Doubletake

WORLD Radio’s Jenny Rough and Lynn Vincent explore how a minor misdemeanor trial raised the most significant question of all. Where did we come from?Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate).

Transcribed - Published: 19 July 2025

Everybody knows you’re not supposed to bargain with God. It’s just a bad idea. God doesn’t answer prayers that begin, “Dear God, if you just give me this one thing I’ll do this other thing. For the rest of my life. I promise.”Theologically speaking, we don’t give God our terms. He gives us His.But today we have an essay from someone who actually did bargain with God. Trinity Klomparens is a journalism student at Patrick Henry College.Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate).

Transcribed - Published: 15 February 2025

When Gerald Groff took his job at the Post Office in 2012, taking Sundays off wasn’t an issue. USPS didn’t deliver on Sundays. Then about a decade ago Amazon decided people simply had to have their gadgets and groceries delivered on Sundays and hired USPS to help. Suddenly Groff had a choice: keep his job or his convictions. He decided to try for both–and the case is still not settled, exactly.Today on Doubletake, a special legal episode about a mailman, his faith, and the byzantine legal rules that define religious liberty in this country.Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 8 February 2025

Hearing that his father was dead was very nearly the last straw for Radha Manickam. In two years he’d lost almost his entire family under the brutal regime of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge. It seemed that God had abandoned him, and one night while lying on an anthill in the middle of a rice paddy, he decided to end it all. But then hope arrived–in a most unlikely place, and a most unexpected way.This series is based on my recent interviews with Radha, along with my 2016 book about his experiences. The book, audiobook, and this series are titled Intended for Evil by Les Sillars.Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)Intended for Evil available as a paperback (https://www.amazon.com/Intended-Evil-Survivors-Courage-Cambodian/dp/080100909X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0) and audio book (https://www.amazon.com/Intended-Evil-Survivors-Courage-Cambodian/dp/B0DDWC5KZ4/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0) at Amazon.com

Transcribed - Published: 1 February 2025

After the communist Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia on April 17, 1975, they herded everybody out of the cities and into socialist “cooperatives.” Radha Manickam and family were sent to the country’s northwest, where they and 1.8 million others were dumped out of trains and told to start building villages.It was Year Zero, supposedly the start of the agrarian utopia promised by their Marxist masters.Instead, Radha watched the Khmer Rouge turn Cambodia into the realm of the dead.This series tells a hard and brutal story, but it’s also a story of hope and, ultimately, redemption. It’s based on my recent interviews with Radha, along with my 2016 book about his experiences. The book and this series are titled “Intended for Evil.”Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 25 January 2025

The communist Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, on April 17, 1975. Radha Manickam, a new Christian, watched them arrive from the balcony of his parents’ apartment. It was Radha’s first exposure to the Khmer Rouge. The leader of the Khmer Rouge was Pol Pot, led the most violent and brutal government in modern history. In its doomed attempt to create an agrarian utopia, between 1975 and 1979 Pol Pot’s regime murdered over 1.7 million people. Many were beaten to death or executed. Others starved to death or died of fatigue or some wretched disease. Mao and Stalin’s Communist regimes killed far more people. But no other government has destroyed nearly a quarter of its own citizens.Today Pol Pot is largely forgotten. But he and the Khmer Rouge are well worth remembering. Because the ideas that formed the Khmer Rouge are still with us today. Also worth remembering are the stories of those who survived. People like Radha Manickam. We’ll be telling his story over the next three episodes. It is in many ways a brutal story. One of loss and grief and terror. But it’s also a story of hope and grace. And ultimately, redemption.This series is based on my recent interviews with Radha, along with my 2016 book about his experiences. The book and this series are titled “Intended for Evil” by Les Sillars.Audio fromThe Associated PressNBC NewsABC NewsSupport WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 18 January 2025

Last week we brought you the story of Hawler Sheikhe, a Syrian woman who returned in 2023 to one of the world’s most chaotic countries on unfinished family business. She went with a Christian humanitarian aid group called the Free Burma Rangers. WORLD correspondent Caleb Welde went with them.This week, the story of the rest of that trip. They went a year before the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, overthrew the brutal government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria last month. But northeast Syria is still one of the most chaotic places in the world. And, as Caleb found out for himself, very dangerous.Until Assad fell, the West had largely ignored the conflict in Syria. However this turns out, the people Caleb met there will likely remain right where they are now: stuck in a simmering conflict with no place to go.Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate).

