Viewpoints with Kerby Anderson

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 would have required women to register for the draft. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) led against this effort to draft our daughters which Rep. Roy says is “just nonsense in a country of 330 million people.”
Speaker Mike Johnson included a provision that blocks minor children of members of the military from receiving puberty blockers, hormones, and gender mutilation surgeries through military health insurer Tricare. The Speaker said, “Taxpayer dollars should never be used to support procedures and treatments that could permanently harm and sterilize young people.”
Stats from the National Library of Medicine reveal that the hormones and drugs required by a transgender person cost “upwards of $3700 per person, per year. Transition surgeries cost from $20,000 to $150,000 depending upon their complexity.
Also, according to The Washington Stand, “Sources from inside the Trump camp say priority number one is weeding out the thousands of gender-confused troops this administration welcomed into the ranks under the guise of ‘inclusion’.”
The necessity for constant care of a transgender soldier curtails the ability for that person to deploy overseas.  Family Research Council’s Senior Fellow for National Defense, Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, says “that’s an extravagance the Pentagon cannot afford because it detracts from combat readiness.”
Under the next administration, the woke regime in the military must be rooted out. The sooner we get rid of the distractions and financial drain resulting from the current transgender policy, the better.

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 asks many questions. None of the questions are answered in the song. Instead, the lyrics poetically invite the listener to contemplate the relationship between Mary and her newborn divine son. It implies that she may not have understood what would unfold.
That is possible since Jesus humbled Himself to live as we do (Hebrews 4:15). The Bible tells us that Jesus “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7).
 The first stanza begins with these questions. Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water? Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.
The last stanza ends with these questions. Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb? This sleeping child you’re holding is the Great I Am.
These questions cause us to reflect on the wonder of the incarnation of Jesus.

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 best known for their live theater productions. “I Heard the Bells” was their first-ever theatrical release shown in theaters December 2022. It is now available for you to purchase or stream into your home.
His song came at the end of tragedy. In 1861, two years before writing this poem, his life was shaken when his wife was fatally burned in a fire. Her dress caught on fire, and he tried to extinguish the flames as best he could. She died the next morning, and his facial burns were so severe he couldn’t even attend her funeral.
He grew a beard to cover his burns, and often feared he would be committed to an asylum due to his grief. His oldest son Charles joined the Union Army without his father’s blessing. After the Battle of Chancellorsville, he fell ill with typhoid fever and was sent home to recover. He was able to rejoin his unit and was severely wounded at the Battle of New Hope Church, Virginia.
Longfellow, a widowed father of six children, the oldest nearly paralyzed, reflected not only on his grief but a country fighting a war against itself. He wrote a poem to capture the dissonance in his own heart and the world around him, as he heard the Christmas bells.
This Christmas season, we need to reflect on the hope we have in Christ even in the midst of trials and tragedies that surround us.

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.”
Emmanuel means, “God with us.” Even before the coming of Christ, we see passages in the Old Testament that remind us that God was with Israel. In 1 Kings 8, we read, “Praise the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us.” In Psalm 46, we read that “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”
One of the most visible reminders of God’s presence was during the Exodus. God was with the Israelites as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of smoke by day. His presence was with them in the Tabernacle and later the Temple in the Holy of Holies.
But the most important aspect of Emmanuel is found in the New Testament. John tells us in his gospel, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This is the miracle of the Incarnation. God put on human flesh and came to Israel so that He might give His life for all of us. Paul writes to Timothy, “Here is the great mystery of our religion: Christ came as a human” (1 Timothy 3:16). This is what we celebrate at Christmas.

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 Christ came to earth. Jesus came into the world to bring peace, but many who sing this song fail to realize that it was to bring peace between us and God. Wesley’s hymn reminds us that His birth was so that God and sinners could be reconciled. We are the sinners in this hymn, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). We have broken God’s commandments and need to be reconciled with God. This was done when Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3).
This hymn by Charles Wesley goes on to describe who Jesus Christ is. “Christ by highest heaven adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come, offspring of the Virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.”
This is the wonder of the Incarnation. Jesus became the “offspring of the Virgin’s womb.” God became man and was “veiled in flesh” even though He was the “incarnate Deity.”
This Christmas week, let us all once again reflect upon the Incarnation. How wonderful yet mysterious that God would become man and dwell among us. And that He would be willing to die on a cross for our sins.

