People are talking today about the new Apple iPhone, congressional debates over legislation to battle Zika, and Gretchen Carlson’s $20 million settlement with Fox. But the news that most caught my eye this morning has to do with a movie that won’t be in theaters for two more months.

Hacksaw Ridge is Mel Gibson’s new film. It tells the true story of Desmond Doss, a World War II army medic who refused to bear arms but received the Medal of Honor after he saved dozens of his fellow soldiers. The movie was shown at the Venice International Film Festival last Saturday. According to USA Today, the audience gave Gibson a ten-minute standing ovation when the film ended.

It was my privilege to see Hacksaw Ridge at a private showing a few days ago, then participate in a discussion with Gibson. I don’t remember ever being as moved by a movie as I was by his film. Looking back, I can identify three reasons for my response.

Part of my reaction was the realism with which Gibson depicts the violence of the battle scenes. Hacksaw Ridge is a cliff-like formation on the island of Okinawa, Japan. It was the scene of a two-week struggle between US and Japanese soldiers. Gibson told our group that he depicted the war violence with such realism in order to demonstrate the atrocities Doss faced and the courage he displayed.

A second reason for my visceral reaction is the fact that my father, a World War II veteran, fought with the Army in the South Pacific. He would not discuss what he experienced with our family. Like so many veterans, he could not put into words what he went through. I have visited several World War II museums and had a sense of what the Pacific theater was like, but the movie brought home my father’s suffering in a way that moved me deeply. It made me realize again the immeasurable sacrifice so many continue to make in defending our nation and our freedoms around the world.

Continue reading Denison Forum – MEL GIBSON RECEIVES STANDING OVATION FOR NEW FILM →

“We knew our father may not be alive for our future wedding, so we decided to capture the poignant moment before it was lost forever.” This is how Becca Duncan explains the decision she and her twin sister Sarah made to have wedding photos made with their father, even though neither is engaged. Their dad is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, so they staged their wedding pictures with him while they can.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports that basketball great Charles Barkley traveled to Craig Sager’s bedside as the broadcaster recovers from a third bone marrow transplant. Sager is battling aggressive leukemia, and Barkley wanted to show his support. This despite Barkley’s recent hip surgery and his doctor’s warning that he should not yet travel. Sager’s wife had a cold and couldn’t be with him in the hospital, so Barkley flew to Phoenix to take her place.

I often encourage Christians to use our influence for the greatest public good. As our culture becomes increasingly hostile to biblical truth and faith, our courageous public witness becomes increasingly vital. We can learn from the Duncan twins and Charles Barkley—their public actions called attention to dread diseases and gave us compassionate examples to follow.

But there’s another side to the story: those who serve far from the limelight are as important as those who make the news. Heroes who are unsung on earth are applauded in heaven.

In 1 Samuel 9, an unnamed servant led Saul to Samuel, who anointed him the first king of Israel (vv. 5–6). Gideon’s three hundred heroes are unnamed in Scripture, but their actions preserved the nation (Judges 7:6–8).

Paul’s unnamed nephew prevented a plot to murder the apostle (Acts 23:16–22). Without his bravery, Paul would have been killed before writing the books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and 2 Timothy.

Continue reading Denison Forum – TWINS TAKE WEDDING PHOTOS WITH FATHER, WHO HAS ALZHEIMER’S →

It’s been a busy holiday weekend. Here are some of the headlines: the Catholic Church declared Mother Teresa a saint. Hermine is ruining holiday plans on the East Coast. College football has seen a weekend of upsets: Wisconsin beat LSU, Houston won over Oklahoma, and Texas defeated Notre Dame in overtime. Serena Williams won her 307th match in a Grand Slam tournament, the most in the history of women’s tennis. And North Korea fired three ballistic missiles this morning.

