The Ezra Institute Podcast for Cultural Reformation

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. We couldn’t do this without your support! You can give to the Ezra Institute here to help us continue offering more and better material.

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. Get Joe Boot’s book, Gospel Witness, at Ezra Press. Find out more about the work of The Cross Current.

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. Get Ezra Institute Fellow Willem Ouweneel’s critique of evolutionist hermeneutics, Adam, Where are You?

In this episode, faculty answer questions from students at the Worldview Leadership Academy. We deal with the charge of Christianity’s closed-mindedness, idolatry, 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 apologetics, A Time to Search, on sale all month at Ezra Press.

Michael Thiessen of Liberty Coalition Canada joins us 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 the proper use of legal process as Christians, news stories, citizenship, charity law, and the prophetic calling of the church. We rely on your support to continue with all of our work. Would you donate to the Ezra Institute?    

This week’s podcast guest is Dr. Aaron Edwards. Dr. Edwards was forced out of his teaching position for supporting biblical sexuality on social media. He describes his experience, and examines the failure in evangelicalism to speak prophetically and biblically on key cultural issues. Read more from Aaron Edwards. Subscribe to Jubilee and save for the rest of the month.

Ezra Institute Fellow for Biblical Economics, Graeme Leach, joins us on this week’s podcast episode to discuss the phenomenon of Christians advocating for historically socialist and Marxist economic policies. Many Christians have had their economic views informed by the world rather than the Word of God, and Graeme explains how (at least) two of the ten commandments are completely incompatible with a Marxist or a Keynesian economic worldview. July’s Book of the Month is a savings on Jubilee journal. Subscribe now to get the summer issue.  

Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin discusses his book, A Postmillennial Primer. In this episode, Andrew and Joe Boot outline the biblical case for an optimistic eschatology and the historical and ideological events that led to this doctrine’s present position as a minority perspective in evangelicalism. In dependence on the Holy Spirit and through an attentive reading of Scripture, Christians should expect that Christ will continue to establish His kingdom on earth and drive back sin, death, and the devil. Get A Postmillennial Primer This month, save on a subscription to the hard copy of Jubilee journal. Register for the Worldview Leadership Academy.

Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin discusses his book, A Postmillennial Primer. In this episode, Andrew and Joe Boot outline the biblical case for an optimistic eschatology and the historical and ideological events that led to this doctrine’s present position as a minority perspective in evangelicalism. In dependence on the Holy Spirit and through an attentive reading of Scripture, Christians should expect that Christ will continue to establish His kingdom on earth and drive back sin, death, and the devil. Get A Postmillennial Primer This month, save on a subscription to the hard copy of Jubilee journal. Register for the Worldview Leadership Academy.

Joe Boot and Nate Wright are back again to answer a few lingering questions resulting from the Ten Commandments podcast series. In this episode we consider how the earliest humans married and reproduced, compared with later Mosaic incest laws. We also tackle questions on how the church and the individual ought to think and act with regard to charitable status, tax exemption, and the administration of tithes and offerings. This is the final week to apply for a scholarship to the Worldview Leadership

We answer some more questions that emerged out of the Ten Commandments series, dealing with issues of what happens to believers after they die, and responding to the claim that the state only stepped in to provide welfare benefits because the church failed in this job. Plus, scholarships are available for the Worldview Leadership Academy, and a staffing announcement that we're pumped for.

Thanks to our listeners, we have some terrific questions emerging out of the Ten Commandments series. In this episode Joe Boot answers questions about Paul and Christ and their relationship to the law, what it means to ‘fulfill’ the law, and how believers kept the law before Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit. More space is now available for the Worldview Leadership Academy. Register today! Get the June Book of the Month, Whose Rainbow? by Peter Jones.

Joe Boot is joined this week by Ezra Institute Fellows Aaron Rock and Michael Thiessen to discuss the recent CBC investigation which identifies our churches and ministries, as well as those of several others, as leading efforts at godly cultural reformation in Canada. Come and study with Joe, Michael, and other Fellows at the Worldview Leadership Academy. Get the June book of the month deal, Whose Rainbow.  

