Truth Rising, a documentary developed through a partnership between Focus on the Family and the Colson Center, premieres today at noon EST, and I highly recommend making time to watch it. It’s free to stream and, as its creators describe, the film is “a call to action at a critical time in our culture.”

However, what I appreciated most about the film is that it provides both a realistic assessment of the state of Western civilization as well as reasons for optimism grounded in the fact that God is still at work using his people to offer redemption and hope to a world in desperate need of both.

The documentary begins with Os Guinness—a brilliant author, theologian, and social critic—examining the ways in which other civilizations have declined and fallen in the past to use as comparisons when evaluating the degree to which our current civilization is following in their footsteps. To that end, he outlines how we are at a “civilizational moment,” which he defines as the time when a culture loses touch with the inspiration that created it.

When that moment occurs, he shows how there are really only three options for what comes next:

• Renew the original inspiration
• Replace the original inspiration
• Decline

As made clear by both he and John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center and host for the second part of the discussion, the original inspiration for Western Civilization is the sense of Judeo-Christian morality that undergirds our most foundational beliefs.

But while Guinness and Stonestreet are equipped to outline that reality by themselves, I appreciate the way they incorporate the views of others in the conversation. Throughout the documentary, they speak with a host of experts who bring unique perspectives and experiences to the discussion that add both context and nuance. And though the contributions of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Konstantin Kisin, and others in the first half of the film are excellent, the personal stories of those interviewed by Stonestreet in the latter half often stood out the most.

Why Christians should be a “people of hope”

In the film’s second part, Stonestreet interviews a number of individuals who have been “canceled” or threatened for their beliefs. The accounts of Ayaan Hirsi Ali—who shares more of her story in this part—Jack Philips, Seth Dillon, and others demonstrate how God redeemed the trials they faced in ways that often expanded their ministry while providing opportunities that couldn’t have happened otherwise. They don’t minimize how hard those times were, but they do point to what God has done through them.

Remembering the Lord’s ability to take what man intends for evil and turn it into good is vital when so much of what we see around us tends to draw our focus toward the negative. God does not call us to a naïve ignorance of the problems we face, nor does he permit us to give up on being part of the solution (Matthew 5:13–16). Learning to do both is a key element of living out our identity as Christians.

As Stonestreet describes, “Christians must remember who they are—people of the resurrection, and therefore people of hope.” If our solution to the state of our culture is to hunker down and wait for the world to hit rock bottom, then we’re doing Christianity wrong.

Jesus entered a world with no moral compass outside the vague, philosophical ideas of right and wrong that people were free to disregard. And even in his more immediate context, where the Jewish people still professed—and, typically, lived in accordance with—a desire to please the Lord, their approach to doing so was rooted in the kind of legalism and performative religiosity that was slowly suffocating any chance at a personal, intimate relationship with the Father.

In response, Christ met the people where they were, showed them a better path forward, and then was willing to pay the price for not flinching from God’s truth when it contradicted the culture’s. Now he calls us to do the same.

Fortunately, we don’t have to look very far for the chance to make a difference.

“Secularism let them down”

In our conversation with John Stonestreet on today’s special edition of Faith & Clarity, he makes the point that when he first started teaching on worldview and culture, many of the warning signs like shifting gender norms and postmodernism were theoretical. There were indications, but not necessarily evidence, that this is where our society was headed. That’s no longer the case.

Many of those problems are now present, and they’re having a dramatic impact on the way our civilization functions. Moreover, an ever-increasing part of the population is coming to realize that the secular alternatives just aren’t working.

As John goes on to describe, the reasoning among those who left the church used to be that “the church has let them down. And now we have a whole bunch of young people going back to church, talking about how secularism let them down. So, what an opportunity right now for truth to rise.”

This is truly an exciting time to be a follower of Christ. Many of society’s solutions to humanity’s problems are beginning to crumble. This brings us to the question each of us must answer: Will we help them rebuild on the foundation of God’s truth, or will we sit back and watch as they try in vain to reconstruct those walls on a new set of lies?

When those who have wronged us suffer the consequences of their sins, it can be tempting to find pleasure in their pain. Many of the stories in Truth Rising demonstrate what it looks like to choose a better path, one that is more in line with Christ’s example.

When Jesus looked out on a people who were lost and desperate for something more than the lies and half-truths that defined their culture, he was filled with compassion (Matthew 9:36).

Will the same be true for us? Will it be true for you?

Quote of the day

“There’s something as deep as the human experience goes that we’re missing, so it’s not going to be a political solution, it’s not going to be an economic solution to this. We have to go back to what is true.” —John Stonestreet, Truth Rising

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“How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?” This is how Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked President Trump his opinion on the online controversy alleging that the president was either dead or about to be.

