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There are many people of faith that believe the Boy Scouts of America has lost its way. Where once the organization was almost a rite of passage for boys on the way to becoming men, today it is not just about boys or affirming their strengths. Girls are also invited to join, even though there's such an organization called, "Girl Scouts". And the BSA is not about character based on serving God and country, but about individual achievements. Then there's the tragedy of thousands of boys who now claim they were sexually abused by troop leaders or older boys in authority positions, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars paid out to settle those claims. Whatever you think of the BSA, there has arisen an alternative to the 110-year-old organization. It's called Trail Life USA. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Trail Life's CEO Mark Hancock talks about how his organization is growing by leaps and bounds, while BSA's membership is shrinking. Hancock has said that the Boy Scouts of America abandoned its 'laser focus on boys', it's faith-based mission, and it's moral compass. Trail Life has made all three parts of its core principles. It is unapologetically Christ centered in its mission to help boys cultivate their God-given strengths. And they're making it clear that the phrase, 'boys will be boys' means something positive.

Dr. Michael Guillen - physicist, astronomer and mathematician - lays to waste the old debate about whether science and religion get along. Not only are they compatible, but it is because of science that he became a Christian. In fact, it was the paradoxical words of Jesus, "Love your enemies," "The meek shall inherit the world," "The first shall be last," that he saw the scientific concept of a Quantum Vacuum come to life. Guillen is the former science correspondent for ABC News and was a professor of physics at Harvard for eight years. Bottom line, he's no slouch when it comes to understanding science. He lives and breathes it daily. He was once an atheist but began exploring the various forms of spirituality. He tried Transcendental Meditation, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and then finally found Christianity. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Guillen talks about his new book, "Believing Is Seeing: A Physicist Explains How Science Shattered His Atheism and Revealed the Necessity of Faith." It is science that helped him find his faith, and it is his faith that lets him see science as God's creation.

The question for all politicians-- and the politically engaged-- who also claim to be people of faith, is: Does your faith inform your politics, or does your politics inform your faith? It doesn't matter from which side of the aisle you ponder your political positions;  it is difficult to mix your faith with your political convictions. Our greatest example could probably be President Abraham Lincoln, who lived out the gospel of grace and forgiveness to its truest application in a sin-filled world, and it cost him his life. Bill Haslam, former two-term governor of Tennessee, is a strong advocate for staying true to your faith, though it may cause you to make unpopular decisions, even within your own party. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Governor Haslam talks about his new book, "Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square." He also weighs in on the tumult around Hobby Lobby's Independence Day newspaper ad that some critics claimed was a call for a Christian government, as well as on the IRS denying tax-exempt status to the Texas based, Christians Engaged, because their biblical values were a repeat of the Republican agenda. These two examples are how politics and faith are clashing in the civic arena. And it's why people of faith need to be more involved, not less. Governor Haslam says for right now, he has no political ambitions, but he still wants to be a public servant, taking his faith boldly into the public square, and encouraging others to do the same.

America is 245 years old! Happy Birthday! We've come a long way and become a great nation and a great power. But with great power comes great responsibility. And America could be at a defining moment in history. According to historian Os Guinness, all our struggles and founding documents have as their fuel the covenant the Israelites made with God at Mt. Sinai. Freedom comes from God. Not from man. The only true freedom in this world has as its author, The Almighty. The signers of the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress of July 4th, 1776 knew that. But today, many of our citizens of this Republic do not know that, or if they do, are trying to re-write history in their own image. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, historian and best-selling author Os Guinness talks about his new book, The Magna Carta of Humanity: Sinai's Revolutionary Faith and The Future of Freedom. He makes the claim that today's Woke ideology, various forms of Critical Theory, and the tearing down of historic statues is not part of our 1776 roots and the American war of Independence from Great Britian, but on the French Revolution, whose foundation is the Enlightenment and secularism. But Guinness goes a step further and says God's Law is the only source of true freedom. Because the paradox of freedom is that it must be ordered, otherwise freedom begets anarchy. If there are no rules to follow, laws to obey, then freedom itself becomes an oppressive cudgel, morphing into a 'will to power.' Are we there yet? Listen and find out.

