When our solutions make the problem worse

When Secretary of War—or Defense—Pete Hegseth announced last Friday that the US would allow Qatar to build an air force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, the response was far from positive. The thought of a foreign nation—particularly one that has not been a reliable ally for very long—building a base on American soil sounded like an unprecedented leap from how America usually operates.

And, were that description accurate, it would be. Fortunately, that’s not what’s happening.

Hegseth later clarified that “Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like a base. We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.”

As Will Kaback described, “Further details make the news seem a lot less alarming than a 150-character push notification might imply. . . . This arrangement is not unprecedented. It’s not common, but it certainly is far from unique.”

So, what’s actually going on?

The US sold Qatar a contingent of F-15 fighter jets in 2016, and allowing their pilots to train in the continental US was a condition of the purchase. Qatar—which is smaller than the state of Connecticut—does not have the space to adequately train with the jets in its territory, and the topography around the Mountain Home base is the closest fit to what they have back home.

As such, training there made the most sense, and they were approved to work out of that location in 2022. And while in Idaho, they’ll be training alongside pilots from America, Singapore, and other allies.

The agreement is set to last through at least 2034, though it could be extended further if needed. That puts the Qatari presence at Mountain Home on the same timeline as America’s troops in Qatar after the US renewed its agreement to occupy Al Udeid Air Base for another ten years last January.

Why headlines are dangerous

Ultimately, the announcement about a Qatari presence on American soil is far from the “betrayal” and “abomination” that far-right activist Laura Loomer and others initially described. But that is due more to how it was portrayed in the headlines than because of what Hegseth or the content of the actual articles presented. Still, the headlines were enough to stoke anger and confusion among many, and that points to a much larger problem.

As Micah and Conner discussed earlier this year in the Culture Brief, media bias has been a problem for quite some time, and the companies that deliver news often find greater profits in pandering to a particular audience than by trying to be objective. There are signs that this trend may be shifting, but we’re not there yet.

To make matters worse, most people who get their news from social media never read beyond the headlines, with as many as 75 percent of those who share posts doing so without ever clicking through to the article. So, when CNN and others use misleading headlines to generate interest in stories like the one above, the ensuing narrative can be challenging to correct.

And it would appear that Hegseth and the Pentagon are tired of trying to do just that.

“A stranglehold on the free press”

Last month, Hegseth announced that any journalist who wants to maintain access to the Pentagon must sign a statement acknowledging that Defense Department “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” Moreover, such information will be provided “when there is a lawful governmental purpose for doing so,” and anyone who attempts to attain information by talking directly with Pentagon employees will be in violation of the new rules.

The policy also warns that service members could be prosecuted for releasing “non-public information” to journalists and reporters. Consequently, were the media to ask for such information, they could be credibly accused of “soliciting DOW (Department of War) service members and civilians to commit crimes.”

So, while the new policy does not explicitly threaten the media for reporting information that the Pentagon deems unapproved, the implied consequences of crossing that line are dire. As Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley warned, “What they’re basically saying is if you publish anything that’s not in the press release, is not the official statement of the Pentagon, you could be held responsible. . . . That is going to create a stranglehold on the free press. And the cost is too great.”

As such, more than thirty news organizations, ranging from CNN and the New York Times to Fox News and Newsmax, have declined to sign the agreement. And when the deadline passed yesterday afternoon, dozens of reporters turned in their press badges and left in defiance of the new rules.

It’s unclear how long the Pentagon will maintain this policy or whether media members who refuse to sign it can still perform their jobs without direct access. However, if Hegseth is truly attempting to address the well-earned lack of trust in the media’s reporting, forcing them to choose between the government’s official narrative and sources they cannot adequately verify seems like a pretty awful solution that will only make the problem worse.

Unfortunately, that tendency to cling to answers that only exacerbate the issues is hardly limited to the Department of War.

The only solution to sin

Our ability to identify a problem matters little if our solution makes it worse. Yet, far too often, we get so wrapped up in finding an answer that we never stop to evaluate whether we’re addressing the real issue until it’s too late. And while we can make that mistake in any area of our lives, one of the most common is in our approach to sin.

Recognizing where we fall short of God’s standard is usually pretty simple. A little self-awareness goes a long way in discerning where we’re most vulnerable to temptation. However, it can be easy to fixate on the symptoms of our sin rather than the root cause, with the result that those roots become even more deeply embedded in our lives.

Jesus spoke to this tendency in the Sermon on the Mount, when he repeatedly focused on the motivations behind our sins as much or more than the actions themselves (Matthew 5:21–48). And his solution echoes what we find in Psalm 51, where David cries out, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

As long as our solutions to the sins in our lives focus on what we can do rather than on who God wants us to become, odds are good that those sins will only grow into even bigger problems. We may go through periods where it seems like the issue is solved, but the temptation is likely to return in force unless we partner with the Holy Spirit to truly repent and address the reasons why that temptation held such sway in the first place.

So, where does the Holy Spirit need to get to work in your life? Are there any sins that just keep coming back, no matter how hard you try to solve them?

We are blessed to serve a God who knows our hearts and minds well enough to identify the real source of our sins. But he’s not going to fix them for us unless we humbly submit to partner with him in that effort.

Are you willing to take that step today?

Quote of the day:

“You cannot make men good by law; and without good men you cannot have a good society.” —C. S. Lewis

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Denison Forum

We are starting to hear horrific stories about what the hostages in Gaza endured over their two years of captivity. Some were so deprived of food that they now have to be taught how to eat normally again. Just reading Eli Sharabi’s book about his ordeal was painful for me. I cannot imagine what they are going through today.

Their suffering raises the question: Do you believe God could have liberated the hostages two years ago?

Why, then, didn’t he?

In her New York Times newsletter “Believing,” Lauren Jackson quotes the Rev. Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian based in the West Bank: “The war has made so many people question God—his absence, his silence.”

They are not alone.

If you’re praying for much at all

Hamas expected its October 7 invasion of Israel to spark a “ring of fire” assault from its jihadist partners surrounding Israel that would destroy the Jewish state. Instead, Israel took out the leadership of Hezbollah and Hamas; Israel and the US decimated Iran’s nuclear infrastructure; an uprising toppled Iran’s puppet regime in Syria. Pressure from other Arab states and Muslim nations finally forced Hamas’s hand, leading to the celebrations we have seen in Israel as their last living hostages finally came home.

But if you believe that God “rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28) and “does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3), you do not believe he needed any of this to happen to intervene miraculously. He sent plagues and used the Red Sea to destroy Egypt, the superpower of its day. His angel struck down the army of the Assyrians, the superpower of its day (2 Kings 19:35).

As surely as he acted to release Peter from Herod’s prison in Jerusalem (Acts 12:1–11), he could have acted to release the hostages from Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza two years ago.

Why didn’t he?

Now apply our question to any yet-unanswered prayer in your life. Perhaps you’ve been praying for a lost person to come to Christ, or for a wayward child to come home, or for a physical, financial, emotional, or relational need to be met. Perhaps you’ve been praying for spiritual awakening in our land and a turn to biblical morality.

If you’re praying for much at all, you are most likely praying for something that has not yet come to pass.

If you asked me for something I could do but don’t, eventually you’d stop asking. Why keep praying to God?

Two hopeful approaches to suffering

Like the hostages in Gaza, Joseph was kidnapped from his homeland and taken captive to a foreign land, where he was imprisoned through no fault of his own. There he interpreted the dream of the Egyptian pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, but when his interpretation was fulfilled and the man was restored to his position, he “forgot” Joseph (Genesis 40:22).

Again like the hostages in Gaza, “two whole years” passed with Joseph imprisoned (Genesis 41:1). We’re not told why God waited so long to free him, but we can connect his story to two theological approaches to evil and suffering that remain helpful and hopeful today.

One: God uses suffering to grow us spiritually

According to a Jerusalem Post study, a third of Israelis say they hold a stronger belief in God since October 7. This is not unusual.

The second-century apologist St. Irenaeus proposed the “soul building” model whereby God uses suffering to catalyze spiritual growth in our lives. We see this in Joseph: while he bragged about his dreams of personal glory years earlier (Genesis 37:5–11), now he honored God with his interpretive answers (Genesis 41:16).

You can perhaps point to times in your life when suffering led you to depend upon God more fully than before. As Charles Spurgeon testified, “I am certain that I never did grow in grace one-half so much anywhere as I have upon the bed of pain.”

Two: God works in the present for a better future

Many of us are praying for the hostage release to lead to genuine peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Perhaps the timing of the former will help advance the latter.

In Joseph’s world, God had a plan to bring seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. He used Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams to reveal this plan, then he used Pharaoh to elevate him to prime minister so he could prepare the nation. He did all this to draw Joseph’s own family to Egypt, where they were reunited and eventually became the nation through whom the Messiah would come one day.

I have personally seen God’s mysterious timing at work over the years. For example, a man I knew was praying for a new job, apparently without answers. But he didn’t know that a person would soon retire from the home office, leading to a promotion from the local office, leading to an opening that my friend would fill.

The fact that he could not see God at work made his work no less real. To paraphrase Spurgeon again: When you cannot see your Father’s hand, trust his heart.

Translating the Bible with one finger

If you are experiencing the silence of God today, you may feel like Joseph imprisoned in Egypt. But Joseph was eventually able to tell the brothers who sold him into captivity, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

One day, perhaps in eternity but perhaps far sooner, you will be able to say the same. In the meantime:

• Would you turn your obstacles into opportunities to trust more fully in your Father?

• Would you ask him to work in ways you cannot see to accomplish his greater purposes in your life and world?

• Would you believe that he redeems all he allows and trust your pain to his providence?

Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky died on this day in 1906 at the age of seventy-five. Born in Lithuania in 1831, he went to Germany to study for the rabbinate, where he became a Christian. He emigrated to America, trained for the priesthood, and was sent by the Episcopal Church to China. There, he translated the Bible into Mandarin, was elected bishop of Shanghai, founded St. John’s University, and began translating the Bible into Wenli, another Chinese dialect.

However, he developed Parkinson’s disease and became largely paralyzed. Resigning his bishopric, he spent the rest of his life completing his Wenli Bible, typing the last two thousand pages with the one finger that he could still move.

Four years before his death, he said:

“I have sat in this chair for over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.”

What “chair” would you trust God to redeem in your life today?

Quote for the day:

“You don’t really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” —Tim Keller

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Denison Forum

Charlie Kirk would have turned thirty-two years old today. Instead, his life and death will be remembered this evening when President Trump posthumously awards him the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Charlie’s widow, Erika, will join the president for the ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

As I heard a commentator say, Charlie died for what he believed in, but he is being honored for what he did. And God continues to work in response to his tragic death in remarkable ways. For example, the former Navy SEAL and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr said that Charlie’s assassination is prompting him and his family to return to church and to “make some changes” in their lives.

However, despite tonight’s honor and remarkable spiritual responses to Charlie’s death, the fact remains that his wife is a widow raising their children without their father. And the world will miss all Charlie could have done in the decades he should have lived.

In other news, Israelis continue to rejoice in the return of their hostages. More than five hundred thousand Palestinians have returned to Gaza City, and aid to Gaza is significantly increasing.

However, challenges remain. Hamas is reportedly attempting to reassert control in Gaza and punishing those it suspects of collaborating with Israel. Its jihadist ideology remains prevalent in the region. And geopolitical expert Richard Haass warns: “Hamas has not accepted that it must disarm, and even if it did, there is no way to monitor or verify the handing over . . . of its weapons.” He adds that “Hamas can be denied a formal role in Palestinian governance, but it will still have influence, possibly more than any other actor.”

Truth and a Persian legend

In his address to the Knesset yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes.

