What does the book of Daniel teach Christians about elections and political uncertainty? Discover how God's sovereignty over kings and nations, His power to humble rulers, and His faithfulness to His people offer lasting hope beyond election results.
“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men.” Thus Benjamin Franklin exhorted the Constitutional Convention to prayer on June 28, 1787. Franklin was no born-again Christian, but even this man of the Enlightenment could recognize from experience the truth that Scripture proclaims from every page. In a chaotic election season, let Christians cling to this truth, lest an unbeliever show more faith in God’s power than we do.
The book of Daniel bears particular relevance to the current situation. It opens with God’s people in Judah sustaining a devastating political defeat. King Jehoiachin surrendered to the besieging Babylonian army, and Judah’s best and brightest were taken away into slavery and exile (2 Kings 24:10-16; Daniel 1:1-3).
Some exiles hoped for speedy deliverance, but soon Jeremiah wrote to inform the exiles that they would remain in Babylon for 70 years, “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. … seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:4-7).
Such a devastating message met with skepticism and doubt. “Really, God? Your people should seek the welfare of their enemies? You have placed us as an oppressed minority in a nation that defies your word! Worse yet, they ridicule your name when they gloat in triumph over us!”
The book of Daniel counters both the doubt of Israel and the gloating of their captors by showing beyond any doubt that the God of Israel is the sovereign ruler of history, and no one can thwart his purposes. The book proves its case with three arguments: God knows the future, God humbles the pride of human rulers, and God saves his people.
First, God knows the future. The book of Daniel is known for its apocalyptic visions, especially its detailed predictions of history through the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek empires (Daniel 8-11), and the strange, fourth beast in Daniel 7. This beast “shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).
Why would God allow such a blasphemous ruler to “wear out the saints”? As Abraham Lincoln would say, “The Almighty has His own purposes.”
What we can know is the reason why God foretold these events to a prophet: so that God’s people would not become discouraged by bleak circumstances. After the beast rules, Daniel is told, “the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end” (Daniel 7:26). “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (Daniel 7:18). Sinful human governments have their moment, but God and his people will triumph forever.
In fact, God’s plan for the future is so secure that he can “call his shots” ahead of time, alerting hostile rulers to his future plans, as if daring them to stop him. Thus, God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a vision of “what will be in the latter days” (Daniel 2:28), which none of his advisors could interpret. Daniel interpreted the statue of different metals as different kingdoms of dwindling glory, going all the way down until the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed,” which “shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).
Nebuchadnezzar admitted that Daniel’s God was “God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries” (Daniel 2:47), but then he turned around and built an image of solid gold (Daniel 3:1), as if defying the vision. But Nebuchadnezzar died, and his empire perished. And God has built a kingdom under the lordship of Jesus Christ that will never pass away.
It’s almost impossible to imagine such a revelation injected into American discourse today. Suppose that someone claimed: America will fall, China will fall, Russia will fall; the mightiest powers will all pass away, but the church of Jesus Christ will reign triumphant. Now suppose that God mystically revealed this to the most anti-Christian officials of our day, as if daring them: go ahead; try and stop me. Our God is the only one who “changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Daniel 2:21).
Second, God humbles the pride of human rulers. As if the previous revelations were not enough, God gave Nebuchadnezzar another vision with a more personal warning: he would suffer seven years of madness and live like an animal (Daniel 4:13-16).
When Daniel provided the interpretation yet again, he exhorted his master, “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27). But Nebuchadnezzar did not heed the warning, and so the judgment came just as God had foretold — God was once again “calling his shots” (Daniel 4:31).
Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity only returned when he “blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever.” The king finally realized that “his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ … All his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Daniel 4:34-37).
God taught a similar but more severe lesson to Nebuchadnezzar’s son (or grandson) Belshazzar. Despite knowing the history of chapter 4, Belshazzar drunkenly mocked the God of Israel (Daniel 5:2), a disembodied hand wrote a message of doom on the palace wall (Daniel 5:5), and the king was killed that very night (Daniel 5:30). God is still undefeated in every contest against a king who challenged him.
Third, God saves his people. Even when his people are up against the wall — nay, especially then — God loves to demonstrate his saving power. When Daniel’s three friends refuse to worship the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, they survive a trip through the fiery furnace that scorched their captors without so much as the smell of smoke (Daniel 3:26-27). How is that possible? Only with God. When Daniel disobeyed an edict to pray to God, he survived a night in a den of hungry lions without so much as a scratch (Daniel 6:22).
Again, this is only possible through divine intervention. And it prompted King Darius to decree that “people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end” (Daniel 6:26).
This suggests an application still relevant for American Christians today. Instead of fretting over election results, let us resolve to keep following God. Love of neighbor should incite us to vote; but after we have done our duty, we can safely put the results in God’s hands. If the results turn out differently than we would wish, we can take comfort in the fact that God knows the future, that he can humble the pride of rulers, and that he can deliver us, too — both now and hereafter.
Daniel learned this as soon as he arrived in Babylon. Instead of succumbing to the enticement of Babylonian pleasures, he “resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank” (Daniel 1:8). His faithfulness to God’s word was put to the test, and he came out so much healthier than his peers that his boss ordered everyone else to follow Daniel’s lifestyle (Daniel 1:15).
God also delivers his servants in the final judgment. When “those who sleep in the dust” awake to everlasting life or everlasting contempt, “your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. … And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:1-3).
We can hope confidently in this because we worship the risen Son of Man, who came and proclaimed a kingdom. As Daniel saw, “to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). Compared to such eternal dominion, what is a single election?
This article was written by Joshua Arnold and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
Thousands of Christians are being killed in Nigeria as extremist violence continues. Across Nigeria founder Brad Brandon raises concerns about government inaction, alleged corruption, and efforts to conceal religious persecution while emphasizing the hope of the gospel.
Nearly 5,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2025 — 72% of them in Nigeria. For decades, the African country has been marked by bloodshed, and its government is complicit.
Brad Brandon, founder and CEO of the relief-work nonprofit Across Nigeria, told The Washington Stand that the instability Nigeria experiences festers as a genocide is happening against its own people, and the Nigerian authorities turn a blind eye.
But when it comes to covering up the facts, the government moves efficiently and doesn’t spare any expense. Reports in early 2026, verified by the Justice Department’s records, showed the Nigerian government paid $9 million to the Washington D.C. public relations firm, the DCI Group. According to Brandon, the investment enabled lobbyists to persuade members of Congress not to shine a light on the Christian genocide happening overseas.
In addition to paid lobbyists, Brandon claims the Nigerian government pays off mainstream media outlets — both international and American — to give minimal to no coverage to the genocide Nigeria is enabling. The nonprofit leader continued that Across Nigeria is building a case to expose possible corruption.
“[It looks like] they’re funneling money to the subset groups that are attached to these media outlets, and so we’re trying to sift through which of these subset groups are attached to which legacy media outlets,” he said.
Brandon explained that the more Across Nigeria researched the Nigerian government’s investments, the more they found. “In 2024, there was $547 billion that was divested from Nigeria, so foreign investors took that money out of Nigeria because of the instability. So, the logical conclusion is that Nigeria is trying to whitewash. They’re trying to clean up their global image, whitewash this genocide, so that they can attract those foreign investors back into the country.”
While radical Islamic terrorist groups massacre believers, Nigerian officials are slow to act, said Brandon. He recalled a time when he and others from Across Nigeria visited a community of widows in Nigeria, before getting called away to aid an attacked neighboring community. Local security forces were immediately notified — but took almost three hours to arrive on the scene, despite being stationed 20 minutes away.
“When we got there, there were 10 that were massacred, and we ended up burying them in a mass grave,” Brandon shared. “There’s no reason that it should have taken them two to three hours. And then, shortly after that, the security forces left. And later that night, that same village was attacked again, and five people were killed.”
“That was an attack against Christians. …The instability caused by radical Islamic groups like ISWA [Islamic State West Africa] and Boko Haram has opened the door to lawlessness throughout northern Nigeria, which has given opportunity to banditry groups to feel like they can walk into a community, slaughter 60 people, kidnap people, steal whatever they need to steal, and walk away and get away with it. And they do every single day because there’s no security forces being brought in to stabilize the region.”
Brandon noted that while the Nigerian government denies the attacks target Christians, he is not convinced. “We see the amount of Christians who are being killed and how they’re inordinately being targeted,” he asserted. “I think there’s a case to be made that the Nigerian government is complicit in this. The Boko Haram and ISWA are very strong political, not only terrorist organizations, but political organizations. In northern Nigeria, most of the political power is held in the north, and the north is mostly Muslim. It’s about 90% Muslim in northern Nigeria.”
While Brandon says the Nigerian government likes to boast of its “inclusivity” where Christians and Muslims are concerned, the country’s constitution mentions of Islam and Sharia law more than 100 times but makes no mention of Christianity.
“So, it does favor Islam in a major way,” Brandon explained. “The attacks in the north have been allowed to go on, and the security forces and the Nigerian government have done nothing in 15 years to secure it.”
While lives are lost almost every day, Brandon is sure the hope of God’s Word can heal the Nigerian nation.
“We believe that the gospel is the solution to this problem,” Brandon declared. “Governments can help, organizations can help, but the ultimate solution is the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
This article was written by Quinn Delamater and origianlly published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
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A Virginia pastor is challenging a proposed constitutional amendment protecting same-sex marriage, alleging violations of state procedures. More than 400 pastors have joined efforts to defend biblical teachings on marriage, religious freedom, and the role of faith in public life.
A Virginia pastor is challenging the lawfulness of a proposed state constitutional amendment to codify same-sex marriage and spread gender ideology. The Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC) filed a lawsuit last week in Prince William County Circuit Court on behalf of Pastor Ben Purves of Occoquan Bible Church in Woodbridge, Va.
The Amendment 2 initiative on the ballot in the Cavalier State this November would “(i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law” should the Supreme Court ever overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
The amendment would repeal the provision of Article I, Section 15-A of the Virginia constitution defining marriage as a “union between one man and one woman,” and would instead say marriage is “one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness,” explains the FFLC press release.
The legal group explained its reasoning for the lawsuit, stating, “This Complaint does not concern the wisdom or policy merits of the Proposed Amendment. It concerns whether the Proposed Amendment was brought forward to the November 2026 ballot through the process that the Constitution of Virginia requires. It was not. The Proposed Amendment reached the ballot through a process that departed from the mandatory requirements of Article XII, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia through Virginia Code § 30-13.”
It continues, “Virginia Code § 30-13 requires the Clerk of the House of Delegates to have published and distributed copies of a proposed amendment to the clerks of Virginia’s circuit courts, and requires each circuit court clerk to post a copy ‘at the front door of the courthouse’ and make a second copy ‘available for public inspection,’ no later than three months before the intervening general election of members of the House of Delegates. These steps exist to inform the voters before the pivotal House of Delegates election. They were not performed before the November 4, 2025 general election by the Clerk of the House of Delegates or the Circuit Court Clerk or any other Virginia circuit court.”
The complaint asserts that even if the amendment is favored by most voters, it should be considered invalid.
Purves, the plaintiff on the Complaint, told The Washington Stand that it is the responsibility of a pastor to proclaim biblical truth when it comes to every issue, even the polarizing ones.
“It’s my hope that pastors will become more bold in proclaiming the gospel and the truth of God’s word, and not letting it be restricted to the church building or to church members’ homes. We really need to amplify truth in the public square, and if we do not, we will find it increasingly anti-Christian,” Purves asserted.
“Pastors — the shepherds — are called to care for their sheep,” he added. “That means giving their sheep the food of God’s word, and not just some of it, but all of it. And so, when churches are setting aside parts of Scripture and not teaching those parts, and not willing to proclaim those parts of Scripture to the world, they are failing in their duty as shepherds. And when pastors do not stand to protect their flock from wolves that will prey on their church and on the vulnerable in their community, they are failing in their pastoral duty.”
Over 400 pastors have signed a letter Purves helped orchestrate asking Virginians to vote no on Amendment 2, as well as an additional amendment to codify abortion in the Constitution of Virginia. The Pastors of Virginia group is also asking Virginia voters to participate in a day or prayer and fasting for the state on November 3.
“We call upon every voter to oppose these amendments to protect pre-born children, to defend the institution of marriage, and to stand against the destruction of transgender ideology. God created mankind as male and female as a part of God’s good and perfect creation (Gen 1:27). God creates life in the womb, and every child is a blessing (Ps 127, 139). God created the institution of marriage as a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman which is to be a portrait of Christ’s love for the church (Eph 5:32). Instead of defacing marriage, we must honor it (Heb 13:4),” the group stated.
Any pastor in the state who affirms the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation is eligible to sign the Open Letter from Virginia Pastors to the Commonwealth until voting closes after Election Day.
“To voters who are discouraged and maybe thinking of not voting — you should not lose heart,” Purves implored. “We’re called to be faithful, and we need to stand for truth, even when and if we are a minority. If we only stand for truth and we’re a majority, what does this say about us? So, it’s important for us to do the right thing and vote for the sake of truth.”
This article was written by Quinn Delamater and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
As Islam grows worldwide, Christians face important questions about religious differences, biblical prophecy, and Israel's future. Explore the theological divide between Islam and Christianity and why believers are called to defend their faith and share the Gospel.
Over the last two decades, we’ve seen increasing rhetoric from the Left, media sources, and the up-and-coming generation claiming that Islam is a religion of peace. My challenge to that assumption is how and where do you find grounds to believe that Islam is a peaceful religion? Is it the history of the Ottoman conquest? The vicious attacks against Israel over the last 50 years? The 9/11 attacks?
When I look at all these examples, I see a religion that has paved the streets with blood, tears, sexual violence, and pain. I’ve heard too many stories that show the brutality of a religion that is being described as peaceful. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). He told His disciples to go low and to be servant-hearted. Yes, He came with a sword in His mouth, and He flipped tables and offended the Pharisees. But everything He did, He did for the love of His people, to establish the Kingdom of God, to free the captive, and to fulfill Isaiah 61.
Islam, however, does not espouse this love of God, but rather a thirst for conquest. And the religion is spreading. The Pew Research Center states that Islam is the fastest-growing religion worldwide. This should cause great concern among Christians. This change is primarily because Christians are simply not getting married and having enough children to repopulate. But perhaps the biggest problem is that many Christians don’t understand why this is concerning.
Since its inception, Islam has not been as welcomed or embraced as it is now. Why should Islam’s quick ascent to popularity concern Christians? Islam’s tenets are in direct opposition to Christianity, and its eschatological doctrine (their beliefs on the end times) seeks the destruction of Israel and its people.
Islam prides itself on being a religion that provides you the biggest upgrade to heaven if you commit suicide and bring others with you, also known as mujahid. Granted, not all Muslims practice to this extent, but this is concerning at best and is in complete opposition to Christianity at worst. Were people killed during the Christian Crusades? Yes, but did Christians go around killing people hoping to gain a better afterlife with more virgins and more spoils of the flesh? Absolutely not.
A few passages in the Quran that demonstrate this lust for martyrdom are listed below:
Perhaps one of the biggest concerns Christians should have with Islam is its eschatological view on Israel and Jesus. First, Muslims don’t believe Jesus is the Son of God, or that He died on the cross. They say he will come back as Isa and descend to liberate the Islamic people from their oppression.[i] The Bible refutes that, warning against these false religions:
“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ... Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist — denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 18-19, 22-23).
What this scripture tells us is that any religion that challenges the deity of Christ is of the anti-Christ spirit. This anti-Christ spirit continues to fill and deceive this generation. Wrapped up in this doctrine is also the belief that a false messiah will arise out of Israel while their messiah arrives. This false messiah will be the sign that they are to wipe out the entire Jewish population. Their literature states:
“Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah said, “The Last Hour will not come until the Muslims fight against the Jews, until a Jew will hide himself behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him,’ but Al-Gharqad tree will not say so, for it is the tree of the Jews” Riyad as-Salihin 1820 (Book 18, Hadith 13).
Israel’s existence is preeminent in the Christian perspective of the end times and in Scripture. It’s not just a minor detail — it’s a necessary part of the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy. Our very own messiah arose out of Israel, so for Islamic literature to say that their anti-Christ will arise out of Israel is a direct contradiction of two very different religions. In fact, many pastors, writers, and scholars even argue that our anti-Christ is their messiah, and our messiah is their anti-Christ.
The great battle for earth started when Adam and Eve were in the garden, but it continues today and until Jesus returns. As we look at the cultural moment, we are in, we must pause and ask the Lord what His will would be for the church as we watch a false doctrine that seeks to destroy our homeland, our history, and our faith rise across the world. Islam is a religion that directly contradicts Christian values and seeks the destruction of Israel, a historically, politically, and spiritually vital nation. As Christians, we must take a stand, refusing to compromise or sit quietly while a religion that does not please the heart of God seeks to overrun our nation and the nations of the earth.
