How to win the most critical battle of our time

It has been famously said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” This is one of the latter.

It was just last Sunday when President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, explaining in an Oval Office address last night that he had decided to “pass the torch to a new generation.” By Monday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris had secured enough delegates to win their party’s nomination. By Tuesday, Democrats had raised more than $250 million.

In the midst of such unprecedented political news, you might have overlooked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record fourth address to a joint meeting of Congress yesterday afternoon. He forcefully portrayed the Gaza war as a “clash between barbarism and civilization” and claimed, “Our enemies are your enemies. Our fight is your fight. And our victory will be your victory.”

Thousands of protesters against the war in Gaza converged on Washington to condemn his visit, while roughly half of House and Senate Democrats skipped his address. Mr. Netanyahu will meet today with President Biden and Vice President Harris, and tomorrow with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

A war with Hezbollah would dwarf the Gaza conflict

Mr. Netanyahu’s visit comes at a fraught time for Israel:

• Houthis have claimed responsibility for a drone strike on Tel Aviv that killed one person.
• This successful attack highlights Israel’s problem in defending against such strikes.
• Two more hostages have been killed in Gaza, possibly from Israeli fire.
• Rival Palestinian factions signed a declaration aimed at building unity following talks in Beijing.
• In a landmark opinion, the United Nation’s top court declared that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is against international law.
• Israel appears closer than ever to a war with Hezbollah that would dwarf the conflict in Gaza.

As I have written often, these conflicts are ideological and spiritual at their core. Israel claims land given by God to Abraham’s Jewish descendants (cf. Genesis 12:1–3), while Muslims are equally convinced that Allah intended this land for Ishmael’s Arab descendants and that the Jews have stolen it. The leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah see this “theft” as an attack on Islam, requiring a response that would annihilate the Jewish state.

Like Israel, Christians are locked in a spiritual battle with an enemy who seeks to destroy us.

Scripture warns us: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He is “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44) who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). He attacks our Father by attacking his children (cf. Luke 22:31).

We are therefore told:

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

We cannot win this battle on our own—we need a power greater than the power that opposes us.

Here’s the good news: that power is not only for us and with us—he lives in us.

Imagine two billion Christs in the world

I have been focusing this week on the fact that Jesus lives in every Christian by his indwelling Spirit (Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 3:16) and now wants to continue his ministry through us. Dr. Mark Turman, executive director of Denison Forum, responded to my article yesterday:

All people want to live eternally and with eternal significance now. God has put “eternity in our hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Only God and that which is filled with the essence of God endures and flourishes eternally. All truth is God’s truth; therefore, truth flourishes now and eternally. God is love; therefore, all that is truly loving flourishes eternally. People can by faith and grace be crucified to sin and filled with the fullness of Christ; therefore, those who have Christ in them (imparted not imitated) have “the hope of glory” and will flourish now and eternally.

Mark is right, both theologically and practically:

• We have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). If your mind is his, what will you think today? What will you refuse to think? How much time will you spend studying Scripture, praying, and worshiping your Father?
• We are the voice of Christ (Romans 10:14–15). If your voice is his, what will you say today? What will you choose not to say?
• We are the “body” of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). If your body is his, how will you treat it? What will you feed it? What will you do with it? What will you refuse to do with it?
• If Christ is present in others (cf. Matthew 25:40), how will you treat them?

Imagine two billion Christs in the world. When Jesus said we would do “greater things” than he did (John 14:12), this was his vision.

Three transforming questions

So, let’s ask three transforming questions:

1. Will you ask Jesus to continue his earthly ministry through you today?
2. Will you then surrender your life and day to his empowering Holy Spirit?
3. Will you then measure success by the degree to which others see Christ in you?

Scripture teaches that “Christ in you” is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

For whose “glory” will you “hope” today?

Thursday news to know:

• Big tech selloff slams Nasdaq with worst day since 2022
• Trump rally gunman looked online for information about Kennedy assassination, FBI director says
• CrowdStrike blames bug for letting bad data slip through, leading to global tech outage
• Tennis star Coco Gauff will carry the US flag at the Olympic opening ceremony
• On this day in 1978: World’s first “test tube” baby born

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help him to do his work through me.” —Hudson Taylor

Denison Forum

Conspiracy theories and the path to transforming truth

Conspiracy theories abound in the news today. For example, why has President Joe Biden not spoken publicly since it was announced last Wednesday that he had contracted COVID-19?

• Did he have a stroke?
• Is he now in hospice care?
• Will the Oval Office address his plans for tonight prove such suspicions wrong?
• Or will skeptics see a brief address given from a teleprompter (if this is what he delivers) as a further cover-up of his alleged infirmities?

And what of Mr. Biden’s health across recent weeks, months, and even years? Numerous pundits are faulting Vice President Kamala Harris for participating in an “epic miscalculation” or even an elaborate cover-up of his purported failings.

Others have alleged conspiracies behind the July 13 attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump:

• Some claimed that President Biden “sent the orders,” while others called the attempt a “failed coup.”
• Still others “reported” that the Secret Service was ordered not to take out the gunman until after he fired on Mr. Trump.
• Elon Musk blamed the shooting on “extreme incompetence” or “deliberate” action by the Secret Service.
• Still others claimed the shooting was staged to benefit Mr. Trump politically.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned yesterday after a contentious hearing with Congress on Monday. Will this lead to greater accountability, or is it part of the alleged cover-up?

“If words can mean anything”

Sociologist James Davison Hunter observes:

When the shared meaning of words is undermined, when we no longer trust that words signify what we thought, any meaning can be imputed to words. If words can mean anything, they have no intimate meaning or possibility of a common meaning.

This is the cultural crisis behind the political crises of our day. When all truth is personal and subjective, as postmodernists have claimed for decades, we are left with a “post-truth” society in which “your truth” is as valid as “my truth.” Now that social media has given everyone a platform to broadcast “their truth,” we should not be surprised by the confusion and chaos that surround nearly every consequential event of our day. The fake news circulating yesterday that former President Jimmy Carter had died is just one example.

However, there is good news in the bad news.

Scripture describes followers of Jesus as “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15, my emphasis). We can exercise this role because we serve the One who is “the truth” (John 14:6). By his power, we can know the truth (John 8:31–32) and proclaim the truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

But there’s a catch:

To experience fully the truth of Christ, we must experience fully the Christ who is truth.

Oswald Chambers noted:

The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is “Christ in you.” It is his wonderful life that is imparted to me in sanctification. . . .

Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in him, and he manifests it in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation (his emphasis).

Think of it: the living Lord Jesus is literally living in you by his resident Spirit (Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 3:16). As St. Ignatius of Antioch said, “You have Jesus Christ in yourselves.”

“The fragrance of the knowledge of him”

Jesus can guide us into the truth (John 16:13) and speak the truth through us (Luke 12:12). But first we must be “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), surrendering our life to him as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) and submitting to the “filling” and control of his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Jesus promised his first followers, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). And so they were:

• When the early Christians were “filled” by the Spirit, they began to share the gospel miraculously (Acts 2:4).
• When Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit,” he preached the gospel boldly to the religious authorities who arranged Jesus’ execution and could have done the same to him (Acts 4:8–12).
• When the early church prayed for courage in the face of persecution (Acts 4:29), “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (v. 31).
• After Paul was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17), “immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues” (v. 20).
• When Barnabas, “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” arrived in Antioch, “a great many people were added to the Lord” (Acts 11:24).

The pattern is clear. If we want to know “the truth,” we must know the One who is the truth by being submitted to his Spirit. If we do, we will make him known. Then we will glorify and serve the One who “through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Corinthians 2:14).

So, here’s the question: Have you submitted your life and witness to the Spirit of God yet today?

If not, why not?

A culture desperate for truth awaits your answer.

Wednesday news to know:

• Everything to know about the Olympics opening ceremony—as Jill Biden plans to lead American delegation
• Historians say Biden’s withdrawal shows American democracy is working
• Biden expected to meet Netanyahu on Thursday at White House, US official says
• Pilot only survivor of Nepal plane crash
• On this day in 1911: American archaeologist encounters Machu Picchu ruins

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Where I found truth, there found I my God, who is the truth itself.” —St. Augustine

Denison Forum

President Joe Biden announced yesterday that he is withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race. In a subsequent post, he stated: “I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala [Harris] to be the nominee of our party this year.”

Mr. Biden’s monumental decisions were made closer to November than any previous incumbent who sought reelection and then left the race. What do they say about the health and future of our democracy and our nation?

“If angels were to govern men”

On one hand, we could see these announcements as a subversion of democracy.

Mr. Biden earned his party’s nomination through their electoral process. Those who pressured him to step down had no formal or legal power to remove him from the ticket. We could view their actions as unfair to him, to the delegates elected to nominate him, and to the larger process.

On the other hand, we could see this as democracy at work.

Leaders and donors in the Democratic Party continued to make their voices and concerns heard after the primaries were over. Mr. Biden then came to his decision in the belief that it was “in the best interest of my party and the country.”

Our Founders built our nation on the declaration that “all men are created equal,” including presidents and political leaders. This does not mean that humans are worthy of power but that none can be trusted with unaccountable authority. James Madison observed in Federalist No. 51:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

Costco is selling “the apocalypse bucket”

As Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan notes, we are living in “big history.”

Reflect for a moment on the crises we have faced in recent years: the worst pandemic in a century, mass riots in our streets, the most acrimonious presidential election in memory, the largest European conflict since World War II, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, and an attempted assassination of a former (and perhaps future) president.

Here’s a sign of the times: Costco is now selling an emergency dinner kit dubbed “the apocalypse bucket,” with ingredients that last twenty-five years.

But the darker the room, the more powerful the light. The chaos of our day is God’s invitation to trust and experience his providence so fully that we become catalysts for the moral and spiritual renewal our culture needs so desperately.

How can we do this most effectively?

One of my favorite places in the world

Over the weekend, I spent some time sitting on a bench beside a picturesque lake in our neighborhood. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. However, roofers were nailing shingles on a nearby house; the sounds of lawn crews and passing cars invaded the quiet; people walked or jogged on the path behind me.

To experience the serenity I sought, I had to block out everything else.

The key to experiencing the abundant life of Christ in a chaotic world is focusing on its Source. When John met the risen Christ on Patmos, he “fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17) and later wrote the Revelation. When Peter saw his omnipotence on display, he “fell down at Jesus’ knees” (Luke 5:8) and later preached the Pentecost sermon that birthed the Christian era.

When last were you awed by God?

