Celebrating Advent in four tenses

Three stories are dominating the news this morning: yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing on transgender hormone regiments for adolescents, the continued fallout in South Korea over its president’s brief martial law declaration, and the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson yesterday morning outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

Each, in its own way, illustrates the unpredictability of the future, whether in cultural, political, or personally tragic ways.

After psychologist Philip Tetlock evaluated several decades of predictions about political and economic events, he found that “the average expert was roughly as accurate as a dart-throwing chimpanzee.” The recently-deceased Lance Morrow, one of my favorite journalists, said it this way:

As mankind penetrates further into the twenty-first century, the future becomes ever more difficult to manage or even to imagine—politically, biologically, electronically, environmentally, existentially. No one knows what lies ahead, or what it will mean, or where it will wind up. The possibilities are extreme. At the far edge of the moral imagination, we hear the future’s sucking sound, pulling the world toward God knows what.

Morrow’s closing colloquialism is actually good theology for these unpredictable days.

“God knows what,” indeed.

The four “comings” of Christ

Jesus rode into Jerusalem the first time on a humble donkey (Matthew 21:1–11); he will return on a conqueror’s white horse (Revelation 19:11–16). St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313–86) observed:

At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels.

We look then beyond the first coming and await the second.

However, with all due respect to the great theologian and everyone who refers to Jesus’ return as the “second coming,” I’d like to suggest that his ongoing engagement with our world should actually be understood in four “comings.”

• At his first, he entered the world for the purpose of purchasing our salvation by his death on the cross (1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2; Revelation 13:8 NKJV).
• At his second, he enters humans individually when he becomes our Savior (John 1:13) and his Spirit takes up residence in our lives (1 Corinthians 3:16).
• At his third, he comes for humans individually when he takes us to heaven (John 14:3).
• At his fourth, he will return to the world as the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).

Let’s think about these monumental events for a moment. Would you agree:

• That Jesus’ first coming and his atoning death for our sins is a transforming gift to the fallen human race?
• That his third coming, his transportation of humans through death to heaven, is a transforming gift to us personally?
• That his fourth coming, his ultimate redemption of our fallen planet (Revelation 21:1–5), is a transforming gift to our world?

Why, then, would we not equally celebrate his second coming for our personal salvation and its present-tense, transforming significance for our souls?

Why Easter predates Christmas

Many people are surprised to learn that Christmas did not become a Christian holiday until the fourth century. The date when Jesus was physically born was less consequential than the fact of his atoning death and triumphant resurrection, which is why Easter predated Christmas as a holiday by centuries.

The abiding relevance of Christmas is not just that Jesus was born into a human family, but that because of Christmas each human can be “born again” into the family of God (John 1:12–13, 3:5). As St. Irenaeus famously noted, he became one of us that we might be one with him.

As a result, each of us can—and should—experience the living Lord Jesus as personally as those who were present at the Bethlehem manger. He longs for us to encounter him every day in prayer, Bible study, and worship, practicing his presence with transforming intentionality.

When we do, predicting the future becomes less important because the One who holds tomorrow also holds us (John 10:28). And we know that whatever comes to us in this life, our Lord’s third “coming” will one day take us to the eternal reward he is preparing for us now. Or his fourth “coming” will turn this world into “a new heaven and a new earth” where “death shall be no more” as he makes “all things new” (Revelation 21:1, 4–5).

Either future should fill us with present joy and transforming hope.

“A mind through which Christ thinks”

In the meantime, our lives are Jesus’ manger, our worship his shepherds, and our witness his angels as the Child of Christmas continues his transforming work in the world through us. St. Augustine observed,

“A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.”

Will you be such a “Christian” today?

Thursday news to know:

• French government falls after national assembly approves no-confidence vote
• 2 kindergarteners in “extremely critical condition” after Christian school shooting
• Saudi Arabia is losing its iron grip on global oil markets
• Millions in Cuba remain in dark after nationwide blackout
• On this day in 2013: South African president Nelson Mandela dies at 95

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The same Jesus who turned water into wine can transform your home, your life, your family, and your future. He is still in the miracle-working business, and his business is the business of transformation.” —Adrian Rogers

Denison Forum

“Only God satisfies, he infinitely exceeds all other pleasures”

Bible sales are up 22 percent in the US through the end of October compared with the same period last year. By contrast, total US print book sales were up less than 1 percent in the same period.

What accounts for the rising popularity of God’s word?

According to Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, “People are experiencing anxiety themselves, or they’re worried for their children and grandchildren. It’s related to artificial intelligence, election cycles … and all of that feeds a desire for assurance that we’re going to be OK.”

Cely Vasquez, a twenty-eight-year-old artist and influencer, recently bought her first Bible, explaining: “I felt something was missing. It’s a combination of where we are in the world, general anxiety, and the sense that meaning and comfort can be found in the Bible.”

Much of what worries us in the world hasn’t changed. As Paul Powell observed, “It’s not that people are worse—the news coverage is just better.”

At the same time, a world facing the threats of nuclear annihilation, global war, and runaway artificial intelligence is objectively more dangerous. And American society possesses fewer tools for dealing with such crises than ever before.

“Its peripheries were ready to peel away”

Journalist Timothy Burke notes that the Soviet Union was an empire rather than a nation, meaning that “the Soviets did not aim to integrate the country’s diverse peoples and cultures into a single unified national identity” (his emphasis). As a result, once Russia itself was visibly weakened, “its peripheries were ready to peel away,” leading to the collapse of the USSR.

By contrast, Yuval Levin observed that America’s founders united our disparate states and cultures around a constitutional system rather than autocratic rulers. As John Adams stated, America is “a government of laws, not of men.”

However, the founders knew that no nation could construct enough laws or employ enough police officers to legislate morality. Human laws cannot change human hearts, which is why, despite enacting some three hundred thousand federal statutes across our history (there are so many that no one knows the precise number), crime still persists.

It was the same in the biblical era. The Ten Commandments led to 613 recognized laws in Judaism. Written laws were later interpreted by oral laws that were eventually compiled into the sixty-three tractates of the Babylonian Talmud; the English version fills a shelf and a half in my library.

And yet it remained (and remains) true that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This is why America’s founders were so adamant that, in the famous words of John Adams, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Now that postmodern relativism has jettisoned objective truth and biblical morality, like the Soviet empire of old, our “peripheries” have “peeled away,” leaving us with a broken culture that has no means of repairing itself and no inherent hope of a better future than the chaotic present.

“More than they wanted or hoped for”

However, my purpose today is not to discourage you but to encourage you, and in the most paradoxical way.

Paul noted, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Because this world is not our home, nothing that happens to Christians in this life can keep us from the paradise that awaits us in the next.

To the contrary, as the third-century bishop St. Cyprian wrote:

When the day of our homecoming puts an end to our exile, frees us from the bonds of the world, and restores us to paradise and to a kingdom, we should welcome it. What man, stationed in a foreign land, would not want to return to his own country as soon as possible?

St. Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225–74) explained that on that day,

The blessed will be given more than they wanted or hoped for. The reason is that in this life no one can fulfil his longing, nor can any creature satisfy man’s desire. Only God satisfies, he infinitely exceeds all other pleasures. That is why man can rest in nothing but God. As Augustine says: “You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart can find no rest until it rests in you.”

How can we be sure? Because of Christmas.

“What wondrous love is this”

Is it less a miracle for a Savior to save us when we die (John 14:3) or for a King to return in triumph to our planet (Revelation 19:16) than for the omnipotent God to become a fetus? If the Creator of the universe would be born as a helpless baby and die on a Roman cross, what won’t he do for you? What temptation won’t he defeat? What sin won’t he forgive? What need won’t he meet? What grief won’t he lift? What pain won’t he heal?

To see the love of Christ at Christmas, turn from the cradle to the cross and remember Jesus’ anguished cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Quoting this text, Max Lucado asks,

“Why did Jesus scream these words? Simple—so that you’ll never have to.”

If Christ is your Lord, the beloved hymn is your story:

What wondrous love is this,
O my soul! O my soul!
What wondrous love is this!
O my soul!
What wondrous love is this!
That caused the Lord of bliss!
To send this precious peace,
To my soul, to my soul!
To send this precious peace
To my soul!

Then, one day you will testify:

And while from death I’m free,
I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
And while from death I’m free,
I’ll sing on.
I’ll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity
I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
And through eternity
I’ll sing on.

This is the Christmas promise of God.

Wednesday news to know:

• South Korea lawmakers defy president and block martial law as crowds protest
• Zelensky signals he’s open to negotiating a peace deal
• Transgender medicine comes to the Supreme Court
• Agricultural giant Cargill to lay off thousands of workers
• On this day in 1991: hostage Terry Anderson freed in Lebanon

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“God proved his love on the cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’” —Billy Graham

Denison Forum

“It’s one thing to be grateful. It’s another to give thanks”

If you’re like most Americans, your Thanksgiving meal today will include oven-roasted turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin or pecan pie. In previous generations, however, your table would have been laden with devilled turkey, oysters, boiled chestnuts, sweet potato balls, green bean pudding, vinegar pie, and cranberry wine.

While I’m partial to oysters, I’ll otherwise take our menu over theirs. At the same time, I’m not sure all progress is worthy of the name.

• Dining rooms are disappearing, in large part due to the pandemic when such areas became classrooms, offices, and gyms. Since I’m terrible at balancing a plate on my knees, I’m glad our dining table is still available today.
• More than half of those surveyed said they plan to eat out at a restaurant for their main holiday meal; 82 percent of those choosing to dine out do so to reduce the stress of preparing the meal. Since Janet does the cooking at our house (for culinary reasons and to protect the lives of our guests), I can’t speak to the latter fact. But I’m glad our family will have time together undistracted by a crowded restaurant.
• More than a third of Americans will watch football today. While this sport-spectating tradition dates back to 1876, the game is more popular around the world than ever. I’m a lifelong football fan, but I’m glad Janet will make us pause the game for the family meal (especially if the Cowboys are losing).

Here’s another way I hope we’ll go back to our past: while Thanksgiving these days is all about food, football, and frenzied shopping, its antecedents were anything but.

“A profound and heartfelt gratitude to God”

Billy Graham writes:

The Pilgrim Fathers who landed at Plymouth to settle in what became the United States of America can teach us an important lesson about giving thanks.

During that first long winter, seven times as many graves were made for the dead as homes were made for the living. Seed, imported from England, failed to grow, and a ship that was to bring food and relief brought instead thirty-five more mouths to feed but no provisions. Some Pilgrims caught fish, and others hunted wildfowl and deer. They had a little English flour and some Indian corn.

Yet William Brewster, rising from a scanty dinner of clams and water, gave thanks to God “for the abundance of the sea and the treasure hid in the sand.”

According to today’s standards, the Pilgrims had almost nothing, but they possessed a profound and heartfelt gratitude to God for his love and mercy.

Their example reminds us that thanksgiving depends not on what we have but on being grateful for what we have. Not only are we called to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, my emphasis); we are also told to “give thanks for everything to God the Father” (Ephesians 5:20 NLT, my emphasis).

How can we be grateful “for everything”?

“When I fall, I shall rise”

On Monday, we focused on what Jesus did for us in the past by purchasing our salvation. In response to his sacrifice, we are called to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise” to God (Hebrews 13:15).

On Tuesday, we explored what Jesus is doing for us in the present as he prays for us, heals us, guides us, and meets our needs by his grace. When we remember such provision, we are moved to present-tense gratitude even in the hardest places of life:

• “The Lᴏʀᴅ is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer … I call upon the Lᴏʀᴅ, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies” (Psalm 18:2–3).
• “The Lᴏʀᴅ is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The Lᴏʀᴅ is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” (Psalm 27:1 NLT).
• “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” (Psalm 56:3–4).