The root cause was that Mr. Trump had nothing on his public schedule for three days last week. For a person who is so often in the public eye, his lack of visibility was visible evidence for some that something was happening behind the scenes.

He is the oldest person to be elected president and has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition for people his age that often produces the swollen ankles many have noted during his public appearances. But, as the New York Times reports, recent days were different:

On TikTok, influencers with legions of followers surmised that the White House was publishing old photos, suggesting that the president was hidden from view. Reddit threads, one after another, were ablaze with commentary. On X, posts shared by anonymous critics disseminating dubious reports picked up thousands of interactions and shares.

For years, critics of President Biden have questioned his health. Now some are asking similar questions about President Trump. When he responded on Sunday, “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE!” skeptics explained the post as part of the cover-up. Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and influential figure on the far-right, asserted on social media, “There is obviously something going on with Trump that the White House is covering up. This is literally Biden 2.”

Believing what we want to believe

For many years, I taught a seminary course titled “Christian Evidences.” We explored in-depth a variety of apologetic issues for which scientific, historical, archaeological, and manuscript evidence are relevant and helpful, including Jesus’ resurrection, the veracity of Scripture, and the plausibility of miracles.

But as I warned my students, evidence must be interpreted and may not be compelling. As an example, I cited the religious authorities’ response to Lazarus after Jesus raised him from the dead: “The chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus” (John 12:10).

Their reaction to Jesus’ resurrection was similar: rather than trusting him as Messiah and Lord, they fabricated an explanation to keep others from believing in him (Matthew 28:11–15).

All this to say, the postmodern relativism that considers all truth to be personal and subjective is not just a feature of recent times. It is also a symptom of our fallen condition and desire to be our own god (Genesis 3:5). We are all prone to beliefs we want to believe and susceptible to believing only what endorses these beliefs while rejecting what does not.

But when it comes to God, believing our doubts can cause us to doubt our beliefs—to the detriment of our souls.

Losing faith in the American dream

Today’s reflections are prompted by a recent Wall Street Journal report regarding the “American dream” that if you work hard, you will get ahead. Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed say this no longer holds true, or never did. Majorities believe the prior generation had an easier time buying a home, starting a business, or being a full-time parent. Majorities also lack confidence that the next generation will be able to purchase a home or save enough for retirement.

Here’s my point: If you believe the American dream is dead, you obviously won’t dream it. Then your fears become a self-fulfilling prophecy as your doubts become reality. This happens in other dimensions of life: If we don’t trust someone to be our friend, we don’t befriend them and thus never learn to trust them. If we don’t trust our doctor enough to take the medicine she prescribes, we never benefit from the medicine and thus have no reason to trust our doctor.

The same holds true for our relationship with our Lord.

As we have been discussing this week, it can be hard to have faith in God when he disappoints us or trust the church when the church hurts us. One response is blind faith that ignores realities and sees only what reinforces its suppositions. As a small boy said when asked to define faith: “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”

A better response is to examine the evidence as fully and fairly as possible, then take a step beyond it into a relationship that becomes self-validating. I know of no approach to faith in Christ that is more urgent or transforming than this.

When we feel God’s comfort most deeply

God will never ask us to do anything that contradicts his word. This is one reason he calls us to love him with all our “mind” (Matthew 22:37) and to “reason together” with him (Isaiah 1:18). The Bible commends the Berean Christians who “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

But no relationship can be proven before it is experienced. I cannot prove to you that my wife loves me, for example. I can tell you that she tells me she does, but she could be lying. I can point to all the amazing ways she is kind to me, but she could be deceiving me. You would have to experience my marriage to trust it.

The same is true with taking a job, becoming parents, or making any other relational decision: we examine the evidence, then step beyond it into a new reality that verifies itself.

This is especially the case with following Jesus, in part because following him comes at such a price in our fallen world. He warned us, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). In addition, “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

As a result, we often experience Jesus most fully when such faith is hardest. We feel his comfort most deeply when our grief and suffering are deepest but we trust him despite and because of our pain.

“Let me find thy light in my darkness”

To this end, let’s close with a Puritan prayer a dear friend shared with me this week:

Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime, stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.

Amen.

Quote for the day:

“Fear can banish faith, but faith can banish fear.” —Billy Graham

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President Donald Trump told reporters yesterday that he is ready to order federal law enforcement intervention to combat crime in Chicago and Baltimore. “I have an obligation,” he said. “This isn’t a political thing.” He stated, “We’re going in,” but added, “I didn’t say when.”

