FLF, LLC

Welcome, Neighbor! Maybe you've noticed that fall is waning! And winter is... something. We'll start off quizzing John for hipness, and he does not pass.  THEN, the story of the Cracked Toilet... and are angels clean-shaven, or do they have beards?  AND, help us come up with a good punchline for this prompt!  What name would you give to an award show/ceremony for mediocre movies?  (The computer's answer was "the Descents."  But we can do better.) LATER,  why do we have so many friends being disfellowshipped from their churches after years of faithfulness?  Maybe parents and church leaders are struggling to discipline their toddlers in order to RESPECT their teenagers.(Also, should parents hide knives from a 14-year-old?) Email us at nextdoor@johnbranyan.com to share your comments and quotes.

The tech savants of Silicon Valley have issued dire warnings about an impending wave of unemployment due to advances in artificial intelligence and robotics. Essentially we're told humans are too slow, too unintelligent, and too expensive to be relied upon for economic productivity. We're obsolete and will soon be replaced. Don't worry we're told, universal basic income will feed and house us. But is this a good thing? What would UBI likely mean for the meaning of our lives? Today the Pugs conduct a thought-experiment: what will become of meaning in a world without work?   Mo Gawdat Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tHo94jTiZg   Support the Theology Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8   Register for the Life After Secularism Conference: https://solochristo.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/3172138     Learn more about WPC Battle Ground: https://www.solochristo.org/   Connect with WileyCraft Productions: https://wileycraftproductions.com/  

Without being led astray by the impracticalities of business textbooks, there is good benefit to being more thoughtful in your approach to winning at business. A business owner is set up to always be one step behind if he's constantly reacting to what the market and his competitors throw at him. This is a formula for failure. Hope is not a strategy. Vibes aren’t strategy. Guessing is not a growth plan. Strategy is a set of decisions built on reality. It's making things happen, instead of waiting for them to. An owner should approach his business with intention and focused execution. That's what a more comprehensive strategy outlook provides. It sets you up better for the win.

Follow me on X (@chinaadventures) where I post new China city prayer profiles every single day. Send any notes or comments to bfwesten at gmail dot com and find much more, including my missionary biographies, at PrayGiveGo.us!   Today I begin by discussing Trump’s visit to Malaysia (today!) and how he is likely perceived by Malaysians (and Asians in general), plus a note about Doug Wilson’s Open Letter to Trump and its availability here in Malaysia (and everywhere). Check out (and share!) Doug's message to Trump at: TrumpRepent.my   Next we look at this week’s Chinese cities to pray for (x.com/china.myadventures, PrayforChina.us), including a deeper look at an early missionary to Mongolia (James Gilmour: https://www.missionary.com/articles/who-was-james-gilmour). Pray for China places of the week https://chinacall.substack.com/p/pray-for-china-oct-27-nov-2-2025   Luke McKinney, the Podcast Ninja from the Comedian Next Door podcast, joins me for the second half of the podcast in a conversation we recorded earlier today (Noon on Saturday Malaysia time, Midnight Eastern): The Comedian Next Door Podcast: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/the-pub/podcasts/8295 We discussed our respective NBA teams (Pacers & Thunder) for the first 20 minutes or so, before moving on to a number of China related topics including Hong Kong freedom (or not), the restrictions on Chinese churches, and LeBron and the NBA’s nefarious relationship with China.  Finally, the last few minutes of the podcast take us to the topic of deer hunting, but Luke’s only been out two more times than I have (and I haven’t been out at all, here in Malaysia).    Subscribe to China Compass and leave a review on your preferred podcast platform.  Follow us on X (@chinaadventures), and find much more @ PrayGiveGo.us.  Luke 10, verse 2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Talk again soon!

Today we examine the belief of a “Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview” for a national organization about the importance of winning as a guiding principle. We examine this belief in light of the argument Christian lawyers recently made in favor of the unconstitutionality of state laws prohibiting "conversion therapy." We will also compare his belief that "the left" is being "ridiculous" against my belief that Christians are denying what they believe is true.

