For most of Christian history, followers of Christ have turned to Augustine for guidance on what constitutes a just war. Over the course of his writings, the Church Father listed seven criteria that a conflict must meet to be morally valid:

• Just cause: A defensive war, fought only to resist aggression.
• Just intent: A war fought to secure justice, not for revenge, conquest, or money.
• Last resort: All other attempts to resolve the conflict have clearly failed.
• Legitimate authority: Military force is authorized by the proper governmental powers.
• Limited goals: Is the war’s purpose achievable, and can it end in a just peace?
• Proportionality: The good gained must justify the harm done.
• Noncombatant immunity: Civilians must be protected as far as is humanly possible.

How many of these boxes does the war in Iran check?

Checking boxes

The case for just cause revolves primarily around the idea that, in a world where attacks often come without notice, a defensive war is as much about preventing a fight from starting as protecting oneself after it does. The fear of what Iran would do if it ever got a nuclear weapon—something Iranian envoys reportedly claimed to be able to achieve in a matter of weeks prior to the war beginning—has been cited repeatedly by various members of the Trump administration to justify the war.

What about just intent? We’ll discuss this idea more when we get to the portion about limited goals, but the short version is that some of the reasons given by the Trump administration would fit under this justification, while others—the threats to take their oil, for example—muddy the waters a bit. At the end of the day, the war could check this box, but it’s not quite as clear-cut as some of the others.

The last resort piece of the puzzle depends largely on whether you believe further negotiations with Iran prior to when bombs began to drop at the end of February would have accomplished anything beyond giving Iran more time to prepare. Again, it’s debatable.

Regarding the question of legitimate authority, Paul is clear that governments have the authority to wage war so long as that war is justified (Romans 13:4). In fact, he goes so far as to say that those who lead nations in this capacity act as “the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” And while that thinking could easily be taken too far—and is, again, based on the idea that the war is just and its targets wrongdoers under the judgment of God—the argument can at least be made in favor of the US government meeting this criterion as well.

Proportionality is difficult to assess in the moment. If the good gained is a non-nuclear Iran governed by a person or group of people that will not massacre tens of thousands of its citizens, then that would probably check the box.

Noncombatant immunity must be assessed as much by intent as practice, particularly when one party is prone to using civilians as shields. The tragic deaths of 175 people at a school, as well as the hundreds (if not thousands) of civilians that have died in other attacks, serve as a powerful reminder that complete protection in this kind of fight is not possible. It does appear, though, that the United States has attempted to take precautions to prevent such mistakes where it can, even if there is certainly room to do better.

And so we come to the final element of this examination with the understanding that you can at least make an argument that the other criteria have been met. You can also argue to the contrary, but it’s less clear-cut than either side might prefer to believe.

But what of the limited goals requirement? Is a just peace achievable for those in power on the American side?

Why are we fighting this war?

Complaints about how the Trump administration has framed its rationale for the war proliferated across both sides of the political aisle. And, at least in this regard, the administration has no one to blame but itself.

As Ross Douthat described:

One could argue that the war is just because it’s trying to remove a wicked government. Except that at present Mr. Trump wants to say that it isn’t a war for regime change, that he’s happy to cut a deal that wouldn’t require the clerical elite to give up power, let alone face justice for their crimes.

Or one could say that the war is just because it’s a limited intervention focused on forestalling an Iranian military threat. But Mr. Trump and his secretary of defense have repeatedly threatened a more sweeping campaign, with back-to-the-stone-age bombing and civilizational destruction, which no just war theory could countenance.

Or one could say that the American war is just because it’s focused on military targets, which is separate from the more morally questionable Israeli campaign of assassination. But come on — they’re the same war!

The truth is that there are valid reasons—both from a biblical and a political perspective—to support the war with Iran. But the problem is that Christians are the ones who have, to this point, been required to make that argument when the justification should have come from President Trump and his administration.

While they have tried to offer some rationale, far too often their explanations come across as if they are simply throwing the reasons against the wall to see what sticks.

Had the war ended as quickly as the attack in Venezuela, perhaps that would have been fine. However, the fact that the majority of their arguments have been offered after Iran weathered the initial storm supports the idea that the attempts at justification were more of an afterthought than their true motivation.

How to pray

So, when it comes to the question of whether the war in Iran is just, I’m honestly not sure. There are reasons to argue that it is, but it’s impossible to know to what degree the Trump administration is truly motivated by them. We can—and should—pray that they are, but to say either way with any degree of certainty is unwise.

Fortunately, whether the war is just or unjust, we serve a God who can still bring good from this conflict. So, let’s finish by taking some time to pray and ask him to do just that.

Pray that the Trump administration would pursue this war for reasons God can bless and that the end result of the fighting would be a safer, more stable Iran. Pray that God will protect the people in Iran—both the civilians and soldiers. And pray that God will work through Christians in Iran to help others place their faith in Jesus and embrace the hope that only he can give.

Let’s start now.

Denison Forum

Yom HaShoah and the solidarity of our souls

Next to my baptism and wedding vows, the most moving two minutes of my life came years ago when I stood next to a bus alongside a highway. I was leading a study tour in Israel, making our way toward Ben Gurion Airport for our flight home.

Suddenly, sirens sounded. My first thought was that the nation was under attack. But it was not, at least not in the sense I feared.

The date was April 14, otherwise known as Yom HaShoah, the day each year when Israelis remember the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. Across the country, everything stops. Vehicles on the road pull over, as ours did, and their occupants stand outside. Jobs, schools, and all other activities cease. For two minutes, the entire nation pauses in remembrance of those who perished in the worst atrocity in Jewish history.

I can think of nothing analogous to this in American experience. Even with regard to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, we do not all stop on a single day at a single moment to remember those who perished.

Nothing else happens with Yom HaShoah except what I have described. No actions are taken; no laws are passed; nothing substantive occurs in these moments to deter future holocausts. Many Israelis are highly secular and do not even pray during these two minutes.

Why, then, was remembering people who have been dead for more than eighty years so moving for me? Why did the Israelis on our bus have tears in their eyes? Why does an entire nation stop like this every year, without fail?

And why, after Yom HaShoah is over for another year, am I still remembering it as if it were yesterday?

As if their loved ones had perished

In The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy, historian Susan Wise Bauer brilliantly illustrates one way the past shapes the present and predicts the future. We remember pandemics of earlier times so as to prevent them from recurring and to prepare if they do. The collective history of human sickness is a primer on avoiding and coping with sickness today.

In this sense, remembering Holocaust victims is an exercise in present-tense self-preservation, a way for Jewish people to call to mind the historic reality of antisemitism and find renewed stimulus to combat it.

But I sensed that there was something more in the hearts of the Israelis as they stopped that day. They genuinely felt themselves to be in solidarity with those who were murdered and those who grieve those who died. It was as if their own loved ones had perished, and they were pausing to internalize such suffering and make it their own.

For many of them, this is true. Given the fact that the Holocaust killed approximately one-third of the global Jewish population at the time, a large percentage of Jews today had ancestors who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

But there was even more going on as the sirens sounded. A sense of collective grief, resolve, and pride in their people and nation was tangible.

The historic and global solidarity of the Jews as a people, on clear display that day, goes a long way toward explaining their survival and flourishing across four millennia.