When we genuinely experience Jesus, we can count on four results:

1. We become an example of his transforming grace. Oswald Chambers noted: “The redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled his own life.” The closer we are to Jesus, the more we become like him (cf. Romans 8:29).
2. We are used by God’s Spirit to draw others to our Lord. Our bodies are the temple of the Spirit as he continues the ministry of Jesus in the world today (1 Corinthians 3:16).
3. We are emboldened to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Paul’s mandate to Titus becomes ours: “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority” (Titus 2:15).
4. We are led into our greatest kingdom impact. The same Spirit who called Paul to Macedonia calls us to the people and places where he can use us most fully (cf. Acts 16:9–10).

“Our church is not a building”

The historic sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, was ravaged by fire Friday night, leaving what the Dallas Morning News called a “charred shell.” Standing in front of the revered structure, executive pastor Ben Lovvorn told reporters, “Our church is not a building.”

He was right.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, known to early tradition as a disciple of John the Apostle, wrote a letter on the way to his martyrdom in Rome in which he stated: “We should really live as Christians and not merely have the name.” Then he explained:

“Unbelievers bear the image of this world, and those who have faith with love bear the image of God the Father through Jesus Christ.”

Which “image” will you show the world today?

Monday news to know:

• World leaders react to Biden’s exit from the 2024 US presidential race
• Salt Lake City wildfire prompts mandatory evacuations. Over 100 firefighters fight blaze
• Israel strikes Yemen in response to Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv
• Bus destroyed and police car flipped in Leeds disorder
• On this day in 1862: Lincoln tells his cabinet about Emancipation Proclamation

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” —St. Francis of Assisi

Denison Forum

Former president Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican nomination last night to cap off a four-day convention in Milwaukee. The speech lasted for more than an hour and a half—a new record for convention speeches—and touched on a number of issues. Given the attempted assassination last Saturday, however, many were more interested in seeing how he would address his near-death experience than in the policies and promises he outlined thereafter.

As he told the Washington Examiner the day after the shooting, “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger. Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches. Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”

While several parts of last night’s address were still considered vintage Trump, it did seem that the event last Saturday had made an impact.

An appeal to America

The former president started his speech by stating, “I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength, and hope.” He then continued by calling the nation to healing and unity, promising, “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

To that end, one of the primary themes throughout much of his address was a critique of the current administration that focused primarily on them rather than the broader categories—woke, leftists, etc.—that made regular appearances in the speeches of others throughout the convention. He left little doubt as to where he stands in relation to the agenda put forth by President Biden’s office and the Democratic party but did so without many of the more pointed criticisms and personal attacks that have frequently defined his addresses in the past.

To be sure, some were still there—particularly when he went off script—but they were not the element that defined the speech nor the part that left the most lasting impression.

That designation fell to the way in which he recounted last Saturday’s shooting.

“I’m not supposed to be here tonight”

Toward the beginning of his address, Trump recounted the shooting in greater detail than many expected. He started by stating, “I will tell you exactly what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time because it’s actually too painful to tell.” From there, he described the events leading up to being shot—with a vivid if exaggerated depiction of “blood pouring everywhere”—before concluding with the statement that “I’m not supposed to be here tonight …. and I’ll tell you, I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.”

Throughout the rest of his address, he would periodically speak of his gratitude to the Lord and of the nation’s need for God’s help. While only God and the former president can truly know where he stands in his relationship with Christ, at the very least, the Lord’s name was proclaimed, and there is value in that.

Granted, last night’s speech was hardly the first time that he has courted the religious vote with calls to faith and mentions of God, but this time it felt different. It will be worth watching over the coming months and years to see if the change sticks.

The fleeting nature of change

It is not an indictment of Donald Trump to question whether his new approach to speaking so openly and personally about the Lord is evidence of a truly changed heart or the short-lived effects of a near-death experience. Rather, it’s an indictment on human nature.

You see, a brush with death—particularly when it’s your own—often changes a person’s perspective on life. The further you move away from that moment, however, the easier it gets to slip back into the person you used to be.

Scripture is filled with examples of people who, in a moment of desperation, gratitude, or some other heightened emotion, turned to God only to fall further away from him as the years progressed. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit and a daily commitment to walking with the Lord to keep our relationship with God on solid footing.

Two of Israel’s kings—David and Manasseh—demonstrate this truth well.

Early in David’s life, he walked closely with the Lord and was at peace with the knowledge of his complete and utter reliance on God. As his youth faded, however, his life was characterized by an inconsistent relationship with the Lord that divided his family and laid the seeds for Israel’s undoing.

By contrast, Manasseh began his reign as one of Judah’s worst kings, leading the people to worship idols and false gods in some of the most abominable ways imaginable. Yet, after a brief exile to Assyria, he was humbled and went on to honor the Lord, restore the altar in the temple, and command Judah to serve God (2 Chronicles 33).

Chances are good that we can all find elements of ourselves in both men’s stories. The question then becomes which will define us going forward.

Only two options

Regardless of how you plan to vote this fall, the apparent shift in Donald Trump’s approach should inspire all of us to pray that his outlook on life and—more importantly—his relationship with God really has changed for the better as a result of Saturday’s shooting. And we should do the same for President Biden and all of our nation’s leaders.

Moreover, this story should also inspire us to pray that the Lord will use that event to help each of us evaluate our own relationship with Christ and see if there are any areas where we have slipped back into an acceptance of sin rather than a reliance on him.

This side of heaven, it will never be too late to fall away from the Lord and live as though our salvation had no present impact on our way of life. Fortunately, it will also never be too late to turn back to God and seek a closer walk with him.

Where do you fall on that spectrum today? Are you walking toward God or drifting away from him? Ultimately, those are the only two options.

Which is true for you today?

Quote of the Day:

“If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road, and in that case, the man who turns back the soonest is the most progressive man . . . going back is the quickest way on.” — C.S. Lewis

Denison Forum

Former president Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican nomination last night to cap off a four-day convention in Milwaukee. The speech lasted for more than an hour and a half—a new record for convention speeches—and touched on a number of issues. Given the attempted assassination last Saturday, however, many were more interested in seeing how he would address his near-death experience than in the policies and promises he outlined thereafter.

As he told the Washington Examiner the day after the shooting, “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger. Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches. Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”

While several parts of last night’s address were still considered vintage Trump, it did seem that the event last Saturday had made an impact.

An appeal to America

The former president started his speech by stating, “I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength, and hope.” He then continued by calling the nation to healing and unity, promising, “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

To that end, one of the primary themes throughout much of his address was a critique of the current administration that focused primarily on them rather than the broader categories—woke, leftists, etc.—that made regular appearances in the speeches of others throughout the convention. He left little doubt as to where he stands in relation to the agenda put forth by President Biden’s office and the Democratic party but did so without many of the more pointed criticisms and personal attacks that have frequently defined his addresses in the past.

To be sure, some were still there—particularly when he went off script—but they were not the element that defined the speech nor the part that left the most lasting impression.

That designation fell to the way in which he recounted last Saturday’s shooting.

“I’m not supposed to be here tonight”

Toward the beginning of his address, Trump recounted the shooting in greater detail than many expected. He started by stating, “I will tell you exactly what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time because it’s actually too painful to tell.” From there, he described the events leading up to being shot—with a vivid if exaggerated depiction of “blood pouring everywhere”—before concluding with the statement that “I’m not supposed to be here tonight …. and I’ll tell you, I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.”

Throughout the rest of his address, he would periodically speak of his gratitude to the Lord and of the nation’s need for God’s help. While only God and the former president can truly know where he stands in his relationship with Christ, at the very least, the Lord’s name was proclaimed, and there is value in that.

Granted, last night’s speech was hardly the first time that he has courted the religious vote with calls to faith and mentions of God, but this time it felt different. It will be worth watching over the coming months and years to see if the change sticks.

The fleeting nature of change

It is not an indictment of Donald Trump to question whether his new approach to speaking so openly and personally about the Lord is evidence of a truly changed heart or the short-lived effects of a near-death experience. Rather, it’s an indictment on human nature.

You see, a brush with death—particularly when it’s your own—often changes a person’s perspective on life. The further you move away from that moment, however, the easier it gets to slip back into the person you used to be.

Scripture is filled with examples of people who, in a moment of desperation, gratitude, or some other heightened emotion, turned to God only to fall further away from him as the years progressed. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit and a daily commitment to walking with the Lord to keep our relationship with God on solid footing.

Two of Israel’s kings—David and Manasseh—demonstrate this truth well.

Early in David’s life, he walked closely with the Lord and was at peace with the knowledge of his complete and utter reliance on God. As his youth faded, however, his life was characterized by an inconsistent relationship with the Lord that divided his family and laid the seeds for Israel’s undoing.

By contrast, Manasseh began his reign as one of Judah’s worst kings, leading the people to worship idols and false gods in some of the most abominable ways imaginable. Yet, after a brief exile to Assyria, he was humbled and went on to honor the Lord, restore the altar in the temple, and command Judah to serve God (2 Chronicles 33).

Chances are good that we can all find elements of ourselves in both men’s stories. The question then becomes which will define us going forward.

Only two options

Regardless of how you plan to vote this fall, the apparent shift in Donald Trump’s approach should inspire all of us to pray that his outlook on life and—more importantly—his relationship with God really has changed for the better as a result of Saturday’s shooting. And we should do the same for President Biden and all of our nation’s leaders.

Moreover, this story should also inspire us to pray that the Lord will use that event to help each of us evaluate our own relationship with Christ and see if there are any areas where we have slipped back into an acceptance of sin rather than a reliance on him.

This side of heaven, it will never be too late to fall away from the Lord and live as though our salvation had no present impact on our way of life. Fortunately, it will also never be too late to turn back to God and seek a closer walk with him.

Where do you fall on that spectrum today? Are you walking toward God or drifting away from him? Ultimately, those are the only two options.

Which is true for you today?

Quote of the Day:

“If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road, and in that case, the man who turns back the soonest is the most progressive man … going back is the quickest way on.” — C.S. Lewis

Denison Forum

President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, forcing him to cancel a campaign event in Las Vegas. This after he stated earlier in the day that he would drop out of the presidential race if he had a “medical condition.”

His COVID-19 symptoms are mild and would likely not constitute such a “condition,” but the juxtaposition of the two is interesting with regard to their timing.

Here’s why: Rep. Adam Schiff, one of the top Democrats in the country, called on Mr. Biden yesterday to “pass the torch” and step aside from the race. In a new poll, nearly two-thirds of Democrats agree that Mr. Biden should withdraw.

The Washington Post is also reporting that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, in separate private meetings with Mr. Biden last week, told him that his continued candidacy imperils their party’s ability to control either chamber of Congress next year. And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly told the president last week that she and other Democratic lawmakers worry that he’s dragging down the party.