This is because Monday was the seventh day of Sukkot, the Jewish festival known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:42–43), during which it is traditional to read the book. Mr. Netanyahu quoted from the famous third chapter: “A time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8).

However, the latter cannot come unless both sides refuse the former.

In the epigraph to his latest book, The Future of Truth, acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog tells what he calls a “Persian legend”:

God had a great mirror, and when God looked in the mirror, he saw the truth. One day God dropped the mirror, and the mirror shattered into a thousand pieces. Men fought to secure a piece of the mirror for themselves. They all looked into their own shards, saw themselves, and thought they saw the truth.

Asaph the psalmist did the same. After complaining that the “wicked” around him are “always at ease” and “increase in riches” (Psalm 73:12), he commented on what he saw in his own “mirror”: “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken” (vv. 13–14).

I would imagine that Erika Kirk can resonate with Asaph’s “reflection.” As can the hostages and their loved ones, and especially those grieving those they lost on October 7 and because of October 7. As can you and I whenever we face challenges and trials that are not our fault.

“My flesh and my heart may fail”

However, for those who trust in God, the bad news is never the last news.

In Asaph’s case, he reports, “When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end” (vv. 16–17). There he saw that God “set them in slippery places” and will “make them fall to ruin” (v. 18) so that “they are destroyed in a moment” (v. 19).

By contrast, Asaph prays,

I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (vv. 23–26).

God’s omnipotence and omnibenevolence had not changed, but Asaph “went into the sanctuary of God,” where he shifted his soul’s “mirror” from himself to his Lord. Then he saw the reality that was there all along.

This is why we need to trust God most on those days when we want to trust him least.

The Bible is not true because it works—it works (in God’s providence) because it is true. If God is the God of the Bible, he is “that than which nothing greater can be conceived” (quoting St. Anselm). This means that, by definition, his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). If we could understand him, either we would be God or he would not be.

Consequently, the days when our pain and suffering seem to demand that we reject a supposedly all-loving, all-powerful God are the very days we need his love and power the most. The sicker the patient, the more essential the physician.

“Faith is to believe what you do not see”

So, let me invite you to take your “mirror” into “the sanctuary of God” in your heart and point it at your Father. Remember your personal encounters with the grace you see reflected there—the sins he has forgiven, the needs he has met, the prayers he has answered, the salvation he has purchased for your eternal soul.

Then decide to emulate the courage for which Charlie Kirk wanted to be remembered, the courage Eli Sharabi and the other hostages displayed through their ordeal. Decide to use your obstacles as opportunities for faith that shows a skeptical world the reality and relevance of your Lord.

The greater our need for courage, the greater the need our courage will meet.

Let us remember,

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe” (St. Augustine).

Will you believe in the One you do not see today?

Quote for the day:

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” —Oswald Chambers

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Denison Forum

When Congress passed a bill last year requiring TikTok to either sell its American user base or shut down the app, no one really knew how ByteDance—TikTok’s parent company—would respond. At issue was a bipartisan fear that the Chinese government could (and would) force ByteDance to surrender data on Americans as they did during Hong Kong’s 2018 pro-democracy protests.

Fast forward roughly eighteen months—a year longer than the Congressional bill allowed—and it appears as though the saga is now coming to an end.

Oracle, Fox Corp, and several other investors have agreed to buy the company for an estimated $14 billion, and TikTok is expected to come under American control as soon as the details are finalized. However, given that all of this occurred several weeks ago, you might wonder why I’m bringing it up this morning.

The reason is that an alarming number of leaders in our government have gone from fearing TikTok to embracing the app since the sale was announced. Senators Adam Schiff and John Hickenlooper both started accounts in recent days, while President Trump and Vice President JD Vance both joined even earlier. Hickenlooper pointed specifically to the sale of the app as his reason for confidence that it was now safe to use.

The problem, though, is that nothing has actually changed. Although the deal has been agreed upon, both the algorithm and the data are still managed by ByteDance and are subject to potential manipulation by the Chinese government. Moreover, the official policy of the American government still bans the use of the app on any government device.

While the officials who have joined TikTok since the sale was announced have all done so on private devices, the basic concerns that led an overwhelming majority of them to ban the app last year have not been addressed.

And the biggest concern of all isn’t going anywhere, even after the app is in—presumably—more trusted hands.

Why TikTok is so addictive

The primary reason TikTok set off alarms in Congress and prompted multiple companies to clamor for the chance to pay billions of dollars for its rights is the algorithm that keeps people glued to the app for hours on end. Previous versions of the deal all failed because ByteDance and the Chinese government were hesitant to turn control of that algorithm over to American buyers. And while they are not selling the code outright, they are leasing it to Oracle and others.

TikTok’s internal documents state that the algorithm gets people hooked in as little as 35 minutes, with an average increase of 40 percent more time spent on the app after only the first week. After a month, even the least active users averaged just under an hour a day of scrolling, while their “power users” were watching more than four times that amount.

The pull is particularly strong for Gen Z and other young people, where 63 percent of teens ages 13 to 17 use TikTok. Moreover, 50 percent say they are on the app at least several times a day. However, some among their number are trying to change that fact, and there’s an important lesson in their efforts for each of us today.

Take responsibility for your life

The organization Time to Refuse is intent on helping Gen Z break free from social media addiction. And while Gen Z encompasses everyone born between 1996 and 2012, the organization’s focus is primarily on those in their 20s.

As Freya India described:

There are countless teachers, organizations, and advocates trying to help Generation Z and Generation Alpha escape from the addictive trap of smartphones and social media. They are fighting against fearful overprotection, pushing to get phones out of schools, and urging parents to delay social media access until at least age 16. They are on a mission to save childhood. But what about those of us who already lost ours?

She goes on to describe how many young people in their 20s today were “overprotected in the real world and abandoned online.” As the parent of two kids who reside just outside of that generation, finding a better balance than the one she describes is among my highest priorities.

But, at the end of the day, there’s only so much I can do to protect them. And, really, that’s what stood out the most from Time to Refuse’s approach. Rather than blame parents, teachers, and adults for allowing access to Facebook, TikTok, and a host of other apps, they’re calling young people to take responsibility for their lives and make the necessary changes.

To that end, they’re hosting an event in New York City this evening, with partners throughout the country joining as well, in which they’re encouraging people to delete one social media account as the first step toward greater independence. However, they’re clear that, for many, it’s just the first step:

You can’t leave the digital world and call it a day. Take more time to do the things you should already be doing. Live more slowly. Take up analog activities and real self-care activities: exercising, calling your relatives, hanging out with friends, etc.

In short, your life isn’t actually going to improve unless you not only stop doing the things that are making it worse but take the added step of replacing them with things that will make it better. And that’s a lesson that applies to far more than social media.

Virtue or another vice?

The first message that Christ preached upon starting his public ministry was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). This call to repentance epitomizes the idea we’re talking about today.

You see, biblical repentance is more than just asking forgiveness when you mess up or promising to do better in the future. The Greek word metanoia carries with it a concept of change that requires not only leaving behind the things you’ve done wrong but also choosing to replace them with something different.

Now, that something doesn’t have to be better, and far too often we end up replacing one sin with another. But if our eyes remain fixed on Jesus and our repentance leads us to pursue his righteousness (Matthew 5:6), then it becomes far easier to choose virtue over another vice.

So, where do you need to make that choice today? Are there any areas of your life where you just keep stumbling?

We all have certain sins in our lives that we are particularly prone to commit. In such instances, learning to rely on the help of other believers and, most of all, the Holy Spirit to pursue the righteousness of Christ is the only path to genuine freedom and joy.

Will you seek out that help today?

Quote of the day:

“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace, and your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.” —Jerry Bridges

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Denison Forum

President Trump wrote yesterday evening on Truth Social:

I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan. This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed-upon line as the first step toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would meet today to approve the agreement and “bring all our dear hostages home.” Hamas similarly announced that it had reached “an agreement that ends the war in Gaza, provides for the withdrawal of the occupation, allows the entry of aid, and implements a prisoner exchange.”

If Israel’s ministers approve the deal, the IDF must withdraw from Gaza to the agreed line, which would likely happen within twenty-four hours. The seventy-two-hour clock would then begin where Hamas must release the living hostages, which would likely occur on Monday, though the return of the bodies of deceased hostages will take longer. Once the hostages are returned, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinians in Israeli prisons and 1,700 Palestinians who have been detained in Gaza during the conflict.

The hostages’ families released a statement: “Their return is a condition for the rehabilitation and revival of Israeli society as a whole. We will not rest or be quiet until the return of the last hostage. We will bring them back. We will rise.”

The memoir of a Hamas hostage

If you are wondering what life has been like for Israelis held captive by Hamas for two years, I strongly urge you to read Eli Sharabi’s new book, Hostage. He was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and spent 491 days in captivity. His memoir is deeply painful to read as he describes the brutal torture, horrifically inhumane conditions, and near starvation he and his fellow captives endured.

But through it all, Eli chose to be a survivor. He did not know if his wife and children were alive, so he determined to live for them. He chose not to let the terrorists take his will to live.

He writes that he and the hostages imprisoned in his tunnel with him were encouraged by a sentence one of them shared with the others: “He who has a why can bear any how” (his italics). Even when Eli was finally freed and learned that his brother, his wife, and his two daughters had been murdered by the terrorists, he chose to write his book to encourage support for the remaining hostages. His story became the fastest-selling book in Israeli history.

Eli’s courage is made all the more remarkable by the fact that it is unremarkable in his nation.

Last Tuesday, I wrote to my friends in Israel to express my sorrow and solidarity with them on the second anniversary of Hamas’s horrific terror attack against their people. One of them wrote back with this story:

An eighteen-year-old girl wanted to join the Israeli army, but her weight was too low. She failed. She tried again, this time by putting stones in her pocket. She made it. Unfortunately, she died on the 7^th of October.

“When one has one’s wherefore of life”

Friedrich Nietzsche is sometimes called the “father of postmodernism,” a movement that has led to the denial of absolute truth, which has come to dominate our culture. In Twilight of the Idols, the atheistic philosopher asked, “Is man only a mistake of God? Or God only a mistake of man?” Because he was convinced that “God is dead,” he was equally convinced that he had to find his own meaning and purpose in life.

Nietzsche therefore famously asserted, “What does not kill me, strengthens me.” And he made the statement Eli Sharabi’s fellow captives paraphrastically embraced: “When one has one’s wherefore of life, one gets along with almost every how” (Nietzsche’s italics).

Eli’s resolve to survive his horrific captivity illustrates this maxim, as does the eighteen-year-old Israeli soldier who died serving her country. Our confused and chaotic “post-truth” culture can learn much from their examples of purpose-driven courage.

As can all of us who call Jesus our Lord.

For Christians, our “wherefore of life” has been chosen for us. Jesus’ call was consistent across the Gospels: “Follow me” (cf. Matthew 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; 10:38; 16:24; Mark 10:21; John 1:43; 10:27; 12:26). Not “follow my teachings” or “follow my church,” but “follow me.” The word translated follow means to “live alongside and obey unconditionally.”

Jesus’ call is to live with him and for him, to know him intimately and then to make him known publicly. The more emphatically our post-Christian culture rejects this call, the more courageously you and I must embrace it.

Marking the birthday of Jim Elliot

Let’s close with an example.

Yesterday was the birthday of the famed missionary Jim Elliot. He and his wife Elisabeth followed God’s call to the Ecuadorian jungle, where he and four other missionaries were speared to death. After his martyrdom, his wife and their young daughter moved into the Auca/Waodani village to live among those who killed him and share the gospel with them.

This remarkable story was shared around the world, inspiring millions to serve God through missions.

Jim’s most famous words were written in his journal on October 28, 1949: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” He understood the essence of the gospel: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). He therefore embraced the same “wherefore of life” as the Apostle Paul: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me” (v. 29).

