Author: admin

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

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

Listen in your favorite podcast player (be sure to subscribe while there!) or in your browser here.

As a reminder, I want to be sure you all know that the next Unshaken Conference is next week—September 21st in Buffalo, New York! Alisa Childers, Frank Turek, and I will spend the day equipping and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith in this increasingly tough culture. Get your tickets now at www.unshakenconference.com! We’ll also be in Austin, Texas, on November 16.

For those who haven’t heard of it, The After Party (TAP) is a small group curriculum and corresponding book that is being heavily promoted this election year to individuals, churches, and Christian institutions (such as colleges) to counter the “dangerous trend” of evangelicals having their political identity formed by “partisan forces, not by true Biblical faith.”

The curriculum was developed by David French (New York Times columnist), Russell Moore (Editor-in-Chief of Christianity Today), and Curtis Chang. Fewer people are familiar with Chang than with French and Moore, but for context, his most notable project was called “Christians and the Vaccine,” through which he led a national effort to convince Covid vaccine-resistant evangelicals that their “anxiety, distrust of institutions, and political polarization” was threatening the vaccine’s potential for “healing our world.”

Earlier this year, TAP made a lot of headlines when journalist Megan Basham published a First Things article detailing how the whole project was funded by hard-left foundations (“Follow the Money to The After Party”). Alisa Childers and I also did an episode on our Unshaken Faith podcast in February in which we discussed the inherent problems with progressives funding Christian curriculum (as well as other concerns about TAP). 

Since then, I’ve heard from quite a few people with concerns that their church is rolling the curriculum out this fall. When they share Megan’s article or Alisa’s and my episode, some of these churches recognize the implications and change course. However, others have pushed back to say that we didn’t specifically address the content of the curriculum, only the funding. While I think the funding speaks for itself (listen to my recent podcast interview with Megan, in which we spend about 10 minutes discussing why), I want to now address—in depth—why the content itself is clearly problematic. It might seem peculiar that I would write my longest article ever on such a niche topic, but I hope that this level of detail will give pastors and concerned church members a better understanding of why this book should absolutely be avoided.

In particular, for purposes of this article, I’m evaluating the book specifically. While the book is not a necessary part of the small group curriculum, TAP creators say, “This paradigm shifting book is designed to complement the course. Read it beforehand to discern if the course is a fit for your needs—or read it afterwards to go deeper on a Jesus-centered approach to politics.” So, in their estimation, this is a deeper exploration of their approach and claims in the small group curriculum; if you agree that the book is problematic given what I say below, then the small group curriculum should be ruled out as well given their stated relationship.

What’s the Goal of TAP?

Before you can understand the key problems with TAP, it’s important to understand their stated goals.

According to their website, “The After Party is a collection of resources designed by the non-profit Redeeming Babel to help you move towards better Christian politics. Our video course, book, and worship music were designed for pastors & people who know there’s a better way to ‘do politics.’ As you engage with our materials, you’ll be equipped & encouraged to do the hard work of engaging across differences, reframe your political identity in light of the Gospel’s promises, and focusing your heart & mind on the ‘how’ of relating to each other before the ‘what’ of political opinions.”

Reading this description and other similar marketing language TAP uses, you might think it’s pretty innocuous. People can absolutely treat each other poorly in discussing politics, we’re in the middle of a particularly contentious election season, Christians need to have their identity first and foremost in Jesus, and it can be good to be reminded that how we engage does matter.

In fact, in going to their site right now to grab a link for this article, I was shown the following pop-up: “We’d love to send you a free sample of our latest book to help you (perhaps!) reframe how you think about politics in light of biblical virtues like kindness, love, and mercy. It’s practical & full of hope—and we think you’ll like it!” Again, this sounds great.

From TAP’s marketing, one would think this is simply a curriculum to help Christians think about charitable communication. The creators repeatedly claim it’s non-partisan and continually emphasize this is just about the “how”—something any church should be able to get behind, or so the story goes.

But, to be blunt, I believe this is highly disingenuous marketing given the content of the book.

The marketing is designed to attract churches who would like to simply encourage charitable communication, but the execution is designed to convince Christians that they shouldn’t be so conservative.