Last night, the New York Times reported that Mr. Biden has become more receptive to such arguments, though he has not given any indication that he is changing his mind about staying in the race. He has also asked questions about how Vice President Kamala Harris could win.

“The country is spiraling out of control”

Many Democrats apparently want to replace their nominee, while Republicans came shockingly close to losing theirs.

After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last Saturday, Israeli Special Operations veteran Aaron Cohen told reporters that if the former president had not turned his head at the moment a shot was fired at him, he would have been killed. According to Cohen, “The fact that he just happened to be turned this way with that shot coming in is what saved his life.”

However, while Mr. Trump was spared, a man in the stands died while protecting his family; two other shooting victims were hospitalized.

Johns Hopkins University political science professor Robert Lieberman explains in Foreign Affairs that four features help cause democratic crises: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power. He adds, “What makes the last four years different is that all of them are present.”

Unsurprisingly, following last Saturday’s shooting, four in five Americans polled said “the country is spiraling out of control.”

“They did not know how to blush”

I was recently struck by God’s description of his people in Jeremiah 6: “They did not know how to blush” (v. 15). The verse reminded me of Mark Twain’s observation, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.”

The text comes in the midst of cataclysmic chaos for Israel as the Lord warns them that “disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction” (v. 1). The reason is that the nation’s moral state is horrific: “As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me” (v. 7).

But the people are intentionally ignorant of their plight: “From the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (vv. 13–14).

Then comes the verse that impressed me: “Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush” (v. 15). As a result, their nation would soon fall (vv. 22–26).

If this could happen to God’s “chosen people,” what of us?

“Ask for the ancient paths”

The presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was held three weeks ago. While most assumed it would be consequential, who among us could have imagined that morning that it would upend the race so abruptly? And who of us a week ago could have imagined the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump?

Who of us knows what tomorrow will bring?

When things are “spiraling out of control,” it is vital that we heed God’s call:

“Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).

Note the order of these four imperatives:

1. “Stand by the roads”—stop what you are doing.
2. “Look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is”—seek biblical truth for your life and day.
3. “Walk in it”—follow the path it sets out with holistic obedience.
4. “Find rest for your souls”—look for relief from anxiety for your inmost being.

In a chaotic world, God’s people don’t have to settle for chaos in our souls. Corrie ten Boom was right: “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.”

Will you “be at rest” today?

Thursday news to know:

• D. Vance accepts GOP VP nomination, setting him up as MAGA heir
• Three days after attempted assassination, Trump shooter remains an elusive enigma
• Prosecutors appeal Trump classified documents dismissal
• US safety board to hold hearings on Boeing 737 MAX door incident
• On this day in 1940: FDR nominated for unprecedented third term

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” —St. Augustine

Denison Forum

Donald Trump’s selection of J. D. Vance as his running mate continues to generate headlines this morning, and for good reason. As David A. Graham writes in the Atlantic, “J. D. Vance’s rapid rise from obscurity to the vice-presidential nomination is an only-in-America tale.” Consider the facts and judge for yourself:

• James David Vance grew up in a broken home in rural Ohio, surrounded by economic and social decline.
• His parents divorced when he was a toddler. His mother struggled with substance abuse, so he was raised by his grandmother.
• He enlisted in the Marines, served in Iraq, then graduated in two years summa cum laude from Ohio State University, where he majored in political science and philosophy.
• He earned a law degree at Yale, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Review.
• He wrote Hillbilly Elegy, a bestselling memoir of the travails of working-class America. The book was made into a movie directed by Ron Howard.
• He founded a venture capital firm, then was elected to the Senate on his first try.
• At thirty-nine years of age, he has been nominated for vice president of the United States.

Now consider his counterpart:

• Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California. Her mother emigrated from India to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she met Harris’s Jamaican-born father, Donald. Her mother became a cancer researcher, while her father became a Stanford University economics professor.
• Her parents divorced when she was seven years old. At age twelve, she moved with her mother and sister to Montreal, where she attended high school and founded a dance troupe.
• She graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC, majoring in political science and economics and serving on the debate team. She earned a JD in 1989, worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, and was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2003.
• She was elected California attorney general in 2010, the first African American and the first woman to hold the position.
• In 2016, she became the second African American woman and first South Asian American woman to be elected to the US Senate.
• In 2020, she was elected vice president of the United States, becoming the first female, the first Black, and the first Asian American to hold the position.

Both are “made-in-America” narratives. But as we’ll see today, there’s more to the story.

“From a nation of joiners to a nation of loners”

Our national ethos, as expressed in our founding declaration that “all men are created equal,” especially encourages the rise of individuals from obscurity to the highest levels of power.

But over the generations, this declaration has morphed from “all men are created equal” to “all people are equal.” Darwin taught us that we are not the purposeful creation of God but the coincidental product of natural selection. Freud convinced many that belief in a Creator is a fantasy based on the infantile need for a dominant father figure. Postmodernists have persuaded our culture that all truth claims are personal and subjective (which, of course, is an objective truth claim).

As a result, according to existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger, we are actors on a stage with no script, audience, director, past, or future. Courage, he claimed, is facing the meaninglessness of life as it is.

How’s this working for us?

The Wall Street Journal interviewed a variety of Americans about their feelings following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last Saturday. According to the article, “they pointed fingers and expressed anger, fear, and heartbreak.” However, nearly to a person, “they also expressed a sense of dread, saying there seems to be no good news on the horizon.”

They are not alone. According to the New York Times, our country has been transformed in recent decades “from a nation of joiners to a nation of loners.” The article interviews Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, whose research shows that in the last fifty years, political polarization, economic inequality, and individualistic morality have fomented an epidemic of social isolation and loneliness.

Is this the epitaph of our age?

This is where the uniqueness of the biblical worldview is especially relevant.

On the one hand, Christians believe that we are each created personally by God in his image (Genesis 1:27) and so valuable to him that his Son died to purchase our salvation (Romans 5:8). On the other, we also believe that we are members of a larger body (1 Corinthians 12:27) who find our ultimate purpose and joy in community with our spiritual family.

You and I can experience the abundant life of Christ only through a personal, passionate union with him. He taught us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). As Oswald Chambers notes, “The essential thing is my personal relationship to Jesus Christ. . . . To fulfill God’s design means entire abandonment to him.”

But we are only one of the branches on the vine. We are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We experience God most fully in community. When we pray for each other, serve each other, hold each other accountable to biblical truth, and serve Jesus with each other, we offer our broken culture a redemptive community they can find nowhere else.

This adage could therefore be the epitaph of our age:

“With God, all things are possible. Without God, all things are permissible.”

Choose wisely today.

Wednesday news to know:

• US authorities learned of potential Iranian assassination plot against Trump weeks before deadly shooting
• Biden seriously considering proposals on Supreme Court term limits, ethics code, AP sources say
• Bob Menendez found guilty on all counts including acting as a foreign agent, in federal corruption trial
• Powell says Federal Reserve is more confident inflation is slowing to its target
• On this day in 2020: Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis dies

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.” —Henri Nouwen

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A “real-life superhero” and the pathway to sacrificial courage

Today’s news cycle is being dominated by former President Donald Trump’s announcement of J. D. Vance as his running mate, the first night of the Republican National Convention, the dismissal of Mr. Trump’s classified documents case, and President Biden’s interview with NBC’s Lester Holt last night. However, I want to focus this morning on a story I don’t want us to miss before it fades from the headlines.

Corey Comperatore was an engineer, a former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company in Pennsylvania, and a lifelong volunteer firefighter. He was also a husband and the father of two daughters.

When shots rang out last Saturday at a rally for former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, one of Corey’s daughters later described how her father reacted. “He shielded my body from the bullet that came at us,” she wrote in a social media post. “He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us.”

Corey Comperatore died defending those he loved. His daughter called him a “real-life superhero.”

“We are all on our last cruise”

Donald Trump’s near assassination illustrates John F. Kennedy’s prophetic statement: “If anyone is crazy enough to want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be prepared to do is give his life for the president’s.” If the person presumably better protected than anyone in our country can be in mortal danger, so are we all.

Recent celebrity deaths include sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, actress Shannon Doherty, and fitness guru Richard Simmons. Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed on this day in 1918; John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, and her sister perished in a plane crash on this day in 1999. Shark attacks and the rising threat of bird flu are in the news as well.

An American Airlines flight parked at its gate at San Francisco International Airport was evacuated recently because of smoke in the cabin. Metaphorically, we’re all on that flight. Robert Louis Stevenson made a similar point:  “Old and young, we are all on our last cruise.”

According to Jesus, none of us knows when our time will come: “Always be ready, because you don’t know the day or the hour the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 25:13 NCV). However, while we cannot know the hour of our death, we can prepare for it. We can decide today that we will respond as Corey Comperatore did: with sacrificial courage and selfless love.

How can we do this?

“No more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man”

Aristotle taught: “Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”

One person said of Corey Comperatore’s sacrifice: “He was a firefighter. Why am I not surprised his instinct was to put his own body in harm’s way?” I have been privileged to pastor several firefighters over the years and can testify personally to the truth of this statement.

Kurt Vonnegut agreed: “I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.” Think about it—when everyone else runs from the conflagration, firefighters run to it as quickly as they can get there, knowing they may not return.

The Greek historian Thucydides was right: “The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.”

Stated succinctly: If we live for others today, we’re more likely to be willing to die for them tomorrow.

How can we do this?

“If we live, we live to the Lord”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro testified that Corey Comperatore went to church every Sunday. This is unsurprising: A longtime friend called him “a great man who loved his family fiercely and did the same with God.”

As a result, Corey found in his Lord the strength to follow his example: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Followers of Jesus know these facts to be true:

• “Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world” (1 Timothy 6:6–7).
• “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).
• “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8).

As a result, we are free to “set your mind and heart to seek the Lᴏʀᴅ your God” (1 Chronicles 22:19). We are free to live—and to die—for his glory and the common good. We are free to serve others whether or not we are served, to love them whether or not we are loved, and to live each day for our eternal reward and theirs.

St. Augustine observed:

We do not seek, nor should we seek, our own glory even among those whose approval we desire. What we should seek is their salvation, so that if we walk as we should they will not go astray in following us. . . .

If then you are good, praise is due to him who made you so; it is no credit to you, for if you were left to yourself, you could only be wicked. . . . And so, my brothers, our concern should be not only to live as we ought, but also to do so in the sight of men; not only to have a good conscience but also, so far as we can in our weakness, so far as we can govern our frailty, to do nothing which might lead our weak brother into thinking evil of us.

