Uplifting Apps and Podcasts: Part Two

Uplifting Apps and Podcasts

Part Two

By Gary F. Zeolla

This two-part article is continued from Uplifting Apps and Podcasts: Part One.

Music Choice

Music Choice is another way to listen to ad free music. But to use it, you need to have a subscription to a cable TV service. I have Xfinity. You can find dozens of Music Choice stations on your channel guide if you have cable. Two of these are Christian, the “Gospel Music” station and the “Contemporary Christian Music” (CCM) station.

Also worth mentioning is the “Sounds of the Seasons” station. It plays Christmas carols from the day after Halloween to New Year’s Eve. The carols are a mixture of Christian and secular songs. At other times of the year, it plays music relevant to the next upcoming holiday, such as love songs prior to and on Valentine’s Day.

Along with ad free music, you will see factoids on the screen about the artist playing and other interesting tidbits. On the “Seasons” station, you get factoids about the current holiday.

Why I am mentioning this here is there is also a Music Choice app. It has all of the same stations that can be found on cable, along with many other music options. But to use the app, you need to have a cable subscription and to set up an account with your cable provider on their website. You then use the same login name and password for the app.

You need to first pick your cable provider then input that information. Once you do, again, you have access to the same stations as on the TV and the same factoids will appear in the app.

Bott Radio Network

I first came across Bott Radio Network (BRN) several years ago as a station on the iHeartRadio app. BRN plays Christian preachers and other Christian programming as a live station 24/7. But when it was mentioned they have their own app, I checked it out.

The BRN app has the same live Christian programming as on iHeartRadio. Click on “Listen Now” for the live programming. The app also has about 50 podcasts. These are listed under “On Demand.” That takes you to a screen with the option of either “Audio” or “Video.” I always use the Audio option, as I listen to the podcast while I am doing other stuff, like preparing food in the kitchen, so I am not looking at my phone. But if you will be, you might want to check out the Videos option.

Either way, these audios and videos are mostly sermons by a wide variety of preachers, through there are other types of Christian programming as well. I mainly listen to the podcasts rather than the live programming. That way, I can listen to what I want when I want. I cycle through many of them. From what I have heard, most all are theologically sound and listening to them can be very uplifting.

Following is my current list of podcasts I listen to on the BRN app, with first the podcast name followed by the preacher or host(s) in parentheses.

Bible Study Hour (James Montgomery Boice)

Core Christianity (Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier).

Grace to You (John MacArthur)

In Touch (Charles Stanley)

Insight for Living (Chuck Swindoll)

Living in the Light (Anne Graham Lotz)

Living on the Edge (Chip Ingrahm)

Love Worth Finding (Adrian Rogers)

Lutheran Hour (Michael Zeigler)

Pathway to Victory (Robert Jeffress)

PowerPoint (Jack Graham)

Real Life Radio (Jack Hibbs)

Renewing Your Mind (R.C. Sproul)

Running to Win (Edwin Lutzer)

The Alternative (Tony Evans)

Truth for Life (Alustair Begg)

Turning Point (David Jeremiah)

Most all of these podcasts are about half an hour long. Longer sermons are broken up into two or three podcasts. In many cases, the preachers present a series of podcasts on a particular topic or by preaching through a book of the Bible.

To comment on a few of these, my favorites by far are John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul. Both are staunch five-point Calvinists. Reformed Theology in my view is the most correct perspective on Christian theology. And it is good both men focus much on theology and apologetics (defense of the faith) and are very detailed in their sermons and lessons.

MacArthur has been the pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California for over 50 years and is president of the Master’s College and Seminary. With that long history of ministry, he has preached thousands of sermons. They are replayed on this app, with more recent commentary by John.

Recently, they even replayed his very first sermon at Grace Community Church back in 1972. It was recorded on a real-to-real tape player, so the quality was scratchy at best. But it was interesting that after five decades, he has not changed his theology. He still preaches the unadulterated Gospel.

The same goes for R.C. Sproul, though he went to be with the LORD on December 14, 2017. But before that, he formed Ligonier ministry and taught classes at various seminaries and was a pastor as well. All of that teaching and preaching ministry was recorded. Thus, like John, R.C. has a long list of recorded messages that can still be listened to, despite his passing.

