I’m not sure what’s more surprising: what happens every day in the news or the wild temperature fluctuations in Texas. We were at -2° a week ago; we were at 82° a few days ago.

What I do know is that I prefer the latter over the former.

As for this week’s surprising news:

On Monday, as we Texans thawed out, Dr. Denison covered the generosity of athletes like Dak Prescott and celebrities like Matthew McConaughey who donated millions to help Texans in need.

On Tuesday, we witnessed the ingenuity of the criminal mind, as US Customs and Border Patrol seized a forty-four-pound shipment of cocaine-covered corn flakes.

On Wednesday, we awoke to the shocking news that Tiger Woods had suffered serious injuries in a single-vehicle wreck.

On Thursday, Dr. Denison considered the fact that Ryan T. Anderson’s book on the transgender issue can’t be found on Amazon—but works like Mein Kampf and The Unabomber Manifesto can be.

Finally, on Friday, the chocolate company Cadbury has released a commercial featuring a same-sex kiss, and many are calling for its removal. And this is occurring as the US House of Representatives just adopted the Equality Act, which, if it passes the Senate and becomes law, there will be no recourse to religious liberty.

No matter the news of the day or the temperature of the moment, I’m grateful that at least one certainty is always true: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

When the world has you stressed, lean into that fact.

1. S. Grab your copy of our latest bookwhile you still can.

Hear Dr. Denison

Dr. Denison is routinely interviewed on radio shows and podcasts. Here’s where you can hear him from this past week:

• 25 (Hour 1): Dr. Denison discusses the Equality Acton Crosswalk with Gino Geraci
• 22: On Media Censorship, Point of View with Kerby Anderson

As always, you can find Dr. Denison’s archive of interviews here.

What you may have missed

Ryan Denison asks a question we hope won’t incite you: “Why do so many people today seem to be in the business of making people angry?” A new study shows that angry people are easier to deceive.

Steve Yount offered a brief review of Jon Meacham’s book on John Lewis, calling it an “inspiring biography of one of the icons of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Are you “in the book”? Minni Elkins considers an old saying that still matters today.

Notable Quotables

• “The most powerful witness is not the person who has never fallen but the person who is empowered to get back up. That is the person other fallen people see and seek to emulate.” — Jim Denison
• “There are countless things in this world about which we have every right to be angry. If we want to actually make things better, though, anger cannot be the prism through which we approach our decisions. God has called us and equipped us to be better than that.” —Ryan Denison
• “What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” — C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Parting thought

Here’s a sneak peek at our next “What does the Bible say about?” article. Only click if you feel lucky.

Denison Forum

Richard Cadbury created the first-ever heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day in 1861. He and his family were deeply committed to their Christian faith. Morning prayers and daily Bible readings were conducted for their entire workforce. They used their influence and resources to serve those in need.

That was then; this is now.

The company, which was sold to Kraft Foods in 2010, dropped the word Easter from its annual Easter Egg Trail event in 2017. Now they have released a commercial including a same-sex kiss. The group CitizenGo describes the ad as “a highly-charged sexually provocative act.”

If you’re not shocked by this news, your reaction makes my point.

Church raises $2 million to provide counseling services 

In an ever more secularized society, it is urgent that Christians redouble our commitment to the personal integrity that enables our public witness. As I noted yesterday, sin always affects more than the sinner. To stand publicly for Jesus, we must first spend time privately with Jesus.

The converse, however, is true: when we meet Jesus in person, we will stand for him in public.

John Baker experienced Jesus in a way that “transformed him from a driven businessman with an addiction to alcohol, a failing marriage, and alienated children to a Christ-follower with a passion to help others with their ‘hurts, habits, and hangups’ through the principles of recovery.” This is how Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church, described Baker, the founder of Celebrate Recovery, a biblical twelve-step program used by more than seven million people.

Baker died unexpectedly this week at the age of seventy-two, but not before God used his personal transformation to offer hope to the world.

In response to the psychological impact of the pandemic, an Arizona megachurch raised nearly $2 million to help people receive counseling services. In a similar response to the pandemic’s economic impact, a megachurch in Florida recently paid off approximately $38,000 in lunch debts for students in two local public schools.

Such commitments transcend even the enormous impact they make on those they serve by showing our skeptical culture the practical and redemptive difference our faith makes in the world.

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and this cultural moment 

We have focused this week on the character and commitment required to stand for biblical morality in our post-Christian culture. Let’s close by considering the courage such a stand demands.

The evangelical Christian worldview is now in clear conflict with established public policy on a level unprecedented in American history. Our culture has previously embraced unbiblical immorality with regard to sexual promiscuity, LGBTQ issues, pornography, divorce, abortion, and euthanasia, but we were free to practice biblical morality in response. No one made us choose or provide an abortion. No one required us to sell pornography in a Christian bookstore. No one forced doctors to participate in assisted suicides or pastors to conduct same-sex weddings.

Now, however, the law of the land has endorsed same-sex marriage and may soon elevate LGBTQ persons to a protected class. The Equality Act was adopted by the House of Representatives yesterday; if it passes the Senate and becomes law, there will be no recourse to religious liberty.

As I have written previously, evangelicals are viewed as intolerant and discriminatory by our society just as if we were racists appealing to religious liberty to protect our bigotry. Refusing to perform a same-sex wedding is seen as prejudiced just as if we refuse to perform an interracial wedding.

My wife and I watched Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln again last weekend. The film, which tells the story of Lincoln’s resolve to pass the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery in 1865, is one of my all-time favorite movies. I found myself cheering all those who worked so hard to support the amendment and condemning those who opposed it.

Now I find myself on the other side of such a divide. Millions of Americans view me as I viewed the racists in the movie. Standing for clear biblical truth in the face of such opprobrium will require consistent courage over many years to come.

