Walker Wildmon: Welcome to At the Core here on American Family Radio. I'm Walker Wildmon, glad to have you with us on this brand-new edition of the show here on the American Family Radio Network. The year is flying by. We're just on the doorstep of October, and it's good to be with you on today's edition of At the Core.
Walker Wildmon: For those who noticed a couple of our reruns last week, I was in Boston and the surrounding area, Plymouth, Lexington, and Concord. I don't know whether you pronounce it Concord or Concord. It depends on where you're from, but I could go both ways. We were there doing our annual spiritual heritage tour, looking at America's founding history and the Christian, biblical influence on America's founding fathers and our founding documents, especially during this 250th birthday of America in 2026.
Walker Wildmon: I had a great time with over a hundred of our listeners and supporters there in Boston. We had a great time of fellowship and had Tim Barton and Stephen McDowell, two excellent historians on America's Christian history. I would say they're the top in the country on this topic. They were with us in Boston, and we had a great time. For those listening who were with us, thank you for coming. It's good to be back in the chair now.
Walker Wildmon: Let's jump into our Scripture for the week. We are in Acts chapter 22 as we continue our trek through the book of Acts. Each week, we are picking out a couple of verses in each chapter. This time, we're in Acts chapter 22, looking at verses 6 through 11.
Walker Wildmon: This is the second instance, or the second recounting, of Paul's conversion here in the book of Acts. There are two others. The first account, which we covered several weeks ago, was in Acts chapter 9. Now we're in Acts chapter 22, which is the second account of Paul's conversion. Then in Acts chapter 26, which will be here in about three or four weeks, will be the third account of Paul's conversion in the book of Acts.
Walker Wildmon: It's amazing to me, the corroboration of biblical history throughout the text. Even though these chapters were written years and years apart, the accounts are very accurate and very similar. Acts chapter 22, verses 6 through 11:
Walker Wildmon: “Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ So I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’ And since I could not see from the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.”
Walker Wildmon: That's verses 6 through 11 in Acts chapter 22. It's amazing to me, the accuracy and consistency in these historical accounts of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus and how these writings took place years apart in Acts chapter 9, Acts 22, and Acts chapter 26.
Walker Wildmon: For those of you who love studying Scripture, Logos Bible software is some of the best in the country. I know one of their top leaders there who gifted me a subscription to Logos. They have an AI tool now, but it's a very controlled AI tool, and it only cites biblically credible and historically credible authors and commentaries on Scripture.
Walker Wildmon: I queried it on how far apart these recountings were in the book of Acts. How far apart were Acts chapter 9 and Acts chapter 22 as far as when they were recorded and written? Then, with Acts chapter 26, how many years apart were these writings? Of course, there are varying opinions, but in practical terms, it said the three conversion accounts were separated in their written recording by at least 27 to 60 years, depending on which dating scholars prefer. This temporal distance means Luke relied on oral tradition, earlier written sources, and possibly eyewitness testimony when composing these narratives.
Walker Wildmon: That's the commentary and the opinion side of this, but it's backed up by a lot of information and other parts of Scripture. Think about how accurate, reliable, and consistent Scripture is when one author, in this instance Luke, can perfectly recount the conversion of Paul up to three times in the book of Acts over the course of several years in his writings.
Walker Wildmon: That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amazing history of Scripture, how the Lord ordained it and inspired it, and how it is divine and inspired by a holy God.
Walker Wildmon: Let's talk about the news of the week. Let's talk about what's going on in our country, as we should care about that. The first topic I want to cover is the horror that is these gender reassignment surgeries, for lack of a better term. In essence, they're sexual mutilation surgeries because they're destroying one's God-given body and biology in the name of transgenderism.
Walker Wildmon: This is a clip from Greg Gutfeld on Fox News talking about a Finnish study on the horrors of sexual reassignment surgeries and how so many people actually end up worse off from a mental and psychological perspective than before the surgeries took place.
Clip Speaker: Thanks to a few brave voices, people are finally starting to dig into the lies we were told about trans. Earlier this year, a study out of Finland looked at every person under 23 who went to gender clinics between 1996 and 2019. It turns out psychiatric treatments wildly increased for boys and girls from before they went to the clinic to after they went to the clinic.
Clip Speaker: The conclusion: gender reassignment makes psychiatric needs far worse. Who could have guessed that having your healthy body parts removed didn't make life a bowl of cherries? This is key, since suicide risk was the moral basis for operating on kids, and it was all false.
Walker Wildmon: There you have it. Pardon some of the language. We bleeped out most of that, but you still get the point. It's Gutfeld, so what do you expect? Nonetheless, the report is very serious, and it shouldn't be discounted.
