“With you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light” (Psalm 36:9)

This Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series; the Boston Celtics won the 2024 NBA Finals; and the Florida Panthers won the 2024 Stanley Cup.

Why does the NFL use Roman numerals when no other league does?

The answer is simple. The Super Bowl is held in the calendar year following the beginning of the league’s regular season schedule. So, would Sunday’s game be the 2024 NFL Championship, even though it’s played in 2025? Would it be the 2025 NFL Championship, even though it culminates the 2024 season? Of course, the league could use common numerals, making this Sunday’s game Super Bowl 58. However, Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt suggested in 1970 that the big game employ Roman numerals instead, lending the game a kind of gravitas as a major event.

Mr. Hunt is also credited with coining the name “Super Bowl.” This was after he helped launch the American Football League to compete with the National Football League (the two merged in 1970, creating the AFC and the NFC). He also established the Dallas Texans, who soon became the Kansas City Chiefs. His son, Clark Hunt, continues to lead the team, turning them into one of the league’s most successful franchises. If the Chiefs are victorious Sunday, they will become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.

And so, in three days the world will participate in the continuing legacy of Lamar Hunt. But in my mind, the remarkable success of the NFL, the Super Bowl, and the Chiefs are not his most significant achievement. It was my privilege to be the pastor of Clark Hunt and his family in Dallas. They are among the most gracious, humble people I have ever known.

Their personal integrity is Lamar Hunt’s most enduring legacy, one that will continue far beyond this Sunday’s game.

Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar

The contest will be significant for other reasons as well:

• Donald Trump is expected to become the first sitting US president to attend the game. He will also tape an interview with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier that will air during the pregame show.
• The Super Bowl will be played at the New Orleans Superdome, which has hosted more legendary sports moments than any other venue in the country.  The NFL vows that the venue will be the “safest place to be” on Sunday night.
• Music superstar Taylor Swift will be attending, sitting in a suite that costs a reported $2 million per ticket.
• By contrast, Kendrick Lamar, who won five Grammys last Sunday, will perform at the halftime show for free. This is typical for Super Bowl performers; the boost to their careers more than offsets any payment they forego.

However, it’s doubtful that any of this will endure in our collective minds for long. Even the contest itself will be truly memorable only for the winner, and only for a short time for the rest of us. Do you remember who lost last year’s Super Bowl? What about the year before, or the year before that? Who won the game three years ago? Ten years ago?

This is the way of our frenetic, news-driven, constantly changing society. Cultural “vibes,” prizing feelings over facts and mood over meaning, are the currency of our day. “Social proof,” amplified in the digital age, is undoubtedly powerful in shaping our decision-making.

In this regard, there is good news for the good news of the gospel:

• Joe Rogan, considered the most popular podcaster in the world, recently hosted Christian apologist Wesley Huff for a conversation about the truthfulness of our faith. Their discussion has 5.9 million views on YouTube so far.
• Bible sales are booming.
• Noted atheist Richard Dawkins is now calling himself a “cultural Christian.”
• Famed scholars Niall Ferguson and his wife Ayaan Hirsi Ali have become public Christians.
• Popular influencer Jordan Peterson’s latest book affirms the Judeo-Christian worldview as foundational to society and states that the proclamation of “man as an image of God” is “perhaps the greatest idea ever revealed.”
• Young men are showing more interest in religion than in many years.

But as with Sunday’s Super Bowl, today’s headlines can quickly become tomorrow’s old news.

“If we don’t know what kind of God God is”

This is why we need always to remember that “the Lᴏʀᴅ reigns forever” (Psalm 146:10 HCSB). He alone is the king of the universe. He alone has the power to bring us the purpose and significance we long to experience.

To my point: Americans are wealthier than ever but less happy. As sociologist James Davison Hunter has observed, nihilism (the belief that life has no overarching purpose) is the prevailing sentiment of our post-Christian, secularized culture. The only power we truly possess is the capacity to choose how we will respond to our powerlessness.

By contrast, God alone “satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5).

• Israel’s most beloved king acknowledged this fact as he prayed, “With you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light” (Psalm 36:9).
• The wisest man who ever lived agreed: “Trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
• Paul was one of the great scholars of Judaism (Acts 22:3) and “blameless” under the law (Philippians 3:6), but he testified that he “suffered the loss of all things” by comparison to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (v. 8).

When we experience personally a God who is love, our lives are suffused with significance and joy. A. W. Tozer was right: “Faith is confidence in the character of God, and if we don’t know what kind of God God is, we can’t have faith.”

According to the scholar D. A. Carson,

“To know God is to be transformed, and thus to be introduced to a life that could not otherwise be experienced.”