Now we’ve come to the most oxymoronically named day of the year. According to the United States Department of Labor, Labor Day “is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

So workers are honored by a day in which we do not work. That’s like a music awards show in which there is no music. The fact that we reward laborers by giving them a day without labor says something important about the way our culture views work.

Many people see work as a means to a better end, a necessity that pays the bills for the things we’d rather be doing. We bifurcate work and the rest of life. Is this how God sees work?

According to the Bible, “God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). “Put” translates a Hebrew word meaning “place, situate, settle down.” This was intended to be his permanent station, not just his temporary location.

God settled Adam in Eden “to work it and keep it.” “Work” translates a word meaning “to cultivate, labor, serve.” “Keep” means “to watch, guard.” The syntax makes clear that this was to be his ongoing lifestyle, not just his occasional activity.

Note that God’s call to work came before the Fall. In the perfect paradise of Eden, men and women were intended to work. This was not just what they did in the Garden—it was their purpose and lifestyle there.

From this fact we can conclude that God’s perfect plan includes a “garden of Eden” for each of us, an assignment we are to “work” and “keep.” We have a calling that makes our lives relevant today and significant eternally. He wants to fill every moment of every day with purpose and fulfillment.

So choose to see your work as your ministry. Know that the division between “clergy” and “laity” is unbiblical. There is no distinction between the “secular” and the “sacred” to the God who made everything and calls it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). The first person you see tomorrow is someone for whom Jesus died. Your work is your service to your Father and your gift to his children.

Labor Day is a great day to make Jesus the Lord of every dimension of your life and ask his Spirit to redeem every hour for God’s glory and our good. Andrew Murray noted, “God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him.”

Will yours be that life?

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According to Vox, the average restaurant meal is four times larger than in the 1950s. Apple will reportedly allow customers to order their new iPhone 7 in the color black. Ikea says that future homes will have vegetable planters lining their kitchen walls, furniture will double as exercise gear, and sensors throughout the house will respond instantly to our actions.

These stories illustrate the first rule of marketing: give the people what they want. Successful businesspeople know that they must connect their products to our interests, needs, and hopes before we will buy what they are selling.

Atheists are learning the same lesson.

Sean McDowell teaches apologetics at Biola University and is the author of over eighteen books. His latest blog post is titled “The New Face of Atheism.” According to Dr. McDowell, this “face” isn’t a person but a movement.

Rather than seeking to eradicate churches, this movement wants to create secular communities alongside them (the growth of atheist churches is an example). It emphasizes relationships and rituals more than rational arguments. While rejecting the truth of Christianity, it focuses more on practical issues than the big questions of life.

These atheists are on to something. Our postmodern culture is convinced that “truth” is personal and subjective. You cannot have a logical debate with someone who doesn’t trust logic. Of course, the claim that there is no such thing as truth is itself a truth claim. Nonetheless, more people than ever are focused on practical issues rather than philosophical arguments. Many atheists are riding the tide of this cultural shift.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A VITAL LESSON CHRISTIANS CAN LEARN FROM ATHEISTS →

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world” (John Milton).

Yesterday was a “transcendent moment of awe” for our family as we welcomed Wesley Noah Denison into the world. Our lives are changed forever by this baby boy. He will never remember the day of his birth, but we will never forget it.

Wesley’s parents are our younger son, Craig, and his wife, Rachel. Craig directs brand strategy for our ministry and writes First15, our daily devotional. Rachel writes for their website, Craig + Rachel Denison, and for http://www.christianparenting.org. Both are remarkable musicians and worship leaders. And both love Jesus as passionately and intimately as anyone I have ever known.

Today they can say with Hannah, “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him” (1 Samuel 2:27). From the moment we knew of Wesley’s conception, our family has prayed diligently for him. Today we are rejoicing in the miracle of his birth with hearts overflowing with gratitude to God.

Carl Sandburg was right: “A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.”

God did not make this little boy because the world needed another human to join the 7.4 billion of us already here. The Lord made Wesley because he wanted another child he could love. As much as we already love this baby, his heavenly Father loves him more. In fact, he loves Wesley as much as he loves his own Son (John 17:26).