Yesterday, we considered what Jesus will do for us in the future. He will take us to be with him in heaven one day (John 14:3); in the meantime, he will lead us into his “perfect” will (Romans 12:2) and redeem all he allows for his glory and our good (Romans 8:28).

We can therefore say with the prophet: “When I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lᴏʀᴅ will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8). And we can pray with Henri Nouwen:

Even when it seems that things are not going my way, I know that they are going your way and that in the end your way is the best way for me. O Lord, strengthen my hope, especially when my many wishes are not fulfilled. Let me never forget that your name is Love.

“Thanksgiving is what you do”

Across this Thanksgiving week, I’ve been thinking about Tim Keller’s observation:

“It’s one thing to be grateful. It’s another to give thanks. Gratitude is what you feel. Thanksgiving is what you do.”

For all Christ has done, for all he is doing, and for all he will do, what will you “do” in response today?

NOTE: On this Thanksgiving Day, I want to express my gratitude to all who read the Daily Article and to all who partner with us financially to make our ministry possible. It is a wonderful privilege to share this calling with you each day. “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you” (Philippians 1:3).

Thursday news to know:

• A battered and diminished Hezbollah accepts a cease-fire
• Multiple Trump appointees targeted by bomb threats, swatting
• US secures release of 3 Americans in prisoner swap with China
• Northern lights may be faintly visible across parts of the US on Thanksgiving
• On this day in 1520: Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.” —Robert Louis Stevenson

Denison Forum

“If we stop to think, we’ll be more thankful”

Which job would you guess is the most satisfying vocation in America? According to a researcher quoted by the Washington Post, Americans want a fulfilling job at “a place that gives them time and respects and encourages and wants them to be good citizens in their community.” As a result, those who work in “community and social services” rank highest for job satisfaction, far above categories that typically pay much higher salaries.

And among those in this top category, religious workers are the most fulfilled.

What is your “happiest place on earth”?

This should be unsurprising since Americans list religious and spiritual activities as the happiest, most meaningful, and least stressful things they do. In fact, they rank these activities some 50 percent higher than “work and work-related activities.” And they list “place of worship” as their “happiest place on earth,” while “your workplace” comes in next to last.

This latest study correlates with a volume of research demonstrating that religiousness and spirituality are consistently linked with positive indicators of well-being. Religious people are reportedly “happier and more satisfied with life than non-religious individuals” and even live longer on average.

This despite significant animosity against Christianity in Europe and the US. Tim Keller observed:

We are entering a new era in which there is not only no social benefit to being Christian, but an actual social cost. In many places, culture is becoming increasingly hostile toward faith, and beliefs in God, truth, sin, and the afterlife are disappearing in more and more people. Now, culture is producing people for whom Christianity is not only offensive, but incomprehensible.

Why are active Christians happier and more fulfilled in a secularized society that increasingly disparages our beliefs and denigrates our witness?

I asked the same question over my many trips to Cuba, where believers face far worse persecution than we encounter in the US, yet the Christians I met there were clearly more joyful than anyone else I encountered. I saw the same visiting with underground church leaders in Beijing and believers in East Malaysia and other Muslim nations.

The answer relates directly to our weeklong Thanksgiving focus on Jesus and points the way to the transcendent joy we all long to experience every day.

A star rotating 716 times per second

Researchers have discovered a neutron star in the Sagittarius constellation that rotates 716 times per second. In related news, astronomers witnessed a two-million-mile-per-hour collision between galaxies. One of the galaxies was traveling eight hundred times faster than a jet fighter. And a team of scientists recently mapped the distribution of nearly six million galaxies across eleven billion years of the universe’s history.

Who knows what lies beyond what they can see?

You and I know the answer: By Christ, “all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:16). The prophet said of him, “His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).

Jesus’ incarnational ministry made visible the presence of the One who measures the universe with the palm of his hand (Isaiah 40:12), the Creator who delights in his people (Isaiah 62:4) and redeems us in our darkest days (Isaiah 43:1).

As Phillips Brooks noted, Jesus is truly “the condescension of divinity and the exaltation of humanity.”

“Every kind of thing will be well”

All Americans have cause for gratitude this week, as President Reagan noted so eloquently:

Above all other nations of the world, America has been especially blessed and should give special thanks. We have bountiful harvests, abundant freedoms, and a strong, compassionate people. . . . Today we have more to be thankful for than our pilgrim mothers and fathers who huddled on the edge of the New World that first Thanksgiving Day could ever dream. We should be grateful not only for our blessings, but for the courage and strength of our ancestors which enable us to enjoy the lives we do today.

While Americans are truly blessed, followers of Jesus have far greater cause for gratitude. Not only are we engaged in work that brings the highest degree of satisfaction and purpose available in this world—we have the joy of knowing that “this world is not our permanent home” (Hebrews 13:14 NLT). In fact, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” is the eternal home “God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV).

The fourteenth-century mystic Julian of Norwich was given a “spiritual sight” into our Lord’s love for us:

I saw that he is to us everything which is good and comforting for our help. He is our clothing, for he is that love which wraps and enfolds us, embraces us and guides us, surrounds us with his love, which is so tender that he may never desert us. And so in this sight I saw truly that he is everything which is good.

As a result, she assured us: “All will be well, and every kind of thing will be well.”

“If we stop to think”

I hope today’s reflections encourage you to make time this Thanksgiving week to express genuine gratitude to your Savior. As Billy Graham observed,

“Our English words thank and think come from the same word. If we’ll stop to think, we’ll be more thankful.”

Will you “stop to think” today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire takes effect, civilians head back to south Lebanon
• Ukraine says Russian attack sets a new record for the number of drones used
• Walmart becomes latest—and biggest—company to roll back its DEI policies
• Biden proposes Medicare and Medicaid cover costly weight-loss drugs for millions of obese Americans
• On this day in 1095: Pope Urban II orders first Crusade

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“I have a Creator who knew all things, even before they were made—even me, his poor little child.” —St. Patrick

Denison Forum

“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich”

The Israeli ambassador to Washington says a ceasefire agreement to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could come “within days.” Israel’s security cabinet is set to vote today on a proposed deal. The agreement comes after Israel achieved its stated strategic war aims with Hezbollah and will allow hundreds of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border to return home over time.

In other headline news, special counsel Jack Smith moved yesterday to abandon two criminal cases against Donald Trump. His team emphasized that the move did not reflect on the merit of the cases but recognized that Mr. Trump’s return to the White House will preclude attempts to federally prosecute him.

Ten-year-old calls 911 for help with math

While these stories are dominating the news today, I’d like to point you to three others that you might otherwise miss:

• A ten-year-old boy in Wisconsin called 911 to say that he needed help with his math homework since his family “wasn’t very good at math.” The dispatcher explained that 911 was not the appropriate number to call for such assistance, but then put out a call to see if a deputy was in the area. Deputy Sheriff Chase Mason came to the rescue, helping to solve the boy’s decimal-related math problem.
• A blind man tripped while getting onto a train in England, so a group of travelers helped him to his seat. Once the man sat down, he realized he was missing a shoe which had slipped between the platform and the train. When he panicked, another rider took off his shoe and gave it to the man.
• A seventy-nine-year-old grandmother broke her leg during a hike in Mount Rainier National Park. A group spotted her and called 911, but was told a search-and-rescue team would take five hours to reach their location. Then US Air Force Airman Troy May appeared on the scene and carried the elderly woman down the mountain on his back.

These stories will not reshape the conflict in the Middle East or become a part of American political history. They did not directly affect anyone except the people who were helped and perhaps their immediate families. But how did you feel when you read them?

The sociologist Peter Berger identified “signals of transcendence,” dimensions of our lives that point to realities that transcend us. Among them, he listed our capacities for order, play, hope, morality, and humor.

What if selfless service is another? What if stories of incarnational compassion point us to the supreme gift and Giver of grace?

“A grinning thief walking the golden streets of heaven”

Yesterday we identified our primary reason for giving thanks to God this week: the salvation purchased by his Son on the cross as he paid our debt, died our death, and rose to bring us eternal life.

However, what Jesus did for us twenty centuries ago was just the beginning. Consider some of the ways he is still serving us today:

• He is “interceding for us” right now (Romans 8:34; cf. Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1).
• He is holding us in his omnipotent hand (John 10:28).
• He is healing by his power and grace (cf. Acts 3:6–7).
• He is guiding us by his “yoke” (Matthew 11:28–30).
• He is empowering us to do “all things” (Philippians 4:13).
• He is continuing his earthly ministry through us, his “body” (1 Corinthians 12:27).
• He is preparing our eternal home (John 14:2–3).
• One day, he will take us there (v. 3).

Max Lucado wrote:

It makes me smile to think there’s a grinning thief walking the golden streets of heaven who knows more about grace than a thousand theologians. No one else would have given the thief on the cross a prayer. But in the end, that is all he had. And in the end, that’s all it took.

Mistaking the reflection for the real

I was walking around a lake near our home the other day and noticed the reflection of the surrounding trees on the surface of the water. The question occurred to me: What if somehow I could see only these reflections and not the trees themselves? Like the prisoners in Plato’s cave analogy who can see only their shadows projected on the wall before them, I would believe that these reflections are the entire reality of what we call “trees.”

My question highlights this fact of human finitude: We do not know what we do not know.

Imagine a world in which we were fully aware of all that Jesus is doing for us right now. Would we “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)? Would we perpetually “offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 50:14)? Would every day be Thanksgiving Day?

If not, is it because Jesus has changed? Is it because his continued ministry in our lives is any less real or transforming? Or is it because we have taken his mercy and grace for granted? Since we cannot see him visibly at work, do we fail to credit him for all he does for us every day?

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lᴏʀᴅ”

Seeking to live a life of gratitude positions us to see the hand of Jesus in every dimension of our lives. It then empowers us to find his grace at work even in the hard places of our days. In this way, we discover with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”

One of the most powerful faith statements in all of Scripture is the declaration of the prophet Habakkuk at the end of the book bearing his name:

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lᴏʀᴅ; I will take joy in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3:17–18).

As a result, he can testify:

“God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places” (v. 19).

Will you tread on your “high places” today?

Tuesday news to know:

• Trump threatens to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on first day in office
• Judge delays resentencing hearing for Menendez brothers
• Thanksgiving winter storms forecasted across the US—here’s where travel could be disrupted
• Iran’s Khamenei calls for death sentence for Israeli leaders
• On this day in 1922: Archaeologists enter tomb of King Tut

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.” —C. S. Lewis

Denison Forum

Understanding the difference between productive trust and empty loyalty

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz was always going to be the most difficult of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet selections to get through the Senate confirmation process. He was nominated under a shroud of investigations by the Department of Justice in 2020 and, more recently, the House Ethics Committee on accusations of illicit drug use, paying for sex—including sex with a minor—and obstruction of government investigations. Gaetz’s conduct gave reason to doubt his worthiness to be the government’s top attorney, despite the charges being dropped in his DOJ case and the House investigation not yet concluded when he had resigned to pursue the AG nomination.

There was some speculation that his nomination was part of why Trump broached the topic of recess appointments last week. Yet, Gaetz was in Washington on Thursday morning, working with Vice President-elect JD Vance to build support for his approval. Eventually, however, it became clear that such approval wasn’t coming.

After the race in Pennsylvania was finally called in favor of Republican Dave McCormick, the GOP will have a fifty-three-seat majority in the Senate, with only fifty votes needed for Trump’s nominations to be approved. Thursday’s conversations confirmed that at least four Republicans were already firm in their opposition, with several more inclined to vote no. Given that no Democrats were expected to vote in Gaetz’s favor, that left intervention from Trump as his only viable path to the position.

