Point of View May 19, 2026 – Hour 1 : The Way Ahead

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Thank you for joining me. We're going to spend some time today in the first hour really just talking about your Christian life and the Christian walk. And we'll get into some things which I think you'll find very helpful.

[00:00:29] Next hour we're going to get back into some of the things happening both politically, but also because of a number of articles that have surfaced. Look a little bit more at this idea of emotional health and how to think about that from a biblical point of view. And I think you will appreciate those conversations certainly. But if you've ever struggled with the need for certainty, maybe dealt with the issue of doubt,

[00:00:51] of course I'll hold up some of the booklets we have on a biblical view on the arguments for God or a biblical view on biblical reliability, biblical view on God and science, to mention just a few that I just pulled off of our stack of things that we've addressed in the past. There is really a need as we start walking through the Christian life to know how to begin to focus on our faith, answer some of the very vexing questions that sometimes surface in the 21st century,

[00:01:21] and to really begin to understand more about who Jesus is and how we should live as Christians. So I think you're going to find this book very helpful. It is entitled The Way Ahead, Walking Together in Faith Through the Spiritual Trials of Our Time. I know many of you, interestingly enough, have a small group, and at the end of every chapter first are some devotional thoughts. And then there is a section for a small group discussion.

[00:01:50] So it is really sort of made for you if you want to go through it individually, or if you want to go through it with a group, that is the case. The book's been out for a couple months. You might have some difficulty finding it in your local bookstore. If you do, great. But if you don't, we do have a link because it's been out since February, about 300 pages of great material. It is written by Dr. Sean Cordopassi. He is the author of this book, of course, and has served 16 years in federal service,

[00:02:19] and also as an individual that has a doctorate in theology from Andersonville Theological Seminary to master's degrees, and in some respects is bivocational. And I think that's another strength of this as well, an individual that is a fellow traveler. And so, Sean, thank you for joining us today here on Point of View. It's great to be here, sir. You know, in the few times when I've been invited to speak at a seminary or even for a while where I've been a guest lecturer,

[00:02:48] I sometimes suggest that for pastors going out into the world, they might do themselves a favor if they were to get a secular job, either as they are in the pastorate or even before so, because in some respects it helps them maybe relate more to the congregation. Individuals that have grown up, for example, were homeschooled and went to a Christian school, went to seminary and go into the pastorate, probably don't have some of that experience.

[00:03:16] And you early on in the book talk about this bivocational situation that you're in, and that has been fruitful for you in even writing this book. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, the Apostle Paul was a tent maker, so I have to put that out there. But, yeah, I mean, there is something to be said about making time for ministry

[00:03:39] and making time for professional career as well, balancing both of those can be a challenge, no doubt about that. But it's about integrating, you know, professional responsibility and ministry. And in my case, somehow finding time to write this book that we're discussing today. Well, again, thank you for your service.

[00:04:04] But also, let's say we can get into this, because you begin us really talking about the fact that we're talking about the Christian walk, and you talk about this idea of unlocking, of finding balance, really trying to have a sense, and maybe if you could set forth for us how all of this comes together, because in some respects there's kind of a natural flow to the way in which your book unfolds. Yes.

[00:04:31] Yes, it's, you know, 21 total chapters are broken out into five sections. I did my best to put in a lot of research to ensure not only the scriptures were properly referenced, but also additional sort of best things that I could find that really help with the argument that basically Christ is the center.

[00:04:59] We need to follow a scripture-based life and live a practical life and stay rooted in order to stay on the path. And again, we're going to be talking about, of course, who Christ is. Christology is the theological word that we use. But let's talk about this idea of walking together in faith, because early on it gets back to one of the things I said just a minute ago, dealing with uncertainty, facing doubt and ambiguity.