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

The philosopher Andrew Bernstein was therefore right:

“The hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.”

Will you be a hero today?

Tuesday news to know:

• In the wake of Trump’s attempted assassination, investigators search for clues around the motive
• Trump shooting is Secret Service’s most stunning failure in decades
• NASA astronauts from Boeing’s Starliner may be stuck in space until August
• Fertility declines, tapering populations, soaring life expectancies: What the UN population report shows about us and our future on this planet
• On this day in 1945: the first atomic bomb test is successfully exploded

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“We can walk without fear, full of hope and courage and strength to do his will, waiting for the endless good which he is always giving as fast as he can get us able to take it in.” —George Macdonald

Denison Forum

Reflections on the attempted assassination of former President Trump

Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform TruthSocial yesterday that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” allowing him to survive Saturday’s assassination attempt. The Wall Street Journal editorial board similarly wrote, “It’s nothing short of miraculous that Mr. Trump avoided death by a literal inch.”

According to the New York Times, the picture of the bloodied former president, his fist raised, flanked by an American flag, is “already the indelible image of our era of political crisis and conflict.”

“We are living through an age of rage”

At this writing, authorities are still trying to determine a motive for the attempted assassination. The twenty-year-old alleged gunman made a $15 donation when he was seventeen to a group that supports Democratic politicians, but he was also a registered Republican.

If political rhetoric was in fact a motivating factor for the shooter, the tragedy further demonstrates the power of hateful speech to incite hateful actions.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley responded to the shooting: “We are living through an age of rage. It is not our first, but it may be the most dangerous such period in our history.” In the first attempted assassination of a current or former president in the social media era, partisan reaction and conspiracy theories swiftly illustrated his warning.

In my Daily Article Special Edition response to the shooting Saturday, I quoted a number of Democratic leaders who stated their gratitude that Mr. Trump was safe. Others, however, responded in horrific ways. For example, a Colorado state representative tweeted, “The last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil but here we are.” (His post was quickly deleted and roundly condemned by his party’s leaders.) Some on the right were likewise quick to blame President Biden and Mr. Trump’s other critics for the attack.

“Do not speak evil against one another”

Saturday’s shooting has a larger social context. In a nationwide poll conducted last month, 10 percent of those surveyed said the “use of force is justified to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.” A third of those giving that answer also said they owned a gun. On the other side, 7 percent of those surveyed said they “support force to restore Trump to the presidency.” Half of these respondents said they owned guns.

Words provoke actions. This is why Scripture warns us, “Do not speak evil against one another” (James 4:11), and commands us “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2).

How you and I respond to Saturday’s shooting will significantly impact our witness in our secularized culture. Let us obey these biblical commands by “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Then our light in the darkness will glorify our Lord and draw others to him (Matthew 5:14–16).

New York Times columnist David French, a conservative evangelical but also a longtime critic of Mr. Trump, responded to the shooting: “There has rarely been a better time to love our enemies, to pray for our nation, and to remember—during one of the most fraught political campaigns in generations—that each and every one of us is a human being, created in the image of God.”

A misfiring gun and a grenade that did not explode

A 2008 report by the Congressional Research Service stated that direct assaults against presidents, presidents-elect, and candidates have occurred on fifteen separate occasions. Ten incumbents, including four of the previous six presidents, had been targeted. Four of the ten (and one candidate) died as a result of such attacks.

Of the forty-five individuals serving as US president, thirteen (about 29 percent) have been subject to actual or attempted assassination. This number does not include Saturday’s shooting.

Some examples of near-misses:

• Theodore Roosevelt was spared in 1912 when a steel case for his glasses and his fifty-page speech kept a bullet from striking his vital organs.
• Bullets fired at Franklin Roosevelt three weeks before his 1933 inauguration missed him, but they hit and killed the Chicago mayor standing nearby.
• On September 5, 1975, a person standing two feet from President Gerald Ford pointed a gun at him, but it misfired. Seventeen days later, a person standing forty feet from the president fired a shot at him, narrowly missing. She raised her arm again, but a former Marine dove toward her and grabbed her arm, possibly saving Mr. Ford’s life.
• The “Devastator” bullets fired at Ronald Reagan in 1981 were designed to explode on impact, but the one that struck the president likely malfunctioned because it apparently ricocheted off the door of his armored limousine before hitting him.
• An attacker threw a grenade at George W. Bush during an event in Tbilisi in 2005, but it did not explode.

These tragedies and near-tragedies, coupled with Saturday’s shooting, call us to intercede for ”all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:2). Consequently, please join me in praying even more fervently for Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and others in leadership. Ask God to enable the Secret Service and others to protect them. Pray for the family of the Corey Comperatore, the man killed in the shooting, and for David Dutch and James Copenhaver, who were injured.

“Ascend above the hate”

And pray for God to use this tragedy to lead our nation past the bitterness and divisiveness of these days. Following the shooting, Mr. Trump stated, “It is more important than ever that we stand united.” Last night, President Biden used a rare Oval Office address to condemn political violence and to plead with Americans to “resolve our differences at the ballot box.”

The morning after her husband was shot, former First Lady Melania Trump released a letter in which she likewise implored our nation:

Ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence. We all want a world where respect is paramount, family is first, and love transcends. We can realize this world again. Each of us must demand to get it back. We must insist that respect fills the cornerstone of our relationships, again.

To “realize this world again,” let us begin on our knees today.

Monday news to know:

• Trump assassination attempt: former president says his rewritten GOP convention speech will call for unity
• Trump shooting: reactions from investors and analysts
• Israel seeks proof of whether strike killed Hamas military chief
• Record-breaking heat wave shifts east as millions of Americans under heat alert
• On this day in 2006: Twitter launches

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbor on our knees.” —Charles Bent

Denison Forum

The Republican Party recently released its 2024 platform, outlining its goals and priorities should the November elections go its way. While the document comprises a list of twenty promises and ten chapters that go in depth on a variety of subjects, the changes to the party’s official stance on abortion have received the most attention.

In 2016—the last time the GOP released an official platform since they chose not to do so in 2020—the issue of abortion featured prominently, with more than 700 words devoted to the topic and mentioning abortion specifically thirty-five times. By contrast, the 2024 version uses the term once and gives the subject less than 100 words of attention, stating simply:

“We proudly stand for families and Life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights. After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”

In understanding the changes, it’s worth noting that in 2016 Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land, whereas now the issue of abortion has been rightly returned to the states. Moreover, in the vast majority of elections since that shift occurred, the pro-life position has lost. We’ll discuss one of the primary reasons why that’s the case—and how it impacted the changes to the GOP platform—in a bit, but those losses have created a good bit of angst among Republicans running for office this fall.

As a result, many Republicans—former president Donald Trump chief among them—have sought to reframe the GOP’s stance on this issue to appeal to a wider range of voters. However, doing so risks losing the pro-life part of a base they’ve come to rely upon in the process.

For example, Clint Pressley—a megachurch pastor in North Carolina and the recently elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention—spoke for many when he tweeted, “I am disheartened by what’s happened in the GOP. The GOP platform may be subject to change, but God’s word is not. Southern Baptists ‘contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death’ and will insist that elected officials do the same.”

But is that the right approach?

The answer is perhaps more complicated than it would first appear.

When is it right to compromise?

In a recent article for the Gospel Coalition, Joe Carter does an excellent job of outlining the argument for why pro-life supporters should remain uncompromising on the issue of abortion. As he notes, “Central to the pro-life ethos is the belief in the inherent value and dignity of human life. The acknowledgment that life is sacred from conception until natural death undergirds the entire movement.”

He goes on to describe how the pro-life and pro-choice positions “are binary,” arguing that “Just as you cannot be a ‘little bit pregnant,’ you cannot be a little bit pro-choice. Once you support abortion in any form, you lose the right to the label of pro-life.”

Is he correct?

When it comes to personal convictions, I believe he is.

If life truly does begin at conception—and the biblical position is that it does—then abortion at any stage of pregnancy is killing a human created in the image of God and cherished by our heavenly Father. And while abortion becomes increasingly barbaric in the second and third trimesters, it is equally tragic no matter when it occurs.

At the same time, being uncompromising in our convictions does not necessarily mean that we should be uncompromising when it comes to the practicalities of fighting for life in a culture that is predominately pro-choice.

When faced with the binary decision of either supporting a woman’s right to abortion or rejecting it, 63 percent of Americans support it. However, when you parse the question by trimesters, the majority of Americans do not think abortion should be legal after thirteen weeks.

In short, when given only two options, Americans have repeatedly been pro-choice, and there is little evidence of that changing anytime soon. Recognizing that fact and adjusting accordingly is not cowardice or giving up on the unborn’s right to life. It’s political prudence.

And the reality of that situation reminds us of an even more important fact that’s become all too easy to overlook in recent decades.

The best way to be pro-life

At the end of the day, politicians aren’t going to advocate for a pro-life position until we can convince more people to be pro-life. That doesn’t happen in the rooms of party conventions or by yelling and bemoaning the state of abortion on social media. It happens by talking with the people God brings along our path and helping them to understand why life is valuable from conception to natural death. It happens by helping the moms and dads considering abortion to see that there’s another way. And it happens by being pro-life in every facet of our lives to the point that we earn the right to be heard on this subject.

And to the extent that we can see political change with abortion, the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the issue back to the states was a win primarily because it shrinks the number of people we have to convince in order to see that change take place.

Would it be great if the federal government decided to ban abortion? Absolutely. Is that likely to happen? Probably not.

The choice left to us is to decide whether we want to spend our time, energy, and resources bemoaning that fact or shift our attention to more practical ways that we can make a real difference and save lives. And while that’s not necessarily an either/or choice, far too many have placed their hopes in politicians when politicians have repeatedly shown that they don’t deserve it in this area.

So instead of wasting our time wishing our political leaders were different, ask God to help you make a difference.

Partner with a local crisis pregnancy center. Prayerfully consider adoption or support those who are called to adopt. There are a host of ways you can make a practical difference in this area, and doing so is the easiest path to seeing true change when it comes to the defense of unborn life.

How can you make a difference today?

Quote of the Day:

“There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.” — D.L. Moody

Denison Forum

Amidst all the bad news in the news this week, let’s focus today on some good news.

A new study of gratitude and mortality among older adults (in this case, older US female nurses) found that those who more frequently noticed and felt grateful for positive experiences tended to live longer. This report is by no means an outlier.