We cannot imagine the world Wesley will know. The technological advances, the cultural changes, the geopolitical shifts ahead are all unseen to us and to him. As John F. Kennedy noted, “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – WELCOMING OUR GRANDSON INTO THE WORLD      →

This morning’s ABC News headline caught my eye: “Dog Swims Over 6 Miles to Reunite With Family After Falling Off Boat in Lake Michigan.” The ten-month-old puppy fell overboard, swam to shore, then walked over twelve miles to a campground where she was reunited with her family the next day.

Now consider another story of resilience. Humans have long aspired to go to Mars, but six months of travel and life in claustrophobic conditions make the psychological part of the expedition as daunting as the physical. ICE environments (isolated, confined, and extreme) have long challenged explorers.

That’s why six astronauts spent twelve months in isolation on a simulated Martian plain. The three-woman, three-man crew lived in a dome-shaped habitat on a lava plain on the flank of Mauna Loa in Hawaii. They worked in conditions as close to Martian as science could make them. And they proved that humans are often as resilient as we need to be.

To many Christians, our culture feels more Martian by the day. As a recent article noted, “Many conservative Christians just don’t feel welcome in their own country. They say they are either mocked or erased in popular culture.” One pastor asked, “When was the last time you saw an evangelical or conservative Christian character portrayed positively on TV?”

But God promises, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Scripture enjoins us: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Rather than viewing negative cultural shifts as cause for retreat, let’s use them to strengthen our commitment to serving Jesus. In this context, consider David Brooks’s latest column in The New York Times. In his view, personal strength is a product of personal significance.

Continue reading Denison Forum – TWO AMAZING STORIES OF RESILIENCE     →

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is generating headlines with his refusal to stand during the national anthem at football games. He explained his decision to reporters: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

He later added: “This is because I’m seeing things happen to people that don’t have a voice, people that don’t have a platform to talk and have their voices heard and effect change. So I’m in the position where I can do that and I’m going to do that for people that can’t.” Response from NFL players and fans has been as varied as you’d expect, some voicing support for his position and others protesting vehemently.

Let’s begin with the obvious: Kaepernick has the right to stand or sit when the national anthem is played. He also has the right to express his views on our national challenges regarding racism, violence, and poverty. And it’s tragically clear that America has not yet achieved the racial and economic equality we should all seek for our country.

However, I disagree with the way Kaepernick has expressed his convictions, for two reasons.

One: He is wrong to redefine the meaning of the flag.

Kaepernick claims that the American flag represents justice and that so long as oppression remains, he will sit while the flag is honored. That may be what it means to him, but it’s not what the flag means to the vast majority of Americans.

To most of us, our flag represents freedom and those who have died in its defense. While Kaepernick has expressed his gratitude for the military, he should know that many see his actions as disrespecting the people who have died for our country. The anthem Kaepernick refuses to honor calls America “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” This is the land of the free precisely because it is the home of the brave.

Continue reading Denison Forum – 2 REASONS WHY I DISAGREE WITH COLIN KAEPERNICK              →

The front page of this morning’s Wall Street Journal has a poignant photo: a woman is holding a newborn baby surrounded by life jackets and chaos on a ship. They are among more than 700 migrants rescued yesterday from seven boats in the Mediterranean Sea and transferred to the Italian coast guard.

CNN reports today on another harrowing escape over the weekend. Southwest Airlines Flight 3472, en route from New Orleans to Orlando, was diverted to Pensacola, Florida, after an engine exploded. “It was thanks to that pilot that we’re all alive,” a passenger said after the plane landed safely.

One more story of resilience: according to CNN, a couple was married yesterday amid the rubble of the deadly earthquake in Italy. They had planned to be married in the town church, but part of the building crumbled in the quake that killed at least 291 people. So they moved their wedding to the village square and made a memory the world is sharing today.

