You can always tell how important something is by the priority placed on it. In Genesis, the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible, God establishes a family, Adam and Eve. The very first thing God does in the New Testament is the merging of family between Mary and Joseph in the birth of Christ. And the very first miracle Jesus performs is at a wedding, the wedding at Cana. It is now officially wedding season, in the month of June more weddings will take place than at any other...

Eden Gefner was born and raised in Kibbutz Reim in Israel, just three miles from the border with Gaza. On October 7th, her life changed from being a normal 28-year-old thinking about her future, to believing she was now in the Holocaust, that she and her family would die, just for being Jews. But instead, she and her mother, father, and boyfriend narrowly survived the Hamas attack. Hiding in the safe room and holding tight to the door, they heard automatic gunfire break the front door, a...

Imagine all the love you've experienced in your entire life, from parents, spouses, friends, family, and then multiply it a thousand times. That's the kind of love experienced by people who've had Near Death Experiences; they report being in the presence of God. NDE's, as they are known, are scientifically recognized phenomenon that occur when people are clinically dead and see visions of themselves, their bodies as paramedics try to revive them, doctors as they operate, or even family...

It is hard to fight against an enemy whose reason for being is to eliminate you. So says author Rick Richman, as he answers the criticism leveled against Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. It is Israel, he says, that is trying to prevent a genocidal operation perpetrated by Hamas. Richman, the author of  "And None Shall Make Them Afraid: Eight Stories of the Modern State of Israel,"  says the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests are filled with misinformation and misguided passions by...

When stars align it's hard not to see God's hand in it. For world class percussionist, Zoro, it's hard not to see his mother as the gift that kept on giving. How does a young boy of a single mother of seven children go from abject poverty to the highest ranks of musicians, performing with the likes of Lenny Kravitz,  Earth, Wind and Fire, and hob-knobbing with the Jackson Five? It's a faith that moved mountains. It was also a mother's love that believed in her children's dreams. Like the...

Bible verses like Romans 12, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" and 2 Corinthinians 10, "Take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ", turn out to have real scientific structural foundations. How do you 'renew your mind'? How do you 'take every thought captive'? Those directives wouldn't be possible unless the brain was pliable. Unless the gray matter between our ears, instead of being fixed through its DNA, possesses a plasticity, able to be molded by it's...

For three decades, Tom and JoAnn Doyle's ministry has focused on the Middle East. The two affable and faith-filled Americans have smuggled in Bibles and helped locals organize Christian house churches in places where it could bring a death sentence for converting from Islam. And yet, even under threat of death, there's been a massive conversion there, particularly in Iran, the country that just launched hundreds of missiles on Israel. What's the real take of how Iranians feel about their...

The Bible's words saying "God made them male and female" for centuries had been upheld by the scientific community, that is up until just a few years ago. In today's woke culture, gender dysphoria, a mental health problem, has spurred many young people into surgeries that they later regret. Once celebrated for expressing their "true self" as transgender male or female, they are often attacked when they realize they made the wrong decision and begin the arduous journey of de-transitioning....

The old adage that 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' was never truer than when faithful Christians told stories of injustices, not with words, but through photos. At a time when photography was new technology used more for entertainment, Alice Seeley Harris, an English missionary, documented the horrors of human rights abuses in the Congo under the regime of King Leopold II of the Belgians. Children and adults with limbs cut off as punishment. Thousands of miles away, Jacob August Riis,...

While Easter, as it is celebrated in America, has morphed into bunnies, bonnets, baskets, and egg coloring... the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is in fact a 'revolution'. So says Bishop Robert Barron, the founder of Word On Fire Catholic ministries, and the bishop of the Rochester-Winona diocese in Minnesota. On this special Easter episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast recorded at his studios in Rochester, Minnesota, Barron, who's also a best-selling author and former auxiliary...

It may be a surprise to some folks, but the Easter Bunny has nothing to do with the true meaning of Easter. Neither do Easter baskets, bonnets, spring flowers or any of the plethora of secular imagery that have taken center stage during the Lent and Easter season, pushing the Resurrection of Jesus, the cornerstone of Christianity, to the side or dismissed entirely. But best-selling author Anthony DeStefano is fighting back. He's embraced the Easter Bunny for a children's book about Jesus, His...

Twenty years ago, Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui made a promise to God that he would not do any work that offended his Catholic faith, his family or his culture. The vow meant he didn't work for four years as he had to constantly turn down offers. Then he started a production company with two friends and together produced "Sound of Freedom," about child trafficking and sexual exploitation that starred Jim Caviezel as the agent who hunts down traffickers. And now Verastegui's new film,...

Former GOP consultant Bunni Pounds may have lost an election for U.S. Congress, but she gained valuable experience. And she's using that experience to mobilize Christians to come out and vote. In 2020, some 25 million sat on the sidelines and didn't cast their ballots. Now Pounds, from the great state of Texas, is pulling out all the political stops to make a serious dent in that number. She's created an organization that shows churches how to get their congregations involved in praying,...

