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

We're raising kids in an increasingly challenging world--which means we have to be intentional in raising them in a counter cultural way. But if we’re not careful in how we do it, it can lead to our kids’ resentment of Christianity over time. In today's short episode, I talk about four ways that can happen and how to avoid it.

MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

Talking with Your Kids about God: https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Your-Kids-about-Conversations/dp/0801075521

Even Christians struggle with believing what the Bible says sometimes. We want to believe it's God's Word, but there can be doubts that nag at us. Can miracles really happen? If they can, why should we believe some of the stranger miracles in the Bible like a talking donkey? Why would God leave enough uncertainty around what the Bible says that people can come to such different conclusions about it? Even if we believe that the Gospels report some true things about Jesus, how can we be confident that we should believe everything  the Gospels say?  Today, cold-case homicide detective, national speaker, and bestselling author J. Warner Wallace joins me to discuss these questions and more, in honor of the release of the updated and expanded version of his modern classic, Cold-Case Christianity. 

MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

Cold-Case Christianity (Updated & Expanded Edition)

J. Warner Wallace's website: www.coldcasechristianity.com

Investigating the evidence for Mormonism: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/investigating-the-evidence-for-mormonism-in-six-steps/

Social media has been a popular place to share deconversion stories over the last few years, and sometimes so many people resonate with those posts that they go viral to some extent (being liked and shared by thousands of people).

There’s one that’s being shared all over Facebook right now, written this week by a lady named Myndee Mack. At the time of this writing, it has 8,000+ likes/loves, 7,000+ comments, and over 3,000+ shares. Clearly, Myndee’s post is compelling to many.

Here is my response to the reasoning and theological clarity/accuracy of what she wrote.

NOTE: This is an audio version of a written blog post--many people requested I do a recording. You can find the original post here: https://natashacrain.com/a-christian-response-to-a-viral-deconversion-post/