Continue reading

The Natasha Crain Podcast is back from hiatus today! After I recorded my episode with Pastor Jack Hibbs in April, I had to take a break for a while in order to finish writing my new book, When Culture Hates You: Persevering for the Common Good as Christians in a Hostile Public Square. But today I’m resuming the show with my guest Megan Basham to discuss her new and very controversial book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. Megan sets out to show how progressive powerbrokers—from George Soros, to the founder of eBay, to former members of the Obama administration—have sought to change the American church. Their goal: to co-opt evangelicals for political purposes.

Megan is a culture reporter for The Daily Wire and a frequent contributor to Morning Wire, which is one of the top podcasts in the US. She’s written for The Wall Street Journal, First Things, and National Review, among other outlets. Her new book has only been out for about a week, and it’s already hit both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. If you spend any time on social media, you know that everyone is talking about Shepherds for Sale…with strong feelings for and against it.

Since the book has been out a few days, I took the opportunity in this episode to not only discuss its central claims but to also ask Megan about several of the major objections she’s getting. We discuss, for example:

• Why she felt it was important to “name names” within the church rather than merely focus on the secular leftist funders she discusses
• Whether that’s problematically divisive
• More specifically, whether naming biblically sound, respected pastors like Gavin Ortlund and Tim Keller takes away from the credibility of the book
• Whether the book is “ultimately about Trump,” as one article claimed
• Whether she should have balanced the book with a discussion of financial influence from right-wing sources
• Whether she should have reached out to people regarding their views before including them in the book

Listen in your favorite podcast player (be sure to subscribe while there!) or in your browser here.

Also, I want to be sure you all know that the next Unshaken Conference is September 21 in Buffalo, New York! Alisa Childers, Frank Turek, and I will spend the day equipping and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith in this increasingly tough culture. Get your tickets now at www.unshakenconference.com! We’ll also be in Austin, Texas, on November 16!

Over the last several months, I’ve been working hard on writing a new book. Today, for the first time, I get to tell you what it’s all about! I couldn’t be more excited to share the news with you!

It’s called When Culture Hates You: Persevering for the Common Good as Christians in a Hostile Public Square.

There are so many people both in and out of the church today trying to convince Christians that we need to keep our voices and values to ourselves—and that when we don’t, we’re “imposing” our values on others, we’re being too “political,” people won’t want to hear the gospel because they won’t like us, we’re trying to change society even though Jesus didn’t tell His followers to change the Roman Empire, and all kinds of other problematic (and unbiblical) ideas.

In short, my new book is here to say that thoughtful and committed Christian influence in the public square is needed more than ever—even when we’re hated for it, as is increasingly becoming the case.

Here’s the full description from the back cover:

---

Jesus Warned the World Would Hate Christians

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

As cultural hostility toward Christianity intensifies, many Christians have grown more reluctant to advocate for biblical values in the public square. But our perseverance for the common good—a good defined by God alone—is more important than ever in a culture that embraces darkness.

When Culture Hates You is a call for Christians to unashamedly pursue righteousness in society out of our love for others. In this timely resource, author Natasha Crain will help you

• make sense of cultural hostility by better understanding the roots of secular outrage on issues like Christian nationalism, social justice, abortion, transgenderism, and sexuality
• advocate for the godly functioning of society with greater biblical, cultural, and civic understanding
• take concrete action for the common good with more than 35 practical ideas to get you started

As Christians, our calling is to speak truth in the face of hostility. Not because we want to “war” with culture but because we love both God and others.

---

The book hasn’t been designed yet, so I don’t have a pretty table of contents to share, but I want you to see what’s inside so I’ll just share the table of contents here in this post:

---

Foreword by Frank Turek

PART 1:

UNDERSTANDING THE HATE

1. Jesus Said It Would Happen

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

2. God Defines the Common Good

The definition of good isn’t up for debate…as much as culture may think it is.

3. When the Common Good Is Political

Advocating for the common good out of our love for others sometimes includes the “political.”

4. Should Christians Impose Their Views on Others?

…And four other objections to public Christian influence

5. Persevering in the Public Square

Know your (biblical) authority, strengthen conviction, and maintain tenacity (ACT).

PART 2:

RESPONDING TO AND PERSEVERING THROUGH

TODAY’S MOST PROMINENT CHARGES

6. Dangerous Christian Nationalists

The View from Mainstream Media

7. Power-Hungry Oppressors

The View from Secular Social Justice Activists

8. Controlling Misogynists

The View from Pro-Choice Activists

9. Cruel Rights-Deniers

The View from Transgender Activists

10. Hateful Bigots

The View from the Sexual Revolution

Epilogue: Letting Your Light Shine in Spite of Hate

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).