Transcribed - Published: 11 January 2025

On December 8 the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, overthrew the brutal government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. There’s a new regime in Damascus, but in northeast Syria a lot remains the same. It’s still one of the most chaotic places in the world. WORLD correspondent Caleb Welde traveled around the region in November of 2023 with the Free Burma Rangers. That’s a Christian aid group working in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones.This is the first of two episodes based on Caleb’s reporting last year. Today Caleb will tell us the story of a Syrian woman named Hawler Sheikhe. She was 13 years old when ISIS roared into Syria in 2014. But when ISIS forced her to flee her home, she found herself on a journey that would eventually lead her to Christ– and beatings, bombings, and death threats.Audio from:CNNSky NewsNBC NewsEuronewsSupport WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate).

Transcribed - Published: 4 January 2025

Today, something a little different: it’s a series of letters Doubletake host Les Sillars wrote to his father last year. He never sent them. He doesn’t think he could.This episode is about regret and loss. But also hope, and memory, and memories.Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 21 December 2024

Two women head to Hollywood just hoping to get on a game show and have some fun. They get on national TV and hobnob with Drew Carey. There they realize, in a most unlikely place, that everything they have is a gift.Don’t forget to rate and review this program!Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 14 December 2024

Doubletake correspondent Alessandra Nash visits a Christian school in Idaho that’s encouraging parents to take the “Postman Pledge.” It has nothing to do with the Post Office. The Postman Pledge is a promise a small group of parents around the country are making to each other to not let their kids use social media–not at school, and not even at home.As one parent told us, that’s like declaring war on an entire culture.Audio Credits:Damon AllenMSNBCC-SPANReliant K.Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 7 December 2024

If children are a gift from God and you really, really want them, and then you have them, how can you possibly wish that your dream never came true?Last time we introduced D’Lynn Herting, a young woman who decided to have children via IVF. Today WORLD reporter Leah Savas has the conclusion of a story about someone who wishes she’d asked a few more questions before making some life and death decisions.Audio Credits“Newborn Child”/Blue Water HighwayDon’t forget to rate and review this program!Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 30 November 2024

According to the Department of Health and Human services, in 2021 over 70,000 babies in the U.S. were conceived using in vitro fertilization, or IVF. That’s over 2 percent, and in some European countries that figure is over 4 percent. And it’s rising rapidly all over the world. And that’s raising questions about the limits of using medical technology to produce children.Today, WORLD reporter Leah Savas has the first of a two-part story about someone who crashed into those limits: medical, emotional, and spiritual. And walked away with a lot more than she bargained for.Audio CreditsBrave New World/Universal TelevisionWitness History/BBC“Facing Fertility”/CBSSarah Lavonne/YoutubeClick Orlando/WKMG News“Families lose frozen embryos in tank failure”/CNNDon’t forget to rate and review this program!Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 23 November 2024

Michael and Millie Shipe grew up in the era of “purity culture.” It was a big thing for about 20 years starting in the 1990s, and it focused on saving sex for marriage. There were conferences and purity rings and slogans, like “True Love Waits.”But a lot of people say they’ve been deeply damaged by their experience in purity culture. There’s a growing genre of books by the “survivors” of purity culture. These are often bitter tales written by ex-evangelicals who use the term “deconstruction” to describe leaving orthodox Christianity.Today on Doubletake, the rise and fall of purity culture, through the eyes of a couple who lived through some of its best features–and some of its worst. And, just a note: this episode involves relationships and sexuality. It’s not for kids.Music/audio from:CNNSouth Park/Comedy Central“Kiss the Girl” by Samuel E. Wright/Disney“Someday My Prince Will Come” by Adrianna Caselotti/Disney“I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye” by Joshua Harris“Everyday Robots” by Damon AlbarnSupport WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate)

Transcribed - Published: 16 November 2024

WORLD Radio’s Jenny Rough was worried. Last year, her memory seemed to be slipping, and few things scared her more than descending into dementia as she got older. She also came across some recent research that tied dementia and Alzheimer's disease to a person’s ability to navigate–and Jenny has always had a little trouble with maps. Worst of all, her own mother had passed away from Parkinson’s disease a few years before.So, naturally, Jenny went for a good long hike … and got lost.On this episode of Doubletake we’re going to navigate—metaphorically and literally. We’ll explore the pathways of the human brain, hike trails in the Rocky Mountains, and journey along the road of grief.Support WORLD News Group at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate).

