This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 13:52)Absolute Hostility to the West and Further Instability in the Middle East: The Death of Iran’s President and the Future of the Islamic RepublicPart II (13:52 – 17:17)The Background Story in Iran — The Rise and Fall of Empires, and Emergence of Modern Islamic TheocracyPart III (17:17 – 27:18)Two Republican Senators Propose Federal Protection of IVF: So Let’s Make Them Tell Us When They Think Human Life BeginsWe’ll Protect Both Life and IVF by The Wall Street Journal (Ted Cruz and Katie Boyd Britt)Sign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 08:19)When Will SCOTUS Take Up the Trans Issue? The Inevitability of a Big Case Over Transgenderism Hitting the Nation’s High Court Part II (08:19 – 14:48)Parents Don’t Want Transgender Athletes on School Sports Teams, Even in New York — And the Pushback is Nothing More than Moral CoercionN.Y.C. Parents Rebuked for Questioning Transgender Student-Athlete Rules by The New York Times (Troy Closson)Part III (14:48 – 17:14)President Biden Looks to Turn Back Advances of Women and Girls in Name of Transgender Support — What Placing ‘Trans Rights’ Under Title IX Really MeansBiden Turns Title IX Into a Weapon Against Women and Girls by The Wall Street Journal (Kristen Waggoner)Part IV (17:14 – 20:59)Your Neighborhood Gym Enters the Culture Wars: Fitness Facility Wrestles with Locker Room Policy and Sexual RevolutionPlanet Fitness’s New Chief Steps Into a Culture-War Storm by The Wall Street Journal (Jennifer Maloney)Part V (20:59 – 25:17)A Deliberate Rejection of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful: The Unspeakably Ugly New Portrait of King Charles IIIA Shock of Red for a Royal Portrait by The New York Times (Vanessa Friedman)Sign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 12:27)A Shot Ricocheting Across the World: ICC Announces War Crime Charges Against Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Chief Along With Leader of HamasPart II (12:27 – 16:26)The ICC Misses the Bomber Pilot for the Death Squad: The False Moral Equivalence of the ICC and the Undercutting of Just War TheoryThe ICC Disgraces Itself Over Israel by The Wall Street Journal (The Editorial Board)Part III (16:26 – 18:32)The U.S. Can Never Join the ICC or Recognize Its Jurisdiction: The Sanity and Morality Behind the U.S. Rejection of ICC’s Jurisdiction and War Crime Charges Against IsraelPart IV (18:32 – 26:19)Absolute Banality, a Rejection of Roman Catholic Doctrine, and Abandonment of the Gospel: Pope Francis’s Interview on 60 MinutesPart V (26:19 – 27:14)The Woke Pope: Liberal Pope Francis Continues to Divide the Catholic Church — And Its By His Own IntentionPope Francis’ Culture Wars Divide Catholic Church by Newsweek Magazine (Katherine Fung)Sign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 11:21)Harrison Butker, the Latest Heretic to Our Modern Secular Age: The Left in a Rage After Butker’s Commencement Address to Benedictine CollegeFull Text: Harrison Butker of Kansas City Chiefs Graduation Speech by National Catholic RegisterPart II (11:21 – 17:31)Creation Order Leads to Human Happiness: But Harrison Butker’s Words to the Young Men and Women at Benedictine College Led to OutrageChiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s speech was ugly. He’s only part of a bigger problem. by USA Today (Mike Freeman)Part III (17:31 – 26:07)A Parable of Our Secular Age: Larry Hogan Makes 180 Degree Turn on Abortion for Political ExpediencyHogan Backs Codifying Roe, Tacking Left on Abortion Ahead of a Tough Race by The New York Times (Luke Broadwater)Part IV (26:07 – 28:17)An Unstable, Dangerous Part of the World Just Got More Unstable and Dangerous: Iran’s President and Other Leaders Appear to be Dead After Helicopter Crash‘No sign of life’ at crash site of helicopter carrying Iran’s president, others by The Associated Press (Jon Gambrell)Sign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 08:49)Higher Education Has a Quality Control Problem: The Systemic Fraudulent Problem Within Academic JournalsWiley to Shutter 19 Journals by Inside Higher Ed (Johanna Alonso)Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures by The Wall Street Journal (Nidhi Subbaraman)Part II (08:49 – 12:06)Sorority Sisters Sue Over New Sorority Brother: Transgender Sorority Member Sparks Controversy on University CampusWyoming sorority sisters sue over admission of biological man by Catholic News Agency (Peter Pinedo)Part III (12:06 – 15:52)How Do We Hold Together God’s Sovereignty in Salvation and Evangelism? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The BriefingPart IV (15:52 – 20:00)How Do We Analyze the News Without Becoming a Mopey and Sad Christian? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The BriefingPart V (20:00 – 23:08)What Advice Do You Have for a Young Deacon? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters from Listeners of The BriefingPart VI (23:08 – 27:10)What Does Healthy Masculinity Look Like in Our Confused World? — Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter from a 12-Year-Old Listener of The BriefingSign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

Union with Christ doesn’t begin after we have reached a certain point of spiritual maturity. Jesus doesn’t wait until we know Him “well enough” to unite Himself with us. Our union with Him was decreed by the Father in eternity past and is experienced by every Christian from the moment of conversion, through every scene of life, upon death, and into our eternal rest.
