Texas Bible Mandates, the Vance Watergate Comment & Why No One Drifts Into Godliness

JD Vance said that if Watergate happened today, it would barely be a 12-hour news story — and Brian From's response isn't relief, it's concern, because he thinks Vance is probably right, and that says something troubling about how far the character bar has fallen in American politics. Brian takes a surprising position on a hot debate: Texas is poised to require millions of public school students to study Bible stories, and as an evangelical pastor, he argues this is a bad idea — public schools shouldn't be infusing curriculum with any religion's teachings, his own included. Gambling disorder diagnoses have spiked over 60% in states that legalized sports betting since 2018, a sobering data point on the real cost of expanded access. Asbury Theological Seminary was removed from the United Methodist Church's approved ordination list over its traditional stance on marriage, a sign of widening fractures between evangelical and mainline institutions. A viral TikTok from a 21-year-old whose "hobby" is lying in bed for eight hours sparks a conversation about what leisure has become for Gen Z. Amazon Prime Day sales were down 16%, and Brian connects it to a simpler explanation than marketing failures: people just have less money. And two deeply practical spiritual pieces close out the hour — why no one drifts into godliness (spiritual growth requires intentional habits, not passive churchgoing), and the story of John Mark, whose public failure didn't define the rest of his life, and whose later faithfulness made him "useful" again in Paul's own words.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.