Transcribed - Published: 9 November 2024

In 1968 Mallory Millett arrived in New York just in time to watch her sister Kate Millett turn into an icon of the radical Second Wave feminist movement. At first, Mallory thought of herself as a feminist. But soon Mallory began to realize that feminism wasn’t quite what she thought: “I’d been brought into something very, very weird.”And the weirdness is still around. In fact, Mallory says that Kate’s radical ideas have shaped a new narrative about what it means to be a woman. In fact, says Mallory, these ideas have “taken over the world. Kate has taken over the world.”So today, a story about a woman who took a journey with her sister, only to realize that she’d been led into some very dark places.Support WORLD at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate).

Transcribed - Published: 2 November 2024

When Thaddeus Hall was born, the room went silent. From then on, every day has been a struggle for survival–kind of a race, really. As Thad’s family pushes through the obstacles of raising a medically fragile child, it seems like life will never be the same. What do you do when something goes wrong? What does life look like? What do you lose—and what do you gain?Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (wng.org/donate). Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from AMG, Atomica, and STKA. News clips from CNA News and HBO.

Transcribed - Published: 8 September 2023

This is the story of two Iranian women who brought about a revolution in one of the world’s most notorious prisons–just not the kind involving protests and violence. It all came down to the courage to answer a few questions from a judge.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (https://publish.blubrry.com/s-1467414/episodes/e-116647184/edit/wng.org/donate).Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from ALIBI, 5 Alarm, AMG, Atomica Music, Manhattan Production Music, and Strike Audio. News clips from ABCNews, the BBC, ITVNews, CBCNews, PBS, NBCNews, and NPR.Ambient sound from Sound Effects Pod and Stockmusic. “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus” from http://youtube.com/instrumentalworship

Transcribed - Published: 1 September 2023

Laurel Marr is a Christian who helps people find comfort and meaning in their last days. In the past, death was a preparation to meet God. But our secular culture today thinks this life is all there is. Laurel asks—and answers—the question: what does it mean to die well?Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (wng.org/donate).Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from ALIBI, AMG, Atomica Music, and STKA. Amazing Grace keyboard by lorenzobuczek from Pixabay. News clips from Reuters and The Guardian. Audio clip from Ghost.

Transcribed - Published: 25 August 2023

When he was 15, Connor Clough taught himself how to become aware he was dreaming while he was dreaming. It seemed kind of fun–until it wasn’t. Along the way he faced a question that has puzzled thinkers for millennia: Are dreams just collections of memories and emotions dredged up from our subconscious? Or are dreams really some sort of window into transcendent reality?Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (wng.org/donate.) Music licensed via podcastmusic.com from Strike Music, Figure and Groove, ALIBI, Atomica Music, and Pink Shark Music.Song: “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland” by The Mills Brothers.

Transcribed - Published: 18 August 2023

In 2005 Tani Prroj was pastor of a small Albanian church and his wife Elona was a stay-at-home mom. But then Tani’s uncle shot and killed a mountain man, casting the family into a cycle of revenge that can go on for generations. Albania is one of the last places on earth that still practices “blood feud.” It’s a cultural imperative and an impulse most of us recognize all too well: the desire for justice–and then some.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate (http://wng.org/donate). Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from ALIBI, Atomica Music, Strike Audio, Merge Music, Pink Shark MusicAudio clips from Taken 2, and Sons of Cain.

Transcribed - Published: 11 August 2023

Two years ago Stewart Freeman built a church in a virtual reality app called VR Chat, reputedly one of the wildest places in the metaverse. On this episode we’ll tag along with Stewart and the VR ministry of Cornerstone Church as they try to bring the Gospel into virtual reality. Instead of allowing virtual reality to distort the Gospel that they preach. It’s the second in our short series exploring the implications of technology that shapes our perception of the world around us.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (https://gift.idonate.com/world-news/WNG)Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from ALIBI Music, Strike Audio, Atomica Music, 5 Alarm, Manhattan Production Music

Transcribed - Published: 4 August 2023

About three years ago Stewart Freeman went online, into virtual reality, to meet girls. Instead he found Christ through a California church called Cornerstone, one of a handful of ministries trying to preach the Gospel in a new digital world called the “metaverse.” Mark Zuckerberg predicts that within a few years a billion people will be in the metaverse–but at what cost? It’s part one of our two-part series exploring the implications of technology that shapes our perception of the world around us.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (https://gift.idonate.com/world-news/WNG)Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from ALIBI Music, 5 Alarm, Atomica MusicShort Story “Pygmalion’s Spectacles” by Stanley G. Weinbaum, produced by The MixVR

