They Must Be Stopped

You remember where you were on 9/11, right? It was a defining moment for millions worldwide. Where are you now, about whether it could happen again? Somewhere between denial and "Yes"? Brigitte Gabriel wrote They Must Be Stopped about defeating radical Islam to help connect the dots for the world on aggressions that prohibit God-given freedoms. She’s a terrorism expert with firsthand experience about their agenda of hate and force. I know, we’d rather talk about how to re-forest an area or the potential in outer space. But let's look hard and long at things we take for granted, before they slip away from us.

We celebrate the founding of the USA on Woman to Woman® this July 4 with Brigitte, whose zeal for rooting out evil against mankind is contagious. Having lived with and without her freedoms, she’s a student of world history and especially well versed in Islamic studies and policy. As a New York Times bestselling author, Brigitte is one of the most highly sought after terrorism experts in the world. She’s addressed audiences at the FBI, the United States Congress, members of the British Parliament’s House of Commons, the Joint Forces Staff College and others. She specializes in the Middle East, which is where she was born, in Lebanon.

They Must Be Stopped is not an indictment against a person, but an exposé of a belief system of hatred intent on domination. Brigitte refers to Islam as a total system, not as a religion, per se. Do you wonder, as I do, why women subject their daughters to genital circumcision, primarily without anesthetic, often resulting in infection and physical damage for life? I ask Brigitte that question. Does it trouble you that Sharia Law, when established within our borders, can keep a woman from protection by the laws of our land if she is abused, for example, by her husband? Brigitte speaks to that issue. In our visit, Brigitte addresses these and other facts we must know to keep our nation and values from being sabotaged.

Brigitte speaks truth so we can remain free, tirelessly collecting data for us to make informed decisions about our freedoms. Listen to this show at your leisure online. Hear about Brigitte’s childhood years in Lebanon, a democracy in the Middle East, until her Maronite Christian village was destroyed by Islamic terrorists who eventually took over the country, destroying its beauty, its strong educational system and its high quality hospitals.

This is an uncomfortable topic, especially in a politically correct climate, so we bring it to you in an honest effort to help you find Truth, as the Lord leads. If you have been apathetic to this point, let me know what you think after you hear the remarkable Brigitte Gabriel!

As we celebrate our freedoms this 4th, let’s thank God for those devoted to protect freedom. When I thank armed services personnel, I find great conversations can start with “strangers.” A person isn’t really a stranger when he or she affords me the life I love in the good ol’ USA!

Global Warming or Not?

I was riveted by the dynamic, eye opening presentation by Ann McElhinney in January 2010 when she addressed the Constitutional Coalition’s St. Louis Conference on Educational Policy. I told her about Woman to Woman® and invited her to the studio to record her experience as a documentary filmmaker who wrote and produced Not Evil, Just Wrong, Mine Your Own Business and other films. Ann is married to fellow documentary-maker and journalist Phelim McAleer.

This Irish girl swims against the tide. She’s a powerful example of how, when you answer God’s call on your life, know your stuff, refuse to be manipulated and speak with polite conviction, you can impact His world for good! We explore “GLOBAL WARMING or NOT?” as I ask Ann how she’s been bold enough to take the hits and stand steadfast in her passion to uncover truth and bring it to our attention. She calls herself an “eternal optimist” and you’ll see why in this visit. I think you’ll find it contagious! I know it will make you think twice about how and where you get your facts. I like doing that with you, “Woman to Woman!”

Buried Alive

This Father’s Day on Woman to Woman® you’ll meet Dan Woolley, who was buried alive in the Haitian earthquake, survived extreme injuries, hoped to be rescued, waited 65 hours without food and water, and accepted that he would not to be rescued, only to be lifted out of the rubble just in time to save his life. As Christians, we believe -- theoretically at least -- that God can prove Himself powerful in our impossible situations. But will He? This visit with Dan encourages, in fact urges, us to wait on the Lord, stand firm and sing a new song of praise to God!