Focusing on Ephesians 1:3-4, Dr. John Snyder and Acey Floyd put on their thinking caps (make sure to check out the YouTube channel!) to discuss this glorious mystery. Whether you want to use the word foreknowledge, predestination, or election, the reality the duo discusses this week is like a mountain whose peaks are obscured by clouds too high for us to see clearly. We cannot understand every aspect of it. However, God has revealed enough for us to know His choosing is sourced solely in Himself.
This gracious choosing of the Father should drive us to worship Him and tell every person united to Adam to turn to Christ as their only hope.
 
Show Notes:
Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray
Blog Post: https://www.mediagratiae.org/blog/union-with-christ-iii-the-origin-of-our-union
Scripture to meditate on after this podcast:
Luke 22:22
Acts 2:23
Acts 4:27-28
1 Peter 1:2
Ephesians 2:8-10
2 Timothy 1:9
John 6:37
Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts
You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 15:17)The World is Reaching a Catastrophic Fertility Rate: The Huge Demographic Changes Taking Place Before Our Eyes WorldwideSuddenly There Aren’t Enough Babies. The Whole World Is Alarmed. by The Wall Street Journal (Greg Ip and Janet Adamy)Part II (15:17 – 18:10)Secularization, Lifestyle Choices, and Complexities of Modernity: The Devastating Causes of the Falling Birth Rates WorldwidePart III (18:10 – 19:47)Our Society Has an Increasing Death Impulse: Even After Statewide Abortion Bans, the Abortion Rate Keeps Creeping UpDespite state bans, abortions nationwide are up, driven by telehealth by NPR (Elissa Nadworny)Part IV (19:47 – 25:25)Residency Students Look to States Without Abortion Bans? What Does It Say of the Medical Community That is So Committed to the Culture of Death?Fewer medical students are applying to residency in states with near-total abortion bans by The Hill (Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech)Sign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 08:00)Same-Sex Marriage Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary: How the Revolutions Over Contraceptives and Divorce Led to the Sexual Revolution and the Attempted Redefinition of MarriageHow 20 Years of Same-Sex Marriage Changed America by The Wall Street Journal (Molly Ball)Part II (08:00 – 17:19)How Did Our Culture Come to Affirm Same-Sex Marriage? The Moral, Social, and Political Activism That Led to Our Current Cultural Revolution and Moral ShiftPart III (17:19 – 22:20)Target Tones Down Pride Month Displays: Don’t Be Fooled, This is About Marketing, Not MoralityBattered by boycott and backlash, Target will not sell Pride collection in all stores by USA Today (Jessica Guynn)Part IV (22:20 – 25:25)Moral Agenda Through Smoke and Mirrors: How Corporate America Pushes the Cultural RevolutionSign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 15:47)Nihilism Hits a Wall: Jerry Seinfeld Gets Crossways with the Cultural LeftAbout 30 students walk out on Jerry Seinfeld at Duke commencement by PoliticoAs Seinfeld Receives Honorary Degree at Duke, Students Walk Out in Protest by The New York Times (Eduardo Medina and Emily Cataneo)Part II (15:47 – 22:31)Where Does the U.S. Stand with Israel Now? Rafah, President Biden’s Comments, and the Intricacies of Israel’s Self-Defense Intermingled with U.S. InterestsPart III (22:31 – 25:58)U.S. Senator Bob Menendez Corruption Trial Begins with Huge Moral Significance — And His Defense Strategy Includes Blaming It on His WifeSign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:13 – 12:49)A Preschooler Can See It, Why Not the Rest? The Redefined Family Collides with Mother’s DayOur daughter wanted a mommy, so she picked one of her dads by The Washington Post (Richard Just)Part II (12:49 – 20:33)No, a Same-Sex Couple Does Not Have Fertility Issues: Gay Couple in New York Files Claim for Lack of ‘IVF Benefits’A gay couple couldn’t access IVF benefits. They’re suing New York City. by The Washington Post (Maham Javaid)Part III (20:33 – 25:01)President Biden Threatens Israel’s Ability to Defend Itself: A Block on Arms is a Gift to HamasSign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.