What can you do? First, educate yourself and share the gospel! Remember, they do not have a savior or helper to get them to the finish line. So, remind them that Jesus came to help and save them through His sacrifice! Second, go to your local city halls and meetings. Push back when legislation to build communities ruled by Sharia law is presented, as what recently occurred in Texas. Stand against the influence they have in our nation. This is a Western country — don’t be ashamed of that. Lastly, pray that the Holy Spirit would open their eyes to see the deception of Islam and that they would come to know the true Messiah.
“Therefore, do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
This article was written by Rebekah Harper and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
As AI safety researchers warn about the risks of superintelligence, questions about the industry's priorities are growing. Discover why technological advancement must be guided by wisdom, and how Scripture calls Christians to trust God rather than fear the future.
The artificial intelligence community just waved goodbye to yet another top safety and regulation official — and he offers a unique angle in his warning to the world.
David Robinson had been leading safety reports for OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Robinson resigned in the first week of October, stating that the industry’s approach to safety has been stemming from a broken culture. He penned the following words in a piece for The Atlantic, which contain more truth than perhaps he even knows: “The future depends on wisdom that Silicon Valley lacks.”
We’ll come back to that.
His departure comes on the heels of several other prominent AI safety researchers abandoning the industry. Their exits have paired with dreadful public warnings about the future of this technology, leaving the American people to grapple with the headlines and the unknown.
Take Jacob Coxon, for example. After leaving Claude developer Anthropic in September, he wrote on X that top tech labs are “gambling with our lives” by racing toward self-improving superintelligence. He went on to reveal that the people building AI “earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Comforting.
For clarity, the industry term “superintelligence” refers to a hypothetical AI system that developers believe could surpass humans in overall knowledge and capability. This could happen through recursive self-improvement (RSI) in which AI models design and continually improve their own successors.
While the Trump administration has taken to using the term as a reference to AI more broadly, Coxon used it as the industry intends: the potential nightmare of AI evolving beyond our ability to contain.
Let’s go back to David Robinson for a second. Beyond diagnosing the issue of a “lack of wisdom,” he went on in his article to describe the kind of wisdom that is desperately needed — the kind that shows us “how to handle dangerous technology and, more fundamentally … what it means to care for people.”
This kind of wisdom has only one source.
Proverbs 4:7 states, “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, acquire understanding.” The natural question is, how can true wisdom be acquired? Well, it is not gained by happenstance or by any means of passivity.
The word of God teaches that wisdom is found only, “if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure” (Proverbs 2:4).
That same proverb states that when wisdom enters the human heart, it bears fruits of knowledge, discretion, and understanding. Knowledge is pleasant, discretion brings protection, and understanding guards the one who finds it.
If those spearheading AI labs begin searching for wisdom with the same fervency as they do innovation, capital gain, and victory in the arms race, perhaps we might reap the benefits of honing a brilliant technology for human flourishing, rather than threatening it entirely.
In the absence of wisdom, we ought not to expect flourishing. Thus, the need for appropriate guardrails toward that end is becoming increasingly dire.
Whistleblowers coming forward to expose carelessness in the industry is a good thing. Speaking up when danger is on the horizon is profitable. What is not profitable, however, is responding in fear.
The wisest man in history, King Solomon, tells us, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
The pride of man has reared its head through the latest technology and means of production before. As soon as human beings had the chance, they took brick and mortar and built the tower of Babel, aiming to reach as high as heaven to make a name for themselves — not for the God who gave them clay, water, and sun in the first place.
Today, we are seeing the latest expression of that sinful pride: men thinking they can hold infinite knowledge without it destroying them. Casting wisdom aside, they trust in their own minds and technical ability rather than in God.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell to the temptation of wanting to be all-knowing, like God. He judged that decision then, and He will not be mocked now (Galatians 6:7).
There is nothing more urgent for the unbeliever than to humble themselves, fall on their knees, and cry out to the Creator for salvation. There is, likewise, nothing more urgent for the believer than to refuse every temptation to fear in these times — to live the joyful, abundant life offered to them in Christ.
It is not a suggestion to be unafraid. It is a commandment given us by God, time and time again throughout the Scriptures.
Do not stifle your witness to the watching world.
The book of Ecclesiastes warns us that there are many dark days in this life under the sun, and that we will encounter circumstances which are difficult, perplexing, and often don’t make sense. Yet, there are a few things that author King Solomon found to be good: “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot” (Ecclesiastes 5:18).
New threats to our livelihood may come at alarming rates, but our responsibility as Christians remains the same: Do not dread the future or fear the potential of “superintelligence.” Rather, “fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
So, keep breaking bread with those you love. Keep enjoying the toil and the lot that God has given you with a grateful heart. Regardless of the news cycle, and whatever may come out of Washington and Silicon Valley — rejoice in what you have been given.
Our lives are but a vapor, a mist, Solomon says. The years go by quickly, and soon, we will return to dust.
That need not be depressing — in fact, let it be motivating as you live the most upright, joyous, and noble life possible along the way. Be encouraged, for we have all the instruction we need to please God in every circumstance, including the ones out of our control.
God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” in Revelation 22:13. If God is the Omega just as much as He is the Alpha, what is there to fear?
At the end of all things, just as much as at the beginning — He is there. And He rules and reigns at every point in between.
Human history was born from and ends in perfect wisdom, and God will tie the final bow on our story.
Not Sam Altman, or Dario and Daniela Amodei, or Donald Trump, or Xi Jinping — but Jesus Christ will do it, who is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
This article was written by Erica Mendel and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
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Is your family’s entertainment adding value or just noise? Discover how faith-based movies, documentaries, and programs can help Christian families make intentional media choices, encourage meaningful conversations, and create a more Christ-centered home.
Entertainment has never been more accessible. A television, phone, or tablet can provide an endless stream of movies, shows, short videos, news, games, and social media without ever reaching the bottom of the screen.
But having more to watch doesn’t necessarily mean families are better served by what they’re watching.
For many households, entertainment has become noisy in more ways than one. Programs compete for attention with faster pacing, stronger language, darker storylines, sexualized content, graphic imagery, and increasingly provocative themes. Algorithms encourage one more episode or video, while families can end an evening having consumed hours of media without feeling particularly rested, encouraged, or connected.
That raises a worthwhile question: Is it time to replace some of that noise with faith-based family media?
For Christian families, the answer may have less to do with watching less and more to do with choosing better.
Noise isn’t necessarily about volume.
Media can be noisy when it constantly demands attention without giving anything meaningful in return. It can be entertainment built around shock, conflict, outrage, anxiety, or relentless stimulation. It can also be content filled with ideas and assumptions that compete with what parents are trying to teach their children.
Even material that isn’t overtly inappropriate can leave viewers feeling distracted or spiritually empty.
Philippians 4:8 gives Christians a useful standard for what deserves sustained attention, directing believers toward things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and praiseworthy. That doesn’t mean every program needs to quote Scripture. But it does challenge families to think about what repeatedly occupies their minds.
The phrase “media diet” is useful because entertainment has something in common with food: what is consumed occasionally matters less than what becomes normal.
One movie is unlikely to define a child’s worldview. Hundreds of hours of stories, characters, values, jokes, and messages over many years can have a much greater influence.
Children learn from stories. They notice which behaviors are rewarded, which relationships are celebrated, which beliefs are mocked, and what characters consider normal.
Adults aren’t immune either. Constant exposure to cynicism, fear, anger, or sexualized entertainment can gradually make those things feel ordinary.
Choosing faith-based media gives families an opportunity to put more spiritually nourishing material into that mix.
Parents can spend enormous energy saying no.
No, you can’t watch that show. No, that movie isn’t appropriate. No, we’re skipping this episode.
Boundaries are sometimes necessary, but they become much easier when there is also a good answer to, “What can we watch instead?” Faith-based streaming provides that replacement.
A family movie night could feature C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert, opening conversations about doubt, reason, and conversion. A documentary such as The Listening Road can introduce thoughtful conversations about how people from different backgrounds think about faith. 7 Days in the Holy Land can help families visually connect places in Israel with biblical events.
The goal isn’t simply to remove entertainment. It is to replace some of it with stories and ideas worth carrying into the next day.
One of the greatest advantages of watching Christian content together is what happens afterward. A program can naturally lead to questions that might otherwise feel forced:
Those conversations help turn viewing into family discipleship.
A documentary such as The Call, for example, can lead to discussion about the Great Commission and what evangelism looks like in ordinary Christian life. Way of the Master can prompt older children and adults to think about how they would talk about Jesus with someone who doesn’t share their beliefs.
The screen becomes the beginning of the conversation rather than the end of it.
Replacing noisy entertainment with Christian media doesn’t mean turning every evening into a classroom. Families still need stories, laughter, discovery, music, and relaxation.
Faith-based media can include movies, animation, travel programs, interviews, biographies, documentaries, podcasts, and conversations. Some content teaches Scripture directly. Other programs simply tell compelling stories shaped by faith, courage, forgiveness, or hope.
That variety matters because healthy family media should still be enjoyable.
The distinction is that entertainment doesn’t need to undermine a family’s beliefs in order to hold its attention.
Another benefit of intentional viewing is simply reducing the constant demand for stimulation. Mainstream digital media often encourages viewers to keep going. Finish one episode and another begins automatically. Watch one short video and dozens more appear. Attention itself has become valuable currency.
Faith-based streaming can help families establish a different rhythm.
Choose one documentary. Watch a devotional together. Listen to a meaningful conversation. Then turn the television off and talk.
Programs such as Groundworks with Steve Wiggins are particularly suited to this approach because brief, Scripture-centered episodes can provide meaningful input without consuming an entire evening. Living Fearless with Andy and Hedieh can similarly encourage thoughtful conversation about faith and everyday challenges.
The objective isn’t to fill every available minute with Christian programming. It’s to make more intentional choices about which voices receive the family’s attention.
Children eventually make their own media choices. Before that happens, parents have an opportunity to model discernment. That includes more than policing what children watch. Kids also notice what their parents consume.
If adults spend hours immersed in angry commentary, dark entertainment, or endless scrolling while telling children to make healthier choices, the message can become confusing.
Christ-centered leadership in the home means asking the same questions of adult entertainment that parents ask about children’s programming.
Those questions can gradually reshape a family’s media habits without requiring an overnight purge of every mainstream platform.
Real Life Network was created to provide a different kind of streaming environment.
Rather than placing biblical programming beside an enormous catalog of conflicting content, RLN carefully curates its library around Christian faith and biblical truth. Viewers can move between films, documentaries, podcasts, Bible teaching, cultural discussions, devotional programs, kids’ content, and live events without leaving that foundation.
That gives families something increasingly difficult to find in modern entertainment: a place where they can discover rather than constantly defend.
Parents still decide what fits the age and needs of their particular family. But the starting point is very different.
Replacing noisy entertainment doesn’t require rejecting technology, storytelling, or even every mainstream show. It means becoming more intentional about what receives a family’s limited time and attention.
Some entertainment merely fills a room. Better media can fill conversations, reinforce truth, encourage faith, and give families something meaningful to carry with them after the screen goes dark.
For Christian households, that makes faith-based family media more than an alternative. It can become one practical way to cultivate a home in which entertainment supports, rather than competes with, what matters most.
Explore biblically curated movies, documentaries, family programs, devotionals, and more anytime on Real Life Network.
Teenagers today are growing up in a world filled with competing messages about truth, identity, morality, and purpose. Social media, entertainment, online influencers, and cultural trends all shape the way young people think—often long before they have the tools to evaluate those ideas carefully.
That reality has led many parents and church leaders to ask an important question: Are there biblical worldview shows specifically designed to help teens navigate today’s culture?
The answer is yes. Christian streaming platforms increasingly offer programs that help younger audiences think biblically about the world around them without sounding overly academic or disconnected from real life.
A biblical worldview is simply a way of understanding life through the lens of Scripture. It shapes how a person thinks about:
For teenagers, developing a biblical worldview means learning how to process difficult questions and cultural pressures through God’s Word rather than through constantly changing trends.
This kind of foundation becomes increasingly important during the teen years, when questions become deeper and outside influences become stronger.
Today’s teens are exposed to serious questions earlier than previous generations. They are hearing conversations about:
Because of this, many young people are looking for honest, thoughtful answers—not simplistic responses or shallow clichés.
Christian streaming platforms are responding by creating content that respects teens’ intelligence while still remaining grounded in Scripture.
Real Life Network offers several programs that help teens engage faith, culture, and truth thoughtfully.
Hosted by Eric Hovind, The Creation Today Show explores science, creation, worldview, and biblical truth in a way that is accessible for students and families. The program encourages teens to think critically about what they hear in culture and education while remaining rooted in Scripture.
Why teens connect with it:
It addresses real questions about science and faith without talking down to viewers.
This discussion-based program answers real-life questions about theology, Scripture, culture, and Christian living. Because the format is conversational, teens often find it easier to engage than traditional lectures or sermons.
Topics range from practical everyday struggles to deeper theological issues.
Why it works for teens:
It models thoughtful, biblical conversations rather than one-sided preaching.
Based on the apologetics ministry of Frank Turek, this program tackles difficult questions about Christianity, truth, morality, and evidence for faith.
For teens navigating skepticism or cultural pressure, apologetics-based content can help strengthen confidence and understanding.
Why teens appreciate it:
It helps answer the “why” behind Christian belief, not just the “what.”
Designed specifically for junior high and high school students, the Lamps Lit Youth Prophecy Conference explores Bible prophecy and end-times topics in a way that is engaging and understandable for younger audiences.
Featuring speakers like Jeff Kinley, Todd Hampson, and Pastor Jack Hibbs, the conference connects biblical prophecy with hope, discernment, and Christian living.
Why teens respond to it:
It treats young people seriously while helping them see how Scripture relates to the future and the world around them.
Teenagers are not just learning facts; they are forming foundations. What they believe during these years often shapes how they approach adulthood, relationships, faith, and decision-making later in life. Biblical worldview content helps teens:
This kind of content becomes even more valuable when paired with conversations at home or church.
One reason Christian streaming is effective for younger generations is because it meets them in the environments they already use.
Today’s teens naturally consume media through:
Christian streaming platforms make biblical teaching and worldview discussions accessible within those same habits and rhythms.
Even the best Christian content is not a substitute for relationships. Streaming works best when parents, pastors, and mentors stay involved. Simple conversations after watching a program can make a major impact:
These moments help teens move from passive viewing to active reflection.
Real Life Network provides a curated environment where teens can explore difficult questions, hear biblical teaching, and engage cultural topics without being overwhelmed by conflicting messages or distractions.
By combining apologetics, discussions, documentaries, conferences, and Bible teaching in one place, RLN helps younger viewers develop a worldview shaped by Scripture rather than trends.
Teenagers today need more than entertainment. They need wisdom, discernment, and a strong biblical foundation for navigating an increasingly complicated world.
Christian streaming platforms are helping meet that need by offering worldview-focused content that speaks honestly, thoughtfully, and biblically to the next generation.
Explore biblical worldview content for teens anytime on Real Life Network.
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“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men.” Thus Benjamin Franklin exhorted the Constitutional Convention to prayer on June 28, 1787. Franklin was no born-again Christian, but even this man of the Enlightenment could recognize from experience the truth that Scripture proclaims from every page. In a chaotic election season, let Christians cling to this truth, lest an unbeliever show more faith in God’s power than we do.
The book of Daniel bears particular relevance to the current situation. It opens with God’s people in Judah sustaining a devastating political defeat. King Jehoiachin surrendered to the besieging Babylonian army, and Judah’s best and brightest were taken away into slavery and exile (2 Kings 24:10-16; Daniel 1:1-3).
Some exiles hoped for speedy deliverance, but soon Jeremiah wrote to inform the exiles that they would remain in Babylon for 70 years, “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. … seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:4-7).
Such a devastating message met with skepticism and doubt. “Really, God? Your people should seek the welfare of their enemies? You have placed us as an oppressed minority in a nation that defies your word! Worse yet, they ridicule your name when they gloat in triumph over us!”
The book of Daniel counters both the doubt of Israel and the gloating of their captors by showing beyond any doubt that the God of Israel is the sovereign ruler of history, and no one can thwart his purposes. The book proves its case with three arguments: God knows the future, God humbles the pride of human rulers, and God saves his people.
First, God knows the future. The book of Daniel is known for its apocalyptic visions, especially its detailed predictions of history through the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek empires (Daniel 8-11), and the strange, fourth beast in Daniel 7. This beast “shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).
Why would God allow such a blasphemous ruler to “wear out the saints”? As Abraham Lincoln would say, “The Almighty has His own purposes.”
What we can know is the reason why God foretold these events to a prophet: so that God’s people would not become discouraged by bleak circumstances. After the beast rules, Daniel is told, “the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end” (Daniel 7:26). “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (Daniel 7:18). Sinful human governments have their moment, but God and his people will triumph forever.
In fact, God’s plan for the future is so secure that he can “call his shots” ahead of time, alerting hostile rulers to his future plans, as if daring them to stop him. Thus, God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a vision of “what will be in the latter days” (Daniel 2:28), which none of his advisors could interpret. Daniel interpreted the statue of different metals as different kingdoms of dwindling glory, going all the way down until the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed,” which “shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).
