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Biblical Worldview
World News
25 min
A Hungry Generation Is Looking for Something to Believe
A spiritually hungry generation is searching for something to believe. From religious liberty and cultural influence to Israel and politics, the question is not whether young people will be formed, but what will shape their understanding of truth.
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.
Religious Freedom Has to Mean Religious Freedom
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.
Culture Is Competing for the Next Generation
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.
Everyone Is Being Formed by Something
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.
World News
25 min
Hyde Amendment Approaches 50th Anniversary Having Saved almost 3 Million Babies
As the Hyde Amendment approaches its 50th anniversary, lawmakers and pro-life advocates are reflecting on its history, its impact on federal abortion funding, and the continuing debate over abortion policy in America.
“An innocent, defenseless human life, in a caring and humane society, deserves better than to be flushed down a toilet or burned in an incinerator.” Such are the words of Henry Hyde, the former U.S. congressman from Illinois who tirelessly championed life and introduced the Hyde Amendment in 1976. Almost 50 years later, the legislative rider faces the opportunity to be renewed again.
For a half-century, the Hyde Amendment has stopped taxpayer dollars from funding abortion.
On Wednesday evening, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, hosted a Special Order on the House floor to acknowledge the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment on September 30. “The promise of America is that life is not just for the privileged, the planned, or the perfect,” Smith said, quoting Hyde. “This may sound odd, even ironic; you are here in the flush of victory. And yet it is precisely now that I ask you to contemplate the possibility of defeat, perhaps even the necessity of defeat. If you don’t know the principle or the policy for which you are willing to lose your office, then you are going to do damage here.”
Quena González, senior director of Government Affairs at Family Research Council, explained to The Washington Stand that Smith and Hyde have a history. “Representative Chris Smith served with Representative Henry Hyde for 26 years; he’s been a tireless defender of the unborn in Congress for 45 years and comes as close as anyone to carrying Hyde’s inimitable mantle.”
After the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the U.S. government paid for an estimated 300,000 abortions each year via Medicaid. According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, since the Hyde Amendment’s first enactment in 1976, approximately 2.7 million lives have been saved.
During Wednesday’s event, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) asserted that society has a duty to protect the unborn. “Life matters. Who are we as a people if we cannot stand up in defense of the most innocent form of life there is — a child in the womb of its mother? That should be our calling. And we should be able to unite as human beings in defense of the defenseless.”
Legislative Assistant for FRC’s Government Affairs Chantel Hoyt praised what House members shared during the Special Order. “I appreciated seeing Representative Chip Roy connect this important anniversary to the toll that chemical abortion is taking,” she told TWS. “It’s encouraging to see members like Representative Chris Smith carrying on Henry Hyde’s legacy and seeking to not only retain but build on the protections of the Hyde Amendment.”
Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) observed during the House event that he believes that abortion is not consistent with the Constitution. “Hyde should not be viewed as the finish line for the pro-life movement. It’s the floor. It’s a bare minimum compromise,” he shared. “America is founded on the self-evident truth that every person is created equal and endowed with our creator with an inherent right to life. That right is the foundation of every other right that we enjoy. As a father, I believe that every child is fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Every life has value, every child has purpose, and no child is a mistake.”
The Special Order and Hyde Amendment anniversary come at a time when chemical abortion has become a hot button issue on Capitol Hill. Pro-life politicians, lobbyists, and organizations continue to work tirelessly to ban the abortion drug mifepristone. “It’s always great to see members of Congress speak on the floor in defense of life, but especially now as we are urging the Trump administration to take action on chemical abortion to protect mothers and their babies,” Hoyt concluded.
This article was originally written by Quinn Delamater and published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
World News
25 min
Who Has the Authority? Government, Families, and the Institutions Americans Are Asked to Trust
Election security, immigration, parental rights, and political power raise a common question: Who has authority, and what happens when government institutions move beyond their proper boundaries?
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.
Trust Requires Rules That Apply Consistently
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.
When Government Authority Enters the Home
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.
Political Power Is Not the Highest Authority
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.
7 Family Media Questions Every Christian Parent Should Ask
What children watch can shape what they admire, accept as normal, and learn to value. These seven questions can help Christian parents evaluate entertainment thoughtfully and teach their children lifelong biblical discernment.
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.
1. What Is This Teaching My Child to Admire?
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.
2. What Does This Program Treat as Normal?
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.
3. Is This Appropriate for My Particular Child?
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?
4. How Does My Child Feel After Watching It?
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.
5. Is Screen Time Crowding Out Something Better?
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.
6. Can This Become a Conversation Instead of Just Consumption?
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.
- Why do you think that character made that choice?
- Was it wise?
- What consequences followed?
- What does the Bible teach about that issue?
- How would following Jesus change the way someone responds?
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.
7. Does Our Entertainment Support the Kind of Home We’re Trying to Build?
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.
Teach Discernment, Not Just Rules
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.
- What is this teaching me?
- Does it agree with what I know to be true?
- How is it affecting my thoughts and attitudes?
- Is this worth my time?
- Would I make this same choice if Jesus were sitting beside me?
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.
A Guide to Free Christian Streaming: News, Bible Teaching, Family Shows, and More
From Christian news and Bible teaching to apologetics, podcasts, documentaries, movies, and kids’ programs, free Christian streaming gives individuals and families more ways to enjoy content that supports a biblical worldview.
Christian streaming has grown far beyond Sunday sermons on demand. Today, viewers can find Christian news, Bible teaching, apologetics, podcasts, documentaries, movies, children’s programs, cultural discussions, devotional content, and live events without paying for another monthly subscription.
For families accustomed to searching across YouTube, television networks, podcast apps, and multiple streaming services, having those options together in one place can make Christian media much easier to discover.
Real Life Network offers all of it for free. Whether you’re looking for something to watch with your children, a Bible teacher to follow throughout the week, a podcast for the commute, or news viewed through a Christian worldview, there are thousands of episodes and many different types of programming to explore.
Here’s a guide to what you can find.
Christian News and Cultural Commentary
For viewers who want to stay informed without leaving their biblical worldview at the door, Christian streaming offers an alternative to relying exclusively on mainstream news.
RLN News covers national and international developments from a Christian perspective, while The Daniel Cohen Show brings a particular focus to Israel, global affairs, culture, and the intersection between current events and faith.
Other programs approach culture from different angles. Rose Unplugged features interviews and conversations about issues shaping society. Cure America with Star Parker examines public policy, faith, freedom, and the cultural questions facing the nation.
Viewers interested in deeper examinations of particular issues can also turn to documentaries such as Truth Rising, The Great Global Reset, and The Eye of the Storm.
Together, these programs give viewers more than headlines. They encourage Christians to consider what is happening in the world in light of Scripture.
Bible Teaching and Sermons
Bible teaching remains at the heart of Christian streaming, but there is no single style.
Real Life with Jack Hibbs offers Bible teaching with application to Christian living and the issues believers face today. A Daily Walk with John Randall provides steady verse-by-verse teaching, while So True with Philip De Courcy brings biblical truth into practical areas of everyday life.
Bridge Bible Talk takes a different approach, allowing listeners to hear actual questions about Scripture, doctrine, and Christian living discussed in a conversational format.
Viewers can also explore the Legacy: Pioneers of the Faith collection for teaching from influential Christian voices of previous generations, including Billy Graham, Chuck Smith, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and others.
For someone who wants to move beyond occasional sermon viewing and develop a regular habit of biblical learning, there is plenty to explore.
Apologetics, Creation, and Biblical Worldview
Some of the most useful Christian streaming content begins with difficult questions.
Does God exist? Can the Bible be trusted? How should Christians think about science and creation? What evidence supports the resurrection? How can believers respond when friends challenge Christianity?
Cross Examined with Frank Turek tackles many of those questions through Christian apologetics. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist also examines the evidence and reasoning behind central Christian truth claims.
For questions involving creation and science, viewers can explore The Creation Today Show and ICR’s Creation Podcast. In Depth Apologetics for Kids makes some of these same kinds of questions approachable for younger audiences.
There is also Lamps Lit Youth Prophecy Conference, which gives teens and adults an opportunity to explore Bible prophecy through sessions with Jeff Kinley, Todd Hampson, and Jack Hibbs.
These programs can be useful for personal viewing, family discussions, youth groups, and small-group studies.
Christian Podcasts and Conversations
Sometimes watching a full teaching program isn’t practical. Podcasts make Christian content easy to fit into driving, exercise, chores, or other parts of the day.
The Jack Hibbs Podcast discusses Scripture, culture, current issues, and Christian living in a conversational format. Ignite with Barry Meguiar focuses on helping believers become more comfortable sharing their faith.
The Prophecy Pros Podcast with Jeff Kinley and Todd Hampson explores biblical prophecy, while Victor Marx brings conversations shaped by ministry, hardship, faith, and real-world experiences.
For something much shorter, Groundworks with Steve Wiggins offers brief, Scripture-based devotional teaching that can fit into just a few minutes.
There are also programs such as Living Fearless with Andy and Hedieh, which offers conversations about faith, courage, and living faithfully through difficult circumstances.
Christian Documentaries and Movies
Christian streaming also gives viewers access to stories that can educate, challenge, and entertain.
For apologetics and prophecy, Before the Wrath explores the connection between ancient Galilean wedding customs and biblical teaching concerning Christ’s return.
Those interested in Christian history and biography can watch titles such as C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert, Billy Graham: A Life Remembered, Billy Sunday, and Louis Zamperini: Captured by Grace.
Other documentaries offer very different experiences. The Listening Road follows conversations about faith across America. The Call examines what can happen when the Great Commission becomes part of a church’s culture. 7 Days in the Holy Land takes viewers to biblical locations, while Scarred Earth considers the Grand Canyon from a creationist perspective.
Families looking for a movie night can explore titles including Seven Days in Utopia, The Jesus Film, and the animated The Pilgrim’s Progress.
The variety is an important point. “Christian entertainment” no longer describes just one kind of program.
Christian Shows for Kids and Families
Parents looking for alternatives to mainstream children’s programming have their own selection of options.
Superbook brings children into the events of Scripture through animated adventures. iBible presents the biblical narrative visually, while Ryan Defrates: Secret Agent combines humor and adventure with lessons about Christian character.