“All the families of the earth shall be blessed”

No race has been so persecuted as the Jews, from slavery in Egypt to crematoriums at Auschwitz to October 7 and the antisemitic reaction it illogically spurred. And yet no race has contributed so much to humanity.

For example, while the Jews comprise only 0.2 percent of the global population, they have been awarded 22 percent of all Nobel Prizes.

God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants continues to be kept every day: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). We are not required to agree with everything the leaders of modern-day Israel do, but we can marvel at the perseverance and contributions of their people.

Such solidarity starts early. A Jewish father is his children’s first rabbi; the home is their first synagogue. The Shabbat (the Sabbath) and other Jewish rules and traditions permeate every day and area of their lives, not just their religious activities. And their shared connection with Jews of all nations and languages who keep the same rules and follow the same traditions infuses them with a sense of community that transcends their present challenges, no matter how difficult.

Such solidarity is one of the many lessons I treasure from more than thirty pilgrimages to the Holy Land over these many years. And one I encourage you to embrace with me today.

Taking a coal from the fire

In contrast with the communal worldview of historic Judaism, the individualism and existentialism of the West permeates our culture and thinking. America was founded on the principle of individual liberty; even the colonies that united to win independence from England struggled to stay united as a collective nation.

Here is where Christianity can bring unity amid diversity, transcending our divisions and transforming our future.

Regarding the individual: As Jesus stated, we must each be “born again” (John 3:7). No one can trust in Christ for us. Faith cannot be transmitted genetically or handed down generationally. We will each stand individually before Jesus one day (2 Corinthians 5:10). We each experience a personal relationship with God that is uniquely ours.

Regarding the collective: We are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). We are members of a collective body (1 Corinthians 12:27), branches of a single vine (John 15:1–8), children of a single Father (John 1:12) who will spend eternity as part of a “great multitude” in the presence of the Almighty (Revelation 7:9).

Here’s the problem: American evangelicalism is typically weighted far more toward the former than the latter. We emphasize the urgency of personal salvation (as we should) so fully that we do less to engage saved souls in the larger family and story of faith.

But if you take a coal from the fire, it goes out. If you sever a branch from the vine, the branch dies.

“So that the world may know”

Just as humans were created for community (Genesis 2:18), Christians are intended to do life together. We are instructed to pray for each other (James 5:16), to forgive each other (Colossians 3:13), to “serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10), and to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).

To these ends:

• For whom are you praying today? Who is praying for you?
• Whom are you forgiving today? Who is forgiving you?
• Whom are you serving today? Who is serving you?
• Whose burdens are you bearing today? Who is bearing yours?

Yom HaShoah is a powerful reminder to pray daily for the “peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) in these war-torn days. It is a powerful encouragement to love the Jewish people as God does and to pray and work for them to know their Messiah as their Lord.

And it is an invitation to imitate their solidarity by modeling Christian unity for a divided and divisive culture.

Dwight Moody observed, “I have never yet known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord’s people were divided.” Conversely, Jesus prayed that his followers “may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23).

I believe Jesus is praying for our unity even now (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

How will you answer his prayer today?

Denison Forum

Denison Ministries is a non-partisan, non-profit ministry. Accordingly, I would write the same article today if the subject were any political leader or individual.

In fact, that’s my point, as I’ll explain in a moment.

As you probably know by now, President Trump posted an image Sunday evening on Truth Social depicting himself in a white robe with a bronze cape draped over his shoulders. An American flag stands on the left and the Statue of Liberty on the right, with soldiers and military jets overhead. A brilliant light glows in his left hand. Light also emanates from his right hand, which is placed on the forehead of a patient lying on a bed.

Many across the political spectrum protested the image as sacrilegious. One writer called the post “blasphemous” and “reprehensible.” Conservative pundit Carmine Sabia stated, “As a Christian, I’m offended by this, and I don’t know how any Christian would not be offended by this. There is only one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Mocking him is not OK.”

The post was subsequently deleted.

Continue reading Denison Forum – “Blasphemous” social media image of Donald Trump deleted →

When the crew of Artemis II splashed down in the Pacific Ocean last Friday evening, they had traveled further into space than any humans in history. As the editors of the Free Press said of their return, “It felt magical. It felt like a miracle. But it was neither.” They explained: “The ten-day Artemis II mission was a feat of disciplined human excellence, an expression of the sheer might of the human mind and spirit.”

Yes, and no.

The science it takes to lift a rocket weighing 5.75 million pounds off the ground staggers me. I don’t know how typing on my keyboard produces these words, much less how you get into space something that weighs more than thirty-six houses stacked on top of each other. Keeping four people alive in space for ten days in a space the size of a couple of minivans is mind-boggling as well.

Then there’s the return. The heat generated by the capsule as it flew through our atmosphere climbed to some five thousand degrees, half as hot as the visible surface of the sun. The crew’s lives depended on the heat shield that kept them from burning up, and then on the parachutes that kept them from plunging into the ocean at 325 mph.

But here’s something I didn’t know: after the space capsule separated from the rockets following the April 1 launch, gravity from the moon and then the earth was the primary “propellant” carrying it around the moon and back to earth.

As an astronaut on Apollo 8 said when asked who was driving the spaceship, “I think Isaac Newton is doing most of the driving right now.”

So, a mission costing $4.1 billion and composed of more than twenty thousand parts humans can see depended on a force we cannot.

Here’s why this fact is so relevant to our faith today.

Is gravity caused by “insubstantial pixies”?

The law of gravity is not actually a law in the sense of a proven fact. Scientists demonstrate its existence by seeing gravity at work—objects fall, planets orbit, and so on. They can also measure the attraction between objects. The Theory of Gravity is the best explanation for these observations.

But scientific theories, by nature, are not “proven” in the way math is, as they are always subject to refinement by new evidence. And as Forbes notes, “There is no way to absolutely rule out the idea that gravity is caused by invisible, insubstantial pixies that have an obsession with everything having to be as close together as possible.”

In facing such a possibility, scientists rely on what is known as “Occam’s Razor,” a principle suggesting that if you have two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, you should choose the simpler one. In the case of gravity, if we can explain the phenomena without resorting to pixies, we should do so.

Here’s my point: what works for scientific endeavors works for spiritual truth as well.

“I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist”

Consider Jesus’s resurrection. A skeptic could claim that Jesus of Nazareth never existed, but they would then have to explain the plethora of non-biblical contemporary evidence showing that he did. They could claim that he didn’t really die on the cross, but then he would have to survive crucifixion, a spear that pierced the pericardial sac of his heart, and being mummified in an airtight shroud. He would then have to shove aside the burial stone in his emaciated condition, overpower the battle-hardened Roman guards, appear through locked doors to his disciples, and perform the greatest high jump in history at the Ascension.

Perhaps the disciples stole his body. But they had no reason to do so and did not even expect the resurrection, nor would they keep the secret without failure and then die in horrible ways for what—in this scenario—they knew to be a lie.

If the disciples went to the wrong tomb, its owner or the authorities would have pointed out the right tomb. If the Romans stole the corpse, they would then have produced it.

A skeptic might claim that the resurrection was a hallucination, but five hundred people don’t have the same hallucination (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:6). And there’s the matter of the changed lives of the disciples, who went from hiding behind locked doors to boldly preaching the gospel and sacrificing their lives to share the message of the risen Christ with the world.

As a former skeptic once said upon examining the evidence, “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist.”

