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

Denison Forum

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

Denison Forum

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

Denison Forum

“In this moment the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas.” This is how US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described a ceasefire proposal that he called “extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel.”

In its first phase, Hamas would release as many as thirty-three hostages in exchange for a pause in hostilities in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners. A second phase, described as the “restoration of sustainable calm,” would include the exchange of the remaining hostages, captive Israeli soldiers, and the bodies of hostages for more Palestinian prisoners.

If Hamas accepts the proposal, will this bring peace to the Middle East?

Tragically not, so long as Hamas remains pledged to Israel’s complete destruction. If your neighbor publicly vowed to murder your family and burn down your house, I doubt you’d invite him to dinner.

If the protesters went to Gaza

While no one would blame you for defending your family, activists across our country continue to blame Israel for doing the same.

Student protesters at Columbia University declared this morning that they had taken over a building on the campus after defying a deadline to disperse. Protesters and police clashed yesterday at the University of Texas in a confrontation that resulted in dozens of arrests. The number of arrests at campuses nationwide is now approaching a thousand.

Imagine, however, what would happen if these activists actually went to Gaza: women would be subjugated, while gay and transgender individuals would likely be imprisoned or executed.

Ironically, the protesters would be far safer in the hands of the IDF in Gaza than with Hamas.

The Israeli soldiers whose work in Gaza is being so roundly condemned actually have a strong claim to being the most moral army in the world. In strong contrast with Hamas, the IDF operates by a clear code stating that “every individual is of inherent value, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, or status.” Women and LGBTQ individuals are not their victims—they actually fight in their army.

But what about Palestinian civilian casualties?

According to one analysis, for every Hamas combatant eliminated, approximately 1.5 civilians have been tragically killed. Since the United Nations estimates that civilians typically make up 90 percent of the casualties in a war, this is an impressive ratio.

Given that Hamas hides its soldiers behind the Palestinian civilians it was elected to serve, it is even more so.

What students at Columbia are reading

You may be wondering why you don’t hear these facts from university protesters and the mainstream media. There’s a reason for that.

Many of the professors and journalists supporting the current activists were students in an era forged by Vietnam War anti-government protests, the rise of the sexual revolution, and the postmodern rejection of absolute truth and objective morality. Now, as George Packer notes in the Atlantic, their revisionist ideas are “so pervasive and unquestioned that they’ve become the instincts of students who are occupying their campuses today.”

To illustrate: New York Times columnist Ross Douthat explored the syllabus at Columbia for a course titled “Contemporary Civilization.” He reports that its focus for the twentieth century “narrows to progressive preoccupations and only those preoccupations: anticolonialism, sex and gender, antiracism, climate.” Unsurprisingly, the now-popular “colonialist occupier” caricature of Israel makes it an easy target for opposition and Hamas an exemplar of revolution.

If students who represent our cultural future are this militant in imposing their ideology on their campuses, what will they do when they graduate into places of corporate, cultural, and political leadership? Will their identity politics that divides humanity into oppressors and oppressed and views Christians as bigoted and dangerous become even more pervasive?

When non-Christians believe the gospel

By contrast, one reason the Christian gospel is such “good news” is that its news is good for everyone. Whether you are Arab or Jew, Palestinian or Israeli, Black or White or Latino, Democrat or Republican or Independent, whatever your sexual orientation and gender identity, you are the creation of the Father and loved unconditionally by the Savior.

Here’s the catch:

Non-Christians typically believe the gospel to the degree that Christians live the gospel.

This week we’re responding to our perilous times by remembering that Jesus is “the light of men” (John 1:4) and the corresponding fact that his “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (v. 5).

Today, the transforming light of Christ shines through you and me when we demonstrate his inclusive love by our inclusive compassion and walk so closely with Jesus that others will know we walk with Jesus (cf. Acts 4:13).

St. Irenaeus (AD c. 120–c. 203) said of the Christians of his day:

Just as God’s creature, the sun, is one and the same the world over, so also does the Church’s preaching shine everywhere to enlighten all men who want to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Now it’s our turn.

Tuesday news to know:

• US to test ground beef in states with bird-flu outbreaks in dairy cows
• 4 law officers serving warrant are killed, 4 wounded in shootout at North Carolina home, police say
• Less is more: The case for “slow productivity” at work
• Deadly tornadoes rip through Oklahoma leaving thousands without power
• On this day in 1993: World Wide Web (WWW) launches in the public domain

Quote for the day:

“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” —John Calvin

Denison Forum

Are campus protests a picture of our cultural future?

