The Natasha Crain Podcast

Latest Episodes:

43. America's Disastrous Search for a More Inclusive Deity, with Erwin Lutzer Sep 10, 2024

Show notes

My guest today is Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Dr. Lutzer is pastor emeritus of The Moody Church, where he served as the senior pastor for 36 years. He is an award-winning author of many books, including We Will Not Be Silenced, and the featured speaker on two radio programs heard on more than 750 outlets worldwide.

In this episode, we talk about Dr. Lutzer's brand new book (just released today!), called The Eclipse of God: Our Nation's Disastrous Search for a More Inclusive Deity (and What We Must Do About It). I had the honor of reading an early copy and endorsing it, and I highly recommend it. As I said in my endorsement, “I can't think of a better book to quickly bring Christians up to speed on the key forces that have led to our culture's disastrous attempt to redefine and abandon God.” We had a fantastic conversation in this episode about how America's gotten to the point of worshipping a self-made deity rather than the one true God. Don't miss this! Dr. Lutzer will give you insights into our current cultural moment that you won't forget.

42. How The After Party Curriculum Is Sowing Political Confusion in the Church Aug 30, 2024

Show notes

The After Party is a small group curriculum and corresponding book that's being heavily promoted this election year to individuals, churches, and Christian institutions. The marketing is designed to attract churches who would like to simply encourage charitable communication around politics, but the execution is designed to convince Christians that they shouldn’t be so conservative. In this episode, I do a deep dive on the book to make the case that it's not what it's marketed to be and that it should absolutely be avoided by the church.
This podcast is available in article form at https://natashacrain.com/how-the-after-party-curriculum-is-sowing-political-confusion-in-the-church/.

41. Is There a Leftist Agenda Infiltrating the Church?, with Megan Basham Aug 07, 2024

Show notes

Megan Basham's new book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, has become the source of much discussion and controversy in the few days it's been out. In this episode, Megan and I talk about the central thesis of her book, the evidence for it, and why Christians should be concerned. She also responds to many of the objections people have had to it over the last few days.
Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Sale-Evangelical-Leaders-Leftist/dp/0063413442

40. How to Discern Truth from Culture’s Lies, with Pastor Jack Hibbs Apr 26, 2024

Show notes

Deception of many different kinds is a pervasive problem in the church today. The problem with deception, of course, is that people rarely know when they're being deceived. In this episode, I talk about some of the most pressing examples of deception in the church with pastor Jack Hibbs based on his new book, Living in the Daze of Deception: How to Discern Truth from Culture's Lies.
Pastor Jack is the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, which is a community of 10,000 members in southern California. His podcast attracts 250,000 listeners monthly, and he broadcasts to 800 radio stations daily.

MENTIONED ON THE SHOW
Unshaken Conference tickets and information: https://unshakenconference.com/
Register for a Summit Summer Conference and get $200 off with code NATASHA200 at summit.org/natasha
Pastor Jack's newest book, Living in the Daze of Deception: How to Discern Truth from Culture's Lies https://www.amazon.com/Living-Daze-Deception-Discern-Cultures/dp/073698738X
Pastor Jack Hibbs' website: https://jackhibbs.com/

39. The Biggest Faith Challenges Facing the Next Generation, with Dr. Jeff Myers Mar 27, 2024

Show notes

Culture has gone through an enormous shift in the last few years, and raising kids with a confident faith is more challenging than ever. Today I talk with Dr. Jeff Myers about the biggest faith challenges today and how parents (and grandparents!) should respond. Dr. Jeff is the president of Summit Ministries and is one of America’s most respected authorities on youth leadership development. This is a conversation that every Christian concerned about the next generation needs to hear (and that should be all of us!).
MENTIONED ON THE SHOW
Register for a Summit Summer Conference and get $200 off with code NATASHA200 at summit.org/natasha (and an additional $100 off if you do so before March 31!)
Unshaken Conference https://unshakenconference.com/
My apologetics books for parents:

