San Francisco has long been one of America’s most irreligious cities, with Silicon Valley at the center of that resistance to faith. For most of the last decade, roughly half of tech workers identified as either atheist or agnostic. Yet, that resistance to God—and the gospel in particular—has begun to soften in recent years.

Christians have always been present within the tech industry but, for a time, most felt the need to keep their faith private lest it make them an oddity at best and a pariah at worst. Or at least that was the perception. Believers like Trae and Michelle Stephens felt a greater degree of comfort living out their faith than most, though even they recall often feeling like the “token Christians in the room” when among their peers.

That feeling is part of what led the couple to help start the ACTS 17 Collective last year.

ACTS 17 is both an acronym—Acknowledging Christ in Technology and Society—as well as a callout to the passage in Acts where Paul shares the gospel at the Areopagus. Their hope is to take a similar approach in reaching out to the intelligentsia of their day, and God has been using them to do just that.

 “The powerful need Jesus just as much”

As Michelle Stephens notes, the group’s mission to target the wealthy and influential within the tech industry may seem like “a somewhat counterintuitive Christian calling” to many. In an interview with Emma Goldberg of the New York Times, Stephens describes how “We are always taught as Christians to serve the meek, the lowly, the marginalized . . . I think we’ve realized that, if anything, the rich, the wealthy, the powerful need Jesus just as much.”

To that end, the Collective says they are “redefining success for those who define the culture.” And their approach matches that ambition well.

Through events centered on high-profile, Christian speakers who appeal to the tech community—even if some are controversial—the group has built an environment that often appeals more to those who are looking to network with the elite of their industry than to those who are looking to know more about Jesus. And the Stephens are fine with that:

“After an ACTS 17 event, all we would like is for folks in attendance to take a next step in their faith journey. Maybe they’d never heard of Jesus, and a next step is reading the Bible.”

They understand that, for many, the very notion that some of the industry leaders they respect could be Christians is a novel concept. As such, expecting them to jump right into attending church and declaring Jesus to be Lord is relatively unrealistic. So, instead, they meet people where they are, offering something of value in exchange for the chance to tell them about Christ.

It’s an exchange that many in the tech world seem happy to make, and the early results have been promising.

In addition to events in Silicon Valley, seventeen other cities in the US have shown interest in hosting the group. Yet they have also engaged with nations beyond America’s borders, holding two events last November in Abu Dhabi and Dubai about how the Christian faith can impact career planning, as well as how it impacts their views on AI and national defense.

However, regardless of the nature of the topic or the location in which it’s given, the basic approach of using their expertise and gifting to earn the right to share the gospel remains the same. And that approach demonstrates an important lesson for each of us today.

Satan is fine with us making the world a better place

People come to Jesus for a variety of reasons. For some, he’s a great moral teacher who espouses the kind of ethic they want to see in their own lives and the culture at large. Jordan Peterson has made headlines in recent years for largely adopting this approach to the Bible, yet he seems to stop short of seeing Christ’s sacrificial death as the literal path to salvation.

Those who see Christ’s message to the poor and needy as the central pillar of the gospel make a similar mistake. While social justice movements have done a great deal to point out our society’s longstanding sins and call believers to action, it can be tempting for that message to become more prominent than our innate need for Jesus to save us. Yes, we are called to pursue justice and help those in need, but in Christ’s name and power rather than our own.

As Skye Jethani described on a recent Denison Forum Podcast, the ethical principles and social actions to which Christ calls us do not have to be either/or concepts.

Jesus did come to set a moral example for us to follow and he did teach us to care for the poor and the needy. But our first priority needs to be seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, as it’s only then that we will have our priorities properly aligned to fulfill the rest of his calling for our lives (Matthew 6:33).

As Christians, it can be easy to get our priorities out of line, particularly when there’s a cause we care deeply about. But while people can come to Jesus from various places and with various goals in mind, our presentation of the gospel must center on Christ above everything else.

Social justice, personal advancement, or becoming a better person can be helpful and worthy steps along that path, but we can’t stop there if we want to get to salvation. At the end of the day, a gospel that doesn’t end with the call to recognize Jesus as Lord is not the gospel—no matter how similar it may be to aspects of the message he taught.

Satan is fine with us making the world a better place, and even doing so in the name of Christ, so long as we stop short of recognizing Jesus as Lord.

So how well are your priorities aligned today? When you think about Christ’s call for your life, is knowing him as your savior and Lord at the top of your list?

Helping others to know Jesus as Lord is far more difficult if he isn’t your Lord first. Make sure he is today.