[00:05:26] Now, the good news is, as I just held up some of our books on apologetics, tomorrow we're going to be doing an interview on archaeology. By the way, it will be the third book on archaeology that's come out this year, which shows you that we're in sort of almost this golden age of apologetics, this golden age of archaeology where there's so much evidence for our Christian faith. But that still doesn't mean that you aren't going to face doubt and uncertainty as you go into, in your case, the work-a-day world,

[00:05:56] and you're surrounded by a lot of people that aren't members of your church. Absolutely. Yeah, most Christians, they're not suffering because they don't have a passion for the truth. They struggle because, you know, life is so fast, overscheduled, nonstop screams, constant noise. And so the current way of life makes it hard to, what we need to do as Christians is to slow down,

[00:06:26] silence the mind, really listen, and reflect on God's teachings and commands as seen in the scriptures. You know, the chapter is on the idea of walking together in faith. And let's, if we can, maybe get your thoughts about faith itself. Because you talk about the significance of faith and how perseverance can make an impact. You talk about how, in some respects, faith is key to, in many cases,

[00:06:52] dealing with the, maybe doubts, uncertainty that you might have. So, in some respects, don't we have some definitions of faith? For example, in the book of Hebrews and other places, how would you address this issue of faith? Since really what we're talking about today is walking together in faith. Yeah. Well, obviously, faith must lead to action. It's not something you should keep private.

[00:07:19] It's something that you share within yourself, your family, your community. But let me just kind of give you all my perspective. For me, as somebody who tries to be a scholar as well as minister and public servant, I believe in my, for me, to build faith, it had to be engaging both the mind and the heart. Right. Not just one or the other.

[00:07:44] So, for me, it's reflection, contemplation, and don't just react. Really think about what you're taking in when you read the scriptures and you read about the cornerstone, which is Christ. Well, let's take a break. And when we come back, I want to talk about some of those transformative issues, choosing Christ, the Bible as the foundation of faith and truth.

[00:08:10] Some things that we talked about the other day with George Barna, which reminded us that the younger you are, the less likely you are maybe to not necessarily hold to some of those issues. And these are the cornerstones of our Christian faith. So we're going to kind of do, if you will, almost Sunday school 101. But I'm beginning to recognize how important that is in this modern day world. And then we'll just kind of get into what does it mean to really believe in Jesus Christ? What is this idea of Christology?

[00:08:40] And how should that really affect the way in which we walk through faith? That's our conversation. We'll take a break. Be back with more right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:06] Psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt has been researching the influences on teenagers and young adults. Several years ago, we interviewed him on his book, The Coddling of the American Mind. More recently, he's been known for his book, The Anxious Generation. He was recently asked on a podcast, who makes better parents, left-wingers or right-wingers? At first, he pointed to data that showed a slight gap where conservatives are a little happier than liberals. He added it isn't clear whether that is due to parenting or some other factor.

[00:09:35] However, he then pointed to research he did for his book. The gap between left and right becomes a chasm after 2012. As we discussed on previous commentaries, the date 2012 coincides with the mass adoption of the iPhone and social media apps. He says the bottom line is that when kids are rooted in communities, they don't get washed out to sea by the phone-based childhood living in the virtual world.

[00:09:59] So over and over again, when we look at the left-right or whether we look at religion, what we find is that secular kids and the liberal kids who get washed out to sea get really depressed after 2012. And a much less effect on conservative and religious kids because I think they're more rooted. The conclusion shouldn't be controversial. We know from numerous studies that children do best in a loving home with a father and a mother. They do best when children don't spend lots of time online.

[00:10:26] They do best when they're rooted in a community and have social interactions such as we find in church. We talked about the comments by Jonathan Haidt on my radio program and concluded that more and more research is confirming what the Bible has taught for millennia. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my Point of View. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net.

[00:10:55] That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again as we talk about the book, The Way Ahead, Walking Together in Faith Through the Spiritual Trials of Our Time. Dr. Sean Cordopassi is with us and in some respects going to turn this into, I guess, Sunday School 101 Bible School first year.

[00:11:23] It reminds me back in 1961, Vince Lombardi comes into a room of Green Bay Packer veterans, holds up a football and said, Gentlemen, this is a football. Now, he wasn't trying to insult their intelligence. He was saying, let's get back to the fundamentals. Sean, in some respects, that's the case because some of the middle chapters in your book get into the idea that we need to choose Christ.

[00:11:49] We need to understand what this issue of Christology is. You even go into such things as the hypostatic union. For just a few minutes, let's see if we can get the fundamentals right because, really, if I understand your book carefully, if you don't get your view of Jesus Christ right and you don't understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus, then all the other things you're talking about in the book don't work out. And so, in some respects, that's key, isn't it?