Star-Spangled Adventures gives children an animated introduction to American history and faith, and The Pilgrim’s Progress provides a full-length family movie based on John Bunyan’s classic Christian allegory.
These programs can do more than occupy children’s screen time. They give parents opportunities to ask questions, discuss Scripture, and connect entertainment with family discipleship.
Evangelism, Ministry, and Christian Leadership
Christian streaming can also help believers put their faith into practice.
Way of the Master focuses on evangelism and real Gospel conversations. Ignite with Barry Meguiar encourages Christians to share their faith naturally in everyday situations. Content from Samaritan’s Purse provides glimpses of Christian service and humanitarian ministry around the world.
For those serving in churches, ministries, workplaces, or other leadership roles, RLN also offers leadership-focused teaching designed to connect biblical principles with the responsibilities of Christian leadership.
These programs help move Christian streaming beyond simply learning more. They encourage viewers to consider what faithful action looks like.
One Free Platform, Many Ways to Watch
A Christian streaming library can serve very different purposes from one day to the next. Monday might mean catching up on the news. Tuesday could include a Bible teaching during lunch. A podcast might accompany Wednesday’s commute, followed by a documentary with a small group on Thursday and a family movie on Friday night.
That breadth is one of the advantages of Real Life Network.
Instead of searching separately for Christian news, sermons, apologetics, podcasts, movies, children’s programming, and documentaries, viewers can explore them in one biblically curated environment without adding another subscription bill.
For anyone wondering whether free Christian streaming offers enough variety to become a regular part of their viewing, the answer is worth discovering firsthand.
Explore free Christian news, teaching, podcasts, documentaries, movies, family shows, and more anytime on Real Life Network.
World News
25 min
When Nothing Is Sacred, Everything Becomes Political
From the solemnity of September 11 to the use of Scripture in politics, America faces a deeper question about what it still considers sacred. Christians are called to respond with compassion, biblical discernment, and the courage to stand for truth.
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.
Leadership Requires More Than the Right Policies
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.
Biblical Language Cannot Become Political Branding
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.
Courage Means Refusing to Follow the Crowd
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.
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World News
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.
Religious Freedom Has to Mean Religious Freedom
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.
Culture Is Competing for the Next Generation
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.
Everyone Is Being Formed by Something
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.
25 min
September 29, 2026
Daniel Cohen
Entertainment & Lifestyle
Christian families have more streaming choices than ever. Alongside mainstream services, a growing number of platforms now offer Christian movies, Bible teaching, children’s programming, documentaries, inspirational series, apologetics, and family-friendly entertainment.
But the best Christian streaming platforms serve very different purposes. Some are built around biblical teaching. Others focus on movies, children’s programming, Bible studies, or simply giving families cleaner entertainment options.
Here are 10 Christian and faith-oriented streaming platforms worth considering.
1. Real Life Network: Best for Christian Teaching and Faith-Based Programming
Cost: Free
Real Life Network offers one of the broadest combinations of biblical programming available without a subscription fee. The donor-supported platform includes Bible teaching, Christian news, apologetics, documentaries, podcasts, kids’ programs, movies, cultural commentary, and live events.
Viewers can find programs such Real Life with Jack Hibbs, RLN News, The Daniel Cohen Show, Cross Examined, The Creation Today Show, Superbook, and many other offerings within one biblically curated environment.
Unlike services centered primarily on movies, RLN is particularly strong for viewers who want entertainment combined with biblical teaching and programs addressing faith, culture, current events, and worldview.
Best for: Christians looking for a broad, free streaming platform built around biblical truth.
2. Pure Flix: Best for Christian Movies and Family Entertainment
Cost: Paid subscription; plans begin at $9.99 per month
Great American Pure Flix is one of the best-known Christian streaming services for faith-forward movies and scripted entertainment.
Its catalog combines original series, Christian films, family dramas, Christmas programming, kids’ shows, and uplifting entertainment centered on faith, family, and traditional values. Multiple membership levels are available, with higher tiers adding features such as special screenings and early access.
For viewers who want a faith-oriented alternative to browsing mainstream movie libraries, Pure Flix remains one of the strongest options.
Best for: Christian movies, original series, family dramas, and faith-centered entertainment.
3. UP Faith & Family: Best for Wholesome Family Entertainment
Cost: $5.99 per month or $59.99 annually
UP Faith & Family offers thousands of hours of commercial-free family movies, dramas, series, and inspirational entertainment.
Its catalog is broader than explicitly Christian programming. Viewers will find faith-friendly movies alongside wholesome family dramas and popular series such as Heartland.
That distinction makes UP Faith & Family particularly useful for households looking for cleaner entertainment without requiring every program to function as Christian teaching.
Best for: Wholesome dramas, family movies, romantic stories, and uplifting entertainment.
4. Faith Channel: Best for Faith-Based Shows and Inspirational Content
Cost: Free
FaithChannel is a free Christian streaming service offering movies, television shows, documentaries, preaching, teaching, music, podcasts, children’s programming, and other inspirational content.
Its growing library includes programming from a variety of independent Christian ministries and content producers. Titles range from Heroic Faith and The Torchlighters to apologetics, Bible prophecy, family films, podcasts, and children’s shows.
Because much of its catalog comes from different creators and ministries, viewers can encounter a particularly wide variety of formats and perspectives.
Best for: Exploring free Christian films, independent programs, teaching, podcasts, and inspirational content.
5. Go Minno: Best for Christian Kids’ Shows and Bible-Based Content
Cost: $10.99 per month or $69.99 annually after a free trial
Minno is designed specifically for Christian families with younger children.
Its library includes more than 175 shows, including the classic VeggieTales collection, Bible stories, music, educational programs, and Christian children’s entertainment. Families can stream across multiple devices and download programming for offline viewing.
Because the service is built specifically for children rather than including kids’ programming as one category within a larger library, it gives parents a focused alternative to mainstream children’s streaming.
Best for: Preschool and elementary-age children, Christian cartoons, Bible stories, and faith-based learning.
6. Yippee: Best for Safe, Faith-Focused Kids’ Entertainment
Cost: $7.99 per month or an annual subscription after a free trial
Yippee combines Christian children’s television with the energetic creator-driven format kids often encounter online.
Its library includes thousands of episodes from hundreds of series and movies, including Superbook, Christian programming, music, educational shows, and parent-approved creators. Yippee emphasizes that its environment contains no ads and no recommendation algorithms.
That makes it especially attractive to parents whose children enjoy online video but who want more control over what appears next.
Best for: Families seeking a Christian alternative to children’s YouTube viewing.
7. RightNow Media: Best for Bible Studies and Church Groups
Cost: Access is generally provided through subscribing churches and Christian organizations
RightNow Media is less like Netflix and more like an enormous digital discipleship library.
It offers more than 25,000 video Bible studies covering Scripture, marriage, parenting, leadership, finances, recovery, Christian living, and other topics. The service also includes more than 2,000 children’s episodes and downloadable materials for many studies.
Rather than purchasing individual subscriptions, users generally receive access through a participating church, ministry, or organization.
Its combination of teaching videos and discussion materials makes RightNow Media particularly useful for small groups and church ministries.
Best for: Bible studies, small groups, church discipleship, leadership development, and Christian education.
8. RedeemTV: Best Free Christian Film Streaming Platform
Cost: Free
RedeemTV offers more than 2,000 faith-filled titles without subscription fees or advertising.
Its donor-supported library includes Christian movies, documentaries, animated programs, television series, and family entertainment. Titles include The Pilgrim’s Progress, Vindication, Fragments of Truth, Ryan Defrates, and many others.
RedeemTV is especially strong for viewers whose primary interest is films and entertainment. Real Life Network offers a broader mix of teaching, news, cultural programming, and entertainment, while RedeemTV concentrates more heavily on movies and series.
Best for: Free Christian movies and shows without commercials.
9. VidAngel: Best for Filtering Movies and TV Shows
Cost: $9.99 per month when billed directly; supported streaming subscriptions may also be required
VidAngel takes a completely different approach to family entertainment.
Rather than providing only a traditional catalog of Christian programming, VidAngel lets viewers apply customizable filters to supported movies and shows from other streaming services. Families can choose categories of language, sexual content, violence, and other material they would prefer to mute or skip.
That means parents do not necessarily have to reject an entire movie because of a handful of objectionable scenes.
VidAngel requires users to have their own subscriptions to compatible streaming services for much of its filtered content.
Best for: Families who want more control over mainstream movies and television shows.
10. Christian Cinema: Best for Renting and Buying Christian Movies
Cost: Individual rentals and purchases; optional subscription plans are also available
Christian Cinema is useful for viewers who do not necessarily want another monthly streaming subscription.
Movies can be rented individually and streamed for a limited viewing period or purchased and stored in a digital library for on-demand viewing. The service specializes in Christian and faith-based films rather than trying to compete as a broad general-entertainment platform.
Christian Cinema also offers optional subscription plans for additional movies and television programming, but its rent-or-buy model remains a major distinction.
Best for: Viewers who want specific Christian movies without committing to another full streaming subscription.
What Should You Look for in a Christian Streaming Service?
The best platform depends on what you want from it.
Start by considering biblical alignment. A platform described as “family-friendly,” “inspirational,” or even “faith-based” is not necessarily the same as a service intentionally grounded in Scripture. Families should consider who selects the programming and what worldview shapes the library.
Next, consider the type of content your household actually watches. Parents with young children may get more value from Minno or Yippee, while a small-group leader may find RightNow Media far more useful. Movie lovers may prefer Pure Flix or RedeemTV, while viewers interested in Bible teaching, apologetics, news, and culture may find Real Life Network a better fit.
Finally, consider cost, commercials, device compatibility, offline viewing, parental controls, and whether a service requires other subscriptions to function.
Are There Any Free Christian Streaming Platforms?
Yes.
Real Life Network is completely free and donor-supported, offering Christian teaching, news, movies, kids’ programs, apologetics, podcasts, and more without a paid tier. RedeemTV is also donor-supported and offers more than 2,000 titles free without ads. FaithChannel provides free faith-and-family programming as well.
Angel has selected titles available without a Guild membership, although most of its full catalog now requires paid access.
For families trying to reduce monthly subscription costs, the amount of Christian programming available free is substantial.
Which Christian Streaming Platform Is Best for Families?
There is no single answer for every household. For families seeking a platform the whole household can use, Real Life Network has an advantage because its free library extends beyond children’s entertainment to Bible teaching, movies, documentaries, current events, apologetics, podcasts, and family programming.