Of course, you can decide that miracles simply do not occur and that the resurrection thus could not have happened. But this is just as much a faith assertion as claiming that miracles do in fact happen. Neither can be proven scientifically or mathematically.

In fact, faith in the risen Christ is a relationship, and no relationship can be proven, only experienced. In this sense, trusting in the living Lord Jesus is like trusting in gravity—we know he is real because we experience what he does in and through our lives.

The paradox is that the more we try to prove him rather than experience him, the less we do either.

Zo s, yu[omh yjr eptfd

I say all of that to say this: The next time you wonder if Jesus is relevant to your problems and issues, remember a time in the past when he did what you hope he will do in the present. The Artemis II crew could stake their lives on gravity because countless people across human history have successfully done the same. You can stake your life on the risen Lord Jesus because countless Christians across Christian history have done the same.

Having sincere faith is not enough—it’s having faith in the right object that makes the difference.

If you place your fingers in the wrong position on your computer keyboard, you are sincerely attempting to type, but the result is gibberish. Here is an example: as I set my fingers one place to the right of “home” and type the words, “I am typing the words,” I produce “zo s, yu[omh yjr eptfd.”

Every time I trust someone or something to do what only Jesus can do, I produce spiritual gibberish as well.

In John 6, Jesus tells the crowds, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” (v. 27). He changes metaphors in John 8, declaring, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (v. 12).

Jesus is the only “food that endures” and the only “light of the world.” Everything else I trust perishes in darkness.

The great poet, scientist, and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe observed,

“The glory of life comes not from the things we can command but from the things that we can reverence.”

Whom or what will you “reverence” most today?

Denison Forum

Stress Awareness Month and the path to transforming hope

US stock futures fell and oil prices rose this morning after President Trump announced a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. His statement came after marathon talks with Iran failed to reach an agreement that would end the war.

In better news, Russia and Ukraine observed a truce in their war across the Orthodox Easter weekend. However, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin ruled out extending the ceasefire beyond Sunday.

Did you know that April is Stress Awareness Month? You won’t be surprised to learn that apparently unsolvable problems like war not only cause significant stress, but worrying about them also impairs cognitive functioning and makes things worse. I presume this is why counselors typically focus on stress management techniques we can control, such as deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation.

However, many people seem not to know that there is a cause of anxiety which underlies nearly all our stress. Like worrying about unsolvable problems, attempting to control it only makes it worse.

But when we choose the opposite of control, we discover the transforming hope available to every anxious heart today.

Including yours.

The central problem of political science

In American Dialogue: The Founders and Us, historian Joseph J. Ellis discusses what John Adams defined as the central problem of political science. According to Adams, “In every society known to man, an aristocracy has risen up in the course of time, consisting of a few rich and honorable families who have been united with each other against both the people and the first magistrate.”

Our second president believed that all societies eventually produce social and economic elites who, if left unchecked, achieve political dominance at the expense of everyone else. Adams, therefore, designed his version of government—the one (which became the president), the few (which became the Senate), and the many (which became the House of Representatives)—primarily to counter this ever-present pressure toward oligarchy.

However, the root of the problem lies not with wealth but with the reason we desire it. In Adam’s view, “Ambition springs from the desire for esteem and from emulation, not from property.”

Aristocracies motivated by this quest for esteem and the wealth that secures it behave in the same way the world over. I would point to the ruling classes in the supposedly classless societies of North Korea, China, and Cuba, for example.

But this quest for power is by no means limited to governments. C. S. Lewis identified the lure of the “inner ring, ” the quest to be on the “inside,” to be one of the “people who know,” a goal for which many compromise their integrity and become what Lewis called “scoundrels.” As King Solomon wrote, most certainly from personal experience, “A man is tested by his praise” (Proverbs 27:21).

Adams’ observation calls to mind management theorist Warren Bennis’s warning that there exists in every organization an “unconscious conspiracy” to preserve the status quo for the future benefits of current participants. Having pastored five churches and served on the boards of several organizations, I can attest to the accuracy of his assessment.

“What good deed must I do?”

So far, so good.

As a vocational minister, I have neither the financial means nor the personal opportunity to join a wealthy oligarchy that aspires to control society for its benefit. And I am now a writer rather than a megachurch pastor, so Bennis’s warning seems less relevant to me.

You may feel yourself to be more like me than the powerful people we have been discussing thus far.

But the will to power behind Adams’s concern is just as prevalent in us as in anyone else. For me, it takes an insidious form illustrated by the “rich young ruler” of the Gospels. Because of his means and social status, he was apparently among the oligarchy of his day. But this was not enough for him when he asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16).

Like this man, I want to know what I can “do” to earn favor with God. I want to place myself in the position of a worthy employee before my obligated employer rather than admit that I am a needy creature before my omnipotent Creator. And I want to impress others with my good deeds out of the “desire for esteem” Adams identified.

Accordingly, I am tempted to write this article to earn God’s favor and yours. And to pray, read Scripture, and perform other “spiritual” activities for the same reason.

But the King of the universe will not be obligated by his subjects. Spirituality for selfish purposes is a contradiction in terms and cannot lead to the transformation my fallen soul needs. And like the rich young man, I know that there is something I “still lack” (v. 20). Nothing I do is ever enough to fill the vacuum in my heart.

“Nothing short of Christ”

The good news is that Jesus stands ready to help. The most powerful person who ever lived could obviously have created an oligarchy of the highest rank for himself and his disciples. In fact, this seems to have been the desire of his followers even after his death and resurrection (Acts 1:6).

Instead, he is ready to infuse my character with his, my spirit with his Spirit.

The key is to seek Christlikeness as our highest purpose, then to submit ourselves so fully to the Spirit that he can effect such a miraculous transformation in our lives (Ephesians 5:18). The way to know he is doing so is to measure our motives: Are we serving to be served or to serve? Are we praying to be blessed or to be a blessing? Are we reading Scripture to fulfill a religious duty or to share God’s word with someone today?

The paradox is that the more we seek to serve, the more we become the people we long to be. The more we strive to be a blessing to others, the more we are blessed in all the ways that matter most. The more we work to improve our world, the more our lives become their most missional and significant.

By any objective measure, Jesus of Nazareth changed the world more than any single individual in history. What if millions, if not billions of us, continued his life and ministry today?

Imagine the impact on our fallen world. This and nothing less is God’s purpose for your life.

Charles Spurgeon was adamant:

“The Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his model.”

Do you agree?

Quote for the day:

“To become like Christ is the only thing in the world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain.” —Henry Drummond

Our latest website resources:

• What the Masters reveals about our souls
• Military rescue in Iran, Artemis moon mission, Cane’s vs Chick-fil-A, March Madness champs & Masters predictions
• “A Great Awakening” and the future of America
• Vibrant pews, empty seats: The paradox of America’s revival
• Gary Woodland vs Tiger Woods: Two divergent paths to recovery

Denison Forum

I’ll begin with a confession: my first experience with golf was illegal. I grew up in an apartment complex in Houston, Texas. Across the street was a country club with a golf course. Before and after golfers played the course, my friends and I used to sneak onto the fairway of one hole to play football.

The people running the club noticed our clandestine activities and erected a chain-link fence around the course. Thus ended my golf engagement for many years.

When God called our family to pastor First Baptist Church in Midland, Texas, I took up the game of golf so as to spend time with staff colleagues and church members who played. The local country club allowed clergy to play for free on Thursdays. I could never have afforded the dues to be a member of the club, but I could pretend to be one on Thursdays because of their largesse.