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 Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
While the streets of our cities are quiet on Christmas day, most likely that day was just like any other day for the people in Bethlehem. But as evening came, the town grew quiet and something remarkable took place.
In the second verse the hymn says, “While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.” This is just like today. Our world goes about its business, usually oblivious to the spiritual realities around it.
Jesus came into the world quietly. Yes, there was the angelic announcement to the shepherds, but most other people were unaware of the fact that the most significant event in history was taking place. God became a man. But he was born in a stable and laid in a feeding trough. There was no pomp or circumstance as you would expect of a King.
Jesus came not only to live among us but to ultimately die for our sins. He took upon Himself the sins of the world (your sins and my sins) and paid the ultimate penalty that we deserved to pay so that we might have everlasting life.
During this Christmas week, I hope you will stop long enough to consider what happened in that little town of Bethlehem. But even more so, I hope you will think about what Jesus did for you on Calvary.

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 locker rooms. One measure would prevent transgender women from using women’s facilities on the House side of the U.S. Capitol.  The other would extend that ban to all federal property.
Rep. Mace says, as a victim of abuse, “I’m absolutely, 100 percent going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s restroom.”
Speaker Mike Johnson has not committed to a vote on either measure but stated that single-sex facilities “are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.” Rep. McBride pledged to abide by those rules, “even if I disagree.”
Still, over time, compliance will suffer. Chris Enloe, writer for The Blaze, says Nancy Mace “should be commended for fighting back against the encroachment of transgenderism.” But, on social media she touts her support for same sex marriage, stating, “I voted for gay marriage twice in fact and would do it again.”
The Blaze’s Chris Enloe points to the “dissonance between these two positions.” He says, “to support the destruction of traditional marriage — in which functional and biological differences are its most important property — is a wholesale rejection of the framework that distinguishes a man from a woman.”
It’s right there in Matt. 19:4. God’s design for marriage is based upon the way He created us: “male and female.” But, society has elevated personal feelings and discarded sex differences as a requirement for marriage.
We’re here, says Chris Enloe, because of those who tried to “erase biological realities when it was convenient.” 

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 professor as a “fringe scientist.”
Dr. Bhattacharya, along with scientists from Harvard and Oxford, put together what came to be known as “The Great Barrington Declaration.” The tens of thousands of scientists expressed their “grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies.”
Once it was published, Francis Collins urged a “quick and devastating take down of its premises” in an email to Anthony Fauci. In a Washington Post interview, Dr. Collins denounced the declaration as a “fringe component of epidemiology” and further said it was “not mainstream science.”
Of course, we now know who was wrong. The lockdowns devastated the economy and stunted school children’s learning for a generation. And social media was all too willing to censor any medical view that contradicted the government’s mantra. Twitter blacklisted the professor.
Why didn’t others speak up? Unfortunately, there was a financial incentive to agree with rather than contradict Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci. It is all to fitting that Donald Trump wants to put Dr. Bhattacharya in charge of the NIH.

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.
First is the issue of Social Security. Put simply the math breaks down when population growth slows down. The ratio between those who pay into it and those who receive has steadily declined for decades. And the Social Security fund that was built up for decades is shrinking.
A second issue is healthcare spending. The US not only spends more per person on health care, but it also has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions. The obesity rate is twice that of other developed countries.
The accumulated debt interest is a third major issue. For the past four decades, the US has had a rising debt/GDP ratio, while also having falling interest rates. Politicians aren’t likely to choose austerity, even if the government efficiency department recommends significant cuts. Therefore, increasing the money supply by printing more money becomes the only option.
This leads to a fourth issue: the financialization of tax receipts. Let’s assume the next administration could shrink the deficit through tax increases and spending cuts. It won’t have as much impact because asset prices in this country are more correlated to the performance of the stock market.
These are just a few reasons why the next administration will face significant obstacles in trying to reduce the size of federal deficits.

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 source reports something favorable to conservatives or Christians, it is likely to be true.
The fifth test he calls the “bloodthirsty tyrant test.” If someone supports or calls for violence, you should not trust the information. The mainstream media has frequently downplayed the violence and threats from Antifa. He argues that if you think your cause is so righteous it justifies burning cities down then you shouldn’t trust that source.
Another test is the “original source test.” This test is more difficult because you shouldn’t always take at face value a statement that isn’t a firsthand account. It takes time and patience to find an original source. Glenn Beck devotes a few pages to show how the false story of 500 people who died in a hospital in Gaza was repeated verbatim by multiple outlets.
A final test is the “crazy uncle test.” Along with Christmas carols and Thanksgiving turkeys, one American holiday tradition is getting trapped in a completely absurd conversation with a crazy uncle. Glenn Beck suggests we treat the entire social media industry as though it is a crazy uncle.
You will need wisdom and a degree of skepticism to navigate the propaganda wars in the 21st century.