Nebuchadnezzar admitted that Daniel’s God was “God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries” (Daniel 2:47), but then he turned around and built an image of solid gold (Daniel 3:1), as if defying the vision. But Nebuchadnezzar died, and his empire perished. And God has built a kingdom under the lordship of Jesus Christ that will never pass away.
It’s almost impossible to imagine such a revelation injected into American discourse today. Suppose that someone claimed: America will fall, China will fall, Russia will fall; the mightiest powers will all pass away, but the church of Jesus Christ will reign triumphant. Now suppose that God mystically revealed this to the most anti-Christian officials of our day, as if daring them: go ahead; try and stop me. Our God is the only one who “changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Daniel 2:21).
Second, God humbles the pride of human rulers. As if the previous revelations were not enough, God gave Nebuchadnezzar another vision with a more personal warning: he would suffer seven years of madness and live like an animal (Daniel 4:13-16).
When Daniel provided the interpretation yet again, he exhorted his master, “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27). But Nebuchadnezzar did not heed the warning, and so the judgment came just as God had foretold — God was once again “calling his shots” (Daniel 4:31).
Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity only returned when he “blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever.” The king finally realized that “his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ … All his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Daniel 4:34-37).
God taught a similar but more severe lesson to Nebuchadnezzar’s son (or grandson) Belshazzar. Despite knowing the history of chapter 4, Belshazzar drunkenly mocked the God of Israel (Daniel 5:2), a disembodied hand wrote a message of doom on the palace wall (Daniel 5:5), and the king was killed that very night (Daniel 5:30). God is still undefeated in every contest against a king who challenged him.
Third, God saves his people. Even when his people are up against the wall — nay, especially then — God loves to demonstrate his saving power. When Daniel’s three friends refuse to worship the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, they survive a trip through the fiery furnace that scorched their captors without so much as the smell of smoke (Daniel 3:26-27). How is that possible? Only with God. When Daniel disobeyed an edict to pray to God, he survived a night in a den of hungry lions without so much as a scratch (Daniel 6:22).
Again, this is only possible through divine intervention. And it prompted King Darius to decree that “people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end” (Daniel 6:26).
This suggests an application still relevant for American Christians today. Instead of fretting over election results, let us resolve to keep following God. Love of neighbor should incite us to vote; but after we have done our duty, we can safely put the results in God’s hands. If the results turn out differently than we would wish, we can take comfort in the fact that God knows the future, that he can humble the pride of rulers, and that he can deliver us, too — both now and hereafter.
Daniel learned this as soon as he arrived in Babylon. Instead of succumbing to the enticement of Babylonian pleasures, he “resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank” (Daniel 1:8). His faithfulness to God’s word was put to the test, and he came out so much healthier than his peers that his boss ordered everyone else to follow Daniel’s lifestyle (Daniel 1:15).
God also delivers his servants in the final judgment. When “those who sleep in the dust” awake to everlasting life or everlasting contempt, “your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. … And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:1-3).
We can hope confidently in this because we worship the risen Son of Man, who came and proclaimed a kingdom. As Daniel saw, “to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). Compared to such eternal dominion, what is a single election?
This article was written by Joshua Arnold and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
Nearly 5,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2025 — 72% of them in Nigeria. For decades, the African country has been marked by bloodshed, and its government is complicit.
Brad Brandon, founder and CEO of the relief-work nonprofit Across Nigeria, told The Washington Stand that the instability Nigeria experiences festers as a genocide is happening against its own people, and the Nigerian authorities turn a blind eye.
But when it comes to covering up the facts, the government moves efficiently and doesn’t spare any expense. Reports in early 2026, verified by the Justice Department’s records, showed the Nigerian government paid $9 million to the Washington D.C. public relations firm, the DCI Group. According to Brandon, the investment enabled lobbyists to persuade members of Congress not to shine a light on the Christian genocide happening overseas.
In addition to paid lobbyists, Brandon claims the Nigerian government pays off mainstream media outlets — both international and American — to give minimal to no coverage to the genocide Nigeria is enabling. The nonprofit leader continued that Across Nigeria is building a case to expose possible corruption.
“[It looks like] they’re funneling money to the subset groups that are attached to these media outlets, and so we’re trying to sift through which of these subset groups are attached to which legacy media outlets,” he said.
Brandon explained that the more Across Nigeria researched the Nigerian government’s investments, the more they found. “In 2024, there was $547 billion that was divested from Nigeria, so foreign investors took that money out of Nigeria because of the instability. So, the logical conclusion is that Nigeria is trying to whitewash. They’re trying to clean up their global image, whitewash this genocide, so that they can attract those foreign investors back into the country.”
While radical Islamic terrorist groups massacre believers, Nigerian officials are slow to act, said Brandon. He recalled a time when he and others from Across Nigeria visited a community of widows in Nigeria, before getting called away to aid an attacked neighboring community. Local security forces were immediately notified — but took almost three hours to arrive on the scene, despite being stationed 20 minutes away.
“When we got there, there were 10 that were massacred, and we ended up burying them in a mass grave,” Brandon shared. “There’s no reason that it should have taken them two to three hours. And then, shortly after that, the security forces left. And later that night, that same village was attacked again, and five people were killed.”
“That was an attack against Christians. …The instability caused by radical Islamic groups like ISWA [Islamic State West Africa] and Boko Haram has opened the door to lawlessness throughout northern Nigeria, which has given opportunity to banditry groups to feel like they can walk into a community, slaughter 60 people, kidnap people, steal whatever they need to steal, and walk away and get away with it. And they do every single day because there’s no security forces being brought in to stabilize the region.”
Brandon noted that while the Nigerian government denies the attacks target Christians, he is not convinced. “We see the amount of Christians who are being killed and how they’re inordinately being targeted,” he asserted. “I think there’s a case to be made that the Nigerian government is complicit in this. The Boko Haram and ISWA are very strong political, not only terrorist organizations, but political organizations. In northern Nigeria, most of the political power is held in the north, and the north is mostly Muslim. It’s about 90% Muslim in northern Nigeria.”
While Brandon says the Nigerian government likes to boast of its “inclusivity” where Christians and Muslims are concerned, the country’s constitution mentions of Islam and Sharia law more than 100 times but makes no mention of Christianity.
“So, it does favor Islam in a major way,” Brandon explained. “The attacks in the north have been allowed to go on, and the security forces and the Nigerian government have done nothing in 15 years to secure it.”
While lives are lost almost every day, Brandon is sure the hope of God’s Word can heal the Nigerian nation.
“We believe that the gospel is the solution to this problem,” Brandon declared. “Governments can help, organizations can help, but the ultimate solution is the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
This article was written by Quinn Delamater and origianlly published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
A good movie can do more than entertain for a couple of hours. Stories can introduce important questions, demonstrate courage, challenge assumptions, and give families something worth talking about after the credits roll.
That is one reason faith-based films can be such a valuable addition to family movie night. Instead of constantly searching through mainstream streaming libraries for something appropriate, families can choose stories that reinforce themes such as faith, forgiveness, perseverance, purpose, and trust in God.
Real Life Network offers Christian movies and documentaries free to stream, with options ranging from biblical stories and historical dramas to biographies and modern stories of redemption.
Here are five worth adding to your watchlist.
Based on a true story, China Cry follows Nora Lam as she grows up in China during a period of enormous political upheaval and ultimately discovers faith in Christ.
Her Christian beliefs bring serious consequences, forcing her to confront persecution, fear, and questions of obedience when following Jesus becomes costly.
The film gives families with older children an opportunity to discuss religious freedom and the difference between believing something when it is easy and standing by that belief when there is something to lose.
It also introduces viewers to the experiences of Christians in parts of the world where faith cannot always be practiced openly.
Good conversation starter: What gives someone the courage to remain faithful when doing so comes at a personal cost?
Families who enjoy sports movies may appreciate Seven Days in Utopia, which begins with a young professional golfer watching his career fall apart.
An unexpected detour brings him to the small town of Utopia, Texas, where he meets an older man who helps him reconsider what success really means. Golf remains part of the story, but the deeper questions concern identity, purpose, priorities, and what happens when accomplishment becomes the measure of a person’s worth.
Those themes make the movie especially relevant for teens growing up in a culture that often equates success with performance.
Good conversation starter: How can someone’s identity change when winning or achievement becomes more important than everything else?
Before C.S. Lewis became one of Christianity’s most influential writers and apologists, he was an atheist.
C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert dramatizes the intellectual and personal path that eventually led the author of Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia to belief in God and then Christianity.
The film is particularly useful for older teens and adults because Lewis does not arrive at faith through a simplistic emotional experience. His questions about reason, suffering, desire, and truth matter deeply to the story.
That makes the film a natural introduction to apologetics and an encouraging reminder that Christianity does not require believers to be afraid of serious questions.
Good conversation starter: Why do you think questions and doubts sometimes become part of a person’s path toward faith?
Sometimes the most valuable Christian movie is also the most foundational.
The Jesus Film presents the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus based largely on the Gospel of Luke. Rather than creating a fictional story inspired by Christianity, it brings the Gospel narrative itself to the screen.
That makes it especially useful for family viewing, outreach, or introducing someone to the life of Christ.
Parents can also use the film as a companion to Scripture. A family might read one of the Gospel accounts and then watch how particular scenes are portrayed, discussing what Jesus said, how people responded to Him, and why His death and resurrection are central to Christianity.
Good conversation starter: What do Jesus’ words and actions reveal about who He claimed to be?
John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress has been encouraging Christians for centuries, and its animated adaptation makes the famous allegory accessible to a new generation.
The story follows Christian as he leaves the City of Destruction and begins his difficult journey toward the Celestial City. Along the way he encounters temptation, fear, discouragement, friendship, deception, and spiritual opposition.
Children can enjoy the adventure while older viewers recognize the deeper symbolism behind characters and events.
That makes The Pilgrim’s Progress particularly well suited to family movie night. Parents and children can watch the same story at different levels and then discuss what Christian’s experiences represent.
Good conversation starter: Which obstacle on Christian’s journey seemed most like something people struggle with in real life?
Not every faith-based movie needs to become a formal Bible lesson. Families need opportunities simply to enjoy stories together.
But movies also create natural openings for conversations that can otherwise be difficult to start.
A sports drama can lead to a discussion about identity. A historical film can raise questions about courage and persecution. A biography can show how intellectual doubts are confronted. A biblical movie can bring families back to Scripture.
Those conversations are part of what makes Christian media valuable.
“Christian” and “family values” do not necessarily mean every title is appropriate for every age.
Movies dealing with persecution, suffering, or complex theological questions may be better suited to teens and adults. Parents should still consider the maturity and sensitivity of their own children when choosing what to watch.
What faith-based streaming provides is a stronger starting point: stories intentionally chosen for their connection to biblical truth rather than a library in which families must continually sift through conflicting messages.
Real Life Network makes that choice even easier by offering its Christian programming free. There is no premium movie tier or additional subscription required to explore the library.
A family movie night can certainly be entertaining. But with the right story, it can also inspire courage, deepen understanding, reinforce biblical values, and lead to conversations that last far longer than the movie itself.
Explore free Christian movies, documentaries, and family programming anytime on Real Life Network.
A Virginia pastor is challenging the lawfulness of a proposed state constitutional amendment to codify same-sex marriage and spread gender ideology. The Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC) filed a lawsuit last week in Prince William County Circuit Court on behalf of Pastor Ben Purves of Occoquan Bible Church in Woodbridge, Va.
The Amendment 2 initiative on the ballot in the Cavalier State this November would “(i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law” should the Supreme Court ever overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
The amendment would repeal the provision of Article I, Section 15-A of the Virginia constitution defining marriage as a “union between one man and one woman,” and would instead say marriage is “one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness,” explains the FFLC press release.
The legal group explained its reasoning for the lawsuit, stating, “This Complaint does not concern the wisdom or policy merits of the Proposed Amendment. It concerns whether the Proposed Amendment was brought forward to the November 2026 ballot through the process that the Constitution of Virginia requires. It was not. The Proposed Amendment reached the ballot through a process that departed from the mandatory requirements of Article XII, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia through Virginia Code § 30-13.”
It continues, “Virginia Code § 30-13 requires the Clerk of the House of Delegates to have published and distributed copies of a proposed amendment to the clerks of Virginia’s circuit courts, and requires each circuit court clerk to post a copy ‘at the front door of the courthouse’ and make a second copy ‘available for public inspection,’ no later than three months before the intervening general election of members of the House of Delegates. These steps exist to inform the voters before the pivotal House of Delegates election. They were not performed before the November 4, 2025 general election by the Clerk of the House of Delegates or the Circuit Court Clerk or any other Virginia circuit court.”
The complaint asserts that even if the amendment is favored by most voters, it should be considered invalid.
Purves, the plaintiff on the Complaint, told The Washington Stand that it is the responsibility of a pastor to proclaim biblical truth when it comes to every issue, even the polarizing ones.
“It’s my hope that pastors will become more bold in proclaiming the gospel and the truth of God’s word, and not letting it be restricted to the church building or to church members’ homes. We really need to amplify truth in the public square, and if we do not, we will find it increasingly anti-Christian,” Purves asserted.
“Pastors — the shepherds — are called to care for their sheep,” he added. “That means giving their sheep the food of God’s word, and not just some of it, but all of it. And so, when churches are setting aside parts of Scripture and not teaching those parts, and not willing to proclaim those parts of Scripture to the world, they are failing in their duty as shepherds. And when pastors do not stand to protect their flock from wolves that will prey on their church and on the vulnerable in their community, they are failing in their pastoral duty.”
Over 400 pastors have signed a letter Purves helped orchestrate asking Virginians to vote no on Amendment 2, as well as an additional amendment to codify abortion in the Constitution of Virginia. The Pastors of Virginia group is also asking Virginia voters to participate in a day or prayer and fasting for the state on November 3.
“We call upon every voter to oppose these amendments to protect pre-born children, to defend the institution of marriage, and to stand against the destruction of transgender ideology. God created mankind as male and female as a part of God’s good and perfect creation (Gen 1:27). God creates life in the womb, and every child is a blessing (Ps 127, 139). God created the institution of marriage as a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman which is to be a portrait of Christ’s love for the church (Eph 5:32). Instead of defacing marriage, we must honor it (Heb 13:4),” the group stated.
Any pastor in the state who affirms the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation is eligible to sign the Open Letter from Virginia Pastors to the Commonwealth until voting closes after Election Day.
“To voters who are discouraged and maybe thinking of not voting — you should not lose heart,” Purves implored. “We’re called to be faithful, and we need to stand for truth, even when and if we are a minority. If we only stand for truth and we’re a majority, what does this say about us? So, it’s important for us to do the right thing and vote for the sake of truth.”
This article was written by Quinn Delamater and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
Over the last two decades, we’ve seen increasing rhetoric from the Left, media sources, and the up-and-coming generation claiming that Islam is a religion of peace. My challenge to that assumption is how and where do you find grounds to believe that Islam is a peaceful religion? Is it the history of the Ottoman conquest? The vicious attacks against Israel over the last 50 years? The 9/11 attacks?
When I look at all these examples, I see a religion that has paved the streets with blood, tears, sexual violence, and pain. I’ve heard too many stories that show the brutality of a religion that is being described as peaceful. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). He told His disciples to go low and to be servant-hearted. Yes, He came with a sword in His mouth, and He flipped tables and offended the Pharisees. But everything He did, He did for the love of His people, to establish the Kingdom of God, to free the captive, and to fulfill Isaiah 61.
Islam, however, does not espouse this love of God, but rather a thirst for conquest. And the religion is spreading. The Pew Research Center states that Islam is the fastest-growing religion worldwide. This should cause great concern among Christians. This change is primarily because Christians are simply not getting married and having enough children to repopulate. But perhaps the biggest problem is that many Christians don’t understand why this is concerning.
Since its inception, Islam has not been as welcomed or embraced as it is now. Why should Islam’s quick ascent to popularity concern Christians? Islam’s tenets are in direct opposition to Christianity, and its eschatological doctrine (their beliefs on the end times) seeks the destruction of Israel and its people.
Islam prides itself on being a religion that provides you the biggest upgrade to heaven if you commit suicide and bring others with you, also known as mujahid. Granted, not all Muslims practice to this extent, but this is concerning at best and is in complete opposition to Christianity at worst. Were people killed during the Christian Crusades? Yes, but did Christians go around killing people hoping to gain a better afterlife with more virgins and more spoils of the flesh? Absolutely not.
A few passages in the Quran that demonstrate this lust for martyrdom are listed below:
Perhaps one of the biggest concerns Christians should have with Islam is its eschatological view on Israel and Jesus. First, Muslims don’t believe Jesus is the Son of God, or that He died on the cross. They say he will come back as Isa and descend to liberate the Islamic people from their oppression.[i] The Bible refutes that, warning against these false religions:
“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ... Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist — denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 18-19, 22-23).
