Abortion: Who does God love more?

My podcast launched on May 3rd. It’s been a long time coming! My cancer ordeal last year forced me to put some things on the back burner. The podcast was one of them. God used the opportunity to slow me down and allow me to think through the issues of our day more deeply and strategically. I’m convinced God IS the issue in EVERY issue and that we must shrewdly and strategically bring Him back into the national conversation if there is to be any hope for our future as a country.

This week I address the issue of abortion from a slightly different angle. Before you listen to it I want you know why I'm doing a podcast in the first place. There are a lot of podcasts out there. Why am I wading into a very full pool?

The church in America today generally communicates with the culture in one of two ways. Either we preach the gospel without regard to the cultural and personal context, or we simply react defensively to the symptomatic cultural ills. Therefore, God often comes across as largely irrelevant to the everyday life of the average American. Consequently, the culture ends up regarding us, along with God, as out of touch or, even worse, dangerous. In light of this, if the Bible is true and God really exists, we must conclude we have failed to effectively communicate God to our culture. Our hope is that through this podcast we can help teach believers to use the symptomatic felt issues within our culture as springboards to address what underlies the cultural mindset in which we live and breathe—our view of God. What we believe to be true about God will determine how we live and relate to those around us .

This podcast was created specifically for the listener who ardently desires to bring about wholesale change within the American cultural mindset. It is designed with the listener who wishes to help frame the message that could ultimately allow us to win the war, not just individual battles. It is designed for the listener who wants to put the cornerstone, God himself, back into his proper place as the foundation upon which the American social and moral experience can be erected once again. It’s time to return to the basics, but in a relevant and understandable manner.

We will only win the war for the soul of America by making God the central issue within the culture. There is no longer any other way to win.

Our hope is that this weekly podcast conversation will help us to frame the “God” issue in a way that our fellow Americans can more readily understand and accept. We trust that our conversation will help us to collectively recapture the soul of America so we may become the nation that is a shining light on a hill. That was the dream of our forefathers, and it is our dream as well. Our prayer is that we may understand our times and know what to do.

Please tune in to the “God is the Issue” podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more. Title: God is the Issue Podcast with Brad Bright. If you find it helpful, please share it with your friends.

The episode this week is: Abortion: Who does God love more?

The “Is it a Child or is it a Fetus?” debate is over. Even Whoopi Goldberg and Joe Biden recently referred to the fetus as a “child.” When an abortion is performed, a child dies. It is settled science. Therefore, the question we must answer is: Who does God love more, the mother or her unborn child? I discuss the current Supreme Court decision and how to make GOD the issue across the abortion divide.

If you subscribe to the podcast you can receive a FREE Kindle or ebook download of my newest edition of GOD is the Issue. I have updated this third edition and added a chapter. Simply subscribe to my podcast on your favorite platform and then fill out the form on BrightMedia.org to receive the code for a Free download for your Kindle or other eBook device.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like me to address on the podcast please let me know!

©2022 Brad Bright, All Rights Reserved

Putin is a hero, if...

Vladimir Putin is a hero, if….

Win or lose, Vlad is the poster boy for Darwin’s “natural selection.” In a world birthed and incubated in the nurturing ooze of “survival of the fittest,” Putin epitomizes evolutionary virtue. The struggle for power helps guarantee that the strong survive, while the weak die and exit the gene pool. In this manner humanity continues its ever-evolving upward journey. That’s good, isn’t it? We want humanity to continue evolving, don’t we? Weren’t we taught in school that “survival of the fittest” is the way of the universe?

But here is the HUGE dilemma for most thinking people who sincerely care about others. How do you begin with Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” and end with Jesus’ “Love your neighbor?”

Parenthetically, I’ve heard some folks try to wiggle their way out of this corner by responding, “Darwin did not coin the term ‘survival of the fittest.’” They are correct—albeit at bit insincere. In the 5th edition of On the Origin of Species, Darwin admitted it was a better description of his theory than his original term, “natural selection.” Now, let’s get back to the dilemma at hand.

Some people claim that morality evolved just like we did. That’s great! How? What is it about “survival of the fittest” that now obligates me to love my neighbor when it did not before? What in the universe obligates me to be kind if I am powerful? What within the violent cosmos obligates me to now play nice? I’ve been asking that question for 25 years. The best answer I have heard apart from “God,” is, “Absolutes are self-evident.” I agree, but it still utterly fails to explain the “why” of moral obligation.

Believing morality evolved is nice, and it may therefore make it “true for you,” but it does not obligate anyone else to agree. And that’s the real problem, isn’t it? When you sincerely believe in the platitude, “Be Kind,” but Putin believes in “survival of the fittest,” real people suffer. Real people die. And you have no way to convince Putin, nor any of his ideological fellow travelers, that they have done anything wrong. All you can do is yell louder, pound the table, or get a bigger stick.

