – [2:00] Let's check in now with the pros over at Applied Financial Planning, "The Money Guys" Robert Micone and Bill O'Connor at 866-SEEK-COUNSEL.  (1) "So, you'll be presenting twice at our KKLA Financial Summit this Saturday (January 9th) at the Crowne Plaza Anaheim, what're your two presentations?" (2) "What's the difference?" (3) "Hey Gang, we're also going to have an expert from Empire Solar to tell us how we can save money using solar and how to reinvest those savings.  The folks from Biola will be there discussing how to plan for your family's education and planned giving.  And, Everett Financial will also be there talking about how to retire with some excellent insurance products.  Register now for our KKLA Financial Summit at kkla.com." –– Get the independent, unbiased advice you're seeking on your investments & retirement planning from the pros in the investment world here in Southern California for decades, "The Money Guys" – Robert Micone & Bill O'Connor – at Applied Financial Planning, by calling 866-SEEK-COUNSEL or visiting them on the web at SeekCounsel.com.




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