Joe Boot closes our series on the Ten Commandments with some observations on the tenth commandment against covetousness, including how it works with the first commandment to encapsulate and summarize the whole Decalogue, how a covetous heart influences every other action, and how covetousness is manifest in the world not just at the individual, but also the systemic level. Apply now for the Canadian Worldview Leadership Academy Just in time for June, our next Book of the Month is Whose Rainbow? by Peter Jones  

In this episode Joe Boot discusses the Ninth Commandment about bearing false witness, times where it is godly to withold the truth, and draws out the implications for law and society, as well as the ever-present question of who is my neighbour. We also look at the move by the Trudeau government to replace the crown on Canada’s coat of arms with a new version bereft of Christian symbols. Get your tickets to the Mission of God conference in Bonaire, Georgia, May 20. Apply to the Worldview Leadership Academy USA. Tax-deductible giving is now available for American supporters!

In this episode Joe Boot reflects on the recent coronation of King Charles III, focusing on the nature of national oaths and covenants, and the proper place of the monarch in a role of delegated authority, living under God’s law. It’s a heavy responsibility and Scripture enjoins us to pray for our civil rulers. Get your tickets to the Mission of God conference in Bonaire, Georgia, May 20. Apply to the Worldview Leadership Academy USA. Tax-deductible giving is now available for American supporters!

The connection between all these themes becomes clear in this special guest episode with Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi. He explains the Third Education Revolution movement, the role of technology, and the historic impact that the gospel has had, through education, on the family, church, and all other spheres. Vishal is currently on a lecture tour of southern Ontario. Find a session in your area. Get Joe Boot’s latest booklet, For Reformational Thinking, at Ezra Press.

The connection between all these themes becomes clear in this special guest episode with Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi. He explains the Third Education Revolution movement, the role of technology, and the historic impact that the gospel has had, through education, on the family, church, and all other spheres. Vishal is currently on a lecture tour of southern Ontario. Find a session in your area. Get Joe Boot’s latest booklet, For Reformational Thinking, at Ezra Press.

Joe Boot explains the biblical understanding of penology – the study and practice of punishing crime. Despite modern objections about the harshness of biblical justice, the penology outlined in God’s law is in fact true justice, and its practice leads to a more just and free society. Apply for the Worldview Leadership Academy USA Get Joe’s newest book, For Reformational Thinking American supporters – tax-deductible giving is now available!

This week we pause our Ten Commandments series to reflect on the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. In a de-christening culture, those who worship the true and living God should expect to suffer hatred and violence from those who worship the false god of self, even unto death. But the Christian's hope is the promise of light and life dispelling darkness and death.

In this episode Joe Boot discusses the narrow and broad definitions of adultery in light of both Moses and Christ, explaining how sexuality is much more than the modern notion of consent. Contrary to contemporary thinking, sexual activity outside of the blessed structure of covenant marriage has drastic personal and social consequences. This is the last week to get The Mission of God at a discount Applications are still open for the Runner Academy USA.

Kyle Thompson of the Undaunted Life podcast joins us for a discussion of the commandment "You shall not murder." We talk about war, self-defense, and the failure of the state to properly prosecute justice on murderers, as well as the responsibility of the individual to defend his family and neighbor. Kyle speaks at length on related issues here and here. Get The Mission of God on sale as the March book of the month. Applications are open for the Runner Academy. Apply today

We begin this episode by examining the biblical definition of murder, and looking at cases where the taking of life is prohibited, where it is permitted, and the single situation where it is required by God. We also consider how our society’s rejection of God is evident in legalized murder in the form of abortion and euthanasia, as well as Jesus’ teaching about murderous talk and attitudes that break this commandment. The March Book of the Month is The Mission of God! Get it on sale here. Register for the Runner Academy, Christianity & Culture Colloquium, or Worldview Leadership Academy.

We take a short recess from the Ten Commandments series to talk about drag queen story hour protests, global Anglicanism, and other important news from around the world. And is the Ezra Institute going to be on the CBC? Register for 2023 training programs: Runner Academy; Worldview Leadership Academy; and the Christianity and Culture Colloquium. Get The Mission of God as the March Book of the Month on sale now

In this episode Joe Boot and special guest, pastor Joel Webbon, discuss the fifth commandment, how it applies not only to young children, but to everyone, and how a worldly mindset has led us to neglect this commandment when it becomes uncomfortable or burdensome. This March, the book of the month is The Mission of God. Get it on sale now at Ezra Press. Hear more from Joel at Right Response Ministries. Apply for this year’s Runner Academy.  