Will you be “transformed” today?

Our latest website articles:

• “Book Review: Ross Douthat’s ‘Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious’”

• “Exploring religion in a secular world: A conversation with New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat”
• “I lost my home in the Los Angeles fires: What God has taught me through tragedy”
• “What to expect from declassified JFK, MLK, and RFK files”
• “‘A Complete Unknown’ earns eight Academy Awards nominations: A jaw-dropping dramatization of Bob Dylan’s vagabond genius”

Quote for the day:

“The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.” —Dwight L. Moody

Denison Forum

On January 23, President Trump signed an executive order to declassify all documents related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy. While previous administrations have taken action toward declassification, every step has come with a lot of redaction and very little urgency. However, the recent order states that “It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.” So when will these files be made public, and what can we expect to learn?

The Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence will provide the President with a comprehensive plan for the release of these documents by February 7 for JFK and by March 7 for MLK and RFK. From there, clarity will be given as to exactly when documents will be made available.

While some level of mystery surrounds each of these historic murders, the JFK files are expected to garner the most attention. A 1992 act of Congress required all files pertaining to the JFK assassination be released by 2017. However, both President Trump, in his first term, and President Biden delayed the release of a portion of documents, and had others heavily redacted, for the sake of national intelligence and security. All-in-all it is believed that 99 percent of the files have been released. They can be examined in the National Archives.

Could that remaining one percent reveal the long-awaited “smoking gun” and answer all questions related to Lee Harvey Oswald, a potential second shooter, Cuba, and the CIA? Unlikely. Much of what remains is believed to contain sensitive personal details, or perhaps reveal embarrassing details about the intelligence agencies’ knowledge of Oswald but failure to stop him.

While declassification may not unveil a government conspiracy, it is also unlikely to quell the most popular alternative theories about what happened on November 11, 1963. Perhaps only a time machine could do that.

Why the MLK and RFK files could be the bigger story

As for the MLK files, Dr. King’s family has partially been the cause of the delay, hoping that the government might allow them to see the files first and then release them at a later date. Even as one of the most influential figures in the country, Dr. King remained the subject of a significant FBI spy campaign and was not well protected. Dr. King’s family members have raised questions over the years about the convicted killer, James Earl Ray, and the involvement of the intelligence community. At the very least, the MLK files are expected to reveal further incompetence on the part of the FBI.

Though lesser known to the public, the RFK files may be the most revealing. While all of the state and FBI documents have been declassified, the CIA has yet to release any documentation related to the murder, which took place in June of 1968, just two months after the murder of King. The former Senator’s son, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has publicly questioned the official narrative of his father’s death. Much like the other two tragic events, there remains a cloud of mystery around the involvement and knowledge of key intelligence agencies.

With figures like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard at the forefront of his campaign, and potentially his administration, President Trump has made government transparency an important aspect of his second White House journey. In the home stretch of the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump spoke with Joe Rogan about the JFK files and explained that, in his first term, Mike Pompeo had discouraged him from releasing everything. Pompeo was the Director of the CIA and later became the Secretary of State.

Why transparency is important

Americans should value government transparency highly. While declassifying these documents represents a step forward, considering the size and scope of the federal government, there remains a long way to go. Simultaneously, the list of foreign governments that are completely averse to transparency is long. An increase in transparency is generally met with an increase in public trust.

As Christ-followers, transparency and honesty are critical. Not only should we desire to see such characteristics from our leaders and governing bodies, but they should be the marks of our daily faith walk. Transparency does not necessitate that everyone knows everything, but it elevates truth while eliminating distrust and confusion. Proverbs 28:13 states, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Confession, which can be a form of transparency, is also an act of humility. In that posture of humility, we should desire for the Lord to know us fully, refining us to be more like him (Psalm 139:23-24).

Now, we must live out the high calling of being an honest representative of Christ in every relationship, role, and opportunity. Transparency about your life’s challenges, your difficult past, or your beliefs might be a source of freedom for you and a catalyst for someone else to seek Jesus!

Denison Forum

“Hamas is an idea before it is anything else”

President Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon. According to Israeli officials, the future of the Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal is hanging on the outcome of their talks.

Negotiations on the second phase of the agreement were scheduled to begin yesterday, but Mr. Netanyahu chose not to send his negotiating team before he met with Mr. Trump. This phase is supposed to lead to a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, but Hamas wants to end the war while staying in power, which Israel obviously opposes.

If Mr. Netanyahu does not resume the war, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatens to quit, stripping the prime minister of the coalition by which he retains office. If Israel does not move forward with the ceasefire agreement, one Israeli official said there could be at least another year of war in Gaza to topple Hamas.