When people demonstrate courage in the face of devastating challenges, the culture takes notice. This is especially true when Christians remain faithful in a faithless day. But it’s sometimes hard to trust God for a future outcome that redeems present suffering. So let’s consider this statement by the Apostle Paul: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Nearly every word of this remarkable sentence repays deeper investigation.

“Consider” translates a Greek word meaning “to study all the evidence and reach a verifiable conclusion.” “Suffering” is a term for all hardships, generic enough to include your challenges today. “This present time” uses a Greek word meaning not this hour or moment but this present age.

Continue reading Denison Forum – NEWBORN BABY RESCUED AT SEA         →

“When you have peace and quiet and you’re not concerned with people trying to get your attention, you’re dramatically more effective and can get important work done.” This is how psychologist Josh Davis describes the advantages of starting your day at 4 a.m. He notes that people booby-trap their offices with distractions: desk clutter, email pop-ups, cellphone, Facebook, other social media. However, “by waking up at 4 a.m., they’ve essentially wiped a lot of those distractions off their plate.”

You may not decide to get up at 4 a.m. tomorrow, but you can still choose to live a less cluttered life. Here’s how.

God’s word teaches us to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). One way to do this is to cultivate a soul that listens to God. David testified, “For God alone my soul waits in silence” (Psalm 62:1). As a result, he could say, “Once God has spoken; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God, and to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love” (vs. 11–12).

“God said” appears forty-six times in the Bible. We find this statement first in the third verse of the Bible (Genesis 1:3). The next-to-last verse of Scripture also quotes a direct statement of God (Revelation 22:20). Since neither human nor divine nature have changed, does it seem reasonable that the God who spoke so often in the biblical era would be silent today?

Francis Schaeffer noted that “he is there and he is not silent.” Our culture desperately needs Christians to hear from Christ and speak his word to our world.

According to The Atlantic, a major reason more people don’t go to church is that they don’t trust religious institutions. If they knew they would receive a genuine word from God, it seems they would be more interested in attending.

Continue reading Denison Forum – THE MOST POWERFUL WAY TO UNCLUTTER YOUR LIFE →

The Washington Post reports that last night’s 6.2-magnitude earthquake has killed at least thirty-eight people in central Italy. Today’s New York Times has a heartbreaking story on the effects of Zika on the brains of Brazilian babies.

In the midst of all the bad news, I was excited to read some amazingly good news today.

American runner Abbey D’Agostino became famous for helping fellow runner Nikki Hamblin after both were tripped during a race at the Rio Olympics. Abbey was severely injured but finished the race. Now she and Hamblin are the eighteenth and nineteenth recipients of the Pierre de Coubertin medal. It is not awarded at every Olympic Games. Rather, it is reserved for the most exceptional displays of sportsmanship and the Olympic spirit.

Abbey explained her behavior during the race as an expression of her faith, and the world took note. There’s something in us that responds to the God who made us.

I recently reread Alister McGrath’s A Cloud of Witnesses, which profiles some of the greatest theologians in history. His chapter on Martin Luther contains the great reformer’s insight that we should trust God’s promises over our experience. McGrath describes Luther’s conviction: “God promises to be present with us, even in life’s darkest hours—and if experience cannot detect him as being present, then that verdict of experience must be considered unreliable.”

The theologians McGrath surveys all agree on this central principle: Jesus is God, and he is real. He is a Person who is as alive and present in our world by his Spirit as he was in his flesh. He prays for us (Romans 8:34) and welcomes our prayers. He teaches us through the Spirit (John 16:14–15). He protects us on earth (John 10:28–29) while he is preparing our reward in heaven (John 14:2). One day he will come to take us from this fallen planet into God’s perfect paradise (v. 3).