His wife agreed. According to Elisabeth Elliot,

“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”

How courageously will you embrace and share this “secret” today?

Quote for the day:

“It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.” —A. A. Hodge

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• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results

Denison Forum

Following yesterday’s tragic October 7 anniversary, let’s focus today on something more uplifting. Or at least very different.

I typically try to write on subjects about which I have at least some personal knowledge or expertise. Today, I’ll not do that—at least to begin. Instead, I want to reflect with you on the prolific output of Taylor Swift, who released her twelfth original studio album last week.

I am apparently unlike most of humanity in that I have heard only one of her songs one time (at my granddaughter’s urging), have never been to one of her concerts, and have never heard a podcast or seen a movie featuring her. The closest I have come to observing her in popular media has been those times when the TV cameras panned to her in the stands watching her now-fiancée Travis Kelce play tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

So, I’ll turn to an expert on the subject. Ari Perez is an associate professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, where she teaches a class called “Taylor Swift: Cultural Mirrorball.” She explains that Swift is so prolific because she genuinely likes what she does: “I think she enjoys keeping a strong, productive output so that putting music out on a continuous basis makes her happy and fulfilled.”

That was simple, wasn’t it? But there’s more to the story.

“Let them + let me”

Next, we’ll turn to another very popular media figure: Mel Robbins, the bestselling author and podcaster. Her latest book, The Let Them Theory, was the #1 selling book of 2025 and is on pace to have the best non-fiction book launch of all time. In reading it, I was impressed with the simplicity of its central formula:

Let them + let me.

“Let them” applies to people whose behavior bothers you. These two words are a way of admitting that we cannot control them and that they are going to do what they choose to do. “Let me” applies to us as we decide how we will respond proactively to what life brings us.

According to Robbins, allowing people to live their lives while taking control of our own is the key to flourishing. She complimented Taylor Swift for modeling this philosophy: “Let Them be wrong about you. Let Me get back to doing what I was put on this earth to do.”

So, how do we know what we were “put on this earth to do”? Ray Bradbury famously offered advice that aligns with the philosophies of Swift and Robbins: “Love what you do and do what you love.”

Here’s the catch: Doing what you love only leads to flourishing if what you love is worth doing.

When the police went on strike

In The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations, Nicholas Wade reports:

On the morning of October 7, 1969, the entire police force of Montreal went on strike. Within a few hours, gathering crowds started to loot stores. Gangs of masked men arrived to rob banks. Citizens huddled indoors as looters swept through downtown Montreal, smashing the windows of restaurants, stores, and hotels. By the end of the day some $500,000 worth of merchandise had been looted. Not until the arrival of army troops shortly after midnight were the violence and disorder brought to an end.

Paul would not have been surprised. He listed the “works of the flesh,” the things fallen humans naturally do: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19–21). We can love doing them, but we see the brokenness they produce every day in the news.

Conversely, the apostle listed the “fruit of the Spirit,” the things Spirit-led humans naturally do: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22–23). When we love doing them, our changed lives change the world.

The highest purpose in life

Yesterday morning, I spent time on my favorite bench beside my favorite lake just before the sun came up. The “Harvest Supermoon” was still iridescent in the predawn sky, though I could only see it in fragments through the trees that canopied overhead. However, its reflection on the lake before me was so clear as to mirror the moon itself.

This thought occurred: the source of the light (the sun) is most visible to me in the reflection of the reflection of the moon.

Jesus said of himself, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Now that he is in heaven, you and I are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13), called to reflect his light in our darkened culture. Others cannot see his light in our hearts, however, but in the character we manifest through the circumstances of our lives. Our acts are a reflection of the reflection of our Source.

How does this work in practical terms? Jesus tells his followers, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). When we know Jesus personally and intimately, we will make him known publicly and powerfully.

Here’s why this matters: People need to know God more than they need anything else. They are made in his image and likeness, and their hearts are “restless until they rest in him” (St. Augustine). As a result, knowing the God of the universe and making him known is the highest purpose, privilege, and passion in life.

“We may never meet after today”

This purpose is urgent beyond any other in our fallen world.

On this day in 1871, the great evangelist Dwight Moody preached in Chicago to the largest congregation he had ever addressed in that city. In The Life of Dwight L. Moody, written by his son William R. Moody, we read that Moody paraphrased that evening the question of Pontius Pilate: “What shall you do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22). He challenged the congregation to think about this question during the week and return to church the following Sunday, when “we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.”

But as he said later, “I have never seen that congregation since.”

The Great Chicago Fire began that night, killing hundreds of people, destroying thousands of buildings, and causing more than $4 billion in damages (in today’s dollars). Moody reflected later on the tragedy:

I want to tell you about one lesson I learned that night, which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to urge Christ upon the people then and there, and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. . . .

I have asked God many times to forgive me for telling people that night to take a week to think it over, and if he spares my life, I will never do it again. This audience will break up in a few moments.

We may never meet after today.

Is the same not true for everyone you meet this day?

Quote for the day:

“No one can sum up all God is able to accomplish through one solitary life, wholly yielded, adjusted, and obedient to him.” —Dwight L. Moody

Our latest website resources:

• Faith, science, and the call to hospitality with Dr. James Tour
• Who is Sean Feucht? Why the worship leader and conservative activist is facing financial misuse allegations
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results
• Defeating temptation before it becomes sin

Denison Forum

Negotiations began in Egypt yesterday to finalize a deal based on President Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. The talks are expected to last “a few days,” with a focus on a proposed hostages-for-prisoners swap.

The negotiations began on the eve of one of the most tragic anniversaries in Jewish history. Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7, 2023, is considered the deadliest and most brutal terrorist assault in Israel’s history.

Hamas is celebrating today’s anniversary as a “glorious day” in a message calling the invading terrorists “heroes.” Lest we forget: these “heroes” killed 1,195 people, including 815 civilians. Evidence and autopsies later revealed widespread sexual violence, with dozens of Israeli women raped, sexually abused, or mutilated.

In addition, the terrorists took 251 hostages. Here’s what we know about them:

• 146 have been freed or rescued, while eighty-three have been confirmed killed.
• Thirty-seven were under the age of eighteen; eight were eighty-one years of age or older.
• Fifty-one were women, some of whom were starved, intimidated, and threatened by armed men.
• Thirteen women and two men who survived captivity said they experienced or witnessed sexual violence while held hostage in Gaza.
• About twenty living hostages remain captive in desperate conditions, according to Israeli officials, and about twenty-five more are believed to have died, but their bodies have not been returned.

Why did Hamas take them two years ago?

The answers are not only relevant to peace in the Middle East but a window into human nature.

Taking Israelis hostage is nothing new

According to the British policy institute Chatham House, Hamas took hostages on October 7 for five reasons:

1. To be used as human shields in the face of Israel’s counter-attack.
2. As an insurance policy and bargaining chips as the conflict evolved.
3. To create media opportunities for Hamas and an ability to control the narrative.
4. To draw other countries into the conflict (given the multinational nature of the hostage group), inflicting harm not just on Israel but on some of its closest allies.
5. To generate terror, shaking the foundation of life for many Israelis.

Hostage-taking by Israel’s enemies is nothing new. Palestinian terrorists have taken Israeli hostages numerous times; in some cases, a few Israelis were then swapped for thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

The calculus behind the taking of Jewish hostages is worth contemplating on this tragic anniversary.

The Qur’an describes the Jews as “apes and swine” (5:60; 2:65; 7:166). Hamas further claims that the Jewish people were behind World War I and World War II, among other global conflicts and revolutions. The terrorists are in fact convinced that the Jewish people are hostis humani generis, the enemies of humankind itself.

Such dehumanization of others is always the first step to their mistreatment:

• The ancient Romans saw themselves as a superior civilization and believed that conquering and assimilating other people into their empire was best for those they subjugated.
• Many European explorers characterized the indigenous peoples they encountered in the New World as an inferior race and culture, paving the way for the theft of their tribal lands.
• Many who supported the enslavement of Africans similarly considered them intellectually and morally inferior to whites, convincing themselves that Africans were better off as their slaves.

What pastors said about their members

In On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin famously observed that in nature, there are typically more offspring produced than can survive, creating a competition for limited resources in which the “fittest” tend to prevail. We don’t need to adopt his bias against religion or larger biological theory to recognize this principle as a basic fact of human psychology and culture.

Our “will to power,” the fallen drive to be our own god (Genesis 3:5), operates as a zero-sum equation: for me to win, you must lose. If Hamas can blame Israelis for all the Palestinians’ problems, they can justify unleashing their basest sinful instincts to oppress their “oppressors” and “advance” their people and cause.

This calculus is by no means limited to terrorists in the Middle East. In fact, every crime against another person is a version of such denigration and commodification.

We see this across the biological spectrum, from aborting unwanted babies to euthanizing the infirm and elderly. At the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994, Mother Teresa warned: “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another, but to use any violence to get what they want.”

If I see you as my equal, created in God’s image as I am and equally loved by our Father, it will be difficult for me to lie to you, steal from you, or otherwise harm you. But my fallen nature wants to denigrate and commodify you so I can use you as a means to my ends.

I have known ministers who said (only half in jest) that they loved pastoring churches—it was dealing with church members that was the problem. Even now, I am tempted to write this article to impress you rather than to serve you.

If you were put on trial

As I noted yesterday, you and I are typically persuaded by ideas that appeal to our self-interest. So, let’s close with a biblical argument for sacrificial service that does just that:

• Our all-knowing, all-loving Father has a plan for our lives that is better than ours (Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 12:2).
• When we submit to his Spirit each day, he will lead us onto this path and empower us to walk it faithfully (Ephesians 5:18; Proverbs 3:5–6).
• One consequence or “fruit” of the Spirit’s operation in our lives is “love,” the selfless desire to serve others at our personal expense (Galatians 5:22; John 13:34–35).
• When we serve those who cannot serve us, we serve Jesus himself (Matthew 25:40).
• Serving Jesus is the key to significance in this life (Colossians 3:23–24) and “the joy of your master” in eternity (Matthew 25:21, 23).

To paraphrase my youth minister’s question: If you were put on trial for being submitted to the Holy Spirit, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Quote for the day:

“A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.” —Jackie Robinson

Our latest website resources:

• Who is Sean Feucht? Why the worship leader and conservative activist is facing financial misuse allegations
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results
• What is the Trinity?
• Defeating temptation before it becomes sin

Denison Forum

Note: I want to thank Dr. Ryan Denison for writing the Daily Article last week while my wife and I were traveling. It is a great privilege to partner with him in sharing this ministry with you.

Two stories are leading the news for obvious reasons. But the connection between the two may not be obvious to many, which points to my point today.

First, pro-life supporters are strongly opposing a Trump administration decision to approve a new generic version of the mifepristone abortion pill. Two weeks ago, federal officials said they were conducting a review of the safety of the pills, a decision the activists welcomed. However, the FDA later stated that it “has very limited discretion in deciding whether to approve a generic drug.” One pro-life leader called the announcement “a wildly disappointing decision.”

Second, mediators are set to meet in Egypt today for indirect peace talks between Hamas and Israel. The talks come after Hamas has accepted some parts of a twenty-point US peace plan, including freeing hostages and handing over Gaza governance to Palestinian officials.

According to Axios, “This is the closest Israel and Hamas have come to ending the war since the October 7 attacks almost exactly two years ago.” However, senior Hamas officials stated that there are still major disagreements that require further negotiations. And their statement made no mention of Hamas disarming, a key Israeli demand included in the US proposal.