Quote of the day:

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” — A.W. Tozer

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“It is in the face of death that the riddle of a human existence grows most acute”

President Trump announced on Truth Social yesterday that he had “a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia” as they discussed ending the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said he had also spoken with Mr. Trump about a “lasting, reliable peace.”

According to Mr. Trump, a meeting is being set up for tomorrow at an annual security conference in Munich, with talks led by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

If a just end could be found to this horrific war, millions in Ukraine and Russia would obviously be spared further violence. However, unless you live in those nations, you are probably reading this news more out of general interest than existential engagement.

By contrast, this ABC News headline is guaranteed to catch everyone’s eye: “Chances of asteroid striking Earth in the next decade has nearly doubled, NASA says.” The asteroid, discovered just after Christmas, could strike our planet on December 22, 2032. The rock measures as much as a football field in diameter. If it were to directly hit a city, millions could die. There’s no way to be sure you and I won’t be in that number.

Here’s the part the headline leaves out, however: the odds of being impacted by the asteroid have only risen from 1.3 percent to 2.1 percent. But still, you’d rather they be 0 percent, as would I.

Why our unconscious “behaves as if immortal”

Over the next seven years, we’ll have plenty more to worry about, from the threat of a bird flu pandemic to fears of nuclear war, annihilation by AI, and who knows what threats we don’t yet know. We didn’t know about the COVID-19 pandemic until we did, and it caused life expectancy to drop across the US.

According to Sigmund Freud, “Our unconscious does not believe in its own death; it behaves as if immortal.” Tragically, the COVID-19 pandemic made the fact of our mortality both real and terrifying for millions. “Death anxiety” rose significantly during this time, which is understandable given the horrific way many victims died alone in isolation wards, separated from family and friends.

However, according to researchers, humans fear the way we die less than what happens when we die: “The origin of death anxiety is fear of annihilation, the struggle of a living being with nothingness.” I would have thought that our death anxiety would be related to the pain of physical death, separation from loved ones, or grief that our earthly lives are coming to an end too soon. But studies clearly indicate that “humans are afraid of losing themselves and becoming nothing.” This is why, in Freud’s words, our unconscious “behaves as if immortal.”

“He bears in himself an eternal seed”

A perceptive essay produced by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 agrees with the research I cited:

It is in the face of death that the riddle of a human existence grows most acute. Not only is man tormented by pain and the advancing deterioration of his body, but even more so by a dread of perpetual extinction. He rightly follows the intuition of his heart when he abhors and repudiates the utter ruin and total disappearance of his own person.

The essay explains why this is so:

He rebels against death because he bears in himself an eternal seed which cannot be reduced to sheer matter. All the endeavors of technology, though useful in the extreme, cannot calm his anxiety; for prolongation of biological life is unable to satisfy that desire for higher life which is inescapably lodged in his breast.

This longing for a “higher life” is an example of what sociologist Peter Berger called “signals of transcendence,” which are dimensions of our lives that point to realities that transcend us. C. S. Lewis observed, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

And so, paradoxically, the death anxiety that prompts us to read about a potential asteroid collision, the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, or the threats of nuclear war or AI annihilation is itself evidence that this fallen and fearful world is not all there is. We instinctively do not want our lives to end because, unlike every other species in creation, we were made for endless life.

Here’s the good news: For followers of Jesus, that life has already begun.

The part of John 3:16 people miss

Christians often say that a person who trusts in Christ will receive eternal life when they die, but this is not so. The most famous verse in the Bible contains an often-overlooked dimension: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, my emphasis).

Christians receive “eternal life” the moment we trust Christ as our Savior. His eternal Spirit moves into our lives in that instant (1 Corinthians 3:16), making us the children of God (John 1:12), “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

This is why Jesus could say so adamantly, “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:26, my emphasis). Physical death for us is merely the door through which we step into the eternal presence of God. When we take our last breath here, we take our first breath there. When we close our eyes here, we open them there.

The fact that we already have eternal life is the antidote to the fear of annihilation that is instinctual to our fallen natures. It empowers us to serve Jesus at any cost to ourselves, knowing that the worst that can happen to us leads instantly to the best that can happen to us: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

This assurance infuses us with peace in the face of peril, constituting a powerful witness to those without such peace. For example, John Wesley was so impressed by Moravian missionaries who sang in worship through a terrifying storm that their astounding calm became a significant step on the path to his own conversion.

Ronald Reagan observed,

“Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.”

Will you be “unafraid” today?

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Quote for the day:

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” —Winston Churchill

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Three viewpoints and “the core truth of our existence”

Hamas stated Monday that it would postpone the release of three hostages scheduled to be freed this weekend to protest delays in deliveries of humanitarian goods. President Trump then warned Hamas to release all its Gaza hostages by Saturday or “all hell is going to break out.”