[00:12:18] That's absolutely key. And I think there's, for me, and why I wrote this book, there's nothing more important than that. I'd like to share a quick reason, the why. I had met with a kind of a mentor of mine that was a Baptist, and he said, hey, I think Christ's a good man, good teacher, but if you ask me, was he divine? Yeah, not so much.

[00:12:46] And I remember thinking, I'd taken it back. I said, how can that be? And so I really thought, okay, let's take a step back. Let's really think, who is Christ? And the hypostatic union, that sounds very scientific, but it really comes down to two things. Christ was fully man, and he was divine. And so why is that so important?

[00:13:14] Why can't he just be God and not human? Well, if he wasn't human, then he couldn't have understood what it meant to be, what it means to live, what it means to live day to day, and the sacrifice that he made for us.

[00:13:33] So that's why I risk something like a broken record in the book a little bit, I have to admit, but I think it's so important to really dig into the hypostatic union and why that's so important. Yeah, well, I think in Hebrews, for example, you know, we are told that we do not have a high priest who is unable to emphasize or empathize, I should say, with our weaknesses.

[00:13:59] But we have someone who was tempted in every way, just as we are. So in some respects, of course, it also gets into not only understanding who we are, also paying the penalty for our sin.

[00:14:12] And this, I think, Sean, is a big issue because what you see with a lot of the surveys and whether it's George Barna or Lifeway, whether it's some of the surveys that have been done from the DSS, pro ministries, including our own work here, even in our booklet on the next generation. What we find is a lot of young people say, well, this isn't that important. He's kind of like the pastor you were talking to. Well, I believe that he's a great role model. He was a good man.

[00:14:42] But if he wasn't all the things the scripture says he was, then many of the key doctrines that we're going to talk about in just a few minutes fall apart, don't they? A hundred percent. And that is the goal of those who want to diminish Christianity in any way, and that is to try to pull at that cornerstone. And, yeah, I feel very passionate about that.

[00:15:12] We must not give an inch on that front as far as Jesus. One of the other things I thought I'd pick out is, in some respects, one of the reasons that I think some of the younger generation, but older generation as well, say, well, we really don't know that much about Jesus. That's why you've actually devoted at least one short chapter on why we can trust our Bible. And, of course, I will hold up our booklet on biblical reliability.

[00:15:41] We're going to be talking tomorrow about archaeology that validates that as well. And for people that sometimes want to get off of that or maybe begin to compromise on their view of Jesus Christ, well, one of the fallback positions is that, well, maybe we just don't know that much. Maybe these were stories that were passed on from generation to generation. And so there's a lot of myth and legend. And that's simply not true, is it?

[00:16:12] Absolutely not. I am a man who has spent my life digging into the facts and really trying to understand what is real, what isn't, what is myth. Based on, you know, my reading of the apostles and their trustworthiness and the trustworthiness of the Old Testament, I cannot find any fault there.

[00:16:38] I can't find anything that doesn't reconcile and make perfect sense to me as I read through the scriptures. We have to trust that the apostles were being truthful because they had no reason to fabricate in any way. They, you know, they all, all of them but John got martyred. They paid enormous penalties. And you have to ask, why would they do that?

[00:17:04] Why would they subject themselves to that if it wasn't entirely true? But that's just the New Testament, right? But when you really start digging into the Old Testament, it all leads to what is going to be fulfilled in the New Testament through the Messiah. And really, it's just an incredible, you know, I get excited about it. Sorry. That's good.

[00:17:32] Well, just let me add one more piece and then we'll take a break. And that is the resurrection because you point out that, first of all, these disciples would not go out and die a martyr's death if they thought this was something that had been made up or trusting just one eyewitness account. Because there were many that were witnesses to the eyewitness. So many were eyewitnesses to the resurrection. And 1 Corinthians 15 takes us there.

[00:18:01] You have a whole section here about Lee Strobel, who we've had on the program. Of course, The Case for Christ. You have a mention of some of the other key books that deal with these issues.

[00:18:12] And in some respects, one other way in which we can certainly know that our faith is set on a firm foundation is when the Apostle Paul wanted to set forth in his letter to the church in Corinth what was the most significant argument for the truthfulness of the message of Jesus Christ. What does he talk about? The resurrection.

