According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 1 in 4 Americans over eighteen years old suffer from a mental illness. By nearly all accounts, mental illness is surging in this country, with it now being called an epidemic. With so many people seeking mental help today, it's crucial Christians understand the nature of therapy (including counseling, psychology, and psychiatry) and why secular therapy is problematic from a biblical perspective. Spoiler alert: All therapy involves worldview assumptions. In today's episode, I explain why and discuss some points from Greg Gifford's new book, Lies My Therapist Told Me.

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Dr. Greg Gifford's book, Lies My Therapist Told Me: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063416735/

My latest book, When Culture Hates You: https://www.amazon.com/When-Culture-Hates-You-Persevering/dp/0736984313

The latest worldview research from the Cultural Research Center, led by renowned researcher Dr. George Barna, are shockingly disappointing from a Christian perspective. Most self-identified Christians don’t understand even the basics of biblical Christianity. In this eye-opening episode, George and I dig into some of the key findings on Americans' understanding of God and the implications for the church today.

MENTIONED IN THE SHOW (in order of mention):

My first interview with George Barna (Sep 2022): https://natashacrain.com/what-is-a-biblical-worldview-with-george-barna/  

Cross Examined Instructor Academy: https://crossexamined.org/what-is-cia/

Take the Worldview Assessment yourself: http://www.acuworldview.com/ 

Coupon Code for 30% off: 79NJEQXW

Dr. Len Munsil is president of Arizona Christian University, which seeks to be America's premier biblical worldview university. While the vast majority of Christian colleges today are significantly compromising their biblical foundations, Arizona Christian is a great example of one that isn't. So what does that look like in practice? How are many Christian colleges compromising, and what are the keys to changing that? Dr. Munsil shares excellent insights on those questions in this episode.

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Arizona Christian University: https://www.arizonachristian.edu/

My interview with Dr. Everett Piper on the state of Christian colleges: https://natashacrain.com/the-state-of-christian-colleges-with-dr-everett-piper/

My newest book, When Culture Hates You: https://www.amazon.com/When-Culture-Hates-You-Persevering/dp/0736984313

The website and X account protestia.com got ahold of a training video from Andy Stanley's hugely influential North Point Church on how middle school leaders should respond to trans-identifying kids and their families. The video features Britt Kitchen, the middle school ministry director at North Point, effectively encouraging leaders to affirm trans identities (I say effectively because he doesn't explicitly say that, but it's the implication of all he's presenting). In this episode, I play and respond to 6 brief clips from the video. It's a tragic case study of how unbiblical ideas are being pushed from within the church.

Watch the original 6-minute video the clips are pulled from here: https://x.com/Protestia/status/1905574394732118425

Today I’m responding to an X post from author and speaker Preston Sprinkle:

“My political theology has allowed me to be so hopeful in this political season. I reject the empire, yet submit to it, because Jesus is king. I embrace and celebrate Christ’s multiethnic kingdom and the many ways we are spreading good in the world. Christians should not be captivated by the binary political playing field that’s been handed to us by Babylon.”

I evaluate his frequent political claim that Christians are like exiles in Babylon (an analogy that fails greatly) and address why this quote represents an unbiblical view of politics.

Get my new book When Culture Hates You: Persevering for the Common Good as Christians in a Hostile Public Square here: https://www.amazon.com/When-Culture-Hates-You-Persevering/dp/0736984313

Sean and I discuss some fascinating subjects from a new book he edited called Apologetics for an Ever-Changing Culture: A Biblical and Culturally Relevant Approach to Talking about God. 

Sean is a professor of Apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He is the author, editor, or co-author of more than 20 books and has one of the top apologetics YouTube channels. 

Check out the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0736989277/

Sean's website: https://seanmcdowell.org/

Get Unshaken Conference Tickets: https://unshakenconference.com/

In today’s episode, I talk with Melissa Dougherty about her groundbreaking new book, Happy Lies: How a Movement You (Probably) Never Heard Of Shaped Our Self-Obsessed World. As I said in my endorsement of the book, "Happy Lies is the most important book that Christians don't know they need. Melissa connects dots that give readers a wealth of aha moments and provides invaluable insights that bring clarity to some of the most pervasive errors in the church. As a bonus, she does it all in a writing style that makes it fun and engaging to read."

Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Lies-Movement-Probably-Self-Obsessed/dp/0310368863

Subscribe to Melissa's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MelissaDougherty

My new book, When Culture Hates You: Persevering for the Common Good as Christians in a Hostile Public Square, is out TODAY! In this brief episode, I tell you a bit about the book and answer the question some are asking: Does the culture actually hate Christians?

GET YOUR COPY TODAY!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/When-Culture-Hates-You-Persevering/dp/0736984313

ChristianBook.com: https://www.christianbook.com/culture-persevering-christians-hostile-public-square/9780736984317/pd/984311?event=BRSRCG|PSEN

Today I’m addressing the following tweet from someone who is troubled by Christians and others who are concerned about public policy related to transgender issues: “For all those who are terrified of trans people and believe this is more important than any other issue, can you please let me know just once when a trans person harmed you? One personal, specific story please.”

Welcome to my first quick response episode, in which I respond briefly to popular claims I see online that sound good and draw in a lot of Christians, but fail from a biblical and/or logical perspective.

Today, I respond to a Tweet from Rev. Benjamin Cremer, a progressive Christian on X who has quickly been gaining influence with a lot of people. Here’s the post:

“Dear Christian, If your religion is really about 'saving souls' then you wouldn’t demand for it to be legislated. Because making someone follow your religion by force of law against their will is an extremely effective way to ensure they reject your God in their hearts."

Before you listen, see if you can identify three types of errors: logical, civic, and biblical.

Today I’m talking with my good friends from the Center for Biblical Unity, Monique Duson and Krista Bontrager, about their new book, Walking in Unity: Biblical Answers to Questions on Race and Racism. Ever since 2020, there have been all kinds of discussions about race in the church, and unfortunately a lot of those discussions have included some very unbiblical ways of thinking. I’m so grateful that Krista and Monique have written this excellent and accessible book that counteracts culture's problematic ideas. In this conversation, we cover all kinds of topics, like:

• What is the difference between anti-racism, racial reconciliation, and biblical unity?
• Should the church see disparities between races as evidence of racism?
• Why haven’t churches been better at biblical discernment with respect to identifying unbiblical ideas about race and racism?
• How much should the church be addressing racial justice? Is it mostly a “progressive” issue?
• Is a “colorblind” approach the best solution? 
• Should all churches be multiethnic?
• And much more.

Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Unity-Biblical-Answers-Questions/dp/0736990895

Learn more about the Center for Biblical Unity here: https://www.centerforbiblicalunity.com/

Today I talk with Seth Gruber about his new documentary that exposes the "hidden history of the secular moral revolution and the architects of our current culture of death." Seth's documentary and corresponding book are called The 1916 Project and reveal the long, devastating trajectory of how we got to where we are today as a culture that celebrates the choice to kill preborn babies. The film and book are both amazing, and I highly recommend them.

Seth and I also discuss the importance of Christians voting in this election and why, even with Trump's weakened stance on abortion, there's no moral equivalence between his and Harris's platforms. 

You can watch The 1916 Project documentary for FREE now until the election on X! Go here: https://x.com/1916projectfilm

Learn more about The 1916 Project and how you can screen it at your church: https://the1916project.com/

Get The 1916 Project book: https://www.amazon.com/1916-Project-Lyin-Witch-Were/dp/B0D79VN7VM

Connect with Seth:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sethdgruber/
• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/sgruber91
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sethgruberofficial/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SethGruberShow

What is the state of Christian colleges today? Is a Christian college education worth the money? How should parents evaluate a given Christian college to determine if it’s biblically sound? What are some signs that a school is going progressive? These are just a few of the questions I discuss with my guest today, Dr. Everett Piper.

Dr. Piper was president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University for 17 years, during which time he led his school from relative obscurity to a position of national recognition and influence. He presently serves as a contributing columnist for The Washington Times and his commentary on religion, education, leadership and politics is featured in local and national media outlets coast to coast. Dr. Piper is also the author of the national best-selling book, Not a Daycare: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth.

