Monday, January 12, 2026

The Briefing with Albert Mohler

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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4.8 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
Part I (00:14 – 13:51)
Aldrich Ames and His Deadly Betrayal: The Death of CIA Turncoat for Soviets Raises Massive Issues

Aldrich Ames, C.I.A. Turncoat Who Helped the Soviets, Dies at 84 by The New York Times (Tim Weiner)

Part II (13:51 – 20:23)
Yet Another Problem with Surrogacy Emerges: Many Surrogate Mothers are Incurring Insurmountable Medical Expenses

Surrogacy Is a Multibillion-Dollar Business—but Surrogates Can Be Left With Big Debts by The Wall Street Journal (Katherine Long)

Part III (20:23 – 24:27)
Let’s Face the Truth About Surrogacy: There’s Massive Moral Problems in Even the Best Cases, and Many Surrogates are Hired by LGBTQ Couples
Part IV (24:27 – 26:56)
Not Every Reproductive Act is Morally Acceptable: Babies are An Unalloyed Good, But Not Every Means of Conception is Good of Morally Acceptable

Spycraft and Soulcraft on the Front Lines of History by Thinking in Public (R. Albert Mohler, Jr. and James Olson)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Monday, January 12, 2006. I'm Albert Mueller, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
0:14.5	The world of spies is one that by definition is filled with intrigue. It is also a world that many people find very interesting.
0:22.7	One of the fastest selling genres of literature is the spy or espionage novel. And interestingly,
0:29.4	novels by the likes of such figures as John Le Corray are actually being republished and even
0:35.3	new versions of older movies are coming out. And that's because
0:39.0	espionage or spycraft reveals some of the deepest, as well as darkest, moral and worldview
0:44.9	issues imaginable. But it's not a fictional spy that is our concern today. No, it's an all-too-reel-to-deadly
0:52.6	spy who just recently died in federal custody.
0:56.7	Aldrich Ames, referred to by the New York Times as the most murderous turncoat in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, died just days ago in the federal correction institution in Cumberland, Maryland.
1:08.1	He was serving a life-in-prison term without the possibility of parole,
1:13.0	and that's only because there was not a stronger sentence that could be delivered against him.
1:18.4	Tim Weiner of the Times reports, quote Aldrich Ames, the most murderous turncoat in the history of the CIA,
1:23.8	whose betrayal in working for the Soviet Union went undetected for almost a decade died on Monday.
1:29.6	He was 84 and had been a federal prisoner serving life without parole since 1994.
1:35.5	And then just get this one paragraph.
1:37.7	Quote, the son of an alcoholic CIA officer, Mr. Ames failed upward through the agency ranks for 17 years until he attained a
1:46.3	headquarters post of extraordinary sensitivity. He became the head of counterintelligence branch of the
1:52.9	CIA's division devoted to the Soviet Union. He took that role in September of 1983.
2:00.2	As the time says, quote, he had access to some of the nation's deepest secrets, in particular
2:04.9	its clandestine liaisons with the Soviets who worked in secret with American intelligence.
2:10.6	Well, this became one of the deadliest compromises of American spycraft.
2:15.7	Now, remember, the big issue is that Aldrich Ames had become head of the
	...

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