[00:18:36] And it seems to me that that also is one of the reasons why you put that in there, because you wanted people to, in the devotional section and even in the small group discussions, spend some time talking about the significance of the resurrection. Absolutely. Without the resurrection, you know, that is what gives Christianity, I guess you could say, it makes it real.

[00:19:05] It makes it more than a story. Knowing that Christ is living, he's still watching over us, cares about us, seeks to be united with us. Yeah. Absolutely. And again, I just mentioned in passing, but let's talk about that for a second before we take a break. We have the devotional thoughts at the end of each chapter, usually a couple, and then you have small group discussions.

[00:19:30] So the way you've written this, individuals can read through it, but I also think that people that are involved in teaching a small group or a Bible study could use this as well. And that's how you intended it, isn't it? Yes, sir. I worked very hard with Redemption Press to try to create the best questions I could to, you know, after reading each chapter, which some can be – some are easier than others, I'll be honest.

[00:19:58] But, you know, the devotional thoughts and the study questions are meant to really bring it in and to really, you know, take it another step further and really contextualize what material was covered. Let me just mention the book is entitled The Way Ahead, Walking Together in Faith Through the Spiritual Trials of Our Time.

[00:20:22] We've just very quickly, in a superficial way in some ways, looked at the first two sections, the process of faith connecting with God. We come back, though, I want to focus on relating to the world around us and the Christian life, and then there's some final conclusions. Again, 21 different chapters put in five sections, although most of them are in the first four sections, and some very good and useful material, the kind of thing that would help you if you're a young Christian wanting to grow.

[00:20:53] Certainly a great resource if you would want to actually delve a little bit deeper, especially with the discussion questions, and something that you certainly could use if you are teaching a small group Bible study. So you might want to check it out. We're going to take a break, and we have all the information necessary for you to contact him because we have his website there as well. And also we have, of course, at least a link for the book in case you would like to get it in Kindle or paperback.

[00:21:22] You might be able to find it in your local bookstore, but if not, we have information at our website, pointofview.net. We'll be right back. It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men can be women and women men. People are prosecuted differently or not at all, depending on their politics. Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens.

[00:21:52] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing. You feel like giving up, but we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. And that's what we say to you today.

[00:22:18] This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join pointofview in providing clarity in the chaos. We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness. Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151. Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151.

[00:22:50] Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:18] Back once again as we continue our conversation with Dr. Sean Cortopassi. And if you'd like to know more about him, and you don't have to even know how to spell his last name, because we have a link on our website at pointofview.net, just click on that button that says See More. You will see that there is all sorts of great information about this book. If you'd want to contact him, ask a question, have him come speak, or maybe even just interact a little bit more on some of the things he's published, it's all available at our website, pointofview.net.

[00:23:45] And Scott, now we get into, in some respects, the other half of your book, which is the so what question. Now that I certainly maybe have good theology, I'm understanding what that means. Then you have a section on relating to the world around us. And the first thing you bring us to is something we talked about at the opening, the importance of being spiritually alert in a confused world. We're getting this, if you will, cacophony of voices.

[00:24:15] And there is so much in our culture that is forcing us and really trying to conform us to the culture. And so whether you look at the idea that we should not be conformed to this culture, Romans 12, 1 and 2, whether you think about the fact that we should not be taken captive by the culture, Colossians 2, 8, it does seem to me that that's one of the reasons for your book, isn't it?

[00:24:40] That you are looking around and seeing individuals that have become very confused in a confusing world. Absolutely. This was actually my favorite section to write of the five because it felt most natural to me. With regards to being relating to the world around us, we want to be alert, but not negative, but be alert. Have a certain spirit, but investigate.

[00:25:11] In today's day and age, work to build bridges and seek Christian unity. Let me just give a quick story that I brought up in the book about the Da Vinci Code. Okay. Yes. In the book. Yeah. Sorry? Go ahead. Yeah. In the Da Vinci Code, it mentions that Christ had children with Mary Magdalene. And I just think when I was in college at the University of Florida, it was the big book.