In many of the podcasts, you can hear R.C. writing on a blackboard for his classroom lessons. They are very intellectual and require focused concentration to follow. But you will learn a lot, if you put in the effort. He also gives easier to follow sermons.

Both John and R. C. usually follow an expositional form of preaching, meaning they preach through a particular passage or book of the Bible. Though R.C.’s lessons are topical, on everything from Church history to philosophy and on every aspect of Christian theology and apologetics.

Although, many times, the Renewing Your Mind podcasts feature teachers and preachers other than R.C. But they all follow in R.C.s footsteps of being staunch Calvinists and thus very sound and detailed in their teachings.

Moving on, don’t be confused by the name Bible Study Hour. Each podcast is just a half an hour long, like most of the rest of the podcasts on the BRN app. But that is because Boice’s sermons are truncated or broken into two or more parts. He also usually preaches through a book of the Bible. His sermons are older, dating to the last century. That is because he died in 2000. As such, some of his illustrations might be a bit outdated, but the timeless truths of the Bible continue to hold true for all generations.

Core Christianity is a question-and-answer format podcast about the basics of the Christian faith. It is just that, very basic, good for the new Christian but a bit boring for those of us who are more theologically-seasoned. They also answer questions from an Arminian perspective, so that detracts from it in my opinion.

Charles Stanley and Chuck Swindoll are the first two radio preachers I listened to when I first became a Christian back in the mid-1980s. I remember thinking back then that it was interesting that the two best radio preachers both had the initials of C.S. But both are still alive and still preaching. Thus, again, they both have a large catalog of sermons that are replayed on the podcast, though again, often with modern commentary at the beginning and end.

However, both would probably be described at best as one or two-point Calvinists, accepting the doctrine of Eternal Security and maybe Total Depravity, but definitely rejecting Limited Atonement.

As a late-breaking update, after 65 years of preaching, Charles Stanley went to his reward on April 18, 2023. But I am sure his massive library of sermons will continue to be available for a long time to come.

Anne Graham Lotz is Billy Graham’s daughter. She often relates anecdotes about her father and her time growing up with him. She’s an excellent Bible teacher in her own right, and her sermons are very uplifting.

I first heard Adrian Rogers on WORD FM (101.5), a Pittsburgh Christian radio station. He also passed away a while ago, but as with Sproul and Stanley, his sermons live on. As the name of his podcasts indicates, he puts an emphasis on the love and grace of God.

Again, don’t be confused by the name Lutheran Hour, as it is also just a half an hour podcast. In this case, the original hour-long church services are edited down to half an hour to fit the format of BRN.

Robert Jeffress can often be seen on Fox News Channel when Christian issues are in the news. His sermons sometimes touch on politics, though they are mostly more Bible based. He dwells on prophecy quite a lot, too much in my opinion. He is even leading a “prophecy tour” of the Middle East later this year (2023), visiting each of the seven cities mentioned in Revelation 2-3 and other prophetic places of note, such as the plain of Megiddo (Zechariah 12:11, aka Armageddon, Revelation 16:16).

Edwin Lutzer is another intellectual preacher, with a focus on theology and apologetics.

Tony Evans is the only black preacher in the list. His flamboyant preaching style is a contrast to the more subdued white preachers.

Finally, the BRN app includes dozens of past episodes for each of these podcasts. But many of the preachers have their own apps available, with many years’ worth of sermons and teachings available on them. If available, the preachers will give details on their own apps in their podcasts.

JA Show App

I first came across John Ankerberg back in the mid-1980s when I first became a Christian. Back then and still today, he has a weekly TV show that focuses on theology and apologetics. Back then, he aired many series on Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormonism. That is when I first became interested in outreach to those cultic groups.

It was part of the reason I went to seminary, working on my Master of Theology, with an emphasis on apologetics. It was also part of the impetus for me starting Darkness to Light ministry. In its early years, Darkness to light focused on these and other cultic groups. I have since ventured out to many other theological and apologetical issues, and so has John.

His TV show currently airs on DayStar (a national network) and WPCB (the Christian station here in Pittsburgh, but I am sure it can be found on other local Christian stations in other markets). But you can also watch and listen to shows on his JA Show app.