What this scripture tells us is that any religion that challenges the deity of Christ is of the anti-Christ spirit. This anti-Christ spirit continues to fill and deceive this generation. Wrapped up in this doctrine is also the belief that a false messiah will arise out of Israel while their messiah arrives. This false messiah will be the sign that they are to wipe out the entire Jewish population. Their literature states:
“Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah said, “The Last Hour will not come until the Muslims fight against the Jews, until a Jew will hide himself behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him,’ but Al-Gharqad tree will not say so, for it is the tree of the Jews” Riyad as-Salihin 1820 (Book 18, Hadith 13).
Israel’s existence is preeminent in the Christian perspective of the end times and in Scripture. It’s not just a minor detail — it’s a necessary part of the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy. Our very own messiah arose out of Israel, so for Islamic literature to say that their anti-Christ will arise out of Israel is a direct contradiction of two very different religions. In fact, many pastors, writers, and scholars even argue that our anti-Christ is their messiah, and our messiah is their anti-Christ.
The great battle for earth started when Adam and Eve were in the garden, but it continues today and until Jesus returns. As we look at the cultural moment, we are in, we must pause and ask the Lord what His will would be for the church as we watch a false doctrine that seeks to destroy our homeland, our history, and our faith rise across the world. Islam is a religion that directly contradicts Christian values and seeks the destruction of Israel, a historically, politically, and spiritually vital nation. As Christians, we must take a stand, refusing to compromise or sit quietly while a religion that does not please the heart of God seeks to overrun our nation and the nations of the earth.
What can you do? First, educate yourself and share the gospel! Remember, they do not have a savior or helper to get them to the finish line. So, remind them that Jesus came to help and save them through His sacrifice! Second, go to your local city halls and meetings. Push back when legislation to build communities ruled by Sharia law is presented, as what recently occurred in Texas. Stand against the influence they have in our nation. This is a Western country — don’t be ashamed of that. Lastly, pray that the Holy Spirit would open their eyes to see the deception of Islam and that they would come to know the true Messiah.
“Therefore, do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
This article was written by Rebekah Harper and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
The artificial intelligence community just waved goodbye to yet another top safety and regulation official — and he offers a unique angle in his warning to the world.
David Robinson had been leading safety reports for OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Robinson resigned in the first week of October, stating that the industry’s approach to safety has been stemming from a broken culture. He penned the following words in a piece for The Atlantic, which contain more truth than perhaps he even knows: “The future depends on wisdom that Silicon Valley lacks.”
We’ll come back to that.
His departure comes on the heels of several other prominent AI safety researchers abandoning the industry. Their exits have paired with dreadful public warnings about the future of this technology, leaving the American people to grapple with the headlines and the unknown.
Take Jacob Coxon, for example. After leaving Claude developer Anthropic in September, he wrote on X that top tech labs are “gambling with our lives” by racing toward self-improving superintelligence. He went on to reveal that the people building AI “earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Comforting.
For clarity, the industry term “superintelligence” refers to a hypothetical AI system that developers believe could surpass humans in overall knowledge and capability. This could happen through recursive self-improvement (RSI) in which AI models design and continually improve their own successors.
While the Trump administration has taken to using the term as a reference to AI more broadly, Coxon used it as the industry intends: the potential nightmare of AI evolving beyond our ability to contain.
Let’s go back to David Robinson for a second. Beyond diagnosing the issue of a “lack of wisdom,” he went on in his article to describe the kind of wisdom that is desperately needed — the kind that shows us “how to handle dangerous technology and, more fundamentally … what it means to care for people.”
This kind of wisdom has only one source.
Proverbs 4:7 states, “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, acquire understanding.” The natural question is, how can true wisdom be acquired? Well, it is not gained by happenstance or by any means of passivity.
The word of God teaches that wisdom is found only, “if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure” (Proverbs 2:4).
That same proverb states that when wisdom enters the human heart, it bears fruits of knowledge, discretion, and understanding. Knowledge is pleasant, discretion brings protection, and understanding guards the one who finds it.
If those spearheading AI labs begin searching for wisdom with the same fervency as they do innovation, capital gain, and victory in the arms race, perhaps we might reap the benefits of honing a brilliant technology for human flourishing, rather than threatening it entirely.
In the absence of wisdom, we ought not to expect flourishing. Thus, the need for appropriate guardrails toward that end is becoming increasingly dire.
Whistleblowers coming forward to expose carelessness in the industry is a good thing. Speaking up when danger is on the horizon is profitable. What is not profitable, however, is responding in fear.
The wisest man in history, King Solomon, tells us, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
The pride of man has reared its head through the latest technology and means of production before. As soon as human beings had the chance, they took brick and mortar and built the tower of Babel, aiming to reach as high as heaven to make a name for themselves — not for the God who gave them clay, water, and sun in the first place.
Today, we are seeing the latest expression of that sinful pride: men thinking they can hold infinite knowledge without it destroying them. Casting wisdom aside, they trust in their own minds and technical ability rather than in God.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell to the temptation of wanting to be all-knowing, like God. He judged that decision then, and He will not be mocked now (Galatians 6:7).
There is nothing more urgent for the unbeliever than to humble themselves, fall on their knees, and cry out to the Creator for salvation. There is, likewise, nothing more urgent for the believer than to refuse every temptation to fear in these times — to live the joyful, abundant life offered to them in Christ.
It is not a suggestion to be unafraid. It is a commandment given us by God, time and time again throughout the Scriptures.
Do not stifle your witness to the watching world.
The book of Ecclesiastes warns us that there are many dark days in this life under the sun, and that we will encounter circumstances which are difficult, perplexing, and often don’t make sense. Yet, there are a few things that author King Solomon found to be good: “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot” (Ecclesiastes 5:18).
New threats to our livelihood may come at alarming rates, but our responsibility as Christians remains the same: Do not dread the future or fear the potential of “superintelligence.” Rather, “fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
So, keep breaking bread with those you love. Keep enjoying the toil and the lot that God has given you with a grateful heart. Regardless of the news cycle, and whatever may come out of Washington and Silicon Valley — rejoice in what you have been given.
Our lives are but a vapor, a mist, Solomon says. The years go by quickly, and soon, we will return to dust.
That need not be depressing — in fact, let it be motivating as you live the most upright, joyous, and noble life possible along the way. Be encouraged, for we have all the instruction we need to please God in every circumstance, including the ones out of our control.
God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” in Revelation 22:13. If God is the Omega just as much as He is the Alpha, what is there to fear?
At the end of all things, just as much as at the beginning — He is there. And He rules and reigns at every point in between.
Human history was born from and ends in perfect wisdom, and God will tie the final bow on our story.
Not Sam Altman, or Dario and Daniela Amodei, or Donald Trump, or Xi Jinping — but Jesus Christ will do it, who is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
This article was written by Erica Mendel and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
Entertainment has never been more accessible. A television, phone, or tablet can provide an endless stream of movies, shows, short videos, news, games, and social media without ever reaching the bottom of the screen.
But having more to watch doesn’t necessarily mean families are better served by what they’re watching.
For many households, entertainment has become noisy in more ways than one. Programs compete for attention with faster pacing, stronger language, darker storylines, sexualized content, graphic imagery, and increasingly provocative themes. Algorithms encourage one more episode or video, while families can end an evening having consumed hours of media without feeling particularly rested, encouraged, or connected.
That raises a worthwhile question: Is it time to replace some of that noise with faith-based family media?
For Christian families, the answer may have less to do with watching less and more to do with choosing better.
Noise isn’t necessarily about volume.
Media can be noisy when it constantly demands attention without giving anything meaningful in return. It can be entertainment built around shock, conflict, outrage, anxiety, or relentless stimulation. It can also be content filled with ideas and assumptions that compete with what parents are trying to teach their children.
Even material that isn’t overtly inappropriate can leave viewers feeling distracted or spiritually empty.
Philippians 4:8 gives Christians a useful standard for what deserves sustained attention, directing believers toward things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and praiseworthy. That doesn’t mean every program needs to quote Scripture. But it does challenge families to think about what repeatedly occupies their minds.
The phrase “media diet” is useful because entertainment has something in common with food: what is consumed occasionally matters less than what becomes normal.
One movie is unlikely to define a child’s worldview. Hundreds of hours of stories, characters, values, jokes, and messages over many years can have a much greater influence.
Children learn from stories. They notice which behaviors are rewarded, which relationships are celebrated, which beliefs are mocked, and what characters consider normal.
Adults aren’t immune either. Constant exposure to cynicism, fear, anger, or sexualized entertainment can gradually make those things feel ordinary.
Choosing faith-based media gives families an opportunity to put more spiritually nourishing material into that mix.
Parents can spend enormous energy saying no.
No, you can’t watch that show. No, that movie isn’t appropriate. No, we’re skipping this episode.
Boundaries are sometimes necessary, but they become much easier when there is also a good answer to, “What can we watch instead?” Faith-based streaming provides that replacement.
A family movie night could feature C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert, opening conversations about doubt, reason, and conversion. A documentary such as The Listening Road can introduce thoughtful conversations about how people from different backgrounds think about faith. 7 Days in the Holy Land can help families visually connect places in Israel with biblical events.
The goal isn’t simply to remove entertainment. It is to replace some of it with stories and ideas worth carrying into the next day.
One of the greatest advantages of watching Christian content together is what happens afterward. A program can naturally lead to questions that might otherwise feel forced:
Those conversations help turn viewing into family discipleship.
A documentary such as The Call, for example, can lead to discussion about the Great Commission and what evangelism looks like in ordinary Christian life. Way of the Master can prompt older children and adults to think about how they would talk about Jesus with someone who doesn’t share their beliefs.
The screen becomes the beginning of the conversation rather than the end of it.
Replacing noisy entertainment with Christian media doesn’t mean turning every evening into a classroom. Families still need stories, laughter, discovery, music, and relaxation.
Faith-based media can include movies, animation, travel programs, interviews, biographies, documentaries, podcasts, and conversations. Some content teaches Scripture directly. Other programs simply tell compelling stories shaped by faith, courage, forgiveness, or hope.
That variety matters because healthy family media should still be enjoyable.
The distinction is that entertainment doesn’t need to undermine a family’s beliefs in order to hold its attention.
Another benefit of intentional viewing is simply reducing the constant demand for stimulation. Mainstream digital media often encourages viewers to keep going. Finish one episode and another begins automatically. Watch one short video and dozens more appear. Attention itself has become valuable currency.
Faith-based streaming can help families establish a different rhythm.
Choose one documentary. Watch a devotional together. Listen to a meaningful conversation. Then turn the television off and talk.
Programs such as Groundworks with Steve Wiggins are particularly suited to this approach because brief, Scripture-centered episodes can provide meaningful input without consuming an entire evening. Living Fearless with Andy and Hedieh can similarly encourage thoughtful conversation about faith and everyday challenges.
The objective isn’t to fill every available minute with Christian programming. It’s to make more intentional choices about which voices receive the family’s attention.
Children eventually make their own media choices. Before that happens, parents have an opportunity to model discernment. That includes more than policing what children watch. Kids also notice what their parents consume.
If adults spend hours immersed in angry commentary, dark entertainment, or endless scrolling while telling children to make healthier choices, the message can become confusing.
Christ-centered leadership in the home means asking the same questions of adult entertainment that parents ask about children’s programming.
Those questions can gradually reshape a family’s media habits without requiring an overnight purge of every mainstream platform.
Real Life Network was created to provide a different kind of streaming environment.
Rather than placing biblical programming beside an enormous catalog of conflicting content, RLN carefully curates its library around Christian faith and biblical truth. Viewers can move between films, documentaries, podcasts, Bible teaching, cultural discussions, devotional programs, kids’ content, and live events without leaving that foundation.
That gives families something increasingly difficult to find in modern entertainment: a place where they can discover rather than constantly defend.
Parents still decide what fits the age and needs of their particular family. But the starting point is very different.
Replacing noisy entertainment doesn’t require rejecting technology, storytelling, or even every mainstream show. It means becoming more intentional about what receives a family’s limited time and attention.
Some entertainment merely fills a room. Better media can fill conversations, reinforce truth, encourage faith, and give families something meaningful to carry with them after the screen goes dark.
For Christian households, that makes faith-based family media more than an alternative. It can become one practical way to cultivate a home in which entertainment supports, rather than competes with, what matters most.
Explore biblically curated movies, documentaries, family programs, devotionals, and more anytime on Real Life Network.
Social science data continues to emerge showing that America’s young people are increasingly non-religious, isolated, and unhappy. But the data also shows that young people who are religious are thriving, with higher levels of happiness, more friends, are more likely to be married, and better educational outcomes than their non-religious peers.
Research released by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) notes that since 2000, reports of unhappiness among young people aged 20 to 35 has more than doubled, surging from 11% to 23%. This has coincided with an era where young people are isolating at unprecedented levels as they immerse themselves in screens, pornography, social media, video games, and AI chatbots. “Socializing among young men and women is down more than 50%, from 12 hours to 5 hours per week,” IFS observes. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a precipitous decline in relationships and dating, with two thirds of young people not in serious relationships and teen dating down 50%.
As unhappiness and loneliness has risen among young people, so too has secularism. In March, Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center reported that only 1% of Gen Z (ages 18 to 22) and 4% of adults in general has a biblical worldview (defined as “individuals whose beliefs and behaviors are consistently aligned with biblical principles”). The figure is down significantly since 1994, when 12% of adults reported a biblical worldview.
But married and religious young people seem to be largely escaping the unhappiness trap, with 50% saying they are “very happy” compared to just 16% of their secular, unmarried peers. As IFS points out, “faith and family remain two of the strongest bulwarks against loneliness and despair.”
For young men in particular, religion appears to be the hinge that catapults them into a future of contentment and success. Data shows that religious men are more likely to desire and attain marriage than those who are non-religious. They are also almost twice as likely to report feeling “very happy” and to say that life feels “purposeful/meaningful” than secular men. Religious men also report less mental health issues, anxiety, and depression. They also have bachelor’s degrees at far higher rates than non-religious men (46% vs. 16%) and report finishing trade school/apprenticeships at 29% (vs. 14% of secular men).
Where a happier minority of young people find meaning and purpose in religion, a far larger percentage appear to hold politics and government as their primary focal point, especially with the rising popularity of socialism.
“[M]y generation has grown up in a very hyper political age,” Counteract USA Founder and CEO Abigail DeJarnatt contended during “Washington Watch” Friday. “… [Many believe that] government can be the arbiter of morality. That’s what happens when Marxism infuses into our society. And that’s just what we’ve grown up with. So when you’re online and you’re on TikTok [watching] recipe videos, there’s also political ideologies that are being pushed on and talked about amongst Gen Z. So it’s not surprising at all that this is where we’re at, and I think we’ll just continue to see a lot more of it among young people.”
DeJarnatt further explained how her ministry is attempting to engage Gen Z with truth. “The primary thing that we’re focusing on with Gen Z Christians is teaching them a framework of biblical critical thinking,” she explained. “Because the reality is, a lot of Gen Z’s world is unfolding online. A lot of the conversations, online friendships, relationships. … What we’re trying to teach Gen Z to do is look at what they’re seeing online and ask, ‘Is it true? Is it not?’ … We’re trying to tell Gen Z [to] ask questions as fast as we’re scrolling online. Slow down. … And as Christians, we have to weigh that against the Bible itself.”
DeJarnatt went on to argue that a sense of self entitlement undergirded by Marxism has heavily influenced young people to abandon a solid biblical ethic. “[T]his Marxism that’s invaded our culture, just the hyper individualism in Gen Z,” she emphasized. “[Much of] Gen Z is [saying], ‘We aren’t happy with either political party.’ I think we have this idea that we can have it all. [It’s the] same framework of pick and choose our own ideology to the Bible. … [W]e think, ‘I like this, I don’t like this. I’m going to choose this. I’m not going to choose this.’”
DeJarnatt concluded by urging young believers to move beyond their comfort zones in order to spread the gospel to an isolated and unhappy wider culture.
“We see so many young Christians who are taught all these amazing things and their amazing churches that are Bible-based,” she noted. “They’re in Bible-based families that are going back to Scripture, but we need to teach Gen Z to take all the things that they know and actually apply them to the key conversations happening around us, having the conversations, just getting Gen Z to talk to each other … articulating those beliefs so that they actually become effective in wielding the sword of the spirit in the spiritual battle that’s raging all around us. They have the tools. They just need to know how to use them well.”
This article was written by Dan Hart and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
Something is happening among younger Americans. Spiritual questions have not disappeared. If anything, a generation often described as secular appears increasingly interested in religion, spirituality, meaning, and transcendence. That hunger deserves attention because hunger alone does not determine what eventually satisfies it.
That is one reason conversations about faith, culture, religious liberty, Israel, and the institutions shaping the next generation matter. Real Life Network exists to bring a biblical perspective into precisely those conversations.
The central question is not whether young people will believe in something. Human beings inevitably build their lives around some understanding of truth, identity, morality, and purpose. The more important question is what will shape those beliefs.