Our next pastorate was in Atlanta, Georgia. One Sunday morning, a member of the congregation—who was also a former governor of the state—asked if I would care to attend the Masters. I thought, fasted, and prayed about his invitation for about a millisecond before accepting.

He loaned me his clubhouse badge, which allowed a companion and me to attend the tournament and even enter the players’ clubhouse. One year, Greg Norman held the door for us, thinking we were someone special.

My back condition has prevented me from playing golf for many years now, but it has not diminished my fascination with the game. I watch most weekends on television when I get the chance. And I put the Masters on my calendar every year. Watching “a tradition unlike any other,” as it’s called, is an annual tradition for me.

Therein lies my point.

Where concessions are cheap and cellphones are prohibited

In The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis has a demonic tempter explain to his apprentice:

The humans live in time, and experience reality successively. To experience much of it, therefore, they must experience many different things; in other words, they must experience change. And since they need change, [God] (being a hedonist at heart) has made change pleasurable to them, just as he has made eating pleasurable.

But since he does not wish them to make change, any more than eating, an end of itself, he has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has contrived to gratify both tastes together in the very world he has made, by the union of change and permanence which we call Rhythm. He gives them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immortal theme.

This insight of rhythm and change is nowhere more articulated in my experience than at Augusta National.

I have been privileged to attend the Masters several years, and each time, it was the same experience. The concessions are still amazingly inexpensive; the merchandise is still extremely popular (and available for purchase only at the tournament); the holes are still named for flowers selected by descendants of the original landowner of the property. Cellphones are still prohibited, a fact that caused even a thirteen-time PGA winner to be dismissed from the grounds this week.

Watching the tournament on television, it seems that nothing has changed from thirty years ago when I first walked the course.

And yet, it is different every year in all the ways true to athletic competition. No golfer plays the course the same way each day, much less each year. Only three times in the tournament’s long history has a golfer won it in consecutive years. Every shot is new to that moment. Every day is a day that has never been before and will never be again.

The sameness and change Screwtape described exist in a symbiotic relationship at the Masters in a way that is especially timeless and timely.

Why is this reality so resonant in my soul?

The shift “from screens to sanctuaries”

One of the most interesting facts about religious life in the West these days is the resurgence in attendance among the most traditional of Christian expressions.

CBS News reports that “Catholic Church attendance is rising, with the number of young people at Mass ‘way up.’” The New York Times headlines: “Orthodox pews are overflowing with converts.” A priest said about the surge of young men drawn to the church’s demanding traditions, “In the whole history of the Orthodox Church in America, this has never been seen.” The conservative Anglican Church in North America has grown by 12.2 percent.

One analyst explains: Children have been warned about climate disaster for years; social media has pummeled adolescents with misinformation; political leaders are less trusted than ever; rising home prices are leaving many behind; school shootings, a global pandemic, and skyrocketing college tuition add to “the increasingly complex and shaky nature of the foundation upon which young Americans were taught to stand.”

By contrast, traditional religious institutions and practices offer a compelling source of solidarity amid the chaos. This shift “from screens to sanctuaries” tells us something about the depth of anxiety in our day but also about the “God-shaped emptiness” we seek to fill.

How to “discern his presence in the midst of the noise”

I would be the last person to advocate conflating golf with worship and attending the Masters with attending church services. But I do think their similarities point to something significant about our souls.

From weekly worship to daily spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, solitude, fasting, and meditation, we were made for God and made for the rhythms by which we experience him with personal intimacy. As Dr. Ryan Denison notes in his latest Daily Article, when we engage in these practices with our hearts focused on our Father, we “discern his presence in the midst of the noise” in our lives.

From the hushed beauty of Augusta National to the quiet of a room behind a closed door (Matthew 6:6), the divine presence is as close as our knees and as powerful as his omnipotence. Our Father calls us today to “be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

When was the last time you accepted his invitation?

Denison Forum

Why the device that helped save an American pilot is sparking controversy today

New information continues to emerge in the remarkable story of how the American pilot shot down in Iran was rescued on Easter. In the press conference announcing the operation’s success, President Trump alluded to a top-secret device that the CIA used to help locate the missing airman. In the days since, reports have begun to leak that the technology in question is called the “Ghost Murmur” and, depending on who you talk to, is either a quantum leap in our ability to detect electromagnetic signals like a human heartbeat or a gross exaggeration based more in science fiction than in real science.

So, what does the device do, and where does it fall along that spectrum?

When the New York Post broke the story earlier this week, they described the Ghost Murmur as a device that uses “long-range quantum magnetometry to find the electromagnetic signal of a human heartbeat and pairs the data with artificial intelligence software to isolate the signature from background noise.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Is the “Ghost Murmur” miracle tech or a military myth? →

President Trump announced on Truth Social late yesterday afternoon that he would “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” subject to Iran’s “agreeing to the complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz.” He added that the US is “very far along with a  definitive agreement concerning long-term peace with Iran, and peace in the Middle East,” and stated that a “two-week period will allow the agreement to be finalized and consummated.”

Mr. Trump’s announcement delayed what he had warned would be an attack that would cause “a whole civilization” to “die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, responded with a statement on behalf of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council: “If attacks against Iran are halted, our powerful armed forces will cease their defensive operations. For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s armed forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.”

This is obviously good news for the people of Iran and for those in neighboring states whom Tehran had threatened to attack if attacked by the US. Stock futures in the US surged over a thousand points this morning, while oil plunged.

Continue reading Denison Forum – President Trump announces two-week ceasefire in Iran war →

The path to sustaining hope in uncertain times

The Artemis 2 crew is scheduled to return to Earth tomorrow, splashing down off the coast of San Diego, California, around 8:07 p.m. ET. As the Economist reports, they are “returning to a planet they have cheered up.”

From traveling further into space than any humans before, to naming an unrecorded moon crater for the mission commander’s late wife, to picturing an astronaut silhouetted by a luminous view of Earth, the article notes that “emotion, in the capsule and among millions watching from the ground, has been a significant part of the whole affair.”

We have needed to be “cheered up,” to be sure.

“A stunning advance in artificial intelligence”

The two-week ceasefire with Iran announced on April 7 postponed what the Wall Street Journal called the “threat [that] gripped the world.” However, Iran stopped oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday in response to Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. President Trump stated that Lebanon was not part of the truce agreement, but Vice President JD Vance is now affirming that Israel will rein in its attacks to preserve the ceasefire.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Artemis 2 is “returning to a planet they have cheered up” →

Four astronauts aboard Artemis 2 are on their way home this morning. They broke the record for human travel on Monday afternoon, flying more than 248,655 miles from Earth and surpassing NASA’s Apollo 13 mission in 1970. Orion flew behind the moon last night, losing communications with our planet for forty minutes while reaching its maximum distance from our planet, 252,756 miles away.

Commander Reid Wiseman told President Trump, “We saw sights that no human has ever seen.”

The crewmembers are sharing a cabin roughly the size of two minivans. They sleep in bags attached to the wall of the craft, exercise on a flywheel machine, and share a toilet (with private doors). Their flight is historic not only for its distance into space but for the composition of their crew, which includes the first woman, the first Canadian, and the first Black astronaut to travel to the moon.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Artemis 2 pilot: There are no atheists “on top of rockets” →

The movie A Great Awakening is in theatres and sparking great interest in the historical story it tells. While primarily focusing on the unlikely partnership between Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield (to be explained below), it also portrays a mighty spiritual movement instrumental to the founding of our nation.

