Hello and welcome to the final episode of Truth in Journalism, a radio broadcast dedicated to applying the Word of God to current events. Well, today on TIJ, we’re going to say goodbye.
No, you didn’t mishear. Your ears do not deceive you. This is the final radio episode of Truth in Journalism. Beginning next week, the 8–8:30 timeslot will be filled by a church.
And so, I wish on this final episode to begin by saying thank you. Thank you to Maxell and the team at 96.1 WMTR for taking the chance to put me on the air for so many years. Max was extremely generous and flexible about a whole host of things. And he always encouraged me to preach the truth and to give people the straight Word of God. And so, I am profoundly grateful to him.
I also want to thank you the listeners. Some of you have been here from the very first episode back in the Summer of 2010. For those who’ve been here for the long haul it’s been almost 14 years. And I thank you. Many of you have reached out to personally encourage me. Some of you have reached out to disagree with me. Some of you have just let me know you’re listening. And I appreciate that. Radio can be tricky because you need to either be immensely confident or overweeningly arrogant to just talk with no audience feedback. I’m not sure I haven’t been more arrogant than confident, but for those who have given feedback I am profoundly grateful.
Writing, recording, editing, and delivering these broadcasts has consumed my Fridays for the past 14 years. It has become second nature. It’s something that has often been immensely stressful. I’ve often been completely flummoxed about what to say or how to say it. I’ve said things I’ve regretted; I’ve regretted not saying other things. I’ve said some things I’m immensely proud of and I’ve said some things I’m thoroughly ashamed of. I believe I’ve grown as a Christian, as a pastor, as a theologian, as a preacher over these years. I hope that I’ve gotten better. And I hope that in some small measure I’ve helped others to become better, too.
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved radio and wanted to be in radio. It was the thrill of a lifetime when I was first given this timeslot by Max back in 2010. This whole broadcast was an experiment. No intro music, no sound effects, no production team, no professional gear, back then when I started, I was too poor to afford a decent microphone! I made an enormous amount of mistakes. I said silly and stupid things. But I had confidence. A confidence that I still have.
Not a confidence that I was an interesting person who had interesting things to say about the world. Even back in my early twenties I had an inkling that I wasn’t actually very interesting and that I didn’t actually have very much worth saying or worth listening to!
But I had confidence all the same because I had confidence in the Word of God and the power of the Word of God, that when we looked at current events in light of the teaching of Scripture, the Bible would give us answers. I believed that wholeheartedly and I still believe that.
I still believe that the Bible has the answers to the problems that face humanity. That men and women as individuals and that we as a society are beset with problems—and the solutions to those problems can be found in the Word.
I believe that reading, believing, and seeking to obey the Bible will make better men and women, better husbands, wives, and parents, better citizens, better workers, better leaders—that it will lead to a better society.
Yes, since those early days I’ve gained a lot of experience and a lot of education. I’ve gotten married; I’ve had five children; my baby son has had a heart attack; I’ve worked for several different ministries. My life has changed a lot. And those experiences have shaped me, and shaped this program, but the one constant was faith in God that His Word would have a message for us today.
God speaks to us through His Word. He has spoken from Genesis to Revelation and He continues to speak, by the Holy Spirit, through that same Word today. God has not gone silent. The Spirit has not stopped testifying and creation has not stopped testifying and the Word has not stopped testifying. God’s truth, the real truth, the only truth continues to go forth in power today, just as it has for 3,500 years. The Bible is still the Word of God; and the Word of God is still inerrant, infallible, inspired, and authoritative. The Bible continues to be the final authority on all matters of faith and practice. God’s Word continues to be the norma normans non normata—the norming norm that isn’t normed. God continues to provide a light for our path, a lamp for our feet. The Word continues to be a firm foundation. The Bible is still the greatest testimony to Christ of all.
I believed 14 years ago, and I believe today that the Bible has the answers that we need. I believed then and I believe now that the Word of God can help us to navigate this world in which we live. I believed then and I believe now that the Scriptures can teach us. I believe that the Old and New Testaments, when read seriously and lived out by God’s people, have the power to transform individuals, transform churches, transform communities, transform nations, and transform the world.
I believed back then, and I still believe that America and the West may have our greatest days still ahead of us. Yes, I’m a dispensationalist, but I’m the bad kind of dispensationalist—the optimistic kind! I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ might have a time of unparalleled growth and glory, just over the horizon! As China and Iran and Africa turn to Christ in droves, there is very little in the way of the cross of Christ being honored all over the globe and for people to live in peace and brotherhood for who knows how long. Yes. I believe things will go bad. I believe it will all fall apart someday. Yes, I believe in a rapture and that the world will long for Antichrist and will openly hate God in total rebellion. But that day need not be soon! God only knows what might be, what could be, what may be. We do not and cannot and ought not. All we know for sure is that the Word of God has the power to transform and there could be a bright and golden age ahead of us—not one that lasts forever, but one that could last a long time.