Nearly nine hundred protesters have been arrested on US campuses in recent days, about 275 of them on Saturday. Activists staged a large event outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night, part of a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that has spread across the country and could continue through the summer at political conventions.

Columbia University became the epicenter of the movement due to its proximity to national media in New York and its status as an Ivy League institution. The campus is also home to a large Jewish student population, many of whom have faced harassment or attacks from protesters, fueling more media coverage and political scrutiny.

Columbia made more news when it banned a student protest leader who declared that “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” He said with regard to fighting a Zionist (someone such as myself who believes the Jews deserve a homeland in Israel), “I don’t fight to injure or for there to be a winner or a loser, I fight to kill.”

He added, “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”

Tragically, that’s already been done.

The “worst day” in modern Israel’s history

In the new edition of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli historian Tom Segev offers a brilliant overview of the modern history of the nation. He begins:

To Israelis, October 7, 2023, is the worst day in their country’s seventy-five-year history. Never before have so many of them been massacred and taken hostage on a single day. Thousands of heavily armed Hamas fighters managed to break through the Gaza Strip’s fortified border and into Israel, rampaging unimpeded for hours, destroying several villages and committing gruesome acts of brutality before Israeli forces could regain control.

Hamas leaders have vowed to repeat these attacks until Israel is destroyed. Consequently, Israel had no choice but to send the IDF into Gaza to destroy Hamas.

More than thirty-one thousand Palestinians have died since the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza began, a tragic fact that is a primary reason for pro-Palestinian protests across our country. In their rhetoric, Israel is completely at fault for these deaths.

However, American legal theory distinguishes between a “proximate” cause and an “actual” cause. The latter is the direct cause of an event, such as the car that runs a red light and crashes into your vehicle. The former is the event that caused the latter, such as the large truck that rams into a car, shoving it into the intersection so that it crashes into your car.

Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7 is the uncontestable proximate cause of all that has happened since. If Hamas had not launched its invasion and then used Palestinian civilians as human shields, not a single casualty resulting from Israel’s response in Gaza would have been harmed. It is therefore also a fact that, as the Wall Street Journal recently noted, “Those who genuinely care about the Palestinians should hope for Hamas’s defeat.”

MLK on “the hottest place in hell”

The US Army liberated the Dachau concentration camp on this day in 1945. With this sober fact as a historical backdrop, consider a letter written by the chairman of the World Holocaust Remembrance Center to the president of Columbia University. In it, Dani Dayan warns that the ongoing anti-Israel demonstrations at elite US colleges and universities are exactly what happened in Germany in the 1920s, just years before Nazis took over the country.

He therefore called on the president to “take a stand” as “thousands of Columbia faculty, staff, and students call for the elimination of the State of Israel and the abolition of Zionism.” He added: “Not a political stand. A moral stand. When it becomes crystal clear that abolishing the existence of the Jewish State is a prevalent ideology in Columbia, the president of the institution cannot remain silent.”

He then cited the Talmud’s teaching, “Silence is admission,” and reiterated, “Silence inevitably will be interpreted as tolerance or, even worse, consent.” He quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as saying that “the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

Dayan concluded his letter with a quote from Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace laureate who called indifference “the most insidious danger of all.”

An unthinkable and horrific future?

If the faculty and students at America’s elite intellectual institutions cannot stand unequivocally against the genocide of the Jewish people, what does this say about our culture?

Has our “post-truth” society become so confused and corrupted that it cannot condemn the rape, murder, and mutilation of innocent civilians at the hand of terrorist invaders pledged to their annihilation?

If so, is Dani Dayan right in warning that we are on the road to an unthinkable and horrific future?

I believe these are truly precarious days for our nation, a peril I plan to discuss with you this week. Each day, we’ll respond with the hope-filled reality that Jesus is “the light of men” (John 1:4, my emphasis), now and always.

For today, let’s embrace and share this fact:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

It never will.

Monday news to know:

• At least 4 killed in Oklahoma tornado outbreak, as threat of severe storms continues from Missouri to Texas
• Israel open to discussing “sustainable calm” in Gaza after initial hostage release: officials
• US and allies aim to help Ukraine bolster defenses after aid gap
• Birth rates in US hit historic low, CDC data show
• On this day in 2004: World War II monument opens in Washington, DC

Quote for the day:

“The purpose of God and the power of God is available for every man.” —G. Campbell Morgan

Denison Forum

If you care about someone whose K–12 school or institution of higher learning receives any federal funding, take note: their school may have to open girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, housing accommodations, and sports teams to boys who claim to “identify” as girls. Boys’ facilities and activities would likewise have to be accessible to biological girls who “identify” as boys. This is because the Department of Education has unilaterally expanded Title IX of the Civil Rights code, an amendment passed in 1972 that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex” by “any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” This was intended to prevent such discrimination with regard to athletic participation, facilities, and scholarships.