[00:25:41] Everybody wanted to read the Da Vinci Code. It just brings up nonsense that wasn't historically accurate in any capacity, but it was comfort food. Easy to digest. And I said, oh, yeah, that could be right. Yeah. It wasn't really – yeah, of course you had kids with Mary Magdalene. It's like, come on, you know, like they're not applying critical thinking skills or any historical fact.

[00:26:11] They're just digesting it and they're going with it. And it's kind of sad. And, you know, I'm hoping that we can turn the page on that. And I do have a theory for why that is happening. Yeah. Well, I'd like to hear your theory because years ago we, of course, addressed that whole issue of the Da Vinci Code, how to respond to that,

[00:26:34] and to any other best-selling book, you know, that is out there right now that is embraced by the light, out-of-body experiences, contacting demons, even now with the issue of UFOs. What about that? Because it does seem to me that if we're not careful, we can get caught up in those ideas. Or people come to us and say, well, what does the Bible have to say about that? And it seems to me that sometimes that's a great evangelistic opportunity, but we have to be equipped.

[00:27:03] But why do you think this is happening? Yeah, yeah, right. So, well, to the thought of the why, right, the bigger picture, I think it's postmodernism, this desire to be sort of anything that was like the establishment. And the church, of course, is the establishment, whether you have a personal relationship with Christ or not,

[00:27:29] just the church in general, the denominations seen as the old guard, the old world. But we're, you know, we're new world now. This is the 21st century. So there's a part of that. But to your other question about, you know, UFOs and seeking the light and this New Age, you know, fads that are going through, I mean, it's all a big distraction, unfortunately.

[00:27:58] And, you know, following the way is it's been around for, you know, over 2,000 years. It makes sense. It's something that you can rest your eternity on. I just feel bad for those who are, you know, into UFOs and other dangerous, you know, conspiracy theories,

[00:28:27] other, you know, strange outliers that, you know, you only get one life. You really should focus on, you know, what's important. And that's having a personal relationship with Christ, in my opinion. Let's talk about another one that is perhaps one of the biggest, and that is your chapter on faith and science. Although I could hold up our booklet that we've done on postmodernism, but I'll hold up the one here on God and science that we just talked about,

[00:28:55] and even one that we've done on intelligent design. There are a lot of studies that show, especially at the Barna Research Group, which George Barna no longer is head of, but Dave Kitterman and others have actually talked to people that have left the Christian faith, ex-Christians, and asked them why they left. Well, you get some of the standard arguments, you know, just a bunch of hypocrites and this and that.

[00:29:20] But the argument that shows up most often, I think, especially for kids that are in the science field, is I was told that the Bible and science come together. I was taught the Bible when I was in school and certainly when I was in church, but I went off to college and I saw these great professors who were scientists.

[00:29:43] Not a one of them was a Christian, and they all said science is what we believe in and the Bible is faith. And so this whole idea that you talk about in chapter 10 of faith and science is really a key issue. And I think it's important for us to know how to prepare our young people as they go off to college on how to resolve that issue, don't you think? A hundred percent.

[00:30:10] I wrote in the dedication to my grandfather, who was a professor at Berry University, Berry College at the time, taught me all about, you know, reconciling science and faith as a kid. And so I tried to impart that in the book, especially chapter 10. It is true that there are renowned scientists that don't necessarily believe, you know,

[00:30:38] they have a secular humanistic viewpoint on life. And, you know, they'll say, hey, this doesn't reconcile. But I would say this, if you look at the way DNA is sequenced, it's got to be designed that way. There's no way that it could have – and I see this with a lot of things, with geology, with rocks, all sorts of things in nature.

[00:31:05] And I think it's important to me that I've been saying that, you know, and that's a lot of things in nature. And that, you know, so to the student out there that isn't sure, you know, hey, I want to fit in with my professors. I want to keep quiet. I got to, you know, just toe the line here. You know, you're not going to get – you know, I say toe the line or don't go with the flow. So, you know, stick with what you know is right and that's scripture.

[00:31:34] Yeah, and the good news is that we have probably more available than certainly when I went to college to answer some of those questions. And we have probably more people doing research, apologetics, intelligent design, all sorts of things than ever before. So that really is the good news is that if you really are looking for answers, if you're serious about finding answers rather than using that as an excuse, that is certainly a good answer to that as well.