The media have been in an uproar over the U.S. Bishops' vote to create a document on Eucharistic consistency. That phrase basically means the faithful should be consistent concerning what they believe and how they conduct their lives. Sounds simple, but the underlying intent, which most articles focus on, is whether it's a document that will give bishops nationwide the theological muscle to deny Catholic politicians like President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Holy Communion for supporting abortion rights. But there's a problem here. Most Catholics don't believe, or are ignorant, of what the Church teaches about the Eucharist. In 2019, a Pew study revealed that only a third of Catholics believe that the bread and wine are transformed during the Mass into the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, as the Church teaches. So clearly two thirds, believe what the Protestants teach, which is the elements represent the Body and Blood. So Bishops have to do more than create a document. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, San Francisco's Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, explains what the bishops did, and what they did not do. He also answers critics in Congress - about 60 Catholic Democrats, who issued a Statement of Issues lambasting the Bishops over their decision. As the saying goes, Religion and Politics make odd bedfellows. And nowhere has that become more apparent than this current divisiveness within Catholicism.

Michael W. Smith's greatest cheerleader in life was his father, Paul Smith. He supported him in his passion for music, even though his own talents were in sports. What a unique relationship that is. A father who not only lets his son find his passion in life, even if its different from his own.. but encourages him to pursue it wholeheartedly. But that was Paul Smith, who passed away in 2015, leaving the Grammy Award winning Christian artist with a huge hole in his heart.  However, Paul Smith gave his son a legacy that death could not take away; a faith in his Heavenly Father, that will last into eternity. Fathers have an incredibly powerful influence on their children. Even their absence is felt as a profound loss in a child's soul. And then there are fathers who are physically present but emotionally distant, unapproachable, or even abusive. They too have a profound influence on their children. Theological experts say, a child's view and relationship with their earthly father has a correlation to how the child sees God. Authoritative or permissive, judgmental, or loving... all these have influence. Michael W. Smith, says his father, although not perfect, was the quintessential father, who sacrificed so much of himself to serve not only him but his mother and grandmother. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Smith talks about his father and the book he just wrote that honors him called,  'The Way Of The Father: Lessons From My Dad, Truths About God".   The truth is, we all need our fathers. They play a vital role in our lives, yet today's society would have us believe they are unnecessary. But every study shows that when fathers are present, supportive, and loving, to their children, children thrive. The tragedy of course is, not all children have earthly fathers they can rely on. And that, says Michael W. Smith is why a Heavenly Father is all the more important. To know the Father is to be known down to the depths of your being, and at the same time, loved unconditionally.  That is the Way of Thee Father.

Before our Constitution, or the Declaration of Independence... and before any Bill of Rights... there was the Mayflower Compact. It was a covenant between a group of religious castaways from Europe and an Almighty God, the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible. The group had no power or influence, and when they arrived on the shores of New England more than 400 years ago, before leaving the vessel they'd lived in for months, they wrote a pact, a covenant...with God.  Historian Dr. Marshall Foster says, "the covenant is between themselves and God to obey His word...to obey God and to love one another and to build a constitutional republic. That's actually what they built." In today's society there's heated debate about America's roots, about whether it is a Christian nation or one that is primarily secular and pluralistic when it comes to religious beliefs. But, if covenants have power, like that of Noah's, Abraham's, Moses's and Jesus's.... we should think soberly about the real cause of this country's prosperity. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Dr. Foster talks about his book "The American Covenant: The Untold Story", that explores America's religious beginnings that students will not learn in today's public schools. It's a narrative that says our "Economic prosperity,  and individual liberty can only be attributed to the hand of God and the covenant between our founders and their creator."   And that every founding document had in its core the belief that God ultimately would be leading this nation. As Benjamin Franklin wrote to George Washington as the Constitutional Convention of 1787 hit snag after snag, "God governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that 'except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.'... I firmly believe this."  Dr. Foster writes, "The Convention went on to complete its task."

As "woke ideology" makes its way through the secular culture, one author Noelle Mering says it's actually on a collision course with Christianity. In the fall of 2020, at Loyola Academy, a tony Catholic prep school outside of Chicago, parents began whispering to one another about the loud and swiftly escalating political ideology pressing into all corners of their kids’ education. High-paid diversity consultants were brought in for the sake of training faculty and students on Critical Race Theory and Woke ideology. But many of the parents, some very progressive, realized the consultants' message preached an agenda that is in direct conflict with that of the Gospel. Mering writes about the dilemma in an article in the National Catholic Register. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast Mering dissects the disease of Woke ideology and its infiltration into all communities, as an evangelization of a doctrine at odds with Christianity. She said after the article appeared she got calls from several parents around the country saying the same thing was happening in their Catholic schools. Mering, the author of the book "Awake Not Woke," outlines three ways the Woke ideology assaults Church teaching: it rejects the individual person, even putting its ideology over parents' authority; it rejects reason, by squashing honest dialogue in a quest for power; and it rejects reverence for the authority of God. Mering writes: "What is rejected—reason, the person, and authority—the three characteristics of the Logos, which is the mind of God, communicated in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the author of, and authority over, all. Whether explicitly or not, he is the ultimate target of the woke revolt."

