Discernment Digest

Community Bible Church of Trenton, MI

Living in the information age is an unprecedented privilege, but it can be overwhelming. How do you know what voices to listen to or who you can trust? Discernment Digest will help you sort through today’s headlines and evaluate sources and their content based on the timeless principles of God’s Word, the Bible.

  1. 5d ago

    Secular Psychology, Spiritual Warfare, and True Theology with Pierce Hibbs

    Pierce Taylor Hibbs joins Discernment Digest to discuss his new book Dissecting the Heart, a carefully annotated collection of lectures by the late David Powlison. Powlison, a leading figure in biblical counseling and longtime CCEF leader, brought unusual clarity to the human heart, the limits of secular psychology, and the practical power of Scripture.  In this conversation Hibbs walks through how he organized decades of Powlison’s teaching into three sections—Secular Psychology, Spiritual Warfare, and True Theology—and why he added extensive footnotes for background, further quotations, and application. Topics include the “psychologized culture,” why the words we use to name our problems shape the solutions we seek, the chessboard metaphor, presuppositionalism (Van Til), the link between certain secular approaches and over-spiritualized deliverance ministries, common grace versus uncritical methodology, and Powlison’s insistence that all theology is practical theology.  Hibbs also shares personal memories of Powlison as a writer, mentor, and friend, including the story behind Hibbs’s first Journal of Biblical Counseling article. Views expressed by the guest are his own; appearance on the program does not imply endorsement.  Dissecting the Heart is available now. Questions or comments: discern@cbctrenton.com  Get the book at Amazon https://tinyurl.com/aasebvyz or Westminster Bookstore https://tinyurl.com/bdf3cdwm

  2. Oct 26

    Extreme Grifting and the Unseriousness of Power

    This week on Discernment Digest we note upcoming interviews: Pierce Hibbs (10/28), Rush Witt (10/30), Kerry Morgan (11/5), Janet Mefferd (12/3), Tim Alberta (January), and Dr. Michael Riley before year-end.  The episode examines extreme grifting and the unseriousness of our current political moment. We look at Vivek Ramaswamy’s Ohio Senate ad that featured the mother of his opponent, Amy Acton—a mother Acton has not spoken to in 50 years. Court documents confirm Acton’s claims of sexual abuse by her stepfather; her mother protected the abuser and publicly called her daughter a liar. Ramaswamy doubled down rather than pull the ad, and both the president and vice president defended the campaign’s use of it.  We then turn to Alina Habba (former Counselor to the President and Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey). After playing a clip of her on the Benny Johnson podcast gushing over Andrew Tate—who faces 59 charges including rape and sex trafficking involving minors—we examine the sequence involving Julio Herrera Velutini. Herrera’s daughter donated $3.5 million to a Trump-tied super PAC; the family then offered Habba $10 million per year for four years plus bonuses (more than $50 million total) to become general counsel at Concord Partners, a company with no clear business. Weeks after Habba began, President Trump granted Herrera a full and unconditional pardon. Correlation is not causation, but the timeline raises serious questions about access and influence.  We also feature clips of the president making crude comments about men’s physiques and backsides on the campaign trail, and discuss the firing of Kimberly Guilfoyle as Ambassador to Greece after she asked a Trump donor for $100,000 to pay off her American Express card just before Senate confirmation. Trump’s response minimized her engagement to Don Jr. (which lasted until late 2024). We note Katie Zacharia’s five-day tenure as White House Press Secretary—less than half a Scaramucci.  The episode closes with a call for a healthy dose of prudishness rooted in Ephesians 5:3-4, the reminder that the problem with Donald Trump is primarily moral rather than political, and the principle that politics is downstream from culture, which is downstream from beliefs and values. You will either consciously adopt your values from Scripture or unconsciously absorb them from the culture.  Questions or comments: discern@cbctenton.com  Think better, about less.

  3. Oct 19

    The Last Straw? McCarthy on Trump and Putin

    This week on Discernment Digest we open with an important correction: the Fort Hood shooter was a commissioned officer, not enlisted, as an alert veteran listener pointed out. We also note President Trump’s decision to reverse the planned livestream of the December 3 execution. We then examine this week’s deeply concerning Ukraine-Russia developments. Legal scholar Andrew McCarthy’s National Review piece argues that President Trump is giving “aid and comfort” to Putin and calls for immediate congressional hearings. We walk through the diesel-fuel sanctions waiver, the one-sided “energy ceasefire,” reported Starshield speed restrictions that coincided with major Russian strikes, and Friday’s executive-order exemption of Russia from sanctions Trump had just signed into law. Upcoming interviews: Pierce Hibbs (10/28), Rush Witt (10/30), Kerry Morgan (11/5), Janet Mefferd (12/3), Tim Alberta (January), and Dr. Michael Riley before year-end. Read McCarthy’s article: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Report: Questions or comments: discern@cbctenton.com Think better, about less.