Sabbath rest is a biblical principle that seems to invite a level of controversy: how often, when, who, and in what ways are is the Sabbath to be observed. Joe Boot discusses the connection between work, rest, and worship, why Sabbath-breaking was a capital offense in ancient Israel, and the difference that Christ makes to the form of our observance. Application for the Runner Academy are now available Don’t miss February’s discounted Book of the Month: Why I Still Believe

n this episode Ezra Institute Fellow Michael Thiessen discusses what it means to take the name of the Lord, both rightly and wrongly, in the church, in politics, and in any other sphere. We also talk about the nature of oaths and authority, the Sermon on the Mount, what it means for something to be damned by God, and door-to-door sales. NOTE: we do not use language flippantly, but this episode contains language that parents may not want your children to hear. Students at Bryan College are eligible for scholarship funding and course credit at the Runner Academy or Worldview Leadership Academy.

Idolatry takes any number of forms at the individual, church, and national levels, but its temptation is always the same: you shall be as God. And the results always lead to death. As churches capitulate to antichristian cultural pressures, they often keep their outward form, but lose the power and vitality that ought to sustain and animate them. The Lord reserved some of His hardest words for those who led their people in this apostate way. Register today for our spring training programs in the USA. Get the February Book of the Month, Why I Still Believe.

We continue our series in the Ten Commandments with the command against idolatry. In this episode, Joe Boot discusses the root of idolatry in the heart, and deals with some listener questions about the possibility of making work or family into an object of worship. We conclude by examining idolatry within the church itself. Register today for our spring training programs in the USA. Get the February Book of the Month, Why I Still Believe.

We’re officially underway with our series on the Ten Commandments. In this first episode, Joe Boot explains why this section of Scripture begins with the Lord declaring who He is, and why the commandments are ordered in the way that they are. If you’ve never thought about what our worship has to do with law, don’t miss this one. Applications for the Runner Academy are now open. Registration for the Christianity & Culture Colloquium are open. The Heidelberg Diary is on sale until the end of January. New Book of the Month next month.

In this episode, Joe Boot explains how the opposite of law is not grace, nor love, but lawlessness, which often masquerades as love. Joe pulls illustrations from throughout Scripture to demonstrate the enduring validity of God’s law in the era of Christ’s resurrection. If Christ took the law seriously, and if we are to be imitators of Him, then it behooves us to take the law seriously as well. Applications are now open for the 2023 H. Evan Runner International Academy, in Chatsworth, Georgia. Get the book of the month, on sale all of January, The Heidelberg Diary: Daily Devotions on the Heidelberg Catechism.

We’re kicking off the new year with a new series, dealing with ethics and law generally, and the Ten Commandments specifically. In this episode, Joe Boot talks about the distinction between laws and norms, the fact that we live in a universe designed by God that is made to work according to His instruction, and what love has to do with fulfilling the law. Get our BOOK OF THE MONTH, The Heidelberg Diary, on sale all of January. Learn more about Biblical Sexuality Sunday.

On this episode Joe Boot and Ezra Institute Fellow Aaron Rock discuss the themes, issues, and ideologies related to the contemporary environmentalism movement. For those who didn't get their questions answered during the conference Q&A session, we deal with several more of those questions here. Get our book of the month, The Heidelberg Diary, on sale at Ezra Press all January.

We bring our series in Thomas Aquinas to a close by restating six significant differences between Thomistic thought and the reformation worldview that we believe is more consistent with Scripture. On the question of origins, nature and grace, ontology and anthropology, apologetics and Christian philosophy, the medieval thought of Aquinas falls short of the biblical position. Get The Heidelberg Diary. On sale now for our book of the month. Make your year-end donations here.

This Christmas season, Joe Boot reflects on the staggering reality of God’s glory revealed to His people as he takes up residence, or tabernacles, among us. This fact ought to be a great source of strength for Christians, greater than any hardship we could ever experience. Make a year-end donation to the Ezra Institute here. Get the December/January book of the month, The Heidelberg Diary: Daily Devotions on the Heidelberg Catechism.