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 and uncover truth. He is often asked: how do I know who to trust? He provides seven simple tests that I will discuss today and tomorrow.
The first test he calls the “liar-liar test.” Put simply, if the media lied to you before, you should evaluate them with a higher level of scrutiny going forward. One example occurred in 2020 when multiple media outlets and 51 current and former government officials knowingly lied about the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop.
The second test he calls the “what is a woman test.” When an expert says something that is obviously wrong on an issue, you shouldn’t trust him or her on other topics. Reasonable people can disagree on many topics, but you don’t need to trust an expert without basic common sense.
He calls the third test the “egg-throwing gorilla test” which is a reference to clown world. When Larry Elder (who is black) ran for California Governor in 2021, he was attacked as being racist. One L.A. Times reporter claimed Elder had white supremacist worldview. A woman even went to one of Elder’s rallies wearing a gorilla mask and threw eggs at him.
As I often say on radio, look for trustworthy sources and view with great skepticism media that doesn’t have a good track record of honest reporting and commentary.

Kerby Anderson
As December 2024 is winding down, many Americans begin to think about their finances. First, they are considering what donations they might make before the end of the year. Second, they are looking to 2025 and thinking about developing a financial plan. Unfortunately, many of us don’t get past just thinking about developing a plan.
If you are eager to put together a sound financial plan, I recommend Forging Financial Freedom by Chad Hufford. He sets forth seven wealth building lessons he has learned. He argues that financial freedom is not a finish line. He reminds us that “when retirement is your finish line, there is a tendency to put life on ‘pause’ until you realize that achievement.”
He recommends that you get busy “framing your future,” which requires clarity and persistence. You should put your future together, one piece at a time. And you should also know when “enough is enough” by “creating balance along your financial journey.”
Another of his recommendations is to “farm your orchard.” He explains that wealth is like an orchard. When a farmer plants an orchard, the trees are small and produce little fruit. Financial productivity is a long process. Unfortunately, some people are “gambling when they should be farming.”
An important financial battle takes place in your mind. That why he talks about “winning the war in your mind.” Quoting Hebrews 12:1, he encourages us to lay aside encumbrances. Often addition comes from subtraction.
Finally, he reminds us that “persistence beats perfection.” The pressure of perfect can cause us to try to tackle too much, which is unsustainable. We need to develop healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle.
Your financial future is in your hands. Get a copy of Forging Financial Freedom and get to work.

Penna Dexter
The troubled Boeing Company got a new CEO in August. Early on, Kelly Ortberg began winding down DEI at Boeing. DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — has been around for decades. Diversity requires the elevation of immutable differences — like race, age, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. Equity —often mistaken for equal opportunity — emphasizes equal outcomes. In favor of achieving these, employee merit is necessarily de-emphasized and therein lies the seed of DEI’s failure.
After the death of George Floyd in 2020, Fortune 500 companies launched or beefed up their DEI initiatives. But, when companies that build things take their eye off the ball, quality suffers.
For Boeing, which designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, 2024 brought massive problems, including the midair separation of a panel from an Alaska Airlines plane, difficulties accessing quality parts, flawed flight control software, a 7–week labor strike, and a severe cash crunch.
A Boeing insider told documentary filmmaker and writer, Christopher Rufo, “An organization can prioritize excellence or diversity, but not both simultaneously.” He said, “DEI is the drop in the bucket, and the whole bucket changes. It is anti-excellence, because it is ill-defined, but it became part of the culture.”
That’s why Kelly Ortberg quietly dismantled Boeing’s DEI department.
Another American corporate giant: the country’s number one employer, Walmart announced it is abandoning DEI.
The Washington Stand reports that when DEI warrior Robby Starbuck began investigating Walmart’s policies, company executives “reached out to him.”
The company has announced it will no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s LGBT shakedown campaign: the Corporate Equality Index. It pledged to remove inappropriate sexual and/or transgender products, and to cancel racial equity initiatives.
Walmart joins a growing list of companies rejecting DEI. American businesses are realizing that the woke DEI agenda is polarizing and stifling for businesses. Some are choosing to return to simply running a business.
Chris Rufo affirms, “A reckoning is underway in corporate America.”