Website: dreverettpiper.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dreverettpiper

Cold-case homicide detective, popular national speaker, and best-selling author J. Warner Wallace joins me to talk about his new book, The Truth in True Crime: What Investigating Death Teaches Us About the Meaning of Life. Jim has incredibly unique and valuable insights about life from his many years working homicide cases. In this episode, he shares some of his greatest learnings from "investigating death." 

GET THE BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Truth-True-Crime-Investigating-Teaches/dp/0310111374

My guest today is Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Dr. Lutzer is pastor emeritus of The Moody Church, where he served as the senior pastor for 36 years. He is an award-winning author of many books, including We Will Not Be Silenced, and the featured speaker on two radio programs heard on more than 750 outlets worldwide. 

In this episode, we talk about Dr. Lutzer's brand new book (just released today!), called The Eclipse of God: Our Nation's Disastrous Search for a More Inclusive Deity (and What We Must Do About It). I had the honor of reading an early copy and endorsing it, and I highly recommend it. As I said in my endorsement, “I can't think of a better book to quickly bring Christians up to speed on the key forces that have led to our culture's disastrous attempt to redefine and abandon God.” We had a fantastic conversation in this episode about how America's gotten to the point of worshipping a self-made deity rather than the one true God. Don't miss this! Dr. Lutzer will give you insights into our current cultural moment that you won't forget.

The After Party is a small group curriculum and corresponding book that's being heavily promoted this election year to individuals, churches, and Christian institutions. The marketing is designed to attract churches who would like to simply encourage charitable communication around politics, but the execution is designed to convince Christians that they shouldn’t be so conservative. In this episode, I do a deep dive on the book to make the case that it's not what it's marketed to be and that it should absolutely be avoided by the church.

This podcast is available in article form at https://natashacrain.com/how-the-after-party-curriculum-is-sowing-political-confusion-in-the-church/. 

Megan Basham's new book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, has become the source of much discussion and controversy in the few days it's been out. In this episode, Megan and I talk about the central thesis of her book, the evidence for it, and why Christians should be concerned. She also responds to many of the objections people have had to it over the last few days.

Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Sale-Evangelical-Leaders-Leftist/dp/0063413442

Deception of many different kinds is a pervasive problem in the church today. The problem with deception, of course, is that people rarely know when they're being deceived. In this episode, I talk about some of the most pressing examples of deception in the church with pastor Jack Hibbs based on his new book, Living in the Daze of Deception: How to Discern Truth from Culture's Lies.

Pastor Jack is the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, which is a community of 10,000 members in southern California. His podcast attracts 250,000 listeners monthly, and he broadcasts to 800 radio stations daily. 

MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

Unshaken Conference tickets and information: https://unshakenconference.com/

Register for a Summit Summer Conference and get $200 off with code NATASHA200 at summit.org/natasha

Pastor Jack's newest book, Living in the Daze of Deception: How to Discern Truth from Culture's Lies https://www.amazon.com/Living-Daze-Deception-Discern-Cultures/dp/073698738X

Pastor Jack Hibbs' website: https://jackhibbs.com/

Culture has gone through an enormous shift in the last few years, and raising kids with a confident faith is more challenging than ever. Today I talk with Dr. Jeff Myers about the biggest faith challenges today and how parents (and grandparents!) should respond. Dr. Jeff is the president of Summit Ministries and is one of America’s most respected authorities on youth leadership development. This is a conversation that every Christian concerned about the next generation needs to hear (and that should be all of us!).

MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

Register for a Summit Summer Conference and get $200 off with code NATASHA200 at summit.org/natasha (and an additional $100 off if you do so before March 31!)