An urgent fact for all Christians 

Such courage is vital because the faith we offer is so vital. Jesus is the way, truth, and life (John 14:6). Biblical morality is the best way to live for all of us, including LGBTQ individuals.

It is urgent that Christians understand this fact. If many roads lead up the same mountain, there is no reason to pay a price to convince others to take our road. If there were many ways to resolve World War II, the military sacrifices paid by so many were unnecessary.

If Jesus is not the only way to heaven, we need not face the ridicule of our secular culture for seeking to win others to him. If Peter was wrong in declaring that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), there was no reason for him to give his life to share that salvation with the Roman world.

If Satan cannot convince you that Jesus is unnecessary for life and eternal life, he’ll try to convince you that Jesus is optional.

“Ashes in the embers of history” 

In The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World, Brett McCracken notes: “Everything ever tweeted and the most-viewed viral videos will be forgotten ashes in the embers of history, but the church will remain.” Even in our fallen culture, Jesus is building his church, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Let’s close this week with an invitation to join him. Let’s seek the character, commitment, and courage we need from “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). When we work, he works. When we resolve to be like Jesus and to share the love of Jesus, we can ask Jesus to give us his strength and peace.

Paul said of our Savior: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (vv. 28–29).

For what or whom will you “toil” today?

Denison Forum

Ryan T. Anderson is one of the most perceptive writers and thinkers in the evangelical world. His research has been cited by two US Supreme Court justices. A magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University with a doctoral degree in political philosophy from Notre Dame University, his work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and numerous other outlets.

His book on the transgender issue, When Harry Became Sally, is one of the foundational works on the subject. I have found it enormously helpful in my work. I agree with Anderson’s description of his book as “a thoughtful and accessible presentation of the state of the scientific, medical, philosophical, and legal debates.” In 2018, it hit No. 1 on two of Amazon’s bestseller lists before it was even released.

However, you can no longer order his book on Amazon. If you search for it there, you’ll see “Sorry, we couldn’t find that page” and a picture of a dog. You can, however, find Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Ted Kaczynski’s Unabomber Manifesto on Amazon. Both have an average rating of 4.5 stars.

John Stonestreet and David Carlson explain why Anderson’s book is so important and compelling, perhaps the very reasons Amazon blocked it. The Federalist calls Amazon’s cancelation of Anderson’s book a “digital book-burning.” The Wall Street Journal responds to Amazon’s action by warning that “tech censorship is accelerating.”

Bill Hybels’ daughter apologizes for her silence 

Willow Creek Community Church Senior Pastor Bill Hybels stands before his congregation, Tuesday, April 10, 2018, in South Barrington, Ill. (Mark Black/Daily Herald via AP)

Amazon clearly intends fewer people to read Anderson’s seminal work on the transgender issue. To the degree that their intention becomes reality, their sin will affect far more people than the sinner.

That’s how sin always works.

No pastor in the evangelical Christian world was better known or more trusted than Bill Hybels. Hybels founded Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago, creating a model for relevance in ministry that has been studied and emulated around the globe. Then came the horrible news: Hybels was accused of sexual misconduct three years ago and forced into early retirement.

Now Bill Hybels’ daughter, Shauna Niequist, has apologized for her silence following the allegations against her father. Niequist explains that they “shook me to the core, & I shut down.” Since then, she has been “trying to find the words to write about my dad & our church.” She was taking time to “grieve & listen & recover,” but stated, “I now understand that my silence communicated to many that I defend my father’s actions and his ongoing silence. I don’t. I grieve both of those things.”

She is just one of the innocent people who have been injured by sins they did not commit.

Restitution and Step Nine 

How should Christians respond when Christians sin?

As I noted yesterday, we need to separate the message from the messenger, hold each other to the standards of Christ, and balance grace and consequences. To the last point, I wrote that “sinners can be forgiven, but they must seek restitution.”

Let’s expand on that fact.

We know that God will forgive all we confess (1 John 1:9). Why, then, should we not simply sin and confess, sin and confess, sin and confess? One reason is that God also calls us to make restitution to those we have harmed.

Jesus taught us, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23–24). As an example of such restitution, when the notorious tax collector Zacchaeus came to repentance and faith in Jesus, he announced: “If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19:8; cf. Exodus 22:1).

Of course, there are circumstances where seeking restitution may harm further those we have hurt. Step Nine of Alcoholics Anonymous’ famous Twelve Steps is to “make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” We should seek the wisdom of God and the counsel of others in knowing how best to help those we have harmed.

Our works “will be revealed by fire” 

Restitution is one aspect of repentance. The loss of rewards is another.

While God forgives all we confess, he cannot reward sinful behavior. His word is clear: “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on that foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:13–15).

Every hour we spend in sin is an hour we lose forever. Every time we refuse to obey Jesus, we forfeit the eternal reward we would have received for such obedience.

So, the time to refuse sin is before we commit it. The next time you are tempted, turn immediately to your Lord. Ask him for the strength to defeat your enemy (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13; Philippians 4:13), then join him in choosing the holiness that leads to freedom and joy.

If you are living with unrepented sin, the time to repent is now. The cancer will only spread; more innocent people will be hurt; more restitution will be owed; more reward will be lost. Turn to God now, knowing that he has already turned to you.

The hand that held the nail 

The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s deeply moving depiction of Jesus’ trials and crucifixion, opened on this day in 2004. Gibson personally invested millions of dollars in the movie and directed it. His face nowhere appears on screen, but he does make a very strategic cameo: his hand holds the nail driven into Jesus’ hand on the cross.

His point was simple: Jesus died for his sins. And for yours and mine.

Will you choose holiness in gratitude to your Savior today?

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