Nicole Rabon

The book of Acts seems to sit benignly in the Bible, following the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It's presented almost as a travelogue of what happens to the apostles and the growing community devoted to a man named Jesus who was crucified. But Acts, if read properly, is quite subversive, and a potential source of great fear for the kings and rulers of the world because it directly challenges their authority, says Dr. N.T. Wright. Acts, written by the Apostle Luke, announces that the Kingdom of God has been launched, and that Jesus is its head. Why is this a problem for us today? Because the Western world's ‘Separation of Church and State' is a wobbly philosophy if in fact Jesus is King, and really can't be lived out to its most extreme manifestations, that they are on a collision course we can in fact see today in politics and the culture. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Dr. Wright, author, theologian, scholar, and Anglican priest, explains his new book, “The Challenge of Acts: Rediscovering What the Church Was and Is”. Wright says, “Acts is a dangerous book; and if people take it seriously, it's still dangerous today because the powerbrokers don't like the idea that actually there is this thing called the Kingdom of God.” Luke also wrote one of the two Gospels that includes the narratives of Jesus's birth. Luke describes it as the Royal Birth, of a King that will be at odds with all the Kings of the earth.

Fleeing from Europe to the New World for religious freedom in 1620, the Pilgrims intended to settle in northern Virginia, not far from Jamestown where there was an established community. But their ship was blown off course and landed instead at Plymouth, Massachusetts. And because they were in unsettled territory, the Pilgrims (before disembarking the Mayflower) created a document that became the prototype for America's Declaration of Independence and

We are now in the Advent season, the four weeks leading up to Christmas and the joy of Jesus' birth. Like Advent itself, the birth of the Savior has a lot of back story. Woven through the Bible's Old Testament are hundreds of prophecies that tell of a Messiah that will be born sometime in the future. Many of the prophecies, like those in Isaiah, are written centuries before the birth of Jesus. Cumulatively, they predict the conditions of the birth, the location of the birth, who he will be born to, what he is coming to do and so much more. Jesus fulfills every one of those prophecies. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, evangelist Anne Graham Lotz and investigative filmmaker Tim Mahoney delve into the prophecies of the Old Testament and the archeological evidence that shows that the core tenets of Christianity are grounded in the historical record. Mahoney's Patterns of Evidence production house has investigated the archeological evidence biblical prophecies and events from the Exodus to his most recent on Israel Dilemma that explores the Israel's covenant with God and the land. Lotz, well-known author and Christian speaker, is the daughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham.

The Martin Scorsese production of “The Saints”, now streaming on Fox Nation, is wrapping up its first four episodes this week with Maximillian

While religions of the world have some similarities, like the importance of family or mercy, Christianity makes a claim no other religion

More than two thousand years ago God broke through the barrier separating sinful humanity from a Holy God and took on human flesh in the form of a tiny baby. Christianity says all of human history had been building to that monumental event that separated time. Why did God, the creator of the universe, decide to enter our world, not as an avenging angel, but as a vulnerable and innocent baby? It's because of love. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Pastor Max Lucado, best-selling author and preacher, talks about the true meaning of Christmas. That Christmas set into motion the life-altering cosmos calamity that closed the chasm between God and sinful man.”Christmas”, says Lucado, “begins what Easter celebrates.” The two highest holy days of the Christain calendar are eternally linked. While Christmas has become much more commercialized with shopping and Santa taking center stage, it hasn't changed the reality that the peace and joy we talk about on Christmas cards and ad slogans, flows only from this one event, the birth of Jesus: “For God so loved the world!”

The Chosen is the widely popular television drama about the beginnings of Christianity. It is now in its fourth season, and no one is as surprised at its success than Amanda and Dallas Jenkins, the show's creators. They were skeptical of Angel Studio's crowd-funding business plan and thought they could raise at best $800; They ended up raising $10 million. But the career success has been accompanied by personal sadness with a chronically ill child. However, Amanda says, this has kept life and all its ups and downs in perspective- and that's God's plan.

For former cold-case murder detective J. Warner Wallace, the horrific New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans followed an age-old pattern of why people kill. He says of all the homicides he's worked, there are only three reasons why people commit crimes: sex, money, power. There's no fourth reason. And those three reasons fall into the larger bucket of Pride. Authorities say the suspect, 42-year-old Shamsud Din-Jabbar, had been radicalized into a distorted view of Islam, and was inspired by the terror group Isis, a power obsessed group. But Wallace, a former atheist who used his forensic skills to try to debunk Christianity and came away a believer in Jesus, has a much more nuanced view on the nature of religion. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Wallace talks about his book, “The Truth In True Crime: What Investigating Death Teaches Us About The Meaning Of Life.” Wallace says most religions, except for Christianity, are performance based; perform these rituals and services and God -or the world- will bless you. Even an atheistic worldview does this. However, that form of religion or belief falls prey to the greatest of deadly sins, pride. The only antidote to pride is humility, and humility is nothing anyone can achieve by works. And studies show, says Wallace, that humility leads not to the taking of life, but to human flourishing and the giving of life.

Christian persecution is growing globally, and the biggest reasons are radical Islam, Communist regimes, and Secular forces in the West. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Jeff King, President of the watchdog non-profit International Christian Concern, delves into its most recent Global Persecution Index. One of the most dangerous places to be a Christian is Nigeria, where in the last 20 years nearly 100,000 Christians were murdered and about 3.5 million Christian farmers have had their land stolen by the extremist Muslim group Boko Haram. King says, “It's slow-motion genocide and stealth Jihad.” While in Communist China, face-recognition AI technology monitors more than a billion people for the purpose of assigning a social credit score determining where they can work or go to school. And going to Church or reading a Bible assigns a much lower score. But in the West persecution is happening as well where the legal system has been weaponized to malign or marginalize certain believers. In one state, conservative Christians weren't allowed on a jury because of their religious views. King says he has hope that the incoming Trump administration will turn the tide and strengthen religious freedom around the world.

Actor John Schneider is best known for his role as Bo Duke on iconic 1980's TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard," but his talents go much deeper than playing a good ol' boy, and the resumè shows it. Originally from Mt. Kisco, NY, he's a singer who's recorded some 20 albums. He played Superman's father on