Families primarily concerned with younger children may prefer Minno or Yippee. Those wanting a traditional movie-and-series experience may choose Pure Flix, UP Faith & Family, or RedeemTV.
The best choice is the one that not only avoids objectionable material but also supports the values parents are working to build at home.
Frequently Asked Questions About Christian Streaming Platforms
What Is the Best Christian Streaming Platform?
The best platform depends on your priorities. Real Life Network is a strong all-around choice for viewers seeking free biblical teaching, Christian news, apologetics, kids’ programming, movies, documentaries, and cultural content. Pure Flix is particularly strong for Christian movies and scripted entertainment, while Minno and Yippee specialize in children’s programming.
What Is the Best Free Christian Streaming Service?
Real Life Network and RedeemTV are two of the strongest completely free options. RLN provides a broad mix of programming, while RedeemTV has a particularly large free library of Christian films and series. FaithChannel is another free option worth exploring.
Is There a Christian Alternative to Netflix?
Several services can function as Christian or family-oriented alternatives to Netflix. Pure Flix most closely resembles a traditional subscription movie-and-series platform, while Real Life Network combines entertainment with teaching, news, apologetics, and family programming at no cost.
What Is the Best Christian Streaming Platform for Kids?
Minno and Yippee are specifically built around Christian children’s entertainment. Real Life Network also offers free children’s programming within a larger platform designed for the whole family.
Do I Need to Pay for Christian Streaming?
No. While many Christian streaming services charge monthly or annual subscription fees, Real Life Network, RedeemTV, and FaithChannel offer free options.
Finding the Best Christian Streaming Platform for Your Home
Christian streaming is no longer a single category. Families can now choose platforms specializing in movies, Bible studies, kids’ shows, documentaries, teaching, news, apologetics, and wholesome general entertainment.
The right choice depends on what you want entering your home and what role you want media to play in your family.
For viewers who want to begin with a service built around biblical truth without adding another monthly expense, Real Life Network provides free access to Christian teaching, news, family programming, movies, documentaries, podcasts, apologetics, kids’ shows, and more.
Explore free Christian streaming today on Real Life Network.
25 min
10 Best Christian Streaming Platforms in 2026
September 25, 2026
Real Life Network
World News
More than 50,000 Americans from across the country signed a new “Declaration for Life” within hours of its public release that calls on them and their fellow citizens “to stand for life” and for Congress “to ban the chemical abortion drug mifepristone,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told reporters during an impromptu news conference in a Senate office building Wednesday.
“We think this declaration, written by pastors, is calling on spiritual leaders and everyday Christians across America to stand for life and to confront the scourge of chemical abortion. It is so critical on this the 250th anniversary of America,” Hawley said, referring to the four-page declaration he and a committee of pastors and other spiritual leaders from multiple denominations drafted.
The Declaration for Life was officially unveiled Wednesday during the first annual Missouri Prayer Breakfast hosted by the Show-Me State’s senior senator. The document is being circulated nationwide by multiple pro-life groups, including Family Research Council, and millions of Americans are expected to sign the document in the coming days.
“The Declaration of Independence gives us three examples of ‘inalienable 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 rights,” the document proclaims at its outset.
“We believe we have an obligation as Christians and spiritual leaders to remind our countrymen of what Scripture and conscience together proclaim: That every human being from the moment of our knitting together in our mothers’ wombs, was fearfully and wonderfully made. 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 document states.
The declaration continues, noting that “what is at stake on this anniversary is nothing less than the conviction on which every flourishing society finally rests: That each and every member of the human family, as a creature fashioned in the image of the divine Creator and Ruler, is the bearer of profound dignity. Where that conviction is honored, civilizations flourish. Where it is forgotten, cultures decline and fall.”
The declaration explains that while in the four years since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision “returned the abortion question from courts to legislatures,” that decision “did not end abortion in America. Far from it. More abortions are performed in this country today than when [Roe v. Wade] was still the law of the land — over one million abortions in 2025 alone.”
Three-fourths of those abortions are carried out using the chemical drug mifepristone, and, the declaration points out, “thanks to recent changes in government regulations, mifepristone can now be mailed into every state and city in America, regardless of local rules. The abortion drug is nearly always fatal to the unborn child and frequently injurious to the mother. Recent studies indicate the drug puts more than one in 10 women who take it at risk of serious, life-threatening complications, including hemorrhaging, infections and sepsis.”
Hawley told reporters he believes “the time has come to ban mifepristone abortions, and I want to emphasize this is something only Congress can do. … Only Congress can act to take mifepristone off of the Food and Drug Administration’s [approved drug] schedule, only Congress can say it will not be available for abortions. That’s something that Congress should do. Congress should stop passing the buck to other people. Congress should stand up and act.”
As long as Congress fails to act, Hawley emphasized, state actions such as those in Louisiana, Missouri, and others that have banned chemical abortions carried out by medical professionals in those jurisdictions will continue to be rendered meaningless so long as the drug can be mailed across state lines and administered in private by the mother with a cup of water.
Hawley added that “when it comes to elected officials in Congress, there hasn’t been much of anything [done] to protect the innocent unborn, and I think we’ve got to change that. One of the things we want to do with this Declaration for Life is call on candidates for public office in both parties to sign this declaration, to say ‘We support it, we support protecting human life.’”
Earlier this year, Hawley introduced S. 4066, the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act that would outlaw chemical abortions. On the House side of the Capitol, the same legislation was introduced as H.R. 7902 by Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.). The Senate bill has seven co-sponsors, all Republicans, while the House bill has 11 co-sponsors, also all GOPers. Neither proposal has been advanced to committee hearings, as Republican leaders focus on other issues.
Another major obstacle for such reforms includes the lack of action from President Donald Trump, whose administration approved in October 2025 a second generic version of mifepristone for abortion use and has delayed a promised FDA study of the drug.
In addition, as Family Research Council President Tony Perkins told reporters during the Hawley news conference, the Republican Party at its 2024 convention abandoned its long-standing defense of the right to life, and its congressional leadership has since failed to act vigorously on the issue.
“Unfortunately, the Republican Party has lost its voice on the right to life issue, and in that vacuum, there are leaders who are stepping forward like Senator Hawley calling upon the church, communities, and the country to step up on behalf of the unborn,” Perkins said.
“We have made great progress,” FRC’s president continued, “but there has been a tremendous setback, and we’ve reached a point where I think we have to call upon the faith community, Christian pastors, to step into this vacuum and speak unequivocally about the sanctity of human life and hold elected officials accountable to the standard. This declaration is a starting point for establishing a standard for what we should be aspiring to as a nation.”
When asked by The Washington Stand if he would initiate legislative action in response to a Government Accounting Office (GAO) study released earlier this week that found thousands of abortions are being paid for annually with federal tax dollars through the Obamacare health insurance program, Hawley replied, “100 percent, and the other thing that is happening is that Planned Parenthood is getting funded right now. The ban on Planned Parenthood funding has expired, [and] it’s being funded with taxpayer dollars.”
The Hyde Amendment — named after former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) who authored the measure — was approved by a Democrat-controlled Congress and signed into law by Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1977. That law bars the use of federal tax dollars to pay for abortions except in a tiny class of exceptions.
This article was written by Mark Tapscott and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
25 min
Right to Life Is ‘Most Foundational of all Rights,’ New ‘Declaration For Life’ Proclaims
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September 23, 2026
The Washington Stand
Faith & Culture
News can be useful. It helps us understand what is happening in our communities, our country, and around the world. It can alert us to events that deserve prayer, action, generosity, or thoughtful attention.
But news can also consume attention surprisingly quickly.
Breaking alerts lead to updates. Updates lead to commentary. Commentary leads to another video, article, or social media post. Before long, a few minutes of staying informed can become hours of absorbing conflict, outrage, fear, and speculation.
Christians don’t need to withdraw from what is happening in the world. But neither should the news determine the condition of our hearts.
Here are seven practical ways believers can remain informed without allowing the news cycle to become spiritually overwhelming.
1. Start with Scripture Before Starting with Headlines
One of the simplest ways to keep news in perspective is to decide which voice gets your attention first.
Opening a news app before getting out of bed can immediately fill your mind with elections, wars, economic concerns, crime, cultural conflict, and international crises. Scripture begins somewhere very different: with God, His character, His promises, and His purposes.
Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Starting with God’s Word doesn’t make difficult events disappear. It helps place them within a larger biblical framework.
Before asking, What happened overnight? it can be helpful to remember what has not changed. God is still sovereign. His Word is still true. The Gospel is still good news. Christ is still building His Church.
Headlines change by the hour. Those truths do not.
2. Know the Difference Between Being Informed and Being Consumed
There is no biblical command requiring Christians to know every development immediately. Yet modern media can create a sense that we must continually monitor events or risk falling behind.
That urgency deserves examination.
Being informed means understanding significant events well enough to think, pray, and respond wisely. Being consumed means repeatedly checking for updates even when little has changed and continuing long after the information is useful.
One helpful question is: Am I learning something I need to know, or am I simply feeding my anxiety?
Setting specific times for checking news can help establish boundaries. So can turning off unnecessary alerts or stepping away when a developing story has become repetitive.
You can care deeply about the world without following every headline in real time.
3. Test What You Hear Instead of Reacting Immediately
Fast-moving news rewards quick reactions. Christian discernment often requires something slower. Proverbs 18:17 says, “The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him.”
That principle is especially useful in an age of social media clips, partial quotations, dramatic headlines, and rapidly developing stories.
Before sharing or reacting, ask:
- Is the information confirmed?
- Am I hearing the full context?
- Is this reporting, commentary, or speculation?
- Does another trustworthy source corroborate the claim?
Christians should have a particular concern for truth. Passing along something inaccurate simply because it supports our assumptions does not honor that responsibility.
Sometimes wisdom means waiting.
4. Evaluate the World Through Scripture, Not a Political Tribe
Politics matters because government, law, freedom, justice, family, human dignity, and public policy affect real people. But Christianity cannot be reduced to a political party or ideology.
Believers should evaluate political and cultural questions through Scripture rather than modifying Scripture to fit a preferred political position.
That means Christians may sometimes agree strongly with a political leader, movement, or commentator and at other times need to challenge what that same person says or does.