“A society operates under two sets of rules”

In his new book, The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations, the Cambridge graduate and science journalist Nicholas Wade writes:

A society operates under two sets of rules. One is the rules of human nature—the inherited behaviors selected by evolution because of their survival value. The other is the rules of the society’s political system. When the two sets of rules conflict, a crisis is likely to follow, which the society must resolve on pain of collapse.

In reading his book as a cultural apologist, I substituted the biblical theme of inherited sin nature for his description of inherited evolutionary behavior. This theme is foundationally manifested in the Garden of Eden, where our first parents sought to be their “own god” (Genesis 3:5). From then to today, the “will to power” has dominated our fallen nature.

Since, as Wade notes, “Political scientists generally agree that the roots of politics lie in human nature,” our will to power dominates our politics as well. He adds that “human nature is often most evident when proponents of a political ideology try to modify or suppress it.” When political means are used to modify our basic drive for self-interest and power, our self-interest ultimately prevails.

George Washington made a similar observation: “It is a maxim founded on the universal experience of Mankind, that no Nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its interest, and no prudent Statesman or politician will venture to depart from it.”

It was because the founders recognized our fallen self-interest that, as John Adams noted, they sought to create “a government of laws, not of men.” But human laws cannot change human hearts. As the weekend shooting at South Carolina State University tragically illustrates, laws against murder do not prevent all murders.

“The moral miracle of redemption”

Pro-life supporters will be grateful whenever government officials act in ways that uphold the sanctity of life. But as today’s news shows, we must not depend on them always to do so. The same is true for political leaders engaged in war and peace. Each side in the Israel-Hamas conflict has its own self-interest and will act in line with it.

Why do political and legal structures not change the human condition?

Consider an analogy: You would not expect me to be able to speak words that raise the dead. The reason the crowds were astonished when Jesus did this (cf. Luke 7:11–11; John 11:38–45) was that such an act was indeed miraculous.

Here’s the problem: fallen humans are just as dead spiritually and morally as if we were dead physically.

Because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), we are “dead in our trespasses” (Ephesians 2:5) since our self-reliance cuts us off from the resurrecting and transforming power of our Creator. As Oswald Chambers explains in My Utmost for His Highest, “The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the disposition of self-realization—I am my own god.”

The good news, as he added in today’s reading, is this: “The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put into me a new disposition whereby I can live a totally new life.” This happens when we yield to God’s Spirit, allowing him to recreate “the disposition that was in Jesus Christ.”

Here we discover one way God redeems the moral failures that dominate each day’s news: as Chambers notes, God cannot work this miracle of transformation in my life “until I am conscious I need it.” Our Father cannot change our hearts without our hearts’ consent.

“When Christ calls a man”

This is why the first beatitude is foundational to the Sermon that follows: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). When we honestly recognize our abject spiritual poverty, we abdicate the throne of our hearts and enthrone God as our king.

As a result, we experience the “kingdom of heaven,” that realm where God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Imagine such a life-transforming, grace-infused, love-centered world. Now decide if you will pay the price to experience it personally.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously observed,

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Is Jesus calling you today?

Quote for the day:

“A day must come in our lives, as definite as the day of our conversion, when we give up all right to ourselves and submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ.” —Watchman Nee

Our latest website resources:

• Who is Sean Feucht? Why the worship leader and conservative activist is facing financial misuse allegations
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results
• What is the Trinity?
• Defeating temptation before it becomes sin

Denison Forum

Earlier this week, President Trump released the details of the proposed ceasefire that he hopes will end the war in Gaza. Following a meeting with leaders from Muslim nations in the Middle East and beyond last week to discuss the plan, it was formally announced on Monday during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While not all parties involved were happy with some of the changes made during that visit, overall support for the plan remains unmoved.

The only relevant party that has yet to agree is Hamas. However, Trump warned that if they did not assent to the deal by today or tomorrow, “Israel will have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.”

As of this writing, the latest speculation is that they will respond “positively” to the report as a whole, though with a series of amendments intended to walk back some of the changes made after Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu. However, there is still a fair bit of uncertainty as to whether the US or Israel would be amenable to changes of any sort.

If forced to choose between accepting the current plan or continuing to fight, it is unclear what the leaders of Hamas will decide. Moreover, reports indicate that at least part of the reason is that they don’t know themselves.

Qatar, which has served as both a safe haven for Hamas’s leadership and one of the primary mediators throughout much of these negotiations, has encouraged them to accept. Many in the political leadership of Hamas appear open to heeding that advice. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for those in charge of their military forces, and their decision is the one that matters most.

Who is making the decisions for Hamas?

It’s believed that Hamas still has forty-eight hostages, all of whom would be released in the event of a ceasefire. However, only twenty of them are thought to still be alive, and all twenty are currently being held by the military wing of Hamas in Gaza. As such, the decision of the politicians in Qatar may mean little to those actually responsible for upholding their end of the bargain.

To complicate matters further, the latest reports estimate that up to 90 percent of Hamas commanders have been killed in the war so far, meaning most of the leadership in Gaza is comprised of younger fighters who still think they can win. For them, the idea of giving up their weapons as part of the deal is largely considered a nonstarter. Armed conflict is the foundation of their identity, so disarmament is akin to death for many.

Moreover, as Hugh Lovatt, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, notes, “Their view is that Israel is struggling strategically: the mobilization of reservists is a huge burden, elections are due within a year or so, there is growing international and domestic pressure . . . So, for them, it’s just a question of who will hold out the longest.”

But while much of that may be true, one of the key ways in which the current proposal differs from ceasefires in the past is the degree to which it has near-universal support from many of the same nations that have condemned Israel’s actions. If Hamas is the only one to say no to a deal everyone else agrees is worth pursuing, can they really count on that support to continue?

Most agree the answer is no. And, in the event they decide to continue fighting, that opposition could start to come from those much closer to home.

“Hamas must say yes”

Discerning where to draw the line between the people of Gaza and the terrorists hiding beneath them has proved to be one of the most challenging aspects of understanding the war between Israel and Hamas. And when some of the citizens have risen to oppose Hamas in the past, they have often met a violent and painful end for their bravery. However, there are signs that the tide may have begun to shift.

As one resident of Gaza City put it, “Hamas must say yes to this offer—we have been through hell already. . . . Hamas needs to understand: Enough is enough.” Another resident was even more blunt: “We are dying for nothing, and no one cares about us. Hamas needs to think more of us and what we have been through.” Abdelhalim Awad, who manages a bakery in the center of the city, said almost “any price” would be acceptable for peace, but that he did not think Hamas would say the same.

These quotes epitomize why it was crucial to secure the support of Qatar and other Middle Eastern nations for the deal. Hamas has proven repeatedly that it will not give up its power to protect the people of Gaza. However, they may in order to protect themselves. And the fact that more people in Gaza feel confident enough to speak out against them reveals just how much the terrorist group’s situation has changed.

Adapting to a new reality is rarely an easy task, though, and that’s often just as true for us as it appears to be for the leaders of Hamas.

Do you run or hide from your sin?

While I doubt any of us have committed the same kinds of atrocities as Hamas, most of us have sin in our lives that we’re hoping God will just ignore. The Bible is clear that he won’t (Hebrews 9:27), but it can be easy to mistake his patience for his permission when that permission allows us to continue enjoying our sin.

In such moments, Christ’s solution is simple: “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

One of the reasons Scripture places such a heavy emphasis on allowing the Lord to shape our worldview is that it makes it easier to accept that our choices have consequences. Acting as though they don’t or trying to live in the false reality that we shouldn’t have to be accountable for them will place us firmly outside of God’s will for our lives. That’s why the good news Christ preached always started with repentance (Matthew 3:2).

You see, it’s only when we come to understand that God’s love is not contingent on our perfection that we can find the peace necessary to truly address our sin. Our heavenly Father is under no illusions about how messed up we are, but he chose to love us and to send his Son to die for us anyway. He didn’t do that because we were worthy of his love, but because he is love.

Embracing the fact that our sins and shortcomings don’t have to define who we are is the only path to accepting their consequences and allowing the Lord to redeem them in ways only he can.

So, where are you running from the consequences of your sins today? The God who is truth cannot be found in a worldview built on lies, and it is only by owning our sins and accepting their consequences that we can find the freedom to live fully in his grace.

Let’s start today.

Quote of the day:

“Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are.” —Philip Yancey

Our latest website resources:

• The War in Israel
• Why we all need the Major League Baseball playoffs
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• How you can support kids and families in crisis in your community
• Why can’t Congress pass a budget?

Denison Forum

The fallout from the government shutdown continues to dominate headlines this morning as the news finds new ways to profile the same basic dysfunction. Not much has changed from what I wrote on Tuesday, and, to be honest, I just didn’t really feel any sense of peace or purpose from the Lord to cover that same ground again today.

So, instead, I’d like to write about a story far closer to my heart: the Major League Baseball playoffs.

Now, if you’re not a baseball fan, please don’t click away quite yet. Even if you don’t plan on watching a single pitch between now and the moment baseball crowns its champion, I think there’s an important lesson for each of us in what will transpire across the coming weeks.

As a Texas Rangers fan—or, some might say, fanatic—I’m sadly without a team to root for this postseason.

Despite having the best defense in baseball and one of the best rotations, the Rangers’ anemic offense and leaky bullpen eliminated them from contention two weeks ago. As such, I get to watch without all that much emotional investment in the outcome. While I’d trade that privilege for Texas to be in the tournament in a heartbeat, it does make it a bit easier to enjoy the storylines that make this year’s playoffs unique.

Baseball’s best or baseball’s best story?

If, like me, you’re in search of a team to follow over the next month, The Ringer and The Athletic both have great rundowns of the most interesting narratives this fall.

If you’re a fan of underdogs, the Brewers, Padres, and Mariners are all looking for their first World Series—and, in the case of the Mariners, their first trip to the World Series. If dynasties are more your thing, then may I interest you in the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani: one of MLB’s best hitters and pitchers, who also happens to be the most talented player to ever step onto the diamond?

If teams on a hot streak are more your style, then the Cleveland Guardians could be just what you’re looking for. They completed the largest comeback in league history after erasing a 15.5-game deficit over the season’s final months to pass the Detroit Tigers and win their division. As a reward, they now get to face those same Tigers in the first round, with the future of both teams coming down to this afternoon’s game three.

But whoever you choose to follow, it’s important to go in knowing that what happened over the last six months and 162 games really don’t have all that much bearing on what will happen going forward.

The best teams in baseball this year still won less than 60 percent of their games, and that’s with the benefit of padding their résumé with baseball’s worst teams during the regular season. Most of these series will be a coin flip at best and hinge on a few plays here and there going in one team’s favor.

That’s part of the fun, but it’s also why investing too much of your energy and mental well-being into a game is not always the best idea. And I say that as someone who is relatively incapable of doing otherwise and bears the emotional scars to prove it.

While you may not have the same masochistic relationship with sports that I do—I also bear the unfortunate legacy of being a Cowboys fan…though I blame my parents for that—most of us struggle in some way when it comes to investing our time and energy in areas that are likely to end in hurt. After all, the only way to completely avoid that risk would be to isolate ourselves from the world, and God’s word is clear that we shouldn’t consider that an option (Matthew 5:13–16; John 17:15).

So, if we can’t escape the pain of living in this world, how can we approach that risk in a way God can redeem?

Are you hurt or injured?

To stay with the sports theme, one of the most important lessons to learn when engaging in any athletic activity is the distinction between being hurt and being injured. If you’ve ever gone for a run, lifted weights, or played a sport of any kind, chances are you know what it’s like to feel sore once you’re done.

When that pain is new, it can be quite alarming. If it’s been a while since you exercised, you may wake up the next morning certain that you have done irreparable harm to muscles you didn’t even know existed. Most of the time, though, that pain is nothing to worry about, and the best way to get better is to just keep pushing forward.