Unshaken Conference https://unshakenconference.com/

My apologetics books for parents:

• Keeping Your Kids on God's Side https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Your-Kids-Gods-Side/dp/0736965084 
• Talking with Your Kids about God https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Your-Kids-about-Conversations/dp/0801075521
• Talking with Your Kids about Jesus https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Your-Kids-about-Jesus/dp/080107553X/

Parenting Gen Z by Jason Jimenez https://www.amazon.com/Parenting-Gen-Guiding-through-Hostile/dp/1646070070

Legacy Coalition https://legacycoalition.com/

Today I'm featuring the work of a very important organization that every Christian should know about: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). ADF is one of the leading Christian law firms committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life. Ryan Bangert, Senior VP at ADF, joins me to talk specifically about parental rights in this episode. He offers a wealth of information on this subject that is vital for parents to understand.

SHOW NOTES:

ADF's website: https://adflegal.org/

Sign up for ADF email updates here: https://adflegal.org/email-sign-up

ADF Ministry Alliance (affordable religious freedom legal help for ministries): https://www.adfministryalliance.org/

Financially support ADF here: https://adflegal.org/support/grants-funding

Super Bowl Sunday is in a few days, and He Gets Us will once again be running ads as part of their $100 million advertising campaign intended to "rescue Jesus's reputation." Last year, I wrote a viral article on 7 key problems with it. Since people will be talking about it all over again this week, I've done an updated evaluation of the campaign, including reviewing all 43 days of their Bible reading plans. Today I walk through my case that the campaign continues to be very problematic.

Mentioned in the show:

A written version of this podcast is available here: https://natashacrain.com/here-comes-the-he-gets-us-campaign-again-why-its-portrayal-of-jesus-is-still-a-problem/

Last year's article is here: https://natashacrain.com/7-problems-with-the-he-gets-us-campaign/

My Unshaken Faith episode with Alisa Childers on how Jesus never claimed that it was bad to be "religious": https://blubrry.com/1470671/96136650/17-myth-of-the-modern-day-pharisee/

Seth Gruber is a bold and passionate pro-life speaker and the founder of The White Rose Resistance. His mission is to be a voice for unborn children and to educate and expose culture to the evil of abortion until every person has the right to be born. In today's episode, Seth and I talk about the state of the pro-life movement post-Roe, the history of evil that led to where we are today with the killing of babies, the softness of today’s church on cultural issues, and much more.

SHOW NOTES:

Seth’s website

Seth’s ministry: The White Rose Resistance (Get Involved!)

Seth’s talk that I called the “Most Powerful Talk I’ve Ever Heard”

Seth’s podcast

Seth with Jack Hibbs on “Happening Now” at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills

In this part 2 on public schools (see episode 34 for part 1), my guest Andy White explains seven things Christian parents can and should be doing to know what's going on in their child's school and classroom. In the second hour, Andy answers a dozen questions from listeners.


MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

Gateways https://gogateways.org/
Rise Up Christian Educators https://riseupchristianeducators.com/
Prepare the Way https://www.preparetheway.us/
Association of Christian Schools International https://www.acsi.org/
Christopher Rufo https://christopherrufo.com/
Daily Signal from the Heritage Foundation https://www.dailysignal.com/
Critical Dilemma by Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Dilemma-Theories-Justice-Ideology_Implications/dp/073698870X/ 

This is the third part of my series on educational choices for Christian families. In today's episode, I interview Andy White, a Christian who has been a public high school principal for the last 19 years. Our purpose is NOT to tell every Christian parent to leave public schools; we know that every family has different considerations and opportunities. Rather, our purpose is to educate Christian parents who do continue to have their kids in public schools on what concerns they should watch out for. A subsequent episode will address what parents can do in response.

Many Christians are finding that it's getting harder and harder to engage in faith conversations with nonbelievers. With culture becoming increasingly hostile to Christian beliefs (particularly on morality), it's natural to want to just slink away...but that's not what we're called to do. The good news is, it can be easier than you think to have fruitful conversations. Today I talk with Greg Koukl, president of Stand to Reason, about how Christians can learn to engage more effectively simply by asking good questions. We'll show you how.

MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

Greg's newest book, Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity's Toughest Challenges: https://www.amazon.com/Street-Smarts-Questions-Christianitys-Challenges/dp/0310139139

Greg's organization, Stand to Reason: www.str.org

Greg's recent podcast episode, "Decision Making and the Will of God": https://www.str.org/w/decision-making-and-the-will-of-god-the-biblical-model