Biblical conviction should remain the standard.
Programs that approach culture from an explicitly Christian worldview can be useful here. Cure America with Star Parker, The Daniel Cohen Show, Rose Unplugged, Small Talk Big Issues, and The City of God are among the programs available through Real Life Network that engage cultural and public issues from faith-informed perspectives.
The objective isn’t to replace independent thinking. It is to consider events alongside voices that recognize biblical truth as relevant to public life.
5. Let the News Become a Prompt for Prayer
News can easily produce frustration. It can also become a prayer list.
- A report about war can remind us to pray for civilians, soldiers, government leaders, missionaries, and churches in affected regions.
- A story about persecution can lead us to pray for believers who face consequences for their faith.
- A report involving children, schools, marriage, or culture can prompt prayer for parents, teachers, churches, and the next generation.
First Timothy 2:1–2 instructs believers to offer prayers and intercessions “for kings and all who are in authority.” That command gives Christians something constructive to do with difficult information.
Instead of merely asking, Can you believe this? we can also ask, How should I pray about this?
6. Make Room for Good News Too
News naturally emphasizes problems. That is partly because crises, disagreements, disasters, and unexpected developments are newsworthy. But consuming an uninterrupted stream of what is going wrong can distort our perception of what God is doing.
Churches are serving communities. Missionaries are sharing the Gospel. People are coming to Christ. Christians are caring for the poor, helping disaster victims, defending the vulnerable, strengthening families, and serving in places most viewers will never see on the evening news.
Programs such as On the Ground with Samaritan’s Purse can provide glimpses of Christians responding to suffering with practical help. Fred Jordan Missions TV highlights faith expressed through compassion and community involvement. Evangelism Explosion International focuses on equipping believers to share Christ with others.
These stories don’t erase bad news.
They remind us that bad news isn’t the whole story.
7. Remember Which Kingdom Comes First
Perhaps the most important way to remain grounded is to remember where Christian hope ultimately rests.
Governments change. Political movements rise and fall. Economies strengthen and weaken. International alliances shift. Cultural attitudes change.
Jesus Christ does not.
Philippians 3:20 reminds believers, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” That doesn’t make Christians indifferent to earthly events. In fact, biblical faith should encourage believers to care about their neighbors, communities, country, and world.
But it prevents temporary events from carrying eternal weight.
Christians can vote, serve, advocate, give, pray, speak truth, and remain engaged while remembering that no election, institution, economic system, or human leader can carry the hope that belongs to Christ alone.
Stay Informed Without Losing Your Peace
There is nothing wrong with wanting to understand what is happening in the world.
The challenge is keeping the news in its proper place.
Read Scripture before allowing headlines to establish the tone of your day. Set reasonable limits. Check facts carefully. Evaluate cultural and political questions through a biblical worldview. Pray about what you learn. Look for evidence of God’s work as well as evidence of human brokenness.
Above all, remember that Christians already know the most important news.
Jesus Christ has come. He died for sinners. He rose again. He offers forgiveness and eternal life to those who trust in Him, and He will return.
No breaking-news alert can change that.
Real Life Network offers RLN News along with programs such as The Daniel Cohen Show, Cure America, Rose Unplugged, The City of God, Small Talk Big Issues, and other biblically informed programming to help Christians consider current events without separating the headlines from their faith.
Explore Christian news, cultural commentary, Bible teaching, and more for free on Real Life Network.
25 min
7 Essential Ways to Stay Grounded as a Christian in a 24/7 News Cycle
September 22, 2026
Real Life Network
World News
“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.
25 min
A Declaration for the Defenseless
September 22, 2026
Tony Perkins
World News
“An innocent, defenseless human life, in a caring and humane society, deserves better than to be flushed down a toilet or burned in an incinerator.” Such are the words of Henry Hyde, the former U.S. congressman from Illinois who tirelessly championed life and introduced the Hyde Amendment in 1976. Almost 50 years later, the legislative rider faces the opportunity to be renewed again.
For a half-century, the Hyde Amendment has stopped taxpayer dollars from funding abortion.
On Wednesday evening, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, hosted a Special Order on the House floor to acknowledge the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment on September 30. “The promise of America is that life is not just for the privileged, the planned, or the perfect,” Smith said, quoting Hyde. “This may sound odd, even ironic; you are here in the flush of victory. And yet it is precisely now that I ask you to contemplate the possibility of defeat, perhaps even the necessity of defeat. If you don’t know the principle or the policy for which you are willing to lose your office, then you are going to do damage here.”
Quena González, senior director of Government Affairs at Family Research Council, explained to The Washington Stand that Smith and Hyde have a history. “Representative Chris Smith served with Representative Henry Hyde for 26 years; he’s been a tireless defender of the unborn in Congress for 45 years and comes as close as anyone to carrying Hyde’s inimitable mantle.”
After the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the U.S. government paid for an estimated 300,000 abortions each year via Medicaid. According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, since the Hyde Amendment’s first enactment in 1976, approximately 2.7 million lives have been saved.
During Wednesday’s event, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) asserted that society has a duty to protect the unborn. “Life matters. Who are we as a people if we cannot stand up in defense of the most innocent form of life there is — a child in the womb of its mother? That should be our calling. And we should be able to unite as human beings in defense of the defenseless.”
Legislative Assistant for FRC’s Government Affairs Chantel Hoyt praised what House members shared during the Special Order. “I appreciated seeing Representative Chip Roy connect this important anniversary to the toll that chemical abortion is taking,” she told TWS. “It’s encouraging to see members like Representative Chris Smith carrying on Henry Hyde’s legacy and seeking to not only retain but build on the protections of the Hyde Amendment.”
Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) observed during the House event that he believes that abortion is not consistent with the Constitution. “Hyde should not be viewed as the finish line for the pro-life movement. It’s the floor. It’s a bare minimum compromise,” he shared. “America is founded on the self-evident truth that every person is created equal and endowed with our creator with an inherent right to life. That right is the foundation of every other right that we enjoy. As a father, I believe that every child is fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Every life has value, every child has purpose, and no child is a mistake.”
The Special Order and Hyde Amendment anniversary come at a time when chemical abortion has become a hot button issue on Capitol Hill. Pro-life politicians, lobbyists, and organizations continue to work tirelessly to ban the abortion drug mifepristone. “It’s always great to see members of Congress speak on the floor in defense of life, but especially now as we are urging the Trump administration to take action on chemical abortion to protect mothers and their babies,” Hoyt concluded.
This article was originally written by Quinn Delamater and published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
25 min
Hyde Amendment Approaches 50th Anniversary Having Saved almost 3 Million Babies
September 18, 2026
The Washington Stand
Faith & Culture
This article is drawn from my current episode of Rose Unplugged, airing now on the Real Life Network, where I had the extraordinary privilege of sitting down with two American heroes who know firsthand what it means to have freedom taken away.
As we observe National POW/MIA Recognition Day, I wanted to bring part of their story beyond the television screen, because their experience is not simply a chapter in American history. It is a reminder of what freedom costs, what courage looks like under unimaginable pressure, and what faith can sustain when almost everything else has been stripped away.
We talk a lot about freedom. We debate it, defend it and sometimes argue over what it means, but if we are honest, most of us rarely stop to think about what freedom actually costs. That is why National POW/MIA Recognition Day matters. It asks us to pause and remember the Americans who were captured, those who never came home, and the families who waited, prayed and carried the uncertainty with them.
Because every once in a while, we have the opportunity to hear from someone who knows exactly what it means when freedom is taken away—not for a day or a year, but for the better part of a decade.
I recently had that opportunity with Rear Admiral Robert Shumaker and Commander Everett Alvarez Jr., two Navy aviators who were shot down over North Vietnam and who together spent over sixteen years as prisoners of war. They were beaten, isolated, interrogated and separated from their families. They were told, again and again, that their country had forgotten them, yet they never allowed their captors to take the most important things from them: their identity, their faith, their loyalty to one another, their honor, and ultimately their love of country.
Commander Everett Alvarez was the first American aviator shot down and captured in North Vietnam. On August 5, 1964, while flying an A-4 Skyhawk from the USS Constellation, his aircraft was hit. He ejected over the water and was captured, with no roadmap and no one who could tell him what the coming years would look like because no American aviator had yet lived through what he was about to experience.
Then, months later, on February 11, 1965, Rear Admiral Robert Shumaker was shot down while flying an F-8 Crusader from the USS Coral Sea. He was forced to eject at extremely low altitude, suffering a broken back in the process, and was eventually captured.
What happened next is almost impossible for those of us living in freedom to comprehend: years of isolation, interrogation, brutal punishment and uncertainty about whether they would ever see their families or their country again. Yet something remarkable happened inside those prison walls. When everything external was stripped away, these men discovered that there were still things their captors could not control, and one of those things was the human mind.
Admiral Shumaker has described designing an entire house in his mind during his years in isolation, brick by brick and room by room. Years later, after returning home, he actually built that house. His captors could control his cell, his movements and his physical circumstances, but they could not enter his mind and take away his ability to create.
Then there was the tap code, perhaps one of the most remarkable examples of human ingenuity and determination to come out of those prison walls. Speaking to another prisoner was forbidden and could bring severe punishment, so Shumaker and Air Force Captain “Smitty” Harris developed a five-by-five grid of the alphabet that allowed prisoners to communicate by tapping letters through the concrete walls. One tap, another tap, another message—a language created in captivity that became a lifeline for men who desperately needed to know they were not alone.
Eventually, their captors discovered the code, and Shumaker and other senior officers were placed in solitary confinement for roughly three years because they were suspected of being leaders of the communication network. But isolating them did not destroy the brotherhood. If anything, their experience demonstrated how powerful that bond had become. Men who had never necessarily known one another before the war were willing to endure punishment rather than betray each other, and they found ways to encourage one another, communicate, pray and remain human in a place designed to strip them of their humanity.
And that brings me to faith, because Scripture is filled with people who discovered that God's presence does not always mean the absence of suffering.
Think about Joseph. His brothers betrayed him, sold him into slavery, and eventually he ended up in an Egyptian prison for something he did not do. Yet Scripture tells us that the Lord was with Joseph even there. Joseph did not know how his story would end, but God did. Years later, Joseph could look back at the people who had intended to harm him and say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
Or think about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They refused to bow to the king's idol and were thrown into the fiery furnace, but God did not keep them from entering the fire; He was with them in it. That distinction matters because sometimes deliverance is not an escape from the trial. Sometimes deliverance is discovering that you are not alone in it.