The First Great Awakening (sometimes simply called “The Great Awakening”) is typically dated from 1735 to 1743, though its effects lasted long in the nation it helped to birth.

The awakening began amid a dire spiritual crisis in the colonies. Not one in twenty people claimed to be a Christian. Samuel Blair, a pastor of the day, said religion lay as it were dying and ready to expire its last breath of life.

But Theodore Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Reformed minister who had come to the New World from Holland in 1720, would not give up on his adopted homeland. He began praying fervently for revival to come to the colonies, first with himself and his church, and then with his larger community. Others joined his fledgling prayer movement. The Spirit began to move.

As a Harvard student during the First Great Awakening wrote, “There is a great and glorious work of the Spirit of God among us.”

Two preachers are especially identified with this “work.”

Jonathan Edwards and the wrath of God

The first is Jonathan Edwards (1703–58). Edwards’ father and grandfather were both pastors. After rigorous homeschooling, he entered Yale College at the age of thirteen and later became a tutor there.

Edwards is widely considered the greatest theologian America has produced. He was an intellectual recluse who studied twelve hours a day and read his sermons, face buried in his manuscript. When he experienced the anointing and power of God, however, his sermons took on an electrifying capacity to lead hearers to repentance.

His most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was printed and widely circulated throughout the area. One passage reads:

The wrath of God burns against [sinners], their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened her mouth under them.

In another, he warned sinners of the urgency of repentance:

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. . . . There is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up.

Edwards’ message awakened many who thought their church affiliation was sufficient for their salvation, transcending denominational boundaries to help spark a transforming spiritual movement.

George Whitefield and the attraction of the gospel

The other great preacher of the First Great Awakening was George Whitefield (1714–70). His influence was so massive that Thomas S. Kidd, one of America’s foremost church historians, titled his biography George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father.

While a student at Oxford, Whitefield became closely associated with John and Charles Wesley. At their invitation, though only twenty-five at the time, he joined them in their missionary work in the colony of Georgia in 1738. He spent the rest of his life preaching throughout the American colonies and itinerantly in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

In total, he made seven trips to America. He usually woke at 4 a.m. and began to preach at 5 or 6 a.m. In one week, he often preached a dozen times, spending forty or fifty hours in the pulpit.

In the colonies, Whitefield embarked on multiple tours up and down the eastern seaboard. He spoke in churches and outdoors; his voice was so powerful that as many as 30,000 people could hear him. He focused on slaves, Native Americans, and colonists of all social strata. On one occasion, more than 8,000 people in New York City heard him preach (the city’s population was 8,624 at the time).

Whitefield’s theatrical style was unlike anything most in the New World had heard. His preaching electrified his audiences and sparked a massive response to the gospel. Benjamin Franklin noted his appeal and began printing his sermons and promoting his ministry, forming an unlikely partnership that greatly expanded Whitefield’s ministry.

Approximately 80 percent of all American colonists heard him preach at least once. Aside from  British royalty, he was perhaps the only living person whose name would have been known by any colonial American.

Whitefield’s farewell sermon on Boston Commons drew twenty-three thousand people, more than Boston’s entire population and probably the largest crowd that had ever gathered in America.

Calvinism and evangelism

One of the significant distinctives of both Edwards and Whitefield was their strong Calvinistic theology, which emphasized the sovereignty of God in all realms of life. This would seem a deterrent to evangelism, but both believed (as did Charles Spurgeon and many other Calvinists afterwards) that it was rather an incentive: if you are in the elect, when you hear the gospel, you will respond. If you do not respond, that is not the fault of the preacher but the non-elect hearer.

In addition, with regard to salvation, Calvinistic theology emphasized that the elect are saved apart from any works on their part. In a day that defined spirituality by church attendance and personal morality, this message was a powerful incentive to repentance and faith, the acknowledgement that we are utterly lost apart from grace and that receiving grace is our only hope.

Multitudes responded: as a result of this transforming movement, as much as 80 percent of the colonial population became identified with a Christian church.

But many did not. The awakening caused a split between those who followed the evangelical message (the “New Lights”) and those who rejected it (the “Old Lights”). Elite ministers in British America were firmly Old Lights and censured the new revivalism as emotionalism and chaos.

On occasion, they were right. In 1743, an influential New Light minister named James Davenport urged his listeners to burn books. The next day, he encouraged them to burn their clothes as a sign of their casting off the sinful trappings of the fallen world. To set an example, he took off his own pants and threw them into the fire, but a woman saved them and tossed them back to Davenport, telling him he had gone too far.

Uniting the colonies and breaking the bonds of England

The evangelical awakening sparked by the Holy Spirit not only led multitudes to Christ—it also changed the trajectory of the nation America was to become.

Recall that Edwards and Whitefield were strong Calvinists, emphasizing the fact that salvation is by grace apart from any works we can do on our own behalf. This insistence not only led many to repent of their sins and accept such grace but also broke down denominational barriers and helped unite the very disparate colonies in a larger spiritual movement.

Prior to the awakening, the colonies were deeply divided by religious affiliation: the majority of New Englanders belonged to congregational churches, while the Middle Colonies were composed of Quakers, Anglicans, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, the Dutch Reformed, and Congregationalists. Southern colonists were mostly Anglicans, but there were many Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers as well.

However, Edwards and especially Whitefield persuaded many that church membership not only does not save, but religion apart from grace can be a detriment to knowing and following God fully. The awakening helped bridge denominational, social, and economic gaps and was crucial in forging a singular American identity.

The awakening served yet another purpose in colonial America: it convinced many that their liberty was a gift from God, not the British crown.

The Church of England was and is under the titular authority of the British monarch. Its leaders serve at his or her pleasure; its members understand themselves to be under the rule of their secular ruler. The Great Awakening, by bringing multitudes into personal relationship with God apart from clerical or secular authority, helped break this bond with England.

From Awakening to Revolution

The children of the Awakening, therefore, became the soldiers of the Revolution.

Thomas Kidd was right: just as George Washington can be seen as America’s secular founding father, George Whitefield was our spiritual founding father. He and those who worked with him to advance the gospel helped create the nation whose 250^th anniversary we celebrate this July.

Now it’s our turn to pick up their torch, to continue preaching the same message that so animated their minds and inflamed their hearts.

If America’s past was dependent on the liberty found only in the gospel, how much more is our future?

Denison Forum

Last Friday, an American F-15E fighter jet was hit by incoming fire and crashed inside Iran. One of the two crew members was quickly rescued. According to the Wall Street Journal, what came next was “one of the most complex search-and-rescue efforts for the US Air Force in enemy territory in decades.”

The second airman, a weapons system officer, had ejected and sent a message over his radio, saying, “God is good.” He was injured but hiked up a seven-thousand-foot mountain ridgeline and hid in a crevice. While evading capture, he activated an emergency beacon that allowed US forces to locate him.

Iranian officials issued a public plea for locals to find him, offering a reward of $60,000 (equivalent to a multi-million-dollar salary in the US).  To confuse Iranians in pursuit, CIA operatives spread a false message that both crew members of the downed jet had already been found. US aircraft also dropped bombs on convoys approaching the area where the airman was hiding.