Keeping Your Kids on God's Side https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Your-Kids-Gods-Side/dp/0736965084
Talking with Your Kids about God https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Your-Kids-about-Conversations/dp/0801075521
Talking with Your Kids about Jesus https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Your-Kids-about-Jesus/dp/080107553X/

Parenting Gen Z by Jason Jimenez https://www.amazon.com/Parenting-Gen-Guiding-through-Hostile/dp/1646070070

Legacy Coalition https://legacycoalition.com/

38. The State of Parental Rights, with Ryan Bangert of Alliance Defending Freedom Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

Today I'm featuring the work of a very important organization that every Christian should know about: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). ADF is one of the leading Christian law firms committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life. Ryan Bangert, Senior VP at ADF, joins me to talk specifically about parental rights in this episode. He offers a wealth of information on this subject that is vital for parents to understand.
SHOW NOTES:

ADF's website: https://adflegal.org/

ADF Ministry Alliance (affordable religious freedom legal help for ministries): https://www.adfministryalliance.org/

Financially support ADF here: https://adflegal.org/support/grants-funding

37. The He Gets Us Campaign: Why Its Portrayal of Jesus is Still a Problem Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

Super Bowl Sunday is in a few days, and He Gets Us will once again be running ads as part of their $100 million advertising campaign intended to "rescue Jesus's reputation." Last year, I wrote a viral article on 7 key problems with it. Since people will be talking about it all over again this week, I've done an updated evaluation of the campaign, including reviewing all 43 days of their Bible reading plans. Today I walk through my case that the campaign continues to be very problematic.
Mentioned in the show:
A written version of this podcast is available here: https://natashacrain.com/here-comes-the-he-gets-us-campaign-again-why-its-portrayal-of-jesus-is-still-a-problem/
Last year's article is here: https://natashacrain.com/7-problems-with-the-he-gets-us-campaign/
My Unshaken Faith episode with Alisa Childers on how Jesus never claimed that it was bad to be "religious": https://blubrry.com/1470671/96136650/17-myth-of-the-modern-day-pharisee/

36. The Pro-Life Movement, Culture Wars, and How the Church Got Soft, with Seth Gruber Jan 18, 2024

Show notes

Seth Gruber is a bold and passionate pro-life speaker and the founder of The White Rose Resistance. His mission is to be a voice for unborn children and to educate and expose culture to the evil of abortion until every person has the right to be born. In today's episode, Seth and I talk about the state of the pro-life movement post-Roe, the history of evil that led to where we are today with the killing of babies, the softness of today’s church on cultural issues, and much more.
SHOW NOTES:
Seth’s website

Seth’s ministry: The White Rose Resistance (Get Involved!)

Seth’s talk that I called the “Most Powerful Talk I’ve Ever Heard”

Seth’s podcast

Seth with Jack Hibbs on “Happening Now” at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills

35. Public Schools (Part 2): How to Know What's Going On in the Classroom (Plus Q&A), with Andy White Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

In this part 2 on public schools (see episode 34 for part 1), my guest Andy White explains seven things Christian parents can and should be doing to know what's going on in their child's school and classroom. In the second hour, Andy answers a dozen questions from listeners.
MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:
Gateways https://gogateways.org/
Rise Up Christian Educators https://riseupchristianeducators.com/
Prepare the Way https://www.preparetheway.us/
Association of Christian Schools International https://www.acsi.org/
Christopher Rufo https://christopherrufo.com/
Daily Signal from the Heritage Foundation https://www.dailysignal.com/
Critical Dilemma by Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Dilemma-Theories-Justice-Ideology_Implications/dp/073698870X/

34. Public Schools: What Christian Parents Need to Know, with Andy White Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

This is the third part of my series on educational choices for Christian families. In today's episode, I interview Andy White, a Christian who has been a public high school principal for the last 19 years. Our purpose is NOT to tell every Christian parent to leave public schools; we know that every family has different considerations and opportunities. Rather, our purpose is to educate Christian parents who do continue to have their kids in public schools on what concerns they should watch out for. A subsequent episode will address what parents can do in response.

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