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined Mr. Trump’s demand: “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the cease-fire will end and the IDF will resume intense fighting until the final defeat of Hamas.”

Yesterday, I was privileged to meet one of my longtime Israeli friends for lunch. He and I have led more than thirty study tours in the Holy Land together over the years and have been together often in the States. He is currently in the US on a speaking tour. I asked him for his thoughts on the hostage crisis and, as usual, his perspective was both brilliant and enlightening.

What’s more, I found his thoughts relevant to an even larger context that touches us all. To make this point, let’s put my friend’s response into a larger cultural context.

How Hamas views the hostages

What we have learned about Hamas from the hostages that have been released thus far confirms US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assessment: “This is an evil organization. Hamas is evil. It’s pure evil. These are monsters. These are savages. That’s a group that needs to be eradicated.”

Making his point, last Saturday Hamas released what the Associated Press describes as “three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages.” Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, said they “look like Holocaust survivors.” A doctor reported that one was returned “in a severe nutritional state.”

A mother whose son is still being held by Hamas learned from military sources that he is receiving very little food and no medical care for multiple injuries, including an eye injury that has left him partially blinded. He has been bound for much of the time and tortured.

“It was not easy to hear,” she said. “I must say that I even fainted.”

How Hamas views the Palestinians

Twelve days after Hamas’ October 7 invasion, their leader Khaled Mashal suggested that to achieve the dream of Israel’s destruction, millions of Palestinians might have to die. They use their schools to radicalize the people, turning them into terrorists against the Jewish state. They steal humanitarian aid, sell it to the population, then use the money to finance terrorist recruitment.

According to NATO, Hamas has been using the Palestinians in Gaza as human shields since 2007. They fire rockets, artillery, and mortars from civilian areas, locate military infrastructures in schools, hospitals, and mosques, and use civilians and hostages to protect themselves. The terrorists have built hundreds of miles of tunnels under civilian structures to hide, transport, and shield their soldiers and munitions while refusing to allow civilians to use them for protection.

As I have written, Hamas exists not to serve Palestinians in Gaza but to eradicate Israel. In its view, the deaths of Palestinian civilians are a means to this end. They view Muslim casualties as “martyrs” who will be rewarded in heaven and use their plight to marshal Arab nations and the larger world against Israel.

How Israelis view the hostages

By contrast, as my friend explained yesterday, Israelis view the hostages as vital to their nation and its future for three reasons.

First, many of them know some of the hostages or someone in their extended families. Israel is a tiny country. In my many visits over the years, I have been consistently surprised at how interconnected their society is. For many, the hostages’ plight is deeply personal.

Second, some of the hostages are Israeli military personnel. For Israel to abandon them would say to the entire IDF, “If you fight for us and you are captured, we won’t come for you.” As my friend noted, this would undermine the viability of the army. For a small nation surrounded by enemies that seek its destruction, the IDF is vital to its survival and its future.

Third, many of the hostages are Israeli civilians. For Israel to abandon them would say to the rest of the population, “If terrorists take you hostage in the future, we won’t try to get you back.” Such a threat would understandably cause many to abandon the nation.

This is why Israel has historically been willing to trade huge numbers of Palestinian prisoners for a few hostages, and why they are doing the same again now. And it is why the IDF has been so careful to protect the hostages while trying to eradicate the terrorists who hide behind them.

Such an approach to the hostages severely restricts Israel’s military and its governmental leaders. But it is foundational to the nation’s ethos and future.

How God views you

Here’s why I found my friend’s explanation to be relevant even beyond Israel: Our Father loves us even more passionately than Israel loves its hostages (1 John 4:8). In fact, he loves us even though we treat Jesus as Hamas treats the Jews. Our sins tortured and murdered God’s Son (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 5:8). Even when we trust him as our Savior, our sins grieve his Spirit deeply (Ephesians 4:30).

And yet, as St. Augustine famously observed, God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

If you were the only person who had ever sinned, the only soul held hostage by Satan, Jesus would have died just to liberate you. His Father loves you right now as much as he loved you when he sent his Son to die in your place (John 17:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21). As Timothy Keller observed, “The gospel is that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died.”

Henri Nouwen therefore claimed:

“Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.”

Do you agree?

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Quote for the day:

“Come and see the victories of the cross. Christ’s wounds are your healings, his agonies your repose, his conflicts your conquests, his groans your songs, his pains your ease, his shame your glory, his death your life, his sufferings your salvation.” —Matthew Henry

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