Continue reading Denison Forum – AMERICAN EARNS OLYMPIC AWARD ONLY 17 HAVE RECEIVED →

Ben-Hur opened in theaters last Friday. You probably know that the plot involves a chariot race and may wonder why you need to know more. You likely have not heard of any of the actors apart from Morgan Freeman. The film has generally not received positive reviews from critics.

So, why do you need to see the movie?

Let’s begin with some cultural snapshots. Only 35 percent of Americans believe that absolute moral truth even exists. As a result, we’re told that we should tolerate all behaviors that do not harm us personally. Of course, such tolerance does not extend to those who do believe in moral truth.

For instance, this morning’s Wall Street Journal reports that the Zika virus is renewing the debate over late-term abortions. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said earlier this month that he opposed abortion for pregnant women infected with the virus. Pro-abortion advocates rebuked and ridiculed him, calling his position “outrageous.”

Maj. Steve Lewis is an officer at Colorado’s Peterson Air Force Base. He was recently forced to remove an open Bible on his desk after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation protested against his “around-the-clock Christian Bible Shrine.”

In a culture that rejects objective morality, we should not be surprised that our culture is becoming less moral all the time. CNN reports that Huntington, West Virginia has seen twenty-seven heroin overdoses in four hours this morning. Today’s New York Times has a review of Frank Ocean’s latest musical album and recent photography, noting that “sexual fluidity and ambiguity play key parts in the new projects” and that his magazine is filled with nudity.

In a culture which rejects moral truth, we can choose to be silent and let society reap what it sows. We can choose to be belligerent with our witness. Or we can find creative and persuasive ways to share God’s love.

My wife and I saw Ben-Hur Friday and were very impressed with the script, acting, and production. We were not surprised that Roma Downey and Mark Burnett helped produce the film. Having visited the Holy Land more than twenty times, I can tell you that Ben-Hur captures well the topography and culture of the New Testament era.

Here’s why I think critics have generally not been positive, and why it’s important that Christians see the movie: its underlying theme is reconciliation with God and with each other. And our conflicted and deceived culture needs that message more than it knows.

Critics who are callous to the gospel are not likely to welcome another film that presents the good news, even though the movie’s message is both subtle and realistic. As Paul observed, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

That’s why it’s so important that believers find every way we can to share the good news effectively with our hopeless world. If they will not come to us, we must go to them. Mark Burnett and Roma Downey used their platform to show how God’s love can heal shattered lives and relationships. Their work is a clarion call for Christians to use our influence to do the same.

Lost people deserve to know the good news of God’s transforming love. “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10:14).

How, indeed?

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Two American Olympic swimmers are on their way home this morning from Rio de Janeiro. The lawyer for a third US swimmer says he will make a $10,800 payment and leave Brazil later in the day. Authorities have determined that Ryan Lochte and the group were not robbed as he had claimed. The US Olympic Committee apologized last night for this “distracting ordeal.”

This is not the only distraction marring the Games. A member of the British team says he was robbed at gunpoint earlier this week. Before the Olympics began, a New Zealand athlete says he was kidnapped by Brazilian police and forced to withdraw $800 from his bank account.

Some 450,000 condoms were allocated for the 10,000 Olympic athletes, more than three times as many as for the 2012 London Games. It seems that Olympic officials expected the athletes to have an average of forty-five sexual encounters during the sixteen days of the Games, or three per day.

In the midst of such bad news, Abbey D’Agostino continues to share good news. The best news, in fact.

D’Agostino made global headlines this week when she fell over New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin, then helped her finish their 5,000-meter race. It turns out her fall will cost her the chance to run in today’s final. She tore a ligament and the meniscus in her right knee and strained another ligament as well.

How did she have the fortitude to get up and help Hamblin get up so they could finish the race together? She told USA Track & Field, “Although my actions were instinctual at that moment, the only way I can and have rationalized it is that God prepared my heart to respond that way. This whole time here he’s made clear to me that my experience in Rio was going to be about more than my race performance—and as soon as Nikki got up I knew that was it.”