David understood that when he wrote, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” The promise was not that the valley would disappear. The promise was about who would walk through it with him.
That is what I hear in the stories of these POWs—not despair, but resilience; not surrender, but resistance; and not the absence of suffering, but faith under pressure. Their circumstances forced them back onto something deeper than comfort or convenience, onto the courage, discipline, faith and determination God had placed within them.
And perhaps most remarkably, these men came home.
In January 1973, word began reaching the prisoners that a peace agreement had been signed and that they would finally be going home. Admiral Shumaker was released on February 12, 1973—eight years and one day after he had been shot down. Commander Alvarez came home the same day after 3,113 days in captivity, more than eight and a half years.
But coming home was not simply the end of their story. They had families to reconnect with, lives to rebuild and years to make up for, yet when you listen to these men, what you do not hear is a desire to define themselves by what was done to them. Instead, you hear men who came home with their faith intact, their honor intact and their love of country stronger than ever.
That is a tested love—not a naïve love, but the kind of love that comes from discovering exactly what something costs and being willing to pay the price anyway.
We throw the word hero around a lot these days, and I don't throw it around lightly. But Admiral Shumaker and Commander Alvarez earned it in a place most of us cannot imagine: one tap on a concrete wall, one whispered prayer and one refusal to give their captors what they wanted, repeated day after day and year after year until, finally, they came home.
And Hebrews gives the rest of us a charge that is particularly appropriate today: “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
Remember them—not just on National POW/MIA Recognition Day, but every time you exercise a freedom that they were denied. Remember the families who waited, the years they lost, the men who were captured and the men who never came home. And remember that freedom is not free simply because it is familiar to us.
For many Americans today, freedom is so ordinary that we barely notice it. We wake up, speak our minds, worship, travel, raise our families and go about our lives. We can disagree with our government and with one another, and we can live our faith openly. We can gather with our families without wondering whether someone is coming to take us away. That is an extraordinary gift, and perhaps one of the greatest dangers is that we become so accustomed to it that we forget its cost.
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, that is something this generation needs to understand. Freedom is not merely an idea; freedom has a price. Some have paid that price with their lives, others with years, some with wounds that could be seen and others with wounds no one could see. Some endured captivity but refused to allow captivity to define them.
Admiral Shumaker and Commander Alvarez remind us what that looks like. They were stripped of almost everything, but they would not surrender everything. They held onto one another, their faith, their identity and their honor, and then they came home.
So today, on National POW/MIA Recognition Day, let's remember the prisoners who endured captivity, the missing whose families still carry the questions and the sacrifices of those who served. Let us also remember what these two men demonstrated so powerfully: you can take a man's freedom without taking his courage; you can take away his comfort without taking away his faith; you can isolate him without making him alone; and you can imprison his body without imprisoning his spirit.
The freedom we enjoy today was not handed to us without a cost. Men like Robert Shumaker and Everett Alvarez paid part of that cost for the rest of us. The least we can do is remember—and perhaps even more importantly, the least we can do is live like we understand what they paid for.
Freedom is a gift, but it is also a responsibility, and it is something worth protecting. As Christians, we understand that God is sovereign even in the darkest circumstances, but we also understand that courage is not passive. We are called to stand firm, to remember those who suffer, to honor those who serve and to be faithful with whatever freedom and responsibility God has entrusted to us.
So on this National POW/MIA Recognition Day, may we never become so comfortable with freedom that we forget its cost, and may we never become so accustomed to our blessings that we forget the men and women who sacrificed so that we could enjoy them.
God bless these men. God bless every American POW and MIA. God bless their families. And God bless the United States of America.
For more content like this, watch Rose Unplugged on Real Life Network.
25 min
The Cost of Freedom: Remembering Our POWs on National POW/MIA Recognition Day
September 18, 2026
Rose Unplugged
World News
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.
Trust Requires Rules That Apply Consistently
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.
When Government Authority Enters the Home
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.
Political Power Is Not the Highest Authority
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.
25 min
Who Has the Authority? Government, Families, and the Institutions Americans Are Asked to Trust
September 17, 2026
Daniel Cohen
Business & Finance
America is under full-scale economic assault. For years, I’ve reported on the intersection of national security and capital markets. After nearly 400 episodes of Economic War Room, the evidence and patterns have become overwhelmingly clear: foreign adversaries increasingly view trade, energy, currency, technology and financial markets as weapons.
What we see as a marketplace, our enemies view as a battle space.
China is perhaps the clearest example. The Chinese Communist Party openly embraces the concept of “unrestricted warfare,” and economics represents one of the most effective fronts in that struggle. China dominates much of the global supply chain for rare earth minerals and critical materials, the same resources required for everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to advanced American defense systems.
That dependence gives Beijing tremendous leverage. But critical minerals are only one part of the story. Currency manipulation, subsidized exports, cyberattacks and intellectual property theft have all created vulnerabilities for the United States. American factories have closed, communities have been hollowed out and critical supply chains have moved overseas.
This isn’t simply about competition between two large economies. It’s a national security issue.
Watch this full episode on Economic War Room, streaming now on the Real Life Network.
America Is Also Weakening Itself From Within
The economic threats facing America aren’t all coming from Beijing or other foreign capitals. Some are self-inflicted.
The United States now carries an enormous national debt, creating long-term risks for the dollar, interest rates, future taxpayers and national security. At the same time, corporate policies built around ESG and DEI have too often shifted attention away from profitability, merit, innovation and long-term shareholder value.
Then there is the prospect of a programmable central bank digital currency. If implemented without the proper protections, a CBDC could potentially give government authorities unprecedented ability to monitor transactions, restrict spending or freeze accounts.
Put these threats together and the consequences are no longer abstract. They can affect your retirement account, your savings, your paycheck and your ability to provide for your family.
President Trump can do his part in Washington, but he cannot do your part for you. That responsibility belongs to each of us.
Americans Can Fight Back With Their Own Money
The good news is that ordinary Americans are not helpless.
At Economic War Room, we’ve spent years developing strategies designed to help Americans recognize economic warfare and build greater resilience against it. Through the NSIC Institute, we’ve also worked to educate financial advisors about the intersection of national security and investing. One principle sits at the center of that work: weaponize your money for liberty, security and your values.
That starts with defense. Traditional stocks-and-bonds diversification may not be enough in an environment defined by inflation, geopolitical instability, massive government debt and fragile global supply chains. Americans should understand what they own, where their vulnerabilities are and whether they have sufficient exposure to tangible assets they actually control.
That is one reason I have repeatedly discussed transactional gold and silver. Precious metals have functioned as stores of value for thousands of years and can provide another layer of financial independence when paper currencies and financial markets come under pressure.
But defense is only half the battle. Americans can also think carefully about where their investment dollars are going. Domestic energy production, critical minerals, reshoring, advanced manufacturing and defense technology can all play a role in rebuilding American economic strength. Rather than unknowingly sending investment capital toward adversaries, Americans can consider supporting companies and industries that strengthen our independence and national security.
I call it voting with your dollars on steroids. That doesn’t mean blindly buying a stock because it carries an American flag. And it isn’t individualized investment advice. Every investor should consider his or her own circumstances and consult a qualified financial professional.
It does mean recognizing that capital has consequences.
Financial Resilience Starts at Home
There are also simpler steps Americans can take.High-interest consumer and credit card debt can become crushing when rates rise or an economic shock hits. Building emergency reserves, reducing unnecessary debt and considering assets that can provide resilience during turbulent periods can all strengthen a household’s financial position.
But the goal should extend beyond surviving the next downturn. We should be thinking generationally. America’s free-market system has given ordinary citizens an extraordinary opportunity to participate in economic growth, build businesses, invest and create wealth. We should teach those principles to our children and grandchildren rather than allowing future generations to become increasingly dependent on government.
Economic freedom and political freedom are connected. That means Americans must also remain civically engaged—voting, contacting elected representatives and supporting policies that promote fiscal responsibility, sound money, American energy, lower taxes and free enterprise.
America May Be Facing Its Own Dunkirk Moment
As I consider the challenges ahead, I keep returning to one of the most remarkable episodes of World War II. In May 1940, nearly 400,000 British and Allied troops were trapped near Dunkirk as Nazi forces swept through France. Britain faced catastrophe.
Then ordinary citizens answered the call. Fishing boats, pleasure yachts, ferries, tugboats and virtually anything else that could float crossed the English Channel to help evacuate the stranded troops. In the end, more than 338,000 men were rescued.
Those vessels became known as the “little ships of Dunkirk.” The evacuation did not end the war. Churchill himself reminded Britain that wars are not won by evacuations. The Battle of Britain was still ahead, America had not yet entered the conflict and years of fighting remained.
But Dunkirk demonstrated what can happen when ordinary people refuse to surrender. There was also another element that should not be forgotten. King George VI called Britain to a National Day of Prayer on May 26, 1940. Churches filled as the British people prayed for deliverance. The events that followed became remembered by many as the “miracle of Dunkirk.”
I believe there is a lesson there for America today. We are facing our own economic Dunkirk moment. The threats to American prosperity, freedom and security are formidable. Government and large institutions have a role to play, but they cannot do everything.
That’s where the little ships come in. You are the little ships.
Every time you examine your investments, reduce high-interest debt, strengthen your family’s finances, support American energy and manufacturing, build generational wealth, vote for free-market policies or speak up for sound money, you are answering the call. No single American can win an economic war. Millions of informed Americans acting together can change its course.
Prayer first. Then get to work. Then give thanks. Freedom is fragile. It has to be protected and passed to future generations. And right now, our children and grandchildren are depending on us to do exactly that. It’s time to get in the fight.
Watch this full episode on Economic War Room, streaming now on the Real Life Network.
25 min
America Is Under Economic Attack—and It’s Time to Fight Back
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September 17, 2026
Kevin Freeman
World News
A Catholic couple in Massachusetts had their daughter taken away by the state under the guise of child abuse after refusing to affirm her so-called transgender identity. In 2024, the 15-year-old child was removed from the home of Joseph and Arlene Kutzko after they say she was secretly socially “transitioned” at Algonquin Regional High School. Now, they’re fighting to get her back before she is medically “transitioned” on high-dose testosterone.
