IDF and Lebanon, Ukraine’s Fears, AI Data Centers, and a Korean Messiah

The Bulletin

Christianity Today

News, News Commentary, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.4 • 586 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Israeli Defense Force pushes Hezbollah further north into Lebanon to protect those living in the north of Israel. Meanwhile, Ukraine worries that American focus has drifted away from their war with Russia. And, how should we feel about AI data centers being built in towns and cities around the US? Mike Cosper and Clarissa Moll discuss these headlines, and then Mike sits down with The Wall Street Journal’s China bureau chief Jonathan Cheng to talk about the Christian evangelical roots of the founding leader of North Korea, Kim II Sung. REFERENCED IN THE EPISODE: Korean Messiah - Jonathan Cheng GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN: Join the conversation at our Substack. Find us on YouTube. Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice. ABOUT THE GUESTS: Jonathan Cheng is the China bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, overseeing a team of more than two dozen correspondents and researchers in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore and New York. Previously, Mr. Cheng was the Seoul bureau chief for the WSJ. He speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, French and Korean, and his book Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult will be published in April of this year. ABOUT THE BULLETIN: The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more. The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more. “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today Producer: Clarissa Moll Associate Producer: Alexa Burke Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps Executive Producer: Erik Petrik Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This paid message is from Glu, a technology platform for the faith ecosystem.
0:07.0	Are you feeling overwhelmed by the speed at which technology is advancing?
0:12.0	With AI, it's hard to know if your questions are being answered reliably or according to your values.
0:17.0	At Glu, they're not simply adopting AI.
0:20.0	They're creating values-aligned artificial intelligence that offers trust and transparency,
0:26.0	solutions that align with Christian values.
0:28.7	Learn more at G U.S. This week, Israel contends with Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Ukraine worries it's been left behind,
0:56.2	and the race is on to build U.S. AI data centers.
1:00.1	Mike Kaspur and I discussed these headlines, and the Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Cheng
1:04.5	stops by to talk about the evangelical heritage of North Korea's ruling family.
1:09.7	Welcome to the show.
1:20.8	On Monday, the Times of Israel reported that the Israeli Defense Force, or IDF, had begun pushing further north into Lebanon to create what they call a buffer zone, free of Hezbollah,
1:26.3	to protect those living in northern Israel.
1:28.7	Since the war with Iran began, Iranian-backed Hezbollah has fired missiles into Israel
1:33.9	and ramped up attacks breaking a delicate ceasefire that had been established in November 2024.
1:40.2	Mike, is what we're seeing from Hezbollah right now a coordinated effort with Iran, or is this a
1:45.9	separate conflict from what we're seeing happening in the broader Middle East?
1:49.8	It's definitely coordinated. Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran. They're funded by Iran. You can't
1:56.2	say enough about how much of a connection there is between the Iranian regime and the Hezbollah presence in Lebanon,
2:02.9	this was always an Iranian-backed war, starting with October 7th.
2:08.2	And so it shouldn't surprise us that when the pressure is on inside Iran, that we see the proxies jumping in.
2:16.9	We've talked on the show many times about defanging Hamas in Gaza.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Christianity Today, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Christianity Today and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.