Ryan Eras

In the wake of the recent attack on Israel by Hamas, and the Israeli response, we consider the religious roots of anti-Semitism and conflict with Israel. We also discuss the eschatological goal of Islam to conquer the earth, and the difference between a reformational approach and the historic doctrinal assumptions and commitments towards Israel from dispensational theology.

The Canadian government’s passage of legislation such as Bills C-11, C-18, and C-36 is beginning to bear fruit, in the form of increasingly invasive censorship policies levied on content platforms.

We’ve seen a lot of new listeners to the show the past few months, and a warm welcome to all of you! In this episode, Joe Boot, Ryan Eras and Nate Wright discuss how and why the Ezra Institute began, the issues and activities that we engage in, and what we’re doing next.

Pastor and author Paul Dirks discusses his forthcoming book, Deep Discipleship for Dark Days, and explains why the time is ripe for Christians to embark on building healthy, godly families, churches, schools, and communities. Paul discusses how he perceived the need for this book at such a time as this, and lays out the scriptural rationale for whether rapid societal changes come from the political, natural, technological, or biological spheres, all such historical occurrences urge us to live in such a way that we are ready with a faithful response. A constant, general preparedness, and a particular discerning of the times (1 Chr 12:32)  are interconnected. 

Michael Thiessen discusses the recent Crown decision to withdraw charges against Alberta pastors James Coates and Tim Stephens, as well as some other pending legal cases on the question of the relation of church and state. The cases represent victories, but Mike explains why much more advocacy needs to be done at the constitutional level to bring a truly meaningful level of legal protection for religious freedom in Canada.

Ezra Institute Fellow Ted Fenske joins us to talk about the role of the Christian in medicine. As a veteran cardiologist, Dr. Fenske recalls his medical internship during the 1980s AIDS epidemic, and offers wisdom based on hard experience in ministering faithfully to LGBT patients.

We conclude the conversation begun last week about Christian character, and examine biblical figures to discuss several more dichotomies of virtuous versus vicious character traits that Christians must be actively developing.

In this episode Joe Boot draws examples from contemporary life on the importance of Christian character, and what happens when this is neglected by those in leadership. Joe touches on his time working with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Justin Trudeau’s separation from his wife and begins to look at opposing pairs of virtues and vices that are exhibited by biblical figures given for our example.

In this episode, we speak with equipping evangelist Cory McKenna of The Cross Current, to review how the last three years of lockdowns and isolation have affected the work of relational ministry, the centrality of the local church, the work of discipling those who have not grown up in the church, and the spiritual hunger that people have felt in a season where we have been told to fear and avoid our neighbour.

In this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, we’re joined by Richard Fangrad of Creation Ministries International as we continue our series on issues facing the church. This week’s issue is theistic evolution. Richard explains what the theory is, where it came from, and what is at stake in the evolutionary debate. As we’ll see, our source of authority has real-life implications for the doctrine of God, the nature of man, ethics, worship, and much more.

In this episode, faculty answer questions from students at the Worldview Leadership Academy. We deal with the charge of Christianity’s closed-mindedness, whether you can idolize the Bible, apologetics and evangelism, lying to the Nazis, whether you can lose your salvation, and more. Audio quality improves around the 15-minute mark! Get Joe Boot’s classic work of…

Michael Thiessen of joins us on this episode to discuss the latest developments in the ongoing saga of the church’s relationship to LGBT issues, and the further complication of what happens when the state gets involved. We deal with news stories, citizenship, charity law, and the prophetic calling of the church.