Who knew prayer could be so offensive to so many? But that's exactly the reaction Pastor Jack Hibbs received from several members of Congress after he gave a prayer on January 30th to open their session. Hibbs is the pastor of mega church Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, California. House Speaker Mike Johnson invited him to deliver the invocation. In his prayer, Hibbs called for "humility and repentance of national sins in a time of great need." In a letter that was sent to the Speaker of the...

There's a hunger in this world for God. You may not know it; you may not feel it. But the insatiable need for a transcendent love that surpasses all understanding, is at the root of all our angst and anguish. Just think about this year's Grammy Song of the Year, "What Was I Made For?" It may be the Billie Eilish tune for the movie Barbie, but it may as well be the soundtrack of this generation's burning question: What's the purpose of my life? Why am I here? With mounting levels of despair,...

The data doesn't lie. Getting married and staying married benefits women, children... and men. Social scientist, Professor Brad Wilcox, gives convincing proof that marriage, despite being much maligned today, is actually a better way to live, well, happily ever after. But there are some caveats. First, the myth of the soul mate. No human is perfect and so no potential spouse, no matter how much he or she makes your heart flutter, is capable of fulfilling your every desire. Sooner or later the...

In the more than 25 years since Promise Keepers began, the culture has shifted tremendously. And it's not been a positive move for men. Masculinity is called "toxic", and "straight white male" has become a euphemism for "devil incarnate". But Promise Keepers president Ken Harris and Dr. A.R. Bernard, the Senior pastor of New York mega church, Christian Cultural Center, are undaunted, and fearless in beckoning men to biblical manhood, and understand and live out what God has called them to be....

While technology moves ahead with seemingly lightning speed, it's sad to say that in the realm of religious freedom, we as a culture are moving backwards. This week, the Religious Freedom Summit wrapped up in Washington, DC. One of lead participant was Eric Patterson, president of the Religious Freedom Institute in the nation's capital. He spoke to Lighthouse Faith podcast just before the summit began, but already knew what the pressing issues would be. The basic human right to worship how...

The destruction of the biblical sister towns of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the most well-known and controversial stories in the Bible's Old Testament. God's reasons for obliterating this thriving metropolis have had incredible consequences for us today and hence the subject of intense debate. But for centuries, many secular, and some Christian scientists, believed Sodom was just a mythical town meant to support an allegorical telling of God's wrath against sin. But in 2001 archeologists...

Nearly every poll shows Donald Trump the likely GOP 2024 Presidential nominee, which is why the vitriol against one of his largest group of supporters has risen to near derangement levels. One MSNBC anchor accused White Christian Iowans of wanting to have people of color bow down to them, while another said White Evangelical Christians are worshipping Trump as the Second Coming.  But California Pastor Shane Idleman is pushing back, saying this battle is not about Trump, but about spiritual...

The 9th Commandment against bearing false witness seems straight forward as a directive against lying. But what happens if you tell a lie unknowingly because you're trusting nature is being abused and used for evil? That is the message of Mitch Albom's novel, "The Little Liar." Set during the Holocaust, the story revolves around a lie that a Jewish boy in Greece tells the people in his community a lie he doesn't know is untrue. "The trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who...

Hollywood rarely makes a positive film about priests. You have to go back a few decades to 1945 to find Bing Crosby in his role as the respected Father O'Malley in "The Bells of St. Mary's." That was way before the decline in reverence for not only faith, but also for the men and women of the cloth. But Fr. Stephen Fichter, a New Jersey priest, wanted to be a part of changing people's attitudes about the priesthood. The feature length film, "Trinity's Triumph," is his offering. It was a...

As we say goodbye to 2023 and reflect on this past year, Cal Thomas has some observations about the last fifty years! He says, "One thing that always amazes me is how things never really change. You can change hairstyles, clothes, styles, modes of transportation. You can even change politicians. But nothing really seems to change. A lot of that has to do with human nature." On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Thomas, best-selling author, syndicated columnist and political...

If the Bible had never been written, America probably wouldn't exist. Our founding documents and beliefs about law, justice and grace come directly from the pages of Scripture. It also means that it is so much more vital for Christians to not only celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus, but to live out its core tenets by engaging a culture that continues to grow more secular. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Dr. Robert Pacienza, Senior Pastor Of Coral Ridge...

King Josiah of Judah was one of the leaders of the Hebrews who, as the Bible said, "did right in the eyes of God." Despite his father and grandfather being wicked men, Josiah emerges as one of the heroes of God's chosen people, becoming a light in a darkened world. Best-selling author Jonathan Cahn says there is more to Josiah than just his ancient standing as a Jewish monarch. Cahn taps into clues from Josiah's reign to show that recent events like the October 7th attack on Israel, the...