For example, psychologists recruited a group of participants and asked one third to write up to five things for which they were grateful that week. A second group was asked to record hassles or irritations; a third was told to record events that affected them over the week. After doing this for ten weeks, those in the gratitude group:

• Rated their life more favorably than those in the other two groups, both with regard to life as a whole and in relation to the upcoming week.
• Experienced fewer symptoms of physical illness.
• Spent significantly more time exercising.

In another study, participants who wrote letters of gratitude to other people were happier and more satisfied with life. They also experienced decreased symptoms of depression.

Cicero would not have been surprised, calling gratitude “not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” Plato likewise claimed, “A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things.”

Scripture similarly commands us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and to give thanks “always and for everything to God the Father” (Ephesians 5:20).

Why?

How?

And how does this discussion relate to the massive cultural issues we face today?

The great grief of my life

Gratitude in challenging times does not require naivety or minimize the suffering we face. Nor would I suggest that we will always find reasons for gratitude that outweigh the pain to which we are responding.

I am grateful for the wonderful support our family received when our oldest son was diagnosed with cancer, but I would much rather he not have experienced that ordeal. The same with our grandson who is continuing his leukemia treatments; we are very grateful that he is doing well, but we would much rather he and his family not have to fight this battle.

I am grateful for the ways I learned to trust God more deeply when my father died at the age of fifty-five, but I wish he had lived many more years. The great grief of my life is that my father never met my sons.

My purpose is not to commend gratitude as an end in itself. Rather, my principle reason for encouraging gratitude to God in the midst of adversity is that it can turn adversity into greater reliance on him.

Paul testified that he had “learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Philippians 4:12). “Plenty” and “abundance” bring their own temptations to self-reliance. Moses was grieved that when the Israelites “grew fat, stout, and sleek,” they “forsook God” and “were unmindful of the Rock that bore you” (Deuteronomy 32:15, 18).

By contrast, looking for ways God is at work in challenging times encourages us to trust his omnipotence and grace. David could testify regarding his past experience with God: “I know that the LORD saves his anointed” (Psalm 20:6a). As a result, he could trust him with the future: “He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand” (v. 6b). And with the present: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (v. 7).

As J. Warner Wallace noted on a recent Denison Forum Podcast, this hope should fill us with gratitude that only believers can share.

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

How does this work in practice?

• As a native Houstonian, I am grieving for the millions in the city who are still without power in the midst of dangerous heat and humidity. But I am grateful for the thousands who are mobilizing to restore electricity and for the many churches and ministries who are serving those in need.
• As Russia’s horrific offensive against children and other innocent victims continues, I am grateful for the Ukrainians’ incredible resolve and courage.
• As controversy regarding President Biden’s future escalates, I am grateful to live in a nation where we are free to vote as we wish and to speak our minds regarding even the most powerful among us.

And as I continue to speak biblical truth to the issues of our day, I am deeply grateful for the providential hand of God in our ministry. I take heart from Oswald Chambers’ observation:

“The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

Max Lucado wrote:

God is using your struggle to toughen you up. It’s like viewing a movie after you’ve read the book. When something bad happens, everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. But not you. Why? You’ve read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot.

God views your life with the same confidence. He’s not only read your story, he wrote it. His perspective is different, and his purpose is clear. One of God’s cures for weak faith? A good, healthy struggle.

Lucado therefore encourages us to “join with Isaiah who resolved, ‘I will trust in him and not be afraid!’” (Isaiah 12:2 NLT).

Why do you need such “trust” today?

NOTE: Today is the last day to give! Denison Forum’s Summer Campaign ends tomorrow, and we need your support to end it strong. Please help reach the $550,000 Summer Campaign goal — and be a part of transforming lives with Christ-centered content. GIVE NOW.

Thursday news to know:

• Alec Baldwin’s trial starts nearly three years after “Rust” shooting
• American workers have quit quitting, for now
• US intel chief says Iran is attempting to stoke Gaza protests
• 250-year-old musket balls from “Shot Heard Round the World” found in Concord, Massachusetts
• On this day in 1804: Aaron Burr slays Alexander Hamilton in duel

Quote for the day:

“God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless he has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.” —Peter Marshall

Denison Forum

When Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered the commencement address at Benedictine College—a small Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas—on May 11^th, he understood that his speech would be controversial. In fact, he essentially led off by acknowledging “These are the sorts of things we are told in polite society not to bring up.” However, I doubt even he thought he’d still be making headlines nearly two weeks later.

So what is it about Butker’s speech that has caused such a stir? And is the criticism he’s received warranted, or is it another example of modern society’s penchant toward free speech for me but not for thee?

As you might expect, the answer to both questions is complicated.

Using the right lens

Let’s start by looking at what Butker actually said.

The part of his address that has received the greatest amount of attention is when he spoke specifically to the women in the audience:

For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly, because I think it is you—the women—who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles that you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.

While those thoughts would not have been terribly controversial fifty years ago, they understandably caused quite a stir today. The problem, however, is that much of the criticism he’s received has been levied by people who took his words and interpreted them through a lens that did not necessarily fit the context of his speech.

AJ Willingham, for example, claimed “Butker suggested that a woman’s accomplishments in the home are more valuable than any academic or professional goals.” It’s easy to see how Willingham would reach that conclusion, particularly since Butker proceeded to spend the next few minutes of his address thanking his wife for making the choice to stay home with their kids and detailing the joy she feels as a result.

Yet, his statement about women was one example within a larger message encouraging people to find peace and contentment by accepting God’s plans for their lives. If he truly thought that the only path God could have for a woman would be as a wife and mother, he would not have surrounded that statement by congratulating the women graduates for earning their degrees or for the “successful careers in the world” that some of them will surely go on to achieve.

Now, it’s probable that, given the larger worldview he espoused within his speech, he would agree with the idea that the most fulfilling life a woman could lead would be as a mother and wife. And it’s all right to disagree with that assessment.

WHO DEFINES SEXUALITY?

In our book, Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design, we look at God’s intentions for our flourishing.

However, it’s important to note that he did not say—as Sam McDowell surmised—that such a life was “their duty as a husband’s servant.”

Fortunately, there were some—including from some surprising sources—who saw Butker’s comments differently.

“Can’t that just be a choice too?”

On last Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the host addressed both Butker’s speech and the response it received.

He started by saying, “I can’t express how much this guy is not like me. He’s religious. He loves marriage. He loves kids.” He then went on to state, “I don’t see what the big crime is. I really don’t.” Speaking specifically of Butker’s comments about being a wife and stay-at-home mom, Maher added, “Can’t that just be a choice too?”

And I think that final thought was at the heart of Butker’s address.

Is motherhood and homemaking the only acceptable vocation for women? Absolutely not. Is it God’s calling for some? Yes, and in such cases it is every bit as valuable and worthy of praise as those who are called to pursue a career outside the home.

You see, what ultimately defines the value of a person’s vocation is that it comes from the Lord. Everything else is secondary, and that is true for men and women alike.

Unfortunately, that part of Butker’s message has been largely lost amidst the controversy over his thoughts on the role of women.

The admonition to find our sense of peace and purpose in God’s call for our lives rather than the expectations of the world—or even ourselves—is something our culture desperately needs to hear.

Learn to be content in your calling

One of the primary sources of the stress and anxiety permeating every facet of the population today is the result of our lives failing to live up to the expectations we’ve placed on them. And when those expectations come from someone or something other than the Lord, we should not be surprised when they prove unsatisfying.

After all, why would God bless a path that differs from the one he has called you to take?

Ultimately, you don’t have to agree with Butker’s views on women, Catholicism, or any number of the other topics he addressed in his speech to see the wisdom in finding contentment within the vocation God has called you to uniquely pursue.

And while, as the Apostle Paul notes, contentment in the Lord is something we have to learn rather than a state that will come naturally to us, it is by far the best way to go through this life and the only way to experience the peace and strength God longs to give (Philippians 4:11–13).

Quote of the Day:

“A great many people are trying to make peace, but that has already been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have to do is enter into it.”  — D.L. Moody

Denison Forum

The rise of the “nones” in the religious demographics of our society has been among the most troubling trends for many Christians across recent decades. The group is typically comprised of those who do not claim membership in any religious tradition, though there is variation at times as to whether atheists and agnostics are considered part of the nones or their own categories.

However, the latest data points to an interesting and encouraging trend:

• When the General Social Survey (GSS) first began to follow the nones back in 1972, they comprised roughly 5 percent of the total population.
• The nones stayed in the 5–6 percent range until 1991 when they began a rather precipitous and steady rise that reached as high as 30 percent by 2013 and 35 percent by 2019.
• However, the nones haven’t really grown in the last five years, ranging between 34–36 percent of the total population.
• And, what’s perhaps most encouraging, their numbers have actually started to fall among the younger generations.
• Similar findings have also been reported in both the Cooperative Election Study and in Pew’s latest research.

As Ryan Burge—who has studied and written about the nones for many years—concludes, “The rise of the nones may be largely over now. At least it won’t be increasing in the same way that it did in the prior thirty years.”

That’s good news. Yet, as he goes on to note, the more pertinent question is why.

Building on bedrock

One of the dangers with placing too much emphasis on trends is the temptation to think that they’ll continue unabated into the future. That danger has led to quite a bit of hand-wringing in Christian circles as report after report detailed the rise of the nones across the last thirty years.

And that’s understandable.

After all, the rise of the nones was one of the leading causes that burst the bubble of how Christians viewed our place in the culture. The ensuing angst was the result of the thought that Christians were leaving the faith in droves and the cascade of doubts that followed.

However, looking back on it now, it seems clear that the issue was less about genuine believers leaving the faith—though that does happen at times—as people growing increasingly comfortable with being honest about their faith (or the lack thereof).

And, as Burge writes, the fact that the percentage of nones in our culture has leveled off in recent years likely means that we’ve reached the point where “The loose topsoil has been scooped off and hauled away, leaving nothing but hard bedrock underneath.”

WHO DEFINES SEXUALITY?

In our book, Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design, we look at God’s intentions for our flourishing.

The scariest passage in Scripture

As Dr. Jim Denison notes, only 17 percent of the nones are atheists. The rest range from agnostic to spiritual, with as many as 69 percent claiming to believe in God or some higher power. In short, most of the nones today would have probably called themselves Christians fifty years ago, with the biggest difference being that many of them would have gone through life thinking that their claim to be a Christian was true.

Jesus spoke to the danger of such an approach toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

In Matthew 7, Jesus warns the crowds—many of whom considered themselves to be his followers—that:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21–23).

At first glance, this passage is perhaps the scariest in all of Scripture for those who claim to be Christians. However, if you read this text and are concerned that it might be talking about you, then chances are good that it’s not.