It may seem like two totally different topics, Memorial Day and scientific discoveries. And for the most part they are. But for Memorial Day it's good to remember what this holiday really means. And also, when Historian William Federer writes a book about humanity's scientific discoveries and the faith of those who discovered them, it's good to talk about that too. So, on this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Federer gives us a two-fer: Memorial Day and the Miraculous Milestones of science. Federer is a walking, talking encyclopedia of history and faith. He knows about how faith has brought us this far and how faith continues to be the foundational stronghold of this country and the historical faith that compelled people to honor the men and women who lost their lives fighting for the freedoms we enjoy in this Republic called the United States of America. But the larger picture is that we live in world, a universe, a created order that is not of our making. And it's precisely that ordered nature that gives us a clue to who God is. The Psalmist writes, "The heavens declare the glory of God." What better motivation to explore how the heavens work? That is what brought Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler to their greatest discoveries. Listen and find out how faith played a part in man's greatest scientific achievements.

On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Voddie Baucham talks about the 'critical' challenges now facing the Christian Church in its quest to be racially compassionate, and that evangelicals are teetering close to denying the authority of Scripture. Being a Black male who grew up in the gang-infested area of Los Angeles, Baucham has a unique perspective on this current cultural moment of Critical Race Theory, Critical Social Justice, and the Woke ideology. In his new book, "Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe", Baucham does more than ruffle a few feathers. He plucks the fowl of all its plumage, exposing the false narratives of the movement that is fast encroaching on the Church. For example, the oft repeated statistic that Black men are killed by police 2.5x more than White men is statistically unfounded. Baucham sites two studies, one by a Harvard professor and another by the National Institute of Sciences, which found it to be false. But Baucham's real point is that these false narratives conflict with the Bible. He says in "Fault Lines", "I believe the current concept of social justice is incompatible with biblical Christianity," and warns that "the current cultural movement is at best precarious."  Baucham could almost be considered a walking and talking enigma, whose life today is in stark contrast to his early upbringing. Raised by a single mother in the gang and drug ladened world of Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood, Baucham was steeped in his identity of being Black. He played college football and considered an NFL career. Malcolm X was his hero, until he met Jesus Christ. Now the conservative Christian, father of nine children, who is the Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia, is on the verge of becoming a household name. His new book lays out a scenario by which all will be challenged to check their prejudices at the door, and that racial reconciliation is not just about White's making reparations for the past crime of slavery, but a collective effort of all of God's children, made in His image.

There's a crisis in the world today; the rise of angry protests and the primal scream of politics are evidence. Yet, while it's easy to identify the problem, it's difficult to find a solution. Ah, but the solution has always been with us. It's God's truth and God's love  perfectly bound together in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many theologians say Christianity is what built America, and its truths are what has sustained it. However, today's culture has let the passions of self, dictate its laws. Identity politics is where we are today. As one great theologian said, "fire makes a great servant, but a bad master." On this episode of Lighthouse Faith, Dr. Michael Youssef talks about what is lacking in this world, faith in God's authority. He offers a solution in his new book, "Hope for This Present Crisis." He makes the bold statement that America's turning from the Christian faith has been its undoing. And one of the main causes is happening right in the Church. Pastors themselves are watering down the Gospel to make it more user friendly to a secular society that is clamoring against its truths about gender, family and marriage. Listen to Dr. Youssef, founder and senior pastor of The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, talk about the problem of cancel culture, indoctrination of students, and finally, the "Seven-step Path to Restoring a World Gone Mad."