“Here, a public school is ‘stuck on stupid’ by engaging in the willful and dehumanizing practice of destroying both family and child. This school should be closed permanently,” Walt Heyer, senior fellow at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand. “The school abused the child emotionally and psychologically, causing lifelong damage. My life was destroyed by the trans insanity. Stop the madness.”
Fox News reported that a permanent restraining order was issued against the family, and the Department of Children and Families (DCF) cut off the Kutzkos’ contact with their daughter, Sophie, when they refused to refer to her by male pronouns. Fox also reported that the Kutzkos say DCF has “housed their daughter in a boys’ dormitory, stripped away her Catholic faith by denying her Sunday Mass, and put her on birth control and psychiatric drugs.”
“In Massachusetts today, a sizable portion of government and the population will call you a good mom if you violently strangle your own three kids to death but will take custody of your teenage daughter away from you if you don’t want her to be castrated & mutilated by the gender lobby. Let that sink in,” Daily Wire personality Isabel Brown posted on X Monday.
The Kutzkos appeared on the Fox News “Lighthouse Faith” podcast hosted by Religion Correspondent Lauren Green to share about the dire situation over the weekend, alongside their attorney Vernadette Broyles. “The Northborough-Southborough public schools and their counseling practices exposed our daughter to teachings on LGBTQ [ideology] and topics that conflict with our Catholic beliefs about human dignity, creation as male and female in Catholic teaching,” Joseph Kutzko said.
He continued, “[O]ur daughter had been placed in counseling with sessions at Algonquin Regional High School [with] school counselor … Denise Brienze, without our knowledge or consent. [W]e were told she was simply staying after school for extra math help.”
The Kutzkos say that they have not been able to have contact with their daughter since January 2025. “I even begged them [to allow me] just to hug her or kiss her. They say they can’t. They will not allow it,” Arlene Kutzko explained.
Just months before Sophie was taken from them, she wrote her dad a heartfelt birthday card. In October of 2024, her words to her father said, “Without you, I would have nothing. So wholeheartedly, fully, sincerely. I love you with no end,” Joseph read during an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino.
The Kutzkos explained that Sophie grew up loving church. “She led the parish in rosary before mass, and she was so faithful — everybody in the church knew it — that she was given a special dispensation to be confirmed early. So, one year early, she was allowed to make her confirmation.”
But at age 15, Sophie started experiencing some inner turmoil. Next thing they knew, the Kutzkos were losing custody of their daughter. They had no idea what had been going on at the school.
“The most important thing is to bring her back to our family. But a shorter-term goal is to prevent them from giving her testosterone,” Joseph Kutzko reiterated. Boyer explained that under Massachusetts state law, DCF could administer the hormones to Sophie without her parents’ permission even though she is still a minor.
“We are actively fighting in court to keep them from really poisoning this young lady with testosterone that would have the capacity to cause her to become potentially infertile, would harm her cardiovascular system, and would have a number of irreversible effects and harms to her body,” Boyer lamented. She added that DCF is hoping to move forward with giving Sophie the testosterone.
Time may be running out, but the Kutzkos are actively working to bring their daughter home. “We love her. We love her. We miss her,” Joseph Kutzko wanted people to know.
This article was originally written by Quinn Delamater and published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
25 min
Massachusetts Takes Daughter from Catholic Parents for Refusing to Affirm Trans Identity
September 16, 2026
The Washington Stand
Entertainment & Lifestyle
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.
1. What Is This Teaching My Child to Admire?
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.
2. What Does This Program Treat as Normal?
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.
3. Is This Appropriate for My Particular Child?
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?
4. How Does My Child Feel After Watching It?
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.
5. Is Screen Time Crowding Out Something Better?
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.
6. Can This Become a Conversation Instead of Just Consumption?
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.
- Why do you think that character made that choice?
- Was it wise?
- What consequences followed?
- What does the Bible teach about that issue?
- How would following Jesus change the way someone responds?
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.
7. Does Our Entertainment Support the Kind of Home We’re Trying to Build?
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.
Teach Discernment, Not Just Rules
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.
- What is this teaching me?
- Does it agree with what I know to be true?
- How is it affecting my thoughts and attitudes?
- Is this worth my time?
- Would I make this same choice if Jesus were sitting beside me?
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.
25 min
7 Family Media Questions Every Christian Parent Should Ask
September 16, 2026
Real Life Network
Entertainment & Lifestyle
Christian streaming has grown far beyond Sunday sermons on demand. Today, viewers can find Christian news, Bible teaching, apologetics, podcasts, documentaries, movies, children’s programs, cultural discussions, devotional content, and live events without paying for another monthly subscription.
For families accustomed to searching across YouTube, television networks, podcast apps, and multiple streaming services, having those options together in one place can make Christian media much easier to discover.
Real Life Network offers all of it for free. Whether you’re looking for something to watch with your children, a Bible teacher to follow throughout the week, a podcast for the commute, or news viewed through a Christian worldview, there are thousands of episodes and many different types of programming to explore.
Here’s a guide to what you can find.
Christian News and Cultural Commentary
For viewers who want to stay informed without leaving their biblical worldview at the door, Christian streaming offers an alternative to relying exclusively on mainstream news.
RLN News covers national and international developments from a Christian perspective, while The Daniel Cohen Show brings a particular focus to Israel, global affairs, culture, and the intersection between current events and faith.
Other programs approach culture from different angles. Rose Unplugged features interviews and conversations about issues shaping society. Cure America with Star Parker examines public policy, faith, freedom, and the cultural questions facing the nation.
Viewers interested in deeper examinations of particular issues can also turn to documentaries such as Truth Rising, The Great Global Reset, and The Eye of the Storm.
Together, these programs give viewers more than headlines. They encourage Christians to consider what is happening in the world in light of Scripture.
Bible Teaching and Sermons
Bible teaching remains at the heart of Christian streaming, but there is no single style.
Real Life with Jack Hibbs offers Bible teaching with application to Christian living and the issues believers face today. A Daily Walk with John Randall provides steady verse-by-verse teaching, while So True with Philip De Courcy brings biblical truth into practical areas of everyday life.
Bridge Bible Talk takes a different approach, allowing listeners to hear actual questions about Scripture, doctrine, and Christian living discussed in a conversational format.
Viewers can also explore the Legacy: Pioneers of the Faith collection for teaching from influential Christian voices of previous generations, including Billy Graham, Chuck Smith, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and others.
For someone who wants to move beyond occasional sermon viewing and develop a regular habit of biblical learning, there is plenty to explore.
Apologetics, Creation, and Biblical Worldview
Some of the most useful Christian streaming content begins with difficult questions.
Does God exist? Can the Bible be trusted? How should Christians think about science and creation? What evidence supports the resurrection? How can believers respond when friends challenge Christianity?
Cross Examined with Frank Turek tackles many of those questions through Christian apologetics. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist also examines the evidence and reasoning behind central Christian truth claims.
For questions involving creation and science, viewers can explore The Creation Today Show and ICR’s Creation Podcast. In Depth Apologetics for Kids makes some of these same kinds of questions approachable for younger audiences.
There is also Lamps Lit Youth Prophecy Conference, which gives teens and adults an opportunity to explore Bible prophecy through sessions with Jeff Kinley, Todd Hampson, and Jack Hibbs.
These programs can be useful for personal viewing, family discussions, youth groups, and small-group studies.
Christian Podcasts and Conversations
Sometimes watching a full teaching program isn’t practical. Podcasts make Christian content easy to fit into driving, exercise, chores, or other parts of the day.
The Jack Hibbs Podcast discusses Scripture, culture, current issues, and Christian living in a conversational format. Ignite with Barry Meguiar focuses on helping believers become more comfortable sharing their faith.
The Prophecy Pros Podcast with Jeff Kinley and Todd Hampson explores biblical prophecy, while Victor Marx brings conversations shaped by ministry, hardship, faith, and real-world experiences.
For something much shorter, Groundworks with Steve Wiggins offers brief, Scripture-based devotional teaching that can fit into just a few minutes.
There are also programs such as Living Fearless with Andy and Hedieh, which offers conversations about faith, courage, and living faithfully through difficult circumstances.
Christian Documentaries and Movies
Christian streaming also gives viewers access to stories that can educate, challenge, and entertain.
For apologetics and prophecy, Before the Wrath explores the connection between ancient Galilean wedding customs and biblical teaching concerning Christ’s return.
Those interested in Christian history and biography can watch titles such as C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert, Billy Graham: A Life Remembered, Billy Sunday, and Louis Zamperini: Captured by Grace.
Other documentaries offer very different experiences. The Listening Road follows conversations about faith across America. The Call examines what can happen when the Great Commission becomes part of a church’s culture. 7 Days in the Holy Land takes viewers to biblical locations, while Scarred Earth considers the Grand Canyon from a creationist perspective.
Families looking for a movie night can explore titles including Seven Days in Utopia, The Jesus Film, and the animated The Pilgrim’s Progress.
The variety is an important point. “Christian entertainment” no longer describes just one kind of program.
Christian Shows for Kids and Families
Parents looking for alternatives to mainstream children’s programming have their own selection of options.
Superbook brings children into the events of Scripture through animated adventures. iBible presents the biblical narrative visually, while Ryan Defrates: Secret Agent combines humor and adventure with lessons about Christian character.
Star-Spangled Adventures gives children an animated introduction to American history and faith, and The Pilgrim’s Progress provides a full-length family movie based on John Bunyan’s classic Christian allegory.
These programs can do more than occupy children’s screen time. They give parents opportunities to ask questions, discuss Scripture, and connect entertainment with family discipleship.
Evangelism, Ministry, and Christian Leadership
Christian streaming can also help believers put their faith into practice.
Way of the Master focuses on evangelism and real Gospel conversations. Ignite with Barry Meguiar encourages Christians to share their faith naturally in everyday situations. Content from Samaritan’s Purse provides glimpses of Christian service and humanitarian ministry around the world.
For those serving in churches, ministries, workplaces, or other leadership roles, RLN also offers leadership-focused teaching designed to connect biblical principles with the responsibilities of Christian leadership.
These programs help move Christian streaming beyond simply learning more. They encourage viewers to consider what faithful action looks like.