I believe that the earnest, passionate, diligent love, study, preaching, and obedience to God’s Word can bring about glad and golden hours. I believe that devotion to the Bible will make happier marriages, more loyal friendships, more productive workers, and will lead to abundant flourishing in all areas of life.
I believe that God’s Word is not a book that needs defending. It’s a book that has a power within itself to shatter and shiver all our lofty pretensions and high-sounding folly. The miserable and beggarly lies which lead the world by the nose are exposed for the gossamer frauds they are in the glorious, shimmering light of God’s Word. Before the mighty and eternal Word of God the world’s lies are not even a thing—they are the negation of a thing, and as such when brought before the Word, they disappear into the nothingness they are.
The Word of God is still our shield from the perversity of idolatry and worldliness. The Word of God is still the barrier that keeps us from greed and selfishness. The Word is still the great teacher of souls—disciplining, guiding, encouraging. The Word is still the greatest lessonbook and tool for the preacher who reproves, rebukes, and exhorts with all longsuffering and doctrine.
The Word of God has never ceased and will never cease to be the greatest book ever written. It continues to capture the imagination of all who read it seeking truth. It has the metamorphic power to change and shape people into the image of God—which is Christ.
Christ is the theme and hero of the Word. Christ is the all in all. In the Bible we capture a glimpse of His incomprehensible beauty and goodness and truth—His transcendental majesty. Christ, the King, the Almighty, the Lord of all meets with us in the pages of Scripture and calls for and rewards our fealty and devotion. Christ, the Bridegroom, proclaims His love and desire for unity with us in the love letter we call the Word. Christ the Son of God reveals the Father to us and we can draw near to the inapproachable light in which He dwells.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and it is the glory of kings to search it out and thus God makes a king and queen of all who study and search out the awesome contents of Scripture. Christ honors those who honor Him and therefore He honors those who honor His Word.
The Bible is an endless sumptuous feast of delights. It is the richest of fare, the sweetest and strongest drinks, the headiest wines. The table is sagging and near to snapping because of the immeasurable mass of the meal set before us in the Bible. Taste and see, the Lord is good, the Word tells us and so we should and so I shall, O who will come and go with me, I’m bound for the Word of God—to know it, do it, and teach it!
God’s word is great and glorious because God is great and glorious.
Everything I have, everything I am: my very life, my wife, my children, my calling as pastor and theologian, my home, my friends—I owe literally all of it, ALL which I am, and do, is owed to and because of the Word of God. This book changed me. The truth within it saved me—my eternal life and my life in this world. The Gospel truth in these pages saved me and made me who and what I am.
I owe everything to God’s Word. Jesus the Lover of my soul let me fly to His bosom and drew me near in love and forgiveness—I was guilty, vile, and helpless; I was all unrighteousness—and the Word of God showed me the way to forgiveness and acceptance and eternal life. The Bible is good news—it is the greatest good news—it is the news that all need to hear.
It has been my undeserved honor and privilege and joy over the past 14 years to come to you all every week and talk about the Word of God and its teachings and how God’s Word can teach us how to understand and live in this world. I have been blessed beyond measure to have this opportunity. I cannot be more grateful and thankful for this chance.
I am profoundly glad and profoundly sad that this is the end. But all things do come to an end—things break down, the center cannot hold, this broadcast could never go on forever. And it will not. It’s ending now. But God’s Word remains. And it is to God’s Word that I commend you all.
And so, it’s time to say goodbye. I will continue to be a pastor-theologian. I will continue to write, and preach, and teach. I will continue to dedicate my life to God’s Word: knowing it; doing it; and teaching it. If you’re interested in hearing more of my preaching you can find me at lukenagy.com; you can go to the Bryan First Brethren Church website; you can call me at my office at 419 636 4713; you can email me at luke@bryanfbc.com or luke@lukenagy.com. Of course, you can always stop in at the church and we can talk and have a cup of coffee if you’d prefer that.
And if you are interested in me continuing a weekly Truth in Journalism show and posting it to the church website and my own personal website, please let me know. If there are enough people who show genuine interest in this broadcast I will continue doing it, but I also know that sometimes things need to end, so if people don’t reach out and ask for me to continue, I’m going to let this all die.
And again, that’s OK. All things come to an end. There is a time for everything. And as much as I would like to stay on the radio forever, that’s not going to happen. Whether I continue to make weekly content in the TIJ format will be up to you the listeners to decide.
But, like I said, it is time to say goodbye.
I pray that you listeners will love God’s Word and spread it. I pray that all of us would repent and turn to Christ and seek Him and that our nation would turn to the Word and know it and obey it. I pray that Christ would reign supreme in your hearts and that His infinite love and goodness would fill your heart so that you might experience abundant love and joy through the abiding glory of Christ in you.
Now to Him who is able to protect you from harm and to place you before His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord is glory, majesty, might, and authority from every age and now and into all ages.
May we all love Christ and love one another more and more and may that love transform us and our world into His image. I hope and pray we will.
And this is Luke Nagy, signing off from the final episode of Truth in Journalism. Thank you and may God bless your day to His glory.