There was a time when wearing white after Labor Day was a social faux pas. One explanation is that wealthy people could afford to vacation during the hot summer months and left their “city clothes” behind in favor of lighter, whiter summer outfits. When fall arrived and the privileged upper class returned to the city, they donned darker, more formal clothing. That was then—this is now: nearly 85 percent of all Americans planned to travel this summer.

Here’s another Labor Day factoid: In the late nineteenth century, American laborers worked for twelve hours per day on average in poor conditions, leading to protests and the formation of labor unions. The Central Labor Union of New York City then staged the first Labor Day holiday on this day in 1882. Twelve years later, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September an annual federal holiday.

All that to say, Americans have made great progress in many ways across recent generations. The average size of our homes has nearly tripled since 1950, for example. Technological innovations, from air conditioning to the internet, have greatly enhanced our daily lives.

“China’s economy won’t be fixed”

By contrast, our greatest geopolitical competitor has fallen on significant hard times in recent years.

Axios notes that China’s economy following its reopening after the pandemic has been plagued by weak growth, falling prices, a popped real estate bubble, and mass unemployment among young adults. Rather than dealing with these problems, China’s government is hiding them. For example, after recent reports showed unemployment among young adults reached 21.3 percent in June, the government suspended the release of the data.

The Economist agrees that “China’s economy won’t be fixed” because “an increasingly autocratic government is making bad decisions.” The article notes that China’s living standards are less than 20 percent of America’s and adds, “Many of its challenges stem from broader failures of its economic policymaking—which are getting worse as President Xi Jinping centralizes power.”

An analysis in Foreign Affairs also reports that China’s now ten-year-long infrastructure development project (known as the Belt and Road Initiative or BRI), which has lent more than $1 trillion to more than one hundred countries, is forcing many of these nations into unmanageable debt crises. The Associated Press is reporting this morning that Italy is not expected to extend its commitment to BRI when it comes up for renewal at the end of the year.

“The one thing Americans can agree on”

Not only does China face grave uncertainty, the United States can point to significant advantages in this geopolitical competition. Cambridge University political economist John Rapley notes that the US “still has sources of power that nobody can seriously rival: a currency that faces no serious threat as the world’s medium of exchange, the deep pools of capital managed on Wall Street, the world’s most powerful military, the soft power wielded by its universities, and the vast appeal of its culture.”

And so, we should feel confident about our nation’s present and future. And yet, we don’t.

A recent Pew Research Forum study reported that “Americans are in a negative mood about the current state of the country, with large majorities expressing dissatisfaction with the economy and overall national conditions.” When they look to the future, “they see a country that in many respects will be worse than it is today.”

Only one in ten give high ratings to the way democracy is working in our nation or how well it represents the interests of most Americans. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Pessimism is the one thing Americans can agree on.”

Why is this?

The Lord testified: “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars” (Psalm 75:3). If a house loses its foundation, will those inside not see the cracks in the walls and feel the tremors? Scripture says of Jesus: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). When we forsake the “hub” into which the spokes of our souls fit, should we be surprised when the wheel disintegrates?

No nation’s future is guaranteed, including ours. Babylon was the Washington, DC, of her day, but God predicted: “She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations” (Jeremiah 50:39). Accordingly, ancient Babylon is an uninhabited ruin to this day.

Our secularized, post-Christian nation should take heed.

“Return to me, and I will return to you”

The good news is that it is always too soon to give up on God. He promises, “Return to me, and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7). So, let’s close with an invitation from Max Lucado to make Christ our Shepherd before it’s too late:

God, our Shepherd, doesn’t check the weather; he makes it. He doesn’t defy gravity; he created it. Jesus said, “God is Spirit.” He has no limitations. Unchanging. Uncaused. Ungoverned. Don’t we need this kind of shepherd?

You don’t need to carry the burden of a lesser god—a god on a shelf, a god in a box, or a god in a bottle. No, you need a God who can place one hundred billion stars in our galaxy and one hundred billion galaxies in the universe. A God who can shape two fists of flesh into seventy-five to one hundred billion nerve cells, each with as many as ten thousand connections to other nerve cells, place it in a skull, and call it a brain. And you have one. He is your Shepherd.

Is he your Shepherd today?

Denison Forum

Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area yesterday morning. Some residents who chose to ride out the storm at home had to “swim out of their windows” to escape waves of water crashing through their front doors. It then flooded parts of Georgia and the Carolinas before moving offshore this morning.

In other news, a fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg, South Africa, killing at least seventy-three people as of this morning. Several of the victims were children. And today is the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in 1997 at the age of thirty-six.

I’ve written often over the years on the subject of innocent suffering and truly believe that God redeems all he allows, even disasters like those in today’s news. At the same time, I don’t want to sound a positive note that would be tone-deaf to those who are grieving. So instead, I’ll offer some very personal reflections that are different from any I’ve shared in the past.

My two great crises

My father died of a heart attack in 1979 at the age of fifty-five. The shock was nearly overwhelming for me and my family. He had been in poor health since his first heart attack nineteen years earlier, but we did not expect his death to come so soon or abruptly. And I had no idea why God would allow such a tragedy.

The other great crisis of my life came ten years ago when our older son was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent surgery and six weeks of radiation treatments. The thought that he could die from this was more than I could contemplate. Watching our son go through surgery and radiation was more grievous for me than I can express in words. To this day, I try not to think about the pain of those months.

Here’s my point: In both cases, I learned the truth of Robert Frost’s observation that there is “no way out but through.” Avoiding the realities we were facing did not make them any less real. Pretending that our pain was less painful did not make it so. Keeping up appearances with others did not change the condition of my heart.

And being anything less than honest and transparent with God only made things worse for my soul.

“O Lᴏʀᴅ, how many are my foes!”

Over these years as a “fellow struggler” (to use John Claypool’s poignant metaphor), both as a pastor and as a human, I have come to appreciate the honesty of God’s word. The so-called “psalms of lament” (nearly half of the Psalms) have become especially important for me.

The first is perhaps the most deeply personal for David. Psalm 3 was composed while he was fleeing for his life from his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15–18). Imagine what this aged king must have felt as his son usurped his throne, staged a national rebellion, and sought to kill him.

In response, David begins: O Lᴏʀᴅ, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, ‘There is no salvation for him in God’” (Psalm 3:1–2). I would have followed this very honest statement with a litany of complaints against the Lord, asking him to explain why he allowed this crisis in my life and nation.

David does not: “But you, O Lᴏʀᴅ, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lᴏʀᴅ, and he answered me from his holy hill” (vv. 3–4). He chooses to see God’s unseen presence and providential protection and to cry to him in faith.

Consequently, he can make a statement I find absolutely astounding: “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lᴏʀᴅ sustained me” (v. 5). Even while fleeing from his son’s armies, David can sleep while trusting that God will protect him. As a result, he testifies, “I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around” (v 6).

And he prays, “Arise, O Lᴏʀᴅ! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked” (v. 7). Then he extends his intercession to his divided nation: “Salvation belongs to the Lᴏʀᴅ; your blessing be on your people!” (v. 8).

Reflections for all who suffer

I take from our psalm two life principles that are relevant for anyone facing life’s tragedies today.

One: David’s prayer invites us to be honest with God.

Psalm 3 and others like it are preserved in Holy Scripture as models of true transparency. They remind us of our Lord’s call to “reason together” (Isaiah 1:18); the Hebrew is literally translated as “argue it out.”

Do you need to argue with God today?

Two: David’s example invites us to be honest with ourselves.

My favorite part of Psalm 3 is verse 7, where David prays, “You strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.” This is not pious religiosity but personal transparency. David is honest with his emotions in the moment, secure in the knowledge that he can admit how he truly feels to himself and then to God.

After my father died, I began praying the words I felt I should say, telling God that I was grateful for my father’s life and that I trusted him with our family’s needs. But then, the Spirit somehow opened a door in my spirit to how I genuinely felt at that moment—angry, hurt, and frightened. I was mad at my father for dying and mad at my Father for allowing my father to die.

That evening, I went into our backyard, looked up into the night sky, and shook my fist at God. But he did not shake his fist at me.

He never does.

Denison Forum

“It will be pretty crazy when I watch him walk by. I’ll be able to say, ‘There goes my kidney.’” This is what Eddie McCarthy, a high school math teacher in Toledo, Ohio, told a Washington Post reporter after donating a kidney to Roman McCormick, who was one of his geometry students. The teacher and student are doing well following the transplant surgery.

Stories like this illustrate Albert Einstein’s observation, “Only a life lived for others is a life worth living.” And they are especially notable in a day when such altruism seems so rare.

Maui residents say they are being looted and robbed at gunpoint following catastrophic wildfires on the island. On the mainland, retail theft is up 26.5 percent across the US. A recent video showed more than thirty people stealing $300,000 worth of items from Nordstrom in Los Angeles. A few days earlier, the same thing happened at a Yves Saint Laurent store in the LA area.

“A society that’s terrible at moral formation”

“How America Got Mean” is New York Times columnist David Brooks’ latest in-depth article for The Atlantic. The subtitle explains his premise: “In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.”

As examples, Brooks documents the rise of hate crimes and murder and the decline of social trust.

He writes that “the words that define our age reek of menace: conspiracy, polarization, mass shootings, trauma, safe spaces” (his italics). In his view, “We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis, and it undergirds our political dysfunction and the general crisis of our democracy.”

His explanation is simple: “We inhabit a society in which people are no longer trained in how to treat others with kindness and consideration.” Said differently, “We live in a society that’s terrible at moral formation.”

He notes that America’s Founders had “a low view of human nature, and designed the Constitution to mitigate it.” Consequently, for the first 150 years of our history, teaching virtue was central to society’s endeavors. Foundational was the conviction that “concepts like justice and right and wrong are not matters of personal taste: An objective moral order exists, and human beings are creatures who habitually sin against that order.”

“Whatever feels good to me is moral”

What changed? Brooks reports that humanists responded to the horrors of World War II by claiming that “the existence of rigid power hierarchies led to oppression in many spheres of life.” In their view, “We need to liberate individuals from these authority structures” since “people are naturally good and can be trusted to do their own self-actualization.”

The result was the abandonment of moral formation in schools and society. Psychology, especially emphases on self-help and self-esteem, replaced philosophy and theology. The consequence is what philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre called “emotivism”: “Whatever feels good to me is moral.”

However, as Brooks perceptively notes, “Expecting people to build a satisfying moral and spiritual life on their own by looking within themselves is asking too much. A culture that leaves people morally naked and alone leaves them without the skills to be decent to one another.”

Brooks quotes Duke Divinity School theologian Luke Bretherton: “The breakdown of an enduring moral framework will always produce disconnection, alienation, and an estrangement from those around you.”

A sobering conversation with a cashier

This is where the Christian faith becomes relevant, or at least it should. Christians are called to imitate Jesus (Romans 8:29) and manifest virtues vital to flourishing such as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). However, Brooks mentions churches only twice in his lengthy article. In his prescriptions for a more moral society, he nowhere includes religion or faith (even though he converted to Christianity a few years ago).

Why is this? My answer is that Christianity is not obviously producing culture-changing Christians. Too many of us act too much like the world when we’re not in church.

This fact was driven home for me yesterday when I was checking out from a store and struck up a conversation with the cashier. When our discussion turned to faith, she said that she was a Christian but she had to work on Sunday mornings, so she attended services on Sunday night. She added that she was hoping to change her hours to be off on Sunday mornings, but not for the reason I expected.

She explained that so many Christians come into her store after church services and treat her so rudely that she would rather not work the Sunday morning shift. I’ve heard similar stories from waiters and waitresses who say the after-church shift is their hardest all week—church attenders are the most demanding and tip the least.

“May all who come behind us find us faithful”

I say all of that to say this: the moral crisis David Brooks analyzes so perceptively is a historic opportunity for our faith to impact our culture. People are dying—some literally through “deaths of despair” such as suicide and drug addictions, the rest spiritually—to experience God’s life-giving love and grace.

But they understandably judge Christianity by Christians. When I was lost, I did the same thing. It was the vibrant joy and peace I witnessed in Christians I met that drew me to their faith. I wanted what they had. Nearly fifty years later, I’m so glad I saw Jesus in them.

Now it’s my turn and yours. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to fill and control us today so fully that we exhibit the compassion and character of Jesus to everyone we meet (Ephesians 5:18). Let’s measure success by the degree to which people see Christ in us (cf. Colossians 1:27). And let’s settle for nothing less than a movement of culture-changing Christians whose love for their Lord and their neighbor transforms those they influence (Mark 12:30–31).

In the words of Steve Green:

O may all who come behind us
Find us faithful,
May the fire of our devotion
Light their way.
May the footprints that we leave,
Lead them to believe,
And the lives we live
Inspire them to obey.
O may all who come behind us
Find us faithful.

NOTE: Our Biblical Insight to Tough Questions series is a perennial favorite, so I encourage you to request your copy today of the newest edition, Vol. 12. We discuss cremation, horoscopes, and whether God supports war—all from a biblical perspective that we pray leads you back to the timeless truth of God’s word.

Denison Forum

As the death toll continues to rise in Maui with at least a thousand people unaccounted for, some of the survivors’ stories are beyond horrific. Meanwhile, officials are warning that airborne pollutants created by the wildfires remain in areas devastated by the conflagration and are dangerous to humans. Toxic particles from burning homes, pipes, propane tanks, and cars can contaminate the water system and can affect the lungs, eyes, and skin.

In other words, what you cannot see can be as dangerous as what you can.

For example, unless you live in Montgomery County, Maryland (just north of Washington, DC), you may not know about a lawsuit being brought by parents seeking to shield their children from sexual LGBTQ materials. Parents from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish backgrounds have rallied together and are accusing the school district of denying them the right to determine the religious education of their children.

Books at the center of the dispute are for Pre-K and elementary-school levels. Two of the objectionable books are Pride Puppy, a “queer-centric alphabet book,” and Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, in which a girl’s uncle marries his boyfriend. Both illustrate the ongoing quest to normalize LGBTQ behavior starting with our youngest children. The superintendent and school board chose not to notify parents or allow them to opt their children out of these and other LGBTQ materials in class.

Then there’s Austin, Texas, where the school district encouraged staff, students, and their families to attend the annual Austin Pride Parade last Saturday. The district provided free shuttles to the event and recommended that students and their families wear “pride costumes and rainbow colors.”

Culture wars know no bounds

Does the incessant drumbeat of cultural opposition to biblical morality discourage you? It does me. Since I don’t live in Maryland or Austin, I’m tempted to ignore these stories. But that would be like ignoring the ongoing tragedy in Lahaina just because I don’t live on Maui.

Not to mention the fact that the culture wars know no geographical boundaries. For example, activists want to normalize and legalize LGBTQ behavior across the country while stigmatizing and criminalizing opposition wherever it exists. This is why Christians need a way to resist our secularized, anti-Christian culture while impacting our nation with God’s redeeming love and unchanging truth.

The key to both is found in a commitment that is transformative for our souls and empowering for our witness.

On Monday we explored the contrast between a religion about God and a relationship with him, noting that the latter is God’s intention for each of us. We are each called to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), a foundational commandment Jesus considered essential to all the rest.

Today, let’s take a step further: there is a difference between loving God and being in love with him.

“I seek not a long life, but a full one”

Those who commit adultery or view pornography may say they love their spouse, but they cannot be in love with them while doing so. I may love my friend, but I cannot be in love with him while deceiving him.

This is one way Christianity is different from all other world religions: we can have a personal, intimate relationship with our Lord as if he were a living person, because he is. What’s more, his Spirit lives in us to guide and empower us in this relationship.

It is as if your spouse were living inside your body and helping you to love them today.

Such passionate, personal intimacy with Jesus explains Paul’s sacrificial zeal to know Christ and make him known at all costs (Philippians 3:10). It explains John’s worship on Patmos sixty years after his best friend returned to heaven (Revelation 1:10). It explains martyred missionary Jim Elliot’s prayer, “Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.” And his famous testimony: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Such passion for Jesus empowers us to stand boldly yet compassionately for his word and will. It transforms us in ways that attract our lost culture to our Lord. It is the key to living victoriously in this dark season in human history.

“What an immeasurably profound love!”

How can you and I be more in love with Jesus today than ever before?

First, ask the Holy Spirit to manifest love for Christ in your heart. Since love is a “fruit” of the Spirit, it is most powerfully produced by him (Galatians 5:22).

Second, do what love does. Love is a commitment before it is an emotion. Nowhere does the Bible describe how it feels to be in love with Jesus, but all through the New Testament we are told what we will do when we love him passionately: we will obey his word (John 14:15), pray with thanksgiving daily (1 Thessalonians 5:17–19), love others (1 John 4:7), and serve them sacrificially (John 15:13).

Third, remember Jesus’ sacrificial love for you. St. Catherine of Siena (1347–80) prayed: “Moved by love and wishing to reconcile the human race to yourself, you gave us your only-begotten Son. He became our mediator and our justice by taking on all our injustice and sin out of obedience to your will, eternal Father, just as you willed that he take on our human nature.

“What an immeasurably profound love! Your Son went down from the heights of his divinity to the depths of our humanity. Can anyone’s heart remain closed and hardened after this?”

What about yours today?

Denison Forum

On April 4 of this year, former President Donald Trump was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his role in paying hush money to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election, the first time in US history a former president has faced criminal charges.

On June 8, he became the first former president charged with federal crimes when he was indicted on thirty-seven felony counts related to “willful retention” of national security information after leaving the White House. Three additional charges were filed in late July.

On August 1, he was indicted for alleged efforts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power after losing the 2020 election.

This morning we are learning that he is facing a fourth indictment. A grand jury in Atlanta has charged Mr. Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and other allies with operating a criminal enterprise that attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victory in Georgia.

Has our government been weaponized?

CNN reports, “There is a deep and sincere belief among many Republicans that the multiple indictments against Trump are proof of his claims that the US government has been weaponized to persecute him by Democrats who fear his return to the White House.” As evidence, the article adds, “The country has never seen federal prosecutions of a potential major party nominee effectively under the auspices of the administration of his possible general election opponent.”

Mr. Trump’s supporters also point to the now-disproven allegations of collusion in the Russian investigation and the recently collapsed plea deal for the president’s son, Hunter Biden. Many also oppose the naming of David Weiss, the US Attorney for the District of Delaware, as special counsel in the Hunter Biden administration, viewing it as further evidence of political collusion.

I remember when the shoe was on the other foot. After five justices who had been nominated by Republicans to the US Supreme Court stopped the recount in the 2000 presidential election, resulting in victory for George W. Bush, many Democrats complained of political bias in the “stolen” election. Many opponents refused to consider Mr. Bush the US president.

Is America “too far gone”?

The viability of any democracy depends on the degree to which the people trust the processes and institutions by which they are governed.

When sizable parts of the nation become convinced that instruments of government can be weaponized for political purposes, some give up on the process, choosing not to run for office, vote for candidates, or otherwise participate in their democracy. I often hear from people who have stopped watching the news or paying attention to “anything coming out of Washington,” convinced that America’s governance is “too far gone” to be redeemed.

By contrast, some view their political opponents as the enemies of democracy, convinced that they must do whatever it takes to defeat them so as to preserve America for future generations. The ends justify the means in this regard: if the “other side” has weaponized its political and financial resources, we must do the same.

And some are not convinced that things are so bad that we should abandon hope in our democracy or vilify and attack our political opponents. But they concede that the unprecedented indictments of Donald Trump mean that our democracy is on unprecedented political ground with an uncertain future.

There’s a fourth way to view the current state of American democracy, one I invite you to embrace with me today.

“Man becomes his own measure”

Any government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently described us, is only as viable as the people. And yet Scripture says of the human race: “They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 53:3).

As a result, we should not be surprised when our leaders act like the people who elected them. Whether you believe Mr. Trump is guilty of the crimes with which he is charged or the victim of a political conspiracy, you are accusing either a former US president or some of America’s highest governmental officials of significant moral failings.

The current character of our governance reflects the current character of our nation. Our post-Christian culture has abandoned belief in objective truth and morality, biblical authority, and the relevance of the Christian worldview. Many consider basic, orthodox biblical beliefs to be dangerous to our society.

Christians should not be surprised that we are where we are as a result. Consequently, rather than abandon hope in our democracy, this is time to redouble our efforts as Christians to redeem it.

This means that we pray fervently for a fifth great awakening that would transform our nation morally and spiritually. We pray for our leaders as Scripture commands us (1 Timothy 2:1–2), asking God to help them know and follow his will in serving our nation. We participate in our governance as godly citizens (cf. Romans 13:1–7). And we model the Christian civility we want others to exhibit (cf. Galatians 5:22–23).

Evangelist Myles Munroe was right: “Democracy without God is man’s worship and elevation of himself and his own intelligence or humanism, where man becomes his own measure of morality, judgment, and justice.”

Let’s pray and work for a democracy where God’s word becomes our measure of morality, judgment, and justice. If you believe this is impossible, you’re right in human terms. But remember Jesus’ words: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

It is always too soon to give up on God.

Denison Forum

As I and others have reported, nearly ten thousand babies have been saved in Texas since the state enacted its abortion ban in September 2021. This article on the subject caught my eye, however, when it described those who gave birth as “pregnant individuals” and “birthing people.”

In other news, a lifestyle influencer who makes money by talking with people about their anxieties has created an AI clone. Now, for a dollar a minute, people can chat with her digital double. If they want to talk with her, they will pay more. The article is right: this “move toward self-automation [seems] to perfectly encapsulate an increasingly bizarre present.”

Some scientists are claiming that the world has entered a new epoch called the Anthropocene, a phase in which humans rather than natural phenomena are rapidly transforming our planet. While they are focusing on changes to the natural world from industrialization, globalization, pollution, and other human factors, a similar argument could be made for the moral world.

Longtime pastor Paul Powell wrote these words in the 1970s: “Scientifically we are in graduate school; morally we are in kindergarten.” What would he say of us today?

Is this America’s future?

Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with Ecclesiastes) is part of the Apocrypha, fifteen books that Catholics include in the Old Testament but Jews and most Protestants do not. While I do not consider the book to be authoritative, I do find it informative.

For example, I was reading recently in Ecclesiasticus 47 and discovered this illuminating (and frightening) discourse regarding Solomon:

A wise son succeeded David, who lived spaciously, thanks to him. Solomon reigned in a time of peace, and God gave him peace all round so that he could raise a house to his name and prepare an everlasting sanctuary.

How wise you were in your youth, brimming over with understanding like a river! Your mind ranged the earth, you filled it with mysterious sayings. Your name reached the distant islands, and you were loved for your peace. Your songs, your proverbs, your sayings and your retorts made you the wonder of the world. In the name of the Lord God, of him who is called the God of Israel, you amassed gold like so much tin, and made silver as common as lead.

[But] you abandoned your body to women, you became the slave of your appetites. You stained your honor, you profaned your stock, so bringing wrath on your children and grief on your posterity.

When I read these words, they instantly struck me as a description of our post-World War II nation.

In defeating Hitler and Japan, the “greatest generation” gave us “peace all around” so that we were “loved for [our] peace” by the world. Our scientists birthed a technological revolution that “made [us] the wonder of the world.” We became the world’s greatest superpower such that we “amassed gold like so much tin, and made silver as common as lead.”

But then came the postmodern revolution of the fifties and sixties that redefined truth as personal, individual, and subjective. It birthed the sexual revolution that continues today and makes us “the slave of [our] appetites.” Its result: “You stained your honor, you profaned your stock, so bringing wrath on your children and grief on your posterity.”

Solomon’s sin and that of his successors led to the division and eventual destruction of the nation. Ecclesiasticus continues: “From then on their sins multiplied so excessively as to drive them out of their country; for they tried out every kind of wickedness, until vengeance overtook them.”

When Solomon presided over the wealthiest and most powerful nation in his part of the world, none of this seemed possible. Someone who warned his people that this could be their future would have been dismissed and even considered dangerous to society.

Will Israel’s story be ours?

“The further from a viper the better”

The Scottish theologian Sinclair Ferguson is right: “We cannot reach our destination if we are traveling in the wrong direction.” But the post-Christian, even anti-Christian trajectory of our culture does not have to be ours. Speaking in a very decadent age, Jesus nonetheless promised us: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Commenting on this beatitude, St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–c. 394) observed: “If your thought is kept pure from evil habits, free from passion and weakness, separated from all stain, you are blessed because your vision is sharp and clear. You are able to see what is invisible to those who have not been purified. The eyes of your soul have been cleansed of material filth and through the purity of your heart you have a clear sight of the vision of blessedness.”

What is this “vision of blessedness”? According to Gregory, “It is purity, sanctity, simplicity, and other reflections of the brightness of the divine nature. It is the sight of God.”

How can we attain it? “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16, my emphasis). Choose the first to reject the second.

Charles Spurgeon warned: “When the town is on fire, our house cannot be too far from the flames. When the plague is abroad, a man cannot be too far from its haunts. The further from a viper the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. To all true believers let the trumpet call be sounded, ‘Come ye out from among them, be ye separate.’”

“Spiritual growth depends on two things”

According to Sinclair Ferguson, “Spiritual growth depends on two things: first a willingness to live according to the word of God; second, a willingness to take whatever consequences emerge as a result.”

Will you grow spiritually today?

Denison Forum

Diet drink sales plummeted recently when the World Health Organization declared that they contain an artificial sweetener that causes cancer. Then we learned that a 154-pound person would have to drink more than nine to fourteen cans of diet beverage every day over the course of their life to raise safety concerns. And multiple other studies have reportedly concluded that the sweetener in question is safe as an ingredient.

In other medical news, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill. At first glance, this seems like good news for pro-life supporters: anything that prevents unwanted pregnancies should result in fewer abortions, or so we might think.

However, as with the diet drink controversy, there’s more here than meets the eye. And the implications of this issue go deeper even than the crucial issues it raises.

Thirty-five potential side effects?

The FDA approved the first oral contraceptive on June 23, 1960. Until the FDA’s announcement last week, however, such medications could be dispensed only with a physician’s approval and oversight. Why is this significant?

The over-the-counter drug being approved is called Opill. It contains the hormone progestin, which works by suppressing ovulation and causing changes in the cervix and uterus that decrease the chance of pregnancy. It was first approved by the FDA as a prescription in 1973.

Most women in the US use birth-control pills containing both progestin and estrogen; women on progestin-only pills tend to have more unscheduled bleeding. Some are concerned that users, particularly teenagers, would not know to seek the help of a health care provider in this case.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center “strenuously” opposed the FDA’s decision, stating that a patient should first be medically evaluated for contraindications to the drug as listed by the manufacturer: known or suspected pregnancy; known or suspected carcinoma of the breast; undiagnosed abnormal uterine bleeding; hypersensitivity to any component of the product; benign or malignant liver tumors; and acute liver disease.

The Center also listed thirty-five serious potential side effects from the drug for which consumers should be screened and monitored by health care providers. In their view, making it available without a prescription violates the “do no harm” ethic foundational to medical practice.

The morality of “the Pill”

“The Pill” was a major factor in the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s. For the first time, women could engage in premarital or extramarital sex with less fear of pregnancy.

As I note in The Coming Tsunami, Helen Gurley Brown’s 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl encouraged single women to be sexually active. Betty Friedan’s 1963 book The Feminine Mystique argued that women are victims of a false belief requiring them to find identity and meaning in their lives through their husbands and children. It is difficult to imagine the popularity of these books and their ideas without the advent of the Pill.

And it is difficult to imagine that making oral contraceptives available without a doctor’s or parent’s consent will not lead to a significant rise in teenage sexual activity as well.

On the other hand, some reports claim that oral contraceptives prevent unwanted pregnancy and thus lead to fewer abortions. For example, one study found that providing free birth control to a specific group of women lowered the abortion rate among them by 62 percent to 78 percent.

However, other research indicates just the opposite, stating that contraceptives often fail to prevent pregnancy. For example, the progestin in Opill is much less effective if taken over three hours later than usual. Using contraceptives has also been found to encourage higher-risk sexual activities.

One ten-year study found that a 63 percent increase in the use of contraceptives was accompanied by a 108 percent increase in the rate of elective abortions. Researchers at Duke, Yale, and the US Centers for Disease Control concluded: “Programs that increase access to contraception are found to decrease teen pregnancies in the short run but increase them in the long run.”

How to “approve what is excellent”

Yesterday we focused on the battle being waged in our culture against a spiritual enemy who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10, my emphasis). Today let’s add the fact that winning this battle depends greatly upon the use of discernment.

As we have seen with the diet beverage and oral contraceptive debates, there’s almost always more to a story than meets the eye. Media outlets typically have their own agendas and reasons for reporting the “news” as they do. And we seldom know today what we will learn tomorrow.

This need for discernment is especially urgent with regard to the spiritual dimensions of our cultural engagement. Satan is “the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), a “liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Consequently, we are warned: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1).

How do we do this?

First, seek guidance from your Father: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). Accordingly, pray for our “love [to] abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that [we] may approve what is excellent” (Philippians 1:9–10).

Then “test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21, my emphasis) so we can “abstain from every form of evil” (v. 22). This discipline is vital because our “powers of discernment” are “trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

“Reclothe us in our rightful mind”

To be culture-changing Christians, you and I must obviously “distinguish good from evil” before we can help those we influence do the same. To this end, let’s offer this intercession by the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whitter for ourselves and our nation:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

How will you help God answer your prayer today?

Denison Forum

Have you heard of “vampire facials”? This is the colloquial term for a “microneedling treatment using platelet-rich plasma—a component of your blood that can lead to impressive results when absorbed into your skin.” The treatment promises to “enhance the skin’s overall appearance.” However, it is also a way to contract HIV; a third case has now been confirmed from a now-defunct spa that offered this service.

In other news, a businessman named Mark Exposito is accused by prosecutors of raiding his company’s bank accounts to steal more than $8 million he and his wife used to support a lavish lifestyle. Exposito, the stepson of former US Senator Claire McCaskill, faces about two dozen wire fraud counts.

A dear friend alerted me to these articles and commented on them: “Although very different stories, they share a common thread: a desire to be someone other than God created us to be.” He added: “Sadly, they have missed the fact that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ by a loving Father. In pursuit of something else, we forget to whom we belong.”

Pastor and author Craig Groeschel agreed: “Being consumed by what people think of you is the fastest way to forget what God thinks of you.”

Abortion ban saves nearly 10,000 lives

Yesterday we discussed the importance of making public our faith stories of transformation by God’s grace. Using our influence to promote biblical morality is a vital way we can serve God’s kingdom and advance the common good.

For example, it is estimated that the abortion ban in Texas has saved the lives of nearly ten thousand precious babies. Our state’s pro-life policies are largely the result of decades of selfless service by pro-life faith-based advocates. Indiana is now seeing a similar drop in abortions for similar reasons.

Believers should be engaged not only in politics but also in public media. Jim Morrison was right: “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” And we should encourage people to join us for worship; studies show that those who do so regularly tend to have more close friendships, which can in turn lead to better health outcomes.

However, the most foundational way we can be catalysts for moral transformation is to be the change we wish to see. In his daily devotional, Dr. Duane Brooks recently included a sentence that would change every person who embraces it: “The only Bible we really believe is the Bible we live.”

Paul would have agreed. In discussing the characteristics of an effective faith leader, he stated that he “must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7).

“There is a reckless abandonment about him”

In one sense, there is nothing sinful humans can do to make ourselves more holy. I cannot learn to fly faster if I do not have the inherent ability to fly at all. Watchman Nee was right: “Just as one cannot be saved through good works, one cannot overcome through good works.”

On the other hand, we are frequently encouraged by Scripture to practice the various spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, solitude, and meditation. Why are we to do so if such disciplines cannot sanctify us?

The balance inherent in spiritual growth is captured by Paul’s phrase: “sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). On one hand, we are to “stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (v. 15). On the other, we are to pray for God to “comfort [our] hearts and establish them in every good work and word” (v. 17).

As we work, God works. As we practice spiritual disciplines, we position ourselves to be transformed by God’s Spirit.

Our part of this partnership involves a daily commitment to know Christ in every circumstance of our lives. The spiritual genius Oswald Chambers observed: “The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in every domain of life, and he will bring us back to the same point again and again until we do.”

Thus, “The aim of the spiritual saint is ‘that I may know him.’ Do I know him where I am today? If not, I am failing him.”

“The gleaming water in a jar”

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–c. 395) commented on today’s theme: “The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects: deeds, words, and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind. Finally, after thoughts and words, comes action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived.

“So when one of these results in our acting or speaking or thinking, we must make sure that all our thoughts, words, and deeds are controlled by the divine ideal, the revelation of Christ. For then our thoughts, words, and deeds will not fall short of the nobility of their implications.”

How do we do this?

Gregory continued: “Each of us must examine his thoughts, words, and deeds, to see whether they are directed towards Christ or are turned away from him.” This is because Jesus is “like a pure, untainted stream. If you draw from him the thoughts of your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.”

Will your thoughts and actions “show a likeness to Christ” today?

Denison Forum

Harrison Ford is making headlines again these days with the fifth installment in his iconic “Indiana Jones” film series. Consequently, his affair with Carrie Fisher when they were filming the original Star Wars movie in 1976 has been back in the news as well.

Fisher made their relationship public in 2016 as part of her memoir released shortly before her death. She was nineteen at the time of their affair; Ford was thirty-three and the married father of two. She claimed that the affair was not the cause of Ford’s divorce from his wife, which happened around the same time, reportedly calling their relationship a “minor digression.”

In all the coverage of their affair, I have seen no suggestion that what they did was immoral. In a day when more Americans than ever before consider sexual relationships of all kinds to be acceptable and half of US Christians say casual sex between consenting adults is sometimes or always acceptable, perhaps I should not be surprised.

But I am grieved. And, much more to the point, so is God.

What “the fool says in his heart”

This one sentence explains our moral crisis: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1a). Here’s why: if we are not accountable to God, we will be accountable only to ourselves or to other people. However, we are all “corrupt” (v. 1b). Consequently, we “do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (v. 1c). This fact applies emphatically to us all: “There is none who does good, not even one” (v. 3).

However, one of the delusions of sin is that we are not sinners. World religions lead adherents to claim holiness by their standards, ameliorating the need for repentance and the one true God. Western secularism does the same, convincing us that we are good enough not to need the one true Source of all morality.

In fact, some in our culture celebrate the “fact” that they know what the rest of us do not and can therefore dismiss biblical truth as outdated, irrelevant, and even dangerous to society. On sexual morality, for instance, some are certain that Paul was wrong. (I once heard a religious leader say confidently, “We now know that Paul was a homophobe.”) Others assure us that the church has been misinterpreting the Bible on this issue for two thousand years, but they know better.

If we suggest that sexual relations are immoral outside of monogamous marriage between one man and one woman, we are ridiculed as hopelessly naïve, backward, and worse.

“Wage the good warfare”

This state of affairs is not new. For example, cultural elites in the ancient metropolis of Ephesus, called lumen Asiae (“the light of Asia”) by Pliny the Elder, claimed the same.

Paul exposed their delusions to Timothy, who was pastoring the Ephesian Christian community: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions” (1 Timothy 1:5–7).

In so doing, they rejected biblical truth that is “not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted” (vv. 9–11).

The good news is that God’s grace is available to all: “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (v. 15). Sharing the gospel and the morality it advances is God’s charge to Timothy and to us as we “wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience” (vv. 18–19).

“The ultimate experience of life”

According to Dr. Billy Graham, “The ultimate experience of life is knowing God.” He pointed to Isaiah 6 as the archetypal text for knowing whether we truly know the Lord:

• We are convicted of our sinfulness: “Woe is me! For I am lost” (v. 5a).
• We confess our sin: “I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (v. 5b).
• We are cleansed from our sin: “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for’” (vv. 6–7).
• We are commissioned to tell others: “I heard the voice of the LORD saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me’” (v. 8).

By these standards, do you truly know God? If not, why not?

This issue could not be more urgent for your sake and that of your nation. The prophet warns us: “Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14). Again, quoting Dr. Graham: “There will be an end of history and the end of a world that has been dominated by evil. Jesus will come again and set up his kingdom of righteousness and social justice, and hatred, greed, jealousy, war, and death will no longer exist.”

Then he asked, “Are you ready for that day?”

Is America?

Are you?

Denison Forum

Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York City, and his wife, Chirlane McCray, recently told the New York Times that they are separating after nearly thirty years of marriage. However, they are not planning to divorce and will continue to share the townhouse where they raised their two children.

Instead, they are “opening” their marriage to date other people, choosing what is now known as “consensual non-monogamy.”

Marriage therapists say they have seen a definite rise in such arrangements. This is one version of “polyamory,” a growing movement to advocate for polygamy, “throuples,” and other forms of non-monogamous romantic relationships. Towns and municipalities are now legalizing such partnerships, fulfilling the warning by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (much ridiculed at the time) that the 2015 Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage would open the door to polygamy as well.

“Let the marriage bed be undefiled”

We are living in a day when marriage is being redefined to include nearly any imaginable sexual relationship. However, God’s word could not be more clear: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4).

Are we witnessing his judgment in our day?

Our Father deals with us as gently as he can or as harshly as he must. Consequently, his judgment takes two forms: permissive and punitive.

The first phase of his response to sin is typically to permit us the consequences of our rebellion against his word and will. For example, when people “did not honor him as God or give thanks to him” (Romans 1:21), “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves” (v. 24) with disastrous consequences that read like today’s news (vv. 26–31).

If permitting the consequences of our sins will not lead us to repentance, God must shift to punitive judgment in which he responds directly to our rebellion and unrighteousness. We see this in the Exodus, for example, and in his judgments described in Revelation.

“The single most common cause of marital dissolution”

It is clear that our nation is in at least the first phase of divine judgment against sexual immorality.

In 2001, 91 percent of Americans considered it immoral for married people to have sexual relations with someone other than their spouse, the very arrangement Bill de Blasio and his wife are announcing. Today, roughly 60 percent say the same; the more educated the respondent, the greater their acceptance of adultery.

What are the consequences of such sin? Research shows that “infidelity is reliably associated with poorer mental health particularly depression/anxiety and PTSD, and relationship dissolution/divorce which has been shown to adversely impact offspring.”

In fact, “across 160 societies, infidelity is the single most common cause of marital dissolution.”

Four practical responses

How can you and I avoid this trap?

First, define sexual morality as God does.

Jesus forbade lust (Matthew 5:28) because he knew it to be the root of all other sexual sins. This includes pornography, sexual fantasy, “emotional affairs,” and all other ungodly thoughts and desires. God’s standard is clear: sexual relations are reserved for a lifelong marriage covenant between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24; 1 Corinthians 7:2).

Second, ask God’s Spirit to help you choose personal godliness (Ephesians 5:18).

You can “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18) when you use temptation to seek the help of God’s indwelling Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). “All noble things are difficult” (Oswald Chambers), but “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:35).

Third, seek forgiveness if you fail.

If you confess your sins, God is “faithful and just” to forgive them and to cleanse you from “all” unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). This does not mean that we can simply sin and confess, then sin and confess. Even though God forgives all we confess, we must do so with a repentant heart that seeks not to sin again. And even then, the consequences of our sins will often remain.

Fourth, call others to godliness in a spirit of humility.

Our broken culture deserves to know the reality of God’s permissive and punitive judgment against our sins, but “speaking the truth in love” must be our mantra (Ephesians 4:15). St. Augustine observed: “Men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticize, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others.” Don’t let this be true of you.

“The high soul climbs the high way”

It was my great honor last Saturday to deliver the message at the memorial service for Dr. Russell Dilday, longtime president of Southwestern Seminary and my mentor, hero, and spiritual father. Dr. Dilday’s most famous sermon and most prophetic book were both titled “Higher Ground.” In them, he called us to a civility that transcends rancor and a witness that transforms culture.

His sermon was prompted in part by a John Oxenham poem he recites in his book:

To every man there openeth a way and ways, and a way. The high soul climbs the high way; The low soul gropes the low, And, in between, on the misty flats, the rest drift to and fro. And every man decideth the way his soul shall go.

Which way will you choose today?

Denison Forum

Today marks two months since the Allen Premium Outlets mass shooting left eight people dead and seven injured. Since Allen is just north of Dallas, the shooting felt even more personal to me, not to mention those who live there and are still grieving. This tragic anniversary follows a tragic 2023 Fourth of July during which sixteen mass shootings killed fifteen people and injured nearly a hundred more across thirteen states and Washington, DC.

Such heartbreaking news on our nation’s birthday calls to mind C. S. Lewis’s perceptive comment regarding democracy:

You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows. That I believe to be the true ground of democracy.

As we continue our Independence Day focus on America, let’s think together about the “true ground of democracy” in light of a question I believe every believer in our country should consider.

The foundational issue of our day

Jacob Wolf, a government professor at Regent University who formerly taught at Princeton, writes in Public Discourse that democracy “has become a secular religion, complete with its own dogmas, practices, clerics, and eschatology.” In this worldview, “progress replaces providence, humanitarianism replaces charity, and mind (or reason) replaces God himself.”

The more Christianity declines in our culture, the more this secular religion which he identifies as “democratism” is rising to replace it.

Wolf rightly responds:

Democracy, like many good things, is destroyed if it is elevated above all else. Democracy is valuable to the extent that it is placed in its proper position and context—bounded and balanced by other elements. As Edmund Burke wisely noted, one does not obtain liberty, equality, and self-government by merely letting go of the reins; these things require a complex system of incentives, punishments, and checks and balances that parallel the complexities of human nature. Our Founders understood this far better than do the democratists.

He concludes that “democracy is ineradicably religious; the question that remains is whether religion can bolster democracy without being swallowed up by it.”

I consider this question to be the foundational issue of our time.

“The nation that will not serve you shall perish”

As I have often written, the American democratic experiment was built on a consensual morality that was itself dependent on the Judeo-Christian worldview. John Adams’ often-quoted warning is just one of the scores of statements by the Founders I could cite: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Over the last two centuries, however, much has happened to shake this foundation. For example:

• Darwinian evolution undermined belief in the historical accuracy of Scripture.
• The Civil War, two World Wars, global pandemics, the Great Depression, and the rise of global terrorism persuaded many that God (if he exists) cannot be all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful.
• Freudian analysis taught our culture that God is a fantasy based on the infantile need for a dominant father figure.
• Postmodern relativism convinced us that all truth claims (including those of the Bible) are personal and subjective with no normative authority over our lives and society.
• The sexual revolution and escalating LGBTQ activism are persuading many that biblical morality is outdated, irrelevant, and even dangerous to society.

All the while, our democratic form of governance has persisted but without its moral or cultural foundations. It was perhaps inevitable, given our fallen “will to power” and innate drive to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5), that we would use democracy to replace biblical religion with a secular religion in which, to repeat Wolf’s description, “progress replaces providence, humanitarianism replaces charity, and mind (or reason) replaces God himself.”

This secular religion, if unchecked, will be our undoing as a nation. It will continue to replace truth with tolerance, leading millions into unbiblical immorality that is destructive to themselves and those they influence. It will lead us away from our only Source of abundant (John 10:10) and eternal life (John 3:16) into a Christless darkness in this world and the next.

And it will provoke God’s righteous judgment on our rejection of his word and will, as the prophet testified to him: “The nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste” (Isaiah 60:12).

Now you can see why I consider Wolf’s question “whether religion can bolster democracy without being swallowed up by it” to be so urgent.

Words I pray every day

Our most practical response begins with ourselves:

• Do you serve God so that he will serve you or so you can glorify him in gratitude for his grace (1 Corinthians 10:31)?
• Do you read his word, pray, worship, read content like this article, and engage in other spiritual activities as a means to your ends or so you can more effectively advance God’s purposes for your life and world (Matthew 6:33)?
• Is the Holy Spirit one of your life resources or the strength of your soul (Ephesians 5:18)?

I struggle with these issues as well. As a result, I find it necessary to say these words from the Book of Common Prayer every day:

To my humble supplication Lord,
give ear and acceptation.
Save thy servant, that hath none
Help nor hope but Thee alone.

Will you pray them with me today?

Denison Forum

Here’s a story to begin your post-holiday morning: eight roller coaster riders were stuck hanging upside down for around three hours at a festival in Wisconsin last Sunday. No matter what happens to you today, you can remind yourself that you weren’t one of them.

Such stories remind us that we don’t know what we don’t know. If we knew the roller coaster was going to shut down in the middle of a ride, we wouldn’t ride on it. If we knew the plane would crash or the road ahead would shut down because of a wreck, we wouldn’t travel on it.

Sometimes we get lucky. For example, a man spotted a crack in a support beam on a roller coaster in North Carolina and alerted authorities who then shut down the ride. Now I’m wondering how many other roller coasters around the country have cracks that no one has discovered.

I’m not alone in worrying about the unknown future. According to a new Fox News survey, only 43 percent of Americans think our best days as a nation are ahead of us. This is a nine-point drop from two years ago and a nineteen-point decrease since 2017. In similar news, Gallup reports that only 31 percent of us have confidence in the US government, a decline of twenty-five points since 2006.

As we continue our Independence Day focus on America, let’s ask: What explains our nation’s loss of hope? What can we do about it?

“You don’t even have to be religious”

In a profound new essay, writer C. D. Cunningham reports that a “new religion” is emerging in our day. In his words, it “blends elements of modern and postmodern philosophies to form a belief system focused on identity, equity, and societal critique. It encourages self-discovery, introspective growth, and activism for systemic change.

“With rituals and mythology adapted for the digital age, the faith supports a non-falsifiable metaphysical worldview and champions inclusivity, diversity, and individual expression, all in pursuit of an envisioned utopian future.”

We see examples of such secular spirituality all around us every day.

For example, “The Nearness” is an online cooperative composed of eight-week courses in which groups meet to self-reflect and experiment with a variety of secular spirituality practices. Various writers urge us to pursue “spiritual awakening” by exploring our own “spiritual paths.” Biblical morality is mischaracterized and castigated wherever possible, as with this Verge headline: “Supreme Court rules for web designer who wanted to discriminate against gay clients.”

Meanwhile, books such as the popular Holy Moments: A Handbook for the Rest of Your Life invite us to seek God in the everyday but offer no discussion of sin, repentance, or the need for saving faith in Christ. (For more, see Chris Elkins’ excellent review on our website). A man who is helping to distribute the book in his community said, “You don’t have to be a Christian, you don’t even have to be religious, and you can still do the holy moments. It really goes beyond religion, into just the goodness of human beings.”

“Truth has stumbled in the public squares”

Here’s the problem: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). As a result, “truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter” (v. 14).

Billy Graham commented on Judges 21:25, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes”: “Too many people today feel that the old moral standards are useless and out of date, and they ought to be free to make up their own minds about what is right and what is wrong.”

He responded: “I wonder if we have honestly faced the logical result of this belief. . . . Aren’t things like racism and injustice and genocide always wrong? Shouldn’t we always condemn as immoral a tyrant who allows millions of children to die of starvation?” He concluded: “The moral standards God has given us are always best—for society, and for us as individuals. The reason is because he created us, he loves us, and he knows what is best for us. Don’t be misled by those who deny God’s moral standards. His way is always best.”

When sin is exalted, those who stand for biblical truth should expect to be oppressed: “On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man” (Psalm 12:8). Consequently, we can judge our spiritual health by the degree to which we are in conflict with a sinful culture. And we can judge our love for America by our willingness to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) whatever the cost.

“We may trample on God’s meadow”

St. Augustine noted: “My brothers, we do not seek, nor should we seek, our own glory even among those whose approval we desire. What we should seek is their salvation, so that if we walk as we should they will not go astray in following us.”

Consequently, “our concern should be not only to live as we ought, but also to do so in the sight of men; not only to have a good conscience but also, so far as we can in our weakness, so far as we can govern our frailty, to do nothing which might lead our weak brother into thinking evil of us.

“Otherwise, as we feed on the good pasture and drink the pure water, we may trample on God’s meadow, and weaker sheep will have to feed on trampled grass and drink from troubled waters.”

What “grass” and “waters” will you offer our nation today?

Denison Forum

At noon ET today, Joey Chestnut will attempt to retain his title in Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Approximately thirty-five thousand fans are expected to convene on New York’s Coney Island to watch. Chestnut is the top male hot dog eating champion of all time, having won the title fifteen times. He holds the world record for eating seventy-six hot dogs in ten minutes.

Chestnut will receive $10,000 if he wins again, but he says his net worth exceeds $4 million. Most of his income is generated by contest earnings, paid appearances, and endorsement deals.

If you’re saying, “Only in America,” you’re right, at least in sentiment. Imagine someone becoming a millionaire by eating hot dogs in Russia or China, Cuba or North Korea.

Our ethos is built on five words in our founding declaration: “All men are created equal.” While America still has far to go to fulfill this creed, the independence we celebrate today and the impact we have made on human history demonstrate its transformative power.

Ukraine’s president wishes America a happy birthday

In a July 2 Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, “Happy Birthday, America,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky writes: “America’s Founders upended history when they forged a republic based on individual freedom and political pluralism, pledging to live as ‘free and independent states.’ It was, and is, the greatest attempt in history to rid mankind of tyranny. They broke with centuries of subservience to create a new type of nation, one where all are equal and live free.”

Forty-two years ago, another president gave voice to the significance of this day in words that repay reading today. In his commencement address on May 17, 1981, at the University of Notre Dame, President Ronald Reagan noted:

This Nation was born when a band of men, the Founding Fathers, a group so unique we’ve never seen their like since, rose to . . . selfless heights. Lawyers, tradesmen, merchants, farmers—fifty-six men achieved security and standing in life but valued freedom more. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Sixteen of them gave their lives. Most gave their fortunes. All preserved their sacred honor.

They gave us more than a nation. They brought to all mankind for the first time the concept that man was born free, that each of us has inalienable rights, ours by the grace of God, and that government was created by us for our convenience, having only the powers that we choose to give it.

Then President Reagan placed our democracy in historical context:

This experiment in man’s relation to man is a few years into its third century. Saying that may make it sound quite old. But let’s look at it from another viewpoint or perspective. A few years ago, someone figured out that if you could condense the entire history of life on Earth into a motion picture that would run for 24 hours a day, 365 days . . . this idea that is the United States wouldn’t appear on the screen until 3½ seconds before midnight on December 31^st.

And in those 3½ seconds not only would a new concept of society come into being, a golden hope for all mankind, but more than half the activity, economic activity in world history, would take place on this continent. Free to express their genius, individual Americans, men and women in 3½ seconds would perform such miracles of invention, construction, and production as the world had never seen.

“One day this nation will rise up”

All of that because America believes that “all men are created equal.”

• All men prohibits all exclusions, racial or otherwise.
• Are is in the present tense and thus includes you and me.
• Created points to our identity and status as created by God “in his own image” (Genesis 1:27).
• Equal means that each of us is as valuable as all of us.

However, as I admitted earlier, this promise is far from fulfilled. This is because, as I noted yesterday, there is only so much that human words and laws can do to change our fallen human nature.

The good news is that the good news of the gospel can do what no other news can.

Consider Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee so blinded by religious and racial bigotry that he sought the deaths of the Gentile Christians he persecuted (cf. Acts 22:4). But Jesus so changed his heart that he would later testify, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

As we celebrate America’s birth today, let’s renew our commitment to sharing this good news that produces the spiritual birth Americans need so desperately. Let’s thank our Father for the gift of liberty our Founding Fathers have given us, then let’s use that gift to pray and work for a spiritual awakening that will transform our people and thus our nation.

Then this country we love will fulfill the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “One day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” And politically, ethnically, and most of all spiritually, we will be “free at last.”

“When great causes are on the move”

In his commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, President Reagan included this observation: “Winston Churchill, during the darkest period of the ‘Battle of Britain’ in World War II, said: ‘When great causes are on the move in the world . . . we learn we are spirits, not animals, and that something is going on in space and time, and beyond space and time, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.’”

Will you do your spiritual duty for America today?

Denison Forum

In good news for evangelical Christians, the US Supreme Court sided last Friday with Colorado web designer Lorie Smith, who claimed a First Amendment right to refuse to design wedding websites for same-sex couples.

Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom brought the case to the court and said after the ruling, “Disagreement isn’t discrimination, and the government can’t mislabel speech as discrimination to censor it.” She added: “This is a win for all Americans. The government should no more censor [her client] for speaking consistent with her beliefs about marriage than it should punish an LGBT graphic designer for declining to criticize same-sex marriage. If we desire freedom for ourselves, we must defend it for others.”

From good news to tragedy: an eighteen-year-old woman and a twenty-year-old man were killed in a mass shooting early Sunday morning at a Baltimore block party. Twenty-eight others were injured; three are in critical condition this morning. Just two days into July, this was one of three mass shootings in the month and one of 338 mass shootings in the US this year.

Meanwhile, mass riots are gripping France following Tuesday’s shooting of a teenager by a police officer. Forty-five thousand police were deployed and more than seven hundred people were arrested by early Sunday. One historian said of the rioters, “They’re destroying the social compact which is essential for democracy.”

The Battle of Gettysburg ended on this day

There is no gift that cannot be misused, including the gift of freedom.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed: “Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.” However, his assassination tragically demonstrated that behavior can only be regulated and restrained to a point. Human laws cannot change human hearts.

The Battle of Gettysburg, the most decisive conflict of the American Civil War, ended on this day in 1863. But it would be more than a hundred years before the Civil Rights Act would prohibit discrimination in employment and education and outlaw racial segregation in public places.

Like every other form of freedom, religious freedom can be misused. Having religious liberty includes the liberty to reject religion, a choice Americans are increasingly making. God made us to love him and each other (Matthew 22:37–39), but love is a choice which, by definition, requires the freedom to choose. Consequently, our Creator honors the freedom he gives us even when we misuse that freedom in tragic ways.

“An example to all the believers”

As our nation approaches our Independence Day celebration, today’s reflections have been prompted by a verse I read recently as part of my personal Bible study. Every time I see it, it strikes a chord deep within me: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).

The moral and spiritual foundations upon which our republic was built are under greater threat than ever before in American history. What, then, “can the righteous do?”

To answer the psalmist’s question, consider Paul’s testimony to the Thessalonian Christians: “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5a). Paul and his missionary team not only preached biblical truth, but they also modeled it personally: “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake” (v. 5b).

Consequently, “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia” (vv. 6–7) and “your faith in God has gone forth everywhere” (v. 8).

When Christians declare biblical truth and model it personally, the Holy Spirit uses our words and witness to lead others to share our faith. Then these believers become examples to others in word and witness so that the gospel movement multiplies, changing the culture and, eventually, the world (cf. Acts 17:6).

The gospel in horse taxis

On this July 3, I am grateful to live in a nation that honors my freedom of religion, but I know that America’s hope does not lie with America’s laws. If God’s people will choose to declare and defend biblical truth, wherever we are and whatever the consequences, God’s Spirit will use God’s word to change hearts and transform nations.

I am thinking today of a Cuban pastor for whom I pray every morning. He is one of the most godly and courageous believers I have ever met. I received word a few days ago that he was on his way to a meeting of one hundred churches in his region that will participate in his ministry’s Vacation Bible Schools.

However, Cuba is facing its most dire fuel shortage in years, with lines stretching for blocks even at gas stations where there has been no fuel for days. So Carlos and his colleagues traveled to the conference in horse-drawn taxis.

Oswald Chambers noted, “When we choose deliberately to obey God, then he will tax the remotest star and the last grain of sand to assist us.”

Is your omnipotent Lord waiting on you today?

Denison Forum

The US Supreme Court issued two landmark rulings yesterday. One struck down affirmative action, declaring the consideration of race in university admissions to be unconstitutional. According to the Wall Street Journal, the high court’s ruling against racial preferences means “admissions offices now must decide where racial diversity ranks among priorities that can include academic performance, achievement in extracurricular activities such as athletics, and preferences for alumni and donors.”

Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts stated, “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” He added, “The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented: “The Court ignores the dangerous consequences of an America where its leadership does not reflect the diversity of the people.”

If you were on the Court, how would you balance our founding declaration that “all men are created equal” with the consequences of racial discrimination across our history?

The other ruling sided with an evangelical Christian worker who was denied requests to take Sundays off from his post office job to observe his Sabbath. The unanimous opinion made it more difficult for employers to deny religious workplace rights, as Justice Samuel Alito stated:  “An employer must show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.” This is a significant victory for religious liberty in America.

However, some worry that the ruling could give employees more leeway to exercise their personal religious views even if they are inconsistent with those held by their employers or colleagues. Should a Jehovah’s Witness who works at a hospital be able to withhold a blood transfusion on religious grounds? Should a Muslim be able to stop for daily prayers even if this disrupts other workers and hinders workplace productivity?

Asked differently, does the ruling violate the First Amendment’s promise that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”? Or does it uphold the promise not to prohibit “the free exercise thereof”?

If you were on the Court, how would you balance the two?

“The boundaries between spheres are collapsing”

Yesterday’s rulings demonstrate the problem of competing constitutional values in a democratic republic. And they illustrate an even larger narrative at work in our culture today.

New York Times columnist David Brooks recently highlighted the thinking of the early-twentieth-century Dutch prime minister and theologian Abraham Kuyper, who observed that there are a variety of spheres, each with its own social function. Brooks explained that there is the state, the church, the family, the schools, science, business, and so on. Kuyper noted that each of these spheres has its own rules and possesses its own integrity and way of doing things.

Brooks writes: “Society grows unhealthy, Kuyper argued, when one sphere tries to take over another sphere. In our country, the business sphere has sometimes tried to take over the education sphere—to run schools like a business. But if you run a school or university on the profit-maximization mentality, you will trample over the mission of what a school is for—the cultivation of the student, the mission of pure research.”

According to Brooks, “Today, the boundaries between spheres are collapsing. You go into an evangelical megachurch and it can feel like a political pep rally. Some professors now see themselves as political activists. You open your email and find corporations taking political stances on issues that have nothing to do with their core businesses.

“Some days it seems every sphere has been subsumed into one giant culture war.”

How evangelicals feel as Pride Month ends

This concept of social “spheres” is vital to our flourishing as a democratic republic. However, these spheres often overlap, as when a university tries to balance the equality of an individual with the consequences of racial discrimination or a worker claims religious rights in secular employment.

At such times, inevitably one “side” will think it lost the legal and cultural battle.

This is precisely where many evangelical Christians find ourselves as Pride Month ends. We agree that LGBTQ individuals have civil rights and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. But we have civil rights as well.

We do not want our children exposed to incessant attempts to normalize unbiblical immorality. And we do not want to be branded as bigoted and hateful for upholding moral positions that have been upheld for all of Judeo-Christian history and are still the majority position in much of the world.

But remember this: If Jesus is your Lord, this world is not your home. On the contrary, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). You are an “ambassador” for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), representing your king in this foreign land.

Christ “is Sovereign over all”

The Supreme Court is generating headlines around the world, but your next act of faithful obedience will echo in heaven. The culture wars are dominating our culture, but you cannot measure the eternal significance of present faithfulness.

Here is where another assertion by Abraham Kuyper, one omitted in Brooks’ article, is essential: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not exclaim, ‘Mine!’”

Can he say the same of your life and obedience today?

Denison Forum

You can buy a replica of the iconic Princess Leia dress from the 1977 Star Wars movie for $36.99, or you could have purchased the real thing in an auction that closed yesterday. The gown had been expected to bring up to $2 million, but the final bid amount of $975,000 failed to meet the seller’s minimum sale price. So you still have time.

If you buy the real Princess Leia dress, I wouldn’t know the difference between the two, but you would. Whether that’s worth what it cost is up to you.

The late Zig Ziglar noted, “It’s your attitude, not your aptitude, that will determine your altitude.”

“If a million people say a foolish thing”

The power of ideas to change the world is why Pride Month grows bigger and more insistent every year. For example, Time is carrying an article titled “Miss Benny is Glamorous—And Transgender.” Yahoo! wants us to know about two military sisters who used to be brothers.

Greater Good Magazine, which claims to offer “science-based insights for a meaningful life,” wants to teach us “how polyamorous people can find happiness in later life.” The New York Times informs us that “Emily Morse wants you to think seriously about an open relationship.”

And halfway through a seemingly innocuous Time article titled “The Best Father’s Day Gifts: 39 Thoughtful Ideas for the Dad in Your Life,” along with pocketknives and tumblers, we find Stella Brings the Family, which turns out to be a story about a girl and her two dads.

Ideas change the world for good and for bad. For example, a bill being considered in California would make a parent’s refusal to “affirm” their child’s transgender identity grounds for denying custody or visitation rights. More studies are demonstrating the danger of recreational marijuana use to public health, especially threatening expectant mothers and their babies, the mental health of young men, and the safety of those in the workplace.

Legal euthanasia is now being practiced in the Netherlands for people with autism or intellectual disabilities. As David French persuasively demonstrates in the New York Times, permitting transgender women to compete against biological women in sports threatens the legal foundation of women’s sports.

The singer and LGBTQ activist Rod McKuen claimed, “It doesn’t matter who you love or how you love, but that you love.” Does this apply to adultery? Polygamy? Pedophilia?

The French journalist Anatole France was right: “If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.”

Why people “behave badly”

You and I likely agree that, whatever conventional wisdom or personal opinion might claim, biblical morality is authoritative and foundational to life. We know we are to “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18) and to refuse all “works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19).

But here’s the part of the story that is often overlooked: choosing to avoid wrong thoughts isn’t enough to avoid wrong thoughts.

New York Times columnist David Brooks is right: “People don’t behave badly because they lack information about their shortcomings. They behave badly because they’ve fallen into patterns of destructive behavior from which they’re unable to escape.” Consequently, he advises, “The way to get someone out of a negative cascade . . . . [is] to go on offense and try to maximize some alternative good behavior. There’s a trove of research suggesting that it’s best to attack negative behaviors obliquely, by redirecting attention toward different, positive ones.”

Brooks agrees with the Apostle Paul: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8, my emphasis). It is not enough to avoid sinful thoughts—we must think godly thoughts. It is not enough to refuse temptation—we must choose godly behavior.

Otherwise we are like the man in Jesus’ parable who was liberated from an unclean spirit and then swept his house but left it empty. As a result, the spirit returned and brought with it “seven other spirits more evil than itself” (Matthew 12:43–45).

If, however, we fill our “house” with biblical thinking that results in biblical acting, we benefit not just ourselves but those we influence. After encouraging the Philippians to think about what is worthy of praise, Paul could offer himself as a concrete example: “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9). This was not egotism but the positive result of positive thinking in action.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine”

NFL Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy observed, “Your mind is more powerful than you think. What is down in the well comes up in the bucket.”

This is why I so often encourage you to begin your day by meeting with God in his word and worship. (Our devotional ministry, First15, is a great resource.) I would add this practical suggestion: the next time you face temptation, ask the Spirit to show you a positive way you could respond in opposition to the sin you are being tempted to commit.

When you are tempted by immoral thoughts, reflect on biblical truth. When you are tempted to slander or gossip about someone, pray for God’s best for them instead. When you are tempted to shrink from sharing your faith, pray for courage and then stand boldly for your Savior.

Walt Whitman observed, “Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.”

Use evil for good and good will defeat evil.

This is the promise—and the invitation—of God.

Denison Forum

Scooter, a seven-year-old hairless Chinese Crested pup, was born with back legs and joints that are backwards. When he was born, a breeder turned him in to animal control for euthanasia, but an animal rescue group saved him. He walks on his front legs and sits on his back legs like a tripod. According to the Today profile, “Because his feet are backwards, when he goes to the bathroom it lands on his feet, but Scooter just flings it up in the air.” (There’s your devotional image for the day.) Last Friday, Scooter won the 2023 World’s Ugliest Dog contest in Petaluma, California.

In other news, a newborn girl left in a Florida Safe Haven Baby Box has been adopted by the firefighter who found her. He and his wife had been trying for more than a decade to have a baby. “I picked her up and held her,” he said. “We locked eyes, and that was it. I’ve loved her ever since that moment.”

One more good news story: a man tried to return home from Oklahoma City to Charlotte, North Carolina, last Sunday, but his plane was delayed repeatedly and he had to wait in the airport for eighteen hours. He was rewarded by being the only person on the flight when it finally took off. He got a free pass into first class and a private party with the crew. His TikTok post was viewed more than three million times in less than a day.

Church buildings turned into nightclubs

When we read the news, we should always ask: Why are these stories in the news? Out of all the events that occur across a day, why are these being reported and others excluded? In the case of good news, the answer is obvious: you and I want to read such stories, so media outlets know they will be popular and will drive clicks and views.

Now to the negative side of the equation: we are seeing numerous stories in recent days about a reported decline in religiosity in our society. From empty church buildings being repurposed as hotels and nightclubs, to headlines like “US Church Attendance Still Lower Than Pre-Pandemic,” to articles on “Americans moving away from religion,” you would think that biblical faith is on life support in the US.

But pull back the curtain, and the story changes.

The repurposed church buildings are in Europe, where liberal denominations have denied the foundational tenets of Scripture for generations going back to Friedrich Schleiermacher and the advent of “liberalism.”

The decline in US church attendance is from 34 percent before the pandemic to 31 percent today, which means that a third of Americans are in worship on any given Sunday. This is three times higher than the percentage of Americans who watch sports on television and 50 percent higher than those who go to movies multiple times a month or engage in sports and exercise regularly.

And of the “Americans moving away from religion,” the New York Times writer notes that nearly half are Buddhists and Jews and “around 30 percent of most Christian denominations.” She does not specify between mainline and evangelical churches, but the former are seeing much higher rates of decline than the latter.

In fact, according to cultural commentator Glenn Stanton, church attendance is at an all-time high, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of the population, and “the number of Christians in the world today is larger than it has ever been in the history of the world.”

“Our citizenship is in heaven”

My point is this: we should expect secular media to normalize secularism. The more they predict the demise of our faith, the more they expect their predictions to become self-fulfilling. But don’t be deceived: God is still on his throne and one day, “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and . . . every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11 NASB).

But also don’t be complacent: even one person outside God’s kingdom is one too many. The psalmist said of those who turn to the Lord in faith, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12). The people you know who do not “take refuge” in him are missing his abundant life in this world (John 10:10) and his eternal joy in the next (Revelation 21:1–5). They deserve to know what you know and to meet the Savior who saved your soul.

And don’t be fearful: no matter what happens today, God has you. Jesus assured us, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27–28).

For a true follower of Christ, the worst things are never the last things. This is because “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20–21).

“Viewing a movie after you’ve read the book”

Max Lucado explains God’s omniscient providence this way: “It’s like viewing a movie after you’ve read the book. When something bad happens, everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. But not you. Why? You’ve read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot.

“God views your life with the same confidence. He’s not only read your story, he wrote it.”

Why do you need to trust your story to his providence today?

Denison Forum

If you live in Russia, you must be wondering what last weekend’s coup means for your future. If you live in the US, you should be asking the same question, though for different reasons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke publicly last night for the first time in two days, denouncing as “blackmail” the rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group and insisting that his nation and government are united against any threats. However, as Tom Nichols noted in the Atlantic, Russia’s “once unchallengeable czar is no longer invincible. The master of the Kremlin had to make a deal with a convict . . . just to avert the shock and embarrassment of an armed march into the Russian capital while other Russians are fighting on the front lines in Ukraine.”

Now, according to Britain’s former ambassador to Russia, Putin’s future depends on the outcome of that war. As the uprising affects military morale and his standing among his own people, the Ukrainian military is continuing its advance and has reportedly landed troops on the Russian-side eastern bank of the Dnipro River across from the city of Kherson. No one foresaw such events when Putin launched his immoral invasion sixteen months ago.

The coup matters to the US as well, for three reasons. One is the potential of chaos in the world’s largest nuclear power, reviving decades-old concerns about who might ultimately control Russia’s nuclear forces. A second is the effect on global markets; shares fell yesterday as the rebellion added to uncertainties over the war in Ukraine.

A third is the threat of even greater instability and oppression if Putin falls. As retired Gen. David Petraeus noted on CNN’s State of the Union, “I don’t think we want a country that spans eleven time zones and includes republics in the Russian Federation of many different ethnic and sectarian groupings to come apart at the seams.” He added: “Is this the beginning of the end of Putin? We don’t know. Whoever follows him, if that is the case, will he be even more dictatorial?”

The “Five Big Forces” that change the world

Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm with $124 billion under management. Forbes estimates his personal net worth at $19.1 billion. He has achieved such success by studying events and cycles across history. As a result, I follow his cultural analysis for reasons that transcend their financial implications.

Dalio’s new article for Time is titled “Why the World Is on the Brink of Great Disorder.” In it, he identifies the “Five Big Forces” that compose what he calls the “Big Cycle that produces big changes in the world order”:

1. Financial/economic forces
2. The domestic order force
3. The international world order force
4. Acts of nature
5. Technology

In each case, the US is experiencing transformation on a historic scale.

With regard to finances, “because of unsustainable debt growth, we are likely approaching a major inflection point that will change the financial order” such that “debt/financial conditions could worsen, perhaps very significantly, over the next eighteen months.”

Regarding domestic order, he believes “we are headed into a type of civil war over the next eighteen months” in which “populist extremes” are in conflict while “bipartisan moderates are for the most part quietly staying out of [the] fight.”

The international world order is witnessing a growing conflict between the US and China with important elections in Taiwan next year. In his view, “the odds of some form of a major conflict are dangerously high.”

Acts of nature include a generational pandemic, climate change, and an El Niño phase of the climate cycle.

With regard to technology, “there should be no doubt that generative AI and other technological advances have the potential to cause both massive productivity gains and massive destructions, depending on how they are used. The one thing that we can be sure of is that these changes will be greatly disruptive.”

Two encouraging facts

Few of us are able to change the changes Dalio identifies. We are “catching, not pitching,” as a friend of mine says. It’s easy to feel like powerless victims of forces beyond our understanding or control. When we are living on “the brink of great disorder,” however, followers of Jesus can take heart from two related biblical facts.