The app has many different options. The main ones that concern us are Episodes, Videos, Podcasts, and Articles. The Episodes option is the TV show, with episodes going back many years available. If you are only going to listen and not watch, if you click on the three little dots in the bottom right-hand corner, you can “Switch to Audio.” In that way, you can save battery on your device by not leaving the screen on.

I mostly listen to those Episodes. But the other options provide other ways to become informed on a wide variety of issues related to theology, apologetics, and cults. It is worth checking out and becoming informed on these vital issues. However, not all of the episodes and other information are so intellectual. There are also many episodes and other materials on various issues relating to living the Christian life.

Christian Perspectives on Politics and Current Events

I left off two podcasts from the previous Bott Radio list, as they fit better here. They are Washington Watch and Washington Watch Weekend, both with Tony Perkins.

Washington Watch is different from rest of the Bott podcasts. In this hour-long, weekday podcast, Tony Perkins offers a Christian perspective on politics and current events. Washington Watch Weekend contains clips from the weekday show. I usually just listen to the Weekend version to get an overview of politics from a Christian perspective for the week.

Looking again at an app that was mentioned previously, iHeartRadio provides a large catalog of live radio stations and podcasts. It has a free (with ads) version and paid versions without ads. I have one of the latter for $5.34 / month. I want to mention just three podcasts on this app.

The first also offers a Christian perspective on politics and current events. It is Breakpoint with John Stonestreet. I first heard John’s very short (1 or 5 minutes) commentaries at the top of the 5:00 am hour on WORD FM. But when he mentioned about those commentaries being available on his podcasts, I found them on iHeart.

In addition to his weekday short commentaries, on Fridays is posted a longer (about an hour) podcast he does with Maria Baer. They talk at length about the topics John addresses in his morning commentaries from that week.

I particularly like that John puts a focus on having a Christian worldview and not just isolated Christian beliefs. That Christian worldview should then come to bear on how Christians think about current events and politics, as John and Maria demonstrate in their discussions.

The second podcast on iHeart is Christian Outlook with Georgene Rice. It also offers a Christian perspective on politics and current events. It is part of Salem Communications, which hosts many conservative political commentators, such as Dennis Prager and Mike Gallagher. The former does the introduction for Christian Outlook. It thus comes from a politically conservative perspective.

Faith and Fitness/ My Own Podcast?

The third podcast on iHeart I want to mention is Fierce Fitness with Cody and Myca King. It looks at fitness from a Christian perspective. Yes, your Christian faith should affect how you address health and fitness issues. If it does not, then you do not have a full-orbed Christian worldview. But that is the perspective seen in my books on nutrition and the Bible (God-given foods Eating Plan and Creationist Diet: Second Edition).

However, sadly, Cody and Myca ran 16 episodes of Fierce Fitness from December 19, 2022 to January 24, 2023. But they have not posted any new ones since then.

That is often the case with podcasts. Wannabe podcasters will start a podcast with lots of hope and enthusiasm, but then for one reason or another, it will only last a few episodes, and that will be that. It is easy to start a podcast, but not so easy to gather a following and to monetize it in order to be able to continue with it.

I had thought of starting my own podcast. It would have combined all three of the topics discussed in this two-part article—the Christian faith and a Christian perspective on politics and on fitness. But I fear it would go the way of Fierce Fitness and not last very long for one reason or another. But maybe someday I will give it a try.

Conclusion

I of course do not listen to every episode of every one of these podcasts. I generally cycle through them, listening to 2-3 episodes of a given podcast a day, then move onto another one. That gives me a lot of variety in my listening. That is, unless a given preacher is in the midst of a series I find particularly interesting. Then I might listen to the entire series before moving on.

Be that as it may, I hope this overview of the apps I use and podcasts I listen to will encourage the reader to check some of these out. If you do, I hope you find them to be as uplifting as I do.

Differences Between Bible Versions: Third Edition

Why do Bible versions differ? Why does the same verse read differently in different versions? Why do some versions contain words, phrases, and even entire verses that other versions omit? Which Bible versions are the most reliable? These and many other questions are answered in this book. Forty versions of the Bible are compared and evaluated.

The above article was posted on this website May 1, 2023.
It first appeared in the free Darkness to Light Newsletter.

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