The Pour Over Today - Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

Today, we’re talking about the new British PM, a dismal report card for US students, charges against Chinese spies, and other top news for Wednesday, October 26th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Sponsored by charity: water TPO's Pick Of The Week: Wandering Toward God

Today we're talking about the new British Prime Minister, a dismal report card for U.S. students, charges against Chinese spies, and other top news for Wednesday, October 26th. Stay informed while remaining focused on Christ with The Pour Over. Here's the quote of the day. Forgiveness is setting the prisoner free, only to find out that the prisoner was me, Corrie Ten Boom. Let's get started with some espresso shots. It's official. Rishi Sunak is the new British prime minister. And yes, he's hoping to remove the revolving door from 10 Downing Street. Sunak met with King Charles yesterday to be formally

appointed as the third prime minister in two months. His appointment is historic for a few reasons. He's the first PM of color, the first of South Asian descent, the first Hindu, and the youngest prime minister since 1812. He's 42 years old. He's also the first prime minister to be richer than the monarch. His father-in-law is an Indian tech billionaire. Sunak is inheriting what he called a, quote, profound economic crisis, but that's likely what landed him the job. He had a career in finance before joining parliament, served as finance minister under Boris Johnson, and correctly economic crisis, but that's likely what landed him the job. He had a career in finance before joining Parliament, served as finance minister under Boris Johnson, and correctly predicted his predecessor's tax cuts would tank the economy. He's promising to right the ship.

The Bible says that God is at work in and through the governing authorities. We can and should pray for our elected leaders here and abroad to make wise choices and to work for the good of all people. Romans 13.1 says, Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. We've got bad news for sales of little gold star stickers. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress Exam, U.S. students across the country and demographic groups have experienced setbacks in both math

and reading, though scores dropped most sharply among minority children. In math, only 26 percent of eighth graders tested proficient, down from 34 percent in 2019. It represents the steepest decline in the test's near 30-year history. The test, dubbed the nation's report card, offers the first comprehensive nationwide account of student performance since the pandemic and has given the most definitive indictment yet of its impact on kids. Typically, officials preach caution about drawing conclusions from results like this, but they were quick to call out pandemic learning disruptions, like school closures, remote learning, and outbreaks as a major cause. It's easy to become angry and indignant over current events,

but much more difficult to live with the tension of desiring change while simultaneously loving everyone involved. Followers of Christ are called to live in the tension, working for the good of the least of these who are suffering. Jesus says in John 13, 35, By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. On Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced charges against 13 alleged Chinese spies trying to, quote, unlawfully exert influence in

the United States on China's behalf across three different cases. In the first case, two Chinese intelligence officers paid $61,000 for confidential information about the United States prosecution of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company accused of secretly sharing data with the Chinese government. The person they paid was working undercover for the FBI. The second case involved seven Chinese nationals who were charged with trying to threaten and force a Chinese-born U.S. resident into returning to China. And the third case involved four people who were charged with targeting people in the U.S. to act on China's behalf. These charges come at a time of increased tension between the U.S. and China. Here's a verse to consider when offered $61,000 in Bitcoin as a bribe. Do nothing out of selfish

ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. Philippians 2, 3, and 4. This podcast is brought to you by Charity Water. It's rarely flashy enough to earn a headline, but diseases from dirty water kill more people each year than all forms of violence. It's a crisis that affects 771 million people, more than twice the population of the United States. Charity Water is on a mission to change that. Their organization works to bring clean and safe drinking water to rural communities. Access to clean water means education, income, and health, especially for women and children. We subscribe to things every month, like internet, movies, and music that make our lives better. But Charity Water's monthly

giving subscription, The Spring, makes the world better. Subscribe to a service that's changing the world forever. Join The Spring via the link in our show notes. In other brews, we've got a rapid round of updates. Adidas has ended its partnership with Ye, Kanye West, calling his recent anti-Semitic comments, quote, unacceptable, hateful and dangerous. Ye has also been dropped by his talent agency, the fashion house Balenciaga and Gap, prompting Forbes to erase $1.5 billion from his estimated net worth. The reassessment bumped him off the billionaires list. A 19-year-old former student of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis opened fire at the school on Monday, killing a student and a teacher. Police entered roughly four minutes later and shot the gunman, who died later at the hospital.

WNBA star Brittany Griner, who has been jailed in Russia since February on drug charges, had her appeal of a nine-year prison sentence denied yesterday. The WNBA Players Association said she, quote, is very clearly a hostage. U.S. officials have said they expect Griner will be eventually released in a prisoner swap. Russia has accused Ukraine and its allies of preparing to use an illegal dirty bomb, that's one laced with radioactive material, on its own territory in order to blame Moscow for the resulting contamination. Ukraine and Western officials say the, quote, transparently false allegations are merely a pretext for escalating the war.

In another climate change protest reminiscent of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, two people threw mashed potatoes at a $110 million Monet painting, then glued their hands to the wall before they were arrested by German police on Sunday. The painting was unharmed behind its glass protection. And now it's time for TPO's Pick of the Week, Wandering Toward God. Is it wrong to doubt? Many assume that doubt is faith's opposite and that wandering among the hard questions of faith will lead us further and further away from God. Professor and philosopher Travis Dickinson disagrees. Instead, he says, our doubts and hard questions about the

faith are actually an important way we can express our commitment and love to God. Doubt isn't our destination, but it's an important step on the way and often leads to us discovering the truth, goodness, and beauty of God waiting for us. Check out this awesome book tackling many believers' biggest hurdle, Doubting God. That's all we have for today. Thanks so much for listening. If you're listening on the Apple Podcast app, give us a five-star rating and drop a review. If you're listening on Spotify, give us a follow and hit the notification bell to never miss a new episode. We hope you have a great rest of your day and we'll see you back here on Friday.