Kerby Anderson
The Western world is facing a birth rate crisis. Wilfred Reilly says these young adults resemble captive panda bears who must be persuaded to mate. He cites a psychological study that revealed that roughly 50 percent of young men have never or almost never approached a woman to ask for a date.
Even if men and women get married, they are less likely to have children. The fertility rate has been dropping for decades. That is why Edward Ring wrote a discouraging essay, “Give Me Fertility, Or Give Me Death.”
Unmarried, childless women are much more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate who supports abortion as “reproductive health care.” A recent study by Morgan Stanley estimated that by 2030, around 45 percent of women between ages 25 and 44 are projected to be single and childless.
And these trends are taking place through all the developed world and in much of the developing world. The U.S. has a fertility rate of 1.84, which is better than the 1.24 fertility rate of European countries like Italy or the 1.17 fertility rate for Singapore.
Some liberal women have embraced the “4B” movement that originated in South Korea that says no to sex, dating, marriage, and children. This is not a good trend. The projected fertility rate of South Korean women this year has dropped to 0.68. The population of South Korea is imploding.
It is time for pastors and other church leaders to remind Christians that children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3) and they are arrows in our quiver (Psalm 127:4). The secular world may not value marriage and family, which is why the church must teach biblical principles to the next generation.

Kerby Anderson
Decades ago, Ronald Reagan observed, “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.”
This is the challenge that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy face as they lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The two of them explained their plan to reform the government in their Wall Street Journal op-ed. They are assisting the Trump transition team in identifying and hiring a team of small-government crusaders who will work with the Office of Management and Budget.
They aren’t the first outsiders to attempt to trim the bureaucracy. J. Peter Grace led the Grace Commission, that filed its report with Ronald Reagan in 1984. President Obama formed the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (often called Simpson–Bowles in honor of the two co-chairs). Neither commission had much of an impact on the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy.
Both Musk and Ramaswamy believe they have a better chance of success due to two Supreme Court rulings concerning federal regulations. They will present a list of regulations to President Trump who will pause the enforcement of those regulations by executive action.
They also challenge the conventional assumption that civil-service protections stop a president from firing federal workers. They don’t plan to target specific employees but merely reduce the size of the department. And they point to other Supreme Court cases to support their belief.
Trimming the administrative state won’t be easy, but I think they may have found an open door that will allow them to succeed in reforming the federal government.

Kerby Anderson
Gerard Butler wrote in the Wall Street Journal that he hopes that “Four More Years of Trump May Make America Normal Again.” He begins with the Hans Christian Andersen story of the “Emperor’s New Clothes.” A small boy calls out the truth in the charade. Gerard Butler points to five items of invisible attire we have had to wear for too long.
First is “the idea that people who have stolen into this country illegally should be showered with all the rights and benefits of citizens.” We have been told we cannot deny them those rights and must give them sanctuary in our already strained cities.
Second is the idea that we cannot take advantage of our vast reservoirs of natural energy resources. Instead, we must restrain ourselves from using the energy reserves beneath our feet
Third is “the idea that after a century and a half of [racial] progress, we are suddenly obliged to believe that America is as oppressive as it was in 1619.” And we must believe that the “best way to right the past wrong of treating people based on the color of their skin is to treat people based on the color of their skin.”
Fourth is the idea “that children should, without parental consultation or consent, be free to choose their gender.” And they should “be assisted by the state in committing acts of self-mutilation.”
Fifth, is “the idea that democracy and freedom are best protected by denying people the right to express certain views that the authorities deem misinformation and by weaponizing the law against political opponents.”
If we can reverse some of these harmful and erroneous ideas, it is indeed possible that American might become normal again.

Kerby Anderson
As we all know, this country is carrying a national debt of $36 trillion. The Bible warns us about debt. Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a servant to the lender.” We need to do something rather than ignoring our debt problem.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has proposed that the US put together a bitcoin strategic reserve. She has introduced the BITCOIN Act in the last session of Congress and will reintroduce it again in January. This next time, it may get a hearing because of the change in the US Senate and the interest from a new Trump administration.
She proposes that the US keep the bitcoin they have recovered and purchase approximately 200,000 bitcoin a year. She predicts, “…just by converting money we already have into bitcoin and holding them for 20 years. If we did that with 5 percent of all the bitcoin that will ever exist (which is roughly a million bitcoin), we could cut our debt in half in 20 years.”
The other benefit, she explains, “We would have an asset that’s growing in value while our own dollar is decreasing in value. We could shore up the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.” This, she believes, would help protect the country against inflation and protect the US dollar worldwide.
Her proposal will have its critics, as illustrated by one article with the title, “The delusions behind a bitcoin strategic reserve.” But the idea deserves an honest discussion and evaluation in Congress.
Perhaps you have seen the graph that illustrates that it took 221 years to reach a national debt of $12 trillion and then shows we have added $12 trillion since 2020. We have a debt problem, and this is one way to address it.