The Bible verse Dan repeated while waiting on the Lord came easily to him; his college roommate had written it to music. It is Psalm 40: 1-3: I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

Millions of viewers saw Dan’s wife, Christy, on the morning talk shows answer how she could endure waiting. After the miraculous rescue, Dan and Christy appeared together on several shows to testify to how the Lord sustained them both in their dilemmas. Now you can hear the details of how Dan had just talked with his wife thousands of miles away on his cell when a 35 second earthquake threw him under concrete boulders. It was lights out for two and a half days for Dan, who’d flown from Colorado Springs to Haiti on a mission trip with Compassion International. While Christy and their two young sons agonized over his fate, Dan was busy surviving the challenge of his life. Hear his amazing story this week and learn how to get your bearings in crisis and why that brings you into the calming Presence of the Living God!

This show is special to me on many levels. First of all, it is an incredible story of the power of God that is available to all who believe in His Son as their Savior from sin. On another level, Dan’s wife is from a family that generations ago used to play pinochle with my grandparents in Decatur, Illinois! I know Christy’s parents well, having summered with them in Michigan for years. In fact, her Aunt Janet was the main guest on the "Grandparents as Parents" program which you can access online. God weaves our lives together, whether we know it or not, to tell His story!

It's Just Entertainment?

When you choose what to watch with your eyes, do you try to be media-wise? With so many film choices just one click away, how can you anticipate the content and the message to protect yourself and your family from the wrong messages? You know what it’s like to sink into the couch with your popcorn and beverage, expecting to relax and be entertained, only to instead be assaulted by words and actions that have you reaching for the remote. I’ll talk about that with Ted Baehr, who has produced hundreds of programs for PBS and won an Emmy® for CBS’s TV version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His influence goes far beyond entertainment to educating audiences on the impact of their media choices.

Even with the best popcorn in the world, the influence of media on ourselves and our kids has us swallowing some toxic ideas, kernels and all. Ted Baehr is the publisher of Movieguide: The Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment and is a noted critic, educator and lecturer. His mission in life is to educate audiences on how to be discerning in selecting their entertainment. His credentials include a Juris Doctorate from NYU School of Law. He graduated in seminary studies from the Institute of Theology at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and earned a Doctorate of Humanities degree from Belhaven University.

All of this to say, Ted’s done his homework. You can trust him to help you with yours on this week's Woman to Woman®!

Girls Gone Wise

In the film Gigi, Maurice Chevalier sang “Thank Heaven For Little Girls.” The lyrics begin:

Thank heaven for little girls,
for little girls get bigger every day!
Thank heaven for little girls,
they grow up in the most delightful way!

I’ve been blessed with three daughters for whom I’ve helped provide a pathway to the confident loveliness of womanhood. Now I pray, watch and “counsel” them in preparing their own daughters to find their highest calling as women some day.

The song line, “They grow up in the most delightful way!” is being changed in our culture, as it encourages promiscuity -- “They grow up into the most frightful way!” The Girls Gone Wild tour is more than a bus tour that makes one videographer rich; it’s an attitude that can detour and devour the lives of those who board this bus with self-defeating choices. Coverage of the spring break bikini contests, where dancing girls "flash" the crowd on video, leave us asking: What is going on? Where are their mothers? Mary Kassian, Professor of Women’s Studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, penned her take on the way it can be for our daughters in her book Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild, to counter the Girls Gone Wild movement.

Kassian encourages women with these words: “I believe the time is now for a new movement—a seismic holy quake of countercultural women who dare take God at his Word, those who have the courage to stand against the popular tide, and believe and delight in God’s plan for male and female.”

Girls Gone Wild goes beyond crazy “fun” on the beach. It's a mindset that promises personal empowerment and sexual liberation, and it's spilling over into other behaviors like "sexting." What are girls thinking when they send naked pictures of themselves via text message? It's about the thrill now and the price later. Join Kassian and me this week on Woman to Woman® to learn how to help our daughters, and even ourselves if we’re stuck in looking forever young or risky behaviors, regain the loveliness and power of true femininity.