---

When Culture Hates You doesn’t release until March 11, which I know sounds like the very distant future, BUT if you know you’ll want it in paperback, please pre-order now so it starts getting ranked in various Amazon categories. That helps more people find out about it! (I’m pretty sure Kindle and audio versions will be available, but they aren’t there yet.)

For those of you who are podcast listeners, I’ll be back with new episodes soon. I just had to go heads down over the last couple of months to get the book finished and couldn’t produce new content during that time.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you’re looking forward to the book!

Today on The Natasha Crain Podcast, I talk with Pastor Jack Hibbs about some of the most pressing examples of deception in the church. (Pastor Jack is the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, which is a community of 10,000 members in southern California. His podcast attracts 250,000 listeners monthly, and he broadcasts to 800 radio stations daily.)

Our discussion is based on his new (excellent!) book, Living in the Daze of Deception: How to Discern Truth from Culture’s Lies.

You will LOVE this discussion! Don’t miss it. We talked about subjects like:

• What Christians should look for when they decide whom to follow in their spiritual lives;
• What false teachers look for when working to deceive;
• Why “easy believism” is a form of spiritual deception;
• Why one of the significant marks of a woke church is the avoidance of teaching the Old Testament;
• The difference between a biblical and deceptive call for unity;
• Why Christians should be concerned about globalism;
• How Christians should respond to DEI training at work;
• …and much more!

Listen in your favorite podcast player (be sure to subscribe while there!) or in your browser here.

Also, I wanted to let you know one final time that it’s not too late to send your kids to a Summit Ministries Summer Student Conference! Summit offers incredible two-week experiences in Colorado and Georgia for 16- to 22-year-olds focused on helping them develop a deeper foundation in Christian worldview and apologetics topics. They have a whole team of world-class speakers who tackle some of the toughest subjects today. Most of the Colorado sessions are already filled, but there are still some August spots available. There are also still spots available at the Georgia location in July. Summit has generously offered a $200 discount for listeners of my podcast (use code NATASHA200)! Go to summit.org/natasha to register or learn more.

And don’t forget about the three upcoming Unshaken Conferences! Alisa Childers, Frank Turek, and I will spend the day equipping and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith in this increasingly tough culture. If you’re near one of the following three locations, you are not going to want to miss it! Tickets are on sale at www.unshakenconference.com.

• May 18: Christ Church at Grove Farm in the Pittsburgh area
• September 21: Eastern Hills Church in the Buffalo, NY area
• November 16: Hill Country Bible Church in Austin, TX

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

I want to highlight something here of a timely note from the show: Summit has generously offered a $200 discount to their student summer conferences for listeners of my podcast (use code NATASHA200)! Summit offers incredible two-week experiences in Colorado and Georgia for 16- to 22-year-olds focused on helping them develop a deeper foundation in Christian worldview and apologetics topics. They have a whole team of world-class speakers who tackle some of the toughest subjects today. While there, students also have the opportunity to embark on fun outdoor adventures and gain deep friendships with like-minded teens who share their passion for God. I’m thrilled to say that my own kids will be attending this summer! If you’re interested in learning more, do so soon, because if you register by March 31, you will get an additional $100 off ($300 total when you use my code). Learn all about the conferences either for this summer or the future here.

I also want to make sure you all know about the three upcoming Unshaken Conferences! Alisa Childers, Frank Turek, and I will spend the day equipping and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith in this increasingly tough culture. If you’re in one of these locations, you are not going to want to miss it! Tickets are on sale for all three upcoming dates at www.unshakenconference.com.

• May 18: Christ Church at Grove Farm in the Pittsburgh area
• September 21: Eastern Hills Church in the Buffalo, NY area
• November 16: Hill Country Bible Church in Austin, TX

Continue reading

In today’s episode of The Natasha Crain Podcast, I’m featuring the work of a very important organization that every Christian should know about: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). ADF is one of the leading Christian law firms committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life. ADF is also one of the nation’s most respected and successful United States Supreme Court advocates. Since 2011, ADF has represented parties in 15 victories at the Supreme Court.

I’m honored to have Ryan Bangert on the show today. He is Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives & Special Counsel to the President at ADF. He oversees ADF’s regulatory practice, government relations, and corporate engagement teams. He also advises executive leadership with strategic initiatives and appears as counsel for ADF clients.