Faced with that reality, Gaetz chose to withdraw from consideration, posting on X that:

While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.

News broke Thursday evening that Trump has already pivoted to former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi for the cabinet position. So, who is Pam Bondi, and will her path to confirmation be any simpler than that of Gaetz?

Who is Pam Bondi?

Pam Bondi has been a prominent figure in Republican circles for some time now and was elected attorney general in Florida in both 2010 and 2014. After serving the maximum two terms, she left in 2019 to help defend Trump in his first impeachment trial after he was accused of attempting to tie the offer of further military assistance for Ukraine with help in investigating Joe and Hunter Biden.

Bondi then continued her role as part of Trump’s legal team during the 2020 election before leaving to become the chair of the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank staffed with several former Trump administration officials. She resumed her role working more closely with Trump in the buildup to the 2024 election and spoke at one of his final rallies earlier this month.

The President-elect said of Bondi,

“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans—Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!”

And many of those she will have to convince in order to succeed where Gaetz did not seem to agree with Trump’s assessment.

Will Bondi be approved?

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) predicted that Bondi “will be confirmed quickly because she deserved to be confirmed quickly.” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) echoed those sentiments, stating that “She’ll be an incredible Attorney General.” Sen. Tommy Tubberville of Alabama and Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota were similarly effusive in their praise.

And while, as of this writing, the senators who led the charge against Gaetz’s approval have yet to comment, the prevailing opinion seems to be that Bondi will be confirmed. Should that happen, she will become yet another of Trump’s former and current allies to be given a prominent role in his Cabinet.

Of all the qualities that come up most frequently with Trump’s Cabinet picks, loyalty and trust seem to be among the most common. And it’s understandable why he would prize those characteristics, given the opposition he’s faced in the past. Yet, loyalty and trust are only valuable insofar as they enable someone to speak hard truths and be heard.

If Trump surrounds himself with people who will simply tell him what he wants to hear, he is likely to fail as president. However, if he surrounds himself with people who can deliver honest critiques in a way he can trust, he is set up to succeed.

And that same principle applies to each of us as well.

What kind of God are you looking for?

When you think about the inner circle of people who have the most influence on your life, how would you describe them? Are they people who tell you what you want to hear, or people you can trust to tell you what you need to hear?

And, even more importantly, when you go to God for guidance, which of those two outcomes are you most hoping for? Do you want a God that will affirm your desires or a God that will guide you to a life he can bless, even if it requires walking down some paths you would prefer not to tread?

I’m guessing most of us would like to say we want the latter relationship with the Lord, but is that truly reflected in the way you live? Do you surround yourself with people God can use to speak his truth into your life? And do you pray looking for a particular answer, or are you open to whatever the Lord wants to say?

Be honest in how you answer those questions, as there are few people more damaging to lie to than yourself.

So take some time today to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal which is true for you, even—and especially—if you may not want to hear his answer. Then make whatever changes are necessary to build a relationship with him and with others based on productive trust rather than empty loyalty.

Let’s start today.

Friday news to know:

• Iran continues to stockpile near weapons-grade uranium despite international opposition
• International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
• For a majority of evangelical churches, giving has not kept up with inflation
• How bees are helping African farmers avoid conflict with elephants
• On this day in 1963: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“If we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and self-seeking and pleasure and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God, and I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else.” —DL Moody

Denison Forum

Why the temptation he faced is relevant to us all

Tony Campolo, the world-famous evangelist and social justice preacher, died Tuesday at the age of eighty-nine. When I heard the news, I debated whether or not to write on it.

Many of you may be too young to know why Campolo’s ministry matters. Those of us familiar with him know that his story is problematic on several levels. I worried that my comments might violate the biblical warning, “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers” (James 4:11).

Then I decided that there is a larger principle at work here that applies to each of us, whatever we know or think about Rev. Campolo and his legacy.

“Trying to see the world as he saw it”

Tony Campolo was born a second-generation Italian immigrant in 1935. His family attended an American Baptist congregation in West Philadelphia until it shut down as white people fled their African American neighbors for the suburbs. Tony’s father then took his family to a Black Baptist church nearby, where they worshiped.

As a student at Eastern College (now a university), Campolo studied John Wesley, the father of Methodism, in a class on “Christian classics.” He said he was moved by the Wesleyan revival with its “social consciousness, attacking slavery, championing the rights of women, ending child labor laws.” He added: “The Wesleyan vision was warm-hearted evangelism with an incredible social vision. Trying to see the world as he saw it changed me greatly.”

As a young pastor, Campolo experienced racism in his church and community. He left his church to get a doctorate in sociology and took a teaching position at Eastern in 1964, where he encouraged students to volunteer with children in Philadelphia. He also helped start a school in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. To recruit students and raise money for ongoing projects, he began accepting speaking invitations. At one point he was speaking five hundred times a year.

Campolo clearly identified with evangelicals, writing in 2015: “I surrendered my life to Jesus and trusted in him for my salvation, and I have been a staunch evangelical ever since.” He also said, “I believe the Bible to have been written by men inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit.”

Why he affirmed same-sex marriage

However, in 1985, Campolo was charged with heresy. In his book A Reasonable Faith, he urged Christians to care for others by stating that Jesus lives in all people, whether or not they are Christians. He also wrote that human-ness and God-ness are one and the same.

A group chaired by the renowned theologian J. I. Packer determined that Campolo’s unbiblical assertions were “evangelical inadvertence rather than any wish to insinuate universal salvation or justification by works.” Campolo responded by clarifying his belief that “saving grace . . . comes only in surrender to the Lordship of Christ.”

Campolo was active in the Democratic Party, running unsuccessfully for Congress in 1976 and working with President Bill Clinton to develop AmeriCorps in the 1990s. He also served as one of Clinton’s personal spiritual advisors during the Monica Lewinski scandal. In 2007, he and author and activist Shane Claiborne founded Red Letter Christians to highlight the “red letter” words of Christ in Scripture and thus his social and ethical teachings.

In 2015, he came out in favor of same-sex marriage ahead of the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision. He explained that he had changed his mind after spending time with LGBTQ Christians in committed, monogamous relationships and reflecting on the fundamental purpose of marriage. In his view, marriage exists primarily for sanctification; if a same-sex marriage encouraged people to grow in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), he believed that the church should affirm it.

“Captive to the word of God”

I heard Tony Campolo speak several times and was always moved by his prophetic critique of evangelicals with regard to those in need. His call for us to mobilize our resources to serve “the least of these” mirrors Jesus’ call to us all (Matthew 25:31–46). I also understand his desire to impact society through political engagement and his compassion for LGBTQ persons.

At the same time, his story highlights a temptation we all face: interpreting God’s word through the prism of our personal experiences, values, and passions rather than interpreting our lives through the prism of Scripture.

The deeper our passions, the greater this temptation.

We must not revise our biblical theology to align with our personal passions, no matter how strong they may be. This is not only because God’s word, like God’s character, is timeless and unchanging (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Hebrews 13:8; Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:25). It is also because God’s word possesses a transformative power no other words can claim.

We are “born again . . . through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23) as “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “The implanted word . . . is able to save your souls” (James 1:21) as the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to convict us of our sins (John 16:8), bring us to salvation (cf. Acts 10:44), and grow us in sanctification (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

As I told my seminary students, the only word God is obligated to bless is his word.

If we do not speak the authoritative word of God to the issues we face, no matter how difficult this may be, we rob people of that truth which can most encourage, liberate, and transform them. If we alter God’s word to fit our culture, we rob those we seek to serve of God’s best for their lives.

Martin Luther, in explaining his Protestant commitment to sola Scriptura (“only the Bible”) as the source of his theology and life, testified:

“My conscience is captive to the word of God.”

Is yours?

Thursday news to know:

• Venezuelan migrant found guilty of killing Laken Riley in Georgia
• Killer mom Susan Smith denied parole 30 years after drowning sons
• Biden agrees to give Ukraine anti-personnel mines
• US envoy to travel to Israel in bid to seal Hezbollah ceasefire
• On this day in 1877: “Scientific American” announces Thomas Edison’s “wonderful invention”—the phonograph

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“We should read the Bible as those who listen to the very speech of God.” —F. B. Meyer

Denison Forum

The peril of idolatry and the promise of biblical faith

Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson receives blood transfusions from his teenage son, undergoes regular gene therapy injections, and adheres to a strict diet, all in his $2-million-a-year effort to live forever. His face recently became so gaunt, however, that he injected fat from a donor into it. His body rejected the fat, sparking a severe allergic reaction that took a week to subside.

Think how he’ll feel if:

• An epidemic like bird flu or mpox sickens him;
• Thieves like the masked raiders who struck Windsor Castle attack him;
• “Noise bombing” like the auditory barrage being waged by North Korea against South Koreans finds him;
• A nuclear war like the one Vladimir Putin is threatening breaks out;
• Or storms like the winter weather looming over Thanksgiving travel jeopardize his life.

In other words, no matter how much money Bryan Johnson or the rest of us spend, none of us is guaranteed another day on this fallen planet.

In such a world, you’re either being buffeted by the storm, in the eye of the storm with its temporary calm, or facing the next storm. As we have noted this week, one response to our chaotic culture is to double down on partisan confidence, trusting in our political “tribe” and its leaders while rejecting all others.

But as we’ll see today, asking people to do what only God can do is idolatry that threatens our very future.

“How to subdue reality to the wishes of men”

1. S. Lewis wrote in The Abolition of Man: “For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For [mankind today], the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men” through the use of science and technology.

He wrote these words in 1943. What would he say of us today?

Artificial intelligence and genetic editing are being developed as ways of subduing reality to our wishes on a level unprecedented in human history. But each in its own way could end humanity as we know it. As could advances in nuclear weapons: the use of less than 1 percent of such weapons currently in the world could disrupt the global climate and threaten two billion people with starvation. (For more, see Dr. Ryan Denison’s new website article, Russia lowers nuclear weapons threshold after latest attack.)

Idolatry is trusting anyone or anything to be and do what only God can be and do. It is among the gravest of sins and is forbidden by God’s word in the strongest terms (cf. Exodus 20:3–6; Leviticus 19:4; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 John 5:21).

Despite such warnings, idolatry in all its forms is a tragic theme of Scripture and human history.

“Idols skillfully made of their silver”

I was reading through the book of Hosea recently and found America in chapter thirteen. Consider the Lord’s indictment of the people:

Now they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen (v. 2).

However, because they trust what they make rather than the God who made them,

They shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window (v. 3).

This is because they have rejected “the Lᴏʀᴅ your God” beside whom “there is no savior” (v. 4). Their prosperity has led them to such idolatry:

When they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me (v. 6).

What is to come of such a rebellious people?

Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the Lᴏʀᴅ, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God (vv. 15–16).

As a result, the prophet pleaded with his people:

Return, O Israel, to the Lᴏʀᴅ your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity” (Hosea 14:1).

He called them to declare,

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, “Our God,” to the work of our hands (v. 3).

But they refused his plea. Not long after the prophet uttered these words, the nation fell to Assyria in 722 BC and was no more.

“In returning and rest you shall be saved”

I am not writing to predict the same for this country I love. But I do know that every word of Scripture was inspired and preserved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21) because it was relevant not just for the biblical era but for all the generations to follow (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11).

Accordingly, what threatened the ancient nation of Israel still threatens nations today. What led to their demise as a culture can lead to the demise of any culture.