Walker Wildmon: The fact that this Finnish study, with data going back from 1996 to 2019, shows a drastic increase in mental and psychological problems among people who underwent these so-called surgeries that destroy your bodily makeup is significant. Here are the numbers. This is over 2,000 individuals age 23 and above who underwent these transgender surgeries from 1996 to 2019.
Walker Wildmon: Men saw an increase from 10 percent with psychological or mental issues before the surgery to 61 percent after the surgery. Women had 22 percent with psychological issues before their so-called gender reassignment surgery. Afterward, 55 percent of women had mental or psychological problems.
Walker Wildmon: We've been told for so long, well before I've been studying this for over a decade, that the surgeries help. We've been told that the little kids, the 13-year-old girls who are confused about their gender identity and aren't comfortable in their bodies, will be made better if we just do this surgery or give them hormones. They call it gender affirmation.
Walker Wildmon: What this nearly 30-year study shows is that this worsens the disturbed state of their minds by nearly four or five times. This compounds an existing problem.
Walker Wildmon: Pair this with the fact that all the available research shows that young people, children and teenagers, who go through a season of lacking confidence, questioning their bodies, or still maturing, generally grow out of this season. They grow out of this insecurity and end up embracing God's design for humanity and sexuality, and how God created them in His image.
Walker Wildmon: So much of this is a fleeting thing. You hear the term, “It's a vibe.” This is like a vibe. It's so fleeting. It's here and it's gone.
Walker Wildmon: But we're taking a young person's temporary, prepubescent or adolescent struggles, which many young people go through, whether they're questioning their sexuality or dealing with insecurity, lacking confidence, or whatever struggle young people face while they're still learning how to mature and embrace how God created them. We are taking these very fleeting feelings and permanently destroying young people's bodies in the name of gender-affirming care, and it is absolutely wicked.
Walker Wildmon: It is so wicked. Anyone who's been a parent knows this. I find it ironic that many of the people pushing this garbage aren't parents themselves, or they were parents 30 years ago and aren't actively going through the whole parenting and discipleship process. Yet they're telling us what we need to do with our kids.
Walker Wildmon: As adults, we're supposed to be the providers, protectors, and shepherds. Instead, we're feeding young people lies and submitting their bodies to these horrendous surgeries. In many instances, these procedures make women and men infertile into their adult years, which is horrific. The horror stories about infertility and sterilization are terrible.
Walker Wildmon: Pretty much everything we've been told is a lie. Affirmation doesn't help. Both socially and surgically, it compounds the problem. It all proves that we need to embrace God's design for human sexuality.
Walker Wildmon: Welcome to At the Core here on American Family Radio. I'm Walker Wildmon, glad to have you with us on this brand-new edition of the show here on the American Family Radio Network. The year is flying by. We're just on the doorstep of October, and it's good to be with you on today's edition of At the Core.
Walker Wildmon: For those who noticed a couple of our reruns last week, I was in Boston and the surrounding area, Plymouth, Lexington, and Concord. I don't know whether you pronounce it Concord or Concord. It depends on where you're from, but I could go both ways. We were there doing our annual spiritual heritage tour, looking at America's founding history and the Christian, biblical influence on America's founding fathers and our founding documents, especially during this 250th birthday of America in 2026.
Walker Wildmon: I had a great time with over a hundred of our listeners and supporters there in Boston. We had a great time of fellowship and had Tim Barton and Stephen McDowell, two excellent historians on America's Christian history. I would say they're the top in the country on this topic. They were with us in Boston, and we had a great time. For those listening who were with us, thank you for coming. It's good to be back in the chair now.
Walker Wildmon: Let's jump into our Scripture for the week. We are in Acts chapter 22 as we continue our trek through the book of Acts. Each week, we are picking out a couple of verses in each chapter. This time, we're in Acts chapter 22, looking at verses 6 through 11.
Walker Wildmon: This is the second instance, or the second recounting, of Paul's conversion here in the book of Acts. There are two others. The first account, which we covered several weeks ago, was in Acts chapter 9. Now we're in Acts chapter 22, which is the second account of Paul's conversion. Then in Acts chapter 26, which will be here in about three or four weeks, will be the third account of Paul's conversion in the book of Acts.
Walker Wildmon: It's amazing to me, the corroboration of biblical history throughout the text. Even though these chapters were written years and years apart, the accounts are very accurate and very similar. Acts chapter 22, verses 6 through 11:
Walker Wildmon: “Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ So I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’ And since I could not see from the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.”
Walker Wildmon: That's verses 6 through 11 in Acts chapter 22. It's amazing to me, the accuracy and consistency in these historical accounts of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus and how these writings took place years apart in Acts chapter 9, Acts 22, and Acts chapter 26.
Walker Wildmon: For those of you who love studying Scripture, Logos Bible software is some of the best in the country. I know one of their top leaders there who gifted me a subscription to Logos. They have an AI tool now, but it's a very controlled AI tool, and it only cites biblically credible and historically credible authors and commentaries on Scripture.