  4. Oct 12

    Truth, Justice, and Unproven Claims

    Discernment Digest Show Notes  Episode theme: Thinking better about less by starting with first principles (Creation, Fall, Redemption) rather than a closed system that excludes God and capital-T Truth.  Main Discussion: Jonah Goldberg & Roger Berkowitz on Hannah Arendt  Interview analyzed: The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg — “Friendship on the Knife’s Edge” | Interview: Roger Berkowitz (released ~October 7, 2026).  Free on podcast apps and The Dispatch site (interviews are unlocked):   https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/friendship-on-the-knifes-edge-interview-roger-berkowitz/  ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywUNx7UCyhE&list=PLaSgoyZ5GU6I⁠  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-remnant-with-jonah-goldberg/id1291144720?i=1000793610468  Book discussed: A World We Share: Hannah Arendt and the Power of Friendship in a Broken World by Roger Berkowitz (Yale University Press, October 2026).  https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300287097/a-world-we-share/  Key critique points: the claim that there is “no political truth,” politics as mere consensus, and the absence of capital-T Truth rooted in the Creator. Contrast with biblical first principles and the Declaration of Independence’s appeal to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”  Upcoming Guests Mentioned  Attorney Kerry Morgan and the LONANG Institute (“Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”): https://lonang.com/  Dr. Michael Riley (apologetics / epistemology)  Scripture Referenced  2 Timothy 3:7 — “always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth”  Ecclesiastes 12:11–12 — words of the wise as goads; of making many books there is no end  Proverbs 4:7 — the beginning of wisdom is to get wisdom  Genesis 9:6 — Noahic Covenant basis for capital punishment for murder  Romans 13:4 — the civil magistrate as God’s servant bearing the sword  Capital Punishment Items  Tennessee: Christa Pike’s botched lethal injection attempt (September 30, 2026). Two doses of pentobarbital failed; she survived and was taken to the hospital. Governor Bill Lee paused remaining executions pending review.  Reporting examples: NYT , Death Penalty Information Center  Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan: Scheduled for execution by firing squad on December 3, 2026, at Fort Hood (1 p.m. CST). President Trump approved the sentence; Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle set the date. First U.S. military execution in more than 60 years. Discussion of possible livestream and wisdom considerations.  Official announcement: https://www.army.mil/article/295989/army_sets_execution_date_for_convicted_murderer_nidal_hasan  RFK Jr. Claims Segment  Clip played (older comments by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Anthony Fauci and foster children in HIV drug trials). Core sensational claims (illegal experiments, torture, mass-grave cover-up at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY, etc.) have not been verified by official investigations or fact-checks. NIH-funded trials did enroll HIV-positive foster children (including at Incarnation Children’s Center); a 2009 Vera Institute report noted ethical issues around consent and 25 deaths during trials, but none attributed to the medications. Mass-grave and related claims originate from unconfirmed accounts (e.g., Celia Farber) and have been rejected by local authorities and multiple fact-checkers. The 2004 BBC film Guinea Pig Kids was later ruled inaccurate by the BBC itself.  Contact  Questions or comments: discern@cbctenton.com  Thanks to engineer Dan Wicks and coordinator Greg Herman.

  5. Oct 5

    Receipts, Revenge, and a Botched Sword

    Discernment Digest  Receipts, Revenge, and a Botched Sword  Contact: discern@cbctenton.com  After two Matt Lewis episodes, a short digest: a Senate “gotcha” that wasn’t, revenge prosecutions that keep failing, and a few items from the week.  Receipts. Sen. Eric Schmitt tried to catch Jack Smith at an Atlanta Hawks game the day after the Fani Willis–Nathan Wade story broke. The texts were for a Maryland–Iowa college game. Iowa are the Hawkeyes. Schmitt still called Smith a dirtbag and, on the Charlie Kirk Show, did not correct a host who praised the moment. An Axios item that morning had floated him as a possible J.D. Vance running mate in 2028.  Revenge. The pattern: if you lack the law and the facts, attack the prosecutor. Smith’s classified-documents report is still unreleased because Judge Aileen Cannon has refused to release it. DOJ’s “grand conspiracy” probe has already lost Joseph diGenova, who told the New York Post, “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.” The Lincoln Memorial reflecting-pool case was dismissed with prejudice after Interior blamed the contractor, not vandals.  A botched sword. Tennessee failed for the second time this year to carry out an execution. Christa Pike, convicted of murdering Colleen Slemmer, was left unconscious and on a ventilator after injections missed a vein. Genesis 9:6 and Romans 13:4 are cited for capital punishment as justice. The argument: fix the competence, do not drop the penalty.  Also: FlyDubai 1073, a stabbed pilot, and a safe landing in Saudi Arabia after passengers subdued the co-pilot. Netanyahu called it Islamic radicalization. John Hagee denounced the attack, then drew praise from Mark Levin as “our Pastor,” despite Hagee’s claim of a Jewish covenant that does not require faith in Jesus.  Clips   Senate Judiciary: Schmitt questions Smith (Hawks / Hawkeyes exchange)   https://x.com/SenAmyKlobuchar/status/2104982049870291386 Charlie Kirk Show: Schmitt does not correct the host   https://x.com/atrupar/status/2104975126940815831?s=20 Hannity and Benny Johnson posts from the hearing both original posts have since been deleted. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HTZ86s-bsAEdwV5.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HTaKC3tWcAAa2zF.jpg Axios item on Schmitt as a possible 2028 Vance running mate  https://www.axios.com/2026/09/29/eric-schmitt-jd-vance-vice-president-vp-2028 Scripture   Genesis 9:6   Romans 13:4   Exodus 20:13, translated as murder rather than kill