By contrast, the repentance that spared Nineveh (Jonah 3:6–10), the king of Babylon (Daniel 4), and the nation of Judah (2 Chronicles 30) is available to all Americans today: “The Lord . . . is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

The place to begin is with our own hearts. Are we trusting in elected leaders and political parties to do what only God can do? Are we trusting in material prosperity for happiness? Are we trusting in our abilities to face our challenges and forge our future?

Here is God’s invitation to us all:

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).

Why do you need this “strength” today?

Wednesday news to know:

• The US confirms Ukraine fired long-range ATACMS into Russia for the 1^st time
• “Bomb cyclone” with heavy rain and wind threatens Northern California and Pacific Northwest
• After meeting US envoy, Lebanese parliament speaker says deal “is good in principle”
• Iran sharply expands stockpile of nuclear fuel ahead of Trump’s return
• On this day in 1945: Nuremberg trials begin

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear.” —Abraham Lincoln

Denison Forum

The anniversary of the Gettysburg Address and “a country worth dying for”

Second Lieutenant Thomas V. Kelly Jr. was one of eleven crew members on the B-24 bomber nicknamed Heaven Can Wait. On March 11, 1944, Lt. Kelly’s plane was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft gunners off the coast of the Pacific island of New Guinea. All eleven crew members died.

Last spring, a team of elite Navy divers and archaeologists found the crash site and recovered the remains of three men. Last Friday, the Defense Department announced that Lt. Kelly’s remains had been positively identified through dental and anthropological analysis. Divers also found his Army Air Forces ring and two of his dog tags.

In one of his last letters home to his parents, Lt. Kelly wrote:

I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I’m just telling you to appreciate what you have. Even if you don’t think it is much. It is so much. The men fighting here for everyone, they’re doing it for your freedom.

When I read the story over the weekend, it moved me deeply. I became emotional again typing these words just now.

“A dying empire led by bad people”

These days, Americans are disparaging each other more than at any time in my memory.

One woman is canceling Thanksgiving and Christmas at her home since her husband and his family voted for Donald Trump. A father is refusing to pay his Trump-supporting sons’ college tuition.

On the other side, rural areas in Illinois, a state with vast swaths of red counties and a few blue cities, are seeking to “leave Illinois without moving.” Their goal is to redraw state lines to constitute themselves as “New Illinois.” Conservatives in California, Idaho, and Oregon would like to do something similar.

According to a recent poll, young voters overwhelmingly believe that almost all politicians on both sides are corrupt and that the US will end up worse off than when they were born. The lead pollster said, “Young voters do not look at our politics and see good guys. They see a dying empire led by bad people.”

I will always remember meeting a veteran whose face and hands were scarred by fire and other wounds sustained in battle. When I thanked him for his sacrifice, he said, “Just make America a country worth dying for.”

How can we be the nation Lt. Kelly was fighting to defend?

The “greatest speech in American history”

When my wife and I visited Gettysburg National Military Park, we could feel the ominous and historic weight of the fields surrounding us. We could imagine the cannons as they roared and the soldiers as they fought and died in the Civil War’s deadliest battle.

On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke at a ceremony to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery on this sacred ground. His brief address has been called the “greatest speech in American history.”

In honoring “those who here gave their lives that [our] nation might live,” he called Americans to “take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion” so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

More than seven thousand men were killed at Gettysburg. More than 1.1 million men and women have died in the service of our country across our history. Now it falls to us, in Mr. Lincoln’s words, to “highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”

Mark Twain’s definition of patriotism

Yesterday I noted that if Americans cannot get along, America cannot get along. In a democracy where we vote for each other, hold each other accountable through our elections and legal systems, do commerce with each other, and live in community with each other, divisiveness and divisions threaten our collective future and common good.

But disparaging America and Americans does even more: It threatens the cause for which so many Americans have sacrificed so much.

Mark Twain observed, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” The bitterness of our political environment transcends appropriate criticism of the government—many claim that the American project itself is racist and discriminatory to its core. And many see the “other side,” whoever they are, as evil and dangerous to democracy.

This is one place where Christians can—and must—take the lead.

“Whatever disunites man from God”

Agape is the Greek word for unconditional love that enables us to love those who hate us and to forgive those who harm us. It is the only kind of love that can heal divisions such as those we face today.

And it is uniquely the “fruit” of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). When we make Christ our Lord and his Spirit comes to dwell in us (1 Corinthians 3:16), he can then manifest this fruit in our relationship with our Lord, our neighbors, and ourselves (Matthew 22:37–39). And when we love others as sacrificially and fully as we are loved (Romans 8:35–39), hearts are healed, families are mended, and societies are transformed.

Edmund Burke was right:

“Whatever disunites man from God also disunites man from man.”

However, the converse is also true: Whatever unites man to God unites man to man.

Imagine a room whose walls are lined with people. Put a chair in the middle of the room. The closer those in the room draw to the chair, the closer you draw to each other.

And when that chair is a throne, and when the King of kings is reigning there, all of creation will bow and “every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11).

How will you hasten that day, today?

Tuesday news to know:

• A wistful Biden says goodbye in a closing appearance on the world stage
• “War of robots”: how 1,000 days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spurred an automation boom
• Boeing to lay off over 2,200 workers in US states of Washington and Oregon
• Man is accused of killing 2 in random stabbings in Manhattan
• On this day in 1985: Reagan and Gorbachev hold their first summit meeting

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“In the twilight of our life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well we have loved.” —St. John of the Cross

Denison Forum

With the election finished and the Republicans in control of both the presidency and Congress, much of the national attention has shifted to what the government will look like going forward. To that end, President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to fill out his administration have led the news in recent days.

Most of his early picks garnered praise—or at least acceptance—by the bulk of his fellow Republicans. However, more recent selections like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the US Health and Human Services leader, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, and Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense have been a bit more controversial. Yet each of their paths to office looks simple when compared with Matt Gaetz—Trump’s choice for attorney general.

Shortly after news broke that Gaetz would be Trump’s pick for AG, he resigned from the House, where he’d served as the representative for Florida’s 1^st congressional district since 2017, which some have seen as a sign of confidence that he will be approved for the position. Yet, Gaetz’s resignation also means that he’s no longer under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, which was mere days away from releasing the report of their investigation into Gaetz on allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and a number of other accusations.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn—one of the party’s leading figures and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee—has since spoken for many in arguing that the report should be part of the deliberations into whether Gaetz will be approved for the post of attorney general.

Concerns that his preferred choices will not be approved could be part of why, earlier this week, Trump urged Senate leaders to be willing to agree to recess appointments in order to expedite the process.

But what are recess appointments, and why has the notion proved so controversial in recent days?

What are recess appointments?

Recess appointments are a constitutional provision that allows the president to appoint officials without Senate approval while the congressional body is not in session. In the nation’s early days, it could take senators weeks to travel to Congress, and the legislature would only meet for a short period of time before going into recess. In that environment, it made sense to give the president the authority to make appointments on his own when the situation warranted a quick decision.

But despite the circumstances being drastically different in modern times than in the late 1700s, recess appointments continued to be a tool used by both Republican and Democratic presidents to circumvent the Senate. That began to change, however, in 2014 when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Obama had stepped beyond his authority in recess-appointing four members of the National Labor Relations Board. Justice Antonin Scalia went so far as to say the practice’s “only remaining use is the ignoble one of enabling the President to circumvent the Senate’s role.”

The Court also set a ten-day minimum for how long the Senate would need to be in recess before any such appointments could be made without their approval. Ever since, the Senate has routinely scheduled “pro forma” sessions every few days during recess periods. Pro forma sessions are where a single representative will show up for a few minutes to start a session before then closing it without doing anything.

So while it is within Trump’s authority to ask the Senate to go on recess, actually taking that route seems unlikely.

To start, it would mean essentially shutting down the legislature for at least eleven days at the start of his presidency, thereby limiting how much he could accomplish in his first weeks back in office. Moreover, at least fifty senators would have to agree to go into an extended recess in order to clear the way for him to be able to make recess appointments. Considering that’s the same number needed to simply approve his recommended candidates, the most likely scenario is that his call for recess appointments was more of an attempt to set the tone for the next four years.

While there is some merit to establishing that precedent early, if Trump attempts to proceed with his insistence on recess appointments, he may also learn that what can be done and what should be done are not always the same. And that’s a lesson that each of us would do well to remember, particularly when it comes to our relationship with God.

Pursuing a life God can bless

The difference between “Can I do this?” and “Should I do this?” may seem subtle, but what it reveals about our focus and frame of mind is often quite telling. For example, if I finish dinner and see ice cream in the freezer, I’m far more likely to ask, “Can I have some?” than “Should I have some?” In that circumstance, whether or not it’s best for me to have a delicious dessert matters far less than if I can get away with eating one.

While that’s a relatively minor example, the principle is important to recognize. And that’s particularly the case when we’re asking the question of God, as it reveals whether our focus is more on what we want or what he wants for us.

You see, in most circumstances, there are multiple choices we could make that will not necessarily put us outside of God’s will or lead us into sin. However, just because God doesn’t punish us for the choice doesn’t mean that he will bless it.

One of the primary temptations we face as Christians is to settle for living in God’s permissive will rather than striving for a life he can actively bless.

It’s easy to think that, so long as I’m not sinning, I must be doing the right thing. But God wants far more for us. He wants us to live a life that he can bless, but that means asking him what we should do rather than what we can do. It means prioritizing what he wants for us over what we want for ourselves. And it means learning to rely upon his guidance in every facet of our lives rather than just those we’re comfortable surrendering to him.

So which question will you ask of God today? Will you settle for what you can do, or pursue what the Lord says you should do?

The decision is yours. Choose wisely.

Friday news to know:

• Federal judge blocks enforcement of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law
• Congress holds another hearing about UFOs
• Florida sues FEMA for skipping Trump supporters when offering aid.
• Tech company creates AI grandma to keep phone scammers preoccupied
• On this day in 1988: Yasser Arafat and the Palestine National Council declare independence for a Palestinian state

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“God never gave a man a thing to do, concerning which it were irreverent to ponder how the Son of God would have done it.” —George Macdonald

Denison Forum

With the election finished and the Republicans in control of both the presidency and Congress, much of the national attention has shifted to what the government will look like going forward. To that end, President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to fill out his administration have led the news in recent days.

Most of his early picks garnered praise—or at least acceptance—by the bulk of his fellow Republicans. However, more recent selections like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the US Health and Human Services leader, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, and Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense have been a bit more controversial. Yet each of their paths to office looks simple when compared with Matt Gaetz—Trump’s choice for attorney general.

Shortly after news broke that Gaetz would be Trump’s pick for AG, he resigned from the House, where he’d served as the representative for Florida’s 1^st congressional district since 2017, which some have seen as a sign of confidence that he will be approved for the position. Yet, Gaetz’s resignation also means that he’s no longer under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, which was mere days away from releasing the report of their investigation into Gaetz on allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and a number of other accusations.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn—one of the party’s leading figures and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee—has since spoken for many in arguing that the report should be part of the deliberations into whether Gaetz will be approved for the post of attorney general.

Concerns that his preferred choices will not be approved could be part of why, earlier this week, Trump urged Senate leaders to be willing to agree to recess appointments in order to expedite the process.

But what are recess appointments, and why has the notion proved so controversial in recent days?

What are recess appointments?

Recess appointments are a constitutional provision that allows the president to appoint officials without Senate approval while the congressional body is not in session. In the nation’s early days, it could take senators weeks to travel to Congress, and the legislature would only meet for a short period of time before going into recess. In that environment, it made sense to give the president the authority to make appointments on his own when the situation warranted a quick decision.

