BackboneAmerica

Slated on Backbone Radio, December 16

Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver.. 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs… and streaming live at 710knus.com.

Lots of news this week, as well as the approach of Christmas — but overshadowing all of it is Colorado’s bloody Sunday and the shooter’s murder manifesto. “This is for all those young people still caught in the nightmare of Christianity, this evil sick religion,” the killer said on a website between his shooting rampages in Arvada and Colorado Springs on Dec. 9. “Christian America, this is your Columbine,” he continued. Never mind the deranged man’s name; let’s not widen his fame. The point for us is that the living God and his followers offend the world, the flesh, and the devil merely by reflecting light in the darkness. With this come the risks, and sometimes the high price, of a life of faith. As I’ve written (see center column), Jeanne Assam knows that; so should we all.

Jesus’ mother was prophetically told her newborn son would become “a sign which shall be spoken against,” even to the point of “a sword piercing” her own soul. It turns out Christmas and Hanukkah aren’t so antithetical to danger, sacrifice, and tragedy after all, when you know the history. The good news is that faith is worth the price, as the steady advance of freedom against barbarism shows.

** Mark Earley of Prison Fellowship, plus educator Bill Moloney, plus actor and author Joseph C. Phillips, will be among my guests on this week’s show to help us make sense of the headlines in light of these timeless questions.

** Steve Schippert of ThreatsWatch.com will talk with Joshua Sharf and me about Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, and the Islamist fifth column here at home.

** And with AP reporting Al Gore has refitted his Nashville mansion to make it less of an energy hog, we’ll welcome former Denver Post reporter Trent Seibert, who broke the story on Gore’s carbon hypocrisy last spring.

Christmas is coming, Hanukkah’s over, the Kwanzans and Wiccans are warming up. If the holidays are getting to you, try Backbone Radio. We’re not fattening like eggnog, indigestible like fruitcake, fake like a mall Santa, or grating like yet another Rudolph rendition. Our one-horse open talk show is about to come dashing through your Sunday — jump in and ride along.

Yours with spirits bright,
JOHN ANDREWS