Special Guests

  • Michael Coren — Broadcaster, Columnist , Author of HERESY: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity
    Bestselling author Michael Coren explodes popular myths about the history, beliefs, and culture of Christianity. Michael Coren explores why and how Christians and Christian ideas are caricatured in popular media as well as in sophisticated society. He takes on, and debunks, ten great myths about Christianity: that it supports slavery, is racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-intellectual, anti-Semitic, provokes war, resists progress, and is repressive and irrelevant. In a climate that is increasingly as ignorant of Christianity as it is good at condemning it, Coren gives historical background, provides examples of how these attacks are made, and explains the reality of the Christian response, outlining authentic Christian beliefs. Michael is the bestselling author of twelve books, including biographies of G.K. Chesterton, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis. He is the host of the talk show "The Arena" on the SUN News Network. He also hosts a daily radio show and writes a syndicated column for ten daily newspapers. His most recent book, Why Catholics Are Right, was a national bestseller.
    Listen to Michael's previous interview. Click Here!

  • Bernie Finkelstein — Canadian Recording Industry Legend, Author of True North: A Life in the Music Business
    One of the all-time greats in Canadian music recounts his life and times in the business from the 1960s to the present. Whether acting as a producer, record label owner, or manager of great singer/songwriters and bands, Bernie Finkelstein, recipient of the 2006 Juno Special Achievement Award, has played a pivotal role in bringing great Canadian music to the rest of the world. Bernie has been a prominent figure in the Canadian music industry for nearly five decades. Now, a couple years after selling his beloved True North label (now Canada's oldest and longest running indie record label) and only recently stepping down from his role at MuchFACT, which has given out more than $63 million in grants to Grammy-winning acts like Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado and Arcade Fire, Bernie is finally ready to talk. In his wildly entertaining and outspoken memoir, the producer, label owner, and artist manager opens up about his childhood, breaking into the Greenwich Village scene with The Paupers at age 19, discovering & managing Bruce Cockburn, producing the "loudest band in the world," Kensington Market, managing and producing Murray McLauchlan, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, and Rough Trade, winning 40 Junos, and much more.

  • Kasey VanNorman — Author of Named By God: Overcoming your past, transforming your present, embracing your future!
    Kasey is up front about the permanent ink cut into her flesh – an intricate black cuff that wraps all the way around her wrist. “My tattoo says, ‘Redeemed,’ and that’s not something I chose lightly. I simply couldn’t think of a more appropriate and powerful word to look at on a daily basis. It is the one common denominator of my life that I need to be reminded of most often – that I have been redeemed by God, despite my sin or future failings.” Her history is anything but pretty, marked by the insecurity of a broken home, a horrifying date rape in her teens, and addictions to sex, eating disorders, and self-injury. In her memoir, Named by God, Kasey shares her remarkable story of personal transformation. “For us to truly experience a life worth living,” she writes, “we must take responsibility, not for what has been done to us, but for our reactions.…As long as I focused on what had been done to me, I could never see clearly enough to discover what God wanted to do within me: forgiveness, love, healing, redemption, and restoration of a life he still intends to make part of his masterpiece. With God’s help, we can overcome our past, transform our present, and embrace our future.” Kasey is a certified counselor with a masters degree in community counseling. She holds undergraduate degrees in both psychology and speech communication, and is currently earning a masters of religion in Biblical studies from Liberty University.

Journey

  • Peter Gladwin
    At 10 mths old Peter sustained burns to 75% of his body after the family home caught fire as a result of his mother's carelessness. Both of his feet and part of his left hand had to be amputated. Peter spent the majority of his formative years in and out of hospital having to endure numerous reconstructive surgeries. Subsequently he didn't start school until he was seven years old and when he did, the constant torment by the other kids was unbearable. However, not as unbearable as his home life. The anger – the fighting – the drunkenness was terrifying. “My mum felt guilty about my burns and expressed that by hitting me a lot. She barely looked at me. My dad spent time in prison. My siblings and I couldn’t look after ourselves so sometimes we lived in care homes.” From his teen years on, Peter's life consisted of drugs, crime, booze, gambling, prostitutes – all just ways to numb the pain of his past. Then, as if enough hadn't already happened in Peter's life, during a fight with boys from a rival neighborhood, Peter was beaten and stabbed so badly that he lost the use of his right arm. Then as a result of another altercation, he was intentionally run over by a Taxi driver and as a result of those injuries, should have died... again! Finally, after getting the news that his father had killed himself, Peter figured it was time for him to do the same thing. Lost, hooked on drugs, gambling, booze, unable to keep a job or a relationship, his life ruined, he planned to throw himself off a local bridge. “But then I spotted a light on in my mum’s flat, which was across the road. I thought that before I killed myself, I’d go and have a cup of tea with mum.” That cup of tea would change his life forever.

God Blogger

  • Joining us today: Greg West
    ThePoached Egg Christian Worldview and Apologetics Journal is a website founded and edited by Greg West. Greg is passionately committed to the cause of Christian apologetics; providing an adequate and reasonable defense of the Christian faith. The Poached Egg is a large and continually expanding virtual library of articles and essays compiled from all over the World Wide Web. Noted apologists, biblical scholars, philosophers, scientists, historians, students, and laymen all come together under this one site.

Talkback, etc.

  • The Counsel Of Many!
    Need Help or Advice On An Issue In Your Life?
    Tell us your situation and Drew will ask the listeners of TDMS!

    This week on The Counsel Of Many: A mother's daughter is expecting her first child, but they just found out that the baby will be born severely disabled and IF it lives, it won't live very long and will suffer a great deal while it's alive. The doctors have suggested that an abortion would be the most humane thing to do but the soon to be grandmother, up until this point, has always felt that abortion is wrong no matter what. However, her daughter isn't sure what to do and is looking to her mom for advice. What should she tell her?

    In my life I never thought I would be forced to work out something so “grey”. My daughter is expecting her first child, my first grandchild, and our family is just thrilled. However, we just recently found out that her baby is in serious trouble. In short, the doctors have told us that the baby will be born severely disabled and the chances of it living past it's first birthday are almost zero. They also told us that even if it lives that it's life will be one filled with pain. The doctor has told my daughter that they are recommending an abortion. We have raised our family with the understanding that life begins at conception not birth, therefore abortion is murder. Up until now, this issue has been fairly black and white. However, my daughter is absolutely torn with this decision she is being asked to make. She is begging me to almost make the decision for her. For the first time in my life I find myself completely frozen by an inability to make a decision. This situation is so totally unfair! What does God expect of us? What should my daughter do? Trust that God will heal her baby and restore his body? Or use the cognitive reasoning abilities He has given us and have mercy on this child? What would your listeners do if they were in this situation? Any advice would be much appreciated. !)

  • God & Stuff
    Join Drew & Tim The Tool as they catch up on current events and the week's happenings in the world of Religion & Faith & Cults – Oh My! Religion & Faith & Cults - Oh my!
    Today's God & Stuff guest: Terry Mattingly- Terry writes the nationally syndicated “On Religion” column for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., and is director of the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

  • Useless Television Trivia!
    It’s a crowd favourite, people! We’ll play the soundtrack from an old television show and if you’re the first caller to guess which TV show it’s from - YOU WIN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!