Sunday morning, President Trump announced that the “highly respected colonel” had been rescued and is safe. Mr. Trump plans to speak to reporters about the operation today at 1 p.m. ET.

Why would the US go to such lengths to recover a single pilot?

The answer says much about our nation’s past and our collective future.

Russian soldiers bribe their officers to stay alive

Since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began, Russian forces have suffered nearly 1.2 million casualties. Soldiers on the front lines must bribe their officers to avoid being shot by drones or other soldiers, tied to trees to freeze, or denied medical care. Many who refuse to pay are tortured.

During its war with Iraq, Iran marched child soldiers into fields to clear mines and prepare the way for Iranian tanks. In 2016 alone, the Islamic State sent 1,112 Muslims to their deaths in suicide attacks. During World War II, Japan ordered more than 3,800 pilots to fly kamikaze missions.

In the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the Chinese army killed at least ten thousand of their own citizens. By some estimates, Iranian authorities massacred more than thirty thousand fellow Iranians in last January’s protests.

By contrast, the United States is founded on the creedal conviction that “all men are created equal” and endowed by our Creator with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In a world dominated by monarchies, dictatorships, and theocracies, this was a declaration never before embraced by a nation.

What was the source of this insistence on individual liberty?

A great film depicts a great partnership

My wife and I saw A Great Awakening last Friday and highly recommend it to you. The film tells the story of the unlikely friendship between deist Benjamin Franklin and evangelist George Whitefield, a partnership that proved pivotal to America’s founding.

Whitefield preached gospel messages all across the colonies, calling massive crowds to repentance and faith in Christ. Franklin printed, at significant personal profit, Whitefield’s sermons and other materials regarding his ministry.

And, according to Franklin, Whitefield’s message changed the nation that America became.

In one scene, Franklin explains to a British general the colonies’ frustrations with the crown: “Across that ocean, an entire generation of Americans have been awakened to believe that liberty is not a gift given to them by a king, but a right given to them by God.” Years after American independence, as Franklin and his grandson are discussing Whitefield’s work, the grandson asks whether Whitefield played any role in the American Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin replied, “He was the Revolution.”

“They worshiped him, but some doubted”

On this Monday after Easter Sunday, what was Jesus doing? Luke reports that “until the day he was taken up” to heaven, “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:2, 3).

“By many proofs” can be literally translated “by a great number of evidences and convincing signs.” Why did Jesus’ followers need such persuasion?

Matthew tells us, “when they saw [the risen Christ] they worshiped him, but some doubted” (Matthew 28:17). This was because, as the brilliant theologian N. T. Wright noted, the concept of a body rising from the dead never to die again was foreign not only to Greek thinkers but to the Jews as well. As a result, even though Jesus frequently predicted his resurrection (cf. Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19), none of his followers expected it.

The women returned to the tomb Sunday morning to finish burying his body (Luke 24:1). When they told the apostles that they had met the risen Christ, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (v. 11). So Jesus delayed his return to paradise until his followers understood his resurrection to be not a myth, legend, or tradition, but a fact that changes everything.

Only when they knew him to be alive and experienced him personally as their Lord could they advance the global mission he intended for them.

“Too legible characters not to be understood”

The same is true today.

George Whitefield reminded colonial Americans, “The fall of man is written in too legible characters not to be understood: Those that deny it, by their denying, prove it.” He also observed, “The sinner can no more raise himself from the deadness of sin than Lazarus, who had been dead four days, until Jesus came.” By contrast, Whitefield declared, “It is God alone who can subdue and govern the unruly wills of sinful men.”

To return to the story with which we began, we are all trapped behind the “lines” of our spiritual enemy and cannot rescue ourselves (Romans 3:23; 5:12). This fact explains the urgency and the grace of Easter.

If, like the early disciples, you doubt the reality of the resurrection, let me encourage you to examine the evidence for yourself. If, however, you believe that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, let me ask you: When last did you experience him as your living Lord?

If Jesus is alive in our lives, he can act in ways a dead teacher never could. He can forgive our sins and save our souls. He can heal our bodies and comfort us in our grief. He can empower us by his Spirit and use us for eternal significance. He can set our hearts at liberty and bring our nation to himself.

All Jesus has ever done, he can still do. What he did through his first followers, he can do through you and me this day. But we must experience his risen presence if we are to be catalysts for the change our fallen culture needs so desperately.

George Whitefield was right:

“We can preach the gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts.”

Have you “experienced the power” of the risen Christ yet today?

Quote for the day:

“Christ is worth all, or he is worth nothing.” —George Whitefield

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Denison Forum

A Good Friday reflection

Delta Flight 104, with 272 passengers and 14 crew, had just departed São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport on Sunday when flames shot out from its left engine. Passengers screamed for the pilots to “turn around” the jet. They immediately declared an emergency, shut down the affected engine, and circled back to the airport, landing safely shortly after departure.

Video from inside the cabin shows passengers erupting into applause and cheers when the aircraft came to a stop. No injuries were reported.

Imagine yourself inside that airplane. If you could speak to the pilots, what would you say to them today? A year from today?

Let’s come back to that thought and its Good Friday relevance in a moment.

I was once given a ticket for what the officer claimed was an illegal left turn. I disagreed, but an attorney convinced me that the chances of winning my argument in court were nil. So I paid a fine and received deferred adjudication. By avoiding another ticket for six months, I also avoided what is known as a “final conviction.”

This was by the grace of my attorney friend. He advised me prior to my hearing, drove me to the courthouse, pled my case before the judge, and negotiated the mercy I received. He would not let me pay him for his time.

What he did not do was die for me.

Imagine that I had committed a capital offense and had been sentenced to death, and that the court somehow allowed my friend to die in my place. In that case, his sacrifice would make logical sense. My penalty was death, so he died to pay it.

However, I was accused of committing an illegal left turn. For my friend to die to pay for my crime would make no logical sense at all.

This episode constitutes the entirety of my experience with our court system. I have never committed murder or otherwise done anything for which the sentence is death.

Why, then, in atoning for my sins, did Jesus have to die for them?

Why do we call this day “Good” Friday?

We call this day of Holy Week “Good Friday,” though I can assure you no one present on that day called it that. The earliest use of the title is in a text from around AD 1290. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that “good” in this context refers to “a day or season observed as holy by the church.” Others think the title is a version of “God’s Friday.”

Etymology aside, humanity has an excellent reason to call this day “good.”

On this day, Jesus “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). But why did he have to die to do so?

Sin cuts us off from the holy God who “gives to all mankind life and breath” (Acts 17:25; cf. Psalm 36:9; John 1:4) and leads eventually and ultimately to death (Romans 6:23). If you cut a flower from its roots, the flower will die.

The “debt” incurred by sin, therefore, must be paid by death—either ours or someone else’s on our behalf. But since every other human (except Jesus) has sinned as we have, they have their own debt to pay and cannot also pay ours (cf. Romans 3:23). If I have $100 and owe $100, I cannot use my money to pay your debt as well.

This is one reason the Gospels so adamantly demonstrate Jesus’ innocence with regard to his trials and conviction (cf. Luke 23:14–15; John 18:38). If he had committed sin, his death could not pay for our sins. But because he was “tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), he had no debt of his own to pay and thus could pay ours.

“God’s love and justice came together”

However, there was another option: Why could God not simply forgive our debt?

