The Gerber baby food company has chosen one-year old Lucas Warren of Dalton, Georgia as the 2018 ?Gerber Spokesbaby? for their baby products. Lucas is a child with Down syndrome. Almost everyone applauds Gerber for doing this, but, in doing so, it has perhaps unintentionally given focus to one of the cruel ironies of abortion on demand. Intentional, willful abortion is being used to eradicate a portion of the human population?Down syndrome children. Normally, most people understand genocide as ?the deliberate, systematic attempt to erase a category of people?: In this case, babies that have been diagnosed in utero with Down syndrome.

Recently Bill Gates declared that Steven Pinker?s Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress is ?My new favorite book of all time.? Steven Pinker is a Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and is a passionate defender of the Enlightenment. His recent book is intended to counter the doom and gloom pessimism of the 21st century, which is inundated with terrorism, barbaric civil wars (e.g., Syria) and the paralyzing fear of nuclear war. One could summarize his thesis as, ?If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science.?

Dr. Eckman begins discussion of 2 Peter, with excellent commentary on ?The Day of the Lord.?

The seven-year civil war in Syria is now an international conflict with proxies of the major powers fighting in a confused mix of alliances with often contradictory goals. It is a re-ordering of the Middle East. . . What is occurring in Syria today is a multidimensional conflict that is a fully regional one with all of the Syrian parties acting as a proxy for someone else. It is a volatile and dangerous mess with no clear end in sight. Let?s examine most of the constituent parts of this mess and how it is in effect re-ordering the Middle East.

It is difficult in 2018 to know whom to trust, what is accurate and where one should go to obtain reliable information and perspective on the state of things. In an era of Facebook, Instagram and ?Google-knowledge,? the worlds of politics and Pop culture are inextricably linked, it seems. As columnist Daniel Henninger observes, ?The culture of social media?a tireless preoccupation with fleeting surface effects?has changed all media.? Years ago, cultural critic and observer Marshall McLuhan predicted (at the dawn of the TV age) that mass media would engulf everything, for, he argued, ?the medium is the message.? Our social media culture has enhanced the confusion, the absurd and the tragic in our current culture.

Dr. Eckman discusses Peter?s writings on the practices of the apostates: how the contempt & unruliness of these false teachers can be appealing to the weak & unknowing, but will still be met with God?s judgement.

Peter writes of the precepts & punishment of apostates: false heretical teachings, and how God holds false teachers accountable.

The home-going of Billy Graham marks a watershed in American evangelicalism. He received a number of accolades during his life, but perhaps none is more endearing than ?America?s Pastor.? He had his critics, but, for the most part, Graham was universally admired as a man of integrity who preached a consistent, simple message of the Gospel?and that is the heart of his legacy. Why was he such an important figure in American evangelicalism? By the grace of God, why was he able to consistently maintain his reputation as a man of integrity?