But despite the circumstances being drastically different in modern times than in the late 1700s, recess appointments continued to be a tool used by both Republican and Democratic presidents to circumvent the Senate. That began to change, however, in 2014 when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Obama had stepped beyond his authority in recess-appointing four members of the National Labor Relations Board. Justice Antonin Scalia went so far as to say the practice’s “only remaining use is the ignoble one of enabling the President to circumvent the Senate’s role.”

The Court also set a ten-day minimum for how long the Senate would need to be in recess before any such appointments could be made without their approval. Ever since, the Senate has routinely scheduled “pro forma” sessions every few days during recess periods. Pro forma sessions are where a single representative will show up for a few minutes to start a session before then closing it without doing anything.

So while it is within Trump’s authority to ask the Senate to go on recess, actually taking that route seems unlikely.

To start, it would mean essentially shutting down the legislature for at least eleven days at the start of his presidency, thereby limiting how much he could accomplish in his first weeks back in office. Moreover, at least fifty senators would have to agree to go into an extended recess in order to clear the way for him to be able to make recess appointments. Considering that’s the same number needed to simply approve his recommended candidates, the most likely scenario is that his call for recess appointments was more of an attempt to set the tone for the next four years.

While there is some merit to establishing that precedent early, if Trump attempts to proceed with his insistence on recess appointments, he may also learn that what can be done and what should be done are not always the same. And that’s a lesson that each of us would do well to remember, particularly when it comes to our relationship with God.

Pursuing a life God can bless

The difference between “Can I do this?” and “Should I do this?” may seem subtle, but what it reveals about our focus and frame of mind is often quite telling. For example, if I finish dinner and see ice cream in the freezer, I’m far more likely to ask, “Can I have some?” than “Should I have some?” In that circumstance, whether or not it’s best for me to have a delicious dessert matters far less than if I can get away with eating one.

While that’s a relatively minor example, the principle is important to recognize. And that’s particularly the case when we’re asking the question of God, as it reveals whether our focus is more on what we want or what he wants for us.

You see, in most circumstances, there are multiple choices we could make that will not necessarily put us outside of God’s will or lead us into sin. However, just because God doesn’t punish us for the choice doesn’t mean that he will bless it.

One of the primary temptations we face as Christians is to settle for living in God’s permissive will rather than striving for a life he can actively bless.

It’s easy to think that, so long as I’m not sinning, I must be doing the right thing. But God wants far more for us. He wants us to live a life that he can bless, but that means asking him what we should do rather than what we can do. It means prioritizing what he wants for us over what we want for ourselves. And it means learning to rely upon his guidance in every facet of our lives rather than just those we’re comfortable surrendering to him.

So which question will you ask of God today? Will you settle for what you can do, or pursue what the Lord says you should do?

The decision is yours. Choose wisely.

Friday news to know:

• Federal judge blocks enforcement of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law
• Congress holds another hearing about UFOs
• Florida sues FEMA for skipping Trump supporters when offering aid.
• Tech company creates AI grandma to keep phone scammers preoccupied
• On this day in 1988: Yasser Arafat and the Palestine National Council declare independence for a Palestinian state

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“God never gave a man a thing to do, concerning which it were irreverent to ponder how the Son of God would have done it.” —George Macdonald

Denison Forum

Redeeming the crises of our day with transforming hope

If you’re in need of some advice or encouragement, you might consider visiting the Grandma Stand, a mobile station in New York City. Here you’ll be able to talk with a real grandmother ready to listen to your troubles and offer timely wisdom.

Today’s news offers much to discuss:

• Chinese officials are discussing the weaponizing of viruses far deadlier than COVID-19 to be used for “specific ethnic genetic attacks.”
• Multiple climate disasters have triggered the first-ever Red Cross disaster insurance payout.
• Henry Kissinger and his co-authors are warning that “AI can save humanity—or end it.”
• Iranian leaders, panicked over the election of Donald Trump and the success of Israel’s recent attacks, may push to develop nuclear weapons.

Various populations across the centuries have faced crises that threatened their future. But now, for the first time in human history, humans have the capacity to end human history.

• Weaponized viruses could conceivably spread beyond containment and destroy our species.
• The UN leader warns that climate disasters could render our planet uninhabitable.
• Artificial intelligence could become sentient, determine humans to be a threat to itself, and take measures to wipe us out.
• Nuclear weapons have been in existence for generations, but they were controlled by nations deterred by “mutually assured destruction”—if one launched on the other, the other would retaliate in ways that would destroy the instigator. But some Islamic theologians claim that if Iran attacked Israel and its collaborators in the West, their Mahdi (a messianic figure) would then reappear to protect Muslims. And autocrats in China and Russia may consider the deaths of millions of their people to be a price worth paying to achieve global hegemony for themselves and their empires.

Why would God allow such unprecedented existential challenges?

How would he redeem them for his glory and our good?

Both questions lead to the same hope.

The higher the mountain, the harder the climb

It is endemic to our fallen human nature to trust our fallen human nature. Our “will to power” drives us to try harder and work longer to overcome any obstacle we face.

We draw inspiration from calls to action such as Theodore Roosevelt’s stirring praise for “the man who is actually in the arena . . .  who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

The higher the mountain, the harder the climb but the greater the reward. Or so we tell ourselves.

But what if Oswald Chambers was right to assert, “Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man”?

What if the Westminster Shorter Catechism is correct when it claims, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever”?

What if the challenges of our world are therefore intended by our Maker to draw us from self-sufficiency to Spirit-dependence?

We could then conclude that if we will not trust God with our small challenges, he must allow us to face dangers so cataclysmic that we must abandon our self-reliance and admit that we are “so far down we can look nowhere but up.”

A hinge point in history

Seen in this light, the gravest problems we face are worth their cost if they motivate us to submit to the One who alone can make our lives eternally significant. Ten thousand millennia after the last election has been held, the last war has been fought, and the last article has been written, eternity will only have begun.

But there’s more: Not only does God want to use our existential threats to draw us to himself—he then wants us to seek his omniscience and omnipotence in facing them together. He is a loving Father who cares not only about our eternal souls but also our temporal lives.

To illustrate: Jesus healed so many bodies during his earthly ministry that he is often called the “Great Physician.” Such healings frequently led to spiritual outcomes, such as the man born blind who received his sight and then worshiped him as Lord (John 9:38). But some of his miracles had no such recorded outcomes.

For example, after Jesus healed a man’s withered hand, “the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him” (Matthew 12:14). When he healed a blind man, “he sent him to his home” with no apparent spiritual results (Mark 8:22–26).

I say this to make the point that our Lord cares deeply about the crises we face, from viruses to climate challenges to the future of AI to geopolitical nuclear threats. He has wisdom we cannot begin to comprehend and power we cannot begin to match.

I therefore believe that future historians (if mankind survives long enough) will point to these days as a crucial hinge point in history—a time when we turned to the King of the universe in a great spiritual and moral awakening, or the time when our society’s ongoing spiritual and moral collapse began spiraling to a grievous end.

“He is no fool”

If America is to choose the first before it’s too late, Christians like you and me must lead the way. We must repent of self-reliant idolatry that uses spiritual means to achieve selfish ends. We must instead submit our lives unconditionally to the will and Spirit of God (Romans 12:1–2; Ephesians 5:18), remembering with the martyred missionary Jim Elliot that “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

The more passionately you “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” the more your Father can ensure that everything else “will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

The Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli wrote:

“Never waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis.”

Will you heed his advice today?

NOTE: For more encouragement to trust God’s power and love, I invite you to read my new website article, “’Nature’s Best Photography Awards’ and grandeur in the sky: What creation tells America about our Creator.”

Thursday news to know:

• Trump nominates Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general in surprise pick
• Thune wins contested race for Senate GOP leader
• Mike Johnson wins GOP nod to remain House speaker with Trump’s backing
• Republicans win House, delivering Trump a trifecta
• On this day in 1914: Ottoman Empire declares a holy war

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“If our lives are easy, and if all we ever attempt for God is what we know we can handle, how will we ever experience his omnipotence in our lives?” —Anne Graham Lotz

Denison Forum

Why divisiveness threatens our democracy and the gospel is our hope

A federal disaster relief official reportedly ordered workers to bypass the homes of Donald Trump’s supporters as they surveyed damage from Hurricane Milton in Florida. As a result, when FEMA workers identified residents who could qualify for federal aid, at least twenty homes with Trump yard signs or flags were not given the opportunity to qualify for assistance. The official was later fired.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden will meet in the White House today, but the rancor between their parties will endure long past last week’s election.

And like Trump supporters passed over for help in Florida, there will be victims all around.

The enemy is the other party

American elections are typically won by candidates who convince voters that (1) they are facing an enemy they cannot defeat and (2) the candidate will defeat their enemy if they vote for him or her. At various times, this “enemy” has been a foreign belligerent, such as Germany, Japan, or the Soviet Union, or a domestic challenge such as economic downturns.

Today, the “enemy” is the other party.

One side sees itself as the defender of preborn babies and traditional morality. The other side sees itself as the defender of women’s reproductive freedom, civil rights, and equality for all. These are crucial causes that far transcend electoral politics.

Many on each side are convinced that for them to win, the other side must lose. Not only because the other side’s causes are wrong, but because those who hold them are dangerous to America.

This is a different form of prejudice than I have seen in my lifetime. Discrimination against Jews and other racial minorities is a tragic fact of life across the world, an issue I discuss at some depth in my new website article, “A visit that marked me for the rest of my life: Four roots of antisemitism and three urgent calls to action.” As I note, people typically discriminate against those they envy, consider to be succeeding unfairly, or see as inferior to themselves.

But to disparage and even despise another American because of their political affiliation and the assumption that they are therefore hazardous to our nation—that is something else.

And an ominous threat to the future of our democracy.

If this divisiveness persists

If you and I were living in a monarchy, we would need to get along with the monarch more than with each other. If we were living under communism, we would need to get along with communist officials more than with our neighbors.

But we live in a democratic republic where we elect each other to office, hold each other accountable through elections, jury trials, and the media, support the state with our taxes, trade with each other in commerce, and live with each other in community.

As a result, the more polarized we become, the less functional our society becomes.

If our divisiveness persists, the day will come when we won’t trust the validity of our elections or the character of those we elect. We won’t trust the justice of our courts or the veracity of our media. We won’t trust the integrity of our financial systems or the goodwill of our neighbors.

We will therefore see increasing attempts to restrict the freedom of speech of those we consider dangerous (here’s one post-election example). Crime will escalate as criminals see others not as victims but as means to their ends. People will congregate in communities, schools, businesses, and churches that share their political ideology and listen only to media with which they agree, further fragmenting the social fabric of our nation. And our consensual democracy will become more endangered with each passing year.

But the good news is that the gospel is the good news we need most.

Roman soldiers and Jewish priests

Jesus’ first followers were anything but a homogeneous lot.

Matthew collected taxes for the Roman Empire, while Simon the Zealot was aligned with a guerrilla movement seeking its overthrow. In a day when Jews and Gentiles despised each other, Jesus’ movement included both. In a society where women were devalued, women were among his most visible followers. Demoniacs were healed, adulterers were forgiven, and both were welcomed into his family of faith.

His movement soon encompassed people from fifteen different language groups (Acts 2:9–11). It came to include Roman soldiers and jailers along with Jewish priests and Pharisees.

Was this because people in the first century were more gracious, forgiving, and charitable than we are? Or was it because there’s something transformative and unifying about the message they embraced? And something attractive about their lives once they embraced it?

“With Christ joy is constantly born anew”

Tim Keller encapsulated the message of Jesus:

The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.

If I truly believe that I am “loved and accepted in Jesus Christ,” I am free to love and accept you as I am loved and accepted by my Lord. But if I do not embrace this fact, I am as susceptible to the divisiveness of our day as anyone.