That’s not a guarantee, as it could be that God is using these verses to alert you to the fact that you do fall among those who have served the Lord without having a personal relationship with him. But it’s important to remember that the people about whom Jesus speaks in this passage were genuinely surprised when he rejected them. It had never occurred to them that they might not be saved because they were certain that their good works were enough to merit that salvation.

And it is that latter category that stands in dire need of the true gospel today.

Share the whole gospel

As our culture becomes increasingly accepting of the decision to reject religion—and Christianity in particular—there will be fewer people who go to church on Sundays and claim to follow Jesus because it’s simply the acceptable thing to do. And the research across the last few decades bears that out.

Still, it would be naïve to think that everyone with whom we worship on Sunday morning is going to heaven. Odds are that there are still some in our communities of faith who think themselves saved but who lack a personal relationship with Jesus.

So whether the nones are our coworkers, neighbors, or the people sitting next to us at church, Christ’s call is the same: go and make disciples by sharing the gospel—the whole gospel—with those who need to hear it (Matthew 28:19–20).

How can you carry out that calling today?

Quote of the day: 

The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. — C.S. Lewis

Denison Forum

One person died and more than thirty others were injured after a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence this morning. The jet was headed to Singapore from London when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.

Even though flying is statistically the safest form of travel, all of us who fly read stories like this and shudder, knowing the deceased person could have been us. It could one day be us. What is true of air travel is true of every other dimension of life on this fallen planet: we are not in control of our lives. To the contrary, we are “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).

This fact amplifies yesterday’s focus on the urgency of living in the power of the Spirit so fully that the Spirit changes us and changes the culture through us. We have only today to live for God in the power of God. Eternity beckons for us all.

A story making headlines today illustrates our theme powerfully and poignantly.

Why Dennis Quaid’s new movie grieves me

A few months ago, Dennis Quaid told People magazine that he returned to his Christian roots some years ago in the midst of an addiction battle. He even recorded an album titled Fallen: A Gospel Record for Sinners.

As a result, I was grieved when I learned that he is starring in a new horror movie in which, according to one reviewer, his costar is in “several scenes featuring full nudity.” (I won’t name the actress or the film or link to its content or reviews.)

When Christians act in ways that violate Christian beliefs, our secularized society is confused and misled even further. Then I looked more closely at Quaid’s interview with People. He tells us that amid his addiction struggle, he began rereading the Bible, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, the Qur’an, and other religious texts.

According to Quaid, “All of us have a relationship with God, whether you’re a Christian or not.” He says we’re all looking for “the joy in life, which is our gift, actually, the relationship with God that we all have.”

My purpose is not to disparage Dennis Quaid, but to respond to two related issues this story raises, both of which are pervasive among evangelicals and vitally relevant to our cultural influence (or lack thereof).

WHO DEFINES SEXUALITY?

In our book, Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design, we look at God’s intentions for our flourishing.

“Faith” is not an objective reality. We don’t “have faith”—we have faith in something or someone.

And the object of our faith is the crucial determiner for our faith’s validity and agency.

You can have faith that you are on the right road home, but if you’re not, your faith won’t get you to your destination. You can have faith that you’re taking the right medication, but if you’re not, your faith can make you sick or worse.

Our “post-truth” culture’s dogmatic (and contradictory) insistence on tolerance leads many to applaud the idea that “all of us have a relationship with God, whether you’re a Christian or not.” But Jesus disagreed, stating of himself: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).

His first followers said of him, “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, my emphasis).

Our lost culture also separates Sunday from Monday, the spiritual from the secular, and religion from the “real world.” It is therefore unsurprising that professing Christians can be involved in “secular” activities that contradict their “spiritual” beliefs.

For example, Scripture forbids public nudity, teaching that “women should adorn themselves in respectable attire, with modesty and self-control” (1 Timothy 2:9; cf. Matthew 5:28). But the pervasiveness of pornography and adultery among self-professing Christian men is just one tragic example of the way so many separate their Sunday religion from their Monday lives.

“The world will be amazed and astonished”

We cannot do the same thing and expect different results. As New York Times columnist David Brooks noted, “We’re not going to solve our problems at the same level of consciousness on which we created them.”

Brooks cites the work of Black theologian Howard Thurman, a contemporary of Martin Luther King Sr. who had a strong influence on the activism of his son, Martin Luther King Jr. According to Brooks, “Thurman reminds us that when networks of relationships in a society are broken and unjust, national transformation must flow from a tide of personal transformations.”

Such holistic transformation is truly possible only by the agency of the Holy Spirit. As Pentecost Sunday reminded us two days ago, the first Christians were “filled with the Holy Spirit” on the day of Pentecost and “began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). These were languages they did not know but could now use to share the gospel with people from fifteen different locales now gathered in Jerusalem for the holiday (vv. 8–11).

The people who heard them were understandably “amazed and astonished” at the miracle they witnessed (v. 7). Br. James Koester of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston comments:

The wonder of Pentecost is not that people suddenly spoke in foreign languages. The wonder of Pentecost is that people suddenly spoke in the language of God, the language of compassion, unity, and understanding. And like those early disciples, the gift to speak the language of God is ours for the asking.

Then he adds:

“When we truly are people of the Spirit, we will be people of compassion, unity, and understanding, speaking the language of God, and the world will be amazed and astonished, once more.”

Whose “language” will you speak today?

Tuesday news to know:

• US national security adviser, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince meet to discuss “semi-final” security deal
• Container ship removed 8 weeks after Francis Scott Key Bridge crash in Baltimore
• Who is Mohammad Mokhber, Iran’s interim president?
• War crimes prosecutor seeks arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu
• On this day in 1881: American Red Cross founded

Quote for the day:

“To be a witness means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.” —Madeleine L’Engle

Denison Forum

I planned to write today’s Daily Article about golfer Scottie Scheffler’s response to his early-morning arrest last Friday and the global coverage that has ensued. Then word came this morning that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash Sunday in northwestern Iran. A hard-line protégé of the country’s supreme leader, his death is likely to set off what the Atlantic is calling “a fierce scramble for power” in the Islamic nation.

The two stories offer the same reminder in starkly disparate ways: the time to prepare for the inevitable crises of life is before they happen.

Dwight Moody noted that “character is what you are in the dark.” However, our character is revealed to a skeptical world when the bright light of adversity shines on us. And none of us knows when that moment is coming.

To be the people we most want to be, there is a choice we can make right now. Its consequences will shape this world today and echo in the next world forever.

“That’s what I admire the most”

As everyone who follows the news knows, the world’s No. 1 golfer was arrested Friday morning. A man had been struck and killed by a shuttle bus earlier that morning; Scheffler tried to drive around the crash scene when he was arrested by an officer and taken to jail.

Golf Digest has an in-depth account of what happened and what happens next; most observers seem to think this was a misunderstanding. According to the Wall Street Journal, other golfers at the scene “described a rare level of pandemonium.” One said of Scheffler’s arrest, “That could have been any one of us.”

After he was booked and released, Scheffler stated, “There was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.” He added: “All of us involved in the tournament express our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who passed away in the earlier accident this morning. It truly puts everything in perspective.”

Amid all the controversy, Scheffler finished the tournament tied for eighth at 13-under. But my point was made by a commentator I heard respond to the story over the weekend: “Of all the things Scheffler could have said, you know what he didn’t say? He didn’t tell the officer, ‘Do you know who I am?’ He’s the world’s No. 1 golfer, but he didn’t try to use his status. That’s what I admire the most.”

“The physical organism through which Christ acts”

We cannot ask others to be what we are not or lead them further than we are willing to go. A dentist with bad teeth is unlikely to have a thriving practice. A lawyer in constant legal trouble will have few clients but himself.

WHO DEFINES SEXUALITY?

This is especially true for Christians, since as C. S. Lewis noted, we claim that “Christ is actually operating through [us]; that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts—that we are his fingers and muscles, the cells of his body.”

As a result, seeking to be godly is our first step in persuading anyone else to be godly.

After Scottie Scheffler won his second Masters championship last month, he told interviewers: “I believe in Jesus. Ultimately, I think that’s what defines me the most.” He added, “I’ve been called to come out here, do my best to compete, and glorify God.”

It’s one thing to honor the Lord when you win golf’s most prestigious tournament. It’s another to act with humility when you are arrested and thrust into the glare of the global media.

“The splendor that irradiates our understanding”

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, commemorating the day when early Christians were “filled with the Spirit” and launched the mightiest spiritual movement the world has ever seen (Acts 2).

St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 315–c. 367) was a champion of orthodoxy and one of the most brilliant theologians in Christian history. In his treatise On the Trinity, he wrote:

We receive the Spirit of truth so that we can know the things of God. In order to grasp this, consider how useless the faculties of the human body would become if they were denied their exercise. Our eyes cannot fulfill their task without light, either natural or artificial; our ears cannot react without sound vibrations, and in the absence of any odor our nostrils are ignorant of their function. . . . It is the same with the human soul. Unless it absorbs the gift of the Spirit through faith, the mind has the ability to know God but lacks the light necessary for that knowledge.

This unique gift which is in Christ is offered in its fullness to everyone. It is everywhere available, but it is given to each man in proportion to his readiness to receive it. Its presence is the fuller, the greater a man’s desire to be worthy of it. This gift will remain with us until the end of the world and will be our comfort in the time of waiting. By the favors it bestows, it is the pledge of our hope for the future, the light of our minds, and the splendor that irradiates our understanding.

St. Hilary was right: we experience the power of the Spirit to the degree that we wish to experience it. That decision is best made at the start of each day, seeking to be “filled” and controlled by the Spirit as we yield our lives to him (Ephesians 5:18).

Scottie Scheffler had no idea when last Friday began that he would soon find himself in a jail cell. You and I have no idea how this Monday will unfold. Consequently, the moment to submit to the Spirit and seek his empowering direction and holiness is now. The time to prepare for the crisis—or the opportunity—is before it comes.

The question I’ve written this article to ask

Billy Graham wrote: “The Holy Spirit is God himself, as he comes to live within us.” He noted that the Spirit “comes to convict us of our sin,” he “gives us new life” as we trust in Christ, and he “produces fruit in our lives” as we reflect his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). Dr. Graham added, “This fruit comes as we yield ourselves to the Spirit.”

Then he closed with the question I’ve written this article to ask:

“How yielded is your life today?”

NOTE: In a culture where ideologies on sexuality conflict with Scripture, our latest book, Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design, offers the clarity you need. Addressing issues like homosexuality, transgenderism, and nonbinary identities with biblical truth and compassion, this book equips believers like you to guide the next generation with truth. Support Denison Forum by May 31, and receive this essential guide for navigating modern sexuality with our thanks.