This Christmas season, we talk about the question of public, national worship, and the state in direct relation to God. Read Joe Boot’s recent article on Diwali and Dechristianization Start off 2023 with daily readings and meditations from the Heidelberg Catechism  

In this episode Joe describes the influence that Thomas Aquinas has had on the field of Christian apologetics, and discusses the areas where the Thomistic approach falls short of vindicating the full Christian doctrine of God. Joe’s classic apologetics work, A Time to Search, is available at Ezra Press.

Ezra Institute Fellow Dr. James White joins us this week to talk about the Protestant fascination with Aquinas, and the path that leads from Thomism to Roman Catholicism. Dr. White explains some of the reasons why Protestants are induced to follow Thomas, the fundamental issue of authority that is at stake, and what Thomas would have thought of the current Pope. Get a philosophical assessment of Aquinas and Neo-Thomism from Ezra Press.

Joe Boot addresses the realm of medicine and healing, and demonstrates how much of the contemporary thinking surrounding medicine has been reduced to mere biology. In contrast, the Christian should think of health in terms of wholeness – both wholeness of the created reality, and wholeness in the sense of health. Get tickets to the Mission of God Canada conference. Read Keeping Faith in Medicine by Dr. Ted Fenske.

In this episode Joe Boot discusses the thought of Thomas Aquinas as it relates to the Christian understanding of history. To speak of history is inescapably to speak about God’s relation to and activity within His creation. Get a reformational assessment of Thomas Aquinas and the Neo-Thomist Tradition at Ezra Press. Register for the Mission of God Conference Canada, December 10.  

This week in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, we examine the idea of natural law, and conclude that, as articulated by Aquinas, it is an idea that gives unwarranted scope to human reason, and effectively makes God equal with His law. In contrast, Scripture teaches that God is the source of all definition, and that human law must be positivized in an historical context.

We could have also titled this episode How the Reformation delivered us from ecclesiocracy. Here we discuss Aquinas’ political philosophy, the problem with his adoption of Aristotle’s teaching that man is a political animal, and the need for an utterly transcendent authority. Get Joe Boot’s book Ruler of Kings. Register for the Mission of God Canada conference

There is a common assumption in Christianity that at the fall, man lost a supernatural gift of grace, but retained his natural faculties intact and unscathed – including the faculty of reason. In this episode, Joe Boot explains that the biblical distinction is not nature and grace, but wrath and grace: those who belong to Christ and those who war against Him. Read Joe’s recent Jubilee article on Reformed Scholasticism and Reformational Thinking. Get tickets for the Mission of God Canada conference, December 10.

We have new music and a new theme as we get rolling in Season 6. In this episode we begin a short series on the life, thought, and influence of Thomas Aquinas, the medieval scholastic philosopher and theologian, introducing his person and major works, and considering why there seems to be a recent revival of interest amongst Reformed Protestants in this Roman Catholic thinker. American listeners! We now offer domestic shipping rates from Ezra Press!  

Aaron Rock joins the podcast this week to discuss the scheduled expiry of Canadian border restrictions and the ArriveCan app. We also discuss Canada’s latest Federal Action Plan to advance LGBTQ rights, and the inescapability of religious commitments. The Christianity and Culture Colloquium is coming soon! Register here. Listen to Aaron’s podcast, Leadership Now.

In this episode Joe Boot reflects on the funeral ceremonies of Queen Elizabeth II, the historic role of the English monarch as “Defender of the Faith,” and the error of contemporary Two Kingdoms thinking. Get Joe Boot’s book, Ruler of Kings, at Ezra Press. Read The Servant Queen

In this episode we reflect on the legacy of Elizabeth II, the role she played in influencing culture, and the Christian virtue she exhibited as a monarch who was self-consciously under the authority of God. Scripture has much to say about thrones and kingdoms, and Joe Boot discusses some of the major passages for how a king is to rule.

We're back with a brand-new season of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation! Joe, Nate, and Ryan discuss the recently published Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties, and the relationship of the Cultural Mandate and Great Commission. In its most basic formulation, we tend to see Christians desiring to conform to culture or to escape culture, though the biblical calling is for God's saints to transform and build culture. Read and consider signing the Frankfurt Declaration. Get the new book, Failed Church, at Ezra Press.

Ezra Institute Fellow Andrew Sandlin responds to listener questions on prayer: why it is difficult to develop a habit of prayerfulness, how to pray boldly and faithfully, and what happens when we pray.