What happens when Christian leaders refuse to police their own ranks while building coalitions with people who celebrate false gods and compromise biblical truth for political victory? Join Gabe and Toby alongside special guests Jeff Durbin, J.R. Haas, and Bradley Pierce as they wrestle with the "no enemies on the right" mentality and why Christians must learn to build faithful coalitions without abandoning biblical standards in the process.

We really outdid ourselves in this chat — it’s like a family dinner that got hijacked by a stand-up open mic. We covered everything: home décor disasters, taxidermy gone wrong, and the art of telling jokes that only half the room understands. We confessed our crimes against interior design, admitted to traumatizing our kids with dad jokes, and tried to explain comedy to ourselves like we were translating a foreign language we barely speak. At one point, we took a scenic detour into turkey shoots (because nothing bonds friendship like firing at paper poultry), tried to fold our dignity into origami, and then pretended to be film critics who definitely stayed awake through The Godfather. Naturally, we overanalyzed Stephen King’s pen names like we were uncovering a government conspiracy, got sentimental about horror movies, and agreed that the 80s were peak cinema — mostly because that’s when our metabolism still worked. Somewhere between discussing guilty pleasure films and planning a movie marathon we’ll never actually organize, we realized the common thread holding it all together: our inability to stay on topic. But hey, at least we laughed — mostly at ourselves.

Dr. Michael Thiessen and Pastor Nate Wright get practical about what it means to build Christian culture at the national level. Picking up from last week, they argue that freedom is only secure when it’s tethered to Christ—and then work through the “messy details” Christians must think through: covenantal nationhood, immigration and oaths, public worship, courts and penalties, and the Lord’s Day. In this conversation, they cover: * Why nations are covenantal, not merely ethnic, and why that matters for law and belonging (Ruth, Rahab, Kuyper, Rushdoony).* Immigration & citizenship: the biblical categories of sojourner/resident/citizen; why oaths to God and constitutional loyalty are essential; equal civil justice without parallel legal systems.* Public worship & free speech: protecting public order (no high places, no public idolatry or blasphemy) while safeguarding reasoned religious dispute.* Courts & penalties: replacing warehousing prisons with restitution and structured bond-service, reserving capital penalties for capital crimes.* Lord’s Day in public life: civil rest that protects worship without policing private piety.* Common objections (“Isn’t this illiberal?” “What about free speech?”) and why law is a teacher. Events & Links: * Fall Bible Conference — Oct 23–25, 2025, Big Tree Inn, Upstate NY (with Dr. Joe Boot): https://www.ezrainstitute.com/fall-bible-conference/* Ezra Conference East — Nov 1, 2025, Ingersoll, Ontario: Think Christianly about Islam & Immigration: https://www.ezrainstitute.com/ezra-conference-east/* Explore and support the work at Ezra Media—new site, new shows, subscriber perks, and year-end giving opportunities: https://ezramedia.tv/

Today we look at a few updates from pastors in China in the context of what Wang Yi calls "China's greatest evil", followed by a primer on persecution in Nigeria and how we can pray for people so far away and different from us (Hebrews 13:3 is the key)! Follow and/or message me on Twitter/X (@chinaadventures) where I post (among other things) daily reminders to pray for China.You can also email me @ bfwesten at gmail dot com. Last but not least, to learn more about our ministry endeavors or get one of my missionary biographies, visit PrayGiveGo.us!   Wang Yi on China’s “Most Horrendous” Evil https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/the-pub/podcasts/30293/episodes/32 “Moreover, I must point out that persecution against the Lord’s church and against all Chinese people who believe in Jesus Christ is the most wicked and the most horrendous evil of Chinese society. This is not only a sin against Christians. It is also a sin against all non-Christians. For the government is brutally and ruthlessly threatening them and hindering them from coming to Jesus. There is no greater wickedness in the world than this.If this regime is one day overthrown by God, it will be for no other reason than God’s righteous punishment and revenge for this evil.  Inside Look at Chinese Persecution & Pressure the Past 5 Years https://chinapartnership.org/blog/2025/10/taiyuan-persecution-and-pressure/   What’s Up With Nigeria? https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/stories/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-violence-in-nigeria/ Nigeria is MUCH bigger than most of us imagine! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria) 224 million people (6th in the world, between Pakistan and Brasil) and about the same size as…  All of the West Coast (CA, OR, WA) / All of Texas + Oklahoma / All of the Deep South (AR-SC, LA-FL) / All of the Eastern Seaboard (from SC up to Maine) / More than half the size of Alaska   Follow China Compass Subscribe to China Compass on whichever platform you use, including Apple Podcasts! You can also contact me anytime on X: @chinaadventures or via email (bfwesten at gmail dot com). Hebrews 13:3!