Monday news to know:

• Iran’s Supreme Leader approves Mokhber as interim president, declares 5 days of mourning
• US and Europe move closer to using Russian assets to help Ukraine
• What it’s like being Jewish at Harvard
• The lunch rush is dead as Americans live for the weekend
• On this day in 1506: Christopher Columbus dies

Quote for the day:

“When we have the Holy Spirit we have all that is needed to be all that God desires us to be.” —A. W. Tozer

Denison Forum

Black holes are objects in the universe with a gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape from them. “Stellar” black holes are formed by the collapse of individual stars, while “supermassive” black holes are found at the centers of most galaxies. The one at the center of our Milky Way has a mass of around 4.3 million times that of our sun. Now NASA has produced a simulation in which the viewer begins around four hundred million miles from a supermassive black hole and rapidly falls toward it. Light and time both warp around you. Unfortunately, however, you have only 12.8 seconds before you die by what physicists call “spaghettification”—your body is pulled apart atom by atom.

There are days when it seems this is happening to our culture.

For example, I was shocked to read that pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a solemn remembrance march to honor the victims of Nazi atrocities at Auschwitz. Some of the protesters even wore yellow badges resembling those forced on Jews by the Nazis.

This time last year, could you have imagined such a horrific scene?

One reason antisemitic protests persist is that there has typically been so little accountability for them. Many protesters even wear masks to hide their identities; others insist on amnesty for their actions. By contrast, where authorities have enforced their “time, place, and manner” restrictions, order has prevailed.

There’s a lesson here Christians can especially embrace and offer our broken culture.

“The most civilizing force in all of human history”

Criminology experts tell us that deterrence measures discourage people from committing crimes to the degree they guarantee swift punishment with a severity proportional to the crime committed. The certainty of being caught has proven to be an even more powerful deterrent than the punishment that follows.

Here’s one reason our post-Christian society is breaking apart: when we no longer consider God to be relevant to our lives or even to exist, we ignore the moral accountability such faith brings to our lives and our world.

Cultural commentator Jonah Goldberg wrote in Suicide of the West: “The notion that God is watching you even when others are not is probably the most powerful civilizing force in all of human history.” He adds:

WHO DEFINES SEXUALITY?

In our book, Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design, we look at God’s intentions for our flourishing.

GET MY COPY NOW

If you think God is watching and speaking to you through conscience—or through what Adam Smith called ‘the impartial spectator’ within us—you’re going to think twice about your actions. Or at least it will give you a strong incentive to think twice.
Believing there is something outside of you, judging you by an external ethical or moral standard, gives you a standard to think about yourself that is outside yourself.

This is why “the fear of the Lᴏʀᴅ is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Scripture is clear: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). On that day:

Each one’s work will become manifest, for the [Judgment] 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 the foundation [of Christ] 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).

If Jesus is your Savior and Lord, your eternal salvation is assured (cf. John 10:28), but your eternal rewards or loss of rewards are not. Even when we confess our sins and are forgiven for them (1 John 1:9), we lose the rewards we would have received had we chosen obedience rather than disobedience.

“In this Little Thing I saw three properties”

My purpose today is not to evoke a “sinners in the hands of an angry God” reaction (though Jonathan Edwards’ homiletical masterpiece should be required reading for us all). Rather, it is to suggest that God’s warning of judgment to come is not only a necessary expression of his holy nature (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8), but also a great gift from the One who “is” love (1 John 4:8).

Like any good father, it is because God loves us that he warns us away from all that is not best for us. Because he loves us, we can always know that his will for us is “perfect” (Romans 12:2) and that violating his will is therefore harmful for us.

If your doctor was omniscient and omnibenevolent, would you not obey her medical directions whether you understood their purpose or not?

In Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich (1342–c. 1416) records a vision in which she saw “a little thing, the quantity of a hazel-nut, in the palm of my hand.” It seemed small and fragile, but she came to understand that it was the entire universe, “all that is made.”

Then she reported:

“In this Little Thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loveth it, the third, that God keepeth it.”

All three “properties” are completely true of you.

How obediently will you respond to such grace today?

Thursday news to know:

• Biden says US won’t transfer offensive weapons if Israel invades Rafah
• Mike Johnson easily survives ouster attempt from Marjorie Taylor Greene
• Federal judge indefinitely postpones Trump classified documents trial
• 3 dead from severe storms, tornadoes in Tennessee, North Carolina
• On this day in 1960: FDA approves “the pill”

Quote for the day:

“The whole duty of man is summed up in obedience to God’s will.” —George Washington

Denison Forum

Nearly every headline in the news today is about something we wish was different but feel powerless to change. For example:

• During a Holocaust memorial ceremony at the US Capitol yesterday, President Biden condemned a “ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world” and pointed to “vicious propaganda on social media.” He’s tragically right, but what can be done about this?
• Miss USA gave up her crown, citing a need to protect her mental health. One in five Americans lives with a mental illness, but 60 percent give a poor or failing grade to how such conditions are treated in our country. As loneliness and depression continue to escalate, what can be done?
• Ukraine says it foiled an alleged Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky. As Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, what can be done to halt its offensive?

The good news is that no matter how hopeless we may feel in these chaotic days, Christians can embrace and share a hope the world can neither recreate nor destroy.

Let’s take a two-step journey into such hope today.

What do you hope “for”?

Research correlates hope with positive emotions, a stronger sense of purpose and meaning, lower levels of depression, and less loneliness. High-hope people experience better physical health and a reduced risk of mortality, chronic illness, cancer, and sleep problems.

Who wouldn’t want more hope?

However, hope has no independent status or reality. It is not a thing like a desk or a chair. We either hope “for” something or we hope “in” something.

Both are vital to being people of hope.

• French President Emmanuel Macron is warning that if Russia wins in Ukraine, European security will lie in ruins. I am therefore hoping for Ukraine’s success in the war.
• A Foreign Affairs article reports that America’s adversaries are uniting to overturn the global order. For example, Russia’s offensive is employing weapons fitted with technology from China, missiles from North Korea, and drones from Iran. I am therefore hoping for a future that does not include World War III.
• Another Foreign Policy article explains that America’s superpower status is difficult to project to areas where our adversaries are neighbors to our allies (Russia with Ukraine, China with Taiwan, North Korea with South Korea). I am therefore hoping for means of deterring them that, once again, do not include World War III.

For what do you hope most today?

What do you hope “in”?

But hoping “for” is of no practical benefit unless whatever we hope “in” can do what we hope it can do. Here is one way the gospel lives up to its definition as “good news.”

WHO DEFINES SEXUALITY?

In our book, Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design, we look at God’s intentions for our flourishing.

The eminent psychologist and Pulitzer Prize winner Erik Erikson believed hope to be a foundational virtue for the best kind of life. He also linked it to the “major creedal values” of religion. Extensive research now supports this connection, demonstrating that religious beliefs, practices, and communities clearly and powerfully inspire hope.

Christians can take a step further: we have historical, evidential, empirical reasons for placing our hope where we do. As St. Augustine reminded us, we are post-Easter people.

Unlike any other religious figure, our risen Lord defeated death and the grave. He promises to do the same for all who place their hope in him (John 11:25–26). And we know that he will come again for us individually (John 14:3) or collectively (Hebrews 9:28) to take us to “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1) where we will “rest from [our] labors” (Revelation 14:13) in a paradise beyond our imagining (1 Corinthians 2:9).

These are promises no other figure in human history has been able to make. And, as Dwight Moody noted:

“God never made a promise that was too good to be true.”

My college advisor died this week

In the meantime, we can remember all God has done as we trust him for all he will do.

Today is V-E Day, celebrated by Great Britain and the United States as the end of World War II in Europe. But before there could be V-E Day, there had to be D-Day nearly a year earlier. The Allied invasion at Normandy, France, marked the beginning of the end for Hitler’s forces. Between D-Day and V-E Day, the war still raged but its outcome was determined.

You and I live between D-Day, when our Lord invaded our fallen planet, and V-Day, when he will return. Spiritual conflict still rages (Ephesians 6:12), but its outcome is sure (cf. Matthew 25:31).

This fact became especially personal for me this week when I learned that my college faculty advisor had died.

Dr. Gene Wofford was a gracious educator and a wise mentor. I will always remember the time in a Christian doctrine class when he claimed he could summarize the Book of Revelation in two words. Seeing the surprised looks on our faces, he smiled and said, “We win.”

Now, in the very presence of his Savior, Dr. Wofford knows he was right. If Christ is your Lord, so will you one day.

Why do you need this hope today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Biden administration halted bomb shipments to Israel over Rafah invasion concerns, reports say
• Testifying in hush money trial, porn actor Stormy Daniels describes first meeting Trump
• New US strategy looks to blunt Russian and Chinese influence in cyberspace
• Boy Scouts rebrands as Scouting America, dropping gendered name
• On this day in 1884: Harry S. Truman is born

Quote for the day:

“However many blessings we expect from God, his infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.” —John Calvin

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An Israeli tank brigade took control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt this morning. However, the overnight incursion appears to be short of the full-fledged offensive Israel has planned into Rafah.

It comes after Hamas announced yesterday that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to halt the war. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office responded that the truce proposal fell short of Israel’s demands, but Israel will send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.

If you support Israel as I do, you’re hopeful that negotiations lead to long-term peace for the Jewish state. But you’re concerned that if Hamas survives in Gaza, it will make good on its promise to invade Israel again with the same brutality it unleashed on October 7.

Also, if you’re like me, you didn’t reflect immediately on what today’s news could mean for the 1.4 million Palestinian civilians in Rafah. You know that God loves Arabs as much as he loves Jews (Galatians 3:28), but it is human nature to respond most deeply to news that affects us most personally.

And as followers of a Jewish Savior, we tend to view the Middle East through the lens of the Jewish people.

“A handle for what is nearest”

This personal filter is essential for navigating the deluge of news in our digital culture. If we became viscerally involved with every story, the cognitive and emotional overload would be debilitating.

Consider these headlines in today’s news:

• Triumphal Putin is inaugurated for fifth term as Russian president
• Met Gala 2024: Zendaya, Tyla and Sabrina Carpenter lead eye-catching looks
• Columbia University cancels main commencement ceremony after protests
• South Africa: Deadly building collapse leaves dozens trapped
• Starliner launch delayed after issue identified with rocket valve

You likely care about these stories to the degree that they do or do not affect you personally. You’re not alone: in The Crisis of Narration, philosopher Byung-Chul Han quotes the cultural critic Walter Benjamin: “What gets the readiest hearing is no longer intelligence coming from afar, but the information which supplies a handle for what is nearest.”