Boston College philosophy professor Dr. Peter Kreeft, is well known for his candid approach to Christianity and culture. He's an octogenarian who has his hand on the pulse of today's younger generations. That's because he's been teaching them for decades. This conservative, Catholic convert, speaks openly about what's wrong with the world. And his latest book zeros in on the foundational cause of our dilemma, that is the cause after the Fall from Grace. It's the fact that we're not having children. And it IS a fact because census figures show the birth rate is at its lowest since the Great Depression. But that's not the only issue Kreeft is griping about. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Kreeft talks about his newest book , "How To Destroy Western Civilization: And Other ideas from the Cultural Abyss". It's a sober look at how we in the West are destroying ourselves through abortion, yes, but also by ignoring God's truth about why we're here and our purpose in life. But not to dwell on the negative, he then takes a look at some of the most beautiful and heartfelt poetry in the Bible, the book of Psalms. In his book, "Wisdom of the Psalms," Kreeft takes a deep dive into ten of the 150 Psalms that have the greatest meaning to him. For the second half of the podcast he talks about how these ancient writings that both Jews and Christians use for worship, can be understood more fully by today's modern minds.

So you'll have to wait to the latter part of the podcast to get the answers to "Who Made God?" and whether aliens have anything to do with the origins of life. But it's well worth hearing anything Hank Hanegraaff has to say in the meantime. Hanegraaff is the Bible Answer Man who caused a minor quake within Evangelical circles a few years ago when he converted to Orthodox Christianity. It exposed two Millenia of growing fissures within the Church that Jesus Christ bled and died for. So, it's good to talk about why there are these divisions within Christianity. And a blatant one is the date of Easter. Most years the Western and Eastern churches celebrate Easter within a week or two of each other, but this year, Orthodox Easter is May 2nd, four weeks after Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrated it. And it's not what the Church Fathers wanted. If there's one thing that should unite all Christians, it's their worshipping of the Risen Savior together on Easter Sunday. The Resurrection defines Christianity, and while the date of Easter may seem like a small difference (as long as we're all living in the transforming power of the event) it is one of many divergences that together has cut a wider chasm. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Hanegraaff explains why people who worship the same God, could have such different views of that same God and still call themselves by the same name. And yes, he will tell you, "Who made God?"

When you think of victorious women in the Bible, the one that's usually NOT brought to mind is Eve, as in Adam and Eve in the Garden, as in the one responsible for the Fall from Grace and all the tumult that that unleashed on the world. Well, despite Eve's one mistake (and it was a huge one) Sarah Jakes Roberts has "fallen in love" with her. It wasn't always so. Three years ago, she began to focus on Eve after vilifying her saying, "You had one job!" and complaining that she should have known better than to be seduced by Satan into eating the forbidden fruit. But then Jakes Roberts began to look at her own life; pregnant at 13, married then divorced she realized, she should have known better. After all, her father is the well-known mega-church pastor and mega businessman, Bishop T.D. Jakes. Only through God's grace could Eve become the hero. And she did. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Sarah Jakes Roberts talks about her new book, "Women Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears & Revolutionize Your Life" and how Eve's story is the narrative of victory for all women whose pasts have crippled their view of the future. Jakes Roberts unearths an exegesis of Eve's Divine role in the narrative of redemption, and how it is a battle cry of triumph for all women. Jakes Roberts herself now co-pastors two churches with her husband Toure' Roberts, founded the new Women Evolve Lifestyle Movement, and explains that the Bible's mandate "to be fruitful and multiply" doesn't just apply to bearing children, but to the cultivating of talents and the gifts God has given you for the flourishing of family and community.

Christianity and Judaism share a great deal of history and faith. Just look at how many times the dates of Passover and Easter coincide. It's because Jesus's Last Supper in the upper room, was in fact the Jewish Passover meal in which He makes a new covenant, through His anticipated sacrifice. Instead of the lamb's blood on the doorframes, it is Jesus's blood shed on the Cross.  But there's far more that Christians and learn by unlocking the numerical code that's all through the Bible and particularly the Old Testament. Rabbi Jason Sobel, a Messianic Jewish Rabbi, has explored and rolled away the stones of this mathematical mystery in his new book Mysteries of the Messiah: The Rock, The Road, The Rabbi. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Rabbi Sobel talks about how the Hebrew alphabet is key to understanding the numeric code (For example the number is of great significance as the number of new beginnings), that the five books of Moses-- the Pentateuch-- is immersed in figures of faith, knowledge and prophetic wisdom. He also talks about his spiritual mentorship of iconic actress, singer, author and talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford,  and how he himself, a Jewish boy from New Jersey, came to be a follower of Yeshua, aka, Joshua, aka... Jesus Christ, The Messiah.