While ADF works in a lot of different areas, Ryan and I focus our conversation in this episode on parental rights. This is an incredibly important subject every Christian needs to understand in this rapidly changing culture, and Ryan shares a wealth of knowledge on it. We cover topics such as these:

• Constitutional protection of parental rights
• Current case examples where parental rights are being challenged in public schools (particularly with respect to schools hiding gender transitions from parents)
• The degree to which public school employees are required to support gender transitions in schools
• Parental rights to know what school counselors are discussing with children
• How to find out what policies your own school district has on parental rights
• Legislative work ADF is doing to implement laws at the state and federal levels to protect parental rights
• Listener questions on homeschool rights, what churches should do to protect themselves from lawsuits, how to handle DEI requirements in the workplace, and more.

Also, don’t forget that I’ll be speaking with Alisa Childers and Frank Turek next Saturday, March 9, in Detroit, Michigan, for our next Unshaken Conference! Learn more and get your tickets at unshakenconference.com. Other upcoming dates include:

• May 18 in Pittsburgh, PA (tickets now on sale!)
• September 21 in Buffalo, NY (tickets available soon)
• November 16 in Austin, TX (tickets available soon)

Don’t miss out on this amazing day of being equipped and encouraged to stand firm on truth in today’s culture!

SHOW NOTES FOR TODAY’S EPISODE (listen on your favorite podcast player or in your browser here):

Continue reading

Last year, I wrote an article called “7 Problems with the He Gets Us Campaign,” in which I critically responded to the $100 million advertising campaign featuring a website, billboards in major cities, a book, and ads that have been viewed more than 300 million times. Perhaps most visibly, the campaign’s ads were featured in last year’s Super Bowl. When thousands of people went searching for more information on it, my article came up, and it went viral—actually pulling down my site at one point! Clearly, a lot of people are interested in knowing more about the nature of these ads.

Fast forward to 2024. Super Bowl Sunday is in a few days, and He Gets Us will once again be running ads that generate widespread curiosity. Given the reach of the campaign and high interest level, I wanted to do an updated evaluation of what He Gets Us is doing today. To that end, I’m going to answer four questions:

1. Does the He Gets Us Campaign get skeptics interested in Jesus?
2. Does the He Gets Us Campaign get skeptics interested in the right Jesus?
3. Do the He Gets Us campaign reading plans take people to the next level of understanding Jesus (beyond the slick website and TV ads)?
4. Does the He Gets Us campaign direct people to theologically solid churches for continuing their search for truth?

There are three things that will inform my answers. First is my professional background in marketing (I have an MBA in marketing and am a former adjunct marketing professor). Since this is a campaign aimed at “marketing” Jesus, that background is particularly relevant. Second is my evaluation of the publicly available He Gets Us content (the website and YouVersion reading plans). I have not read the He Gets Us book, so that isn’t part of what I’m responding to. Third is a recent interview campaign consultant Ed Stetzer did with Biola professors Scott Rae and Sean McDowell on Biola’s “Think Biblically” podcast (Stetzer is the Dean of Biola’s Talbot School of Theology). While Stetzer says he is not a spokesman for the campaign, he has been closely involved, so his comments are helpful for an insider view of the goals and strategies.

1. Does the He Gets Us Campaign get skeptics interested in Jesus?

Stetzer says that the people who eventually started the campaign had become concerned “that the perception of Christianity had suffered and people weren’t necessarily considering who Jesus was. And they would like for people to consider who he was, who he is.” They then brought in market researchers who found that skeptics were open to considering who Jesus was (I’d love to know more about that, but no further information was noted). Stetzer emphasized repeatedly in the interview that the very narrow goal of the campaign is to reach those skeptics. Ultimately, He Gets Us wants to build a bridge from people seeing the ads to learning more by going to the website and ultimately signing up for a Bible reading plan and/or asking to be connected to a church.

So, in short, the goal is very specifically to get skeptics interested in Jesus. That’s a very worthy goal, especially if you have millions of dollars to do it with. My first question is, does the campaign successfully meet that objective?

While I don’t know the statistics on how many people have visited the He Gets Us website as a result of the ads, Stetzer says over 600,000 people have signed up for the reading plans and “hundreds of thousands” have been referred to churches. So, as a surface-level answer to the question, it certainly seems reasonable to say that yes, the campaign has generated interest. If the goal was to get people to one of those two action points—signing up for the Bible reading plan and/or asking for a church referral—then marketers have achieved at least some success. (Whether the numbers justify the money spent is a different question that I’m not evaluating here.)