Walker Wildmon: I queried it on how far apart these recountings were in the book of Acts. How far apart were Acts chapter 9 and Acts chapter 22 as far as when they were recorded and written? Then, with Acts chapter 26, how many years apart were these writings? Of course, there are varying opinions, but in practical terms, it said the three conversion accounts were separated in their written recording by at least 27 to 60 years, depending on which dating scholars prefer. This temporal distance means Luke relied on oral tradition, earlier written sources, and possibly eyewitness testimony when composing these narratives.
Walker Wildmon: That's the commentary and the opinion side of this, but it's backed up by a lot of information and other parts of Scripture. Think about how accurate, reliable, and consistent Scripture is when one author, in this instance Luke, can perfectly recount the conversion of Paul up to three times in the book of Acts over the course of several years in his writings.
Walker Wildmon: That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amazing history of Scripture, how the Lord ordained it and inspired it, and how it is divine and inspired by a holy God.
Walker Wildmon: Let's talk about the news of the week. Let's talk about what's going on in our country, as we should care about that. The first topic I want to cover is the horror that is these gender reassignment surgeries, for lack of a better term. In essence, they're sexual mutilation surgeries because they're destroying one's God-given body and biology in the name of transgenderism.
Walker Wildmon: This is a clip from Greg Gutfeld on Fox News talking about a Finnish study on the horrors of sexual reassignment surgeries and how so many people actually end up worse off from a mental and psychological perspective than before the surgeries took place.
Clip Speaker: Thanks to a few brave voices, people are finally starting to dig into the lies we were told about trans. Earlier this year, a study out of Finland looked at every person under 23 who went to gender clinics between 1996 and 2019. It turns out psychiatric treatments wildly increased for boys and girls from before they went to the clinic to after they went to the clinic.
Clip Speaker: The conclusion: gender reassignment makes psychiatric needs far worse. Who could have guessed that having your healthy body parts removed didn't make life a bowl of cherries? This is key, since suicide risk was the moral basis for operating on kids, and it was all false.
Walker Wildmon: There you have it. Pardon some of the language. We bleeped out most of that, but you still get the point. It's Gutfeld, so what do you expect? Nonetheless, the report is very serious, and it shouldn't be discounted.
Walker Wildmon: The fact that this Finnish study, with data going back from 1996 to 2019, shows a drastic increase in mental and psychological problems among people who underwent these so-called surgeries that destroy your bodily makeup is significant. Here are the numbers. This is over 2,000 individuals age 23 and above who underwent these transgender surgeries from 1996 to 2019.
Walker Wildmon: Men saw an increase from 10 percent with psychological or mental issues before the surgery to 61 percent after the surgery. Women had 22 percent with psychological issues before their so-called gender reassignment surgery. Afterward, 55 percent of women had mental or psychological problems.
Walker Wildmon: We've been told for so long, well before I've been studying this for over a decade, that the surgeries help. We've been told that the little kids, the 13-year-old girls who are confused about their gender identity and aren't comfortable in their bodies, will be made better if we just do this surgery or give them hormones. They call it gender affirmation.
Walker Wildmon: What this nearly 30-year study shows is that this worsens the disturbed state of their minds by nearly four or five times. This compounds an existing problem.
Walker Wildmon: Pair this with the fact that all the available research shows that young people, children and teenagers, who go through a season of lacking confidence, questioning their bodies, or still maturing, generally grow out of this season. They grow out of this insecurity and end up embracing God's design for humanity and sexuality, and how God created them in His image.
Walker Wildmon: So much of this is a fleeting thing. You hear the term, “It's a vibe.” This is like a vibe. It's so fleeting. It's here and it's gone.
Walker Wildmon: But we're taking a young person's temporary, prepubescent or adolescent struggles, which many young people go through, whether they're questioning their sexuality or dealing with insecurity, lacking confidence, or whatever struggle young people face while they're still learning how to mature and embrace how God created them. We are taking these very fleeting feelings and permanently destroying young people's bodies in the name of gender-affirming care, and it is absolutely wicked.
Walker Wildmon: It is so wicked. Anyone who's been a parent knows this. I find it ironic that many of the people pushing this garbage aren't parents themselves, or they were parents 30 years ago and aren't actively going through the whole parenting and discipleship process. Yet they're telling us what we need to do with our kids.
Walker Wildmon: As adults, we're supposed to be the providers, protectors, and shepherds. Instead, we're feeding young people lies and submitting their bodies to these horrendous surgeries. In many instances, these procedures make women and men infertile into their adult years, which is horrific. The horror stories about infertility and sterilization are terrible.
Walker Wildmon: Pretty much everything we've been told is a lie. Affirmation doesn't help. Both socially and surgically, it compounds the problem. It all proves that we need to embrace God's design for human sexuality.