[00:32:04] Let's take a break, but let me mention again for those of you that just joined us, as we've talked about this particular book, The Way Ahead, we have a whole section at the end of each one of these 21 chapters in which there's some devotional material. There's small group discussions. As a matter of fact, even as we were talking about this area of science, you have a whole section there helping people deal with the evolution creation issue, the whole issue of intelligent design, the question of navigating doubt,

[00:32:32] the whole issue of faith science inquiry. So these are kinds of things that would be very helpful if you were teaching. But I thought when we come back, we might talk about the fact that we are sending young people and we are ourselves living in a very divided world. Next hour, we're going to get into that in more detail. Derek Hunter's piece on politicians refusing to talk to the American people, even a very good piece about what is happening right now in terms of therapy,

[00:33:02] which in some respects is tearing us apart. So whether it's social media, whether it's counseling, whether it's political divisions, we are really in a very divided world. And sometimes trying to exercise some level of civility is really important. And then there's a chapter on discerning in the midst of disagreement, because you're going to run into disagreement. Friends, neighbors, coworkers, even people in your place of work, whatever,

[00:33:32] how to sort of navigate that. So some great practical suggestions in the book, The Way Ahead. Let's take a break. We'll continue our conversation right after this.

[00:33:42] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again as we talk about the book for a few more minutes, The Way Ahead. Dr. Sean Cordopase with us.

[00:34:10] And, Sean, if nothing else, your chapter here on faith, dialogue, and unity in a divided world is really kind of the warm-up act for what we'll be talking about in the next hour. We have, in the political realm, a situation in which politicians are refusing to talk to the American people because they just want to talk to their tribe. By the time we're done, we'll be talking about a new book that is on this whole issue of culture

[00:34:37] that has been created of therapy, where instead of taking ownership of your own problems, you blame somebody else. And so, in some respects, we're seeing all sorts of evidence that we are sending people out every day into the world that is very divided. And I was just even looking at one of the booklets I'll hold up for next hour on our politicized culture, which we wrote nine years ago.

[00:35:02] The first part of it is probably pretty dated because it talks about, well, the time the president was George W. Bush. That goes back a few years. But the last section is on the issue of civility. What's a biblical view of civility? And I think that really gets us back to the golden rule. We treat other people as we'd like to be treated. We are willing to engage people in a discussion, in a dialogue. Even if we might disagree with them, we can do so without being disagreeable.

[00:35:31] And that's really kind of the theme of your chapter, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That's the whole book, really. The golden rule, you know, the Sermon on the Mount. I really love the gospel of Matthew. It really, really spoke to me more than the others. But, yeah, I mean, live by the fruit of the Spirit. Live for him.

[00:36:00] If you do that, right, if you live for Christ, it can be a blessing. And it can help you work with others, even if you disagree with them. You know, because Christ loves them all. Like, loves everyone. So, you know, we all can't be like him, but we can do our best to try to be. And, you know, I think that's the best way to have the civility. But, yeah, I mean, obviously try to live righteously.

[00:36:29] Live for purpose. Live for him. Live for him. And, yeah, those are sort of the main things. Seek grace. Seek truth. You know, compromise without conviction, but conviction without compassion are things that should be the goal.

[00:36:52] And, yeah, these are the sorts of things that will help with unity, but not at the expense of truth. One of the other themes that runs through multiple chapters is discernment, which we talk about so often here, Sean, on the program. Discerning in the midst of disagreement. Confronting opposition with biblical clarity. And then the impact of media, truth, deception, and discernment.

[00:37:19] So, first of all, we've got to recognize that we're not only in the midst of all sorts of words and counterclaims and claims, but some of it is false. Some of it is intentionally misleading. Some people are simply not aware of some of those issues. Or, of course, even when you're talking with non-Christians, they may not be spiritually discerning.

[00:37:42] And so it's going to be perhaps an even more significant challenge to live the Christian life in the 21st century. And that's, I would have to say, why we need discernment, isn't it? Without question. It is getting more and more challenging. Each year that goes by between the media, the culture, noise, the constant scrolling. These are real challenges.

[00:38:13] Unprecedented, actually, I think, to live as a Christian in the 21st century. And, you know, it's about going back to that rock. And it's about, you know, don't abandon your faith.