Obligation must be rooted in something deeper than your feelings, or my feelings. In Darwin’s world of “survival of the fittest,” when your feelings and my feelings come into conflict, all that is left is a spitting match. No one is really right. No one is really wrong. In the words of Don Henley, “There is no wrong; there is no right…. Just people selling t-shirts.” You can believe whatever you want, but in a Darwinian universe, be sure to keep one eye in the rear-view mirror.

According to “survival of the fittest,” where the strong survive and the weak die, Putin is a hero. He personifies the very essence of Darwinism. It is only in a cosmos where divine Providence reigns that Putin’s lust for power makes him a bloody monster. Only in a world created by God do Jesus’ words “Love your neighbor,” assume the mantle of moral obligation.

©2022 Brad Bright

Who Was Bill Bright Really?

Happy 100th Birthday, Dad! October 19, 1921

I wonder if there are birthday parties in heaven?

Today we celebrate my dad’s 100th birthday. He’s no longer with us, of course, but I imagine he and my mother might be enjoying a few chilled slices of watermelon today as they reminisce on his first 100 years.

My daughter, Noël, drew the portrait you see above. He did really have a watermelon “cake” on his 80thbirthday! Our kids were disappointed it wasn’t a real cake, but dad was delighted! Today he celebrates his 100th birthday in heaven with His beloved Savior, my mom, and my brother. If they have a party, I imagine the guests include some of the millions of people who are in heaven because Bill Bright was faithful to take the Gospel to the world—men and women of every age, race, and nationality. Some were rich, many were poor. On earth, my dad spent his life blood to help everyone know the God Who had captured his heart. Wow, what a party they must be having! But how did it start?

My dad, Bill Bright, grew up on a ranch in rural Oklahoma. Like his agnostic father and grandfather before him, he did not see God as relevant to his life. The only thing that mattered was money and success. Drawn to Hollywood as an ambitious, young materialist, he routinely worked 100-hour weeks, growing his businesses through dogged determination. However, one day, a leading businessman whom he greatly admired said something that startled him: “Making money is great, but the most important thing in my life is Jesus Christ.” Intrigued, my dad started studying the life of Jesus. A few months later, convinced Jesus was who He claimed to be, he became His ardent follower.

Over the next 50 years, my dad’s resume grew into a testament of what God can do through one person who commits to following Jesus, holding nothing back. In 1951 at UCLA, he launched Campus Crusade for Christ, which became the largest missionary organization in the 20th century (27,000 full-time staff, 250,000 trained volunteers in every country on earth). He wrote The Four Spiritual Laws, an evangelistic booklet with over two billion copies in print worldwide. He was the impetus behind the creation of the JESUS film, which has been translated into over 1,800 languages and viewed by an estimated three billion people in every nation around the globe. The Guinness Book of World Records says it is the most translated film in history.

What most people do not know about this man I called “Dad,” is what occurred behind the scenes revealing his character, humility, integrity and compassion. Although he traveled 80 percent of the time for 40 years, he almost always flew economy as a faithful steward of God’s money. For his last 50 years he never owned the home he lived in. He was faithful to my mother to the end. He gave away all his retirement savings to help tell the Russian people about Jesus. He won the one-million-dollar Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion and gave it all away 30 minutes later. For years he quietly fasted one day each week, giving away the money he saved from fasting to help feed the poor. He completed a 40-day fast each year for the last nine years of his life. He never retired despite cancer, diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, which made breathing a daily chore. His love for the lost compelled him to the end.

In 2003 he died at the age of 81, losing his four-year battle with lung disease. In his final days, when I would ask him how he was feeling, he always joyfully responded, “I’m rejoicing in the Lord!”

My dad’s real genius was not found in his myriad accomplishments, character, or tenacity. What set him apart was his expansive view of God. He passionately served the living, all-powerful, majestic, loving God. It is what enabled him not just to talk about Jesus, but to model what it looks like to be a true follower of Jesus—to the very day he shed this earthly life, breathing in the celestial air. His self-chosen epitaph on his grave best sums up his life: “A Slave of Jesus by Choice.”

Dad knew God and trusted God. It’s as simple as that. Everything he did in life flowed from that foundation. His example inspires me every day. I want to know God the way he did.

Imagine how your life might change over the next 10 years if you made knowing God your top priority—every day. As your view of God grows, you will inevitably change in response. That was Bill Bright’s secret. It can be yours too.

Happy 100th birthday dad!

Much love,

Brad

P.S. See you soon! And, oh, one other thing…save some watermelon for me!

Copyright © 2021 Brad Bright