Joshua put the choice plainly before Israel: “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve.” There was no illusion of neutrality. Something would occupy the center.
A spiritually hungry generation will be formed by something. The question is what reaches it first.
That question becomes especially important when families, schools, churches, and courts disagree about religious formation.
A recent Maine custody dispute illustrates how complicated those conflicts can become. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld an order giving a father final decision-making authority concerning his daughter’s involvement with a particular Calvary Chapel congregation. The mother argued that the restriction violated her constitutional religious rights.
The details matter. The court rejected the characterization that it had determined Christianity itself was psychologically harmful. Instead, it said the lower court’s concerns involved messages the child received about her father and the effects of the parental conflict. That distinction deserves to be represented accurately even as the case raises significant questions about parental rights, religious upbringing, and how courts should navigate disputes involving faith.
Similar questions emerge in public schools.
Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas, recently faced scrutiny after a Muslim student organization reportedly described a school space as intended for Muslim prayer and said “only Muslims” would be allowed. Frisco ISD responded that the space is actually a “quiet room,” is not designated as belonging exclusively to one religion, and can be used for purposes other than prayer. District policy allows students of any faith to request reasonable opportunities for voluntary prayer.
That is the standard worth defending: equal religious liberty.
Christian students should be free to read Scripture, gather voluntarily, pray, and express their faith under the same rules that protect Muslim, Jewish, or other religious students. Religious liberty becomes unstable when society begins treating freedom of religion as something that must be protected for certain beliefs but restrained for others.
The answer to religious pluralism is not less religious freedom. It is the consistent application of religious freedom.
That principle matters because schools and courts do more than settle isolated disputes. They help establish the boundaries within which families and young people understand faith in public life.
The competition for belief extends well beyond churches and schools.
Entertainment, political movements, universities, influencers, social media personalities, and celebrities all participate in forming cultural assumptions. The influence can be especially powerful when it arrives as entertainment rather than instruction.
Consider the controversy surrounding actor Adam Brody. Brody, who stars as a rabbi in Nobody Wants This, recently told GQ that he considers Israel’s conduct in Gaza a “genocide” and expressed support for a free Palestine. GQ
That is Brody’s political position, and the characterization of Israel's conduct as genocide remains fiercely disputed. But the larger cultural question extends beyond one actor or one television program: what happens when entertainment, identity, politics, and moral formation become intertwined?
Audiences should be capable of encountering political opinions without automatically adopting them. The same standard applies across ideological lines. Celebrity does not establish truth. Popularity does not establish truth. A viral video does not establish truth.
Neither does political influence.
Rep. Ro Khanna recently called for Israel to release Marwan Barghouti, describing him as a potentially unifying Palestinian leader who could contribute to a peaceful Palestinian state. Barghouti, a prominent Fatah figure, is serving multiple life sentences after an Israeli court convicted him on five counts of murder connected to attacks during the Second Intifada. Barghouti rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denied the charges.
That creates a serious policy and moral debate. Supporters of Barghouti’s release view him as a potential political alternative in Palestinian leadership. Critics point to the murder convictions and argue that presenting his release as a path toward peace minimizes the victims and the violence for which he was convicted.
Those facts should not disappear behind political slogans.
The same principle applies to Israel and Gaza more broadly. October 7, Palestinian civilian suffering, Hamas’s actions, Israel’s military response, and the future of Palestinians and Israelis deserve serious examination rather than arguments inherited from celebrities, influencers, political parties, or social-media feeds.
Discernment begins when the source of an idea matters less than whether the idea is actually true.
That brings the discussion back to spiritual hunger.
A generation searching for meaning is not necessarily a generation returning to biblical Christianity. Interest in spirituality can lead toward Christianity, but it can also lead toward astrology, manifestation, political ideology, personalized spirituality, or countless other belief systems. The transcript’s central argument is precisely that distinction: spiritual appetite and Christian revival are not automatically the same thing. Pasted text
Christians should therefore resist two temptations.
The first is panic. Cultural change does not mean God has lost control.
The second is passivity. Confidence in God’s sovereignty has never meant indifference toward the formation of children, families, churches, or communities.
Parents are forming children. Teachers are forming students. Churches are forming congregations. Algorithms are forming users. Entertainment is forming audiences. Political movements are forming supporters. The question is not whether formation is happening. It is whether people recognize it.
Joshua’s challenge remains remarkably relevant: choose whom you will serve.
That choice reaches far beyond elections or partisan politics. It reaches into what is watched, what is believed, what is taught to children, what voices receive trust, what definitions of good and evil are accepted, and ultimately where authority is located.
A hungry generation is already at the table.
What matters now is what it is being fed.
Find more biblical perspective on faith, culture, Israel, and the stories shaping the next generation on The Daniel Cohen Show, streaming free on Real Life Network.
“The Declaration of Independence gives us three examples of ‘unalienable’ rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life is the first of those rights because it is the condition of the others. It is thus the most foundational of all rights.”
Those words come from the opening paragraph of a “Declaration for Life: A Statement from Christian Leaders,” spearheaded by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley (R). I joined Senator Hawley in releasing the declaration this week after a prayer breakfast with Missouri pastors who traveled to Washington for the occasion.
The biblically and historically guided statement lays out the reason for the declaration: “The divine image each human being bears was not earned. It cannot be forfeited. And it is the first duty of the Church to defend human dignity where it is denied.”
The Declaration says life is foundational because of both America’s founding principles and the biblical doctrine of the image of God. But what makes this declaration timely is that it does not stop with the prose of biblical purpose; it moves to practical application with what has happened since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Roe v. Wade did not end abortion in America. “Far from it. More abortions are performed in this country today than when Roe was still the law of the land.” The reason? Federal policy governing the abortion drugs, like mifepristone, that now accounts for over two-thirds of the abortions in the United States. The FDA dropped the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, and the DOJ refuses to enforce federal law that prohibits abortion materials being sent through the mail. The result? Mailboxes in America have been turned into potential abortion facilities.
From the abortion industry’s own estimates, annual abortions have gone from about 930,000 prior to the overturn of Roe to over 1.1 million — an over 20% increase. That comes despite the efforts of many states to protect the unborn.
There are Republican members of Congress and state leaders who continue to champion the unborn, but the Republican Party has gone all but silent on the issue of life. The strong pro-life language that was a part of the GOP platform for decades was removed, and little is said about abortion.
Political parties may change their platforms. Politicians may change their priorities. But the responsibility of the church does not change.
Proverbs 31:8-9 says, “Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”
In the context of that passage, it is a call to the king, the civil leader. But in America, ours is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We cannot simply outsource the responsibility for justice to those we elect.
We are called to defend the defenseless and speak for those whose voices have been silenced. Justice must have an advocate.
And that begins with life. Because the Declaration for Life gets this fundamental truth exactly right: life is the condition of every other right. If we will not defend the right that makes every other right possible, we weaken the foundation of justice itself.
To sign the declaration, text “declaration” to 67742.
This article was originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
A healthy society depends on institutions that understand both their responsibilities and their limits. Elections require rules voters can trust. Immigration requires laws that can be enforced while treating people with dignity. Schools and child-welfare agencies exercise enormous power, but parents retain profound responsibilities toward their children.
These debates may look unrelated. They are not.
Running through each is the same fundamental question: Who has authority, where does that authority come from, and what happens when institutions move beyond their proper boundaries?
For Christians, authority is neither meaningless nor absolute. Government has a legitimate role. Parents have a legitimate role. Laws matter. Compassion matters. And none of those principles should be rewritten simply because the political circumstances have changed.
That framework is increasingly important in an America where arguments over election administration, immigration, parental rights, and political power are testing public trust from several directions.
The Supreme Court recently blocked the Trump administration from implementing new Postal Service requirements for mail ballots before the 2026 midterms. The proposed system would have required states to provide lists of eligible voters and use USPS-approved, barcoded ballot envelopes. The Court divided 7-2, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. Justice Brett Kavanaugh indicated there was a reasonable argument that the Postal Service possesses authority to impose some requirements, but concluded that changing procedures this close to voting risked significant disruption.
There are legitimate disagreements over the proposal. The administration presented additional verification as an election-integrity measure. Opponents argued that the Postal Service was assuming authority traditionally exercised by states and that last-minute changes could prevent legitimate ballots from being counted.
Those arguments deserve more than slogans.
Election integrity and voter access do not have to be enemies. Americans should be able to expect systems that verify lawful votes while also ensuring lawful voters can participate. Confidence deteriorates when either concern is dismissed simply because it is associated with the other political party.
Trust cannot survive indefinitely when rules are treated as essential under one set of political circumstances and disposable under another.
The same principle applies to immigration.
The Trump administration has expanded the federal government's consideration of public benefits when determining whether certain immigrants qualify for permanent residency. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is leading a coalition of local governments challenging the new public-charge rule, while New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading a separate state lawsuit. The plaintiffs argue that the rule exceeds federal authority and could discourage immigrant families from using health care and nutrition programs for which they are legally eligible. The administration argues that the policy promotes self-sufficiency and reduces dependence on public assistance.
The legal dispute will work its way through the courts. The broader question is worth considering now: What obligations accompany legal immigration, and what obligations does a nation have toward those it admits?
Scripture commands God's people to treat the stranger with justice and compassion. It also recognizes governments, nations, boundaries, and civil authority. Biblical compassion cannot be reduced to a slogan for one immigration policy any more than biblical order can be used to excuse mistreatment of immigrants.
Hospitality and order are not inherently contradictory.
Nowhere does the question of authority become more personal than when the government intervenes between parents and children.
Joseph and Arlene Kutzko, a Catholic couple in Massachusetts, are fighting a legal battle involving their teenage daughter, Sophie. The parents say Algonquin Regional High School supported their daughter's male gender identity without their knowledge and that their religious objections later became intertwined with a child-welfare dispute. Sophie was removed from their custody in 2024, and the parents say they have since been prevented from maintaining contact with her.
The case includes important details that should not be ignored. An allegation of physical abuse against the father was reportedly found unsupported, according to recent reporting and the family's legal advocates. The family is now seeking to prevent testosterone treatment while pursuing its custody claims; treatment has reportedly been paused while litigation continues.
The family's account has become part of a much larger national disagreement over parental rights, gender identity, medical treatment for minors, religious liberty, and the circumstances under which child-welfare authorities should intervene.
Those are serious questions precisely because the state sometimes must intervene. Children can genuinely suffer abuse and neglect, and government has a legitimate responsibility to protect them.
But that extraordinary power also requires extraordinary care.
Parents should not automatically lose their authority simply because their religious or moral convictions conflict with prevailing cultural beliefs. At the same time, disagreements over a child's care cannot by themselves establish every fact in a contested custody case.
The power to protect children must never quietly become the power to require ideological conformity from their parents.
For Christians, parenthood is not merely a legal status granted by government. Scripture repeatedly places responsibility for the instruction and formation of children upon families. Government can protect children from genuine harm, but it should approach replacing parental judgment as an exceptional intervention, not an ordinary solution to ideological disagreement.
That distinction matters far beyond Massachusetts.
The question of authority also appears inside political parties themselves.
The Democratic National Committee has officially changed its early presidential-primary calendar for 2028. South Carolina will vote first, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia. The DNC says the calendar gives a more representative mix of voters an early role and better tests candidates across diverse constituencies and battleground states.
The change will inevitably affect campaign strategy. South Carolina's large Black Democratic electorate and Nevada and New Mexico's Latino populations will matter earlier than under the old Iowa-and-New Hampshire-centered system. But it is too early to know which prospective candidate, if any, will ultimately benefit most.
That uncertainty is important. Politics tempts people to treat every institutional decision as evidence of a predetermined outcome. Christians should resist that impulse just as strongly as they resist political naivete.
Political parties pursue power. Candidates pursue office. Governments exercise authority. Courts interpret law. None deserves the kind of unquestioning allegiance that belongs to God.
That should produce Christians who can think clearly rather than react predictably.
A Republican administration should not receive automatic approval merely because it invokes election integrity, immigration enforcement, or parental rights. A Democratic official should not receive automatic approval merely because a policy is presented in the language of compassion, democracy, or inclusion. Every claim still has to be examined.
Proverbs 14:34 provides a standard much older than any American political coalition: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
That standard does not change with election results.
Christian political discernment begins when truth matters more than protecting a party, an institution, or a preferred political narrative.
Government matters. Elections matter. Borders matter. Parents matter. Protecting children matters. So do due process, compassion, religious liberty, and the rule of law.
The difficult work is refusing to sacrifice one principle whenever another becomes politically convenient.
That is why Christians need more than political instincts. They need a biblical framework capable of asking not merely, Which side is doing this? but Is this true? Is it just? Is authority being exercised within its proper limits? And does the standard remain the same when political power changes hands?
Those are the questions worth continuing to ask through Real Life Network and The Daniel Cohen Show, where the headlines are examined alongside the deeper questions of faith, culture, government, and truth.
Choosing what your family watches used to be relatively simple. Today, children can encounter movies, shows, videos, games, social media, podcasts, and other digital content across multiple devices throughout the day.
That makes media decisions about more than whether a particular movie contains bad language or an inappropriate scene. Stories communicate ideas. Characters model attitudes. Entertainment can reinforce beliefs about relationships, identity, success, morality, authority, and what makes life meaningful.
Christian parents don’t need to approach every screen with suspicion. But thoughtful questions can help families move beyond simply asking, “Is this allowed?” toward developing genuine biblical discernment.
Here are seven questions worth asking.
Every story has heroes. Sometimes they’re obvious. Other times the audience is simply encouraged to sympathize with certain characters, choices, or lifestyles.
Ask what qualities the program presents as admirable. Is courage celebrated? Loyalty? Honesty? Sacrifice? Compassion? Or does the story consistently reward selfishness, dishonesty, disrespect, cruelty, or behavior that conflicts with what your family is teaching?
This doesn’t mean every protagonist must behave perfectly. Some of the best stories involve flawed people learning from mistakes.
The more important question is whether the story ultimately recognizes the difference between wisdom and foolishness, good and evil, truth and deception.
Media doesn’t always persuade through direct arguments. Often, it influences simply by repetition.
When children repeatedly see particular attitudes, relationships, behaviors, or beliefs presented as normal, those ideas can gradually begin to feel ordinary. That is why parents should pay attention not only to dramatic objectionable moments but also to the assumptions underneath a story.
What does the program communicate about marriage? Parents? Faith? Sexuality? Authority? Success? Human worth?
Children may not consciously identify those ideas, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t noticing them.
Parents can help by occasionally asking, “What do you think that show is saying about this?” That simple question teaches children to watch actively rather than absorb everything passively.
An age rating can be helpful, but parents know their children better than a rating system does.
Two children of the same age may react very differently to the same movie. One might handle a tense historical story well, while another has nightmares after mild suspense. One teenager may be ready to engage thoughtfully with difficult cultural questions while another isn’t.
Christian parenting requires more than finding the boundary of what is technically permitted.
Romans 14:19 encourages believers to “pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.”
A useful question, then, is not only, Can my child watch this? but Will this be beneficial for my child right now?
Sometimes the effect of media becomes clearer after the screen turns off. Does a child seem encouraged, curious, imaginative, or eager to talk? Or irritable, anxious, fearful, disrespectful, restless, or obsessed with watching more?
One viewing won’t necessarily reveal a pattern. But repeated reactions can tell parents something important.
The same is true for adults. Some entertainment leaves viewers refreshed. Other content leaves them angry, agitated, discouraged, or mentally exhausted.
Philippians 4:8 directs believers toward what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, commendable, virtuous, and praiseworthy. That provides a useful biblical framework for considering not just what enters the mind, but what it produces there.
A perfectly acceptable program can still become a problem if it consumes too much time.
The issue may not be what a child is watching. It may be what he or she is no longer doing. Is screen time replacing sleep? Outdoor play? Reading? Family conversation? Church involvement? Homework? Prayer and Scripture? Time with friends?
Sometimes the wisest media decision is not finding a better show but leaving the television off.
Healthy media habits recognize entertainment as one part of life rather than the center of it.
Parents don’t have to eliminate every story containing an idea they disagree with. Sometimes those moments provide valuable opportunities to teach.
Watching together allows parents to ask questions.
Those conversations help children build discernment that will eventually matter far more than parental controls.
Christian media can provide especially natural opportunities for these discussions. A program such as LifeWise Academy can lead into conversations about bringing biblical truth into everyday life. Genesis Science Minute can introduce questions about creation and science in just 60 seconds. The Pilgrim’s Progress can start conversations about temptation, perseverance, and following Christ.
The goal isn’t to interrogate children after every episode. It’s to make talking about ideas a normal part of family life.
This may be the most important question of all.
Parents spend years teaching children what is true, who they are, what relationships should look like, why Scripture matters, and what it means to follow Christ.
It makes sense to ask whether the family’s entertainment choices generally support those priorities or continually work against them. That doesn’t require every show to be overtly Christian. But intentionally including faith-based programming can help create a healthier balance.