One Free Platform, Many Ways to Watch
A Christian streaming library can serve very different purposes from one day to the next. Monday might mean catching up on the news. Tuesday could include a Bible teaching during lunch. A podcast might accompany Wednesday’s commute, followed by a documentary with a small group on Thursday and a family movie on Friday night.
That breadth is one of the advantages of Real Life Network.
Instead of searching separately for Christian news, sermons, apologetics, podcasts, movies, children’s programming, and documentaries, viewers can explore them in one biblically curated environment without adding another subscription bill.
For anyone wondering whether free Christian streaming offers enough variety to become a regular part of their viewing, the answer is worth discovering firsthand.
Explore free Christian news, teaching, podcasts, documentaries, movies, family shows, and more anytime on Real Life Network.
25 min
A Guide to Free Christian Streaming: News, Bible Teaching, Family Shows, and More
September 15, 2026
Real Life Network
World News
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.
Leadership Requires More Than the Right Policies
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.
Biblical Language Cannot Become Political Branding
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.
Courage Means Refusing to Follow the Crowd
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.
25 min
When Nothing Is Sacred, Everything Becomes Political
September 15, 2026
Daniel Cohen
Entertainment & Lifestyle
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.
Children Are Always Being Formed
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.
Screen Time Is About More Than Minutes
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?
Entertainment Teaches Even When It Isn’t Trying To
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.
Christian Media Can Reinforce What Parents Are Teaching
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.
Watching Together Changes the Experience
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.
- Why did that character make that decision?
- Was it right?
- What could the person have done differently?
- Does that idea agree with Scripture?
- What would following Jesus look like in that situation?
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.
Don’t Let Screens Crowd Out the Things That Form Faith
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.
Parents’ Screen Habits Matter Too
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.
Choose Media That Serves Your Family
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.
25 min
Screen Time Versus Soul Formation: What Parents Need to Know
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September 14, 2026
Real Life Network
Entertainment & Lifestyle
Some truths become easier to understand when you hear them through another person’s experience. A sermon may explain forgiveness, while an interview with someone who has forgiven an enemy can show what forgiveness looks like when it costs something. A Bible study may teach about trusting God through hardship, while a conversation with someone who has survived persecution, addiction, grief, or war can bring that truth into everyday life.
That is part of what makes personal interviews so valuable in Christian media. They allow viewers to hear ideas explored through stories, questions, experiences, and honest reflection. When those conversations are grounded in biblical truth, they can strengthen faith while also helping Christians think more carefully about the world around them.
1. Personal Stories Make Biblical Truth Concrete
Christians often know important biblical principles long before they understand how those principles play out in difficult circumstances. It is one thing to read that believers should trust God. It is another to hear someone explain how he or she continued trusting God after losing a career, facing persecution, walking through serious illness, or experiencing personal tragedy.
Programs such as The Resilient Show, hosted by Chad Robichaux, can open conversations about trauma, recovery, purpose, and resilience through the experiences of people who have endured significant challenges. Stories like these help viewers see that biblical faith is not reserved for ideal circumstances. It is meant to shape how believers live when life becomes difficult.
2. Interviews Allow Important Questions to Be Asked
Strong interviews do more than provide inspiring stories. They ask questions: Why did you believe that? What changed your mind? How did your faith affect your decision? What would you say to someone who disagrees?
Those questions create space for ideas to be examined rather than merely stated. This can be especially valuable when discussing theology, culture, politics, science, or apologetics because viewers get to hear not only a conclusion but also some of the reasoning behind it.
Programs such as Small Talk Big Issues bring together conversations with faith leaders, journalists, entrepreneurs, political figures, and other guests to explore significant issues from a Christian perspective. The interview format makes room for nuance that is often missing from headlines or short social-media clips.
3. Testimony Can Strengthen Faith
Personal testimony has always had an important place in Christianity. The New Testament repeatedly records people describing what Christ had done in their lives. The man healed by Jesus in John 9 offered one of the simplest examples: “One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25 NKJV).
A testimony does not replace Scripture, but it can illustrate Scripture. Hearing how someone came to faith, overcame fear, remained faithful under pressure, or experienced God’s provision can encourage believers facing their own struggles.
Living Fearless with Hedieh, for example, draws in part from Hedieh Mirahmadi’s experience of leaving Islam and becoming a follower of Christ. Conversations shaped by experiences like hers can introduce viewers to questions involving religious belief, freedom, culture, fear, and the work of the Gospel.
4. Conversations Help Christians Understand Different Perspectives
It is easy to form opinions about people we have never heard speak for themselves. Interviews slow that process down by allowing viewers to hear how another person understands an issue, why someone holds a particular belief, or how circumstances shaped his or her perspective.
That does not require Christians to agree with everything a guest says. In fact, disagreement can be useful when viewers are learning to compare ideas with Scripture. A strong biblical worldview is developed as believers learn to identify assumptions, examine arguments, recognize truth, and test what they hear against God’s Word.
That kind of discernment is especially important in a culture where complicated issues are often reduced to slogans.
5. Interviews Can Connect Faith with Current Events
Christians do not live their faith in isolation from the world. Questions about government, education, technology, religious freedom, economics, international conflict, family, and culture all affect daily life.
Interview-based programs can help connect those developments with biblical principles. The Daniel Cohen Show, Rose Unplugged, Cure America, and The City of God each use conversations and interviews to engage cultural or public issues from faith-informed perspectives.
Rather than treating Christianity as something confined to church services, these discussions encourage viewers to consider how biblical truth relates to public life.
6. Real People Can Challenge Easy Assumptions
Some of the most valuable interviews are uncomfortable. A person who has experienced persecution may challenge a casual approach to religious freedom. A missionary may challenge assumptions about evangelism. A veteran may speak differently about courage or sacrifice than someone who has never faced danger. A Christian serving the poor may cause viewers to reconsider how they think about generosity.
Programs connected with ministries such as Samaritan’s Purse, Fred Jordan Missions TV, and Evangelism Explosion International can introduce viewers to Christians putting faith into action through service, outreach, disaster response, and evangelism. Those stories can move the question from “What do Christians believe?” to “What should Christians do because they believe it?”
7. Interviews Can Support Apologetics Without Becoming a Debate
Not every interview is an apologetics program, but interviews can still help Christians understand why they believe what they believe. A scientist can discuss evidence for creation. A former skeptic can explain objections that once kept him from Christianity. A historian can discuss the reliability of biblical accounts. A pastor or theologian can respond to difficult questions about suffering, morality, or the resurrection.
Programs such as Cross Examined and The Creation Today Show give viewers opportunities to hear Christian truth claims examined through questions and conversation. Sometimes a thoughtful interview can accomplish something a formal debate cannot because it lets viewers follow the reasoning at a more natural pace.
Hearing Truth Through Someone Else’s Story
Christian faith ultimately rests on the truth of God’s Word, not the personality or experiences of an interview guest. But personal conversations can help illuminate those truths in memorable and practical ways.
A good interview lets viewers encounter people they might never meet, hear perspectives they might never otherwise consider, and see biblical principles applied to real circumstances. It can encourage faith, expose assumptions, deepen understanding, and prompt better questions.
That is why interviews occupy an important place in Christian media. They remind us that faith is not merely a collection of ideas. It is lived out by real people facing real choices in a complicated world.
Explore personal interviews, Christian conversations, cultural discussions, testimonies, and more for free on Real Life Network.
25 min
How Personal Interviews Can Strengthen Faith, Reveal Truth, and Shape a Biblical Worldview
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September 11, 2026
Real Life Network
World News
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.
25 min
Remembering Charlie Kirk: A Life of Faith, Family, and Courage
September 10, 2026
Real Life Network
World News
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.
When Attacks on Christians Barely Make the News
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.
Who Decides What Counts as News?
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.
Parents Cannot Outsource Discernment
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.
25 min
The Stories the Media Decides You Don’t Need to Know
September 8, 2026
Daniel Cohen
Devotional
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.
25 min
Created to Work, but Working under the Curse
September 8, 2026
The Washington Stand
World News
Some of the most important cultural debates begin with words. Mercy. Compassion. Truth. Justice. These words carry moral weight, but their meaning can change dramatically depending on the worldview behind them.
On Real Life Network, The Daniel Cohen Show examines the stories shaping American culture through a biblical worldview. This week, those stories raise difficult questions about the value of human life, the meaning of mercy, American citizenship, the institutions shaping children, and the responsibility Christians have to speak when foundational truths are being challenged.
At the center of those questions is a basic conviction: truth does not become relative simply because the culture has found a new way to describe something.
The Difference Between Mercy and Moral Confusion
The Lindsay Clancy case has reopened a painful national conversation about motherhood, mental illness, personal responsibility, and the deaths of children. That conversation deserves seriousness, particularly when postpartum mental illness is involved. But compassion for mental suffering cannot require society to stop acknowledging the value of the lives that were lost.
The broader cultural response is also worth examining. Videos have circulated online showing mothers joking about or pretending to harm their children, while supporters of Clancy have gathered under the slogan “We are all Lindsay.” At the same time, other cases involving mothers accused of killing their children have drawn comparisons to Clancy's case.
There is an important distinction between understanding mental illness and treating violence against children casually. Christians should be capable of showing compassion toward someone experiencing profound psychological suffering while simultaneously insisting that children possess inherent value and deserve protection.
That same confusion over language appears in the abortion debate.
In a resurfaced interview, Anne Hathaway described abortion as potentially “another word for mercy.” The statement illustrates a much deeper disagreement over what mercy actually means.
Scripture gives the word a radically different foundation.
In Exodus 34:6, God reveals Himself to Moses as compassionate and gracious. The Hebrew language provides a striking connection between compassion and the womb: rachum, describing compassion or mercy, is related to rechem, the Hebrew word for womb. The imagery points toward deep, protective compassion.
That makes the modern use of “mercy” to describe abortion especially significant. The biblical picture of compassion directs attention toward protection and care for the vulnerable.
Mercy cannot simply mean removing the person whose existence creates difficulty. Biblical mercy moves toward the vulnerable with compassion and protection.
That principle reaches beyond abortion. A society's understanding of human dignity determines how it treats people when they are weakest, most dependent, or least convenient.
Citizenship, Children, and the Institutions Shaping America
Another debate centers on birthright citizenship and the growing industry commonly called birth tourism.
