“I’m optimistic that collectively, we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine.” This was how President Donald Trump, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders yesterday, expressed his belief that a way can be found to end the war.

While the leaders were gathered at the White House, Mr. Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin arrangements for a meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky, to be followed by a trilateral summit including himself.

In other news, we learned yesterday that Hamas has accepted an updated proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza. Sources say the proposal is a partial deal for a sixty-day ceasefire, the release of ten live hostages, eighteen deceased hostages, and the release of Palestinian prisoners. This is reportedly part of a last-ditch effort to reach a deal and avoid a major new Israeli offensive to occupy Gaza City. Several Hebrew media reports said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would examine the proposal.

The news comes after more than two hundred thousand Israelis took to the streets demanding that Mr. Netanyahu not launch a new offensive and instead sign a deal. It was the largest such demonstration since the beginning of the war.

14,513 wars over 5,500 years

Both stories point to a common denominator: our inability to resolve human conflict through human agency.

We can resolve specific conflicts, of course, as demonstrated by peace treaties that end wars. But we cannot resolve human conflict itself. From Cain and Abel to today, murder and violence are part of our story. From Isaac and Ishmael to today, conflicts between Jews and Arabs have persisted.

It has been estimated that in the last 5,500 years, there have been 14,513 wars in which approximately 2,640,000,000 people were killed. As of 2024, there were approximately thirty active armed conflicts worldwide.

Let’s step closer to home: What conflicts are you facing today? What relational issues exist in your marriage, family, friendships, school, or work?

At this point, you might expect me to point to religion as the answer to the question.

I intend to do the opposite.

“I really have to slow down”

In Democracy Needs Religion, German sociologist Hartmut Rosa writes:

Often, when speaking to a large audience, I’ll ask a question that might be of some interest here as well: How many of you sometimes say to yourselves, or have at least recently thought something like, “I really have to slow down a little next year” or “I have to reduce some of my responsibilities, or else I’ll suffer from burnout” or “I’m in danger of burning out”?

When I ask this question, it almost always happens that nearly everyone in the room raises a hand. This has been the case regardless of whether I’m speaking to students, professionals, or even to retirees. The sense that “things can’t carry on in this way” has become a culturally dominant feeling.

His prescription is for us to turn to religion, which he characterizes as having the ability to transport us from ourselves into “resonance” with others and our larger world. Rosa emphatically does not specify Christianity or any other particular religion, pointing instead to religiosity and religious rites and rituals regardless of their specific referent or content.

I have no doubt that his brilliant exposition of religiosity’s capacity for such resonance is correct. When we pray to anything or anyone, we are obviously focusing beyond ourselves. When we sing worship songs or participate in other religious activities, we are thinking about the object of our focus and those with whom we share it.

Here’s my question: Since the vast majority of the planet’s population is religious, why does conflict persist?

Spiritual tetanus shots

My doctor recently told me I may need to get a tetanus shot, depending on when I was last vaccinated. This inoculation uses a toxoid, a weakened version of the toxin released by the bacteria that cause tetanus. The toxoid creates an immune response that protects me if I’m exposed to the actual bacteria in the future.

In other words, the shot will give me enough of the disease to keep me from getting the real thing.

To my point: If we seek to be religious in the amorphous sense Hartmut Rosa prescribes, we might experience resonance with the world beyond ourselves. But nothing really changes. We are spiritually “inoculated” in a way that keeps us from experiencing the transformation we need most.

Jesus diagnosed the human condition this way:

From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person (Mark 7:21–23).

Billy Graham commented on Jesus’ assessment:

The basic problem is in our hearts—and the reason is because we are alienated from our Creator. Instead of giving God his rightful place at the center of our lives, we have substituted the “god” of Self. Only Christ can change our hearts—and through us begin to change our world.

Questions I must often ask myself

You already knew that religion is no substitute for a genuine relationship with Jesus and that conflict with others can only truly be resolved by the transformation Christ alone can bring to our fallen hearts. As the axiom goes: Know God, know peace; no God, no peace.

But if you’re like me, you’re nonetheless tempted to substitute religion about Christ for an intimate relationship with him. You’re tempted to “check the box” of Bible study, prayer, and even reading articles like this one as religious acts done in the hope of divine favor in response. I’m just as tempted by religiosity as you are.