If you run into my car on the street, I can forgive you without requiring your death or even that you pay for the damages. Similarly, the judge in my case had the power to dismiss all charges. If he wished, he could simply have forgiven me for my alleged misdeeds.

But he could not do so and do his job. The policeman who issued my ticket was as convinced of my guilt as I was of my innocence. The judge had no way to satisfy the demands of justice while ignoring or forgiving my legal debt.

The Bible says that God is both love (1 John 4:8) and holy (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). With regard to our sins, how is he to be both? Billy Graham expressed God’s quandary this way:

If God were simply to forgive our sins without judging them, then there would be no justice, no accountability for wrongdoing. God would not be truly holy and just.

But if God were simply to judge us for our sins as we deserve, there would be no hope of salvation for any of us. His love would have failed to provide what we need.

Dr. Graham explained the answer: “The cross is the only way to resolve the problem of sin. At the cross, God’s love and justice came together.”

If the judge in my case had pronounced me guilty and then paid the fine himself, he would have been loving and just. There was no other logical way for him to be both.

“Unless there is a Good Friday in your life”

Imagine that someone died physically in your place. Perhaps a soldier shielded you from a grenade that would have killed you, or a police officer stepped in front of a bullet meant for you. Would you go a day of your life without remembering their sacrifice? If they somehow came back to life, what would you do to express your gratitude to them?

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen noted,

“Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.”

You and I will have all of eternity to thank Jesus for this day.

But remember, eternity starts today.

Quote for the day:

“If we want to know what God is like, let us look at Calvary.” —Robert E. Coleman

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Denison Forum

A Maundy Thursday reflection

Yesterday was filled with headline news, including:

• Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court as the justices considered the question of birthright citizenship.
• NASA’s Artemis II mission to circle the moon launched last night at 6:35 p.m. ET. Watching the rocket lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida was awe-inspiring.
• President Trump addressed the nation last night, stating that the United States’ “core strategic objectives” in Iran are “nearing completion” a month after Operation Epic Fury began.

However, I want to focus on this Maundy Thursday on news that isn’t making headlines in our culture but is being celebrated in heaven.

Recent studies show that eighty million Americans believe a spiritual revival is coming to our nation. Of those participating in the survey, young adults (statistically the most unchurched generation in history) are surprisingly the most likely to agree.

A story I read this week shows why.

 “I never knew God loved me”

Jennie Allen is a New York Times bestselling author and founder of IF:Gathering and Gather25, part of what Christian Post describes as a “vision to mobilize the global Church.” According to the article, she has been visiting college campuses with the Unite ministry and was invited to speak at Southeastern University in Florida last month.

The Dallas-based Bible teacher said, “We have been blessed to be on the road on about twenty campuses. And we have seen over and over again a huge response to repentance, to the gospel, to baptism, and it’s just been beautiful and amazing.”

This was especially true at Southeastern. After her message, she said, “The room did confession, which I’ve done in many rooms before. But a girl yelled out ‘abortion’ as loud as she could.” The student then collapsed to the floor. “I think after that, it got real,” Allen said. “Everyone began saying things that were harder to say.”

The gathering continued for hours and eventually days, with students staying for worship and prayer late into the night.

Allen, a mother of four, said she’s personally baptized hundreds of students over the past two and a half years. According to her, the desperation many young people feel is fueling their spiritual openness. She recalled, “A seven-foot athlete stood in front of me with tears falling down his face and said, ‘I never knew God loved me.’”

Gen Z’s faith gives her hope for the future of the church. “They’re so compelled by the love of God that they want to make a difference,” she said. “Jesus changed their life, and they want other people to experience that too.”

“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride”

Maundy Thursday was one of the most pivotal days in history. On this night, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, surrendered to the soldiers, and was illegally tried and condemned by the Sanhedrin. The next day, he would be crucified.

But one part of what transpired then has riveted my attention today. As you know, Jesus shared what we call the “Last Supper” with his disciples on this day (Matthew 26:26–29). This is the phrase that caught my eye: “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant . . .” (vv. 27–28, my emphasis).

Remember who was at the table with Jesus that night: Judas, who would betray him, Peter, who would deny him, and nine other “disciples” who would abandon him. Only John would be present with him at the cross. The rest would fail him in his hour of greatest need.

Yet, astonishingly, he included them all in the Supper that symbolized his body and blood given for them. And, just as astonishingly, he includes us as well. All of us. Any of us who know him as Lord will be with him at his table in paradise.

Isaiah saw a day when “the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food,” a day when “he will swallow up death forever” and “wipe away tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:6, 8). On that day, Jesus said, “many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). He compared this event to “a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” (Matthew 22:2; cf. Luke 14:16).

Now comes the most amazing part: at “the marriage supper of the Lamb,” the bride is us (Revelation 19:7, 9).

Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Now, as “a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2), we are “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (v. 9; cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2). And “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5).

“The core truth of our existence”

Here’s my point: Your Savior loves you as passionately and unconditionally as a perfect husband would love his wife.

When you said “I do” to him as your Savior and Lord, you became his “bride.” Nothing can change your status as his beloved. Nothing can make him love you any more or any less than he did when he died for you. You are loved as you are, no matter what you do or do not do today.

Unfortunately, everything in our culture conditions us to believe the opposite about ourselves. If you are a student, your progress depends on your grades. If you have a job, your income depends on how well you do it. If you’re an athlete, a musician, a painter, an actor, or a writer (in my case), your success depends on your performance. Even your family is not exempt from transactionalism: your spouse can divorce you, your children can disown you, and your parents can disinherit you.

By contrast, as Henri Nouwen wrote in his marvelous book Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World:

The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: “These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity.”

Nouwen assured us that “being the Beloved expresses the core truth of our existence.” And he added:

“That is the spiritual life: the chance to say ‘Yes’ to our inner truth. The spiritual life, thus understood, radically changes everything.”

Will you say yes to your “inner truth” today?

Quote for the day:

“When we keep claiming the light, we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant.” —Henri Nouwen

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Denison Forum

A Holy Wednesday reflection

The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Colorado’s ban on LGBTQ “conversion therapy” for young people infringes on the free speech rights of a Christian counselor. Their ruling reversed a lower court’s decision that had upheld the law.

According to Associated Press, “The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.” Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint” and added that the First Amendment “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”

Notably, the Court ruled eight-to-one, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson the lone dissenter.

However, the news is not all positive on the religious liberty front. The Family Research Council has documented 1,384 “acts of hostility toward US churches” occurring between January 2018 and December 2024. Catholic churches have especially come under attack in this country.

In the Middle East, the Hoover Institution reports that Christianity is declining rapidly due to the persecution of believers. In Finland, a member of the Parliament and a Lutheran Church bishop were convicted for writing and publishing a pamphlet twenty years ago defending biblical sexual morality. In India, Christian groups are speaking out against legislation they say could enable the government to seize their properties.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Supreme Court rules against ban on “conversion therapy” →

A Holy Tuesday reflection

My wife and I drove past a “No Kings” rally in our city last Saturday, where we saw a sign that said, “Be kind!” Another announced in rainbow colors, “Love wins!” Next to them, paradoxically, a man was waving his hand-lettered whiteboard, “[expletive deleted] Trump!”

Not to be partisan, but signs using a euphemism for the same expletive abounded when Joe Biden was president.