While personalizing the world is understandable, there’s a better way.

“When you know how much God is in love with you”

Paul had “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” in his heart for Jews who had not yet accepted their Messiah (Romans 9:2). Given his previous life as a Pharisee trained by Gamaliel, such passion is to be expected.

However, the apostle was deeply concerned for Gentiles as well, most of whom he had not yet met but all of whom he sought to bring to Christ (Romans 15:15–21). He risked and ultimately gave his life to reach them. The reason was simple: Paul had experienced the transforming love of Christ and now, he testified, “the love of Christ compels us” to share that love with the world (2 Corinthians 5:14; NKJV).

Mother Teresa was right:

“When you know how much God is in love with you, then you can only live your life radiating that love.”

It’s been said that a true test of a person’s character is how they treat people they don’t have to treat well. Similarly, we can measure the depth of our love for our Lord by our compassion for those whom our circumstances would not compel us to love.

When we love such people, we offer the world something it can find nowhere else. We demonstrate the power and relevance of the faith we profess. Such unconditional love answers our skeptics (1 Peter 3:16) and changes our culture, one person at a time.

These facts apply to this morning’s news and to every person you meet today.

“This grace is for all the world”

Julian of Norwich (1342–c. 1416), whose deeply personal encounters with the love of Christ have inspired generations, wrote:

God protects us as tenderly and as sweetly when we are in greatest need;
he raises us in spirit
and turns everything to glory and joy without ending.
God is the ground and the substance, the very essence of nature;
God is the true father and mother of natures.
We are all bound to God by nature,
and we are all bound to God by grace.
And this grace is for all the world (my emphasis).

When last did you experience such grace?

With whom will you share it today?

NOTE: In today’s world, society often contradicts biblical truth, especially regarding sexuality. So how do we guide our loved ones rightly? Our latest book, Sacred Sexuality: Reclaiming God’s Design, offers answers and aims to equip you with wisdom and compassion to navigate these challenges. Request your copy today and join us in reclaiming biblical principles for our families and future generations.

Tuesday news to know:

• 3 bodies found in Mexican well identified as Australian, American surfers killed for truck’s tires
• US jobs growth set to slow, conference board says
• China’s Xi shouldn’t expect an easy ride in Europe this time
• Russia to carry out exercises for tactical nuclear weapons
• On this day in 1945: Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies at Reims

Quote for the day:

“God’s love is like an ocean. You can see its beginning, but not its end.” —Rick Warren

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How can you find meaning in life?

Have you considered beekeeping?

Unless you live in Phoenix, Arizona, and have needed pest control, you likely had not heard of Matt Hilton before last Tuesday. That was when a swarm of bees along the netting behind home plate delayed the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Matt got the call and came to the rescue, vacuuming the bees into a container and transporting them safely off-site.

The stadium played “Holding Out for a Hero” while he worked and fans chanted “MVP” when he was done.

Here’s another option: you could make hats for the Kentucky Derby.

From its inception, the oldest continuous sporting event in America was intended to provide a spectacle both on the track and among the spectators. As jockeys and horses prepare for the Kentucky Derby’s 150^th running tomorrow, hat makers have been preparing spectacularly colorful designs for women in the stands.

Here’s yet a third approach: you could join fans the world over who will take part in Star Wars Day tomorrow. The date is special to them because it is May 4. Consequently, they can recite the litany, “May the fourth be with you.”

Leo Tolstoy’s advice seems ironically appropriate in this context:

“The meaning of life is to serve the force that sent you into the world.”

How can Christians experience such meaning?

Why 40 percent of Texas churches left their denomination

This week we’ve been focusing on foundational cultural issues in light of the fact that Jesus is “the light of men” whose “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4–5).

One way we can continue Jesus’ ministry as the “body of Christ” in the world today (1 Corinthians 12:27) is to focus our light where the room is darkest. Our Lord came to “those dwelling in the region and shadow of death” (Matthew 4:16). You and I dwell in such a “region” in ways that are unprecedented in American history.

For example, another denomination—this time the United Methodist Church—has rejected biblical sexuality by embracing LGBTQ ideology. In anticipation of this decision, churches who affirm biblical morality have been leaving in droves. More than 40 percent of Methodist churches in Texas have abandoned the denomination, for instance.

I could go on, with campus demonstrations, the Middle East conflict, AI– and climate-related fears, and economic anxiety all dominating this morning’s headlines. The fact that bad news is not surprising is itself unsurprising.

A Wall Street Journal article recounts our recent history: “The 9/11 attacks, costly wars in the Middle East, the loss of more than five million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010, the financial collapse and the Great Recession, intensified racial strife, the pandemic and various polarizing responses to it.”

Consequently, “As mishaps multiplied, Americans became divided to an extent not seen in generations. Because the sides were closely divided numerically, neither party could gain a lasting governing majority. As gridlock continued, America’s confidence in its capacity for self-government plunged.”

“A force of immeasurable range”

You and I are not to be cultural warriors but cultural missionaries. God has called both to where we are and to when we are. If he could not use us at this pivotal moment in American history, we would not be alive at this pivotal moment in American history.

How can we make a difference that matters?

When the book of Acts opens, a small group of believers is gathered in Jerusalem; when it closes, they have penetrated Rome itself, “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31). The Scottish biblical scholar James Stewart contrasted their witness with ours:

It is a tragedy that the Christian religion is in many minds identified merely with pious ethical behavior and vague theistic beliefs, suffused with aesthetic emotionalism and a mild glow of humanitarian benevolence. This is not the faith which first awakened the world like a thousand trumpets and made people feel it bliss in such a dawn to be alive. Men knew what Christianity really was—the entrance into history of a force of immeasurable range.

Early Christians were empowered by the Holy Spirit to be Jesus’ witnesses (Acts 1:8), but they were also empowered by the Holy Spirit when they acted as his witnesses (cf. Acts 4:8).

Like them, we find meaning by sharing meaning. We experience the light by sharing the light. When we strive to imitate Jesus with our works and to share him with our words, the Spirit leads us where we can best impact others (cf. Acts 8:29) and speaks through us to convict sinners (Acts 2:37) and save souls (v. 41).

Hear Tolstoy again:

“The meaning of life is to serve the force that sent you into the world.”

Will you experience such meaning today?

Friday news to know:

• More than 2,000 people arrested nationwide in pro-Palestinian campus protests
• Economic confidence slips for first time since last fall: Gallup
• Fate of Gaza cease-fire talks hangs on two hard-liners: Netanyahu and Sinwar
• Arizona legislature votes to repeal state’s ban on virtually all abortions
• On this day in 1469: Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli is born

Quote for the day:

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” —John Piper

Denison Forum

Why should you care that today is the National Day of Prayer? You know the correct answers to the question, of course:

• You are to pray for our leaders and thus for our nation (1 Timothy 2:1–2).
• You are in fact to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
• You want God’s best for our country and her people.
• It is a patriotic privilege to join with other Christians in interceding for America.

All good responses, obviously. Here’s one more:

Americans find themselves, and there is no reasonable way to deny this, in a moment of profound crisis. The country is changing, and the substance of that transformation is not clear. Americans are divided, and those divisions go well beyond ideological differences. They cut to the marrow of the bone. Too often we see each other as enemies. Disagreement is saturated with contempt. Mutuality drowns in the bitterness of our public discourse. The sense of common purpose and public good has been thrown into the trash bin as we huddle in our silos.

Is this the doomsaying of an extremist ranting on social media to get clicks and likes?

Actually, these are the observations of Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., the James C. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University and former president of the American Academy of Religion. His solution to our crisis frames the discussion I’d like us to have today:

The salvation of democracy itself . . . requires that we understand that democratic flourishing cannot be, in John Dewey’s words, “separated from the individual attitudes so deep-seated as to constitute character.”

Then Dr. Glaude makes this point in italics:

We must be the kinds of people democracies require.

How can we be such people today?

Using a fly swatter to play golf

It is a category mistake to use something for a purpose it was not intended to fulfill. You wouldn’t use a fly swatter to play golf or a bicycle to travel to Hawaii.

Neither should we expect temporal strategies to satisfy eternal needs. The psalmist spoke for us all when he testified, “I am a sojourner on the earth” (Psalm 119:19).

Jesus identified the path to the transformation Americans need for the sake of America: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

St. Cyril of Alexandria (AD 376–444) commented on Jesus’ statement:

Just as the trunk of the vine gives its own natural properties to each of its branches, so, by bestowing on them the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, the only-begotten Son of the Father, gives Christians a certain kinship with himself and with God the Father because they have been united to him by faith and determination to do his will in all things. He helps them to grow in love and reverence for God, and teaches them to discern right from wrong and to act with integrity.

What does this mean in practical terms?

Courageous prayer and the courage to pray

The Bible says Abraham “grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God” (Romans 4:20). There is a reciprocal relationship at work here: The more I glorify God, the stronger I grow in my faith. Then, the stronger I grow in my faith, the more I glorify God. The closer I am to the “light of men” (John 1:4), the more I reflect his light and am changed by it. And the more I am changed by it, the more I reflect it.

When King Darius commanded the Babylonians to pray only to him, Daniel courageously defied this idolatrous edict by continuing to pray to the one true God (Daniel 6:6–10). What we might overlook in reading this story is the possibility that Daniel’s continued prayer gave him the courage to defy the edict. The more he prayed, the more he was empowered to pray.

How does this conversation relate to today’s National Day of Prayer?

The more we pray for our nation, the more our connection with God through prayer will empower and encourage us to pray for our nation. And the more we are empowered to pray, the more we will want to pray.

Then, when we have been thus empowered by the Spirit, we are more equipped and enabled to be the answer to our prayers:

• As we pray for Americans to come to Christ, we are more likely to lead them to Christ through our witness and example.
• As we pray for our leaders, we are more likely to engage with them personally and to enter public service ourselves.
• As we pray for our nation to turn to biblical truth and morality, we are more likely to become the change we wish to see.

In short, praying for our nation on this day—and every day—is one of the most patriotic ways we can serve our nation. As a result of such a commitment, we will “be the kinds of people democracies require.”

May it begin with me.

And with you.

Thursday news to know:

• In Israel, Blinken pushes Netanyahu for sustained aid into Gaza
• Hundreds of protesters arrested at college campuses across the US
• US officials are bracing for another summer of dangerous heat. These maps show where it’s most likely to happen
• Immigration ranks as top issue for Americans for longest consecutive monthly stretch in past 24 years: poll
• On this day in 2011: Osama bin Laden killed by US forces

Quote for the day:

“The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of God to whom we pray.” —Julian of Norwich

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