I feel deeply the weight of our moral issues and see those with whom I disagree as deeply and tragically wrong. It is only when I embrace the transforming truth of the gospel that I can see others as God sees them. It is only then that I can be a cultural missionary who speaks the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) rather than a cultural warrior who must defeat his enemies.

Only Jesus can turn hearts inflamed by animosity into hearts empowered by grace. Only he can inspire us to choose forgiveness over vengeance. Only he can replace the cycle of retribution with the joy of community. Pope Francis was right:

The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.

For the sake of our democracy and the health of your soul, will you take time to “encounter Jesus” again today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Archbishop of Canterbury resigns over UK church abuse scandal
• Who will be the next Senate majority leader?
• Trump picks Kristi Noem to be Homeland Security Secretary
• Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor, is Trump’s choice for ambassador to Israel
• On this day in 1982: Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“You could join a church. You can go through a religious ceremony. You can say a prayer and not be changed. But if you really encounter Jesus, you will be changed. No one encounters Jesus and remains the same.” —Derek Prince

Denison Forum

Antisemitism and the wrath of Almighty God

Israeli soccer fans were in Amsterdam last Thursday night for a game between a club from Tel Aviv and a Dutch club. Suddenly, mobs unleashed a wave of violence against them, chasing Jews through the streets on motorbikes and beating them. According to Dutch authorities, the campaign was organized beforehand and the attackers were equipped for their onslaught. The messaging app Telegram was used to talk about “going on Jew hunts,” Amsterdam’s mayor later reported. One Israeli soccer fan said, “They knew exactly where we stayed. They knew exactly which hotels, which street we were going to take. It was all well-organized, well-prepared.”

The site of the attacks was especially ironic: Amsterdam once had a large and thriving Jewish population, but 75 percent of them perished in the Holocaust. Jewish teenager Anne Frank hid for years in the city before she was arrested in 1944 and died in a Nazi concentration camp.

Now violence against Jews in Amsterdam is rising again along with Holocaust denial. But there is more to the story.

Antisemitism reaches record highs in the US

In a recent survey, 96 percent of Jews from thirteen European countries said they had encountered antisemitism in their daily lives even before the ongoing war in Gaza. Most who responded said they worry for their own (53 percent) and their family’s (60 percent) safety and security. Unsurprisingly, Europe’s Jewish population has dropped 60 percent in the last fifty years.

Lest we think this cannot happen in America, we need to know that it is happening in America.

According to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League Center for Extremism:

• Antisemitic incidents in the US reached a record high since last year’s Hamas attack in Israel.
• More than ten thousand incidents were reported from October 7, 2023, to September 24, 2024, a more than two hundred percent increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
• This is the highest level of antisemitism since the ADL began tracking such incidents in 1979.

Jonathan S. Tobin, editor-in-chief of Jewish News Syndicate, warns:

In essence, every college with an anti-Israel encampment or a campus culture where pro-Israel Jews find themselves ostracized and targeted by faculty and students is an example of how pogroms like that in Amsterdam become a possibility.

The takeover of American education by those advocating for toxic Marxist myths like critical race theory and intersectionality, which falsely label Jews and Israel as “white” oppressors who are always in the wrong and deserve whatever violence is directed at them, has led to the indoctrination of a generation that sees the barbaric atrocities of Oct. 7 as justified “resistance.”

But there is even more to the story.

Three reasons Satan inspires antisemitism

The devil is the author of antisemitism. How do I know?

1. Satan seeks “only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Antisemitism steals from the Jews their security, cultural status, prosperity, and often their possessions. It kills them in the millions; it destroys their communities and seeks to eradicate their race.

2. Satan wants us to strive to be our own god (Genesis 3:5). Antisemitism claims an innate superiority to Jews and a “right” to persecute them, reinforcing the “will to power” at the heart of humanity’s fallen condition.
3. Satan hates God but cannot attack him, so he attacks those whom God loves (cf. Luke 22:31; 1 Peter 5:8). The best way to grieve me is to harm my children. Our Father feels the same about each of us, both Jews and Gentiles (Galatians 3:28).

But there is even more to the story.

Why we must “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”

Antisemitism, like all racism, is an affront to the God who made each of us in his image (Genesis 1:27) and “loves each of us as if there were only one of us” (St. Augustine). Accordingly, throughout Scripture and human history, the Lord invariably and inevitably must bring judgment against those who sin against humanity in this way.

• The Egyptian pharaoh mercilessly enslaved and persecuted Jews, but his army was destroyed in the Red Sea and Moses led the people of Israel to their Promised Land.
• The wicked Haman sought to eradicate the Jews of Persia but was hanged on the scaffold he built for their leader, Mordecai (Esther 7).
• The Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Roman Empires that mercilessly persecuted Jews are no more, but Jews continue to thrive.
• Hitler’s “final solution” murdered six million Jews, but his Third Reich was destroyed and the modern State of Israel was born in response to the Holocaust. More than one million Jews in the Soviet Union were murdered; now the Soviet Union is no more.

Similarly, Abraham Lincoln stated prophetically in his Second Inaugural Address that the Civil War was divine punishment for the sin of slavery, a sin in which all Americans were complicit. From then to today, those who perpetuate the heinous sins of antisemitism and racism against their fellow humans must face the loss of God’s favor and the incursion of his wrath.

So, let us urgently “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” today (Psalm 122:6). By this, let us ask Almighty God to protect Jews and all other oppressed minorities around the world. Let us seek his direction and strength as we seek to answer our prayer with our actions.

And let us remember John Donne’s sober warning:

“Send not to know for whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.”

NOTE: For an up-to-the-minute look at life in Israel today, I invite you to listen to a podcast I recorded last week with Danny Lampel, our long-time guide in the Holy Land and one of my dearest friends. Dr. Mark Turman and Dr. Mike Fanning joined me in talking with Danny about the challenges he and his fellow Israelis are facing and his hopes for the future. I believe you will find our conversation sobering, challenging, and inspiring.

Tuesday news to know:

• Trump expected to name Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State
• Trump names Thomas Homan “border czar” with a wide portfolio
• Army private is identified almost 80 years after death in World War II
• A record 13 women will be governors next year after New Hampshire elected Kelly Ayotte
• On this day in 1954: Ellis Island closes

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The denial of human rights anywhere is a threat to the affirmation of human rights everywhere.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Denison Forum

Of all the political maps and charts relative to last week’s election, the one that struck me the most came from the New York Times. The map is composed of red arrows pointing to the right where US counties moved in the Republicans’ direction and blue arrows pointing to the left where counties moved in the Democrats’ direction. The map is awash in red with only a few nearly indiscernible spots of blue.

The accompanying article states: “Of the counties with nearly complete results, more than 90 percent shifted in favor of former President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential election.”

This direction is obvious to those on both sides of the election. “America is different,” New York Times writers David French and Patrick Healy lamented the night of the election. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan was glad to agree: “America, after its long journey through the 2010s and ’20s, is becoming more conservative again.”

For those whose values could be considered more conservative than progressive or liberal, this news perhaps indicates that our nation has not devolved from our Judeo-Christian moral foundations as far as many feared.

But there is a cloud in this silver lining.

“Civil war carried on by other means”

Following last week’s election, I have been thinking of numerous Christians in public service I have known over the years. Each was grateful for the efforts of believers who worked to help them win their election. Without exception, however, each was frustrated that these same believers did not then become more involved in the communities and governments their leaders were elected to serve.

As several told me, it was as if Christians thought they did all they needed to do by voting for candidates they thought would advance their values. They did not understand that in a democratic republic, elected officials can only do so much to change society.

In his classic book, The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America, Richard John Neuhaus observed, “In a democratic society, state and society must draw from the same moral well.” Americans do not have autocrats or theocrats ruling us from values we may not share or understand. To the contrary, we elect leaders to do what we wish them to do.

In a democracy, our leaders cannot lead us where we are unwilling to go or give us what we are unwilling to receive, which is why Thomas Jefferson observed, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”

Accordingly, if Americans do not coalesce around the consensual morality that was foundational to the beginning of our nation, we can expect our political divisions and rancor to persist. As Neuhaus warned, “In the absence of a public ethic, we arrive at the point where, in Alasdair MacIntyre’s arresting phrase, ‘politics becomes civil war carried on by other means.’”

“Where liberty under law and justice can triumph”

On this Veterans’ Day, we have reason to give profound thanks for the millions of men and women who served our nation and defended our freedoms. But the cause for which they served and many died is a cause that must be served by every generation.

As Ronald Reagan famously warned in his 1967 Inaugural Address as governor of California, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Earlier in that address, Mr. Reagan also stated:

It is inconceivable to me that anyone could accept this delegated authority without asking God’s help. And I pray that we of the legislature and the administration can be granted the wisdom and the strength beyond our own limited powers. That with divine guidance we can avoid easy expedience. That we can work to build a state where liberty under law and justice can triumph, where compassion can govern and wherein the people can participate and prosper because of their government and not in spite of it.

Now the path we chart is not an easy one. It demands much of those chosen to govern, but also from those who did the choosing.

“Quite a different house from the one you thought of”

This same “path” lies before our nation today.

Here’s the problem: It is difficult to motivate people to be more moral than they already are. In a democracy, the only way to effect lasting change is to inspire people to want to change.

To this end, what America needs most is for America’s Christians to be the actual presence of Christ. Nothing less than Christlike character will do. Nothing less than Christlike compassion, courage, wisdom, evangelism, and ministry will suffice.

As the brilliant sociologist James Davison Hunter demonstrates persuasively in To Change the World, culture is changed most effectively not by winning elections, building large churches, or gaining social popularity, but by people who achieve their highest place of influence and then live there effectively. He calls this manifesting “faithful presence.”

My prayer is that you and I settle for nothing less than lives so transformed by God’s Spirit that our secularized society wants the change they see in us.

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis made my point in a powerful and poignant way:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to?

The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.

Are you so submitted to God’s Spirit that he can build nothing less than a “palace” with you today?

Monday news to know:

• Trump wins Arizona to sweep swing states and secure 312 total electoral votes
• Trump and Biden to meet in Oval Office on Wednesday
• Amsterdam bans protests for three days following violent attacks on Israeli soccer fans
• Ukraine launches “massive attack” on Moscow, shutting down airports
• On this day in 1918: Armistice Day: World War I ends

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God” —John Piper

Denison Forum

A warning to Christians from the 2024 election

In the wake of Tuesday’s election, members of the Democratic Party have spent a great deal of energy trying to explain why Kamala Harris lost and Donald Trump won. And while most perspectives have covered the gamut from “America is racist and sexist” to “President Biden should have dropped out sooner,” some less beholden to the party line are urging Democratic leaders to take a step back and be a bit more introspective.

Brett Stephens, for example, perceptively assigns blame to “three larger mistakes of worldview”:

First, the conviction among many liberals that things were pretty much fine, if not downright great, in Biden’s America — and that anyone who didn’t think that way was either a right-wing misinformer or a dupe. Second, the refusal to see how profoundly distasteful so much of modern liberalism has become to so much of America. Third, the insistence that the only appropriate form of politics when it comes to Trump is the politics of Resistance — capital R.

There is truth to all three, but the first point in particular seems crucial to any objective understanding of Tuesday’s results.

You see, America has always been a divided nation to some extent. While we can, at times, unite around a common goal, even then, the diversity that exists within our society will inevitably lead to some fairly clear lines between the various groups that make up the nation.

And that’s all right. After all, diversity cannot exist without differences, and God made each of us unique. However, he also intended for us to share a common foundation as people made in his image (Genesis 1:27).