Transcribed - Published: 28 July 2023

Larry and Connie Van Oosten were awakened one morning in 2017 by a masked intruder with a weapon. He stuffed them into the trunk of an old Caprice and hauled them off to a secret room. It seemed at first like a sophisticated heist designed to clean out their bank accounts–but the truth was both weirder and more unsettling than they could have imagined. They’re still dealing with it.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate. (https://gift.idonate.com/world-news/WNG)Music licensed via podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from Stockmusic, Atomica Music, ALIBI MusicNews Clip: WQADFinal song: Jimmie Rogers, “In the Jailhouse Now”

Transcribed - Published: 21 July 2023

When Rachel Cochrane was 17, she headed off with her mom to attend an Air Force Academy ball with her brand-new, first-ever boyfriend. It should have been so romantic. It wasn’t.Music licensed via (http://podcastmusic.com/)podcastmusic.com (http://podcastmusic.com/) from 5 Alarm, ALIBI Music, Atomica Music. News clips from KOAA News. Final song: The Manhattans, "Kiss and Say Goodbye”

Transcribed - Published: 14 July 2023

On April 12, 1999, Air Force cadet James Busch stepped out of an airplane 6,000 feet in the air for a routine practice jump. But his parachute didn’t open. Neither did his reserve.And then things got really bad. It’s a helpless feeling to watch a big problem come rushing up from a long way away, knowing that you’re out of options. But sometimes God works in unexpected ways.

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2023

Last September Roberta Bayer got a call from her mom, who was in a nursing home in southern Ontario. Roberta had to come up and visit that weekend, her mom said, or it would be too late. Roberta realized that she had 48 hours to stop her mother from doing something terrible.

Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2023

The Kim regime’s information blockade is crumbling. Truth under the totalitarian society is finding a foothold. Free North Korea Radio is sending hope and the Gospel across the DMZ.

Transcribed - Published: 16 September 2022

A tiny band of North Korean defectors is battling for the hearts and minds of 25 million people with shortwave news and programming. Free North Korea Radio, founded by Christians, is helping people in the world’s most totalitarian state imagine life without the Kim regime. Will the truth set them free?

Transcribed - Published: 9 September 2022

Monica Gill just wants to be able to talk about important things with her public high school students. But a dumpster-fire of controversy over Critical Race Theory ideology, identity politics, and transgender policies erupts in Loudoun County Public Schools, and the Virginia district becomes a flashpoint for a national debate.

Transcribed - Published: 2 September 2022

The story of a Chinese doctor who once participated in a program of terrible pain and cruelty. Now he regrets helping a regime that still makes thousands of people per year disappear, all in the name of healing. Supposedly.

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2022

July of 2022 marked the 75th anniversary of the modern flying saucer ... craze? Movement? Whatever. This is the story of how Christians through the ages have reacted to the idea of alien life. It might not be the story you’re expecting.

Transcribed - Published: 19 August 2022

Jill Stanek gets a nursing job at Chicago’s Christ Hospital in 1999 because she wants to avoid ethical issues. What could go wrong at a hospital named after Jesus? Lots, it turns out. But she refuses to turn away when confronted with evil. Her revelations shock the nation but the same thing—and worse—is still going on today.

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2022

What do you do when your own country wants you to violate your own conscience? And what if you’re a physician, born and raised in Canada? This is the story of a family that had to decide if and when the dangers of staying home outweighed the risks of leaving. It unfolded over three decades in a country and a culture that’s a lot like the U.S. in many ways.

Transcribed - Published: 5 August 2022

The story of a guy who’s trying to make it in the world of clean comedy—on his own terms, and in his own words. We get a backstage pass to Gutty’s Comedy Club in Indianapolis, Ind., where we’ll follow Brandon Young, punchline by punchline, as he tries to stay relevant in a world that’s leaving his language behind.

Transcribed - Published: 29 July 2022

Doubletake is a narrative podcast. We tell stories creatively about interesting people encountering big ideas. It’s journalism plus storytelling, informed by a biblical worldview.

Transcribed - Published: 13 July 2022