By contrast, an injury requires rest and demands a level of attention that basic hurts do not. If you try to push through it, expecting it to improve on its own, the situation will only get worse.

In the same way, there are hurts in this life that—in the moment—can feel like an injury. The first time you lose a friendship because you’re unwilling to compromise your beliefs, or when you miss out on a promotion because you weren’t willing to cut corners, the pain can make you question whether staying faithful to the Lord is worth the cost.

However, God never promised us a life devoid of pain on this side of heaven. In fact, Jesus was quite clear that we should expect a level of suffering in this life that is directly related to our decision to obey him (John 16:33, 17:14).  But he was equally clear that allowing that pain to shift our allegiance is foolish (Matthew 10:28).

That said, there are times in our walk with the Lord when the price for following him fits better into the injury category. In those moments, continuing to press on as if everything is alright rather than pausing to rest and recover will only hinder our ability to serve the Lord. Injuries caused by fellow believers can often fit this description, which is part of why Satan delights so much in fostering division within our communities of faith.

How to get back in the game

Ultimately, we must trust the Holy Spirit to help us discern the difference between being hurt and being injured. Resting when God tells us to rest is not a sign of weakness or a lack of faith; it’s simply the best path toward restoring our ability to serve him well.

At the same time, the goal of such rest should always be to get better rather than to settle for a life defined by our hurt. The kingdom of God has little use for the kind of victimhood mentality that would see us replace our identity in Christ with an identity rooted in pain and trauma that we refuse to let the Lord heal.

God wants more for us than that, and he calls us to want more for ourselves as well.

So, the next time you take a blow in service to the Lord, ask the Holy Spirit to help you know whether you’re injured or just hurt. It’s going to happen to all of us if we remain faithful to Christ’s call on our lives, so learning how to heal and get back in the game is crucial. Fortunately, we serve a God who knows how to do just that.

Will you let him?

Quote of the day:

“You will have no test of faith that will not fit you to be a blessing if you are obedient to the Lord. I never had a trial but when I got out of the deep river I found some poor pilgrim on the bank that I was able to help by that very experience.” —A. B. Simpson

Our latest website resources:

• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup results | CB Ep. 39
• The savior of Japan’s “Suicide Cliff”
• How you can support kids and families in crisis in your community
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• James Comey indicted by a grand jury on two counts

Denison Forum

How pastor Yoichi Fujiyabu works to help people choose life in Christ

Shirahama, Japan, is known for its beautiful beaches, hot springs, and amazing views. However, for many, it’s become a popular destination for a far more tragic reason. Standing some two hundred feet above the ocean, Shirahama’s Sandanbeki Cliff—also known as “Suicide Cliff”—has become one of the nation’s most frequented locations for those looking to end their life.

Yet, as Kazusa Okaya describes in an excellent article on Yoichi Fujiyabu, the pastor of Shirahama Baptist Christ Church, God’s people have taken up the challenge to change that reality.

Fujiyabu’s ministry—the Shirahama Rescue Network (SRN)—is a nonprofit organization operating out of his church that provides an alternative to those who cannot see a future beyond the cliffs. Over the last three decades, he has stopped more than 1,100 people from killing themselves, but SRN doesn’t stop at preventing death.

Through a variety of SRN’s local businesses, a dormitory for those who need a place to stay, and partnerships with the local government, they work to help people rebuild their lives while introducing them to Jesus along the way.

That last part is particularly important and, in a country where less than 1 percent of the population is Christian, is perhaps the most unique aspect of their ministry. It also makes the hope and purpose found only in Christ the perfect antidote to the shame and meaninglessness that drives so many to the cliffs.

A tragic reality

While there are a number of reasons why suicide has become such an epidemic in Japan—long work hours, increased isolation, pressure in school and at the office, to name a few—shame is perhaps the most powerful motivator. As Okaya notes, “Japanese culture implies that people should avoid becoming a meiwaku, or a burden to others. . . . Such stigma can drive some people to want to vanish from society altogether.”

And Suicide Cliff is not the only location desperate people choose.

The Aokigahara forest—also known as the Sea of Trees—at the base of Mount Fuji carries a similar ignominy as the Sandanbeki Cliffs. Located roughly two hours from Tokyo, the government has been forced to place a sign at the entrance reminding visitors that “life is a precious gift” and encouraging them not to “suffer alone.”

Like the cliffs, people travel to the forest with the belief that they will be able to die without being noticed. However, others argue that they want to “share the same place with others and belong to the same group.” It turns out that even people who want to die alone don’t want to feel alone, and there’s something terribly tragic about that reality.

Never give up on God

When I was in college, I was fortunate enough to go on a mission trip to Japan one Spring Break. We were only there for a week, and I won’t pretend that my experiences over that short period of time nearly twenty years ago are normative for the country today. However, reading about Fujiyabu’s ministry and the heartbreaking reason it exists brought back many of those memories.

I remember when our train was delayed because someone killed themselves by jumping in front of it. That happens at least once a day in Tokyo, and even more often during the most stressful parts of the year.

I also remember standing on a crowded street corner asking people if they’d like to practice their English as a group of men attempted to convince young women walking down the street to work for their pornography company. While shame is perhaps the most common cause of suicide in Japan, sexual exploitation and abuse are high up the list as well, often contributing to that inescapable feeling of disgrace.

Yet, I also remember watching a guy in our group convince one of those men on the street corner to meet him at a nearby coffee shop, where he was able to share the gospel with him.

I don’t know if he ever trusted his life to Christ or left that line of work, but it has served as a remarkable reminder for nearly two decades that we can never give up on God’s ability to meet people where they are and call them to something more.

And, strangely enough, he often chooses to use us to play a key role in that transformation.

The gift of community

In “What does the Bible say about suicide?” Dr. Jim Denison notes that helping people find a sense of community is one of the best ways to fight back against the negative experiences that drive so many to kill themselves. As we discussed earlier, most people who want to die alone don’t want to feel alone, and every one of us can play a role in helping others understand that they are not alone.

As the author of Hebrews describes, one of our chief callings as Christians is to “stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24–25).

However, implicit within that command is the idea that this kind of community won’t always come naturally to us. If it did, then the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have had to inspire the author to include the admonition in the pages of Scripture. We’d just do it.

Now, there are circumstances where simply reaching out to people or offering them a sense of community will not be enough to stop them from taking their own lives. As Fujiyabu describes, “You cannot make that ultimate decision for them.”

Sometimes, the best thing we can do is encourage people who are hurting to seek help from those who are far better equipped to handle it. In America, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a potentially helpful place to start. But, even beyond that, ministries like Stay Here offer free training to help you spot the warning signs and know how to respond.

The privilege of partnering with God

None of that is possible, though, unless you decide that you’re willing to help. That doesn’t have to mean taking emergency calls at all hours of the night like Fujiyabu and his team, but it may mean taking a friend’s call when they reach out. It doesn’t have to mean finding a bed for them to stay the night like the SRN, but it may mean offering your couch or a meal to go along with an open ear.

In short, we can never force someone to choose life, but we can work to render that a much easier choice to make. And even if the people the Lord has brought into your life have never considered suicide—praise God if that is the case—helping to foster this sense of community is still an essential part of Christ’s calling for each of us.

So, where do you need that community today? And is there someone God has placed on your heart while you read this article whom you need to reach out to today? If so, don’t wait.

As difficult as people can be, it’s a privilege to partner with the Lord in acting as his hands and feet to a world in desperate need of his help.

Who is he calling you to help today?

Quote of the day:

“God specializes in giving people a fresh start.” —Rick Warren

Our latest website resources:

• How you can support kids and families in crisis in your community
• Why can’t Congress pass a budget?
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Why should you care about a government shutdown?
• Attack on Michigan church leaves at least four dead

Denison Forum

As Dr. Jim Denison described in yesterday’s Daily Article, Congress has until the end of today to fund the government, or at least parts of it will shut down starting tomorrow. If it feels like we’ve been here before, well, you’re not wrong. Congress found itself in essentially the same situation six months ago when it kicked the can down the road to today.

That crisis was averted after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gathered just enough support from his party to help pass the Republican-led continuing resolution (CR), which was supposed to buy leaders from both parties enough time to pass a new budget. That didn’t happen, and if the rhetoric coming out of yesterday’s meeting with President Trump is any indication, Democrats are unlikely to yield again.

But while party divisions continue to dominate the narrative as both sides attempt to shift the blame across the aisle, the simple fact is that neither party has been willing to do what’s necessary to actually pass a budget.

In fact, Congress has only passed all the required appropriations measures to fund the government for a given year four times since 1977, with the most recent instance occurring nearly thirty years ago. And even back in 1996, it took a six-bill omnibus package—a bill that funds multiple areas of the government at once—to get them over the finish line in time.

That’s not how this is supposed to work.

A flawed approach to governance

When Congress adopted the current format in 1974, the idea was to split government funding into multiple bills, under the theory that it would be easier to find common ground when focusing on one area rather than on the budget as a whole. As such, under the current arrangement, the House and Senate are charged with passing twelve spending bills a year—one for each pair of the House and Senate appropriations committees.

Instead, Congress has come to rely on either grouping them through omnibus bills or passing CRs to extend the current funding levels while they continue to negotiate an actual budget. Given that 147 of the 149 appropriations bills signed into law since 2012 were passed through an omnibus bill, this flawed approach to governance has unfortunately become the new normal.

However, the latest saga feels different in a way that could have massive implications for the future of our government.

Why Trump doesn’t seem to fear a shutdown

The last time Congress faced the prospect of a shutdown, neither side appeared overly eager to see large parts of the government shuttered. However, in the six months since, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provided alternative sources of funding for large parts of the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security—two areas of government that Republicans are typically most concerned about.

In addition, the Office of Management and Budget sent a memo throughout its agency instructing division leaders to “use this opportunity to consider Reduction in Force (RIF) notices for all employees in programs, projects, or activities (PPAs)” that meet three criteria:

1. They are without discretionary funding once the shutdown begins
2. They are not funded by alternative measures like the One Big Beautiful Bill
3. They are not “consistent with the President’s priorities.”

Given that the Trump administration is primarily responsible for determining which workers in the executive branch are essential, the prevailing belief is that Trump could use the shutdown as a means of reducing employment and penalizing parts of the government that his administration deems either superfluous or standing in the way of its agenda.

The prospect of turning that power over to Trump was enough to motivate Schumer and other democrats to vote with Republicans six months ago, and we should know by the end of the day if the same will be true this time. However, it seems unlikely, and the government they’re left with once the shutdown ends could look quite a bit different as a result.

A sin we all commit

One of the primary flaws in our current political system is the degree to which Americans on both sides are tempted to overlook abuses of power when they’re used to advance their preferred agenda. Assigning blame for the current budget situation to Republicans or Democrats is pointless because, on a basic level, both parties govern the same. It may look different based on which priorities they’re pushing, but the path they take to get there has become so well-worn over the last few decades that it’s difficult to see either side straying from it anytime soon.

However, the wrong choice doesn’t become less wrong just because someone else made it first.

Every parent of more than one child has had the delightful experience of breaking up a fight in which one kid used the “she started it” or “he hit me first” excuse to explain away their own bad behavior. That same rationale is no less immature or sinful when utilized by our nation’s leaders than when it comes from the mouth of a child.

But, if we’re being honest with ourselves, we probably don’t have to think all that far back to remember a time when we made the same mistake.

Scripture is clear that another person’s bad choices will never justify our own (2 Corinthians 5:10), and a fundamental part of genuine repentance is owning up to your sin. “I’m sorry, but…” is not the sign of a truly penitent heart, and it’s an insult to God to think he won’t know the difference.