It should not come as a surprise that, as our culture increasingly rejects that foundation, we’re struggling to keep our differences from becoming divisive.

As a result, we’re facing what David Brooks calls “a crisis of respect.” And while he sees those issues as playing out primarily on the left, I think it’s fair to say that all of us struggle at times to show respect to those who think differently than we do on the issues we find most important.

Fortunately, we’re not the first group to struggle with that problem.

First-century problems today

In a recent article for Christianity Today, Julien C. H. Smith looked to Paul’s letter to the Romans for guidance on how to deal with division in a way that honors both God and those with whom we disagree.

He notes that, for the first-century church in Rome, the division between Gentile and Jewish Christians over issues like the dietary laws threatened to tear their community apart. Both sides were convinced that not only were they correct, but that the other side was simply too ignorant and obstinate to see the truth.

Does that sound familiar?

In Rome, it led them to see their fellow believers as more of a problem to solve than a person to love. We’re seeing the same approach in our culture today. Smith notes that the problem only gets more acute when the people with whom we disagree are an unavoidable part of our lives:

When our enemies are distant, the question of loving them can be conveniently ignored. But when the enemy is across the table, in the same committee meeting, or in a group project, the countercultural wisdom and necessity of Jesus’ commands—love your enemy, who is your neighbor (Matt. 5:43–44)—becomes apparent.

Perhaps that need for distance is why so many in our culture retreat to echo chambers and cling so tightly to their mischaracterizations of the other side. But God has no intention of allowing us to live that kind of life. Instead, he’s called us to be salt and light, changing our culture from within rather than lobbing Bible verses and judgment from the relative safety of like-minded communities.

And Paul argued that the best place to start is by welcoming others as Christ has welcomed us (Romans 15:7). So how do we do that?

Three ways to be welcoming

One: No one needs to earn kindness

The first step is remembering that our call to be kind and welcoming toward others has nothing to do with whether they have earned such accommodation. Rather, it is meant to be an act of obedience, done in gratitude for the way God has welcomed us.

That doesn’t mean we should act foolishly or recklessly welcome every passing stranger into our home. But the reminder that we are to treat others with respect and dignity because that’s how Christ has treated us should make it easier to look past our disagreements to see people as God does.

Two: People are more than their politics

The second step—one that is incredibly important in our current climate—is to remember that people are more than their politics. To be sure, there are some crazies out there who have made politics their new religion and worship at the feet of whatever party leader best represents their views at a given moment. But most people have a better grasp on reality than that, and how they voted (or if they voted) should not define the way we see them.

So if Tuesday’s election comes up in conversation at the office, among friends, or at the Thanksgiving table in a few weeks’ time, don’t let politics become the primary lens through which you view someone. They are no more the sum of their political views than you are, which leads us to the last point we need to keep in mind.

Three: Differences are an opportunity to learn from each other

The third and final step in welcoming others as Christ has welcomed us is to entertain the possibility that those with different views than our own can have something to teach us.

Of all the ways in which our society has suffered as a result of the “crisis of respect” we’re currently facing, the inability to learn from one another has to be toward the top of the list. Engaging with people who think differently than you is often the best way to evaluate your own beliefs.

Even if the conversation serves only to reinforce that your thoughts are correct, testing them against their ideological counterparts can help you to better understand why they are true. And more often than we may care to admit, those conversations will reveal blind spots or holes in our argument. When that happens, treating the corrections as an opportunity rather than a threat is key.

As Christians who serve the God who is Truth, we do the gospel and our witness a disservice when we earn the reputation as a people who are closed-minded and unwilling to engage with beliefs that are different from our own.

So the next time you are given the opportunity to talk with someone whose views differ from yours, recognize it as a chance to grow and potentially help the other person to do the same.

Will you pray that God will give you just such an opportunity today?

 Friday news to know:

• President-elect Trump names Susie Wiles as his Chief of Staff
• Florida, South Dakota, and Nebraska become the first states to vote not to expand abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned
• California wildfires force thousands to flee their homes
• Ancient Babylonian tablet may reveal the resting place of Noah’s Ark
• On this day in 1895: German scientist accidentally discovers X-rays

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” —Anne Lamott

Denison Forum

Why we want more of what we want most

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove called Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election “the most astonishing campaign in modern history.” After reading scores of reports on the results, I cannot find anyone who disagrees.

Analysts are citing the economy in general, inflation in particular, President Biden’s ego, Kamala Harris as a candidate, her failure to distinguish herself from Mr. Biden, vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, the Democratic Party, the media, and the American electorate.

However, one of the most insightful critiques I have found takes a completely different approach.

“This was no ordinary contest”

Daniel McCarthy is the editor of an intellectual journal called Modern Age: A Conservative Review. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, the Spectator, the National Interest, and a variety of other publications. Immediately following Donald Trump’s re-election, he published a guest essay in the New York Times titled, “This Is Why Trump Won.”

He writes:

This was no ordinary contest between two candidates from rival parties: The real choice before voters was between Mr. Trump and everyone else—not only the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, and her party, but also Republicans like Liz Cheney, top military officers like Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. John Kelly (also a former chief of staff), outspoken members of the intelligence community, and Nobel Prize-winning economists.

Framed this way, the presidential contest became an example of what’s known in economics as “creative destruction.” His opponents certainly fear that Mr. Trump will destroy American democracy itself.

To his supporters, however, a vote for Mr. Trump meant a vote to evict a failed leadership class from power and recreate the nation’s institutions under a new set of standards that would better serve American citizens.

In this view, those who gave Mr. Trump and his party such a strong mandate want them to forge a different and better future for our nation than previous administrations from both parties have been able to create. I am not only convinced Mr. McCarthy is right—I think his explanation provides a vital, even crucial insight for Christians seeking to serve Jesus in our post-Christian culture.

We want more of what we want most

One sentiment all humans share is a longing for more. Even on our best days, we want more of what we want most. Plato explained this as our “soul” remembering its preincarnate life. An evolutionary approach would suggest that we seek to improve ourselves and our world to propagate ourselves and our species. Psychologists might point to the “idealized self,” the person we wish to be and strive to convince others that we are.

A biblical explanation is that we were created by God for a personal relationship with him in a perfect paradise. Our sin led to our expulsion from Eden; the story of humanity is our striving to return. This is by divine design—despite our fallen state, we still possess a deep desire for the “abundant” life our Father wants for his children (John 10:10).

What priorities does our Lord intend this longing to produce?

One: Improve this world for the common good.

Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Babylon is equally relevant to spiritual exiles wherever we live: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lᴏʀᴅ on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7).

Two: Depend on God to do what we cannot.

The more we strive for a better world, the more frustrated we become when we fail. And the more we should then turn to the One who alone can change human hearts (2 Corinthians 5:17). Praying for the lost to be saved and for the saved to be sanctified is the most powerful way to serve both.

Three: Use this world to prepare for the eutopia to come.

1. 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.” As we serve the common good with the help of God, we realize that the good we seek most is available only in the world to come (cf. Romans 8:18). We then use this life to serve life eternal.

“People who have come to know the joy of God”

Here’s the problem: Satan loves to pervert all that God creates. In this context, he tempts us to invert our three priorities to align with our secularized culture:

1. Improve this life for self-serving purposes.
2. Depend on ourselves to do what others cannot.
3. Strive to make a utopia of this world.

Now you and I must choose every day between Satan’s strategy and our Father’s priorities. It’s not enough to want the latter—we must intentionally and strategically enact them and measure success by them every day.

The further our culture drifts from God’s word and favor, the more urgent such priorities become—for us and for the nation we’re called to reach with biblical truth and grace.

To this end, let’s consider an observation from Henri Nouwen:

People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. They claim that the light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself and that a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness. They point each other to flashes of light here and there, and remind each other that they reveal the hidden but real presence of God.

They discover that there are people who heal each other’s wounds, forgive each other’s offenses, share their possessions, foster the spirit of community, celebrate the gifts they have received, and live in constant anticipation of the full manifestation of God’s glory.

Will you “come to know the joy of God” today?

NOTE: What if this Christmas could be your most meaningful one yet? My wife Janet’s The Perfect Christmas devotional will guide you through daily reflections to help you reconnect with the true joy of Advent. When you give today, your generosity will help keep this Daily Article email coming to your inbox — and we’ll send you this 25-day book to thank you for your support.

Thursday news to know:

• Dow surges 1500 points to record, bonds tumble after Trump is elected president
• Iran’s currency falls to an all-time low as Trump clinches the US presidency
• German government coalition collapses as Scholz sacks Finance Minister Lindner
• Coal recovered from the Titanic and thousands of other historic shipwreck artifacts are going to auction
• On this day in 1944: FDR wins unprecedented fourth term

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“For Christians, the present life is the closest they will come to hell. For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to heaven.” —Randy Alcorn

Denison Forum

Viewing this moment through the lenses of history, culture, and Scripture

Donald Trump has been elected the forty-seventh president of the United States.

• The New York Times estimates he will win the Electoral College 312–226.
• At this writing, he is leading the popular vote 51 percent to 47 percent.
• Republicans are projected to take back the US Senate and posted early gains as they seek to retain control of the House of Representatives.
• Of the US counties with nearly complete results, more than 90 percent shifted in favor of Mr. Trump.

As more is known, we will have ample opportunity to analyze this historic outcome. For today, let’s step back for some larger perspective, seeking to view our nation and this moment through the lenses of history, culture, and Scripture.

Convening in the church choir loft

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in which he stated: “In no other place and at no other time has the experiment of government of the people, by the people, for the people, been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country.” His words are still true 121 years later.

America has now conducted its sixtieth presidential election, beginning with George Washington’s unanimous victory in 1789. However, our system of self-governance goes back much further: the colony of Jamestown elected “burgesses” (citizens who represented a “borough” or neighborhood) in 1619. The group then convened in the church choir loft.

Elective democracy both expresses and forges our national character. It is the natural outgrowth of our founding creed that “all men are created equal,” offering us a way to govern ourselves through a system that constrains autonomous authority while rewarding consensual leadership and morality.

However, it seems that the bonds of trust essential to our democratic experiment are weaker than at any time in my lifetime.

• Before yesterday’s election, security fencing was erected around the White House, the US Capitol, and Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, DC.
• A large network of activists organized to monitor the elections, seeking either to protect the integrity of the results or to promote false claims of fraud, depending on your perspective.
• Survivalist communities have been established around the country, storing supplies and preparing for what they think could be a second civil war.
• Fears about the future of the nation are now our highest source of stress.

What explains such distrust and disillusionment?

Beware the “cult of happiness”

America’s founders intended our system of checks and balances to prevent a return to monarchy through unchecked individual power. But fallen human nature, with our “will to power” and drive to be our own gods (Genesis 3:5), cannot be fully constrained by human governance. Laws cannot enforce morality; politics cannot change human character.

In addition, today we can employ a vast array of tools for wielding power in ways the founders could never have envisioned. Social media platforms give our personal opinions unfiltered access to the world; artificial intelligence enables heretofore unimaginable tools for deception; advances in genomics could equip us to “edit” babies and “improve” our species.

Not to mention the growing secularization, materialism, and commercialization of our post-Christian society. In a brilliant essay analyzing our cultural moment, Walter Russell Mead warns:

The cult of happiness as interpreted by a society organized around the excitation and satisfaction of demand in a consumer economy is one of the most destructive features of the contemporary world.

Clearly, Mr. Trump is facing monumental challenges to the vibrancy and even the validity of our democracy. What can Christians do to help most effectively?

Where religion “ought to be brought”

Charles Spurgeon stated:

“I often hear it said, ‘Do not bring religion into politics.’ This is precisely where it ought to be brought.”

