the Proclaim & Defend Podcast

The battles over the fundamentals of the faith that ravaged every major ecclesiastical body in the 1920s are repeated in the 2020s but over different issues.  It’s not like those old issues don’t exist—they do.  However, we are facing new problems that are as pertinent to Orthodox Christianity as the fundamentals were one hundred years ago. The issues center on human sexuality. A new worldwide Met...

Today, we present the final preaching session from our 2024 annual meeting held at Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado. The theme for our meeting was "Called to Summit" and each speaker gave a message related to one of the mountains mentioned in the New Testament. Today's message comes from our host pastor, Will Senn , who gave us a message on Mount of Olives which reminded us of th...

I was driving down the highway recently and I saw a decorated vehicle in the distance in front of me. It had white streamers taped all over it, cans dragging on strings behind, and painted boldly in the back window were the words, “Just Baptized.”  It made me smile. For more than a year now, various religious groups in the US and worldwide have been proclaiming a revival with hundreds of thousands...

We are interviewing the authors of our July/August edition of FrontLine magazine. The theme of that issue was "God, the Christian, and Human Government." A few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down with my friend Gordon Dickson, who wrote an article called, "Heaven’s Citizens Under Human Government" In this article, Gordon talks about the place of government in human society and the biblical pers...

Today, I am happy to present another of the preaching sessions from our 2024 annual meeting held at Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado. I am once again publishing this on Wednesday as a bonus episode. Saturday we will give you one of our FrontLine interviews from the current issue. The theme for our meeting was "Called to Summit" and each speaker gave a message related to one of th...

[ Editor's note: The image above is AI generated, but the Pope did say that all religions lead to God.] There has been a continuing movement to erase the divisions created by Martin Luther and the other Reformers. From the Evangelicals and Catholics Together statement in 1994 to the recent departure of J. D. Vance from evangelicalism to Catholicism, there is a growing and rather high-profile movem...

Today, I am happy to present another of the preaching sessions from our 2024 annual meeting held at Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado. The theme for our meeting was "Called to Summit" and each speaker gave a message related to one of the mountains mentioned in the New Testament. Today's message comes from Pastor Caleb Phelps gave us a message on The Mountains of the Gadarenes , wh...

The Surgeon General recently released a mental health advisory regarding social media. One website reviewed the advisory, entitled  "Is Social Media Driving Young People Crazy? "  Knowing how to respond as a Christian to such an advisory is difficult because so many competing factors are involved. There is no doubt that social media is causing a mental health crisis—which is just another way of sa...

Our subject for the podcast is the July/August edition of FrontLine Magazine, on the subject: God, the Christian, and Human Government. In this political season, this issue of the magazine addresses many questions about the Christian relationship to government. All the articles were very thought-provoking to me. Michael Sproul is the pastor of Littleton Baptist Church in Littleton, Colorado, but h...

On August 21, 2024, Tom Raabe published an article on the American Spectator website entitled, How a Church Fought Back Against a Liberal Takeover—And Won . In his article, he tells the story of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church and its battle with theological liberalism within the denomination. The story reminded me that every generation of church leaders must fight such battles for theological...

Our subject for the podcast is the July/August edition of FrontLine Magazine, on the subject: God, the Christian, and Human Government. In this political season, this issue of the magazine addresses many questions about the Christian relationship to government. All the articles were very thought-provoking to me. I've interviewed several of the authors, still trying to get a few more interviews don...

Today, I am happy to present another of the preaching sessions from our 2024 annual meeting held at Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado. I am publishing this on Wednesday, as a bonus episode. Saturday we will give you one of our FrontLine interviews from the current issue. The theme for our meeting was "Called to Summit" and each speaker gave a message related to one of the mountain...

Which of these election issues is more important to a believer? For the past 50 years, many Christians focused their political choices on one issue—abortion. It is not hard to see why. Killing the unborn matters to God. Governments are supposed to protect the weak and murder—abortion—matters to the Almighty. It is not only great cruelty but is an insult to Almighty God, to whom all human life ulti...

Welcome to the Proclaim & Defend podcast. I'm Don Johnson. Today, I am happy to present one of the preaching sessions from our 2024 annual meeting held at Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado. Our theme was "Called to Summit" and each speaker gave a message related to one of the mountains mentioned in the New Testament. Today's message comes from Pastor S tephen Van Gelderen , who pr...

This is the religious identity she claims according to the Deseret News . Throughout her political career, Harris has also drawn strength and inspiration from the Baptist tradition, which is one of the many Christian denominations that comprise Protestant Christianity. She was introduced to the Baptist Church by her father, Donald Harris, and still identifies as a Baptist today, as the Deseret New...

I'm working on interviews for the most recent installment of FrontLine. I had a great conversation with one of our authors today that will come out in a few weeks. I know you will enjoy it. Today, I am happy to present one of the preaching sessions from our annual meeting held at Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado. Our theme was "Called to Summit" and each speaker gave a message re...

He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him. Proverbs 18:13 Now that the 2024 Paris Olympics are over--and I have taken some time--I am willing to comment. Years ago I was a founding member of another blog site—when online blog sites were something somewhat new. I remember being pushed as a leader in the FBFI to respond immediately to events happening in the world. His...

While we await the next installment of FrontLine , I am happy to present the preaching sessions from our annual meeting held at Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Westminster, Colorado. Our theme was "Called to Summit" and each speaker gave a message related to one of the mountains mentioned in the New Testament. The meeting opened on Monday, June 10, with a bilingual service. Our speaker was Dr. Bruce...

The boldness of the anti-God contingent around the world has been withering over the last five years. While it rose in the final two years of Trump’s presidency, it boiled over in the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020 and then with the election for Joe Biden that fall. It all goes together. You cannot separate Woke ideology from anti-Christian ideology. You CAN separate racist ideology from...

Our recent edition of FrontLine is called, "A Future for Israel." This is a topic that is part of the core ideas of the FBFI, we are glad to be known as dispensationalists. Our interview today is with Dan Brown, a senior professor and the chairman of the Practical Theology department at Faith Baptist Theological Seminary. His article is called, "Why the Promises to Israel Matter Today." Of course,...

Last night, I sat with some GenZ college students and talked about the history of fundamentalism. We talked for two and a half hours. I tried to answer every question and be as candid as possible about the strengths and weaknesses of biblical Baptist fundamentalism over the past 100 years. The conversation is typical of others that I have had lately. I came away with some observations I would like...

Our recent edition of FrontLine is called, "A Future for Israel." This is a topic that is part of the core ideas of the FBFI, we are glad to be known as dispensationalists. Our interview today is with Dr. Doug Brown of Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary. We had Doug on last year talking about another article he wrote and it was good to catch up with him again, although this time...

The recent display at the Paris Olympics stirred up a lot of controversy. Conservative sites are outraged (see here and here ), liberal sites are bemused and the event’s creator is defensive . At least some on the Paris organizing committee are feeling the heat, since they offered a “ non-apology apology .” The event reminded me of 1 Jn 3.13: “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you....

We are discussing articles from the May/June 2024 FrontLine edition called, "A Future for Israel." This theme is a welcome one to us and our writers have addressed the topic in a variety of ways. I recently sat down with Keith Kobelia, a professor at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary which is in Ankeny, Iowa. Keith's article is called, "Ezekiel 37:15–28 and Elements of God’s Fut...

"A Few Inches from Civil War" is how one commentator described the attempt on Donald Trump’s life on Saturday. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’ Isaiah 45:7 I am sure many of you have gone through the “what if” scenario in your mind. But the what-ifs are hard to imagine. A few inches different and the Republican National Conv...