So, are there any areas in your life where you’re tempted to try to blame others for your own mistakes? Are there any sins for which you’ve yet to fully seek God’s forgiveness?

While it can be tempting—and justified—to complain about the state of our politics today, know that Christ cares far more about the state of your heart and the degree to which it is aligned with his own.

Let’s start there.

Quote of the day:

“No constitution for self-government can save a people from voluntarily ending their own reign. ‘A republic, if you can keep it’ wasn’t just a foreboding turn of phrase—it was a statement of historical literacy.” —Sarah Isgur

Our latest website resources:

• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• What God says about you
• Attack on Michigan church leaves at least four dead
• James Comey indicted by a grand jury on two counts
• Jimmy Kimmel, free speech debate, Erika Kirk forgives, rapture thoughts, Tylenol update & a huge sports weekend | CB Ep. 38

Denison Forum

Sunday morning, a gunman rammed his vehicle into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. He then opened fire on congregants and set the building on fire.

At least four people have died and eight others were injured, one of them in critical condition. Authorities were still combing through debris last night to find additional bodies; up to seven people are possibly still unaccounted for at this writing.

The shooter, armed with what appeared to be an assault rifle, exchanged gunfire with officers at the scene and was killed. The FBI, ATF, and federal officials are investigating.

The suspect who staged the attack has been confirmed to be a former Marine. He served from 2004 to 2008, including deployments to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He earned several awards during his four years of service, including the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered US and Michigan flags at the State Capitol and public buildings across the state to be flown at half-mast in honor of the victims.

The “Gunfighter’s Code” of the Old West

This tragedy illustrates the fact that seemingly anyone in any setting can be a victim of deadly violence, and seemingly anyone from any background can be a perpetrator.

In some ways, our technologically advanced society is mirroring a world previous generations would have recognized.

In The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild, bestselling author Bryan Burrough describes what he calls the “Gunfighter’s Code” of the Old West, which was “all about defending one’s honor, emphasizing pride, courage, and the necessity never to back down from a fight and to avenge every insult, no matter how small.”

But violence was not confined to the Old West, according to Burrough:

In 1842, Abraham Lincoln, then a legislator in Illinois, reluctantly accepted a challenge from an opponent and, upon learning he was a skilled marksman, chose to fight with broadswords; bloodshed was avoided only when seconds talked the men out of it. It’s said the fifth president, James Monroe, once sought to duel the second, the prickly John Adams, until talked out of it by the fourth, James Madison.

And yet, generations beset with the threat of violence were also generations that repeatedly experienced transformational spiritual awakenings.

As I often note, the darker the room, the more powerful the light.

“The ‘Charlie Kirk effect’ is real”

An article by author Chip Kendall in Premiere Christianity is headlined, “The ‘Charlie Kirk effect’ is real. Thousands are coming to faith in Jesus.” He writes:

In the weeks since the shooting, something remarkable has been unfolding: thousands upon thousands of young people are not only exploring Christianity but actually turning up in churches, praying, and professing faith in Jesus Christ. For those of us who sometimes wonder if the gospel still works in a post-Christian, skeptical culture—here is our answer.

According to Kendall, the same is happening in the UK. For example, The Telegraph had an article claiming, “Charlie Kirk’s evangelical uprising is taking root in Britain.”

Then Kendall asks the question I want us to consider today:

Why are so many people coming to faith in the wake of tragedy? Partly, it’s because moments of crisis strip away our illusions of control. When someone so young and influential is gunned down, the fragility of life is laid bare. People are desperate for hope, for answers, for something solid in the chaos.

“When you pass through the waters”

I have often reflected on the fact that America has not seen a “great awakening” in more than 120 years.

Prior movements of the Spirit transformed the culture in dramatic ways. Each was preceded by desperation—immorality, decadence, crime, and threats of war. Each time, Americans turned to God for the help he alone could give. And God kept his promise: “You will seek and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

I am praying today for those devastated by yet another horrific tragedy, asking God to give them his strength, help, and peace. And I am praying that the mounting hopelessness from so many tragedies in recent days would lead Americans to turn to the God of all hope.

The prophet asked in his grief, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). But he pointed to our only source of transforming hope in a fallen world: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lᴏʀᴅ, whose trust is the Lᴏʀᴅ” (v. 7).

This is because our Lord hurts as we hurt, grieves as we grieve, and walks with us through all pain:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lᴏʀᴅ your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (Isaiah 43:2–3).

And one day, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

As Gilbert M. Beeken famously noted,

“Other men see only a hopeless end, but the Christian rejoices in an endless hope.”

Let us claim and share this hope today, to the glory of God.

Denison Forum

While President Trump’s speech garnered most of the attention at the UN General Assembly, a gathering on Tuesday with Arab and Muslim leaders could turn out to be the most consequential part of this week’s events. Trump even said as much, referring to the negotiation as “my most important meeting,” and a chance “to end something that should have probably never started.”

That something that shouldn’t have started is Israel’s war with Hamas, and the President’s assessment appears to have a better chance of being accurate now than at any point in the conflict’s nearly two years of violence and death.

While most ceasefire negotiations to this point have relied on both Israel and Hamas finding a middle ground that was considered mutually beneficial to both parties, Trump’s current proposal appears to essentially leave Hamas out of the equation. Instead, on Tuesday, he met with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

Notably absent from that list were Hamas, Iran, and Israel, though Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday. Israel is, however, generally aware of what Trump proposed. And, as one Israeli official described, they understand that “There will be bitter pills we’ll have to swallow.”

Specific details of the President’s twenty-one-point plan are, as of this writing, largely unknown. Yet, as Axios reports, some of the general principles are:

• The release of all remaining hostages.
• A permanent ceasefire.
• Gradual Israeli withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip.
• A post-war plan that includes a governing mechanism in Gaza without Hamas.
• A security force that would include Palestinians but also soldiers from Arab and Muslim countries.
• Funding from Arab and Muslim countries for the new administration in Gaza and for reconstruction of the enclave.
• Some involvement of the Palestinian Authority

In return for their support, Axios writes that Arab leaders will reportedly require that:

• Israel will not annex parts of the West Bank or Gaza.
• Israel will not occupy parts of Gaza.
• Israel will not build settlements in Gaza.
• Israel will stop undermining the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
• Humanitarian aid to Gaza will immediately increase.

(These lists are quoted directly from Axios’s article.)

Essentially, Muslim nations want Israel out of Gaza and appear more willing than at any point in the last two years to take on the necessary levels of responsibility to ensure Israel can do so safely. But while all of that sounds good, a number of questions remain that could determine the feasibility of Trump’s proposal. And chief among them is whether Gaza would remain part of Israel or become an independent Palestinian nation.

Will Israel accept a two-state solution?

Calls for Israel to accept a two-state solution have been around for decades, but both their frequency and intensity have increased in recent weeks. At the General Assembly, France, the UK, and several other Western powers joined the chorus.

President Trump has, to this point, staunchly opposed the idea, arguing that such a move would be a “reward for Hamas.” The majority of Israelis are similarly against the proposal. However, it’s difficult to see other Muslim nations—and particularly those in the Middle East—accepting so much risk and responsibility unless they were doing so on behalf of an independent Palestine.

Moreover, Trump was unyielding in his belief that Hamas cannot be rewarded for what happened on October 7, but it’s less clear if he would feel the same about a situation where Hamas was no longer in charge. And while accepting a two-state solution would indeed be a “bitter pill,” there are also sound arguments that it could advance the security and prosperity of Israel.

As Faisal J. Abbas describes:

A Palestinian state would give Israel a partner responsible for its own territory, its own governance, and its own security. This means that any terrorist activity originating from Palestinian soil becomes the responsibility of the new government, which will be held accountable under international law.

But while that sounds reasonable, it rests on the assumption that a fledgling Palestine would be capable of enforcing that level of accountability rather than falling back under the control of Hamas or another terrorist influence. And that’s where the nations with whom Trump met on Tuesday—many of whom were part of the first major foreign trip of his current term—would need to step in.

Why Israel needs help

The truth is that Israel will never be able to do what is necessary to restore peace in Gaza without incurring the anger and wrath—at least publicly—of the Muslim world. Muslims everywhere are bound by the concept of Ummah, which holds that all Muslims are part of a collective community. This principle is largely where they get the idea that an attack on Muslims in one area is an attack on Islam as a whole.

As such, when Israel’s attacks on Hamas lead to the death of civilians, the Islamic world is required to condemn them. Yet, if a Muslim nation were charged with putting an end to Hamas and freeing the remaining hostages, that would not violate the principle in the same way as when Israel or a Western nation attempts to do so.

However, Israel’s problem is that they’ve seen little in the Palestinian Authority—the group that runs the West Bank and would be the most likely candidates to lead in a post-war Gaza—to make them believe they would be up to the challenge. Outside help will be needed, and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the other nations with whom Trump met appear willing to give it.

While there are a number of details that still need to be worked out, if Israel is willing to receive that help—and to do so on terms those nations would find acceptable—it’s possible that this war could end before the second anniversary of the attacks that started it back on October 7, 2023.

And there is an important lesson in that reality that we would all do well to remember today.

Choosing God’s will over your own

One of the most difficult aspects of living out our faith well is laying down our rights when doing so is required to advance God’s kingdom. Israel has every right to defend its borders and continue the war in Gaza until each hostage is returned and Hamas is no longer a threat. But the reality is that continuing to pursue that right will make it more difficult to achieve their desired ends.

In the same way, there are times when pursuing our right to defend our reputation, our honor, or to seek retribution for a wrong done to us will make it much more difficult to maintain our witness and fulfill the role God has called us to play in advancing his kingdom. Jesus spoke to this reality in the Sermon on the Mount when he called us to turn the other cheek, give up your cloak, and go the extra mile (Matthew 5:43–48).

At no point in that teaching does Jesus claim that we do not have the right to pursue retribution. He just calls us to give up that right in order to prioritize our witness instead.

I think he knew that would be hard for us, though, which is perhaps why he followed up that lesson by teaching on the need to love our enemies and the call to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:43–48).

You see, Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything more than what he’s already done for us. On the cross, he had every right to command angels to come and rescue him. He chose not to, though, because pursuing God’s purposes was more important.

I don’t know how the situation in Gaza will end or whether Israel will be willing to make the necessary concessions to receive help from its neighbors in bringing about that end. I have more hope that they will than I’ve had for quite some time, but, at least for now, it’s difficult to do more than hope.

However, I do know that there will be times when Christ calls us to concede our rights in order to prioritize his purpose, and making the right choice in those moments will be far easier to do if we’ve already decided that God’s will is more important than our own.

Will you make that choice today?

Quote of the day:

“The weakness of the Church lies not in the lack of Christian arguments but in the lack of Christian lives.” —William Barclay

Our latest website resources:

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• Three people killed at ICE facility in Dallas
• What Jimmy Kimmel said about Erika Kirk

Denison Forum

“When you finally start moving up into the air, I recommend that you don’t hold onto anything. I definitely don’t recommend looking down. . . . Just keep calm, take a deep breath, slowly release it, and keep your face looking upward.” This is how one person advised her fellow Christians to experience the rapture when it came two days ago.

Except it didn’t.

Or if it did, you and I (and everyone else, so far as I can tell) were left behind. This despite the fact that so many expected the rapture to come on September 23 that the New York Times, Newsweek, and numerous other outlets covered the story.

The date appears to have originated with a person named Joshua Mhlakela in South Africa. He said in a YouTube video that he is not a pastor, though news reports widely described him as such. In his video, he reported that Jesus came to him in a dream in 2018 and told him, “On the 23^rd and the 24^th of September 2025, I will come to take my church.”