We are living in some of the most fractured and contentious times where religion has morphed into politics and politics has become a religion. And this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, is a living reality of that fact. Let me explain. On Easter Sunday, the newly elected Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock's tweeted a greeting that caused a storm of criticism because it trampled on the core tenet of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It might be forgiven if Warnock were a run of the mill politician unschooled in theological doctrine. But Warnock is also an ordained minister who leads Ebenezer Baptist Church, the iconic house of worship where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr preached. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, two ministers were supposed to discuss the tweet: one Black the other White. And not just any two. Odell Cleveland and Alex McFarland have a podcast called "I Hear Ya!" where any and all controversial subjects about race, religion and culture could be discussed in a faithful way, true to the Gospel. But apparently there are some subjects too controversial or perhaps too close to offending racial strongholds. Only Alex (who is White) came on to discuss the situation. Listen to the podcast, and understand how deep the divide is between race, politics and the Christian faith.

Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; it is the cornerstone of Christianity. But what's more, it's what gives Christianity its power, 'incomparably great power.' For too long many Christian churches have treated the miracle of the Resurrection as something akin to the frosting on the cake or a high-five in the end-zone. It's celebrated once a year, but pastor and theologian Dr. Timothy Keller says the Resurrection is something we can and should live out daily. For if the Resurrection happened, it changes everything, "how we conduct relationship, our attitudes toward wealth and power, how we work in our vocations, our understanding and practice of sexuality, race relations, and justice." On this special Easter episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Keller, a best-selling author, talks about his new book, "Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter." In it, he explores why the Resurrection gives the world still suffering from a pandemic, a hope for the past, present and future; that it makes Christianity "a historical, reasonable, and gracious faith; and that it is Heaven come to earth to begin the 'restoration of the natural order,' the world that God intended. Keller writes, "The Bible's startling message is that when Jesus rose, he brought the future kingdom of God into the present. It is not here fully but it is here substantially." Listen and learn how Easter is cause for a tremendous, Hallelujah! The Lord is Risen!

March is Women's History Month, so what better time to talk about the women of Bible. Popular culture would have us believe that the Good Book treats women as second-or third-class spiritual partners of their male counterparts. But the truth is women play pivotal roles in the redemptive narrative of the Holy Scriptures. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Fox News Anchor Shannon Bream talks about her new book, "Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom Of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today. Bream shares her insights and new discoveries about women like Sarah and Hagar,  Leah and Rachel, and of course, Mary, the mother of Jesus. But what's more, these women and the others she writes about, have something vital for women of today to learn from. Throughout their struggles and sufferings, joys and triumphs, these women showed incredible faith, patience and sometimes boldness. God so often chose women to be at the center of His work to bring salvation to a hurting world. And it's no different today.

She has the voice of an angel - an Irish angel that is. Actress Roma Downey grew to fame on the TV series "Touched by an Angel," telling millions of viewers each week that "There is a God, that He loves you, and wants to be a part of your life." It's a message that's now embedded in her work with husband/producer Mark Burnett. Their mini-series on The Bible a few years ago became a surprise hit; a surprise to the secular world of Hollywood elites that is, not to Roma and Mark. Their latest offering is on the cornerstone of Christianity, The Resurrection. It's a film that would have been released in theaters, but because of the pandemic it could not be. So they had a choice to either hold it for a year or find another outlet. And they chose the latter. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Downey talks about how the COVID-19 shutdown became the impetus to bring the film to viewers as another message of hope in a world hungry for it. She also talks about what it was like shooting in Morocco, and the actors and actresses who bring to life the story of how the Apostles went from despair and fear at the crucifixion of Jesus to joy and triumph as they live out His Resurrection.

Author Jonathan Cahn has written a string of novels based on biblical prophecy, and has yet another warning for America: we are doomed unless we return to God. Cahn, whose sequel book "Harbinger II: The Return," speaks at a frenetic pace detailing what he believes the Bible says about God’s judgment; both the past concerning the Old Testament’s nation of Israel, and future justice concerning America. Cahn makes the point that while we can debate whether America is a Christian nation, the fact is that George Washington, the first president of the United States, dedicated the country to God just a stone’s throw from Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 attacks. For Cahn that is no coincidence. Just like the year of 2020 with its pandemic, uprisings and protests are part of his predictions. For Cahn the words of 2 Chronicles says it all: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Now the choice we have: believe it or not.