[00:38:35] I know, you know, this life in the 21st century, it can be exhausting, distraction, full of distractions and confusion. But at the end of the day, you know, you've just got to pray. You've got to go back to the fundamentals. And I'm just hoping that will help people. So that's really why, you know, I wrote the book. I wrestled, you know, I didn't say I had all the answers, but I wrestled with the questions.

[00:39:00] And, you know, I'm just hoping I can be a companion to folks and help them to work through some of these challenges that we're all facing. Well, again, you end by talking about this idea of the Christian life and the need to be renewing the mind and reviving the heart.

[00:39:16] So really, that is why you wrote the book in an effort to equip individuals to at least understand more of the process of how to begin to walk through the Christian life in faith and how to encounter some of the spiritual trials that I think everybody is going to be facing in this world. Absolutely. We all have to face it individually. We all have to make that choice.

[00:39:43] I do recommend for those, you know, to get baptized if you haven't because it does offer a spiritual rebirth that first off, it said in the Gospel of John that we should all be reborn of the spirit. So I think that's crucial. But it changes somebody. It changes them on the inside.

[00:40:07] It will offer spiritual gifts that you probably hadn't, you know, expected, you know, and it really can fill your life with joy and hope more than anything. Just before I wind down, let me just mention again 21 chapters. At the end of each chapter, a whole section of devotional thoughts, then small group discussion questions. At the end, 25 pages of end notes.

[00:40:35] So that gives you an idea if some of this is where you say, well, I'd like to check that out. I've never seen that before. You can go and check that or even a scripture index at the end. So, John, if nothing else, I appreciate you writing the book. This was obviously a very significant labor of love for a 300-page book. But more importantly, I appreciate you giving us an hour today. And, again, thank you for your service in the federal government. Yes, sir. And just one other thing.

[00:41:04] I do also have the audio book format. My brother's not a big reader. So I said, okay, fine. I'll put an audio book for you. So that's also available, sir. Well, I might just mention again we do have a link to your website. It's S. Cordopassi. You don't even have to know how to spell that because we have it linked there. The Cordopassi Theological Leadership has information about you, about the book, in which people can contact you. Of course, we also, in addition to that, also have a link to your Facebook page.

[00:41:34] Of course, we have information about the book. And as you pointed out, it is available in a variety of different formats, Kindle, paperback, audio. And if that would be of interest to you, that is certainly the case. So, Sean, thank you for joining us today here on Point of View. Thank you, sir. We're going to take a break. And when we come back, let's get into some of that, sort of giving you a preview of what we're going to be talking about. Derek Hunter talks about the fact that we've got more and more politicians who only want to talk to their tribe. They don't even try to make an argument on the other side.

[00:42:03] And this tribalism and only believing what I believe, I think, is really disturbing. And then we'll get into kind of coming back to this whole idea of what surfaced last week with what I think could be called modern anti-Semitism, a topic that we dealt with Friday. I just got some material from Dr. Merrill Matthews. He has some material where you want to use maybe when we talk about it again on Friday. So we'll get into that.

[00:42:30] But then we'll spend some time just talking about the issue of emotional health, spiritual health. Why is there a boom in psychiatric medicine and medication? And one of the really good questions, sounds like the kind of question a Christian would ask, but no, these therapists are saying, is the way in which we do therapy actually tearing people apart, keeping them from actually reaching out to others?

[00:42:57] And so whether we talk about it in the political realm or the emotional, psychological realm, you're going to see a lot of similarity as we look at different articles. But first, we need to take a break. We'll come back with more right after this. In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle, not with guns and bombs, but words and ideas.

[00:43:25] London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism, and legendary Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon. London was in many ways the center of the world economically, militarily, and intellectually. Marx sought to destroy religion, the family, and everything the Bible supports. Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers. Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth.

[00:43:53] It is truth for all of life. Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom to stand against darkness today? Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues delivered to your inbox when you sign up for the Viewpoints commentary at pointofview.net slash signup. Every weekday in less than two minutes, you'll learn how to be a person of light to stand against darkness in our time.

[00:44:19] It's free, so visit pointofview.net slash signup right now. pointofview.net slash signup. Point of View will continue after this.