His prediction aligned with this year’s observance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Evangelical TikTok users picked up Mhlakela’s assertion, some pointing to signs in Revelation 12 and various astrological alignments involving the constellations Virgo and Leo to claim that his prophecy was being fulfilled.

On social media, some said they had given away their belongings and quit their jobs. Others satirically celebrated the coming lower rents or asked believers to hand over their money or keys to their homes.

The latter response points to my point today.

“An hour you do not expect”

The “rapture” is a belief held by some that Jesus will take believers out of the world prior to a period of “great tribulation” on Earth. The word does not appear in the Bible, which is not definitive (the word Trinity is not in Scripture, either), but the idea is based on passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51–52. Some interpret Jesus’ invitation to John, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1), to refer to this event.

This is a complex subject, one I have discussed in detail in books and articles over the years. (You can go here and here for examples.) My purpose today is not to explore eschatology (the doctrine of last things) but to focus on the cultural implications of the current story.

Jesus clearly said about his return, “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). In fact, those who claim to be able to predict the date must be wrong by definition, for our Lord added, “the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (v. 44). “You do not expect” could be translated from the Greek, “all of you without exceptions are not expecting it when it occurs.”

Nonetheless, some across history have been undeterred in claiming to know more than Jesus said he knew about the timing of his return. Such predictions have been more frequent since 1948, the year Israel became a nation again, since many interpretive schemes consider this event to be pivotal to end times sequencing.

However, one predated it by more than a century: the “Great Disappointment” occurred when a Baptist preacher named William Miller predicted that Christ would return on October 22, 1844. Tens of thousands of his followers (known as Millerites) sold their possessions in preparation; when nothing happened, widespread disillusionment followed.

The better-known these failed predictions, the more ridicule they generated for the predictors—and the larger Christian community.

Billy Graham’s greatest fear

Such ridicule is unfortunately understandable. When so-called financial experts make stock market predictions that turn out to be inaccurate, we question their competence for their next prediction. When meteorologists get the weather wrong, we look askance at meteorology itself.

This tendency is especially unsurprising with regard to evangelical Christianity. Already widely considered outdated, irrelevant, and even dangerous, our truth claims are dismissed as esoteric and speculative, especially when they have to do with “unscientific” issues such as the end times.

All this to say, if there is any subject Christians should be especially careful to avoid in our post-Christian culture, it is end times speculation. Not only because Jesus promised we would be wrong, but because our wrong predictions will add fodder for those already predisposed to reject our Lord.

Billy Graham once described to the interviewer David Frost his greatest fear: “That I’ll do something or say something that will bring some disrepute to the gospel of Christ before I go.” He added, “I want the Lord to remove me before I say something or do something that would embarrass God.”

If we want to impact our culture for Christ, we must make Dr. Graham’s greatest fear ours as well.

Visiting Armageddon

Ironically, a way to live that draws people to Christ is to focus on the end times, but not in the way we’ve been discussing.

I was privileged to lead more than thirty study tours to Israel over the years. Each time, we made our way to the heights of Megiddo, an ancient fortress overlooking the vast valley below. In Hebrew, this area is known as Har Megiddo (the “mount of Megiddo”). Transliterated into English, it becomes “Armageddon.”

The site is mentioned just once in Scripture: at the end of history, the enemies of the Lord are described as assembling “at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16). Each time I led a tour here, we discussed this verse and the various end-times scenarios that center around it.

Then I told the group, “The only fact about the future about which I am absolutely certain is this: We are one day closer to eternity than ever before.”

Jesus could return today. Or you could step through death into his presence today (John 14:3). What it takes to be ready is also what it takes to live in ways that most glorify our Lord and attract others to him.

If you knew that day were tomorrow, what would you change today?

Quote for the day:

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” —Theophrastus (372–287 BC)

Our latest website resources:

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• What Jimmy Kimmel said about Erika Kirk
• How to discern God’s will, manifesting vs. biblical faith, the reality of hell, and God’s unconditional love
• Is YoungHoon Kim the “world’s smartest man” and a Christian? An encouragement to walk in the truth regardless of the cost

Denison Forum

I watched President Donald Trump’s hour-long speech at the United Nations yesterday. Since the UN was founded eighty years ago, every US president has addressed the General Assembly.

However, there is a scenario by which the event could have made history for cataclysmic reasons.

The Secret Service announced before the president’s address that the agency had disrupted a sprawling telecommunications network in the New York tri-state area. Investigators say this network could have disrupted telecom systems and threatened the UN meetings this week.

The servers were so powerful that they could have disabled cell phone towers and blocked emergency communications like EMS and police dispatch. If an attack had been staged on the president and the UN gathering, a network outage could have prevented security forces from responding.

There was a time when we would perhaps not have thought to connect the president’s UN speech and the Secret Service’s discovery. But after Charlie Kirk’s murder and two assassination attempts on the president, the second of which resulted in a conviction yesterday, this is not that time.

The good news is that the bad news of our day is fertile ground for the best news of all.

A perceptive explanation of our times

Cultural commentator Geoff Shullenberger notes that there was a time when the lone assassin dominated political violence. For example, the years between 1963 and the early 1980s witnessed the murders of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the attempted assassinations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.

Then came a shift toward mass shootings. Shullenberger theorizes that this aligned with “the shifting landscape of power” from sovereign individuals to groups and movements, focusing on schools and other public venues. In addition, the fragmentation of media could have motivated shooters to commit even more spectacular crimes so as to gain the attention they craved.

However, political assassins are now back, recently attacking leaders from both political parties, but mass shootings have not lessened. Within an hour of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, for example, a shooter in Colorado injured two classmates before taking his own life.

As Shullenberger notes, the fact that both kinds of killings are now making headlines is a “particularly grim indication” of our times.

Three open doors for the gospel

However, three factors contributing to these “grim” times are each an open door to the good news of God’s grace. The gospel offers:

One: Hope that counters despair.

According to New York Times journalist Jia Lynn Yang, “The most dangerous element in our society may well be hopelessness.” Her research shows the many ways individual hopelessness spurs violent actions. However, “the God of hope” is able to “fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13). When we know that the all-powerful God of the universe is our Father and loves each of us as if there were only one of us, we find hope even in the hardest places and days.

Two: Community that bridges ideology.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank reports that relationships across ideological divides are proven to counter isolation and the political polarization it produces. Early Christians could have told us so. Gathered across fifteen different languages and cultures (Acts 2:8–11), they found unity in Christ and met the needs of others so sacrificially that “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (v. 47).

Three: Courage that redeems persecution.

Theologian Bradley G. Green writes in First Things that the critical theorist Herbert Marcuse convinced generations of “progressives” that they must repress the speech and acts of those with whom they disagree. As Dr. Green notes, such “repressive tolerance” forms the backdrop for the silencing and canceling of conservative thought on university campuses and violence against conservative leaders. But as I noted yesterday, Jesus empowers his followers to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). By “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), we become the change we wish to see.

Misquoting St. Francis

A fourth factor is foundational to the other three and especially opens the door to the gospel.

The Lord described Israel to Ezekiel this way: “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house” (Ezekiel 12:2). When we rebel against God’s word and will, we lose the ability to discern God’s word and will, which heightens our need for God’s word and will.

If we break our compass, we can no longer find our way and need the compass even more. If we throw away our flashlight, we sit in the darkness and can no longer find it.

This is why our lost culture so desperately needs Christians to boldly declare the essential truths of the gospel. To be blunt: Gone is the day when most non-Christians will attend church services, and gone is the day in many denominations when, if they did, they would actually hear the gospel presented.

I have often heard St. Francis of Assisi quoted: “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” However, Francis never said these words. And he was famous for preaching the gospel in words; according to his first biographer, he sometimes preached “in up to five villages a day.”

What saved people owe lost people

Every lost person needs the salvation only Jesus can provide. As the apostles said of our Savior, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

However, a lost person cannot be saved without understanding that they are lost, but if they repent of their sins and confess them to Jesus, he will forgive them and give them eternal life as the child of God. These facts cannot be intuited from nature or “spiritual” activities. They must be understood, accepted, and acted upon.

Our lives are critical to our message, of course. We cannot expect people to believe that Jesus will change them if he does not obviously change us. But our lives are not enough. Pastor and missions leader David Platt is right:

“Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell.”

How will you discharge your debt with the lost people you know today?

Quote for the day:

“Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live.” —Leonard Ravenhill

Our latest website resources:

• How to discern God’s will, manifesting vs. biblical faith, the reality of hell, and God’s unconditional love
• Is YoungHoon Kim the “world’s smartest man” and a Christian? An encouragement to walk in the truth regardless of the cost
• Why the alleged assassin killed Charlie Kirk: Trusting God to use great evil for greater good
• Did God spare Donald Trump but not Charlie Kirk?
• Cultural shockwave of Charlie Kirk’s death, America divided, free speech debate, viral revival, Robert Redford & Larry Ellison

Denison Forum

Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to the air tonight. The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement, “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”

The statement added, “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.” (For more on the story, see Dr. Ryan Denison’s Daily Article, “Jimmy Kimmel suspended for comments on Charlie Kirk’s killer.”)

The controversy over Kimmel’s suspension illustrates the partisan fault lines dividing our country: According to a new poll, Democrats are far more likely to watch late-night talk shows than Republicans or Independents. This explains why late-night talk show hosts are negative toward President Trump and Republicans while sympathetic toward Democratic Party leaders—they are “playing to their audience.” However, confining themselves to only one part of the electorate also defines their audience, further reinforcing their bias and that of those who watch them.

By contrast, Johnny Carson, widely known as the “King of Late Night,” explained many years ago that he was “not there” to deal with political issues. “Once you start that, you start to get that self-important feeling” and try to sway people, he said, adding, “I don’t think you should as an entertainer.” Jay Leno made the same point recently.

However, both were reflecting times that were not nearly so bitterly and deeply divided. As Chris Matthews illustrates in his fascinating book, Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked, Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill disagreed on many issues but found ways to work together. Matthews writes: “Reagan was fond of Tip and completely believed that Tip wanted to help the little people. He just disagreed about how to do it.”

That was then, this is now. The divisiveness of our society has risen to a level that fundamentally threatens the future of our democratic experiment.

And the solution lies in the very message that many people blame for the problem.

The challenge of “affective polarization”

Cultural commentator Fareed Zakaria remembers a time when political debates involved two issues: economics (how much to tax and spend) and the Soviet threat (how best to counter it). On both issues, compromise was possible.

However, many of today’s issues are moral in nature and thus far more deeply held. While there once were pro-life Democrats and pro-choice Republicans, for example, Zakaria writes that the parties have now “sorted themselves into ideologically consistent groups,” so “the divides get weaponized” and “each party sees the other as not just misguided but evil.”

New York Times columnist Ezra Klein explains how this happened: over the past fifty years, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These “merged identities” have come to define who we are, not just what we believe. We therefore self-select into disparate cultures with little or no overlap or interchange.

The result is “affective polarization,” which is how scholars describe a society such as ours in which the two sides simply do not like members of the other party. How do we make a democratic republic work in the midst of such bitterness?

Three biblical facts

Many religious skeptics consider religion to be at the root of our divisions. They’re right that our most divisive issues are religious at their core, from abortion to same-sex marriage to euthanasia. They’re also right in noting that religious platforms are often used to advance political agendas and politicians today.

However, our faith embraces not just a worldview that critics consider divisive, but the way its followers can embrace such critics. Consider three biblical facts.

First, the Bible views all people, whatever their beliefs, as “image bearers” of the Divine (Genesis 1:27).

God loves us despite ourselves: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Now our Savior commands us to love as we are loved (John 13:34–35). As a result, Christians are compelled to seek common ground with our opponents, to wish their best even at the cost of our own, to forgive as our Father has forgiven us and to pay forward the grace we have received by faith.