Her testimony is all the more remarkable since she shared it on a secular media platform. She is a terrific example of what James Davison Hunter calls “manifesting faithful presence.” Be salt and light where you are, as you are, and the Holy Spirit will use your influence for Kingdom good.

An overlooked teaching of Scripture is that God’s people will reign with him in eternity. Jesus promised, “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21; see 5:10; 20:6). In his classic work, Biblical Basis of Missions, Avery Willis comments: “If we are to reign with Christ in the coming kingdom, we must serve during its rise to power.” Then he suggests: “Make a list of the things that you feel you should be doing during the remaining time God has allotted you on earth.”

What is on your list?

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Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi noted, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”

When New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin fell in the women’s 5,000-meter run Tuesday morning, American runner Abbey D’Agostino tripped over her and fell to the ground as well. Hamblin lay on the ground until she felt D’Agostino’s hand on her shoulder. “Get up, get up! We have to finish!” Agostino said to her. “This is the Olympic Games. We have to finish this.”

The two finished last and next to last, but both will advance to Friday’s final because they were tripped. Hamblin told reporters, “I am so grateful to Abbey for helping me. That girl was the Olympic spirit right there. I am so impressed and inspired by that.”

Christians need more of the “Olympic spirit” these days.

The Washington Post reports that abortion advocates are becoming more proactive than ever. As Planned Parenthood’s president Cecile Richards says, “We need to challenge or repeal every single restriction that’s out there.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is expected to finalize regulations next month that would allow people to stay in homeless shelters based on their identified gender. The move pits LGBT groups against religious organizations that operate many of these shelters.

It also raises the question of security for shelter guests. John Ashmen, president of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, notes: “One of the guests at a rescue mission overheard someone on the street saying, ‘Dude, if you go down to the rescue mission and tell them you’re transgender, you can sleep in the women’s dorm and even shower with them.'”

Here’s a metaphor for our times: a fascinating article in The New York Times Magazine reports that Michelangelo’s David has cracks in his ankles. If the statue is tilted even fifteen degrees, perhaps by an earthquake, it will likely collapse. Since there were 250 earthquakes in the Florence countryside just in December 2014, this is a very real danger.

Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘WE HAVE TO FINISH! THIS IS THE OLYMPIC GAMES’ →

Yu Jie grew up in China, where his father was an engineer and Communist Party member. Yu’s wife became a Christian in 2001 and was baptized. She then began a small Bible study in their home. Two years later, Yu came to faith in Christ and was baptized on Christmas Eve.

On December 10, 2010, he was kidnapped by the secret police and taken to the outskirts of Beijing. There he was beaten and tortured for hours. His fingers were broken one by one. For days his wife was under house arrest and did not know if he was alive or dead. God spared his life because he had greater plans for him.

On January 11, 2012, Yu and his family were led out of China to Washington, DC, where he writes on behalf of the oppressed Chinese people. He is now the best-selling author of more than thirty books and has been awarded the Civil Courage Prize by the Train Foundation. He was the first Chinese person to win the award.

Writing for the latest edition of First Things, Yu explains the astounding rise of Christianity in China. When the Community Party came to power in 1949, Chinese Christians numbered half a million. Now they are estimated conservatively to number more than sixty million. If current trends continue, by 2030 China will be the largest Christian nation in the world.

What explains this remarkable growth?

According to Yu, the Cultural Revolution that began in 1966 and the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 led to the deaths of countless innocent people. As a result, “The people’s belief in Marxism-Leninism and Maoism was destroyed.” In Yu’s estimation, “These events opened up a great spiritual void, and the Chinese began searching for a new faith.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘LORD, IF YOU TAKE ME, MAKE ME A MARTYR’ →

Ryan Lochte and three other US Olympic swimmers were robbed at gunpoint yesterday morning. The criminals posed as police officers, pulled them over in their taxi, pointed their guns at them, and stole their wallets, cell phones, and Olympic credentials.