  6. Sep 28

    Why the Founders Feared Direct Democracy: Lessons from "Too Dumb to Fail"

    Review of our Matt Lewis interview ("Too Dumb to Fail", 10th anniversary). Conservatism and a biblical view of human nature; the 2010 Tea Party as warning; why the Founders checked majority passions; Burke vs. Paine/Rousseau; the dumbing down of politics and evangelicalism. Guest appearance does not mean full agreement. Books mentioned Core conservative reading The Conservative Mind — Russell Kirk (Kirk Center, Mecosta, MI)Politics — AristotleThe Conscience of a Conservative — Barry GoldwaterThe Road to Serfdom — F. A. HayekReflections on the Revolution in France — Edmund BurkeIdeas Have Consequences — Richard WeaverWorks that shaped Too Dumb to Fail The Conservative Heart — Arthur BrooksReagan’s Revolution — Craig ShirleyWhen Character Was King — Peggy NoonanThe Great Debate — Yuval LevinAmusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman Comments: discern@cbctenton.com

  7. Sep 21

    "Too Dumb to Fail": Matt Lewis on How Conservatism Lost Its Way

    "Too Dumb to Fail": Matt Lewis on Conservatism Conservative columnist Matt K. Lewis traces how the GOP drifted from Reagan’s idea-driven conservatism into a louder, thinner politics of outrage, celebrity, and short-term wins. Drawing on his 2016 book Too Dumb to Fail, Lewis argues that the right didn’t just lose elections—it lost the habit of seriousness: reading its own tradition, policing its own excesses, and treating voters as citizens instead of a market for red meat.This conversation covers the intellectual roots of the movement (Burke, Buckley, Goldwater, Reagan), the rise of anti-intellectual populism, the conservative media incentive problem, fundraising machines that harvest anger more than they win races, and Lewis’s case for “modernize, don’t moderate.” He rejects both snobbish technocracy and know-nothing grievance politics, and asks what it would take for conservatism to compete again as a philosophy rather than a posture.For listeners who care about the future of the Republican Party, the culture-politics feedback loop, and whether conservatism can still mean limited government, free markets, and prudence—not just whoever shouts loudest this week. While our guests and the resources we recommend all provide helpful perspective, their appearance or mention do not imply an endorsement of all views, but instead offer an opportunity to exercise discernment in distinguishing good and bad, right and wrong, better and best. Matt Lewis’s substack, here. 2016 book, Too Dumb to Fail, here. 2023 book, Filthy Rich Politicians, here.

  8. Sep 14

    9/11: Remembering Evil, Discerning Truth, and Trusting God’s Providence

    Twenty-five years after 9/11, what should Christians remember—and what should we learn? In this episode of Discernment Digest, we consider two painful anniversaries: the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and the first anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Along the way, we examine the importance of discerning trustworthy sources, the danger of political advocacy masquerading as journalism, and the temptation to embrace conspiracy theories when the facts don't support them. We also revisit the heroism of the passengers of United Flight 93, including Todd Beamer, whose family has a connection to Community Bible Church. But the episode ultimately moves beyond remembrance to a surprising question: What might God have been doing through the evil of 9/11? We also discuss four ways a missionary describes how the tragedy has unexpectedly contributed to gospel advance among Muslims: increased prayer, increased missionary sending, accelerated conversions to Christ, and the emergence of indigenous Christian leadership. The evil was real. The grief was real. But so is God's providence. As with the cross itself, God is able to accomplish His good purposes through the darkest acts of human evil.

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Living in the information age is an unprecedented privilege, but it can be overwhelming. How do you know what voices to listen to or who you can trust? Discernment Digest will help you sort through today’s headlines and evaluate sources and their content based on the timeless principles of God’s Word, the Bible.

Information

  • Creator
    Community Bible Church of Trenton, MI
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Community Bible Church of Trenton, MI
  • Show Website
    Discernment Digest