Removing Barriers

Episode 90 The ladies of the View have struck again. Sunny Hostin dismissed a guest on the View, declaring that Black and Latino Republicans are an oxymoron and that she doesn't understand them. We can be certain that millions of Americans share both her attitude and sentiment, so it is good to unpack it and hold it up against scripture. What, if anything, is so hard to understand about black repu...

Episode 89 What does it mean to share the gospel? What exactly are we doing each time we proclaim the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ?  In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we weigh in on Babylon Bee's interview with Elon Musk, the world's foremost engineer and business magnate. In it, the Bee made a controversial gospel presentation to Musk, and the reaction to his ans...

Episode 88 When Brandon Brown won his race in fall of 2021, he couldn't have known that his victory interview would become an international phenomenon used in the culture war to express disapproval of the media and disdain for the president of the United States. The minced oath has even made its way up to the White House. While Christians may share an antagonistic relationship with the current adm...

Episode 87 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 25 This week, we continue the How Were Your Barriers Removed series in an interview with recurring guest MD. Traditionally in this series, we focus on the barriers people have regarding salvation, but there are also barriers after salvation that can keep us from seeing the cross clearly in all areas of our lives. MD was born into a Christian hous...

Episode 86 Back in January of 2022, Whoopi Goldberg declared on the View that the Holocaust was not about race, but instead a case of white-on-white brutality showcasing the evil that man is capable of toward his fellow man. She received significant criticism for it, with sentiments ranging from horrified indignation to merciful understanding of what she was actually trying to say. But what, exact...

Episode 85 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 24 This interview was conducted before allegations and confirmations were made public that Micah Wilder and Lila LeBaron were living sinful lives incompatible with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. With prayerful consideration, we have decided to leave these interviews as they were initially published, not because we approve, justify, or encou...

Episode 84 Consider these startling findings by Ligonier Ministries' biannual State of Theology survey of professing Christians: 54% agree that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth. 65% agree that everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. Only 25% agree that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation. These findings may provide s...

Episode 83 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 23 When God reached down from heaven to remove barriers and save Edward Thal's soul, no one realized the extent to which that God was setting in motion a series of dominoes that would greatly benefit so many people around the world, both saved and unsaved. Edward Thal was a very successful business man in South Africa where he was born and raised...

Episode 82 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 22 In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we interview the mother of Micah Wilder, Dr. Lynn Wilder. Micah Wilder is a former Mormon missionary who came to faith in Christ after hearing the gospel from a Baptist pastor he was trying to convert to Mormonism. (Listen to Micah's testimony: https://removingbarriers.net/rbp_68/ ). After comi...

Episode 81 In the summer of 2021, the world witnessed the unmitigated disaster of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Like unwilling witnesses to a train wreck in progress, we were unable to look away as the nightmare unfolded. Desperate civilians clinging to departing planes fell to their deaths. Babies were handed to troops across barbed wire. The Taliban acquired abandoned military equipment...

Episode 80  Series: On the Mission Field - 6 Uruguay is a vibrant country in South America of nearly 3.5 million souls. Though different ethnicities exist, the people there are mostly homogenous in culture, language, and in a general disposition of agnosticism (though 57% report to be Christian). It is ripe for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in this episode of the Removing...

Episode 79 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 21 Many Christians have been gracious with their time and have come onto the Removing Barriers podcast to testify of what lengths Jesus went to in order to find and save them. Some were saved in childhood while others were saved well into their adulthood. In this latest episode in the How Were Your Barriers Removed series, we encounter Claudia's...

Episode 78 Series: What Do You Believe - 2 Twenty-four percent of all the people living in the world identify as Muslim and some sources identify Islam as the fastest growing religion in the world. The range of beliefs within Islam extend from Islamism to secularism, with adherents falling anywhere in between. In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we sit down with Leopold, whose extens...

Episode 77 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 20 In this latest installment of the How Were Your Barriers Removed series, we interview Leopold, a Senegalese man with an incredible testimony of how God saved him from nominal Catholicism and a life aimed at fulfilling his own desires and goals. How did God break through the doctrinal strongholds in his life that are often present in the lives...

Episode 76 On this latest installment of the On the Mission Field series of the Removing Barriers Podcast, we go to Dearborn, MI and talk to pastor Josh Levesque. Dearborn is known as the Islamic capital of the United States, with more Muslims per capita than any other city in the country. While this presents some challenges to evangelism that other missionaries may not face, it also creates uniqu...

Episode 75   The "Defund the Police" movement was not new when the circumstances surrounding George Floyd's death set it ablaze and transformed it into national sentiment. Definitions range from reallocating police funds to other social services to abolishment of the police altogether. The slogan evokes strong reactions from both sides of the aisle and has had tangible effects on society; whe...

Episode 74 Though in use since the 1940s, the term "woke" has become a very popular and common term to describe someone who is 'awake' to the systemic injustices perceived in institutional, political, societal, or cultural structures and seeks to actively combat them. In our day, it is describing someone who more often than not aligns with the moral and political ideologies of the left. Jesus, man...

Episode 73 The murder of Ahmaud Arbery in February of 2020 sent shockwaves throughout the country and galvanized the cries of  activist groups and race baiters alike. At the end of the confrontation, a black man was dead and three white men claimed self defense while attempting to conduct a citizen's arrest. This has brought the question of citizen's arrest into the spotlight. What is it, who...

Episode 72 On this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we are off to the mission field to hear from Missionary J. Loveday, missionary to Spain. Regarding a country with as rich a history as Spain's, it will be exciting to hear about the people, culture, and religions that shape the spiritual landscape that he serves in every day. Though perhaps Catholicism comes to mind when we think of the...

Episode 71 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 19 In this next installment of the How Were Your Barriers Removed? series of the Removing Barriers podcast, we sit down with Judy and hear how God removed barriers to save her soul. Judy grew up in a Mennonite home and by all worldly accounts had no reason to fear the wrath of God that is sure to come. But God in his mercy made it clear that she...

Episode 70 A growing number of Americans are expressing anti-America sentiment, most recently in declaring the national anthem racist. The anthem, they say, contains references to the slave and was written by a slaveholder and is therefore fundamentally racist. Is any of this true? What is the history of the anthem and its author? What of the reference to the slave? Should we continue to sing the...

Episode 69 Any conversation about the trustworthiness of the Bible will inevitably include questions regarding authorship, errors, preservation, and the plethora of Bible versions available. These are important questions, especially since the Bible makes exclusive and very heavy claims that are of consequence to all people. So how can we know if the Bible can be trusted? Do we even have it in its...

Episode 68 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 18 This interview was conducted before allegations and confirmations were made public that Micah Wilder and Lila LeBaron were living sinful lives incompatible with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. With prayerful consideration, we have decided to leave these interviews as they were initially published, not because we approve, justify, or encou...

Episode 67 The COVID-19 pandemic has left a litany of casualties in its wake in every sector of society: personal, professional, economic, academic, social, and medical. In response, many governments have issued vaccination mandates, requiring the vaccine for reentry into participation in most aspects of communal life. Many have complied, and many are outraged. In this episode of the Removing Barr...

Episode 66 Series: How Were Your Barriers Removed - 17 The grace of the Lord Jesus extends to all the ends of the Earth. Even those entrenched in other religions can hear the gospel and be saved. This is what happened to Mary, a former Catholic who heard the gospel of Christ and was saved from empty works and ritual to knowing the one true God. Join us on this episode of the Removing Barriers podc...