Younger children might enjoy biblical programming such as Superbook, iBible, or Learn, Grow and Go! Older children and teens can explore apologetics through In Depth Apologetics for Kids or creation-focused content. Families can also choose movies, documentaries, Bible teaching, and programs built around Christian service, history, and worldview.
Real Life Network provides these kinds of options in one biblically curated streaming environment, giving parents a place to begin without having to sort through an enormous mainstream catalog first.
Parents cannot screen every piece of media their children will encounter forever.
Eventually, children become teenagers. Teenagers become adults. They choose their own movies, follow their own accounts, download their own apps, and decide which voices deserve their attention.
That’s why the long-term goal is bigger than creating a list of approved and prohibited programs. It is helping children learn to ask good questions themselves.
Those questions turn media discernment from a parental restriction into a lifelong Christian practice.
The goal isn’t a home without screens. It’s a home where screens know their place, parents remain engaged, and entertainment doesn’t get the final word on what children learn to value.
Explore free, biblically curated kids’ shows, family programs, movies, Bible teaching, and more on Real Life Network.
There are moments that should transcend politics.
A memorial honoring nearly 3,000 Americans murdered on September 11 should be one of them. It should be a place for grief, remembrance, gratitude, and reverence. Families who have carried that loss for 25 years deserve something increasingly rare in American public life: a moment in which their pain is not reduced to another political opportunity.
That is why images of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani smiling and laughing together during the 25th anniversary commemoration drew criticism. A photograph cannot reveal the context of every conversation or establish what prompted a smile. But juxtaposed with grieving families at Ground Zero, the moment raised a larger question worth asking: Does American culture still recognize that some things should be treated as sacred?
These are exactly the kinds of cultural questions worth examining on Real Life Network and The Daniel Cohen Show, where the headlines are considered alongside the biblical truths that should shape how Christians understand them.
Public leadership is not merely about legislation, budgets, speeches, or elections. Leadership also requires understanding the human consequences behind public events.
That principle extends far beyond a single 9/11 ceremony.
When thirteen American service members were killed during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, controversy followed images of President Joe Biden appearing to check his watch during the dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base. Biden later disputed some characterizations of the moment, but Gold Star families publicly described feeling disrespected.
Politics can make people remarkably selective about empathy. When someone on the other side suffers, compassion becomes conditional. When an uncomfortable tragedy threatens a preferred narrative, attention shifts somewhere else.
Christians cannot adopt that standard.
Human dignity does not change according to political usefulness. A child killed in an act of violence matters. A soldier returned home in a flag-draped casket matters. A family still grieving someone murdered on September 11 matters. An immigrant victim matters. An American citizen victim matters. Political affiliation does not determine the value of a human life.
A healthy society should be capable of looking at suffering and seeing a human being before seeing a political opportunity.
Jesus warned that a time would come when “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). That description should make Christians examine more than the behavior of politicians. It should make believers examine their own hearts.
Have politics made compassion selective? Has outrage become entertainment? Have human tragedies become useful primarily when they help defeat the other side?
If so, something far more important than an election is being lost.
The same problem appears when Christianity itself becomes a political instrument.
Texas politician James Talarico has increasingly incorporated Christian language into his political message. In one recent appearance, he invoked Matthew 25 while arguing that Jesus would condemn senators over food assistance, Medicaid, and deportations.
Christians should welcome politicians talking seriously about Scripture. But biblical vocabulary does not automatically make an argument biblical.
Matthew 25 unquestionably demonstrates Christ's concern for the vulnerable. Christians should care about hungry people, strangers, the sick, prisoners, and those suffering around them. But translating those commands directly into support for a particular government program requires an additional political argument. Christians can share the same biblical concern while disagreeing about which policies best address it.
The same principle applies to immigration.
Scripture repeatedly commands God's people to care for foreigners and strangers. Scripture also recognizes nations, governing authorities, boundaries, and civil order. Romans 13 gives government genuine authority, while Acts 17:26 speaks of God determining nations and their dwelling places.
Neither side gets to erase the passages that complicate its politics.
Scripture should judge political convictions. Political convictions should never be allowed to rewrite Scripture.
That requires biblical literacy.
A politician who can quote a verse fluently may still misuse it. A conservative can misuse Scripture just as easily as a progressive. Christians who know only fragments of the Bible become vulnerable to anyone capable of wrapping a political agenda in Christian vocabulary.
Read the Word. Know the context. Test the argument.
There is another quality disappearing from American life: the courage to stand alone.
The Lindsay Clancy case offers a difficult example. Clancy admitted killing her three young children but mounted an insanity defense. Her 2026 trial ended in a mistrial after eleven jurors favored acquittal and one juror held out.
According to another juror who later discussed the deliberations publicly, the lone holdout was a Black man.
Whatever conclusions people reach about the complicated legal questions surrounding mental illness and criminal responsibility, there is something worth recognizing in anyone willing to maintain a sincerely held conviction while an entire room pressures him to surrender it.
Standing with the crowd is easy. Standing alone costs something.
That lesson reaches far beyond a courtroom.
Christians will increasingly encounter moments when biblical convictions are unpopular, unfashionable, or professionally inconvenient. There will be pressure to remain silent because speaking could cost friendships, opportunities, influence, or reputation.
Conviction means deciding beforehand that truth matters more.
That does not grant permission to be reckless or cruel. Courage without humility quickly becomes arrogance. But humility without courage can become cowardice disguised as kindness.
Christian conviction requires both: the humility to recognize when we are wrong and the courage to stand when God's truth is clear.
America does not merely need better political messaging. It needs adults capable of recognizing sacred things, leaders who understand the human cost of their decisions, Christians who know Scripture well enough to recognize when it is being manipulated, and ordinary people willing to stand for truth when standing becomes uncomfortable.
Politics will continue changing. Candidates will come and go. Headlines that seem enormous today will eventually disappear.
The deeper question is what kind of people Americans are becoming in the process.
When nothing is sacred, everything becomes political. Christians should resist that transformation by recovering reverence, compassion, biblical discernment, and courage.
Continue examining the cultural and political stories shaping America through a biblical worldview on The Daniel Cohen Show, streaming free on Real Life Network.
Screens are part of modern family life. Children use them for school, entertainment, communication, creativity, and even Bible study. The question for Christian parents is no longer simply whether children should have screen time.
A more important question is: What is that screen time forming in them?
Every day, children are absorbing stories about what matters, what makes someone valuable, what relationships should look like, how problems should be solved, and what is ultimately worth pursuing. Some of those messages are obvious. Others are woven so naturally into entertainment that children may absorb them without recognizing them as messages at all.
For Christian parents, managing screen time therefore involves more than counting minutes. It means considering how media fits into the much larger work of spiritual formation.
Soul formation doesn’t happen only during family devotions or Sunday school.
Children are constantly developing beliefs, habits, desires, and assumptions about life. Parents, teachers, friends, churches, books, music, social media, and entertainment all contribute to that process.
Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21 NKJV). What consistently receives a person’s attention often begins to shape that person’s affections.
That makes attention an important part of parenting.
If a child spends a few minutes reading Scripture but several hours each day immersed in entertainment, games, videos, and social media, parents should at least consider which voices are receiving the greatest opportunity to influence that child.
Much of the conversation surrounding children and technology focuses on quantity: How many hours are too many?
That can certainly be useful. Families need boundaries, and unlimited access to screens can crowd out sleep, physical activity, responsibilities, relationships, church participation, and time outside.
But two children can spend the same amount of time watching screens and have very different experiences.
An hour spent watching random short-form videos isn’t the same as an hour spent watching a meaningful story with the family. A Bible program isn’t equivalent to a violent video game. A documentary that leads to an hour-long family conversation isn’t necessarily comparable to mindless scrolling.
Christian parents can therefore ask two questions:
How much is my child watching?
And just as importantly:
What is my child watching?
Stories carry values.
They teach viewers which characters should be admired and which should be ridiculed. They show what produces happiness, what makes someone successful, what families look like, how authority should be treated, and how people respond when something goes wrong.
Sometimes those values align with Scripture. Sometimes they don’t.
That doesn’t mean Christians can only watch explicitly Christian programs. It does mean parents should recognize that entertainment is rarely worldview-neutral.
An animated show can communicate ideas about identity. A sitcom can normalize particular attitudes toward marriage or parents. A superhero movie can raise questions about justice, sacrifice, and power. Even comedy reveals something about what a culture considers worthy of celebration or ridicule.
Helping children identify those messages is an important part of discipleship.
One way parents can become more intentional about screen time is by adding content that supports the beliefs and values being taught at home.
For younger children, Superbook brings biblical stories to life through animation, while iBible presents the biblical narrative in an accessible visual format. In Depth Apologetics for Kids can help children begin thinking about why Christians believe what they believe.
Older children and teens may benefit from programs that tackle larger worldview questions. The Creation Today Show explores creation, science, and apologetics, while LifeWise Academy content can encourage conversations about Bible education and living out Christian faith in the broader culture.
Sometimes even very short content can be useful. Genesis Science Minute with David Rives delivers a creation and science insight in just 60 seconds, giving parents an easy way to introduce a topic that can continue around the dinner table or in the car.
The point isn’t to replace every form of entertainment with a sermon. It’s to make sure some of the voices entering the home are intentionally reinforcing biblical truth.
One of the simplest ways parents can make screen time more formative is to participate.
Watching together gives parents opportunities to notice what their children are seeing and ask questions afterward.
These conversations do something parental controls cannot. They teach children discernment.
Eventually, parents won’t choose every movie, video, or social media post their children encounter. Children need more than a list of prohibited titles. They need the ability to recognize truth and error for themselves.
Shared viewing provides a low-pressure place to practice.
Even excellent Christian media has limits.
Watching a Bible program isn’t the same as reading Scripture. Streaming a church service isn’t the same as belonging to a local church. Listening to Christian conversations isn’t a substitute for talking with parents, mentors, pastors, and other believers.
Christian media should support those relationships and practices, not replace them.
Children need time to pray. They need unhurried conversations with parents. They need friendships. They need church. They need service, play, reading, outdoor activity, boredom, imagination, and face-to-face interaction.
Sometimes the most spiritually healthy decision regarding a screen is simply to turn it off.
Children notice what adults do.
A parent can establish strict limits for children while spending every spare moment checking a phone. That contradiction can communicate more than the rule itself.
Parents can model healthier habits by putting devices away during meals, choosing programming intentionally, avoiding endless scrolling, talking about why certain shows are or aren’t appropriate, and occasionally choosing something the whole family can watch together.
It also helps children understand that media discernment isn’t punishment.
It’s something Christians practice because what occupies the heart and mind matters.
The goal of Christian parenting isn’t to create children who have never encountered a questionable idea. Eventually, they will.
The deeper goal is to raise young people who know Scripture, love Christ, recognize truth, understand the beliefs shaping the culture around them, and have learned how to make wise choices.
Media can either make that job harder or help support it.
Real Life Network gives Christian families another option by offering free, biblically curated programming across children’s shows, Bible teaching, apologetics, documentaries, family content, and more.
Parents still have the responsibility to decide what fits their children and their household. But instead of spending every evening filtering an enormous mainstream library, they can begin with content created or selected to support a biblical worldview.
Screen time is ultimately only one part of childhood. Yet because screens occupy so much attention in modern life, they deserve thoughtful consideration.
The question isn’t simply, How long have they been watching?
For Christian parents, an even better question may be: Who are they becoming while they watch?
Explore free Christian kids’ programs, family shows, Bible teaching, apologetics, and more on Real Life Network.
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One year after the death of Charlie Kirk, there is much worth remembering about a life that ended far too soon. He was known across the country as a conservative activist, speaker, and founder of Turning Point USA. But the convictions that increasingly defined his public life went deeper than politics. Kirk spoke openly about his faith in Jesus Christ, his love for his wife and children, and his belief that strong families were essential to the future of America.
When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Kirk pointed to courage and his Christian faith. Those who worked closely with him likewise described his relationship with Christ as the most important part of his life. He used an enormous platform not simply to discuss elections and public policy, but to encourage people to follow Jesus and take their faith seriously.
That priority deserves to be remembered.
Kirk also understood something increasingly countercultural: the future of a nation is inseparable from the health of its families.
He married Erika in 2021, and they had two children. Fatherhood became an important part of the message he shared with young Americans. He encouraged young adults to pursue marriage, welcome children, leave behind empty pursuits, and build something that could endure beyond themselves. His wife later recalled that marriage and family were among the greatest joys of his life.
That message mattered because Kirk spent much of his career speaking directly to young people. He founded Turning Point USA at only 18 and built an organization centered on engaging the next generation in the future of the country.
Yet preserving America was about more than winning elections. A country ultimately depends upon the character of its people, the strength of its homes, and the convictions parents pass to their children.
If we want to honor Kirk's life, admiration is not enough. We should imitate what was worthy of imitation.
Go to Real Life Network to watch great moments from the life of Charlie Kirk.
That means having the courage to profess Christ when doing so carries a cost. It means building strong marriages and treating parenthood as a calling rather than an inconvenience. It means investing in young people instead of surrendering the next generation to whatever ideas happen to dominate the culture. And it means being willing to enter conversations with people who disagree rather than retreating from difficult questions.
Kirk became famous in part because he was willing to walk onto college campuses, take questions, defend his convictions, and invite disagreement. His example should encourage Christians to develop convictions strong enough to withstand opposition without becoming afraid of the people on the other side.
Most importantly, his legacy should point beyond politics.
Political victories pass. Organizations change. Elections are won and lost. But faithfulness to Christ, love within the home, children raised with conviction, and lives invested in others carry significance far beyond an election cycle.
Charlie Kirk cared deeply about America's future. His life offered a reminder that the work of building that future begins with faithfulness to God, courage in the public square, and commitment to the family at home.
Go to Real Life Network to watch great moments from the life of Charlie Kirk.
For decades, television newsrooms held enormous power over what Americans saw and what they never heard about. Producers chose the lead story, decided which events deserved follow-up coverage, and determined which stories would disappear after a few seconds or never make air at all.
That power has weakened, but it has not disappeared.
Today, independent media provides an opportunity to ask a question that traditional news organizations too often avoid: Why do some stories receive national attention while others with serious implications are barely acknowledged?
On Real Life Network, The Daniel Cohen Show goes where the news leads, especially when those stories intersect with faith, culture, politics, and a biblical worldview. Several recent stories provide an important reminder that media bias isn't limited to how a story is reported. Sometimes the more consequential decision is whether to report it at all.
Pastor Martin Sedra and his wife, Millicent, recently experienced something no family should have to endure.
Sedra pastors Echo Church in Sydney, Australia, and has publicly spoken about Christianity, Islam, abortion, marriage, and other controversial cultural issues. According to video and the Sedras' account discussed on the show, masked protesters arrived outside their home shortly after the couple welcomed their first child. The group allegedly cut power to the house, threatened the family, and said they would return.
Whatever someone's political or religious disagreements with Sedra, threatening a family at its home crosses a line that should be obvious.
Yet the incident received little attention from major news organizations at the time it was discussed on the show.
That story comes alongside another troubling development: a series of fires involving churches.
The former St. Agnes Church in Toledo, Ohio, burned over the weekend. Another Toledo church, St. Anthony's, had suffered a fire only weeks earlier. Other recent church fires discussed on the program included Friendship Baptist Church in Cleveland, St. Simon Church in New Brunswick, Canada, and Buckingham Presbyterian Church in the United Kingdom. Importantly, the causes of these individual fires should not be assumed before investigators determine them.
But the broader problem of hostility toward churches is documented. The Family Research Council reported hundreds of hostile incidents against churches in 2024, including dozens categorized as arson or attempted arson.
That deserves attention.
Christians should resist the temptation to declare every church fire an act of religious persecution without evidence. At the same time, repeated attacks against Christian institutions should not become background noise simply because they do not fit the cultural narrative preferred by a newsroom.
Media bias isn't only found in misleading words. It can also be found in the stories that never receive enough attention for Americans to ask questions about them.
The same standard should apply regardless of the victims. An attack on a church should matter. An attack on a synagogue should matter. An attack on a mosque should matter. Threatening a Christian family should matter just as an attack against people because of their sexuality should matter.
Consistency is the test.
A shooting outside a gay bar in Tucson raises precisely that question.
According to the account discussed on the program, two men were killed outside Venture-N by a gunman who later killed himself. Police reportedly found a note identifying additional LGBTQ businesses, raising concerns that the victims had been deliberately targeted. The show also highlighted reporting that the shooter was born in Gambia and was described by a relative as a practicing Muslim.
There is no justification for murdering innocent people because of their sexuality. None.
But there is also no justification for minimizing relevant facts about an attack because those facts complicate a preferred political narrative.
This is where consistency becomes essential. If the religious beliefs of a professing Christian attacker would become part of national coverage, the same journalistic curiosity should exist when an attacker comes from another religious background.
The point isn't to blame millions of peaceful Muslims for one man's actions. It is to report relevant facts without deciding beforehand which ones the audience is allowed to consider.
That principle also applies inside conservative media.