During a congressional hearing, Dr. Vladimir Lorentz, associated with a business called Have Baby in Miami, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment when questioned about whether his business had helped foreign nationals travel to the United States to give birth. The hearing highlighted concerns about companies marketing American childbirth to international clients and the citizenship that comes with being born on U.S. soil.
Whatever one's preferred constitutional solution, the underlying question deserves attention: What does American citizenship mean?
Citizenship should be more than a commodity attached to the ability to purchase airfare, accommodations, and medical services. A country has a legitimate interest in protecting the meaning and integrity of citizenship while treating people with dignity.
But government policy isn't the only place where questions about American identity are emerging.
The Boy Scouts, now known as Scouting America, and the Girl Scouts have historically occupied a distinctive place in American childhood. Recent examples of Islamic religious programming within scouting organizations have generated controversy, including mosque-based Scout programs incorporating Islamic prayer and Quran instruction and Girl Scout opportunities connected with learning about Islam.
The issue raises a broader question for Christian parents: Who is shaping the institutions entrusted with children?
Parents cannot assume that an organization carries the same values it did a generation ago simply because the name or uniform looks familiar. Schools, youth organizations, entertainment companies, churches, and political movements all communicate a worldview.
Parents have a responsibility to know not only where their children are spending their time, but what those institutions are teaching them to believe about God, truth, identity, and morality.
That responsibility requires courage. Christians cannot complain that institutions have changed while remaining unwilling to participate, lead, ask questions, or speak when those institutions move away from their convictions.
Conviction Is More Than Political Branding
The same test applies to politicians who use Christian language.
Texas politician James Talarico has increasingly incorporated Christianity into his political identity while advancing theological interpretations on abortion, sexuality, and gender that deserve careful biblical examination. A candidate quoting Scripture or speaking in churches should not automatically earn Christian credibility.
The test is not whether someone can use Christian vocabulary.
The question is whether the theology being presented actually agrees with Scripture.
Christians should apply that standard regardless of party. Political affiliation cannot transform bad theology into sound theology, and a politician's claim to Christianity should never replace biblical discernment.
The approaching elections make that distinction increasingly important. Polling discussed on the show suggests Republicans may be in a stronger position among likely voters than conventional expectations for a midterm election might suggest. But polling does not eliminate the responsibility to participate.
Christians are commanded to pray for those in authority. In a representative government, citizens also have the opportunity to participate in choosing those leaders.
Neither panic nor complacency is useful.
Political engagement should flow from conviction, not replace it. The Christian's ultimate allegiance belongs to Christ, which should make biblical truth more important than any candidate or party.
That perspective matters beyond American politics.
Iran continues to face severe economic pressure, while uncertainty remains about the country's political future and the possibility of internal opposition to the Islamic Republic. Reliable information from inside Iran can be difficult to obtain, which makes restraint important. Christians can nevertheless pray for the Iranian people, for those seeking freedom, and for wisdom among the leaders making consequential decisions about the region.
Across all these stories, the underlying challenge is remarkably similar.
Will words retain their meaning?
Will mercy still mean protecting the vulnerable? Will citizenship represent something more than an economic transaction? Will Christian institutions remain recognizably Christian? Will professing believers allow Scripture to shape their politics rather than reshaping Scripture around their politics?
Those questions cannot be answered by slogans.
They require discernment, courage, and a willingness to accept truth even when truth makes people uncomfortable.
Watch The Daniel Cohen Show on Real Life Network for more news and commentary connecting the headlines to the good news through a biblical worldview.
25 min
What Are We Teaching America to Value?
September 7, 2026
Daniel Cohen
Faith & Culture
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.
1. Does God Really Exist?
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.
2. Can We Trust the Bible?
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.
3. Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?
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.
4. Has Science Disproved Christianity?
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.
5. If God Is Good, Why Is There So Much Suffering?
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.
6. Can There Really Be Objective Right and Wrong?
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?
7. Is Jesus Really the Only Way to God?
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.
Where Can I Find Christian Apologetics Resources?
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.
25 min
7 Christian Apologetics Conversations That Strengthen Your Confidence
September 4, 2026
Real Life Network
Entertainment & Lifestyle
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.
Why Real Life Network Is Free
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:
- Stream content without monthly payments
- Explore the full platform freely
- Share programs with friends and family easily
- Access biblical teaching regardless of financial situation
For many families, this removes a major obstacle and makes faith-based streaming far more accessible.
No Subscription Required
Unlike many mainstream streaming platforms, RLN does not require:
- Paid memberships
- Credit card trials
- Premium unlocks
- Hidden add-ons
- Automatic billing after a trial period
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.
What You Can Watch on RLN
Even though RLN is free, the platform includes a wide variety of content across multiple categories. Viewers can explore:
- Bible teaching and sermons
- Podcasts and interviews
- Faith-based films and documentaries
- Apologetics and worldview programs
- Family and kids’ programming
- Cultural discussions and special events
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.
Why This Matters for Families
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:
- Introduce children to biblical programming
- Watch sermons and teaching regularly
- Share content with small groups or friends
- Explore faith-based media without commitment pressure
This accessibility is especially meaningful for viewers who are exploring Christian content for the first time.
A Different Kind of Streaming Model
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:
- Expanding biblical content
- Supporting discipleship and evangelism
- Reaching viewers globally
- Providing family-safe programming without paywalls
Rather than asking viewers to “upgrade” for better access, the platform is designed to make truth available as broadly as possible.
What If You Want to Delete Your Account?
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:
- Go to their account settings
- Select delete account
- Confirm deletion
There are no cancellation fees, hidden commitments, or subscription complications because there is no paid membership attached to the account.
Why Donors Support Free Christian Streaming
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:
- Ongoing platform development
- New programming and documentaries
- Streaming infrastructure
- Outreach and discipleship efforts
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.
25 min
Can I Try Real Life Network Before Subscribing?
September 3, 2026
Real Life Network
World News
The relentless hold that online pornography has on American society is continuing unabated, with limited public effort to contain or reduce it. Surveys show that porn use is almost as widespread among practicing Christians as it is in the general public. Even as age verification laws have spread throughout the country, a lingering question remains: could an internet service provider (ISP) filtration model implemented in the U.K. help lower porn consumption in the U.S.?
With the universal adoption of internet-enabled phones has come the reality that smut is now consumed as easily and privately as viewing a text. AddictionHelp.com estimates that an astounding 95% of porn traffic is viewed on phones, with just 5% of traffic viewed on desktops. This may help explain why porn use is so rampant among younger generations of adults aged 18-35 in America, with a stunning 87% of men and 28% of women viewing it at least weekly. Porn is so omnipresent that the vast majority (70%) of males under 18 have viewed porn, along with 40% of minor females. Fully half of teens under 15 have also viewed online obscenity.
Perhaps most distressing for the church is that even the majority of practicing Christians are consuming porn. According to a 2024 report from Barna and Pure Desire, 54% of those who say “faith is important to them and have attended church in the last month” sometimes view porn, compared to 61% of all U.S. adults.
All of this consumption is taking place on human beings who are being sexually abused and coerced into being filmed. One study found that all porn subjects were coerced to participate in being filmed in some way, with 96% of them being victims of sexual abuse as children.
The effects of porn use on consumers are also contributing to a spiraling mental health crisis in the U.S. Research shows that habitual consumption causes increased anxiety and depression, emotional numbness and relationship strain, impaired focus and productivity, and increased isolation and loneliness, not to mention increased sexual dysfunction.
The immense damage that porn has inflicted on public health has led to a large swath of U.S. states enacting laws that require porn sites to verify the age of potential users before allowing them website access. Since 2023, 25 states have passed such laws. While human rights advocates have rightly celebrated these efforts at reducing minors’ consumption of porn, subsequent studies have found that the laws have done little to mitigate overall porn use. One study found that the laws’ effect induced a 10% reduction in time spent on porn sites, but “Many users appear to have circumvented restrictions with VPNs [virtual private networks] or shifted to noncompliant sites that did not verify age.”
Another way that countries like the U.K. are attempting to tackle the smut problem is by requiring ISPs to offer internet services that filter out porn sites. In 2011, the U.K. government announced an agreement with the country’s four largest ISPs in which their default internet service would be free of porn sites, requiring subscribers to “opt in” to an unfiltered service if they wanted access to smut. ISPs began implementing the policy in 2013. But subsequent reports revealed that the vast majority of British users opted out of the service, showing that the model has likely had a negligible effect on lessening porn consumption in the country.
Still, the model remains untried in the U.S., where many parents would likely choose to curtail porn at its source instead of having to navigate third-party filters to protect their children. However, experts like Benjamin Bull, who serves as general counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, say that the ISP filtration model may not stand up to legal scrutiny if it were enacted in the U.S.
“While we admire the U.K. model for blocking pornography unless users opt out, I fear the First Amendment to the United States Constitution would likely make such a law in this country be held unconstitutional,” he told The Washington Stand. “Although pornography found by a court to be legally ‘obscene’ has no constitutional protection, there is a presumption of constitutional protection until such a ruling occurs. Our Supreme Court would likely strike down the U.K. model as a ‘prior restraint’ on presumptively protected expression and therefore a violation of the First Amendment.”
Bull continued, “However, in the most recent term of our Supreme Court, the court upheld a Texas law that prohibits dissemination of pornography to minors unless the online platform first obtains confirmation that the recipient is 18 years of age or older. In other words, age verification is now a requirement for online dissemination of pornography in Texas and several other states that have adopted this law. The reason is that while pornography is presumptively protected for adults, it has little, if any, protection for minors. Because of a ‘compelling’ governmental interest in protecting children, the Supreme Court held that the burden of determining that the recipient is an adult prior to dissemination passes constitutional muster.”
“This is much weaker than the U.K. model, and our Supreme Court may not have reached this decision had the U.K. not been a leader in curtailing unlimited access to pornography, which social scientists have concluded has a corrosive and negative effect on society in so many ways,” he added.
This article was written by Dan Hart and originally published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.
25 min
Internet Service Providers in the U.K. Have a Porn Opt-Out Option. Why Doesn’t America?
September 1, 2026
The Washington Stand
Faith & Culture
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.
A Pastor Who Stood at the Crossroads of Faith and Power
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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25 min
Leadership Under a Higher Authority
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August 31, 2026
Rose Unplugged
Faith & Culture
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.
Make Your Life Count
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”.
25 min
The Faces We Can See
August 28, 2026
Rose Unplugged