Continue reading

A few months ago, my husband and I attended a pro-life fundraising event where my podcast guest today, Seth Gruber, was the host and speaker. I knew of Seth by name before that but hadn’t seen much of his work. Well, he blew me away that night with his boldness in the pursuit of waking people up to the reality of what’s going on in America today, particularly with respect to abortion. I knew I had to get him on my podcast to share his passion, knowledge, and experience on this topic.

In today’s episode of The Natasha Crain Podcast, Seth and I talk about the state of the pro-life movement post-Roe, the history of evil that led to where we are today with the killing of the preborn, the softness of today’s church on cultural issues, and much more. You are not going to want to miss this conversation!

To listen, search for The Natasha Crain Podcast on your podcast player, and be sure to subscribe! If you don’t have a player because you don’t normally listen to podcasts, you can always listen to my episodes in your browser here.

I also have two other announcements to share:

First, the Unshaken Faith Podcast I host with Alisa Childers resumed today! We went on a break in November due to both of us having our hands full with book and other projects, but we are back today for a new season. Our first episode of 2024 is called, “All About the #Exvangelical Hashtag.” This hashtag has been used millions of times on TikTok and Twitter/X, usually hand-in-hand with a deconstruction story. Today, we explain the history of it, who is using it, and why it matters. You can search for the Unshaken Faith Podcast in your podcast player, or listen to episodes in your browser here.

Second, we recently announced our next two Unshaken Conference dates (a conference series Alisa and I are doing with Frank Turek, in which we equip and encourage you to stand firm on the truth of Jesus in this chaotic culture). We did 4 dates in 2023, but thanks to the great turnouts we had, we decided to extend the series for four more dates in new locations for 2024. Our next date will be March 9 at Metro City Church in Taylor, MI, which is just outside Detroit. And the following date will be May 18 at Christ Church at Grove Farm in the Pittsburgh area. Tickets are on sale NOW, including a limited number of early bird discount tickets. For more information and to get your tickets, go to unshakenconference.com!

SHOW NOTES FOR TODAY’S EPISODE WITH SETH:

Continue reading

In this part 2 of my podcast on public schools, my guest Andy White (who has been a public school principal for 19 years) explains seven things Christian parents can and should be doing to know what’s going on in their child’s school and classroom. In the second hour, Andy answers a dozen of the many questions listeners submitted on my Facebook page, including the following:

• My friends that have their children in public school, especially charter schools, all seem to think “[their] school is different.“ How many of them actually are?
• The current trend for Christians is “pull your kid out of government schools at all cost.” But some families still feel God has work for them in public education. How do you respond when Christians critique that decision as “forcing the burden of being salt and light” on their children?
• How do you suggest parents deal with actual violence their kids are encountering at school?
• Do you genuinely believe parents without degrees in education can provide a quality education for their children that will help them accomplish what they want to do in life and what God may be calling them to do? (I’m currently homeschooling my 5yo and sometimes feel like I can’t possibly be the best option with my lack of knowledge about teaching skills, tactics, methods…)
• How do you recommend parents address their concerns when the school is resisting listening? There has to be a more biblical way to speak up at board meetings for example, without yelling/screaming, but still being taken seriously and not dismissed out of hand.
• Much of public education these day is focused on students regurgitating the woke narrative in their written assignments. How can Christian students respond with truth in their assignments without being graded down for not regurgitating the party line?
• What recourse does a Christian parent have when their child is placed in a class with an openly transgender or self-proclaimed social activist teacher?
• To what degree do you think critical race theory has seeped into our schools?
• Are Christian teachers able to somehow avoid government standards without penalty? (For instance, refusing to address sex ed topics, not using preferred pronouns, and not affirming gender fluidity)
• What’s an important way those of us that homeschool can/should be supporting our local public schools?
• What encouragement do you have for those parents whose kids will be staying in public schools for one reason or another, but wish they weren’t?

To listen, search for The Natasha Crain Podcast on your podcast player, and be sure to subscribe! If you don’t have a player because you don’t normally listen to podcasts, you can always listen to my episodes in your browser here.

If you missed part 1 of this episode, you can find the information on it here. (Definitely listen to part 1 before part 2, as it frames everything we talk about in this episode!)

Also, on a quick side note, the ebook version of my book Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture is on sale THROUGH TODAY for just $1.99! That’s a high value Christmas gift! 🙂

MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

Continue reading