So, let me ask you what I must often ask myself:

• When last did you spend time with God for no reason except to be with him?
• When last did you read the Bible for no reason except to hear his voice?
• When last did you spend even ten minutes in silence listening to his Spirit?
• When last did you tell your Father from your heart that you love him?

Why not today?

Quote for the day:

“It is dangerous to be so busy that you have no time to wait on God.” —A. W. Tozer

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Denison Forum

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

The story of Scripture is the story of God’s power at work through God’s people. Seldom have we been a majority in any nation or culture. Whether it was kings or prophets, fishermen or tax collectors, former Pharisees or imprisoned apostles, God’s Spirit has used his people as salt and light in ways that changed the course of history.

Jesus taught his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matthew 13:31–32).

The mustard seed is the “smallest of all seeds” used in Jesus’ day (about the size of a period at the end of a sentence today). Would anyone believe that a tree some ten feet tall could grow from it? But the farmer has faith. He plants it, waters it, and waits for it. It takes time, several years, in fact.

Eventually, that tiny seed becomes a tree so large that birds come from all over to settle on its branches. They eat some of the seeds it produces. And that tree multiplies itself until it makes more and more trees—all from one seed so small you must strain even to see it in your hand.

That, says Jesus, is how God builds his kingdom on earth. Here we have the mustard-seed movement: God uses anything we entrust to him to do more than we ever imagined he would. If only we believe he can.

The mustard-seed movement in Scripture

Let’s examine the mustard-seed movement in Scripture:

• Noah worked for one hundred years by himself to build an Ark to save the human race when it had never rained before.
• Moses stood before Pharaoh with nothing more than a rod in his hand and God’s call in his heart.
• David fought the mighty Goliath with a slingshot.
• Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel spoke divine revelation with effect all out of proportion to their social status.

One of the most remarkable Old Testament examples of the mustard-seed movement is the story of Gideon at the Spring of Harod. I have led more than thirty study tour groups to this spot, one of my favorite sites in all of Israel.

The Midianites were the enemy of the Jewish people and an indestructible army: “They would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in” (Judges 6:5). Yet God called Gideon to march against them, his thirty-two thousand foot soldiers against their vast army (Judges 7:3).

Then God said, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained” (vv. 2–3).

Then he told Gideon:

“The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lᴏʀᴅ said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water” (vv. 4–6).

Now “the Lᴏʀᴅ said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.’ So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley” (vv. 7–8).

With these three hundred, each bearing a trumpet and a torch, they went to battle. And this was the result:

Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lᴏʀᴅ and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lᴏʀᴅ set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath (vv. 19–22).

The New Testament demonstrates the same pattern. Jesus told us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13–16). It doesn’t take much salt to change the flavor of food or much light to shine in the dark. You can think of examples immediately:

• Peter, the fisherman who failed his Lord before preaching the Pentecost sermon
• Paul, the Pharisee who persecuted Christians before taking the gospel across the Empire
• John, exiled on Patmos where he received the Revelation for the world

The first-century church had no strategy for political power or cultural engagement. They simply went where they went as the people of God, and, by Acts 17:6, they had “turned the world upside down.”

And the same model has worked throughout Christian history:

• Martin Luther was an unknown German monk when he nailed his 95 Theses on the community bulletin board and sparked the Protestant Reformation.
• William Wilberforce read a relatively unknown book by Thomas Clarkson about the horrors of the slave trade and then worked to abolish it.
• And each of the Great Awakenings of the last three hundred years, even when led by well-known preachers, was fueled by the prayers and support of countless anonymous Christians who chose to embrace God’s call for their lives.

In short, God has always chosen to rely on the faithfulness of his people to advance his kingdom and help people to know him. And now it’s our turn.

So what would that look like in our culture today?

Denison Forum

President Trump’s meeting today with Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to dominate headlines. By the end of the day, we should have a better grasp on whether the talks will prove to be a helpful step on the path toward peace, a waste of time, or somewhere in between. However, as of this morning, any attempt to say what that outcome will be is, at best, an educated guess.

Over the course of this week, Dr. Jim Denison has written extensively on the meeting, what each nation may want from the negotiations, and why Putin appears to be so obsessed with Ukraine. Honestly, until the talks conclude, there’s really not much I could add to this discussion. As such, I’d like to focus today on a subject that is far less important to the future of our world but, perhaps, of even greater significance to the state of our culture: KPop Demon Hunters.