The departure of longtime Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo has generated questions after reports that she disagreed with a programming decision concerning coverage of a presidential address. According to the reports discussed on the show, Bartiromo wanted to cover President Trump's remarks and planned additional discussion afterward. Weeks later, she departed the network, which characterized the move as a business decision. The precise internal circumstances remain disputed and should be described accordingly.
But the episode illustrates a larger point.
A journalist's responsibility is not to protect viewers from stories executives consider inconvenient. It is to pursue information, establish facts, provide context, and allow audiences to evaluate what happened.
A news organization loses something fundamental when protecting a narrative becomes more important than pursuing a story.
That standard shouldn't change depending on whether the network is CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, or anyone else.
It is also why independent outlets matter. They cannot guarantee perfect journalism, and they should be held accountable like everyone else. But a decentralized media environment makes it considerably harder for a handful of executives to determine the boundaries of public discussion.
Media institutions aren't the only institutions Americans should scrutinize.
Parents should be asking similar questions about schools.
A video discussed on the program featured a kindergarten teacher describing an exercise in which young children were asked whether they wished they had been born another gender. Students who raised their hands were then invited to choose different names. The teacher subsequently posted that she had been fired and lost her teaching license.
Whatever debates adults want to have about gender, five-year-olds should not become instruments for an adult's ideological project.
Parents possess a responsibility that cannot simply be transferred to teachers, administrators, politicians, or government agencies.
That becomes particularly important as politicians increasingly speak about children collectively. Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, for example, has argued for policies based on imagining that “all of our kids were all of our kids,” connecting that idea to public education, health care, and child care. The program contrasted that philosophy with the conviction that parents retain the primary responsibility for raising and forming their children.
Schools certainly have an important role. Good teachers deserve gratitude and respect. But education never happens in a worldview vacuum. Someone is always teaching children what is true, what is good, what a human being is, and where authority ultimately resides.
For Christians, those questions cannot be surrendered to the state.
Parents can delegate instruction, but they cannot delegate their God-given responsibility to know what their children are being taught and who is shaping their worldview.
That principle connects these seemingly unrelated headlines.
News organizations shape what adults believe is important. Schools help shape what children believe is true. Politicians attempt to shape what citizens believe government should provide. Corporations increasingly communicate their own moral and cultural priorities.
In each case, Christians need discernment.
The answer is not paranoia, and it isn't assuming every institution is corrupt. It is paying attention. Ask what is being taught. Examine what is being omitted. Compare claims against the evidence. And above all, measure cultural messages against Scripture rather than allowing the culture to determine how Scripture should be understood.
That is increasingly necessary in an age when the most revealing part of a story may be the part someone decided wasn't worth telling.
Watch The Daniel Cohen Show on Real Life Network for news and commentary connecting the headlines to the good news through a biblical worldview.
One morning, I was riding my bicycle along Washington, D.C.’s Anacostia River when an egret glided over the trail. The pure-white wading birds have always fascinated me with their elegant stillness and regal grace. They look even more impressive on the rare occasions when they spread their wings and take flight, making them look even larger. Yet this impromptu bird-watching experience came to an abrupt and discordant end. The moment before the egret swooped into the brush and out of sight, he made like a bomber and dropped a load of ordnance worthy of an animal twice his size.
A graceful bird, caught in its least graceful position.
The minor incident nearly passed out of my mind until I realized that this un-constipated egret provided an apt example for man’s complex condition. From beginning to end, mankind’s creation is the gift of God. We are created in God’s image and likeness, given dominion over every living thing, and blessed with the good command to fill the earth with God’s image-bearers through procreation (Genesis 1:26-28). Yet our first parents squandered these divine blessings through disobedience and rebellion, for which they were cast out of God’s presence (Genesis 3:22-23) and condemned to die (Genesis 2:17).
Man is a graceful bird, caught in his least graceful position.
Christianity’s nuanced view of human nature becomes incomprehensible without the first three chapters of Genesis. This is why so many human philosophies veer into error on either one side or the other. Most human philosophies boil down to the opinion that man is basically good, or that he is basically bad. Only the Bible (and those influenced by the Bible) can explain how man is created good, but corrupted.
Mankind’s complex condition affects every aspect of our lives, even the way we work. Before anything had tarnished God’s “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31), we read that “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Work is not a consequence of the fall, but a basic function of man, which God created for good. Adam’s task was merely to imitate God’s own example in creative effort (Genesis 2:9), and it carries religious undertones, as the same verbs are used to describe service at the tabernacle in Numbers 3.
However, mankind’s work did not escape the Fall unscathed. Not only was Adam cast out of the lush garden into uncultivated land, but God also declared, “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:17-19).
The ground was Adam’s domain of work. By extension, this curse extends to all arenas of work. All work is toilsome, demanding, and sometimes fleeting, as the whole creation is “subjected to futility” (Romans 8:20).
Man is a graceful bird, caught in his least graceful position.
Again, the Bible’s complex theology of work has better power to explain the different attitudes people have towards their work than the fractured, individualistic worldviews dominant in America today. Some people love their jobs, while some people hate them. Why? Can individualism or critical theory offer a satisfying answer to this question? (Critical theory would blame group oppression, but that is not satisfying.)
The Bible has an answer. Some people love their jobs because work is a gift from God — a good gift that God created as part of his blessing on mankind. Even in a fallen world, the wise preacher concludes, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God” (Ecclesiastes 2:24, see also Ecclesiastes 5:18-19 and 9:9). Yet some people also hate their jobs because work is cursed after the Fall.
Man is a graceful bird, but he is still caught in his least graceful position.
The very unseemliness of the aforementioned egret’s evacuation is what makes it an appropriate metaphor for fallen man under sin. “We have all become like one who is unclean,” Isaiah confesses, “and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6). We need one who can wash our filth away, to achieve for us what we could never achieve by our own works.
Even though work is good, it is not ultimate. The Lord God engaged in his creative work for six days, “and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done” (Genesis 2:2). Just as man was made to imitate God’s work, so man was also supposed to imitate God’s rest (Exodus 20:8-11). But, under the curse of sin, that rest became fleeting and far off.
From the earliest generations, Adam’s descendants sought one who would restore them to God’s rest. Thus, Noah’s father Lamech said in hope, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands” (Genesis 5:29). Yet Noah did not bring an end to toil, hard labor, or the futility of human industry. Nor did Moses, Joshua, David, or any human leader called by God throughout history. All were sinners, after all.
Yet painful toil under the curse is not man’s final condition, for “there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). Those who are forgiven of their sins by the blood of Christ receive true grace. They are not only restored to right fellowship with God, but they also receive eternal life and enter into God’s rest.
For now, we recognize that all honest work is good. “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23). “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). “It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops” (2 Timothy 2:6). But work is not ultimate, and one day our painful toil will come to an end.
Man is a graceful bird, and one day his graceless condition will be remedied in full. One day, those who are in Christ will enter into the glory and rest of their Redeemer.
This article was originally written by Joshua Arnold and published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
Christianity makes specific claims about God, Jesus, Scripture, morality, and the meaning of life. Apologetics asks whether those claims can stand up to serious questions.
That makes Christian apologetics much more than learning clever responses to skeptics. It is the process of examining what Christianity teaches, why Christians believe it is true, and how those beliefs compare with competing explanations of reality.
First Peter 3:15 calls believers to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” That defense is not meant to be combative. It is meant to be thoughtful, truthful, and grounded in a faith that is willing to be examined.
Here are seven important apologetics conversations that can help Christians better understand the foundations of their faith and become more prepared to talk about them with others.
Christianity begins with a foundational claim: God exists, and He is the Creator of everything.
Apologetics asks whether there are good reasons to believe that claim is true. Christian thinkers often point to the beginning of the universe, the remarkable order and fine-tuning found in creation, the existence of objective moral standards, and the question of why anything exists at all.
These arguments do not attempt to reduce God to a scientific formula. Instead, they challenge the idea that belief in God is irrational or unsupported.
This conversation can be especially important for Christians who have heard that faith and reason are opposites. Examining the evidence can reveal that belief in a Creator rests on substantial philosophical and scientific questions that atheism must also account for.
Christianity also makes a historical claim: God has revealed truth through Scripture.
That raises important questions. Has the Bible been accurately preserved? Are the Gospel accounts historically reliable? Do archaeology and ancient history support or undermine the people, places, and events described in Scripture?
Christian apologetics does not ask believers to simply assume the Bible is trustworthy. It looks at manuscript evidence, textual transmission, historical corroboration, archaeology, eyewitness testimony, and the remarkable preservation of the biblical text.
Because Christianity is rooted in events claimed to have happened in real history, those claims can be investigated.
For many believers, studying this evidence does more than help answer objections. It deepens confidence that the Bible they read today is connected reliably to the texts written in the ancient world.
No Christian truth claim is more important than the resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14 that “if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” Christianity therefore does not present the resurrection merely as a symbolic story about hope. It presents it as an event in history.
Apologetics examines the facts surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion, the empty tomb, the testimony of His followers, the reported appearances after His death, and the dramatic change in disciples who moved from fear and hiding to publicly proclaiming that they had seen the risen Christ.
The central question becomes: What explanation best accounts for the evidence? If Jesus truly rose from the dead, then His claims about Himself, God, salvation, and eternal life deserve to be taken seriously.
Another common claim is that modern science has made Christian belief unnecessary. But Christianity and science are not answering precisely the same questions. Science studies the natural world and how it functions. Christianity makes broader claims about why the universe exists, where its laws come from, why life exists, and whether creation ultimately points beyond itself.
Christian apologetics explores questions such as: Did the universe have a beginning? Why does nature operate according to consistent laws? How did life originate? What explains the extraordinary complexity found in living systems?
These are not questions Christians need to fear.
Apologetics gives individuals an opportunity to examine creation, science, and biblical claims together rather than accepting the assumption that faith and serious inquiry cannot coexist.
Christianity claims that God is both good and powerful. The reality of suffering therefore creates one of the most difficult apologetics questions. If God is good, why does He allow pain, injustice, disease, natural disasters, and death?
This is not merely an abstract philosophical puzzle. For someone who has suffered deeply, the question may be intensely personal.
The Bible does not minimize suffering. Its pages are filled with grief, lament, injustice, persecution, and loss. Christianity teaches that the world is fallen, human beings possess genuine moral agency, evil has real consequences, and God is working toward a final restoration in which suffering and death will not have the last word.
Good apologetics should never treat another person’s pain as an intellectual exercise. But it can show that suffering does not make Christianity incoherent. In fact, Christianity offers a framework for understanding both why the world is broken and why there is reason for hope.
Christianity also makes moral claims. It teaches that some things are truly right or wrong because morality is grounded in the character of God. That raises another important question: Are moral truths objective, or are they simply personal and cultural preferences?
If morality is entirely subjective, then statements such as “torturing innocent people is wrong” ultimately become expressions of opinion rather than statements about reality. Yet people routinely speak as though some actions are genuinely unjust, regardless of what an individual or society happens to approve.
Christian apologetics asks whether that universal moral intuition points beyond humanity to an objective moral lawgiver.
This conversation has significant implications for modern debates involving human dignity, justice, sexuality, family, freedom, and the value of human life. Before debating individual issues, it can be helpful to ask the deeper question: Where does moral authority come from in the first place?
Perhaps one of Christianity’s most challenging claims in modern culture is Jesus’ statement in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
That claim sounds exclusive because it is exclusive. Christianity teaches that reconciliation with God comes through Christ. But apologetics asks an important follow-up question: Is Jesus justified in making that claim?
The answer depends on who Jesus is. If He is simply one religious teacher among many, His words may sound unreasonable. But if He is truly the Son of God who died and rose again, then His claim carries unique authority.
The conversation therefore circles back to the historical case for Jesus Himself.
Christianity does not claim that Christians are morally superior to everyone else. It claims the opposite: Every person needs salvation. The Gospel teaches that God has provided that salvation through Christ and offers it freely to anyone who believes.
These conversations can seem intimidating at first, but apologetics does not require a theology degree.
Real Life Network offers free programs that help people examine Christianity’s major truth claims and think more carefully about difficult questions.
Cross Examined with Frank Turek explores topics such as the existence of God, morality, the resurrection, Scripture, and common objections to Christianity. The Creation Today Show examines questions involving science, creation, and worldview. Other RLN teaching and interview programs address biblical reliability, cultural issues, and the reasons Christians can have confidence in what they believe.
These resources can be useful for personal study, parents and teens, small groups, or anyone who wants to become better prepared for conversations about faith.
Christian apologetics does not promise an instant answer to every question. What it does offer is an invitation to examine Christianity seriously.
If Christian claims about God, Jesus, Scripture, morality, and salvation are true, they should be able to withstand honest investigation. And the more carefully believers understand those claims, the better prepared they become to explain why their hope is grounded in more than sentiment or tradition.
Explore free Christian apologetics and biblical worldview programming anytime on Real Life Network.
When people discover a new streaming platform, one of the first questions they often ask is: Is there a free trial?
That makes sense. Most streaming services today require a monthly subscription, a limited trial period, or tiered upgrades before viewers can fully access content. But Real Life Network works differently.
The simple answer is this: RLN does not require a free trial because the entire platform is ALREADY FREE to watch.
There are no subscription tiers, hidden fees, or surprise upgrades needed to access the content.
Real Life Network was created with a mission-first approach rather than a subscription-first model. The goal is to make biblical teaching, faith-based programming, documentaries, podcasts, and family-friendly content accessible to as many people as possible without financial barriers.
Instead of charging viewers, RLN is supported entirely through the generosity of donors who believe in the mission of Real Life with Jack Hibbs and the broader outreach of the network.
This allows viewers to:
For many families, this removes a major obstacle and makes faith-based streaming far more accessible.
Unlike many mainstream streaming platforms, RLN does not require:
Viewers can simply create an account and begin watching.
This straightforward approach reflects the network’s focus on ministry and outreach rather than maximizing subscriptions.
Even though RLN is free, the platform includes a wide variety of content across multiple categories. Viewers can explore:
Programs such as Real Life with Jack Hibbs, A Daily Walk, Bridge Bible Talk, Way of the Master, and documentaries like Before the Wrath and C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert are all available without requiring a paid subscription.
Streaming costs can add up quickly. Many households already juggle multiple subscriptions across entertainment, music, and live TV platforms. By offering free access, RLN gives families a way to add faith-based content into their homes without increasing monthly expenses. It also makes it easier to:
This accessibility is especially meaningful for viewers who are exploring Christian content for the first time.
Most modern streaming services are built around subscriptions because content licensing and original production are expensive. Christian streaming platforms often operate differently, especially those tied closely to ministry outreach.
RLN’s donor-supported model allows the platform to focus on:
Rather than asking viewers to “upgrade” for better access, the platform is designed to make truth available as broadly as possible.
Another common concern with streaming services is cancellation. Many viewers are frustrated by complicated account systems or unclear billing structures. RLN keeps the process simple.
If a user decides they no longer want an account, they can:
There are no cancellation fees, hidden commitments, or subscription complications because there is no paid membership attached to the account.
The reason RLN can remain free is because many people believe biblical teaching and Christ-centered content should remain widely accessible. Supporters of Real Life with Jack Hibbs help fund:
Their generosity allows viewers around the world to access content without worrying about cost barriers.
Real Life Network does not offer a free trial because it doesn’t need one. The platform is already free to access, with no subscriptions, hidden fees, or premium tiers required.
That approach reflects the heart behind the network: making biblically grounded content available to anyone seeking truth, encouragement, and faith-based programming.
Explore free Christian streaming anytime on Real Life Network.
Throughout history, people have looked to their leaders for strength, wisdom, and direction. But here's a question worth asking: who do our leaders look to?
Our Founders understood something that seems almost forgotten today. They believed rights came from God, not government. That's why the Declaration of Independence speaks of our Creator. The idea was simple but profound: if our rights come from God, then government cannot legitimately take them away.
For most of American history, if your job title was President of the United States, then securing the free exercise of religion wasn't a side issue — it was part of the job description.
From the very beginning, George Washington understood that. Washington spoke of Divine Providence and believed the success of the nation depended on something higher than human ambition. In 1790, he assured a Hebrew congregation in Newport that the government "gives bigotry no sanction" and "persecution no assistance." He set a tone that religious liberty would not belong to one group but would be protected for all.
John Adams carried that same conviction forward. He warned that nothing was more dangerous than the government meddling with religion. For Adams, liberty and morality were inseparable, and freedom without virtue could not survive.
Thomas Jefferson, who was often misunderstood, insisted that rights come from our Creator, not government. And when he spoke of a "wall of separation between church and state," he was arguing for protection of faith from government interference — not the removal of faith from public life.
James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, went even deeper. He believed conscience itself could not be governed — that no authority on earth had the right to control what a person believes before God.
So, when we talk about religious liberty in America, we're not talking about a modern idea or a political talking point. We're talking about something woven into the foundation of this country. And that thread continues through American history.
Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of national crisis, turned repeatedly to prayer and spoke openly of God's sovereignty over the nation. His Second Inaugural Address reads less like a political speech and more like a sermon on accountability before God.