OK boomer, if you think dating was tricky in your day when it was just dinner and a movie —ask Gen Z how it’s going now that it’s DMs and a Bible verse in the bio. Host Casey Harper is joined by Family Research Council’s Gen Z experts, Sarah Holliday and Rachael Woods, to discuss dating, political trends, faith, and singleness from a Gen Z perspective. What are Gen Z women looking for in men? Why are some turning more liberal? How can one manage the desire for marriage and steward the gift of singleness well? No matter which generation you're from, if you want to better understand Gen Z, listen in!

Today's advertisement for the Life After Secularism Conference features Dr. Andrew Walker of World Magazine and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Secularism is in the rearview mirror--but where is Western culture heading? Andrew gives us a little sample of where he thinks Christians should lead to. Tune in and find out what he has to say. And, join us November 14-15 in Battle Ground, Washington for the conference!   Register for the Life After Secularism Conference: https://solochristo.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/3172138   Learn more about WPC Battle Ground: https://www.solochristo.org/

Send us a text As we start our episode coverage of the Fight Laugh Feast "School Wars" Conference, we had to start big. Greg sat down with Doug Wilson and discussed the top 5 excuses Greg has gotten from well meaning christians on why they DO NOT homeschool their children. Have you heard these before? Are the valid reasons or are they just excuses? Listen in to hear Doug respond to each one! Enjoy!   Click HERE for your free consultation with Dominion Wealth Strategists  Click HERE for your complete seating and furnishing needs from K&K Furnishings Facebook: Dead Men Walking PodcastYoutube: Dead Men Walking PodcastInstagram: @DeadMenWalkingPodcastTwitter X: @RealDMWPodcastExclusive Content: PubTV AppSupport the show Get your free consultation with Dominion Wealth Strategists today! The only distinctly reformed wealth company! CLICK HERE! 1689 Cigars: The absolute best cigars on earth! Check out out the Dead Men Walking snarky merch HERE! Build something for God's glory through Covenant Real Estate! Greg Moore Jr. can help you buy, sell, and invest! Call him at (734) 731-GREG or visit www.covenant.realestate

Here's the thing. Being discouraged is real. But leading out of it is your job. You're not always going to be on fire, but you are responsible for the temperature in the room. If your team has to carry their workload and your emotional baggage, they’ll burn out before you bounce back.

Producer Brandon Wood and William Wolfe, director for the Center For Baptist Leadership and former Trump staffer, unpack "national gnosticism' and how it effects families and global missions.

In this episode of The Sentinel Report, Liberty Sentinel COO Andrew Muller shares the truth behind the policies of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in a fiery news segment. Next up, host Alex Newman interviews William and Michael Federer about their fascinating book "Courageous Christianity" and how the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk could create a lasting Christian revival. Finally, medical freedom advocate and doctor Simone Gold joins the show to analyze President Trump's current position on the COVID-19 jab and how parents can protect their children through local engagement.

Welcome, Neighbor, to the table of Kokomo's 6th Funniest Comedian...    We're not as young as we used to be!  We're even older than we were a few seconds ago, when we said that... Then:  The good citizens of Kokomo have been working on a tough question... which crimes should we care about?  Recently a teenage father committed homicide, and everyone seems to agree that sort of thing should be stopped.   But--what about a "teeth whitening business" full of prostitutes?   (Note: be suspicious of any business that offers "massages" as an add-on!) Later: Luke is kicking off his Courageous Era by upsetting his elderly Catholic relatives. His meme is a bit "niche." But you will probably understand it, Neighbor! Contact the Comedian's family at nextdoor@johnbranyan.com .