How do we “bring religion into politics” in our post-Christian, even anti-Christian culture? By first bringing politicians to our Lord. We are assured, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). To this end, I invite you to offer these biblical prayers for our president and nation:

• Pray for President Trump to seek God’s wisdom and to lead with biblical priorities and a servant’s heart. Pray for God to use him to unify our nation and to protect him and his administration from evil and to empower them for good (1 Timothy 2:1–2).
• Pray for Congress and other elected leaders to be women and men of godly character who set aside personal and partisan agendas to work together for the common good (John 13:14).
• Pray for America’s Christians and Christian leaders to be people of prayer, humility, and grace. Ask that we be empowered to speak the truth to our fallen culture in love (Acts 4:29–31; Ephesians 5:18).
• Pray for all Americans to honor our leaders, love each other, and “fear God” (1 Peter 2:17).
• Pray that you would be the change our nation needs to see today (Romans 12:1–2).

After thanking God for the provisions of liberty extended to America, Theodore prayed “for strength, and light, so that in the coming years we may with cleanliness, fearlessness, and wisdom, do our allotted work on the earth in such a manner as to show that we are not altogether unworthy of the blessings we have received.”

To this end, he prayed that “our hearts may be roused to war steadfastly for good and against all the forces of evil, public and private.”

Would you take a moment right now to pray his words for yourself, our president, and our nation?

NOTE: For more on the urgency of this cultural moment, please see my latest website article, “Is God on the ballot or are we? A reflection on divine judgment and our national future.”

Wednesday news to know:

• Netanyahu fires Gallant, names Israel Katz as defense minister
• “Walking pneumonia” is surging ahead of cold and flu season
• Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says clashes with North Korean troops “open page” to instability
• Tropical Storm Rafael expected to become a hurricane
• On this day in 1860: Abraham Lincoln elected president

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all pray.” —R. A. Torrey

Denison Forum

What our fears about the future say about the future of our nation

Politicians and pundits on both sides of our deep partisan divide are warning us that if their party does not win tomorrow’s election, our democracy will be imperiled. Others are confident that this is not true. Renowned Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan assures us, “This intense season will pass, the losers will feel crushed, and we will forge our way through” as we have so often before. She reminds us that we’ve not given up on each other in the past and encourages us to keep our faith in democracy and in one another. Representing a different point on our political spectrum, McKay Coppins writes in the Atlantic, “This is not the end of America,” noting that democracy is less an institution than the people it serves.

On the eve of one of the most unique and consequential elections in American history, I’d like to suggest a third perspective, one that points to the hope transcending all that happens in and to our nation this week.

Two competing realities and three forms of governance

America’s founders were vitally aware of two competing realities. On one hand, as our Declaration of Independence declares, “All men are created equal,” an expression of the biblical fact that “God created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27).

At the same time, they knew that as fallen people, none of us could be trusted with autonomous power. That’s why they created three separate but equal branches of government, each holding the other in check. This system can produce gridlock and 50–50 political divisions that some lament, but as political analyst Yuval Levin has noted, it also ensures that all are represented and none can have an unfair monopoly over others.

Of the three forms of governance—autocracy, theocracy, and democracy—the third is truest to our sacred but fallen human nature. The first depends on a single individual to rule well. The second depends on humans to infallibly interpret and exercise the divine will. The third depends on humans governing themselves and each other within the rule of law.

As America’s history shows, this model can see us through world wars, economic depressions, civil unrest, and massive technological and cultural disruptions.

“The deepest habit of mind in the contemporary world”

But there’s a potentially fatal flaw in this system: since we have no king or theocratic ruler greater than ourselves, since our government is “of the people, by the people, for the people,” we have no authority or power greater than ourselves to trust when confronting challenges greater than ourselves.

This fact can draw us closer to the One who alone can sustain, protect, and bless us, as it did for so many of our Founders. Or it can encourage an intensified but misguided faith in humanity.

Tragically, we are choosing the latter, replacing God with ourselves and a confidence in “progress” that C. S. Lewis called “universal evolutionism.” He described it this way:

The very formula of universal progress is from imperfect to perfect, from small beginnings to great endings, from the rudimentary to the elaborate, the belief which makes people find it natural to think that morality springs from savage taboos, adult sentiment from infantile sexual maladjustments, thought from instinct, mind from matter, organic from inorganic, cosmos from chaos.

According to Lewis, “This is perhaps the deepest habit of mind in the contemporary world.” In this view, science and human effort will solve our problems and things will inevitably get better.

But things are not inevitably getting better.

In recent days we’ve learned more about the threats of generative AI, another potential pandemic, Iranian nuclear weapons, North Korean missiles, Russian bioweapons, Chinese space weapons, continued terrorism, the rise of global war, and the growing menace of nuclear annihilation.

No wonder Americans are “weary, troubled, and nervous” and more fearful about the future than at any time in recent history. It’s not just that the threats seem greater—they are exposing the fallacy of trusting in ourselves to face them.

“There is nothing coming next”

The Wisdom of Sirach is a second-century BC book included in some versions of the Bible. Whether it should be considered canonical or not, its warning is both prescient and relevant:

Do not rely on your wealth or say, “I have enough.” Do not follow your inclination and strength in pursuing the desires of your heart. Do not say, “Who can have power over me?” (5:1–3).

A better approach is to declare with the prophet: “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lᴏʀᴅ Gᴏᴅ is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).

In Brave by Faith: God-Sized Confidence in a Post-Christian World, pastor and author Alistair Begg writes:

God’s kingdom, and not my nation, is where we belong and where we will be at home, and if we confuse the two, we open ourselves up to confused loyalties and a compromised faith. We are in Babylon—and God is sovereign even here. Nothing is actually out of control and nothing is about to get out of control.

Unfortunately, he adds: “Too much of the public face of evangelicalism is characterized by vociferous, angry venting or panicking, rather than prayerful, humble, calm, and confident belief in a sovereign God who is in control of things.”

Instead, we should remember:

“We are being used to build the only kingdom that will last forever. There is nothing coming next. So, give your best to this kingdom. It may feel small, but it is never in vain, for this kingdom is eternal, and it is God’s.”

Whose kingdom will you trust and serve today?

Monday news to know:

• Rockets from Lebanon wound 11 in Israel
• Quincy Jones, giant of American music, dies at 91
• Spain’s flash flood victims caught in “worst natural catastrophe”
• Citing the pandemic, TGI Fridays files for bankruptcy
• On this day in 2008: Barack Obama elected as America’s first Black president

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“God has a sovereignty over all his creatures and an exclusive right in them, and may make them serviceable to his glory in such a way as he thinks fit, in doing or suffering; and if God be glorified, either by us or in us, we were not made in vain.” —Matthew Henry

Denison Forum

Why a Roman Catholic conference offers an important lesson for all Christians

The Synod on Synodality sounds more like something from Monty Python or The Babylon Bee than a real gathering of church leaders. Yet, as Father Robert Sirico describes, some considered it to be “the most significant global event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s [and] will likely be the defining moment of Pope Francis’ pontificate.”

The Synod, which officially ended this past weekend, was a multi-year series of meetings in which the Catholic Church attempted to “reshape how the church functions by embracing a ‘synodal’ model—one where openness, transparency, and dialogue are central.”

Many understood synodal to mean a shift away from the emphasis on a “universal church” to one that saw Catholicism as more of a “communion of churches.” The move was intended to recognize the increasing diversity within the church and, as Father Giacomo Costa put it, help it to “serve as a hub where people of different backgrounds find unity as brothers and sisters, children of one Father.”

However, in the aftermath of the Synod’s conclusion, the question remains as to how well it achieved that goal.

Where diversity matters most

One of the most significant changes in emphasis from previous synods is that men and women from the church’s laity were invited to take part in the discussions and have their voices heard alongside the bishops. Moreover, representatives from Catholic churches around the globe were present as well to ensure that no region went without a voice in the proceedings.

Yet, a common refrain among many participants was that “for all the talk of openness, the synod’s process was, in fact, carefully controlled.” For example, while the participants reflected the diversity of the church, the leadership did not. Rather, the synod’s drivers hailed primarily from the more progressive side of Catholicism in terms of theology. And that ideological divide is just as, if not more, important than nationality, gender, or a host of other markers of diversity.

One of the primary reasons that the Catholic Church is trying to make room for greater diversity is that the divide between its progressive and conservative wings is nearing a potential breaking point. Schism is a word that has been floated far more frequently in recent years, and it’s not difficult to see why.

German priests started their own version of the synod in 2019 in an effort “to bring pressure on the synod in Rome to address some of the church’s most controversial issues: the decentralization of church authority, questions surrounding sexuality, the role of women, and the life and celibacy of priests.” The result of their meeting was a document calling for the adoption of more progressive views on each of those topics—views that align well with the culture in Europe and much of North America, but that are quite anathema to the rest of the world.

And while the final document from the Synod on Synodality largely avoided discussing such issues, the tension between those two parties should serve as a warning to Christians from every denomination.

When the culture moves on

You see, the progressive wing of the Catholic Church is responding largely to the precipitous drop in both membership and clergy in their areas of the world. Last year, Germany’s Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck spoke of how in his fourteen years as the bishop of Essen, he has “buried almost 300 priests and ordained fifteen.” And that decline is mirrored in the larger population as well.

The culture seems to have moved on from the more traditional doctrines of the church, and the bishops feel the need to try to catch up in order to survive. However, in so doing, they have increasingly moved away from the traditions of the Catholic Church and, more importantly, the truth of Scripture. And the numbers would seem to indicate they have gained little for doing so.

After all, the only parts of the world where the Catholic Church is still growing and demonstrating consistent fruit are the parts that have not wavered in their commitment to biblical teaching on these more controversial issues. It would seem that attempts to placate the culture do little to make it more receptive to the gospel.

As Father Sirico perceptively noted, “It is a stark reminder that when the church loses its focus on its primary mission, it also risks losing its ability to speak meaningfully to the world.”

Maintaining that focus can be difficult, however, when fear begins to drive our decisions.

The church’s greatest strength

Paul’s admonition that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” is among his most oft-quoted teachings (2 Timothy 1:7). Yet, the context for that statement seems particularly relevant to our topic today.

It was only after reminding Timothy of the legacy of faithfulness that he received from his grandmother and his mother (2 Timothy 1:5) that Paul encouraged him to act from a place of God’s power, love, and self-control rather than from his fears. That legacy was meant to remind him that, regardless of his present difficulties, his faith was trustworthy and had proven itself effective in the past.

If Paul could say that based on the gospel’s effectiveness over a few decades, how much more should we believe it today nearly two thousand years later?

Is interest in the gospel declining across much of Europe and North America? Unfortunately yes. But is the problem with the gospel? Absolutely not.

So, as we attempt to help demonstrate our faith’s relevance and validity to the lost around us, we must be sure that we don’t compromise God’s truth in the process. To quote Father Sirico one more time:

“In a world that is increasingly fragmented and uncertain, the church’s strength lies not in its ability to adapt to every cultural shift, but in its steadfast commitment to the truth it has carried for over two millennia. The future of the church—and perhaps of the civilization it helped to build—depends on whether it can hold fast to that identity, even as it navigates the complexities of the modern world.”

Amen.

Friday news to know:

• PhD student discovers lost Mayan city in the jungles of Mexico
• Israel continues attacks outside of Beirut overnight.
• JD Vance sits down with Joe Rogan for a three-hour interview
• Dodgers and Yankees World Series gets the highest ratings in seven years
• On this day in 1512: The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is opened to the public

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“Tradition means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.” —GK Chesterton

Denison Forum