Even later presidents carried this understanding forward. Benjamin Harrison, a devout Presbyterian elder, lived his faith openly and led prayer meetings long before and during his time in leadership. His convictions were part of how he governed and how he lived.
William McKinley, a lifelong Methodist who once considered entering the ministry, leaned heavily on his faith during moments of national decision, including times of war and uncertainty. He understood leadership as stewardship under God.
And Ronald Reagan, in the modern era, put it plainly when he said, "Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant, and the rule of law under God is acknowledged." He believed, simply, that without God, democracy cannot endure.
Now, none of these men were perfect. That's not the point. The point is that across centuries, from Washington to Reagan, there has been a consistent recognition: leadership is strongest when it is humbled by something greater than itself.
One worldview says authority begins and ends with man. The other says authority ultimately comes from God. And that difference shapes everything — from how a nation defines freedom, to how it protects conscience, to how it understands human dignity.
That's why the conversation about faith in the public square still matters today. Not because government should replace the church, but because leaders, like the rest of us, are shaped by what they believe about truth, authority, and God. It isn't really about politics. It's about whether faith still has a place in the public square. It's about whether moral truth exists beyond political power. And it's about whether leaders should seek wisdom from sources greater than themselves.
There is one man who quietly stood at the intersection of faith and power for more than half a century. Not a president. Not a politician. But a pastor. And that was Billy Graham.
Graham once said that whether the story of Christ is told in a huge stadium, across the desk of a powerful leader, or shared with a golfing companion, it satisfies a common hunger. He understood something most people in power eventually discover -- fame, authority, and success don't silence spiritual need. They reveal it.
Over the course of American history, that truth played out in remarkable ways. Every U.S. president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama met with Billy Graham while he was alive. Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, when presidents faced crisis, war, scandal, or personal decisions, many of them asked for one thing: prayer and counsel.
It began simply with Harry Truman. In 1950, a congressman called Billy Graham and asked if he'd like to meet the president. Without any briefing on protocol, he agreed and went in with three colleagues to speak with President Truman, who told Graham that he lived by the Sermon on the Mount. Before he left, the two prayed together. Years later, Truman warmly received Graham at his home in Independence, Missouri.
Dwight Eisenhower invited Graham's counsel during moments of military and national tension, once calling him "an ambassador of heaven." Graham later said Eisenhower was the first president who really asked his counsel in depth, when he was sending troops into Little Rock. Just before Eisenhower died, Graham was invited to see him at Walter Reed Hospital. After talking again about assurance of salvation, the two men prayed.
John F. Kennedy spent time with him just before taking office, reflecting on the moral condition of the nation.
And Lyndon Johnson — perhaps one of the presidents closest to him — invited Billy Graham into the White House repeatedly. Graham later recalled that whenever he said, "Let's have a prayer," Johnson would kneel beside him.
Richard Nixon and Billy Graham had known each other since 1950, and over the years they developed a real personal friendship. While Nixon was often seen as private and complicated in public life, Graham experienced something different behind the scenes — he found him warmer and more compassionate than the public image suggested.
Nixon was also shaped by his Quaker background, and in private moments he would often ask Graham to pray with him and read Scripture when they met. But during the final year of his presidency, as Watergate intensified, those meetings stopped. It was later reported that Nixon didn't want Graham drawn into the scandal, or "tarred with Watergate."
Gerald Ford defended their friendship publicly, saying Graham's visits were "get-togethers of old friends" with no political agenda. Jimmy Carter called his reputation "above reproach."
Ronald Reagan credited Billy Graham with deepening his own prayer life, especially after the assassination attempt in 1981, when Graham immediately came to pray with the Reagan family. Reagan said it was through Billy Graham that he found himself praying even more than daily, and that in the position he held, his prayers increasingly were for the wisdom to make decisions that would serve God and be pleasing to Him.
George H.W. Bush said no one could be president without understanding prayer, and credited Graham with helping him understand that truth. Bill Clinton remembered hearing him preach as a boy in Arkansas and later described his ministry as always completely private, always completely genuine. George W. Bush said a private conversation with Billy Graham in Maine planted the spiritual seed that led to his own faith renewal. Barack Obama visited him in North Carolina and prayed with him privately. And even Donald Trump met him during a celebration honoring his ministry legacy.
Different eras. Different politics. Different personalities. But a consistent pattern: when the most powerful leaders in the world needed grounding, many of them turned to a pastor.
Billy Graham never accepted political appointments, even when presidents like Johnson and Nixon offered them. He refused every time — because he understood his role was not to govern, but to point people back to God. And maybe that's why presidents trusted him. He wasn't there to manage policy. He was there to remind them of something higher than policy. Something higher than power. Something higher than themselves.
In a culture where leadership is often measured by influence, Billy Graham quietly reminded us that true leadership is measured by humility. And that raises a question worth sitting with: if some of the most powerful men in the world needed spiritual counsel, what does that say about the rest of us?
Because whether you're in the Oval Office or living an ordinary life, the truth remains the same. We all need wisdom beyond ourselves. We all need grounding beyond politics. And ultimately, we all need a foundation that doesn't shift with the times.
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In August 2026, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, removing the state's remaining gestational limits on abortion and giving health care providers broader discretion to perform the procedure later in pregnancy without legal consequence. The room applauded. Hard
to believe, I know. Massachusetts now stands alongside nine other states and the District of Columbia in permitting abortion up to the moment of birth.
Healey framed the law as protection for families facing devastating medical news late in pregnancy, and as a shield against a more restrictive national climate. But protection is not the word for it. What this law actually does is strip away the last legal limit on when a child's life can be ended — clearing the way for abortion up to the very moment of birth. Pro-life advocates have rightly called this what it is: the United States is now one of only a handful of countries on earth with no gestational limit on abortion whatsoever, and laws like this one expose late-term children, who can feel pain, who can survive outside the womb, to the most violent procedures medicine performs.
An entire room stood and applauded that.
There's something our culture rarely talks about, something this signing makes impossible to ignore: the faces we can see. The lives that are here.
I'm talking about the people who survived abortion attempts.
For decades, abortion in America has largely been discussed through politics, court decisions, and ideology. But behind all of that — there are human beings. And some of those human beings survived.
They are alive today. They have names, stories, families, and voices. You can look into their eyes and hear them tell you what happened. And that changes the conversation. Because suddenly abortion isn’t theoretical or abstract. It’s personal.
There are documented cases of babies surviving abortion procedures in the United States. Survivor organizations have worked to bring visibility to those stories. Survivors have spoken publicly about living with physical injuries, emotional trauma, and the lifelong reality of knowing someone once tried to end their life before they were even born.
One of the most well-known survivors is Melissa Ohden, who survived a saline infusion abortion and has spent years speaking publicly about her experience and advocating for the born alive.
And even actor Sylvester Stallone spoke recently about being told by his mother that an attempted abortion failed before he was born. He has stated that his mother told him, "The only reason you're here is because the hanger didn't work.
Think about that for a moment. These are not "hypotheticals." These are people. People who laugh. Who love. Who contribute to the world. People made in the image of God.
And Scripture could not be clearer about the value of life.
Psalm 139 says: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in mymother's womb."
And Jeremiah 1:5 says: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you."
That means human worth is not determined by circumstance. Not by convenience. And not by whether a life was planned, expected, or even wanted by others.
Value comes from God. Because God is the author of life.
And when we hear the stories of abortion survivors, we are forced to confront a reality our culture often tries to avoid: What happens when the child survives? What happens when the life everyone was told would never matter... is standing right in front of us? With a face, a voice, and a testimony?
And maybe that is why these stories are so powerful. Because they remind us that every life carries purpose. Every life — not some, not only the easy or convenient lives. Every life.
Now I also know this conversation touches a deep pain for many people. There are women — and men — who carry grief, regret, and wounds connected to abortion. And the Christian message is not that forgiveness is impossible. It’s the opposite. There is grace through Christ. There is healing through God. And there is most assuredly
redemption at the cross.
But truth still matters. And the truth is that these survivors exist. They are living proof that what is in the womb is not potential life. It is life.
There are moments when we are reminded just how fragile life really is. Hearing the voices of people who survived abortion attempts, looking into the faces of people who were never expected to live — it changes something. It forces us to remember that every single life carries value.
Not because society assigns it value, or because government recognizes it. And not because culture approves of it. But because God created it.
Every life.
And maybe that's the deeper message in all of this. Not just that life should be protected — although it absolutely should. But that life should mean something. That our lives should count for something greater than ourselves.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Think about that. Prepared beforehand. That means your life is not random. It is not accidental. And it is never without purpose. Not the child in the womb, the struggling mother, or the survivor whose story seemed impossible. Not you.
We are told that we were created for good works — that we have nothing to do with — God already prepared those good works for us before we were even born. All we need do is to walk in them.
God wastes nothing.
And the truth is, none of us knows how long we've been given here. But we do get to decide what we do with the time we have.
Will we use our lives to protect what is vulnerable? To stand for truth when it's unpopular? To bring light into places that have grown dark? Will we make our lives count and walk in good works?
Because one day, titles won't matter. Politics won't matter. Fame won't matter. What will matter is whether we lived with courage, loved well, stood firmly in truth, and whether we pointed people toward God.
That is a life that counts.
And maybe the people who survived what should have taken their lives understand that better than most. Because when someone survives what should have taken their life, they tend to understand something very deeply: life is a gift. A sacred gift. And gifts from God are never meant to be wasted.
So wherever you are today — whatever your story may be — remember this: you were created on purpose. By God. For a purpose. Because of that we should commit to live courageously, stand faithfully, and love boldly. And dedicated in love to the One who created you to make your life count.
This subject was explored in depth on an episode of Rose Unplugged on Real Life Network; “Choice is a Person”.
Streaming was supposed to make entertainment easier. Instead, many Christian families now find themselves spending more time filtering, previewing, skipping, and explaining what appears on their screens.
Popular mainstream platforms still offer plenty of enjoyable programming, but the overall viewing environment has changed. Libraries are larger, mature content is easier to encounter, and shows often reflect values that do not align with a biblical worldview.
As a result, some Christian families are reconsidering where they spend their viewing time and turning toward faith-based streaming platforms instead.
The shift is not simply about avoiding bad content. For many families, it is about choosing something better.
One of the biggest frustrations with mainstream streaming is the amount of supervision it can require.
Parents may need to research a movie before watching it, check content ratings, monitor recommendations, or keep the remote nearby in case something unexpected appears. Even children’s profiles and parental controls cannot always eliminate questionable themes, previews, or suggestions.
Christian streaming platforms reduce much of that friction by curating the library before content reaches the viewer.
At Real Life Network, programs are intentionally selected by a team of Christians committed to biblical truth. Content is evaluated not simply for whether it is technically “clean,” but for whether its overall message aligns with Scripture.
For parents, that means less time policing and more confidence in what the family chooses to watch.
There is an important difference between content that is merely harmless and content that is genuinely helpful.
A movie can contain no profanity or explicit sexuality and still offer very little that strengthens faith, character, or family life. Many Christian families are beginning to ask a different question:
Instead of simply avoiding what is harmful, what if the family watched more content that actively reinforces what matters?
Faith-based streaming gives families access to Bible teaching, Christian documentaries, testimonies, apologetics, devotionals, and programs built around truth, courage, forgiveness, evangelism, and spiritual growth.
That turns screen time into an opportunity rather than simply a neutral activity.
Every story says something about what is true, valuable, admirable, or worth pursuing.
Sometimes those messages are obvious. Often they are subtle.
A show may communicate assumptions about relationships, human identity, authority, morality, success, or the purpose of life without ever stating them directly. When those assumptions appear repeatedly, they can gradually influence how viewers understand the world.
Christian parents increasingly recognize that media is one of the many forces shaping their children’s worldview.
Faith-based platforms offer a more consistent foundation. Whether viewers are watching a documentary, listening to a podcast, or enjoying a family program, the content is selected with biblical truth in mind.
That consistency can help reinforce what children are already learning through Scripture, church, and discipleship at home.
Mainstream streaming can easily separate a household into individual screens. One child watches one series, another watches something completely different, and parents have their own shows.
Christian streaming can create more opportunities to watch together.
A documentary can lead to a conversation about faith. A Bible program can prompt questions from children. A testimony can introduce discussions about courage, suffering, or God’s faithfulness.
Real Life Network includes programming across a wide range of interests and ages, from films and documentaries to Bible teaching, cultural discussions, podcasts, and family content. Programs such as The Listening Road, The Call, and So True with Philip De Courcy give families different ways to engage with faith-centered stories and teaching without relying on the same type of programming every night.
The value is not simply what happens on the screen. It is what can happen after the screen goes dark.
Most Christian parents would never expect television to disciple their children. But media inevitably participates in formation.
What a family repeatedly watches affects conversations, attitudes, interests, and expectations.
That is why some households are intentionally redirecting a portion of their entertainment time toward content that supports spiritual growth.
A Christian streaming platform can make it easier to build small discipleship rhythms into ordinary life. A short devotional can become part of breakfast. A podcast can play during a road trip. A documentary can become the focus of a family evening. A teaching program can help an older teen wrestle with a difficult biblical question.
Streaming does not replace prayer, Scripture, church, or parental leadership. But it can either compete with those things or help reinforce them. Families increasingly want the latter.
Perhaps the biggest difference is not one individual program. It is the environment surrounding it.
On a mainstream platform, family-friendly programming sits alongside mature entertainment, conflicting worldviews, and content designed for entirely different audiences. Algorithms, thumbnails, and recommendations can move viewers quickly from one category to another.
A Christian platform begins with a different assumption: The entire environment should serve the viewer well.
Real Life Network is built around that idea. Its library is curated for biblical integrity, and programs that stray from that standard are not included simply because most of their content is good.
That creates something increasingly valuable in modern media: trust.
Parents still have an important role in deciding what is appropriate for each child and age level, but they are starting from a much stronger foundation.
Leaving or reducing time on mainstream platforms does not necessarily mean rejecting every secular movie or television show. Christian families will make different decisions about what they watch.
The larger shift is toward intentionality.
Instead of allowing algorithms to determine what fills the home, families can decide what deserves their attention. Instead of constantly asking, “Is this okay to watch?” they can also ask, “Is there something better we could be watching?”
That is where Christian streaming offers a compelling alternative.
Families can enjoy entertainment while also discovering content that encourages faith, strengthens biblical understanding, and creates opportunities for meaningful conversation.
For Christian households trying to lead their homes with greater purpose, changing streaming habits can be a small decision with a lasting influence.
Explore biblically curated movies, programs, documentaries, and teaching anytime on Real Life Network.
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For many believers, live worship is a meaningful part of their Christian experience. Whether it’s a concert, a special worship night, or a large conference gathering, music has a unique way of drawing people together and pointing hearts toward God.
But not everyone can attend these events in person. That’s why many people are now asking: Can I watch Christian music concerts online?
The answer is yes. Christian streaming platforms increasingly offer access to worship events, concerts, and music-centered programming, bringing these experiences into homes around the world.
Christian music events are now regularly recorded and streamed through dedicated platforms. Some are broadcast live, while others are made available on demand after the event. Viewers can typically access:
This allows people to experience worship beyond a single moment, revisiting it throughout the week or sharing it with others.
There are two primary ways Christian concerts are streamed.
Live events create a sense of shared experience. Viewers know they are watching alongside others, often at the same time as the in-person audience. This can feel especially meaningful during large gatherings, conferences, or special worship nights.
On-demand content offers flexibility. Viewers can watch at their convenience, pause or revisit songs, and incorporate worship into personal or family rhythms.
Most platforms now offer a combination of both.
Streaming a worship concert is not exactly the same as being in the room, but it offers its own advantages. High-quality video and audio allow viewers to focus on lyrics, musicianship, and the message behind the music.
Online concerts often provide:
For many households, this becomes a regular part of their week rather than a one-time experience.
Real Life Network includes a variety of music-centered programming and worship experiences that help bring this kind of content into everyday life.
In addition to teaching and documentaries, viewers will find:
Because RLN’s content is curated, these worship moments are part of a broader experience—one that includes teaching, Scripture, and encouragement rather than existing in isolation.
Streaming Christian concerts isn’t just about convenience. For many families, it has become part of their spiritual routines. Parents may:
While it doesn’t replace gathering with a local church, it can support a home environment where worship is present throughout the week.
Mainstream platforms may feature concerts as entertainment. Christian streaming approaches them differently: as worship.
That distinction matters. The focus shifts from performance to purpose. Songs are not just heard; they are engaged with. Lyrics are not just catchy; they are meaningful.
This changes how viewers interact with what they watch. Instead of passive consumption, it becomes participation.
Watching a Christian concert online can be more than background content. A few simple steps can make it more meaningful:
These small shifts turn a viewing experience into something more intentional.
Christian music concerts are no longer limited by location. Through streaming platforms, worship experiences can now reach homes, families, and individuals wherever they are.
For those who want to incorporate more worship into their daily lives, online Christian concerts offer a simple and accessible way to do so.
Explore worship-centered programming and more anytime on Real Life Network.
