Everyday Conversations Podcast

The 2020 COVID pandemic proved to be a watershed for the entire world. Suddenly, it has become much harder to dismiss fears that a worldwide anti-Christian totalitarianism lurks just over the horizon, and western Christians have new questions. How, for instance, are we to respond to government shutdowns of churches, or  live as Christians in a digitized world where governments can follow your ever...

Doug Wilson has never written an inconsequential book, and Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World, is no exception. As FBB writer Shafer Parker blogs through Wilson's book, he comes this week to Chapter 6, in which Wilson argues that any hope of saving the world depends on Christian parents giving their children a truly Christian education. The challenge for today...

Christians often look back with longing to a time when their faith was truly influential, shaping the laws of nations and guiding societal decisions. But those days are long gone and Idaho pastor/author Doug Wilson (Gashmu Saith It) warns they are not coming back---unless Christians relearn the value of forming Christian communities for hospitality and service within the larger community of man. A...

It should surprise no one that unbelievers proudly boast of perversions and habitual sins that in the past would have embarrassed the most decadent. And some of our readers may be old enough to remember when "shameless" was one of the worst criticisms you could aim at someone. This decline in public life is bad enough, but in her most recent blog FBB Executive Director Julie Lane points out that s...

This is our fifth installment of "Blogging Gashmu," a chapter-by-chapter look at Pastor Doug Wilson's book Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World. In it Pastor Wilson argues that before we can "save the world" we must first be certain the church is truly a Christian Community. And there's the rub. As Wilson explains in chapter 4, the problem is that Christians want...

To the great relief of most, it's been a year since COVID was tacitly, if not officially, acknowledged to be over. But amidst signs that government authorities are anticipating another crisis, FBB board member Murray Lytle offers a very personal blog mourning the divisions that afflicted the people of God last time and pleading for serious thought on how to avoid even worse divisions in the future...

Most followers of Jesus give lip service, at least, to the need to "preach the gospel to every creature." But in the last decade many have awakened to the reality that if Christians don't do something, much could be lost--maybe forever. But what to do, was never quite clear, until, that is, when Idaho pastor Doug Wilson wrote his book Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save t...

Approximately a year ago, on June 21, 2022, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ("Dobbs" for short) that restored to the 50 states their constitutional right to determine their own abortion laws. In this podcast Faith Beyond Belief host Shafer Parker interviews Gabrielle Johnson, executive director of the Alberta Life Issues...

Christians instinctively realize that we have failed to maintain the "Faith" in the West. But for most of us, how to address this state of affairs remains a mystery. Read part three of FBB writer Shafer Parker's blog of Doug Wilson's book "Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World." Discover how Wilson challenges us to examine ourselves and to find out if we are willi...

Many observers are aware that something is wrong with the modern church, especially when compared to previous centuries. Unlike previous centuries, it lacks the power to impact society in any specifically Christian way, it wins few souls to Christ, it cannot hold its members' children, and the members it does hold are increasingly like the rest of the world in practice, if not in belief. Worst of...

No serious Christian can look at the state of today's western culture without being deeply concerned. But asking, "What can I do?" is as far as most Christians ever go. Now comes American Pastor Douglas Wilson, who in his book Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the Word, tells us what can be done, and what, under God, must be done. Follow along with FBB writer Shafer Par...

If you are a committed Christian you are likely very concerned about the direction of Canada's overall societal trends. But what to do is the question. To speak to this issue FBB writer Shafer Parker has taken on the task of blogging his way through Doug Wilson's book, Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World. Wilson is easily one of the most thoughtful and helpful C...

Canada's governments are diligently coercing doctors and nurses, not to mention family members in the cause of euthanizing as many Canadians as possible, even to the point of making an exception in the Criminal Code for professionals who serve the cause of death. Bottom line, if you are old, or chronically ill, and you go to a hospital, there will be a coordinated effort to pressure you to accept...

Christians wonder why the church has lost its power and authority, but FBB writer Ian McKerracher knows the answer. Within the church too many shepherds have abandoned their calling, and sadly, the sheep are happy enough to leave things as they are. Read to find out just what this abandonment looks like, and what changes would bring about a return of spiritual power and authority.

By now most churchgoers are accustomed to "woke" statements and behaviours coming from traditionally "liberal" churches. It is no longer shocking, for instance, to see a United Church flying rainbow flags and hosting so-called pride month events. But surprisingly, some of Canada's most conservative denominations are beginning to move in the same direction. Listen and watch as FBB host Shafer Parke...

Recent news-media emphasis on UFO activities seems designed to scare the public into embracing yet more government control. But FBB writer Shafer Parker suggests Bible-based Christians have no reason to fear aliens. They don't exist and they aren't coming. Instead, Christians should teach the world to let the fear of coming judgment drive them to faith in God's Son.

The loss of hope for a better future often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. This, as much as anything else, underlies much of the destruction and decline that afflicts western society. The question, then, is how to restore hope. FBB writer Shafer Parker suggests the answer is surprisingly simple. Since the loss of hope started with the Christians, the restoration of hope must begin there also....

C. S. Lewis once wrote, "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them." Lewis was right, but in this week's blog, FBB writer Shafer Parker suggests that Christians have been so afraid of sliding into an "unhealthy interest" toward Satan...

Perhaps the first takeaway from a recent Angus Reid survey of Canadian attitudes toward the Bible is the discovery that it is hardly read by anyone but Evangelicals. But FBB writer Shafer Parker reveals that the underlying reason for such apathy may lie in the decades-long campaign to persuade even Evangelicals that the Bible should no longer be used to "give direction" for society and institution...

Canadians may assume that all good people are the same, no matter what their religion. But with the rise of Republican presidential aspirant and first generation American Vivek Ramaswamy, FBB writer Shafer Parker reminds us that a religion comes with a specific worldview, and that the difference in worldviews will change, not just the definition of right and wrong, but often even the relative impo...

To the wonder of observers, the UN released a report in April recommending a return to meat, eggs, and dairy for growing children and nursing mothers in developing nations. In reporting this new direction, FBB writer Shafer Parker notes that, as in all things, common sense and God's Word have been in agreement from ancient times. He welcomes this new recognition that in the prevailing conditions o...

For the past 100 years Christian leaders have puzzled over why in the West the church has steadily lost ground. There are many reasons, perhaps, but FBB writer Shafer Parker argues that one big reason is the lack of emphasis on revival. He adds that another hindrance can be found in the unbelief that goes by the name progressive Christianity.

The world is quick to use words like spiritual, mystical and supernatural, but FBB writer Ian McKerracher shows that these words, while proper to Christian faith and practice, have very different meanings when used by unbelievers. It is important to know how those words are used outside the faith in order to make our gospel presentations clear.

Progressives have long argued that Christians only oppose LGBTQ behaviour because they misinterpret Scripture. But FBB writer Shafer Parker, demonstrates that after 30 years of failure to convincingly make the Bible say what it does not say, progressives have given up. Now they tell Christians the Bible is useless and ought to be cast aside. Thus the challenge. Will Christians stand with Jesus and...

Most people see organ transplantation as an unmitigated good, a way to extend one person's life by using organs from the recently dead, people who will never again need them. But, as Shafer Parker makes clear in his new blog, "The Snatchers Are Coming for You," this is, at best, an inaccurate presentation, and at worst, a lie. In fact, he suggests, widespread organ transplantation has possibly end...