Now, if that statement seems hyperbolic, I understand. However, the animated film has already become one of Netflix’s most-watched offerings with over 184 million views in less than two months. The soundtrack that fuels much of the movie’s plot currently has three songs in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, with “Golden” taking the top spot. That achievement marks the first time a female group has topped the chart since Destiny’s Child back in 2001. The movie has even earned a limited theatrical release later this month, which Netflix designed to be a “sing-along” event.

As the parent of children who will inevitably ask to attend said sing-along, this is not good news. However, the reason may be different from what you would expect.

Is “KPop Demon Hunters” worth seeing?

When my family first saw the film advertised, our initial response was to scroll by without giving it a second thought. After all, a kids’ movie about demon hunters was not high on my list of ways to spend our time together. But when some friends from church told us a bit more about the film, we decided to give it a shot.

The story revolves around a group of three girls who use magical powers to slay demons while maintaining a barrier between their world and the underworld by inspiring people with their singing. Everything is going well until the demon overlord sends a demonic boy band to steal their fans and destroy the barrier. It’s a strange premise, to be sure, and I don’t blame you if you read that and have zero interest in seeing the film.

However, we all really enjoyed it. The central themes of owning your flaws and finding strength in community were solid and biblical, even if the makers of the film did not intend to highlight Christian concepts. While there were some conversations we had to have with our kids once it was done—more on that in a minute—overall, it felt like a solid use of our time, and I can understand why it has grown so popular.

Unfortunately, not every reason the film resonates with people is a cause for celebration. And its popularity reveals an important truth about the state of our culture and a threat we cannot afford to overlook.

A discussion about demons

As Isabel Ong writes for Christianity Today, “I am intrigued by our modern-day penchant for making monsters and demons safe—or cute or attractive or morally ambiguous—and how this might be creating a sense of spiritual ambivalence.”

Ong goes on to describe how our culture has largely lost its taste for battles between clearly defined good and evil. Instead, we often prefer a nebulous middle ground where characters have the potential for both and are free to decide on their own course.

She concludes that such moral ambiguity places us “at the center of every battle between good and evil. The narrative du jour is how a human, demon, or half-demon can successfully overcome the darkness within by their own strength. . . Mastery of the self is the pinnacle of achievement.”

This desire to see good in everyone while recognizing our own capacity for evil is not wrong. Every day presents us with the chance to choose God or to choose sin, and we are ultimately the ones responsible for that decision.

The problem arises when we forget that true good and evil exist, and the threat posed by the latter should not be underestimated.

Satan often prefers to stay in the background of our culture, feeding our fallen natures in ways that accomplish his purposes in a more subtle manner. As such, there aren’t a lot of chances to bring up the reality of Satan and his demons in a way that doesn’t feel forced.

That distinction between the fictional demons in the film and the real demons that Scripture describes is one of the conversations I alluded to before, and I was genuinely grateful for the way the film provided an organic opportunity to discuss that topic with my kids. However, the story’s central theme brings up a much more difficult discussion as well; one that is relevant to every one of us today.

How does your past define you?

As I mentioned before, one of the main themes in KPop Demon Hunters is the need to own our flaws if we’re going to find the strength to move past them. As with many things in our culture, that notion gets you most of the way to the truth before stopping just before the most essential part.

You see, a core characteristic of the gospel message is that we will never know God’s peace and joy if we are haunted by our sin. Trying to hide our past or act as though we can move past our mistakes without bringing them into the light is both unbiblical and ineffective. Insofar as the film points to that truth, it echoes God’s truth.

However, the gospel calls us to take the additional step of presenting our past to the Lord, repenting of our sins, and ultimately placing our trust in him rather than in ourselves to save us. That last part is often the hardest, even for Christians.

All of us have things we wish were different about ourselves; points of weakness or insecurity that Satan is adept at using to create cracks in our relationship with God. In such moments, the answer is not to simply embrace them as part of who we are but, rather, to remember that they pale in comparison to the identity available to us in Christ.

There is a freedom and joy in our relationship with God that is available nowhere else. We can find traces of it through friends and family or seek substitutes through work and performance, but true peace is and always will be found in Jesus alone.

Have you found that peace today?

Quote of the day:

“The true wonder of human beings is not that we are sinners, but that even in our sin we are haunted by goodness, that even in the mud we can never wholly forget the stars.” —William Barclay

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Denison Forum