This bipolarity is reflected and empowered by the media daily. If a new article in the Atlantic is to be believed, America under Donald Trump is now a “rogue superpower.” However, if a recent editorial in Fox News is correct, “Trump is breaking Middle East’s old power structure” in ways that will produce more positive geopolitical alignments in the future.

You can buy a yard sign displaying a MAGA acrostic, “Morons Are Governing America.” Or you can purchase one proclaiming, “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING.”

If you’re somewhere in the middle, you’re out of yard sign luck.

Continue reading Denison Forum – “Morons Are Governing America” vs. “Trump Was Right About Everything” →

A Holy Monday reflection

More than 3,200 “No Kings” rallies were held Saturday across the US. Event organizers estimate more than eight million people attended protests against President Donald Trump’s actions and policies. The name reportedly comes from organizers’ belief that Mr. Trump is acting like a monarch rather than the leader of a democracy.

Whether you joined the protests, are strongly opposed to them, or wish I would write about something else, the demonstrations illustrate this fact about America: our First Amendment “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” is alive and well.

Imagine similar rallies being held in Iran, Cuba, or China. Actually, you don’t have to use your imagination: When citizens tried in recent years to protest their government publicly in these countries, they were massacred by the thousands. On my trips to Cuba and China, I was cautioned not to speak against the government even in private conversations due to the likelihood that paid informants would be listening. I was also warned that my hotel room was likely bugged and that what I said, even there, was being monitored by the authorities.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why the “No Kings” rallies are good news for America →

In simple terms, Critical Race Theory (CRT) says America still possesses racism that’s at least partially hidden, but still serious. Some level of racism lurks in how we as Americans define what is “normal” in the criminal justice system, in laws, in all levels of education, etc.

Put another way, CRT says that American institutions (i.e., government, education, media, criminal justice system), social norms (i.e., what clothes to wear, how to speak, etiquette, etc.), and many widely held beliefs (i.e., religion, patriotism, philosophies) are corrupted by obscured yet widespread racism.

CRT’s goal is equitable outcomes between races and comprehensive liberation for all minorities.

Interestingly, what this liberation should look like and other fundamental questions, are often left unanswered by CRT. As a theory, CRT primarily critiques other theories while offering few positive values or beliefs. It prioritizes action and results over ideals.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a CRT legal scholar and the one who coined the term CRT, once remarked that CRT is like a verb in nature, since it is dynamic and action-oriented. According to CRT, there is no such thing as “neutral” scholarship or “neutral” theories; scholarship always includes social influences, motivations, and biases.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What is Critical Race Theory and is it biblical? →

Why the latest court case in California could bring big changes for Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms

Earlier this week, a court in California ruled that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and Google’s YouTube were liable for damages of $4.2 million and $1.8 million respectively after the companies were sued by a 20-year-old woman—known as KGM during the trial—for creating products that she claims led to anxiety, depression, and a host of other problems in her life. Snapchat and TikTok were also named in the original suit but settled before it went to trial.

When I first read the headlines about the California case, it sounded like the latest in the long line of frivolous lawsuits that make the news from time to time. And to be honest, that’s still where I land to an extent. However, the details of the case are interesting, and the verdict could provide a framework for the thousands of similar lawsuits currently pending.

To this point, social media companies have largely claimed immunity from any damage their products have caused by citing their First Amendment rights. Courts have regularly held that they are, for the most part, not liable for the content posted by other users on their sites, and the Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a similar defense for major internet providers.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Is social media the new tobacco? →

Today’s headlines continue to center on Iran, a country some six thousand miles from the US. Meanwhile, I’m focusing on a location approximately 231,000 miles (the distance varies throughout the year) from us: NASA has announced plans to construct a $20 billion base on the moon’s surface.

Humans were last on the moon in 1972. Why go back now?

Joseph Silk, a Johns Hopkins and Oxford astrophysicist, explains that telescopes constructed there could see much further into space, adding immeasurably to our knowledge of the universe. He adds that rare earth elements critical for modern technologies are “a thousand times more abundant” on the moon than on earth.

And there’s the residual benefit of space exploration. Over the decades, CAT scans, baby formula, home insulation, camera phones, and portable computers and mice were all derived from technology first developed for space travel.

But there’s more. In his 1962 speech announcing the goal of traveling to the moon that decade, President John F. Kennedy cited the great British explorer George Mallory, who died on Mount Everest. When asked why he wanted to climb it, Mallory said simply, “Because it is there.”

President Kennedy added: “Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it.”

There is something in us that wants to make an impact in life that surpasses and outlives us. This is a “signal of transcendence” (to use sociologist Peter Berger’s phrase), a desire that points to a dimension for which this transitory world is a means to an eternal end.

You and I are unlikely to seek such significance through space travel, but we can nonetheless live this day for its highest purpose.

How?

“The last of the human freedoms”

A traditional Jewish response to someone grieving the death of a loved one is to say, “May their memory be a blessing.” This sentiment has ancient roots.

Wise King Solomon observed, “The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot” (Proverbs 10:7). Righteous translates the Hebrew for someone who is “upright” and “devout,” while wicked describes the opposite, a person who is unrighteous, criminal, and impious. When the former are remembered, people thank God for them and are blessed by their memory, while the reputation and memory of the latter will “rot” and decay over time.

I think of Adolf Hitler, who was hailed as a national savior when he rose to power in Germany but whose name is now synonymous with the absolute worst of humanity. By contrast, Harry Truman was one of the most unpopular politicians in the United States when he left office in January 1953, but historians today rank him among our greatest presidents.

I say all of that to say this: Our character is more important to our impact on the world than our circumstances. We cannot always control or predict the latter. However, as Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

The famed psychiatrist added: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

But there’s a catch.

“The young man who rings the bell at the brothel”

The theologian and novelist Frederick Buechner observed, “Lust is the craving for salt of a person who is dying of thirst.” The French philosopher Simone Weil would have agreed, asserting that “all sins are attempts to fill voids.”

However, the “voids” we attempt to fill are ultimately symptoms of a single source. As the Scottish novelist Bruce Marshall had one of his characters say, “The young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God.”

You and I possess a “God-shaped emptiness” because we were created for intimacy with our Creator. The psalmist therefore spoke for us all: “My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Psalm 84:2).

Accordingly, he prayed, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!” (v. 4). When we experience such intimacy with the Almighty, though we travel through the deserts of the “Valley of Baca,” we “make it a place of springs” (v. 6). This is why the psalmist could say to God, “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (v. 10).

But there’s a catch.

“It was character that got us out of bed”

The key to the spiritual life is being yielded daily to the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). However, our spiritual enemy wants us to do anything more than he wants us to do this. Accordingly, Oswald Chambers warned, “Christian work may be a means of evading the soul’s concentration on Christ.”

We can focus on working for God in his “courts” so fully that we do not walk with him through the day. Consequently, as Chambers noted in today’s My Utmost for His Highest reading, “If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must scorn to do or think, some legitimate things we must scorn to touch.”

The good in this world can be the enemy of the best in the next. This is because, as Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), and our Father now “calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12).

One day “the kingdom of the world” will “become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). The best way for our lives to be significant on that day is to make him our King today.

Whatever it takes, whatever he asks, whatever the cost.

Zig Ziglar noted,

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”

Will you partner with the Spirit in choosing all three today, to the glory of God?

Quote for the day:

“Your commitments can develop you or destroy you, but either way, they will define you.” —Rick Warren

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