Officials in both cities are opposed to such moves.

The president’s announcement followed police reports that at least fifty-eight people were shot in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend, eight fatally.

The violence in the city brought to mind a personal experience there many years ago. When I was in college, I led a ministry team that spent a week in Chicago working with inner-city churches. I was deeply impressed by the commitment of these leaders to making a transformational difference. They could easily have left their community for safer environs, but they felt called by God to be his light in their darkness.

Such efforts are continuing in Chicago today. Churches and ministries are supporting mothers who lose children to violence, offering events and strategies for pairing younger and older generations, providing after-school programs and safe party events on Friday nights to keep children out of harm’s way, and hosting feeding and mentoring programs.

I have personally witnessed similar ministries at work in other major cities around the world. Philip Yancey famously asserted that “God goes where he’s wanted.” The evidence of Scripture, Jesus’ earthly ministry, and church history also shows that “God goes where he’s needed.”

Trusting the church when the church hurts us

Yesterday, we reflected on the challenge of trusting God when he disappoints us. Today, let’s take up a related question: How do we trust the church when the church hurts us?

You probably have personal examples here, as do I. So did Jeremiah, who was beaten and imprisoned by Pashhur the priest (Jeremiah 20:1–2). So did Stephen, who was martyred by the high priest and other religious leaders (Acts 7). So did the apostles, who were arrested and beaten by the religious authorities (Acts 5:17–40). So did Paul, who was repeatedly persecuted by religious leaders. So did Jesus most of all, who was condemned in illegal trials staged by the high priest and then crucified under pressure from religious leaders.

What was true of Jewish religious authorities in early Christianity has been true of Christian authorities across the centuries since. From the millions who died in Crusades championed by the Church, to Southern clergy support for slavery and Jim Crow discrimination, to clergy abuse scandals of recent years, the church of Jesus Christ has often failed to be the body of Jesus Christ.

We can respond with the truism, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven,” which is true. We can note that our faith is to be in a holy God, not fallen people. We know not to be surprised when the sins of sinners harm the innocent as well.

But Christianity claims that followers of Jesus will become like Jesus by following him. The New Testament teaches that Christians are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) in whom the Spirit of God actually lives (1 Corinthians 3:16) and that the Father is working to mold us into the character of his Son (Romans 8:29). No other religion makes such transformative claims.

So, when the church fails us, it is understandable to feel that God has failed us as well.

Church attendance and health outcomes

However, if we are measuring the relevance and value of church attendance by its results in those who attend, there is good news here as well.

According to research, participation in a religious community correlates with better health outcomes and longer life, higher financial generosity, and more stable families. The more we participate, the greater the positive effects:

• Sixty-two percent of those who ranked high in church engagement also ranked high in human flourishing.
• Only 40 percent of those with average church engagement scores ranked high in human flourishing.
• And only 23 percent of those who ranked low in church engagement scored high in human flourishing.

These findings make sense. “Going to church” on occasion is not the same thing as encountering Jesus personally. And only Jesus, working by his Spirit, can change our lives and transform our character. Listening to sermons and Bible studies, singing hymns and choruses, and otherwise attending church activities is no more transformative apart from the Spirit than watching a football game is transformative apart from participation on the field.

But Satan does not want us to know this. If he cannot keep us from church attendance, he will tempt us to believe that attending church checks the “spirituality box” and constitutes all we need to do in our relationship with God. Then, when our lives are no different, we can erroneously but easily conclude that the church makes no difference in the world. And skeptics who see our unchanged lives can conclude the same as well.

“Pinholes through which I see the face of God”

In Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Ethics, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” In other words, we should ask of everything we consider doing, “What if everyone did that?”

Missionaries sent around the globe, universities and hospitals begun and operated by churches and denominations, and ministries to human needs wherever needs are found—each shows the wisdom of God’s call not to “give up the habit of meeting together” (Hebrews 10:25). If everyone stopped going to church, all of this would stop as well.

On an individual level: What if everyone experienced the risen Lord Jesus personally every day and corporately every week? What if every Christian sought his voice when we study his word, listened for his Spirit when we pray, worshiped him as our “Audience of One” when we sing at church, and made him known through our words and works in our congregation and our community?

Such a lifestyle is not reserved for the few but is God’s intention for us all. This is what Watchman Nee called “the normal Christian life.”

Oswald Chambers observed,

“If I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God.”

Will you “see the face of God” today?

Quote for the day:

“Obedience is the road to freedom, humility the road to pleasure, unity the road to personality.” —C. S. Lewis

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