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President Trump addresses nation amid growing controversy · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Greetings.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Thursday, December the 18th, 2025, and you've joined us for Denison forums, Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm narrator Chris Elkins, giving voice to today's Daily article, authored by our CEO, Dr. Jim Denison.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: President Trump defended his handling of the economy during a rare primetime speech last night.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: He also announced a $1,776 warrior dividend check for active duty service members that he said would be paid for with Terra-Frevinue.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, he did not address the headline-generating fallout from his recent very negative comments regarding the tragic death of Rob and Michelle Reiner.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: In other political news, the president is defending his chief of staff Susie Wiles after her vanity fair interview in which she states that Trump has an alcoholic personality because he operates with a view that there's nothing he can't do.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Trump agreed with her statement noting that he doesn't drink alcohol.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: but that he would have a quote very good chance of being an alcoholic if he did, in quote.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: He criticized the magazine for a very misguided interview and stated his full confidence in Wales.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Conflict has been a fact of political life in America from our first contested election in 1796 to the present.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: It has been a fact of human history since Kane murdered Abel.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Neuroscientists are even trying to help us manage holiday conflict by encouraging us to imagine positive scenarios in the belief that our brains will learn from them and be more likely to produce them.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Such advices actually more biblically grounded than it may seem, pointing to the power that not only resolves conflict but changes culture in eternally significant ways.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: In recent days, we have focused on the miracle by which the Son of God hindered Mary's body to inhabit his own and now lives in us by his indwelling spirit, affirmed in Colossians 1, verse 27 and 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's apply this incarnational reality to the conflicts we face daily.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: The first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 522 is Love, translating Agape, the unconditional commitment to place another ahead of ourselves.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: This love was first shown for us by our father in the atoning death of his son, consequently from 1 John 4 verse 19, we love because he first loved us.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: What does this mean in practical terms?
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our first response is to love God.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Mark 12 verse 30 says, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strengths.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Such love was modeled by Jesus in his obedient submission to his father in the Garden of Geth-Semony recounted in Mark 26 verses 36 through 46.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, he and dwells us by his spirit.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: He empowers us to love him as he loves us.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to Fridge theologian William of Santieri of the 12th century, Jesus Quote, taught us to love him by first loving us, even to death on the cross.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: By loving us and holding us so dear, he stirred us to love him who had first loved us to the end.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: In Quote.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our second response is to love your neighbor as yourself stated in the first part of Mark 12 vs. 31.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus made no qualitative distinction as to which kind of neighbor we happen to have and thus are required to love.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: As demonstrated in the parable of the Good Samaritan and Luke 10 vs. 25 through 37, our neighbor is anyone we can help.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: In response to the cultural ethos of his day stating
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our Lord stated, emphatically, in Matthew 5 verses 43 and 44, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus modeled such love by touching lepers, befriending sinners, and interseeding for those who crucified him.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as He and dwells us by His Spirit, He empowers us to love others as He does.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our third response in the remainder of Mark 12 vs. 31 is to love your neighbor as yourself.
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Loving ourselves may be the hardest of the three.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a consumeristic, materialistic culture, we value people by their possessions, performance, and popularity.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is therefore common for us to value ourselves in the same way.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: A counselor friend expressed this ethos to me, quote,
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am not who you think I am.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am who I think you think I am."
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote, by contrast, Jesus knows us best and yet loves us most.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Before he died for us, he knew every sin we would ever commit, stated in Romans 5 verse 8.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: As he intercedes for us, he knows our every failure and frustration, according to Romans 8 verse 34, and yet as St Augustine affirmed, he loves each of us,
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: as if there were only one of us.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as he and dwells us by his spirit, he empowers us to love ourselves as he does.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, if you're like me, you often struggle in all three areas.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: You might not feel a deep love for God at this moment.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: You might not say you truly love your neighbors, especially any who are your enemies, and knowing all your sins and failures, you might not feel any kind of deep love for yourself.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if our love in Christ is to transform the world, pronounced in John 13 vs 34 and 35, it must first transform us.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: What are we to do?
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: First, let's reframe the issue.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Love as described in the Bible is more and action than a feeling.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: To test this wisdom, take a moment to try to feel love in the abstract.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, attempt to feel love for God, another person, or yourself.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, if you act toward your Lord and your neighbor, and yourself, as if you love them, you will often find that your feelings follow your actions, and they, and you, would much rather experience your love as an action than a feeling.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do what love does, and you will often feel what love feels.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Second, let's turn to the source of true love.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we have seen, the indwelling Christ right now loves your father, your neighbor, and you.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you try to manifest his love in your strength, you will fail.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if you ask him to empower you to love as he does, he will answer your prayer.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Billy Graham responded to our conflicted culture this way.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: There can be no lasting peace until Christ has come into the hearts of all people and brought them his peace.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is no discord in heaven.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is no strife in heaven.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: For Christ reigns supreme there.
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Similarly, in the heart where Christ abides and reigns, his words become the reality from John 14 verse 27, peace I live with you.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you are a Christian, Christ abides in your heart.
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Would those who know you say he rains there today?