Meanwhile, a man in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is charged with stabbing his father during Sunday worship services. We don’t yet know the father’s status or why he was attacked.

But we know this: misused freedom is a daily reality on this fallen planet. From Adam and Eve to today’s headlines, humans abuse the freedom God intends us to use to love him and each other (Matthew 22:37–39). And innocent people usually pay the price.

The good news is that when innocent Christians suffer faithfully, God uses our witness in ways we cannot imagine this side of glory. For instance, as Stephen was being stoned to death, “the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul” (Acts 7:58). This “young man” was Saul of Tarsus, better known as Paul the Apostle.

Why did Luke, the writer of Acts, insert Paul into the narrative? Luke was Paul’s personal physician. It seems likely that he knew Paul had participated in Stephen’s martyrdom because Paul told him. And it seems likely that Luke included this fact in the story because of the impression it made on Paul.

For the young Pharisee to watch Stephen die so courageously and graciously, praying that God would forgive the very people who were murdering him (v. 60), must have been dramatically powerful. Stephen’s witness was so impactful that it’s been said, “No Stephen, no Paul.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – RYAN LOCHTE, 3 OTHER SWIMMERS ROBBED IN RIO →

It was an amazing day for the US at the Rio Olympics. Michael Phelps won his fourth gold medal, his twenty-second in his career. Simone Biles won the all-around gold in women’s gymnastics. And Simone Manuel became the first African-American swimmer to win gold.

We can always use some good news. That’s why I’ve just published a new booklet, Half-full or Hopeful? Five reasons for optimism in a pessimistic day, which I hope you’ll order from our website.

But this morning I must tell you about a story that seems too appalling to be true, but it is. According to USA Today, a mother in New Mexico gave her son up for adoption when he was a baby. He is now nineteen years old. They found each other on Facebook last year and began a sexual relationship.

They have been arrested for incest and now want to bring attention to something called “Genetic Sexual Attraction,” defined as “intense sexual desire that can arise between genetically related people who are united in Adulthood, after having been denied the opportunity to form proper emotional bonds.” Advocates want to “eliminate the irresponsible stigma associated with such relationships.”

You and I live in a culture which no longer has the tools necessary to determine right from wrong. We read stories daily about increasing acceptance of same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, and cohabitation. Across the moral spectrum it seems America is becoming less biblical than ever before.

That’s why, more than ever before, it is critical that the church be the church. Before we can counter unbiblical cultural trends, we must first recognize that they are unbiblical. Then we must decide that the Bible is right, no matter how unpopular its teachings might be today.

Continue reading Denison Forum – THE MOST ASTONISHING STORY I’VE SEEN LATELY →

California State Senator Ricardo Lara proposed a bill earlier this summer that would threaten the religious liberty of all religious schools in the state that are not seminaries. It would require that such schools not “discriminate” against LGBT students or lose federal funding. As Biola University warned, the bill “functionally eliminates the religious liberty of all California faith-based colleges and universities who integrate spiritual life with the entire campus educational experience.”

Religious schools across the state flooded the senate committee with complaints. Christianity Today notes that the bill could have barred standards of belief and conduct for faculty and could have prevented colleges from giving preferential admission to students in its denomination or faith.

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission called the legislation “its own form of discrimination by stigmatizing and coercively punishing religious beliefs.” The National Association of Evangelicals stated that protecting one minority community does not require the alienation of others. The senate committee noted that “the probability of litigation against the state appears fairly high.”

Yesterday, Sen. Lara announced that he was amending his controversial bill to keep religious exemptions in place. His bill would still require schools to “disclose if they have an exemption and report to the state when students are expelled for violating morality codes.” But it does not threaten federal funding for religious schools or require them to amend their morality standards.

This is good news. But there’s bad news on the religious liberty front as well.

Continue reading Denison Forum – BILL THREATENING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY HAS BEEN DROPPED →