How to defeat the idea that is Hamas

Israel says it has killed approximately twenty thousand Hamas fighters so far. However, the US estimates that the terror group has recruited up to fifteen thousand new members since the conflict began.

Here’s the problem: As one of my longtime Israeli friends told me, “Hamas is an idea before it is anything else.”

Its idea is that the State of Israel stole its land from the rightful Palestinian owners, constituting an assault on Islam. Palestinians are therefore obligated to act by any means necessary to reclaim the land Allah intended for them. Consequently, according to Hamas, its October 7 invasion was a necessary response to what it says are decades of Israeli oppression.

Of course, no nation would allow a terrorist group pledged to their annihilation to control an enclave on that nation’s border. Clearly, Israel must do whatever is necessary to protect its people from such a threat.

But how does it defeat the idea that is Hamas? With better ideas.

In the case of Gaza, this means rebuilding the region in a way that benefits those who live there. Under Hamas, life in Gaza has been horrific: less than 10 percent of the water is fit to drink, electricity is available only for about four hours a day, and 80 percent of the population depends on charity for food. Creating a better life under governmental leaders who serve the people rather than a terrorist ideology is vital, as challenging as that will be. If Israel and the West aid in this effort, we show that we are not enemies of Muslims and that we want the best for all concerned.

The alternative is to continue feeding the narrative that Israel and the West are a threat to Islam, which will only breed more generations of terrorists in the Middle East and beyond.

Why “Big Gods” are vital to society

Americans face our own “battle of ideas” today.

In his book Mind or Matter, Ernst Lehr calls the Scientific Revolution the “Second Fall.” In the first, Adam and Eve “succumbed to the temptation to acquire knowledge prematurely” at the cost of separating from “the original state of participation in the divine world.” The Second Fall, by contrast, resulted from “human action outrunning knowledge” as we came to grasp and use natural forces we did not yet understand, such as electricity.

We are doing this more now than ever as advances in artificial intelligence and gene editing threaten the future of our species. At the same time, our post-Christian, secularized culture has abandoned absolute truth, objective morality, and our nation’s founding claim that “all men are created equal.” From elective abortion to sex change operations to euthanasia, we are using scientific knowledge whose consequences we cannot yet understand. And we are making life-altering and history-changing decisions, absent of any moral or ideological foundations beyond “tolerance.”

How’s this working for us?

Fewer Americans than ever say they are satisfied with their personal lives. A record low in the US is likewise satisfied with the way democracy is working.

As cultural commentator Jonah Goldberg shows, human governments can, at best, hedge against the worst impulses of human nature. By contrast, intellectual historians have demonstrated that belief in “Big Gods” who threaten divine punishment for human sin has been crucial to the formation of functioning societies.

Roughly 77 percent of the world’s population identifies as Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist; in all four, moral transgressions lead to consequences in this life or the next. This viewpoint has proven essential to societies that form moral communities. When we jettison our belief in divine accountability, we are unable to govern ourselves or each other.

When enough people experience enough change

Here is where evangelical Christianity offers the best idea of all.

We believe in a Father who “is” love and can only want what is best for us (1 John 4:8). He therefore deals with us as gently as he can or as harshly as he must. When he holds us accountable for our sins, he does so only to lead us to repentance and redemption by his grace.

But our Lord offers not only a moral framework that leads to our best flourishing—he also offers the inner transformation essential to living in that framework. He can make us a “new creation” so that in Christ we become “the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). When we submit to his Holy Spirit, he makes us holy people. He uses our transformed lives to attract others to the transformation they can experience by grace as well.

As a consequence, we love as we are loved (1 John 4:19). For example, we love Palestinians devastated by Hamas and the war in Gaza, and we want their best. Our enacted compassion then preaches the gospel in deeds and words, offering to hurting people the hope of a better future and a glorious eternity.

If enough people experience enough change, they become catalysts for changing the world.

“I shall begin to shine as you shine”

To this end, I invite you to pray these words by Cardinal John Henry Newman. Mother Teresa prayed them daily with her sisters, and God answered their prayers in ways that are still changing lives today:

Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with your Spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be mine: it will be you shining on others through me. Let me thus praise you in the way you love best: by shining on those around me.

Will you praise Jesus in the way he loves best today?

Our latest website articles:

• “What to expect from declassified JFK, MLK, and RFK files”
• “’A Complete Unknown’ earns eight Academy Awards nominations: A jaw-dropping dramatization of Bob Dylan’s vagabond genius”
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• “The greatness and tragedy of Winston Churchill: My reflection on a personal hero and his ultimate failure”

Quote for the day:

“Beware of harking back to what you once were when God wants you to be something you have never been.” —Oswald Chambers

Denison Forum