Counterflow with Buck Johnson cover art

Counterflow with Buck Johnson

Counterflow with Buck Johnson

By: Buck Johnson
Listen for free

The Counterflow Podcast is a weekly show featuring discussions and interviews with people who are outside of and critical toward mainstream liberal and conservative politics. Counterflow challenges the conventional narratives sold to us as truth. The show features thinkers from all backgrounds, who do not fit into the narrow framework of fashionable opinion. The show addresses cultural, spiritual and lifestyle issues as well as philosophy and geo-politics. Host Buck Johnson (formerly of the Death To Tyrants Podcast) is a musician, firefighter and Orthodox Christian and has always had an interest and drive to go one way while everyone else runs the other direction. Political Science Politics & Government Spirituality
Episodes
  • Ep. 417 - Growing Up Soviet, Finding Christ, and Ministering Behind Bars, with Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov

    Ep. 417 - Growing Up Soviet, Finding Christ, and Ministering Behind Bars, with Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov
    Jun 9 2026

    Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov grew up in the Soviet Union during the final years of state-sponsored atheism before immigrating to the United States on his own. After some life happenings and lots of revelations, he became an Orthodox priest.

    A fascinating aspect of his ministry has been in the prisons. We get into what that is and how it compares and contrasts with being a priest in a parish.

    In this conversation, we discuss life under Soviet atheism, prison ministry, freedom and repentance, the struggle against the passions, fasting, and the challenges facing Christians in the modern world.

    We also explore technology, artificial intelligence, and what it means to cultivate wisdom in an age overflowing with information.

    Sponsor:

    Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

    Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

    Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
    Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
    Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
    Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
    Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

    Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Ep. 416 - Writing the Collapse: Fiction, Faith, and Spiritual Warfare, with Andrew Edwards

    Ep. 416 - Writing the Collapse: Fiction, Faith, and Spiritual Warfare, with Andrew Edwards
    Jun 2 2026
    In this episode, I chat with author Andrew Edwards to discuss his novel King of Dogs and the deeper realities that inspired it. While the conversation begins with fiction, it quickly expands into a wide-ranging discussion on spiritual warfare, civilizational decline, modern nihilism, masculinity, technology, geopolitics, and what it means to remain fully human in an age of fragmentation. We explore the themes beneath the story: the forces competing for our attention, the spiritual consequences of a culture without transcendence, the nature of suffering, and the battle for the human soul in a world increasingly defined by distraction and disorder. Is modern society experiencing a political crisis, a cultural crisis, or a spiritual one? And how can Christians cultivate clarity, courage, and faithfulness amid uncertainty and collapse? This conversation uses fiction as a lens to examine the world we actually inhabit. About Andrew Edwards: Andrew Edwards is a novelist, essayist, and cultural commentator whose work explores the intersection of faith, meaning, masculinity, power, and civilizational decline. His novel King of Dogs blends post-collapse fiction, spiritual symbolism, and philosophical reflection to examine what remains of the human person when the structures of modern life begin to fail. Through both fiction and non-fiction writing, Edwards explores the moral, spiritual, and cultural questions shaping the modern world. Connect with Andrew Edwards: * X / Twitter: https://x.com/goldengoatguild * Substack: https://substack.com/@goldengoatguild

    Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

    Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

    Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
    Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
    Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
    Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
    Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

    Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!
    Show More Show Less
    58 mins
  • Ep. 415 - Leaving Evangelicalism for the Ancient Church, with Fr. David Hovik

    Ep. 415 - Leaving Evangelicalism for the Ancient Church, with Fr. David Hovik
    May 26 2026
    What happens when an Evangelical pastor begins seriously studying the early Church — and realizes modern Christianity looks very different from ancient Christianity?

    In this episode, I chat with Father David Hovik to discuss his remarkable journey from Evangelical ministry into the Orthodox Church, and how that journey ultimately brought much of his congregation with him. This story is truly captivating.

    We talk about the spiritual hunger that exists beneath modern life, the limits of contemporary Christianity, and why more people are searching for something ancient, rooted, and sacramental.

    Fr. David reflects on the risks, resistance, and transformation that came with leaving behind familiar forms of Christianity in pursuit of what he became convinced was the historic Church founded by Christ and preserved through the centuries.

    This conversation explores:

    - Fr. David's path from Evangelical pastor to Orthodox priest
    - The role of Church history in his conversion
    - Why modern Christianity can feel spiritually fragmented
    - The difference between "personal faith" and historic Christianity
    - Liturgy, sacraments, and the ancient Christian worldview
    - Bringing an entire congregation into Orthodoxy
    - Spiritual formation in a distracted modern age
    - Why people are increasingly drawn to the ancient faith

    Fr. David brings a calm, pastoral, and deeply grounded perspective to questions many modern Christians are quietly wrestling with. FOLLOW FR. DAVID / ST. ANDREW ORTHODOX CHURCH:
    St. Andrew Orthodox Church

    Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

    Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

    Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
    Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
    Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
    Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
    Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

    Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 9 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet