“There is no doubt we face profound economic challenges. We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring my party and country together.” This was the promise made Monday by Rishi Sunak, who today will become Britain’s third prime minister in seven weeks. As the New York Times reports, Sunak will also be the youngest prime minister in two centuries and the first person of Hindu faith to achieve the UK’s highest elected office.

However, the new prime minister faces a personal challenge that his predecessors did not: his personal wealth is more than double that of King Charles III, constituting what may be the first time in history that the residents of Downing Street are richer than those of Buckingham Palace.

Here’s why this is a problem: Sunak has ascended to his nation’s highest office at a time when the UK has more food banks than McDonald’s and many are being forced to choose between eating and heating their homes. Critics fear that Sunak cannot identify with the people he will lead and the rising challenges they face.

The new prime minister wants to lead Britain to “stability and unity,” but as Cornel West noted, “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people.” I would amend his wise observation: You cannot lead the people if they don’t believe you love them. No matter your claims to care about their challenges and empathize with their pain, if they consider you to be out of touch with their world, they’ll conclude that you cannot understand their problems.

And if you cannot understand a problem, you cannot solve it.

Is America “irredeemably woke”?

This fact helps explain America’s growing political animosity.

According to a new poll reported by NBC News, “80 percent of Democrats and Republicans believe the political opposition poses a threat that, if not stopped, will destroy America as we know it.” In his latest Dispatch article, David French explains the two “sides” of this conflict in ways that underscore the deep cultural chasm bisecting our national soul.

He reports that the far left believes “America was a racist, colonial power. It began as a slave empire, expanded through conquest and genocide, and then—even as it cast itself as a liberator in the world wars and Cold War—propped up vicious tyrants in the name of liberty.

“In this telling, all of the bad aspects of American history were highlighted, amplified, sometimes exaggerated or even fabricated, and then repeated endlessly to create a picture of a nation in whose DNA racism and conquest were inescapably imprinted. The solution to the crisis of America’s past and present was nothing less than revolution—a dismantling of America’s classic liberal founding and its replacement with illiberal structures that used the force of law and government to uproot entrenched power structures and re-order society from the top down.”

By contrast, the far right “sees America as irredeemably woke. All of the institutions of American life are ‘captured’ by the left—from the academy, to corporate America, to the military, to pop culture. Even our churches and religious schools are infected by wokeism.”

Neither side understands the other or wants to resolve this conflict through compassion and compromise. To the contrary, French writes, “The radical left seethes with fury at the America that was and believes that the America that is cannot escape its horrific past, at least not without revolutionary change. The radical right longs for the America that was, loathes the America that is, and believes the America that will be is doomed, at least not without revolutionary change.”

Three quintessential Roman qualities

What both sides are missing is the theological fact that humans cannot change human nature. If either side of our political divide got everything they wanted, our deepest problems would remain. This is because we are at our most primal level fallen sinners (Romans 3:23) who desperately need redemption and transformation we cannot effect (cf. Jeremiah 17:9).

A drowning man cannot save other drowning victims, much less himself.

The ancient Romans tried. In his remarkable biography of Julius Caesar I referenced yesterday, historian Adrian Goldsworthy reports that “what it meant to be Roman” included “such quintessentially Roman qualities as dignitas, pietas, and virtus.” Dignitas was “the sober bearing that displayed openly the importance and responsibility of a man and so commanded respect.” Pietas “embraced not merely respect for the gods, but for family and parents and the law and traditions of the Republic.” Virtus embraced “not simply physical bravery, but confidence, moral courage, and the skills required by both soldier and commander.”

Dignity, piety, and virtue are admirable foundation stones on which to build a flourishing society. But as Roman history proves, humans are incapable of exercising these values consistently. The Republic gave way to an Empire that eventually collapsed when its external enemies proved stronger than its internal character.

Will America suffer the same fate?

“We are ambassadors for Christ”

Today’s conversation underscores the urgent need for our secularized culture to turn to the God who alone can transform our sinful hearts and heal our divided nation. Remember his promise: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, my emphasis).

Our role in such transformation is clear: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (vv. 18–19).

As a result, “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (v. 20).

An ambassador “lives in a foreign country and represents his or her own country’s interests there.”

By this definition, will you be an ambassador for Christ today?

Denison Forum

In yesterday’s article, we discussed the possible impact of protests in Europe on China’s willingness to invade Taiwan, with the takeaway that it seems increasingly unlikely that many of America’s traditional allies would be willing to take the same measures in defense of Taiwan that have proved so important to the defense of Ukraine. That reality is of imminent importance to the United States because recent events make it seem as though we are on a collision course with the Asian superpower.

What is even more troubling, though, is neither side really seems interested in avoiding that fate.

As Ben Werschkul notes, the US and China have been in something of a cold war for a number of years now, but there was a basic understanding that it was in neither side’s best interests for that conflict to escalate beyond bickering and trade disputes. However, recent events have started to portray a different picture.

The two nations have begun to “uncouple on fronts from trade to the movement of labor to technology.” The White House, for example, recently passed a number of new restrictions designed to limit China’s ability to access various American technologies needed for semiconductor development, artificial intelligence, and advanced computing.

As Klon Kitchen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, warns, “these new actions show the United States is not trying to slow China’s technological advancement, but to arrest and to contain it” (emphasis his).

Likewise, Xi Jinping repeatedly emphasized the need for his nation to become more self-reliant during his opening address at this week’s Party Congress, right alongside warnings against Western “hegemonism and power politics.” At several points, he spoke of the need for stability, with greater independence from the West as a key component to attaining that end.

However, control over Taiwan could be just as important.

Why Taiwan is so important

China and Taiwan have had a testy relationship over the years, as one might expect given that the Chinese government considers the independent island part of its Republic. But despite those issues, the two have developed a great deal of economic interdependence. China and Hong Kong account for roughly 42 percent of Taiwan’s exports and 22 percent of the country’s imports. In comparison, the US comprises 15 percent of Taiwan’s exports and 10 percent of its imports.

Moreover, many of Taiwan’s largest companies maintain factories in mainland China, including the world’s largest producer of semiconductor chips: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). Those chips are needed for products like cell phones, cars, and—most notably—a wide range of “military-grade” devices from fighter planes to defense systems.

TSMC is currently in the process of building one of its most advanced factories in Arizona, and the company’s Chairman, Mark Liu, warned that they would shut down rather than fall under Chinese control in the event of an invasion.

However, the degree to which Beijing believes that threat remains to be seen. And, even if they do, it is possible that they would rather see the factories close than supply the West with the kinds of semiconductors we cannot yet produce on our own.

All that to say, while both the United States and China have a clear need to maintain economic ties to Taiwan, the latter has also indicated an increased willingness to monopolize that relationship. And, should they try, President Biden has already promised to come to the island’s aid to an even greater extent than the support America has given Ukraine by committing troops and military personnel to the effort.

Unfortunately, as we discussed yesterday, should that come to pass, America may do so alone.

And therein lies the greatest danger, as well as one of the most likely reasons for the recent increase in Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.

A fight we may not win

China has long desired to be the most dominant country in the world. But for some time, those aspirations have been held in check by the US-led alliances that have often set the ground rules for how nations interact with one another. However, the mutual recognition that it would be foolish for one nation to go to war against the world seems increasingly less likely to apply to any conflict over Taiwan.

While NATO’s Article 5 defense commitment, for example, binds nations to defend one another when attacked, Article 6 limits the scope of that commitment to attacks that take place in Europe, North America, or on islands “under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.”

If the US and China go to war in the South Pacific, none of America’s traditional allies would be required to join the fight. And many seem increasingly unlikely to do so.

China, however, is unlikely to have that problem. Given friendly relations with countries like Iran, Russia, and several others that are not exactly fans of the US, it is possible that America is steadily marching toward a fight we may not win.

“The proper estimate of oneself”

As we discussed yesterday, counting the cost as Jesus commands requires a calculation based on what we’re willing to pay rather than what we expect or hope to pay. Both nations and individuals get into trouble when they make decisions based on the latter of those prices.

One of the most indispensable helps in avoiding that mistake is the self-awareness to fully appreciate the fact that we often do not get to dictate what that price will be. And that self-awareness is especially difficult to maintain when one becomes accustomed to acting from a position of strength.

Throughout history, one of the primary reasons that nations fall from greatness is the inability to recognize when the reasons for their prior success no longer apply to their current situation. Allegiances can shift, strength can wane, opposition can grow stronger, and each can occur in ways that are easy to miss if we’re not paying attention.

What is true of nations can be equally true for each of us.

Whether it’s in our walk with the Lord, our relationships with other people, or any other facet of our lives, when we act as though past success guarantees success in the present, we’re setting ourselves up to fail.

Fortunately, God stands ready to help if we’re willing to ask.

So, as Paul advised, pray for the “sober judgment” needed to make an honest evaluation of your life today (Romans 12:3). Ask the Holy Spirit to show you any areas where you might be thinking more highly of yourself than you should, as well as any areas where that problem is reversed.

After all, God isn’t interested in false humility but rather, as Charles Spurgeon described it, “the proper estimate of oneself.”

Will you ask the Holy Spirit to help you make such an estimate today?

Denison Forum

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Paris on Sunday in protest over the rising cost of living, a shortage of key supplies, and fears that their circumstances will only get worse as winter looms just over the horizon.

Those who spent their weekend marching through the streets of the French capital are hardly alone in their fear and anger.

The stress and angst that boiled over in the protests has been building for quite some time and was preceded by strikes at oil refineries that further exacerbated the problems. Almost a third of the country’s gas pumps are either fully or partly dry, and additional strikes are expected in the days to come.

Similar protest movements have begun in Germany, Italy, Belgium, and a host of other European countries as well. But while the inflation and shortages at the heart of these protests have a multitude of causes, the focus for many is the war in Ukraine.

When Russia began its invasion back in February of this year, most of the Western world was united in its opposition to Putin and his attacks. Officially, that stance has not changed. Both NATO and the European Union maintain their support for Ukraine and the measures that have been taken to fight back against Russia.

But as the cost of those measures—particularly the economic sanctions and energy shortages—have mounted, large swaths of the general public throughout Europe have started having second thoughts.

And there is perhaps no country paying closer attention to this development than China.

What if China invades Taiwan?

While one could argue that Russia stands to gain the most from any discontent among the European nations that oppose their invasion of Ukraine, circumstances have likely progressed too far for NATO or the EU to change course now. Those nations that stand against Putin’s government will continue to do so until the situation in Ukraine is resolved.

As such, the more pertinent question is whether those European nations can afford to take a similar approach should China invade Taiwan.

From the moment Russia started sending troops across their western border, many have seen similarities between Taiwan and Ukraine. As the latter denied Russia the quick victory that many inside the Kremlin forecasted, it gave hope to those in Taiwan that they too would be able to ward off any incursions by their much larger foe. And it would appear that China shared that apprehension, at least initially.

CIA Director William Burns told a House Intelligence Committee in March that Beijing had been “surprised and unsettled” by both Ukraine’s resistance and the Western response.

However, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s tone and comments were anything but apprehensive and unsettled on the subject of Taiwan during his opening remarks at this week’s Party Congress. Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist with the Australia National University’s Taiwan Studies Program, noted that Xi’s approach to the subject shifted from previous speeches and conveyed a “newfound urgency on making progress on the Taiwan issue.”

In fact, the delegates in attendance rendered their loudest applause of the night whenever Xi spoke on his hope for a “peaceful reunification” coupled with the resolve to “reserve the option of taking all measures necessary” to see that reunification come to pass.

In short, it would appear that any fears he had back in March have been assuaged in the months since. And while there are several plausible explanations for how that shift may have occurred, the most likely is the belief that the united Western support that has proved so crucial to the defense of Ukraine will not be extended to Taiwan.

The cost of commitment

We will discuss the implications of that reality for the United States in particular in tomorrow’s Daily Article. But before we do, there’s an important lesson from the European response that we need to consider.

Towards the end of Christ’s ministry, he cautioned his followers against underestimating the level of commitment required to be his disciple. To drive the point home, he compared that commitment to the way a builder counts the cost before beginning to construct a tower and to a king who measures the strength of his army against the enemy’s forces before engaging in battle (Luke 14:25–33).

This teaching was important because Jesus understood that maintaining one’s commitment is much more difficult when it begins to cost us more than we would prefer to pay.

Christ commanded total commitment from his disciples—above their commitment to family, friends, and most of all themselves—because he knew they could not comprehend what it would cost to follow him. As such, weighing that cost was less about what they would have to pay than about what they were willing to pay.

Understanding that distinction is just as important for us today as it was for his disciples nearly two thousand years ago.

How much are you truly willing to sacrifice?

Many of the protests in Europe are the result of countries hoping that the war in Ukraine would cost less than they’re currently having to pay. As such, their citizens are less likely to sanction a similar wager if China invades Taiwan, and Beijing appears to have reached a similar conclusion.

As the cost of following Christ in our culture continues to rise, let’s learn from their example.

For a long time, Christians in America have had the luxury of knowing that the true cost of what we could expect to pay for following Jesus was unlikely to exceed what we were willing to pay. But as circumstances change and that cost becomes less certain, many have already begun to waver in their commitment to the Lord. And while it’s unlikely that the price to follow Jesus will rise to the point of death, only God knows where it will ultimately fall.

So take some time today to ask the Holy Spirit to help you examine by which measure you’re counting the cost of discipleship.

Have you put limits on how much you’re willing to pay to follow Jesus?

Is your commitment based on what you want it to cost or on what Christ says it could cost?

It’s all right to hope for the former so long as you are prepared to pay the latter.

Are you?

Denison Forum

The twentieth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a weeklong event that opened yesterday in Beijing, China. Beijing is 6,980 miles from Dallas, Texas, where I live. Why should I care what happens there?

Why should you?

According to the US Department of State, the Chinese Communist Party seeks to set up “a new international order dominated by the CCP.” It therefore “threatens the world’s economy and public health by unsustainably exploiting natural resources and exporting its reckless disregard for the environment.”

Meanwhile, the CCP “silences dissent and restricts the rights and freedoms of Chinese citizens to include forced population control, arbitrary detention, censorship, forced labor, violations of religious freedom, and pervasive media and internet censorship,” all while it “manipulates international organizations, democratically elected governments, and companies to mask its human rights abuses at home and abroad.”

The FBI says confronting the economic espionage threats emanating from the CCP is its “top counterintelligence priority.” It warns that “the Chinese government is seeking to become the world’s greatest superpower through predatory lending and business practices, systematic theft of intellectual property, and brazen cyber intrusions.”

And our Christian brothers and sisters in China face some of the most oppressive and sophisticated surveillance and persecution in the world. It is illegal for those under eighteen years of age even to attend church. Christian leaders who are seen as threats to the government have been abducted.

Why we are the enemy

When I was growing up, the Soviet Union was the major threat to the West and to global stability. Now, despite Russia’s horrific crimes against Ukraine, China has risen to become our greatest threat. Why?

The foundational answer consists of two names: Karl Marx and Xi Jinping.

Xi is expected to be reelected this week to an unprecedented third term as China’s leader. He more than any other individual or factor has led China to threaten the West as it does.

The reason is simple: he is following the ideology of Karl Marx. Often called the Father of Communism, Marx emphasized the importance of class struggle in every historical society. He sought to foment working-class revolutions throughout the capitalist world that would lead, he claimed, to a classless society and a socialist utopia.

In Marx’s view, the individual is a means to the advancement of society, which in turn (he claimed) will benefit the individual. He wanted the state to govern every dimension of life as a means to this end and saw Western capitalism, with its emphasis on the value and rights of the individual, as the enemy of such “progress.”

So does Xi Jinping.

Chinese Marxism and American materialism

Kevin Rudd is president of the Asia Society in New York and a former prime minister and foreign minister of Australia. Writing for Foreign Affairs, he notes that Marxism has been China’s official ideology since 1949. However, he states, Xi Jinping “has developed a new form of Marxist nationalism that now shapes the presentation and substance of China’s politics, economy, and foreign policy.”

As a result, he has “reasserted the influence and control the CCP exerts over all domains of public policy and private life” and “stoked nationalism by pursuing an increasingly assertive foreign policy, turbocharged by a Marxist-inspired belief that history is irreversibly on China’s side and that a world anchored in Chinese power would produce a more just international order.”

In direct contrast to Xi Jinping’s ideology that makes the individual the servant of the state, the United States stands on the declaration that “all men are created equal” and a consequent belief in “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln stated so eloquently.

However, as Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren notes in yesterday’s New York Times, Americans are increasingly experiencing life as “machines” who exist as a means to materialistic ends.

Digital productivity monitoring has resulted in hyper-controlled work environments. Omnipresent technology means work is no longer confined to the office: nearly 40 percent of workers said they check email outside of regular hours every day. Remote work means we can work anywhere at any time. A majority of workers say it is more difficult to “unplug” from work than when the pandemic began.

A third ideology

As a result, whether we are discussing China’s oppressive Marxism or America’s oppressive materialism, we need to remember a third ideology: the biblical claim that each of us is created uniquely in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26–27). As “image bearers” of the divine, we are people of intrinsic value and worth.

However, sin marred this image and separated us from our holy Creator, so he sent his Son to die on our cross, pay our debt, and purchase our salvation. When we trust Christ as our Savior and Lord, he makes us the children of God and gives us “abundant” life on earth and in eternity (John 1:12; 10:10).

This is the gospel, literally the “good news.” It is the only ideology that restores fallen humans to the transforming intimacy with our Maker for which we are intended. It is the only worldview that empowers us to love our Father and each other unconditionally (Matthew 22:37–39).

But our world will not adopt our worldview unless we do. Secularists will not love our Father more than we do. Skeptics will not believe we love our neighbor unless we love them.

St. Augustine observed, “Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.”

How beautiful will your soul be today?

Denison Forum

 “This is one of the best days of my life. I feel like I might be dreaming or something. I thought my life was over. I will remember this day for a long time. You don’t know how much I appreciate this . . . you really don’t know.” This is how a one-hundred-year-old veteran thanked a stranger named Isaiah Garza for taking him to Disneyland.

A now-viral video posted to TikTok shows Garza approaching the elderly man (after coordinating with the man’s caregiver) to say, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’ve had a really rough day. Do you want to go to Disneyland with me today?” The man was shocked but delighted. Garza told a reporter later, “First we went on the tea cups and it was his first ride in like fifty years and then It’s a Small World and sang it together like fifty times it was so cute.”

Garza captioned part of the video: “Became best friends for the day.”

“The nicest place on the internet”

Unsurprisingly, Harvard University reports that “loneliness appears to have increased substantially since the outbreak of the global pandemic.” More than half of all US adults are considered to be lonely; young adults are twice as likely to be lonely than seniors.

In response, a website calling itself “the nicest place on the internet” will give you a virtual hug. Social media offers unprecedented virtual community. But we need community that is more than virtual.

What God said of Adam is true of us all: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). You and I were made in the image and likeness of the God (Genesis 1:27) of triune community (2 Corinthians 13:14) who created us to love him and to love each other (Matthew 22:37–39).

As we close our weeklong focus on our status as the children of God, let’s focus on this fact: if you are a child of God, you are part of the family of God. The community he offers you and offers the world through you is a gift no one else in the world can give. It is a gift we were created to need. It is a gift that makes the church uniquely relevant to our fractured culture.

It is a gift you are invited to embrace and to share for an especially urgent reason today.

“The source of order in man and society”

Gnosticism (from the Greek word for knowledge) was a second-century heresy that believed humans can save themselves from this evil material world through a special type of knowledge of the divine mysteries. However, this knowledge was reserved only for an elite group who claimed to understand what others did not.

Eric Voegelin was a German-American political philosopher. In The New Science of Politics: An Introduction, he used this ancient concept to describe the rising secularism of Western culture: “The more fervently all human energies are thrown into the great enterprise of salvation through world-immanent action, the farther the human beings who engage in this enterprise move away from the life of the spirit. And since the life of the spirit is the source of order in man and society, the very success of a Gnostic civilization is the cause of its decline.”

Let me recast his crucial insight in a current context: Like the ancient Gnostics, a group of cultural elites is convinced they can bring about the “salvation” of society through secular progressivism. However, “the life of the spirit” stands in the way of their secular utopia. As a result, they employ LGBTQ ideology, abortion activism, and other unbiblical causes to expose and condemn the “discrimination” inherent in Christian orthodoxy and thus free society for radical individual “authenticity.”

Here’s their problem: as Voegelin notes, the “life of the spirit is the source of order in man and society.” Consequently, the disintegration of our social unity, escalation of crime, and epidemic of sexual immorality we are witnessing today are inevitable results of their secularist agenda.

“The final word in reality”

Voegelin’s thesis explains why it can be difficult for evangelical Christians to reach cultural “Gnostics” and those they represent: they are foundationally convinced that they understand what we do not. They are certain either that the Bible is wrong on the cultural issues of our day or that we are wrongly interpreting it. Either way, they have no interest in rational dialogue or personal engagement with people they consider dangerous to society.

How, then, are we to reach them and those they influence with God’s word and grace?

Here is where today’s focus on community is so relevant. Every person who has ever lived was created for authentic, life-giving relationship with others. However, from Cain and Abel to yesterday’s shooting in Raleigh, North Carolina, that left five people dead, sin disrupts and corrupts these relationships. Secularism has no solution for sin; it can try to legislate against its symptoms, but it cannot reach their source.

As the Christian psychiatrist and author Curt Thompson notes: We have to change our lives if we want our lives to change.

You and I are called to “have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1 Peter 3:8). Then, we are to extend this community to our critics: “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called” (v. 9). When we experience such grace with each other and offer it to the world, the “God-shaped emptiness” in every soul is drawn to the Source of our love.

On this day in 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize. In his acceptance speech, he proclaimed: “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”

Let’s speak that word into reality today, to the glory of God.

Denison Forum

Former Hawaii Representative and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is leaving the Democratic Party, which she denounced as an “elitist cabal of warmongers.” Her announcement reminds us of Ronald Reagan’s famous statement, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”

As the leader of a nonpartisan ministry, my intention today is not to criticize the Democratic Party. To the contrary, politicians leaving the Republican Party would make the same point I wish to emphasize: in the eyes of the world, we are what we do. George Eliot was right: “Just as we define our actions, our actions define us.”

What politicians and political parties do over time defines them far more effectively than platforms adopted at conventions or speeches made at rallies. The same principle applies to the rest of us, as Michael J. Fox noted: “Our challenges don’t define us, our actions do.”

This fact was reinforced for me when I saw the tragic news that American Idol Season 19 runner-up Willie Spence died Tuesday in a car accident at the age of twenty-three. Just hours before the fatal crash, he posted a video of himself singing a worship song.

When I read the story, this question came to mind: Would you do what you are about to do if you knew it would be the last thing you would do?

Do Christians only care about stopping abortions?

You may have seen ads created by the “He Gets Us” campaign, a $100 million effort to bridge the gap between the story of Jesus and the public perception of his followers. The campaign is based on market research showing that while many Americans like Jesus, they are skeptical of his followers.

The research split Americans into four categories: non-Christians (16 percent of the sample), people who are “spiritually open” (20 percent), “Jesus followers” (34 percent), and “engaged Christians” (30 percent). It revealed a large gap between the first three groups and the last.

For example, more than two-thirds of those in the first three categories agreed when asked: “Followers of Jesus say one thing, but do not follow those things in practice.” Only 5 percent of the “engaged Christians” agreed. Most in the first three categories also agreed that Christians only care about stopping abortions rather than caring for moms and their children; only 6 percent of the “engaged Christians” agreed.

Mayor helps family escape before train hits vehicle

We have focused this week on our status as the children of God and its implications for our lives and faith. Today, let’s consider this fact: people judge our Father by his children. When we are loving, kind, and compassionate, they are more likely to think the same of our Lord. When we are hateful and condemning, they are likely to see our Lord in the same way.

God’s word is clear: “Whoever says he abides in [Christ] ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:6). Jesus taught us: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8).

This is because we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10). As a result, we are instructed, “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Paul warned of those who “profess to know God, but they deny him by their works” (Titus 1:16). Conversely, Scripture admonishes us, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).

Let’s consider an example.

Eddie Daniels is the mayor of Vienna, Georgia, a town of four thousand residents. He was on his way to work Saturday morning when he saw an SUV stalled on railroad tracks with a train fast approaching.

“I couldn’t let those babies sit there and get slaughtered by a train,” he told reporters later. He helped the mom out of the vehicle, then rescued a three-year-old and a one-year-old from the back seat. He was helping a six-year-old when the train hit the vehicle.

He managed to get the child out, but Daniels has a broken ankle and eight stitches in his head as a result. “I’m out here just doing God’s work,” he said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do. And they told me I was a hero. I said I don’t feel like a hero, just feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, what the people elected me to do.”

Would you predict he’ll be elected again?

“You are my hiding place”

The British explorer Freya Stark observed, “There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.” She was right, not only about us but about those we influence as well.

As the children of God, our every word and action reflect on our Father for good or for ill. Jesus told his followers, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8); some of us are effective witnesses, some of us are not, but each of us is called to the stand every day.

A postmodern culture that measures truth by relevance will measure the truth of our faith by the relevance of our lives. So I’ll ask again, for God’s glory and the advancement of his kingdom: Would you do what you are about to do if you knew it would be the last thing you would do?

I suspect Willie Spence’s answer on Tuesday would have been yes. Here are the lyrics he sang for the world before he left it for his home in heaven:

You are my hiding place
You always fill my heart
With songs of deliverance
Whenever I am afraid.

I will trust in You
I will trust in You
Let the weak say I am strong
In the strength of the Lord
I will trust in You.

What song will you sing for God’s glory today?

Denison Forum

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called courage “the power of the mind to overcome fear.” Courage by definition requires adversity. Where there are no challenges, there is no need for courage.

Seen in this light, we have many opportunities for courage in today’s news.

We could focus on the economy: The Dow Jones closed yesterday up thirty-six points but down nearly twenty percent for the year. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is predicting that the US economy will fall into a recession in the next six to nine months. The World Bank is warning of the threat of a global recession next year. There’s even bad news in the good news: Online holiday discounts could reach record highs, but inflation will cut into spending.

We could talk about geopolitics: North Korea confirmed that its recent barrage of missile launches was the simulated use of nuclear weapons to “hit and wipe out” potential South Korean and US targets. As Russia continued missile strikes against Ukrainian civilians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his plea for increased military assistance yesterday at an emergency meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations.

This comes after pro-Russian hackers attacked the websites of several major airports in the US this week, another reminder that cybersecurity threats are an urgent security issue for our nation and the world.

And yesterday was National Coming Out Day, which was launched in 1988 as part of a strategy to normalize LGBTQ activity so it could be legalized, opponents could be stigmatized, and opposition could ultimately be criminalized.

Teacher fired for raising concerns over a book

As we noted yesterday, this strategy is working well in Australia, where a CEO was forced to resign after one day because of his membership in a church that affirms biblical sexuality. Closer to home, a substitute teacher in Georgia was fired from her job after she expressed her concern as a parent over the content of a book in the school library.

The book depicts same-sex couples taking their children to school and two lesbian mothers, one of whom is pregnant. The mother spoke with her six-year-old son’s teacher and asked that he not be part of the story time where the book was to be read. The teacher said that would not be a problem.

The next day, she expressed her concerns over the book with the school’s principal, explaining that she and her husband would like to be the ones to talk with their children about issues such as same-sex marriage, rather than the school. She made clear that she was not asking for the book to be removed, only that her children not be exposed to its content. The principal agreed.

Soon thereafter, the teacher learned that she would no longer be allowed to teach in the school district, as the principal was concerned about her bias “against same-sex couples.” Even though she explained that she expressed her concerns as a mother, not as an employee of the school district, her employment was terminated.

“The stronger the emphasis, the fewer the Christians”

We have focused this week on positive factors inherent in our status as the children of God. Today we need to consider the other side: Those who oppose our Father will oppose his children. Anyone who rejects God’s word will reject those who embrace God’s word.

Jesus warned us: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Scripture is clear: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12, my emphasis).

The cost of following Jesus has always made it hard for the masses to follow Jesus.

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard observed: “The imitation of Christ is really the point at which the human race shrinks. The main difficulty lies here; here is where it is really decided whether or not one is willing to accept Christianity. If there is emphasis on this point, the stronger the emphasis, the fewer the Christians. If there is scaling down at this point (so that Christianity becomes, intellectually, a doctrine), more people enter into Christianity.

“If it is abolished completely (so that Christianity becomes, existentially, as easy as mythology and poetry and imitation an exaggeration, a ludicrous exaggeration), then Christianity spreads to such a degree that Christendom and the world are almost indistinguishable; or all become Christians; Christianity has complete conquered—that is, it is abolished!”

“By the power of the Spirit of God”

The good news is that the Holy Spirit who resides in every true child of God will give us the courage and perseverance we need to imitate Jesus as a true disciple of our Lord. He will empower us to be witnesses for our Lord where we live and around the world (Acts 1:8). We will be able to say with Paul, “by the power of the Spirit of God . . . I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19).

In fact, if we are not living “abundantly” (John 10:10) as “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37), we should ask why.

Oswald Chambers warned us: “We can remain powerless forever . . . by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on his power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve him without knowing him.”

Asked negatively: Is something keeping you from experiencing his supernatural power? A temptation or sin with which you are struggling? A person you need to forgive or someone from whom you need to seek forgiveness? A difficult next step of obedience?

Asked positively: Are you serving Jesus “with all his energy that he powerfully works” in you (Colossians 1:29)? As a result, are you sharing your faith confidently and courageously? Do others know that you know Jesus?

When the Sanhedrin “saw the boldness of Peter and John . . . they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

Let’s astonish our lost culture today, to the glory of God.

Denison Forum

This is a story from Australia, but it has direct implications for Americans and anywhere else people embrace biblical truth and morality.

Andrew Thorburn was chief executive of the Australian Football League club Essendon only a day before reports emerged that he was also the lay board chairman of an Anglican church called City on a Hill. In 2013, the church published an article urging people with “same-sex attraction” to seek help from senior Christians to “survive these temptations.” A 2013 sermon also stated that while we “look back [with] sadness and disgust over concentration camps, future generations will look back with sadness at the legal murder of hundreds of thousands [of] human beings every day through medicine and in the name of freedom.”

Daniel Andrews, premier of the Australian state of Victoria, told reporters, “Those views are absolutely appalling. I don’t support those views, that kind of intolerance, that kind of hatred, bigotry. It is just wrong.” Essendon President Dave Barham quickly issued a statement: “We acted immediately to clarify the publicly espoused views on the organization’s official website, which are in direct contradiction to our values as a club.”

Thorburn resigned his position as a result, stating, “Today it became clear to me that my personal Christian faith is not tolerated or permitted in the public square, at least by some and perhaps by many. I was being required to compromise beyond a level that my conscience allowed.”

Dr. Albert Mohler is right: “This story tells us a very great deal about the velocity of social and moral change and the challenges that will face Christians, if not immediately, then very quickly.” If we want job security, he suggests that we join a church that celebrates LGBTQ ideology and all other progressive agendas. But if we do, we will find ourselves in direct contradiction to the word of God.

He concludes: “This is how the issue in our world is now shaping up, and it will be a huge test of Christian faithfulness. Your church may cost you your job, but your job may demand your soul.”

“He must labor to make us lovable”

When our faith is tested, whether by public opposition or by private temptation, how do we pass the test?

Yesterday we celebrated the fact that when we place our faith in the Son of God, he makes us the children of God (cf. John 1:12). As a result, we are free to love and serve others whether they love and serve us or not, secure in the fact that we are loved absolutely and unconditionally by the God of the universe.

Today, let’s take our status as God’s children a step further.

C.S. Lewis notes in The Problem of Pain: “We were not made primarily that we may love God (though we were made for that too) but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the Divine love may rest ‘well pleased.’” However, “to ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God: because he is what he is, his love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain stains in our present character, and because he already loves us he must labor to make us lovable.”

Lewis adds: “What we would here and now call our ‘happiness’ is not the end God chiefly has in view, but when we are such as he can love without impediment, we shall in fact be happy.”

Here’s how the process works. In the moment of our salvation, we are spiritually “born again” (John 3:3). We exchange the sinful nature we inherited from the “first Adam” (Romans 5:12–14) for the spiritual nature we receive from the “second Adam,” our Savior and Lord (1 Corinthians 15:45; Romans 8:29).

In that moment, the Holy Spirit who comes to live in us when we trust in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:16) begins working to transform us into people God can “love without impediment.”

“Rebels who must lay down our arms”

However, you and I have a choice to make.

We can strive in our own strength to stand publicly for Christ against the rising tide of secular animosity and to defeat the private temptations brought against us by Satan. Or we can yield our lives completely to the will and power of the Holy Spirit, trusting him to make of us what we could never make of ourselves.

Returning to C. S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain: “We are not merely imperfect creatures who must be improved; we are, as Newman said, rebels who must lay down our arms.” Lewis admits that this is hard for us: “To render back the will which we have so long claimed for our own, is in itself, wherever and however it is done, a grievous pain, . . . to surrender a self-will inflamed and swollen with years of usurpation is a kind of death.”

This is why Paul described himself as being “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) and called us to present our lives to God as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). It is why Jesus declared, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23, my emphasis).

“The resources to do what God requires”

What is already true in Communist China, North Korea, Cuba, and many parts of the Muslim world is becoming true in the secularized West as well: to follow Christ faithfully, we need courage and perseverance beyond ourselves. Consequently, we need to begin every day by submitting that day to the lordship of Christ in the power of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). And we need to practice consistently and passionately the various spiritual disciplines—prayer, Bible study, worship, solitude, fasting, and so on—to position ourselves to be transformed daily by the One we worship.

I have warned for many years that “self-sufficiency is spiritual suicide.” Never has that fact been more true for American Christians than today.

Erwin Lutzer was right: “You become stronger only when you become weaker. When you surrender your will to God, you discover the resources to do what God requires.”

Will you make this transforming discovery today?

Denison Forum

Two terms that were new to me were in the weekend news. Each is a window into our cultural soul.

The first is “sleep tourism,” which is trending since sleep deprivation is such a problem for so many Americans. For example, hotels in New York City and London now feature rooms with sleep-enhancing amenities and soundproofing. One hotel offers a sleep-inducing meditation recording, a pillow menu with options that cater to guests who prefer to sleep on their side or back, the option of a weighted blanket, a special bedtime tea, and a scented pillow mist.

And no wonder: In a recent study, 40 percent of participants reported a reduction in their sleep quality since the start of the pandemic.

The second is “hang-xiety,” which the New York Times describes as “the emotional plunge [people] feel after drinking that doesn’t quite constitute a proper hangover.” The article notes that one effect of drinking alcohol is sleep disruption due to elevated blood sugar and excess glutamate.

So, it turns out, the second term exacerbates the first.

Amazon accused of selling suicide kits to teenagers

Human technology is advancing by the day, but human nature is not.

After an explosion Saturday on a bridge linking Russia with Crimea, Russia apparently sought revenge by striking major Ukrainian cities this morning. A series of blasts rocked Kyiv, with some strikes landing in the heart of the Ukrainian capital’s downtown during rush hour. At least five people were killed and at least a dozen were injured, according to the Kyiv police department.

The previous day, a Russian missile attack struck an apartment building, according to Ukrainian officials. At least thirteen people were killed and eighty-seven others were injured. According to the Associated Press, Ukrainian officials further allege that the Russian invasion of their nation is “being accompanied by the destruction and pillaging of historical sites and treasures on an industrial scale.” And North Korea fired two ballistic missiles yesterday, the latest in a recent barrage of weapons tests.

Closer to home, a parents’ lawsuit accuses Amazon of selling suicide kits to teenagers. The lawsuit is being brought by the families of two teenagers who bought a deadly chemical on the company’s website and later used it to take their own lives. And the mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is apologizing after he was arrested Saturday evening for allegedly driving while intoxicated and causing an accident.

However, one more news story illustrates the hope we can claim today: A bargain hunter went to an estate sale in Maine, where he found a framed document with elaborate Latin script on sale for seventy-five dollars. He bought it, then discovered it was used about seven hundred years ago in Roman Catholic worship and could be worth as much as ten thousand dollars.

What no Jew had done before

The best single piece of advice I’ve ever received is one I’ve shared often: My high school youth minister told me, “Always remember the source of your personal worth.” You possess a value far transcending what our secularized culture may have assigned to you. In fact, your true worth is beyond all human estimation.

Let’s discover your worth by remembering a familiar story with an astounding element.

When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, Matthew reports: “Immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him” (3:16). This was visual evidence of Jesus’ calling to be Messiah (Isaiah 42:1), an office which was familiar to the Jews and a deliverer for whom they had prayed for centuries.

But then something happened that was truly unprecedented: “And behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:17). God has a “Son”! This was a radical thought to the Jews, whose focus on the oneness and singularity of God was central to their faith (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4).

If God has a Son, this Son must be as divine as his Father. And so he was and is.

The Jewish people thought of God as the “Father” of the nation, but none had ever dared claim him as their personal father. Not only did the Son of God frequently make this assertion, he also called him “Abba,” Aramaic for “Daddy” (cf. Mark 14:36). As German theologian Joachim Jeremias noted in The Prayers of Jesus, “There is not a single example of the use of Abba . . . as an address to God in the whole of Jewish literature.”

Not, that is, until Jesus.

Claiming the truth about yourself

Here’s my point: Because Jesus is the Son of God, you can be the child of God: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1; cf. John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Galatians 3:26). In the moment you make Christ your Savior and Lord, you are “born again” into a new family—the family of God (John 3:3).

What does this mean in practical terms?

You can love and serve people whether they love and serve you or not because you are already loved absolutely and unconditionally by your Father. And you can pay any price in this world to glorify God because this world is no longer your home and your inheritance with your eternal family is secure (John 14:1–3).

In Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, Henri Nouwen makes this point better than I can: “The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: ‘These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting belief.’”

Will you remember today the source of your personal worth?

NOTE: Has America left God? Or is he being patient with us? I answer that question and more in the updated edition of How Does God See America? And as we’re heading into another politically charged voting cycle, we’re also including an ebook edition of Respectfully, I Disagree for your donation of $50 or more. Please request the “Let’s be civil” book bundle today.

Denison Forum

A former police officer killed thirty-six people, including twenty-four children, during a rampage at a day care center in Thailand yesterday. Most of the children, aged between two and five years, were stabbed to death, police said.

In 2020, 9,152 children between the ages of one and fourteen died in the US, which works out to twenty-five a day. Like the children massacred in Thailand, each of these deaths is an unspeakable tragedy. I cannot imagine the pain parents and families must feel at the loss of a child.

By contrast, 629,898 babies were aborted in the US in 2019, the last year for which the CDC reported a yearly national total. This averages to 1,725 babies aborted every day in America.

In other words, sixty-nine times more children die each day in the US from abortion than children ages one to fourteen die from all other causes combined.

How Disney and Google are promoting abortion

The subject of abortion is back in the news after the Biden administration unveiled new measures this week intended to protect abortion rights. The president also called on Americans to pressure Congress to pass legislation that would ensure abortion is legal across the country.

The Health and Human Services Department has already declared that doctors and hospitals must provide an abortion under federal law when a doctor deems it necessary for a pregnant woman in an emergency medical condition to be stabilized. The federal government has also instructed (PDF) pharmacists not to deny patients access to abortion medications.

In related news, Disney and Google are supporting a program that will award film students a $25,000 grant toward creating movies that promote abortion rights. Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer for Meta Platforms, has donated $3 million to the ACLU to support abortion rights.

And Planned Parenthood is planning a mobile abortion clinic that will travel close to the borders of states that have banned abortion, making it easier for women in these states to abort their children.

The preeminent right of our day

Two centuries before Christ, the Jewish Mishnah forbade abortion except to save the life of the mother. The Didache, the earliest theological treatise after the Bible, likewise states, “You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child.” From then to now, the sanctity of life from birth to natural death has been a central tenet of orthodox Christian faith. Millions of Americans—including 47 percent of Catholics and 63 percent of evangelical Protestants—object to abortion as a consequence of their religious beliefs.

But the “right to life” today runs headlong into what is euphemistically called the “right to choose.” (This “right” does not extend to the unborn baby, of course.) And the “right to choose,” whatever the subject, is the preeminent right of our day.

I noted recently that many people dismiss biblical truth on LGBTQ issues, not because they identify as LGBTQ, but because they want to dismiss such truth when it pertains to sexual sins they do want to commit (such as premarital sex and adultery). The same logic pertains here. A woman’s “right to choose” to end the life of her unborn child is commensurate with the right to choose one’s spouse (whatever their gender or number), the right to choose one’s manner and timing of death, and a host of other personal “rights.”

In this view, so long as your “right to choose” does not impinge on my “right to choose,” you are as free to make your choices as I am to make mine.

Satan’s one strategy

Four biblical conclusions follow.

One: Christians should expect to face increasing attacks on our First Amendment religious freedoms from abortion advocates just as we do from LGBTQ advocates.

In the former case, it will be Christian health care providers on the front lines, as in the latter it is currently Christian wedding service providers. In both cases, we are seen as discriminatory and hateful toward minorities and thus undeserving of the protections of civil society. This is just one way Jesus’ warning is coming to pass: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

Two: On this and other “culture war” issues, we should decide today what stance we are willing to defend tomorrow.

When opposition comes, we will need to know what we believe and why we believe it. For example, I recently consulted with a Christian hospital executive who has decided that if his hospital system begins performing elective abortions, he will resign. He has thought and prayed about his response and is ready if it is needed. All Christians in all dimensions of our secularized culture need to follow his example as we “count the cost” before we must pay it (Luke 14:28).

Three: We must beware the lure of the “right to choose” in our own lives and souls.

You may be as adamantly pro-life as I am, but the “right to choose” is nonetheless tempting for us in other areas. Any thought, word, or deed that conflicts with God’s word is sin. Satan has only one strategy—“you will be like god” (Genesis 3:5)—because this strategy is all he needs. Every temptation is a variation on this theme. Surrendering every day to the lordship of Christ (Romans 10:9) and the authority and power of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) is thus vital.

Four: We must earn the right to help others choose God’s will for their lives.

From women considering abortion to patients considering euthanasia and everyone in between, every person you meet today needs to experience the love of God found in the community of faith. Jesus assures us that he stands in such solidarity with those in need that “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

How will you serve Jesus today?

Denison Forum

In 2018, a pro-Kremlin journalist asked Russian President Vladimir Putin in what scenario Russia would use nuclear weapons. He replied: “If someone decides to destroy Russia, then we have a legal right to respond.” He admitted that “for humanity it will be a global catastrophe” but added perilously: “Still, as a citizen of Russia and the head of the Russian state, then I want to ask myself the question: ‘Why do we need such a world if there is no Russia there?’”

Putin claimed that Russia would launch a nuclear weapon only if it detected the launch of missiles headed for Russia, but he did not clarify if Russia would respond only in the case of nuclear warheads or non-nuclear missiles in general.

Fast-forward to the present. Putin signed the final papers yesterday to illegally annex four regions of eastern Ukraine as Russian territory. Ukraine is continuing its offensive in some of these areas, forcing widespread Russian retreats. Ukrainian guided missiles supplied by the US and the UK have been instrumental in changing the course of the war against Russia.

Will Putin now see such missile strikes against his forces in annexed Ukrainian regions as missile launches against Russia?

A Cold War historian explains the current crisis

This scenario is just one reason Cold War historian Michael Dobbs, author of a definitive account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, is warning that the conflict in Ukraine “presents perils of at least equal magnitude” to that confrontation.

There are other reasons for grave concern as well: Dobbs points to the possibility that “a stray shell from either side could cause an accident at a nuclear power plant, spewing radioactive fallout over much of Europe.” Russia could bungle an attempt to interdict Western military supplies to Ukraine, slipping over into NATO countries like Poland and triggering an automatic US response. Or a Russian decision to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukrainian troops could escalate into a full nuclear exchange with the West.

Dobbs adds that in 1962, US President John Kennedy and his Kremlin counterpart Nikita Khrushchev possessed “an intuitive understanding of the peril confronting not just their own countries but the entire world if the crisis was allowed to escalate.” This was because both had experienced the horrors of World War II and knew nuclear war would be many times more destructive.

In light of Putin’s question, “Why do we need such a world if there is no Russia there?” we are left to wonder if he shares their understanding of the peril facing the globe today.

A new “Scooby-Doo” movie character is a lesbian

In other news, a new “Scooby-Doo” movie portrays the lead character as a lesbian. A senior member of the British parliament says the Church of England must embrace same-sex marriage or face mounting pressure from the government.

Samford University, a Baptist school in Alabama, is facing protests and criticism for affirming its commitment to biblical sexuality and marriage. And a New York trial judge has ruled that polyamorous relationships are entitled to the same legal protections given to two-person relationships.

Here’s what these stories have in common with Vladimir Putin’s Russia-centric nuclear threat: they each illustrate the conviction that I have a right to what I want, no matter the consequences for those who disagree.

In this view, if Russia believes its territory (legitimate or not) is under attack, it can respond however it chooses. LGBTQ ideology must be embraced by every segment of society even at the cost of First Amendment religious freedoms. If you disagree, you are dangerous to society and undeserving of legal or cultural protections.

Unfortunately, this is familiar ground, a growing attack on conservative Christians I have documented often in the past (for a larger discussion in historical and biblical context, see my book, The Coming Tsunami). Today, I’d like to make a point on this urgent issue I’ve not made before, one that applies as fully to me as to anyone who opposes my biblical worldview.

“My claim to my right to myself”

For nearly thirty years, I have read Oswald Chambers’ classic, My Utmost for His Highest, as part of my morning devotional time. Yesterday I read again his definition of sin as “my claim to my right to myself.” This time, his explanation struck me as it had not before.

Chambers observed: “The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of self-realization—I am my own god. This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself.”

This claim is at the foundation of everything that is wrong with our culture. But it is prevalent in “moral” people as well, as Chambers notes: “When our Lord faced men with all the forces of evil in them, and men who were clean living and moral and upright, he did not pay any attention to the moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other; he looked at something we do not see, viz., the disposition.”

In other words, those of us who uphold biblical morality and religious freedom can be as sinful as those who reject it if our motives are “my claim to my right to myself.” This is a binary choice: I can love and serve my Lord and my neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39), or I can love and serve myself. I can make God my god, or I can make myself my god (Genesis 3:5).

But I cannot do both. Neither can you.

A life-changing paragraph

Inside the Bible I used as a pastor, I taped a paragraph where I could see it each Sunday before I preached. Its words from Watchman Nee’s The Normal Christian Life stirred my soul again when I read them today:

“A day must come in our lives, as definite as the day of our conversion, when we give up all right to ourselves and submit to the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ. There must be a day when, without reservation, we surrender everything to him—ourselves, our families, our possessions, our business, and our time. All we are and have becomes his, to be held henceforth entirely at his disposal. From that day we are no longer our own masters, but only stewards.

“Not until the lordship of Jesus Christ is a settled thing in our hearts can the Holy Spirit really operate effectively in us. He cannot direct our lives effectively until all control of them is committed to him. If we do not give him absolute authority in our lives, he can be present, but he cannot be powerful. The power of the Spirit is stayed.”

Will the Spirit be “powerful” or “stayed” in your life today?

Denison Forum

Legendary country singer and songwriter Loretta Lynn passed away yesterday at the age of ninety. The Washington Post calls her “a trailblazer for other female country performers” and notes that she was the first woman to win the Country Music Association’s award for entertainer of the year.

Speaking of historic deaths, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away on this day in 2011. In a 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, he offered this now-famous advice: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” He added: “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

By following his “heart and intuition,” Jobs reinvented the music industry with the iPod and iTunes (Apple Music now has over one hundred million songs), reinvented personal communications with the iPhone, changed the way we consume media with the iPad, made computers accessible to non-technical people with Macintosh, changed the way software and hardware are sold, and built Apple from nothing into what is today the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of $2.347 trillion.

“You should have a target on your back”

I thought about the courage of Steve Jobs and Loretta Lynn in light of an article by evangelical cultural commentator Dr. Michael Brown titled “If you’re a Christian, you should have a target on your back.” He offers specific examples:

• “If you speak up for the unborn, you will be targeted.
• “If you uphold marriage and family as God intended, you will be targeted.
• “If you claim salvation is only through Jesus, you will be targeted.
• “If you resist LGBT activism in the schools, you will be targeted.
• “If you preach the word of God with brokenness and humility but without compromise or dilution, you will be targeted.”

He cites Paul’s assertion: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12) and states, “If we’re not being persecuted, resisted, or targeted on some level for our godly living and preaching in Jesus, then something is wrong.”

Jesus warned his followers, “Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19).

Does the world hate you today?

This week, we’ve explored both secular and biblical responses to the antagonistic secularism of our day. Today, let’s seek the courage to employ both in service to our Lord and our culture.

One: Pray for sacrificial courage.

It is not easy to be vilified for believing what Christians have believed for twenty centuries, but that’s where we are today. No one likes being called intolerant and bigoted.

But we can claim the fact that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). And we can pray now for the courage we will need today.

Two: Choose courage for the sake of those who need biblical truth.

The gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). As a result, when we share our faith, we are not imposing our values on others—we are giving them the greatest gift they will ever receive. Conversely, if we cower before their opposition, we dishonor our Lord and harm the very people we are called to serve.

Pope St. Gregory the Great (AD 540–604) observed: “Pastors who lack foresight hesitate to say openly what is right because they fear losing the favor of men. . . . [They] are not zealous pastors who protect their flocks, rather they are like mercenaries who flee by taking refuge in silence when the wolf appears.” He added, “The word of reproach is a key that unlocks a door, because reproach reveals a fault of which the evildoer is himself often unaware.”

Three: Love people whether they love our Lord or not.

John warned us: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). We are called to stand for biblical truth because we love those with whom we share it. The more they reject it, the more they need it.

The sicker the patient, the more urgent the physician.

Cornel West observed: “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people.” As Erma Bombeck noted, loving our children enough to let them hate us is “the hardest part of all.”

“The world cannot hate us”

Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is considered the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. They will spend it fasting from food and water as they face their wrongdoings and seek forgiveness.

We can join them by taking time for our own introspection and confession. Are there areas of your life where you are compromising with the standards of the world? Where you are less than courageous in your public faith? Where you are hiding your light (Matthew 5:15) rather than shining as a light in the world by “holding fast to the word of life” (Philippians 2:15–16)?

Let’s pray today for the courage of our convictions. And let’s trust God to answer our prayers as we choose to stand boldly for our Lord.

Missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his biography, “The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!”

Will you be dangerous today?

Denison Forum

Trust seems to be a scarce commodity these days.

For example, the would-be winners of almost $29,000 at an Ohio fishing tournament were disqualified recently after it was discovered that their fish were stuffed with lead weights and fish fillets.

On a much more somber note: as of this morning, the death toll from Hurricane Ian has risen to at least 103. Part of the problem is that the storm was predicted until the last thirty-six hours to strike Florida further north than where it landed. As a result, many in the Ft. Myers region were unprepared for the violence of the hurricane when it hit their area.

The main American forecast model insisted for days that the storm would strike the Florida Panhandle or Big Bend areas as a Category 2 storm. The European model, which uses faster supercomputers, consistently signaled a more southernly and stronger storm track for Florida. (Its prediction ended up being far closer to the actual outcome.) The National Hurricane Center then split the difference, leading to a predicted landfall north of where the storm came ashore.

In other news, an Indonesian police chief and nine elite officers were removed from their posts after at least 125 people (including thirty-two children) were killed in a soccer stadium crush. And the polls were wrong once again, this time in Brazil, where the incumbent president received more votes than had been predicted and is now in a runoff with his leading challenger.

Each day’s news provides more proof that we are fallen people living in a fallen world. Why, then, is it hard to convince secular people that they need more than secular society can provide?

Moving the Overton window

If lost people understood that they needed Christ, they would turn to him. The fact that they do not shows that they do not believe they need any more “spirituality” than they already have. Thus, as we noted yesterday, they must want what we know they need.

We might think that disasters like Hurricane Ian would turn many toward God since such tragedies clearly show us our finitude and frailty. They force us to confront the mortality we are otherwise so good at ignoring. And they prove that we need to be ready today for what might come tomorrow.

However, for many, natural disasters are invitations to question the love, power, or even the existence of God. And they align with a cultural narrative that reinforces self-reliance. As the Stoic Epictetus said, “No man is free who is not master of himself.” His words could be the mantra of our day.

Consequently, the spiritual Overton window (the range of what is socially acceptable) has moved the cultural center to the left. The younger you are, the further to the left you have moved.

If I do not believe I have cancer

Now, for the first time in American history, a majority of Americans reject biblical truth on a wide range of moral issues. For many, “morality” is defined as “doing whatever you want to do that doesn’t harm someone else.” This is a logic trap: for me to disagree causes you harm and thus crosses this line.

Why is this definition of morality so appealing?

Consider an example: the LGBTQ population is at most 5.6 percent of American society. But if we decide that the Scriptures and/or Christian tradition are wrong on LGBTQ issues that do not affect 95 percent of us personally, we can then decide that they are wrong on other issues that do.

Once we determine that Christianity is wrong about homosexuality, we can decide that it is wrong about abortion. Or premarital sex, or cohabitation, or pornography, or euthanasia, or a host of other decisions.

This relativistic view of morality rejects the only solution for our problem: “You know that [Christ] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). If I do not believe I have cancer, I will not consult an oncologist, much less consent to the chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery she prescribes.

How can we respond biblically to such deception? How can we speak the truth in love when such truth is so unpopular?

One: Pray with passion

Because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4), “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). This is a spiritual conflict that must be fought with spiritual weapons. Thus, praying fervently for spiritual awakening and moral renewal is priority one for Christians.

Two: Guard your heart

We must be the change we want others to adopt. Here’s where to start: David testified, “I will ponder the way that is blameless” (Psalm 101:2). To become “blameless,” make this commitment: “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (v. 3, my emphasis).

If we do, we must deal with it immediately. Like cancer, denying sin permits it to metastasize: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Ask the Spirit to show you anything you need to confess, then confess what comes to your thoughts and claim God’s forgiving grace (v. 9).

Three: Seek the power of God

Are you living and working in supernatural power? God is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). In these critical days, we dare not limit his power by our faith. Settle for nothing less than his best.

God will never ask you to do something he will not enable you to do. “He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14) and thus empowers our frailty with his omnipotence and our finitude with his omniscience. You can do “nothing” without Christ (John 15:5) but “all things” with him (Philippians 4:13).

Theologian R. C. Sproul observed, “The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in.”

Do you?

Denison Forum

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are visiting Puerto Rico today and Florida on Wednesday to view areas devastated by Hurricane Ian. There have been eighty-seven confirmed deaths from the storm as of this morning, but the number is expected to rise.

Meanwhile, a cultural storm is brewing that is devastating not just a part of our country but our entire society.

The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade one hundred days ago yesterday, which was a historic victory for life. However, of all the massive consequences so far, one is especially foundational: the “culture wars” are coming home. States and local communities are taking ownership of morality issues on unprecedented levels and in unprecedented ways.

Let’s consider some examples.

What California’s law does to parents

Last Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 107, which David French explains this way: “A child can cross state lines to obtain ‘gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care’ and obtain immediate protection from efforts from parents to bring their child home.” In short, if your child goes to California for sex-change surgery, there is nothing you can do to stop them once they get to the state. The order even blocks parents from receiving information about their child’s treatment.

This is just one of the ways many in our secularized culture are seeking to dismantle the family and overturn traditional morality.

A Wisconsin school board is going forward with sex ed curriculum that teaches lessons on gender identity to elementary school students. A New Jersey law forces schools to teach LGBTQ history. The New Jersey Department of Education has imposed sex education standards requiring school districts to teach middle school students about sexual activities I will not describe here.

One author even has a book titled Abolish the Family.

This trend is extending into Christian denominations as well. The United Methodist Church and many of its local congregations are more affirming of LGBTQ ideology than ever, though many local congregations remain committed to biblical orthodoxy. The same is true for the Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, and numerous other mainline denominations. Even some Baptist churches are embracing LGBTQ ideology over biblical sexuality.

If you stand for biblical morality, expect to face the opprobrium of society as a result. As one example, the Supreme Court’s approval has sunk to historic lows after its abortion ruling.

How should followers of Jesus respond most redemptively?

“The Next Pandemic: Anxiety Over Life Itself”

Secular people are unlikely to be persuaded by biblical arguments. I assume that a Muslim could not persuade you to adopt Islam based on verses from the Qur’an.

So, following Paul’s example in employing Greek logic and quoting Greek philosophers to persuade Greek philosophers (Acts 17:22–31), we need to understand those we seek to persuade. Let’s begin with the reasoning used by secularists who oppose biblical morality.

For advocates of California’s new law protecting children who seek “gender-affirming” therapies from intervention by their parents, any parents who oppose such therapies are abusing their children. Abortion proponents believe the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe victimized women by denying them “reproductive freedom.”

More Americans than ever before believe that people who oppose same-sex marriage are just as discriminatory as people who oppose interracial marriage. It is conventional wisdom today that LGBTQ rights are just as valid and vital as any other minority rights.

Now, let’s use secular evidence to show our secular friends that secular morality is not working. For example:

• One consequence of the “sexual freedom” movement is a horrific upsurge in sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis.
• In response to federal recommendations that all adult Americans ages nineteen to sixty-four be screened for anxiety, the Wall Street Journal headlines “The Next Pandemic: Anxiety Over Life Itself.”
• A 2021 poll found that just 49 percent of Americans were more optimistic than pessimistic about the state of the world, a low point since the survey began in 2009.

How the world will know you follow Jesus

I plan to discuss several biblical responses in tomorrow’s Daily Article. For today, let’s close with this fact: to persuade people that they need what we have, they must want what we have.

Advertisers work hard to convince people who don’t need a new car that we want a new car. Otherwise, we’ll be content with what we drive. The same is true of our souls. If people see Christ in us, the “God-shaped emptiness” in their souls will be drawn to our Lord.

So, how can we live in such a way that others see Christ in us?

John, Jesus’ beloved disciple and best friend, counseled us: “Whoever says he abides in [Christ] ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:6). This is both biblical and logical. If I abide in Christ (John 15:5) and his Spirit thus controls my life (Ephesians 5:18), the Spirit of God will make me more like the Son of God (Romans 8:29).

Therefore, I can determine the degree to which I follow Jesus by the degree to which I imitate Jesus. So can the world.

Are you confident that the people who meet you today will see Christ in you?

If not, why not?

Denison Forum

 “Her only way out is on a boat.” That’s what a daughter told rescuers in North Fort Myers about her mother, whose home was swamped by five feet of water. “We don’t know when the water’s going to go down. We don’t know how they’re going to leave, their cars are totaled,” she said.

This is just one of the stories emerging from Florida, which was hit by the fifth-largest hurricane ever to strike the US when Hurricane Ian came ashore Wednesday afternoon. Emergency crews are working to rescue trapped residents from flooded homes; President Biden warned that there may be “substantial loss of life” in the state. About 2.6 million customers are still without power this morning.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “The impacts of this storm are historic, and the damage that was done has been historic.” An insurance expert warned that the hurricane could cost $30 billion in losses, which would be “one of the most severe loss events in US history.” One Florida Gulf Coast resident said she’s lived in the area for nearly thirty years and had not seen damage this extensive. “This is the first time that I’ve ever lost everything,” she said.

Now Ian has reached hurricane strength again and is expected to make landfall in South Carolina today. More devastation is still to come.

As horrific as these days have been, on a numeric level they could have been even worse. The Tampa Bay region was the largest metropolitan area in the potential path of the storm. Earlier this week, the hurricane was on a trajectory to make a direct hit on the city.

Then the storm turned.

“Thank goodness for the Tocobagans”

Residents around the Tampa Bay region were urged to evacuate Tuesday as they prepared for what was predicted to be their first direct hurricane hit since October 25, 1921. In the century since, their area has grown from a few hundred thousand people to more than three million today.

Many live in low-lying neighborhoods that are highly susceptible to storm surges and flooding. A 2015 report concluded that Tampa Bay is the most vulnerable place in the US to storm surge from a hurricane. A National Weather Service meteorologist called such a disaster “our worst-case scenario for the Tampa Bay area.”

Then, Tuesday evening the hurricane shifted east, sparing Tampa Bay a direct hit. Why?

Here’s one explanation: according to local legend, blessings from Native Americans who once called the region home have largely protected it from major storms for centuries. The legend includes the many sacred burial mounds built by the Tocobagan tribe, which some believe were meant as guardians against invaders, including hurricanes.

When Hurricane Irma weakened before it struck the area in 2017, a local historian said, “I wasn’t a believer before, but I am now. Thank goodness for the Tocobagans is all I have to say.”

However, another resident said, “I don’t know if I believe that legend. I do believe in the power of God.”

Five ways to pray effectively

Those of us who “believe in the power of God” know that praying for God’s power is essential to experiencing his best. We are told to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), remembering the warning, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2). Prayer does not earn God’s favor—it positions us to receive what his grace intends to give.

But, for what exactly are we to pray?

Let’s consider this paradoxical principle: Pray to God as if you were God. I know that sounds a bit heretical, but let me explain. If I were God, this is how I would want you to pray to me for the victims of Hurricane Ian and for anyone else in need of intercession today:

Be specific. No one, not even God, can answer generic prayers that have no answers. “Be with us,” for example, is not only unnecessary since Jesus promised he would be with us “always” (Matthew 28:20)—it is also impossible to quantify. If you wouldn’t know when God answered your prayer, your prayer is not specific enough.

Be bold. He is God, and “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). So “let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Charles Spurgeon noted: “Thy sigh is able to move the heart of Jehovah; thy whisper can incline his ear unto thee; thy prayer can stay his hand; thy faith can move his arm.”

Be honest. God already knows your heart (1 John 3:20) and invites you to “reason together” with him (Isaiah 1:18); the Hebrew is literally translated as “argue it out.” If Jesus could ask “why,” so can you (Matthew 27:46). If Paul could plead for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” so can you (2 Corinthians 12:8). When you don’t have faith, you can pray for the faith to have faith (Mark 9:24).

Be persistent. Jesus taught us to “ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). The Greek says literally, “Ask and keep on asking.” It’s not that persistent prayer changes God—it positions us to be changed by God. Right now, you and I are thinking about God. When we pray, we connect with him. And no one who truly experiences God can be the same.

Be childlike. One of the reasons Jesus called us to “become like children” (Matthew 18:3) is that children often trust their parents more than their parents trust their Father. Ask your hard questions, but know that your fallen and finite mind cannot by definition understand the supernatural mind of God (Isaiah 55:9). Ask for what you want but trust your Lord for what is best.

“The will to win is wasted”

Whenever and for whomever you pray, look for ways the Lord wants to use you to answer your prayers.

God is “able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20, my emphasis). We are the hands and feet of Jesus, the body by which he continues his earthly ministry today (1 Corinthians 12:27). He touched hurting bodies with his hands; today he touches them with ours. He spoke to people needing God’s word with his voice; today he speaks to them with ours.

The bestselling author James Clear noted, “The will to win is wasted if it is directed toward trivial affairs.”

Toward what “affairs” will you direct your prayers and your actions today?

Denison Forum

As it neared the Florida coast, Hurricane Ian was so gigantic that the International Space Station could see it on the distant horizon. Hurricane Charley, a horrific 2004 storm that killed fifteen people and left more than one million people without power, could fit entirely inside Hurricane Ian’s eye. The storm stretched five hundred miles east to west, twice the width of the Florida peninsula.

After wiping out power on the entire island of Cuba, Hurricane Ian made landfall yesterday afternoon near Cayo Costa, Florida, as a Category 4 storm. Wind gusts of 140 mph were recorded in Cape Coral. Storm surges up to eighteen feet have been seen. Homes were moved, obliterated, and submerged. Streets in Naples looked like rivers; there are reports of vehicles floating out into the ocean. More than 2.2 million people are without power in Florida today.

The storm is tracking across eastern Florida this morning. It is expected to move off the Florida coast later today and approach the coast of South Carolina tomorrow. Orlando set a daily record with 7.72 inches of rain reported yesterday at the international airport; the previous high for the same date was 2.68 inches of rain. Central and Northeast Florida are expected to receive isolated totals of thirty inches of rain today.

This is a storm we’ll talk about “for many years to come,” according to National Weather Service Director Ken Graham.

“The conclusion I dread”

I cannot imagine how people who have lost everything are feeling this morning. But I can say as a cultural apologist and a pastor that, in the face of great suffering, asking “why” is normal and appropriate.

• If our God were not all powerful, we could not blame him for what he could not prevent. No one faults me for the existence of cancer.
• If our God were not all loving, we would not be surprised when he does not intervene at times like this. No one who knew of Hitler’s vehement hatred for the Jews could be surprised by his role in the Holocaust.
• If our God were not all-knowing, we could understand why he doesn’t stop what he doesn’t see. You cannot know what you cannot know.

But Christians claim that God is all three. We believe that his character and capacities do not change; if he could part the Red Sea and calm the stormy Sea of Galilee, he could prevent tragedies like Hurricane Ian. But he did not.

For most of us, our fear at times like this is not that God does not exist. Rather, we agree with C. S. Lewis, who wrote after his wife’s death: “The conclusion I dread is not ‘So there’s no God after all,’ but ‘So this is what God’s really like. Deceive yourself no longer.’”

“The gift we most desire”

At the same time, I think we should ask ourselves why we are asking such questions. Perhaps the very fact that this disaster provokes such angst for us shows that we believe, perhaps subconsciously and intuitively, that this is not the way the world should be.

Why? Nothing in our experience as fallen humans on a fallen planet guarantees a life without tragedy.

To quote C. S. Lewis again, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

In Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, Henri Nouwen expressed this explanation profoundly:

“I know that the fact that I am always searching for God, always struggling to discover the fullness of Love, always yearning for the complete truth, tells me that I have already been given a taste of God, of Love, and of Truth. I can only look for something that I have, to some degree, already found. How can I search for beauty and truth unless that beauty and truth are already known to me in the depth of my heart?

“It seems that all of us human beings have deep inner memories of the paradise that we have lost. Maybe the word innocence is better than the word paradise. We were innocent before we started feeling guilty; we were in the light before we entered into the darkness; we were at home before we started to search for a home. Deep in the recesses of our minds and hearts there lies hidden the treasure we seek. We know its preciousness, and we know that it holds the gift we most desire: a life stronger than death.”

“The universal way of the soul’s deliverance”

Today is a day for grief and mourning, for solidarity with millions of people who are suffering through one of the worst natural disasters in US history. It is a day to ask hard questions and, perhaps, to recognize that even in despair there is hope and in mystery there is Mystery.

My purpose this morning is not to offer the victims of Hurricane Ian a logical explanation for their suffering but rather to point them—and us—to the One who heals broken hearts and calms stormy souls.

As Jesus wept for Lazarus, he weeps for Florida. And he asks us to trust him with our suffering and confusion, our doubts and grief. Those times of our greatest pain, when we understand him the least, are the very times when we need him the most and therefore need to trust him the most.

Such trust positions us to experience all that his redeeming love and healing grace stand ready to give.

In his classic The City of God, St. Augustine observes that “the universal way of the soul’s deliverance” comes from One whose “design . . . is impenetrable by human capacity.” For example, he notes that when Abraham was promised, “In your seed shall all nations be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), he had to leave his homeland and father’s house and, by obedience, worship the one true God “whose promises he faithfully trusted.”

Abraham could have such confident faith in the midst of his many tribulations because he was “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10).

So can we.

Denison Forum

Hurricane Ian is headed for the southwest coast of Florida and is likely to make landfall this afternoon or evening as a major Category 4 storm. Hurricane conditions are already impacting Florida’s Gulf Coast this morning, with major flooding reported in Key West. The National Hurricane Center is warning of storm surges with “life-threatening inundation.” More than 2.5 million people have been advised to flee as the storm advances on the state.

The hurricane is currently predicted to come ashore south of Tampa Bay and cut across the state directly for Orlando. Central Florida could expect fifteen to twenty inches of rainfall, with localized rainfall of up to twenty-four inches. For comparison: the most rainfall Orlando has ever experienced over a three-day period has been 13.75 inches.

“It’s going to be historic,” according to one National Weather Service meteorologist.

Three questions I’m asking myself

As I respond this morning, I’m not sure what I can say that you don’t already know.

As a cultural apologist, I could ask why God allows natural disasters. However, as I have written in the past, sin led to a fallen world and the disasters and diseases we face as a consequence (Romans 8:22). There were no hurricanes in the garden of Eden.

I could ask why God sometimes intervenes with such disasters, as when Jesus calmed the stormy Sea of Galilee, but not at other times. However, this is a question we need to answer practically rather than speculatively. When Peter asked about John’s future after the resurrection, Jesus responded, “What is that to you? As for you, follow me” (John 21:22 HCSB). We’ll say more about practical responses to the hurricane in a moment.

So, here are three questions I am asking myself today.

First, why have I focused in this article on Hurricane Ian more than on Hurricane Fiona? The latter devastated Puerto Rico and swept away homes in eastern Canada, but I have not made it my primary subject today.

Second, why have I written about Florida but not Cuba, where Ian brought terrible devastation yesterday as a Category 3 hurricane? The storm caused floods, knocked down trees, ripped off roofs, and damaged hospitals. I’m sure we’ll learn more in the coming days about the hurricane’s horrific effects on the island.

Third, why am I writing an article that is more theoretical than personal? I have focused on theological principles and reported facts, not on personal stories or reflections.

The answer to all three questions is obvious: I live in the United States, but I don’t live in Florida. The same is true for most of you.

If faith is a “crutch for cripples”

However, here’s what you may not know: I have family members and good friends who live in Florida. And I love the people of Cuba—I’ve traveled ten times to the island and pray every day for the pastors and churches with whom our ministry partners there.

As a result, while Fiona was disastrous for people I don’t know personally, Ian is devastating for many I do. Consequently, I am much more engaged in the disaster currently unfolding.

Here’s my point: God cares about those devastated by Fiona even more personally than I care about those affected by Ian. There are no speculative issues in our world with him.

Despite what the Deists thought, God is not a clockmaker who made the world and now watches dispassionately as it runs down. Despite what Freud thought, God is not a speculative projection of our “father” image but a real Father who loves each of us so much he sent his Son to die so we could live eternally.

As a result, those who follow Christ as Lord are his “body” continuing his earthly ministry in our day (1 Corinthians 12:27). Christianity is not the “opiate of the people,” as Marx claimed, but the only hope of a broken and chaotic world. If faith is a “crutch for cripples,” we are all cripples.

Act into feeling

If the devastation caused by Hurricanes Fiona and Ian is not personally grievous for us, it should be.

We are called to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39). According to Jesus, a neighbor is someone in need whom you can help (Luke 10:37). And you can help every person affected by these tragedies through your intercession and support for ministries serving them.

Such compassion begins by praying for compassion. It begins by asking God to break our hearts for what breaks his heart. It begins by asking his Spirit for his first “fruit”—agape, unconditional servant love in action (Galatians 5:22).

Then we act in the belief that God is answering our prayer. We do not wait until we feel compassion—we act in compassion. We take practical steps to demonstrate God’s love in our service. As counselors say, we act into feelings, and often the feelings follow.

Whether we feel compassion for those we serve or not, they will feel our compassion in our service. And our service to those in need will serve our Savior and Lord (Matthew 25:40). St. Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) reminded us that those in need “are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor” and who “went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself.”

Booker T. Washington on happiness

To serve hurricane victims in Canada, you can support the Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse as they serve those in crisis. To help those in Puerto Rico, you can partner with evangelical ministries at work on the island.

To help those in Cuba, I highly recommend our ministry partner there, Proclaim Cuba, and encourage you to support their work here. To serve those in Florida, I recommend (as always) the ministry of Texas Baptist Men as well as Convoy of Hope and the American Red Cross.

As you pray for these hurricane victims and those who are serving them, also ask the Lord to open your eyes and heart to those in need you can serve closer to your home.

Booker T. Washington observed, “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”

How happy will you be today?

Denison Forum

When Vanna White received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Wheel of Fortune creator Merv Griffin called her “America’s sweetheart.” She has been the show’s co-host for forty years and is one of the most famous and popular celebrities in America.

She told People magazine, “I was baptized a Baptist, and I’ve always had my own personal relationship with God.” However, she says, “I don’t preach, because everyone’s entitled to their own beliefs.”

According to a new article on yahoo!life, these beliefs include the marriage advice she gives her two children, now in their twenties: “Don’t get married until you’re thirty. You can live with your girlfriend or boyfriend. You can have all the fun you want. Just don’t get married until you’re thirty.” She adds: “Wait until you’re thirty, you can still do all the same stuff. Just don’t tie that knot, just in case.”

Choosing “tree” as your personal pronoun

My point is not to criticize Vanna White; her advice to her children is more the norm today than ever before. My purpose today is to ask why this is so.

In the 1970s, when only 0.2 percent of the US population lived as cohabitating romantic partners, would you have believed that the number would climb to 15 percent in the eighteen-to-thirty-four-year-old age bracket today? This despite the fact that couples who cohabit, even as common as this has become, are still at advanced risk of divorce compared to couples who do not.

If I had told you in 2005 that same-sex marriage would become the law of the land in 2015, would you have believed me? If I had told you in 2014 that a mainstream show like NCIS Hawai’i would portray a lesbian love scene on primetime television last week, would you have believed me?

If I told you last year that a Massachusetts school district would promote a book teaching children how to use gay sex apps and containing pornographic descriptions I will not reproduce, would you have believed me? Or that a Chicago curriculum would prompt first graders to choose their own gender pronouns? (One character chose “tree” as their preferred pronoun.)

“Take every thought captive”

As I noted in a recent Daily Article, “normalization” is “the process through which wisdom becomes conventional.” A New York Times article explains that “things, simply by becoming more common, become more acceptable.” By contrast, behavior that is viewed as abnormal is easily considered weird or deviant, often resulting in ostracism or bullying.

There was a time when LGBTQ behavior would have been seen as abnormal and biblical morality as normal. Now, after decades of strategic cultural normalizing of the former and condemnation of the latter, the script has flipped.

As a result, it is more urgent than ever before in American history that Christians normalize biblical values for their fellow Christians.

Dr. John Newport, my major professor in my philosophy of religion doctoral studies, often emphasized the importance of “immersing” people in the biblical worldview. He reminded us that churches see their members for a few hours a week at best; schools and society influence them for the rest of the week.

To counter the secularizing forces constantly at work, we must be deliberate and strategic about helping Christians think “Christianly.” In biblical terms, we must “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5, my emphases).

“The Lord added to their number”

In other words, the best way to fight the culture wars is first to focus on Jesus.

In John 15, Jesus taught us, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (v. 1). As a result, he urged us, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (v. 4). The consequences of this decision are enormous: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (v. 5, my emphasis).

Do we truly believe this? Do we truly believe that apart from “abiding” in Christ we can do “nothing” of true significance?

If Christians do, we will “abide” in Christ every moment of every day. As a result, we will refuse sin and worldliness. We will worship and study Scripture with passion. Our lives will be marked by spiritual disciplines and intimacy with Jesus.

Consequently, we will share God’s word out of the overflow of God’s Spirit in our lives. We will do evangelism because Jesus will be making us fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). We will demonstrate the “fruit of the Spirit” in our personal character and public witness (Galatians 5:22–23). We will operate in the gifts of the Spirit (for more, see Dr. Ryan Denison’s new book, What Are My Spiritual Gifts?).

Our churches will be marked by unity and compassion (Acts 2:42–47a). We will be transforming change agents in a culture desperate for the “salt” and “light” of God’s word and love (Matthew 5:13–16).

And what was true of the early church will be true of us: “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47b).

The gospel in action

In the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona’s destruction in Puerto Rico, evangelical ministries Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Blessing, and World Vision are partnering to deliver emergency relief supplies across the island. Shelter tarps, water filtration units, portable family water containers, tablets for purifying water, cleaning buckets, clothes, blankets, tents, and fans are among the items being supplied.

Each of these ministries embraces biblical sexual morality. Each would therefore be condemned as homophobic by secular critics.

But ask the thousands of people in Puerto Rico being served by their compassion if they are modeling a faith worth following.

How will you follow their example today?

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Tropical Storm Ian is expected to become Hurricane Ian today and is moving toward Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for the entire state. After the devastation left by Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean and Atlantic Canada, it is wise to be prepared today for the crisis that may come tomorrow.

Case in point: as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses forward on annexing occupied regions of Ukraine, experts are warning that the threat of nuclear weapons is rising if Putin feels “cornered.” Putin confirmed this threat himself when he stated in a national address that he would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons to protect what he claims to be Russian territory, which in his view will soon include areas that are part of the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview yesterday that this threat “could be a reality.” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the US will “respond decisively” if Putin moves to use such weapons.

Putin is likely to be feeling more “cornered” today than ever before. Russian police have arrested hundreds of people protesting Putin’s “partial mobilization” order conscripting three hundred thousand reservists into active duty. Many are fleeing the country, suspecting that this is just the first wave of call-ups. In addition, the Associated Press reports that “the tide of international opinion appears to be decisively shifting against Russia.”

Why, in the face of such opposition at home and abroad, is Putin continuing on this path? Is his threat of nuclear weapons real or is it a bluff? The answer is relevant not just for world peace but for our culture and for our souls.

Two illuminating articles

Dr. Marlene Laruelle is an international affairs professor at George Washington University and author of the book Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields. In a recent New York Times guest essay, she explains the crisis in Russia in terms I’ve not seen elsewhere.

We have been hearing about Russians protesting the war from the beginning. But Dr. Laruelle says there is a “party of war” made up of the security agencies, the Defense Ministry, and outspoken media and political figures that has been “mounting a sustained critique of the Kremlin’s handling of the war” for a very different reason. In short, “they want a much more aggressive war effort.” Recent military reversals have played into their hands.

In her view, their loud and growing insistence that Putin increase the war effort is behind his announced mobilization, forced annexation, and threat of nuclear escalation. If he loses their support, his regime, which is founded on his tsarist metanarrative of rebuilding “Mother Russia,” may founder as well.

With regard to this metanarrative, we should consider a warning from Dr. Stephen Kotkin, a history scholar at Princeton and Stanford and author of a recent Foreign Affairs article, “The Cold War Never Ended.” Dr. Kotkin writes: “Many Russians view their country as a providential power, with a distinct civilization and a special mission in the world, but Russia’s capabilities do not match its aspirations, and so its rulers resort, time and again, to a hyperconcentration of power in the state in a coercive effort to close the yawning gap with the West.

“But the drive for a strong state does not work, invariably devolving into personalist rule. The combination of weakness and grandeur, in turn, drives the autocrat to exacerbate the very problem that facilitated his appearance.”

In Dr. Kotkin’s view, this “Cold War” metanarrative will persist “until Russian rulers make the strategic choice to abandon the impossible quest to become a great-power equal of the West and choose instead to live alongside it and focus on Russia’s internal development.” However, if Dr. Laruelle is right, abandoning such a quest could cost Putin his position and even more.

The importance of perspective

I had seen Putin’s previous references to nuclear weapons as a bluff intended to remind the world that Russia is in fact a nuclear power. In light of these articles, however, such confidence may be misplaced. If Putin truly believes that his regime and his future are at stake, it’s hard to be sure he would not do whatever he believes it takes to protect them.

Laruelle and Kotkin illustrate the crucial importance of perspective: seeking to understand not just actions but motives and working to discern the worldview we do not see that forges the world we do.

This quest for discernment is vital not just for geopolitics but for Christian engagement with our lost culture. If we don’t understand why lost people do what lost people do, we will not effectively persuade them to follow Christ. They will dismiss us as judgmental and even dangerous to their secularized society.

Two transforming words

The good news is that Jesus knows our hearts (John 2:25) and thoughts (Matthew 9:4). His Spirit is working right now to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). He will “guide you into all the truth” (v. 13) to the glory of Jesus (v. 14).

So, know this: God will lead you to change hearts and history if you are willing to be led.

No one is beyond the reach of Christian intercession, witness, and compassion. You can engage others with confidence, knowing that the Spirit is preparing today the people he wants you to influence tomorrow. And you can pray with confidence, knowing that Jesus is interceding for you (Romans 8:34) as the Spirit intercedes within you (Romans 8:26) right now.

Let’s join them. Ask the Spirit to lead you as you pray for:

• Vladimir Putin to repent of his nuclear threat and murderous aggression in Ukraine.
• Christian leaders in Russia to be salt and light with their leaders and in their culture.
• God’s wisdom for world leaders as they confront the threat of nuclear escalation.
• Protection for Ukraine’s leaders, soldiers, and people.
• God to redeem this crisis by bringing spiritual awakening to Russia and Ukraine.

Samuel’s prayer was the key to his transformative life: “Speak, Lᴏʀᴅ. I am your servant and I am listening” (1 Samuel 3:10 NCV). From his example, I am learning to pray two transforming words in every circumstance, opportunity, and challenge: Speak, Lord. And I am learning that God does in fact speak to our minds, our hearts, and our circumstances if we are willing to listen.

Would you say these two words to God from your heart right now?

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