Kerby Anderson
Now that we are in the last month of the year, let me recommend what you may want to plan to do in 2025. I would recommend you read through the Bible in one year. Here are two resources from Pastor Jack Graham that will help you do that.
First, he is the author of the new book, The Jesus Book. He provides ten chapters that will help you read through the Bible. He begins by helping us understand that we can trust the Bible, and then provides a big picture of the Bible. He provides chapters on how reading the Bible can provide hope and reassurance. It can also help you discern God’s will for you.
Pastor Graham gives you guidance for how to read the Bible daily with a practical approach to Bible study. He quotes from an applications pyramid found in the Life Application Study Bible. As you study God’s Word, you will need to focus on the: people, place, plot, point, principles, present, parallels, person, and plan. He also reminds us of the Bereans, who are described in Acts 17 as people who searched the Scriptures daily. We need consistency in reading God’s Word.
A second resource comes from the podcast, The Bible in a Year with Jack Graham. It can be found at the official BibleinaYear.com podcast, which you can find with the Apple or Spotify podcast apps. In each episode, you will learn how to apply these biblical principles to your life. The audio provides you with a reading of the key passage, along with some dramatic material and orchestral music. That is followed by a profound commentary from Pastor Graham.
Reading the Bible through the year will be a rewarding experience for you. Of course, you don’t have to wait until January 1 to get started. You can start right now. Let’s get started.

Penna Dexter
Many times, over the past decade or so, I have muttered under my breath: “The Emperor Has No Clothes.”  The phrase of course is from Hans Christian Anderson’s tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” in which dishonest “tailors” provide a vain king with garments, clothes that don’t actually exist. The swindlers explain that they are weavers of fabric that would be “invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.” Naturally, the king buys in. The townspeople timidly go along with the charade, praising the nude emperor’s outfits. One day, as the emperor’s entourage carries his fake train, a little boy calls out the truth that no one else dared admit, “…he hasn’t got anything on.”
In a recent column, The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker pointed to this year’s election as an “’Emperor’s New Clothes’ event” where voters repudiated a “regime of oppressive insanities.” He listed five of the most destructive and unpopular strictures:
First, that we are somehow obligated to grant “people who have stolen into this country” many privileges of citizenship and — contrary to our laws —  to give them “sanctuary.”
Second, “to ‘save the planet’,” we must severely limit our use of “one of the greatest reservoirs of natural energy resources on Earth.”
Third, we must believe we are a racist nation. So, Mr. Baker writes, “to right the past wrong of treating people based on the color of their skin,” we must “treat people based on the color of their skin.”
Fourth, we’re to reject the scientific concept of biological sex. Gender is a social construct, and people should be allowed to choose theirs. If deemed necessary, the state may circumvent parents to provide troubled youngsters with medical, and even surgical transitions.
And finally, certain views are “misinformation” and those who hold them are deserving of punishment.
Voters repudiated these bad ideas. Now, perhaps, we can re-clothe the emperor.

Kerby Anderson
A book I have been reading by Mitchell Askew has a chapter with the arresting title, “Fiat Money Destroyed the Nuclear Family.” It is a reminder of the devastating social effects from the economy due to the decreasing value of the dollar.
A nuclear family consists of a father, mother, and children. The family is the foundation of society. He argues that the rise of fiat currency has weakened the nuclear family. And he also acknowledges there are other factors, such as shifting cultural attitudes toward marriage and family.
The decreasing value of the dollar, he argues, has turned America into a nation of dual-income households. It is becoming less and less possible for someone earning an average income to support their family.
We have seen this generational shift over the last century. Askew observed that his grandparents (born in the 1930s) raised four children on a single income from his grandfather’s job. Grandmother stayed home and was able to raise the children.
They were also able to own a home. As I have mentioned in previous commentaries, home ownership is out of reach for a majority of Americans. The median family income today is not enough to provide a 10 percent down payment and mortgage payments not greater than 30 percent of their income.
The price of a home in the 1950s and 1960s was equal to about three years’ worth of income. Today, the price of a home is equal to at least ten years’ worth of income. House prices went up, but wages stayed flat.
Finally, the lack of financial stability dissuades would-be parents from having children. The latest surveys found that “finances” were the major reason married couples decided not to have children or at least postponed having them.
America’s families are in decline because the America dollar is in decline.