One: Your Savior is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). Nothing we’ve discussed today surprises him. Rather, our Lord has a plan to redeem all he allows for his glory and our good (Romans 8:28).

Consequently, we can turn our fears to him by faith and experience that “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) which can be our most powerful witness in turbulent times.

Two: You are living in this time of “great disorder” by God’s plan. He intended you to live today, not a century ago or a century from now (if the Lord tarries).

Consequently, he has a kingdom assignment for you, a way he wants to use your life and influence to make an eternal difference in our chaotic world (1 Peter 4:10). Author and actor Alexander Woollcott was right: “There’s no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.” Your faithfulness to God’s call today can change someone’s trajectory for eternity.

“The surest way to death”

Pastor and author Paul Powell commented on the popular deception that morality is whatever I what to do: “Anything that is alive must, to remain alive, be tied to something else. A tree is fastened to the earth. If someone ‘frees’ it by pulling its roots from the ground, it is free only to die. Doing as you please is the surest way to death—spiritual, emotional, and physical.”

To what are you “tied” today?

Denison Forum

On Friday, the man known as “Putin’s chef” seemed on the verge of overthrowing Putin himself. Now he has been exiled to Belarus, where he may be targeted for assassination. Meanwhile, Putin remains in power.

But is he really?

“Putin’s chef” rebels against his master

Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin was born in 1961 and raised in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union. As a teenager, he was caught stealing and spent nine years in detention. After his release, he began selling hot dogs in Leningrad, then became involved with grocery stores, gambling, and the restaurant business.

He met Vladimir Putin along the way and began receiving numerous government contracts to supply meals to the Russian military and schools. Over time, due to catering contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef,” he became a wealthy oligarch.

In May 2014, Prigozhin founded the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization that has fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine and is accused of horrific war crimes. As the invasion foundered, he became a vocal critic of Russia’s military leaders.

Last Friday, he claimed that regular Russian forces launched missile strikes against his Wagner forces, killing a “huge” number. In response, he ordered his troops to advance north on Moscow and demanded the ouster of Russia’s defense minister and chief of the general staff. In response, checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops were stationed on the city’s southern edge. The city went on alert as crews dug up sections of highways to slow the march.

Wagner troops advanced to one hundred and twenty miles from Moscow when Prigozhin called a halt, claiming he decided to avoid “shedding Russian blood.” According to UK security services, he did so after Russian intelligence services threatened to harm the families of Wagner leaders.

In a deal announced Saturday, Prigozhin will go into exile in neighboring Belarus, charges against him of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped, Wagner fighters will not be prosecuted, and some will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry. Prigozhin ordered his troops back to Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian regular soldiers.

“The final chapter of his rule”

Former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst said Putin “has been diminished for all time by this affair,” which constituted “the biggest internal challenge to President Vladimir Putin as Russia’s paramount leader for twenty-three years.”

Lucian Kim, NPR’s former Moscow bureau chief, put the rebellion in the larger context of Putin’s “suicidal war against Ukraine.” He writes: “The longer he stayed in power, the less interested Putin became in being remembered simply as the leader who stabilized Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That was not enough. Putin wanted the legacy of restoring an empire, beginning with Ukraine.”

However, “Though battered and bloodied, Ukraine is unified and clear about its purpose. Now Russia looks like [a] failed state. Nobody in Russia understands what the war in Ukraine is about. And after Prigozhin’s rebellion, nobody knows if that war might not still come to Russia.” As a result, “It is unclear if we are witnessing the beginning, middle, or end of Putin’s end. What is certain is that it is the final chapter of his rule.”

The New York Times quotes Konstantin Remchukov, a Moscow newspaper editor with Kremlin connections, who said people close to Putin could persuade him “not to stand for re-election in Russia’s presidential vote next spring.” He explained: “If I was sure a month ago that Putin would run unconditionally because it was his right, now I see that the elites can no longer feel unconditionally secure.”

British political analyst Daniel Hannan believes Prigozhin’s coup is “the beginning of the end for Vladimir Putin” since his “power rests on projection, on propaganda, on the image of invincibility. Now, all of a sudden, the curtain has been snatched back, revealing the Wizard of Oz as a small, mediocre, frightened man.”

“Shadowed by an illusory person”

In point of fact, we are all such a “wizard” projecting what psychologist Karen Horney calls our “idealized self” to the world. The problem with pretending to be what we are not is not just that our fiction is inevitably known by others. It is that our fictional self is not known to God.

In New Seeds of Contemplation, the monk and theologian Thomas Merton writes, “Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him.”

Think about that fact: our false, idealized self does not truly exist, but God can know only that which does exist. He cannot help us contact Martians since there are no Martians. He cannot help us “know thyself,” the Western quest since Socrates, since there is no true “self” to be known apart from the One who, as St. Augustine prayed, “made us for yourself, O Lord.”

Consequently, Augustine continued, “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

“An exchanged life, not a changed life”

The good news is that the God who made us and thus knows us better than we know ourselves can remake us as his “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). So, to be your best self today, stop trying to be what you want others to see and ask Jesus to make you like himself (Romans 8:29) by transfusing your character with the “fruit” of his Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).

Watchman Nee was right: “Victory has to do with an exchanged life, not a changed life. . . . It is not an evil ‘I’ being changed into a good ‘I, or a filthy ‘I’ being changed into a clean ‘I.’ It is to be ‘no longer I.’”

Jesus was adamant: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Paul testified that he had been “crucified with Christ” so that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). And Christ living through Paul changed the world.

Will you ask him to do the same through you?

Denison Forum

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of when the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion law to the states. Christian leaders described the decision as “the day we have all been waiting for” and “one of the most important days in American history.”

However, Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the Court’s majority decision, cautioned that “we do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today’s decision. We can only do our job.”

And, as the last twelve months have shown, America remains as divided as ever on this issue.

Abortions are down but still occurring

After Roe v. Wade was originally passed in 1973, forty-six state legislatures had to rewrite their abortion laws, “bringing them into line with what had been, until then, the most liberal abortion laws in the nation.”

The response to the Court’s decision last year was not nearly so uniform.

Currently, thirteen states have what could be described as a total ban on abortion—though differences exist even within that grouping on how to treat issues related to incest, rape, and the health of the mother. By contrast, six states have no restrictions at all, allowing abortions up to the moment of birth. The remaining thirty-one states fall somewhere in the middle, with the majority drawing the line around the time that the fetus becomes viable.

The net result has been an estimated 24,290 fewer legal abortions from July 2022 to March 2023, the most recent month for which such data is available. The stipulation of “legal” abortions is important, however, as recent months have seen a dramatic increase in the availability and use of abortion pills, even in states where such an action is against the law. For example, Hey Jane—one of many telemedicine abortion providers—has seen a 164 percent increase in patients over the last year.

One of the newer developments in this area has been the increased frequency of international providers of abortifacients shipping the drugs to doctors and clinics in states with “shield laws,” which allow them to then distribute the pills to states with abortion bans without worrying about the repercussions of those laws.

The increased reliance on medicinal abortions is why the case over the legality of one of the most commonly used abortifacients, mifepristone, is so significant for the future of the abortion issue in America. The pill is currently part of the regimen used in more than half of all abortions across the country. A case that could revoke its government approval is likely to come before the Supreme Court for a second time in the coming months or years.

Regardless of how that case plays out, however, the fight to protect the lives of the unborn is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, and current trends indicate that it is only going to get more difficult.

The best way to protect the unborn

While more states appear willing to pass laws that protect children later in pregnancy, public opinion has actually shifted over the last year to favor greater access to abortion.

Of Americans, 69 percent now support the right to first-trimester abortions, an increase of 2 percent from before Roe v. Wade was overturned. A similar trend exists for second- and third-trimester abortions as well, with almost a third and a quarter of the population supporting each, respectively.

Clearly, changing laws is not enough to change hearts on this issue. So where do we go from here?

Ultimately, this is not a fight that can be won in the political sphere. Whether it’s ordering pills through the mail, traveling out of state, or any number of other avenues, people who see abortion as their only option—or even just continue to see it as a viable option—will find a way to kill their unborn children. As such, the solution is to worry less about making it harder for people to attain an abortion and instead focus more on reducing their perceived need to seek it out in the first place.

And, as former NFL tight end and longtime advocate for the pro-life movement Benjamin Watson recently pointed out, roughly 76 percent of women say that “they would prefer to parent their child if their circumstances [were] different.”

As such, he argues that the best way to protect the unborn is to “widen our view on what might be a pro-life issue, meaning that it helps human flourishing as opposed to strictly legislation,” adding that he longs for the day when abortion is both “unthinkable and unnecessary.”

However, until the day that it becomes “unnecessary,” there is little we can do to make abortion “unthinkable” to those who are frightened by the prospect of adding a child to their lives.

Fortunately, there are quite a few ways we can help with that.

3 pro-life actions you can take today

While there are a number of ways that we can—and should—engage with the issue of helping to meet the needs that often lead people to consider abortion, a few basic steps can make a big difference in that struggle.

To start, we must understand that the vast majority of women facing the decision to terminate their pregnancy are not bad people. As Watson pointed out, more than three-quarters of them would prefer to keep their baby if they could see a realistic way to do so. As such, a little bit of empathy can go a long way toward helping them feel less trapped and more open to choosing life for their child.

Second, ask God to point you toward ministries and groups that make it a point to reach out to women in need. Whether it’s crisis pregnancy centers, local food banks, or any number of other organizations that do similar work, joining or supporting such groups as the Lord leads can help to fill in the gaps that make it difficult for people to consider adding a child to their lives.

Lastly, pray about whether the Lord might be calling you to consider adoption. It’s not for everyone, but let God be the one to make that call. And if his will for your life is not to take in a child who needs a home, ask him to show you ways that you can help support those he is calling to take such a step.

Whether it’s providing financial support, emotional support, or even just going through the process of gaining clearance to babysit for kids in foster care, or for parents in desperate need of a night out, each of us can do something to help support those who have chosen to give their children the chance to live.

How is God calling you to help?

Denison Forum