Second, the God who commands us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43) also empowers us to do what he commands.

His Spirit indwelling his people manifests the “fruit” of “love” in and through all who submit to him (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:18). Erika Kirk’s decision to forgive her husband’s assassin is just one example of such love at work. No other religion or worldview empowers its followers from within to be the change they wish to see. But Jesus does.

Third, our commitment to love those who do not love us points the essential way forward for our society.

Cultural commentator Paul Kingsnorth describes our cultural moment: “Cut loose in the postmodern present, with no center, no truth, and no direction, we have not become independent-minded, responsible, democratic citizens in a human republic. We have become slaves to the power of money, and worshippers of the self.” We therefore have no hope for a better future in ourselves. But we have abundant hope in the transforming grace of Christ (cf. 1 Peter 1:3; Romans 5:5).

We are back where we began

In a sense, Americans are where America started. As the famed historian Joseph Ellis explains, colonial Americans were united in their opposition to Great Britain but were otherwise thirteen very disparate and divided colonies. Consequently, George Washington observed that their hope for a collective future lay not in themselves. Rather, he declared,

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

As historians Peter A. Lillback and Jerry Newcombe compellingly demonstrate, the “religion and morality” our first president embraced and endorsed was the Christian faith.

In a consensual democracy, citizens rule each other. But we cannot rule others if we cannot rule ourselves. And as James Madison warned, “Whenever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.”

There is only one Power in the universe capable of remaking fallen people, of giving sinners a “new heart” and a “new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26) as children of God who manifest his character to the world (John 1:12; Romans 8:29). Submitting to this Power and demonstrating this transforming love is the greatest, most essential gift we can give our divided nation.

Do you agree?

Quote for the day:

“The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world” —C. S. Lewis

Our latest website resources:

• Why the alleged assassin killed Charlie Kirk: Trusting God to use great evil for greater good
• Check your fears
• Did God spare Donald Trump but not Charlie Kirk?
• Cultural shockwave of Charlie Kirk’s death, America divided, free speech debate, viral revival, Robert Redford & Larry Ellison
• How to fight against the Age of Outrage

Denison Forum

In all my life, I have never seen so many people afraid of so many things.

War, poverty, disease, crime, shortages, violence, and suffering are in news reports on any channel, through the internet, and even intruding upon “social” accounts.

I don’t discount fears. They are real, and they have a way of adding up.

Is it any wonder that Jesus continued to say “fear not” in his time with the disciples?

Do you fear man or God?

We just fear so many things and so often. But, in Luke 12, Jesus goes to the core of fear and divides it into two disparate categories: those who fear man and those who fear God.

He starts with a warning about the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when we create a public impression to hide our real motives. It’s as though we wear a mask and play-act at who we really are because we are afraid of people. Being a fake is no laughing matter to God, and, as a pastor, I find it especially poignant that Jesus is exposing religious leaders as fakes.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t give this warning to the multitude who are crowding on top of one another to get to him but to the twelve because they needed it. Jesus knew even they could fall to hypocrisy, and Jesus loved them enough to say the hard truth to them. They need to beware, to watch out, because that small bit of spiritual leaven is dangerous.

And what a picture of hypocrisy Jesus gave when he called it leaven. You and I know the implications: something that can start small and grow, something that works its way through the entirety of where it is placed, and something that is hard, if not impossible, to remove.

Doesn’t that describe fear well too?

Hypocrisy is born of the fear of man and he said it was the leaven of the Pharisees as it had filled their lives.

What if Jesus called you a hypocrite?

Think about all the things you might be afraid of and ask yourself this: “How afraid would I be if Jesus called me a hypocrite”?

Your answer determines which column you fit in.

The Fear of Man column isn’t really afraid of his opinion.

But if you line up under the Fear of God column, these are chilling words.

It also shows just how far away from God religious people can be. Didn’t they know they were pretending to be someone they were not?

And they had to be shocked at how Jesus was able to see through their pretense, but there is no indication that they ever considered listening to him and making a change. They fit into the description of verse 4: they feared man, not God.

Can that be true today?

Are there religious people, even those serving in ministry, who fear men more than God?

If Jesus warned the disciples, it seems that answer is yes.

When my focus changed

The church I serve started as a plant. During those early days when money was tight and the future uncertain, a few people banded together to try to force a change in the direction of our mission.

Eventually, they left. As you know, they seldom leave silently.

I was experiencing my first real fear of man as a pastor and it must have shown. One of our early leaders pulled me aside and told me he was praying I wasn’t “snakebit.” He had grown up in the country, where a snake bite could alter your behavior and make you live with fear of the next snake. He reminded me that I was here to serve God and he loved me and believed in me.

In those few words, I realized my focus had changed and I never saw it coming.

I was looking at and fearing man so much I had not even given a glance toward the God who called me. I have come to believe that it’s a constant struggle for most pastors. So let me encourage you that if you feel that way, you are not the first, and you don’t have to live with that fear.

Even the great prophet Jeremiah was afraid and needed straight talk about fearing man and he got it! “Get up and dress and go out and tell them whatever I tell you to say. Don’t be afraid of them, or else I will make a fool of you in front of them” (Jeremiah 1:17 TLB).

Then, just like the heavenly Father that God is, he seems to pull Jeremiah close in verse 19 and says,  “‘They will try, but they will fail. For I am with you,’ says the Lord. ‘I will deliver you.’”

It’s like Oswald  Chambers said, “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”

I do not want to fear everything else. I want to fear God.

The benefits of fearing God

As ministers, we have already made the big decision to follow Jesus in a life of ministry, but sometimes we need to be reminded of some of the benefits of fearing God:

• I have a singular focus on God.
• I don’t have to fear man.
• I accept the blessing of personal conviction rather than run from it. God is drawing me to be close to him.
• I am in a relationship with the only One who knows me completely and still loves me.
• I don’t labor alone but with him.
• I don’t know what is next, but God does.
• I am part of something eternally significant.
• I can pray with confidence.
• I am on the winning side. We’ve read the Bible, and we know how this ends.

I’ll end with the testimony of David: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed” (Psalm 34:4–5).

Denison Forum

Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, was suspended indefinitely in the wake of falsely characterizing Charlie Kirk’s killer as a member of “The MAGA Gang.” Kimmel made the comments around two minutes into his monologue on Monday’s show as part of a larger condemnation of President Trump and his response to Kirk’s death.

To be honest, after listening to what he said, the line was neither funny nor factual, but I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought except for the firestorm that followed.

You see, Kimmel had the poor judgment to make that statement at a time when both the Trump administration and conservatives across the country were already on edge over the manner in which many—though far from most—of those on the left responded to the shooting. As such, when Kimmel declared that Tyler Robinson—the suspect charged with Kirk’s murder—was a member of the MAGA movement, he became an easy target for the right’s anger.

The latest reports are that Kimmel planned to address the controversy on Wednesday’s show but was not going to apologize. Instead, he was intent on “defending what he said [as] being grossly mischaracterized by a certain group of people.” Given that 66 of ABC’s roughly 200 affiliate stations were not planning to air the episode, Disney decided to take the decision out of their hands.

What does the First Amendment protect?

Many of those who condemned Kimmel’s suspension have characterized it as an assault on his freedom of speech. However, this assessment demonstrates an important misunderstanding of what the Constitution actually protects.

The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The Supreme Court later expanded that protection to include all levels of government, from the federal to the state and local as well.

But while every aspect of the First Amendment is important, the key part for our present discussion is that it specifies that the government cannot punish the exercise of free speech. It says nothing, however, about employers choosing to do so.

We’ll discuss this aspect of the controversy and the ways it’s of particular relevance to Christians in a bit, but understanding that ABC and its affiliates had every right to take Kimmel off the air for what he said is essential context to this story. And if they were the only ones to influence that decision, the story would end there. However, that was not the case.

Why was Kimmel canceled? 

On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said of Kimmel’s comments, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this—I mean, we can do this the easy way or the hard way . . . I think that it’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Listen, we are going to pre-empt, we are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out.’”

A few hours later, two of ABC’s largest affiliates did just that.

Nexstar, which owns roughly 10 percent of ABC’s stations across the country, called Kimmel’s statements “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.” They went on to add that they “do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.”

Sinclair, the largest ABC affiliate group in the country, echoed those thoughts and also stated that it would no longer air Kimmel’s show. Instead, they’ve decided to televise reruns with the exception of this weekend, when they will use that timeslot to run a special program in remembrance of Charlie Kirk.

While it’s possible that both affiliates came to that decision on their own, the timing in relation to Carr’s comments is difficult to overlook. Moreover, Nexstar is currently in the process of merging with Tegna—another broadcast company—in a move that is expected to generate roughly $300 million per year in cost savings, but needs Carr’s approval at the FCC for the deal to go through.

As the Free Press described, “This is what’s known as jawboning—when state actors use threats to inappropriately compel private action.” They went on to warn, “For the MAGA crowd who might like what they’re seeing from Carr: Remember that Democrats will wield this power again. And when they do, they will play by the new rules that Carr and the Trump administration just established.”

The degree to which these rules are truly new in the wake of the controversies in 2020 and 2021 is debatable. But, regardless of where you stand politically, the government openly wielding this kind of influence should concern all of us.

What’s at stake?

As Christians, we should assume that there will be times when our beliefs come into conflict with the popular norms of the culture around us. After all, Jesus promised that it would be that way, and we have nearly two thousand years’ worth of examples that prove he was right (John 15:18–25).

Now, that doesn’t mean that we will always face opposition when we stand up for biblical truth, but we shouldn’t be surprised when some would prefer that we fall in line rather than stand apart on the foundation of God’s word. When that happens, I would much rather live in a place where the government was content to leave me alone, even if it means they have to do the same for people who stand on beliefs with which I strongly disagree.

Even then, though, it’s important to remember that the First Amendment only shields us from government intervention. Your job, your coworkers, or the myriad strangers and keyboard warriors online will always be free to disagree and to seek opportunities to punish you for those beliefs. And when that happens, we’ll have to choose whether we want to keep God’s blessings or pursue what the world has to offer.

Scripture is clear about what that choice should be, but the Lord has left it up to us to decide. However, it’s crucial that we go into that decision with a clear view of what’s at stake.

Choose what’s helpful

As Christians, we are no more entitled to God’s blessings than Jimmy Kimmel is to a late-night talk show. So, when our words and actions do not reflect well on our witness, we shouldn’t be surprised when those sins come with real consequences. While they won’t get us fired in the sense of losing our salvation, they can relegate us to the sidelines of God’s kingdom work.

So, which will you choose the next time you’re faced with the decision of pursuing God’s blessings or the world’s? It’s easy to give the right answer now, but if you haven’t fully wrestled with what that decision may cost you, then it will be far more difficult to make the right choice when it counts.

With that reality in mind, let’s finish for today by taking some time to ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand the degree to which we are willing to choose Christ when that decision proves costly. Are there any areas of your life where you’ve sacrificed God’s blessings in favor of the world’s? And when you think, type, or post about people who think differently than you do, how well do your words align with your faith?

Ultimately, you have every right to post what you want on social media. But, as the apostle Paul warned, “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23).

Let’s choose what’s helpful to God’s kingdom today.

Quote of the day:

“Fighting who we think is wrong is often confused with doing what’s right. Those two things are not always the same.”—Justin Giboney

Our latest website resources:

• Did God spare Donald Trump but not Charlie Kirk?
• Cultural shockwave of Charlie Kirk’s death, America divided, free speech debate, viral revival, Robert Redford & Larry Ellison | CB Ep. 37
• How to fight against the Age of Outrage
• How can understanding the mind-body-spirit connection improve mental health struggles?
• “Dancing with the Stars” and the Christian journey

Denison Forum