I began listening to talk radio in the mid-to-late 1960s On KDKA in Pittsburgh....this through a light-hearted evening show called Party Line....and a little more serious overnight show with host Jack Wheeler. I tagged along over the years as one popular host followed another....and now they were all involved in issues of one sort or another. I took a break from secular talk radio in the 1980s and switched over to Christian talk radio on Word-fm where it was not only talk but many and various ministries. Then along came Rush and the Clintons....the 104th Congress and the Contract With America....and 9/11....and George W....McCain and Sarah....and Obama.
I witnessed radio begin to change about August of 2016. I was on my way to work and Steve Bannon was not on Breitbart's morning radio show.....as he headed to the Trump campaign. In the next few years he had changed....Rush had changed....Levin changed in one show....I remember it....as he went from questioning what Trump was doing....to saying that he made his decision....defend Trump! Evangelicals had gone from being Christian first....good citizens attempting to right their country....to patriots first. The genuine give-and-take conversation that I appreciated was gone....replaced by constant indoctrination....with no use for ethics. It was a one-sided medium now.I have for years now in these posts strongly advised Christians to flee talk radio....which has become more....a course in rote memorization. I listened again this morning to what was once conservative talk radio...the second time in a week....and it is profoundly sad to think of Christians being under the sway of this secular pulpit. None of these men....or women....are steeped in the Word of God....or anywhere near it....although they hashtag God....so to speak....all the time.
They have for many years now presented a Christian nationalist type of gospel where one will say that they are Christian....but they never say that they are saved....or redeemed....and they have become our pulpits today. Consequently we evangelicals proudly say that we are Christian....but rarely volunteer that we were saved....for that does not fit into the broadcast airwaves of talk radio.
Ann Coulter is one who likes to talk about being a Christian. She in 2016 famously wrote the bestseller....In Trump We Trust....E Pluribus Awesome. That title said it all. We evangelicals will if challenged say...'We trust in Christ'....but that trust is that....we trust that Christ will give a Trump or a DeSantis or someone who will save us. We don't mind using the word 'save' in this context.
So talk radio today is like a drug....the Democrats are on psychedelics....hallucinogens....they are on a trip....we are more on antidepressants. Talk radio has become our pharmacy. So we today go to a counselor....but not The Counselor....a helper but not...The Helper....and comforters but not The Comforter.....as we look for a savior but not The Savior.
We are drunk with the spirit of talk radio....or Fox cable....or podcasts....but God's Word commands us to...."Be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to one another is psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." (Eph. 5: 18b-19)