Now, however, “sex” has been made to include “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” The new regulations also require K–12 schools to accept a child’s gender identity regardless of their biological sex and without providing notice to, or seeking approval from, the child’s parents.

As First Liberty warns, the Title IX changes directly threaten our religious liberty. The Independent Women’s Forum also strongly condemns the regulation and plans to sue the Biden administration. Others will likely join them in legal opposition.

“Man’s trouble lies heavy on him”

We have been discussing this week our relativistic culture’s rejection of objective truth and morality. An example of such confusion is the controversy over National Public Radio’s new CEO and President, Katharine Maher. She suspended editor Uri Berliner in response to his recent essay criticizing the network’s progressive bias, a move that seems to reinforce his point.

We should not be surprised: when she was CEO of Wikipedia, Maher claimed that “there are many different truths” and stated, “I’m certain that the truth exists for you. And probably for the person sitting next to you. But this may not be the same truth.”

Jesus would disagree. He told his disciples, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32). Note the definite articles. As my wife, Janet Denison, wrote in her blog yesterday:

The only way we can truly be a disciple of Christ is to “abide” in his word. When we allow the opinions of others to influence truth, we have ceased to abide or dwell in the truth of Christ. And Jesus said it was his truth that would set us free (her emphasis).

Embracing Jesus’ truth is the only way to be set free from the burden of fallenness, finitude, and sin. Solomon described this burden well:

Man’s trouble lies heavy on him. For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it (Ecclesiastes 8:6–8).

The wise king would agree:

The more people reject biblical truth, the more they need it. The sicker the soul, the more urgent the Great Physician.

How can we share the truth effectively today?

Three practical responses

Paul stayed in Ephesus longer than anywhere else in his missionary journeys, “reasoning daily” for the gospel so effectively that “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:9–10). We have a fascinating window into his strategy through the testimony of non-Christians who heard him.

One: Show people why they need biblical truth.

An Ephesian who made his living by selling idols complained that “Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods” (v. 26). The apostle exposed the obvious illogic of the man’s livelihood: How can “gods made with hands” be true deities?

The biblical worldview is “True Truth,” as Francis Schaeffer noted. But to open minds to it, we often need to show them why they should consider its claims. With regard to the Title IX revisions noted earlier, for example, we can point to the tragic irony that the new version will defeat the very purpose for which the code was originally intended. Rather than ensuring that girls and boys receive equal support in our schools, it ensures that boys who “identify” as girls can unfairly compete against them and violate their private spaces.

Two: Leverage your influence.

When Paul wanted to address the uprising provoked by the Ephesian idol maker, “some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater” (v. 31). These were wealthy and distinguished citizens whose office was greatly coveted.

As their fellow Roman citizen and cultural leader, Paul obviously built personal relationships with them over his two years in Ephesus, illustrating James Davison Hunter’s thesis that culture changes as we achieve our highest place of influence and live there faithfully.

Three: Speak the truth in love.

The town clerk quelled the riot in Ephesus by reminding the crowd that Paul and his companions “are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess” (v. 37). They illustrated Peter’s admonition to defend our faith “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15) by manifesting the “fruit of the Spirit” in ways that impressed even their skeptics (Galatians 5:22–23).

Will you pray for God to raise up more Pauls today?

Will you be an answer to your prayer?

NOTE: This is my last note about our latest book, Between Compromise and Courage (2nd ed). We updated the book with four new topics: AI, end times, the rapture, and gun control. And we updated previous chapters on always-pressing topics: abortion, racism, suicide, and religious liberty. Our team prays that you’re equipped and inspired by this new book to be the salt and light Jesus calls us to be. Request your copy of our newest book today.

Thursday news to know:

• Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
• Biden says US to begin sending military equipment to Ukraine within “hours”
• US Supreme Court split over Idaho’s strict abortion ban in medical emergencies
• “Extraordinary”: George Washington’s 250-year-old cherries found buried at Mount Vernon
• On this day in 1990: Hubble Space Telescope placed in orbit

Quote for the day:

“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority.” —Rick Warren

Denison Forum

“The 7^th of October is going to be every day for you.” So screamed protesters at two Jewish Columbia University students just outside the campus gates. Others at Columbia called for Hamas to “burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” which would entail the murder of more than four million Jews, and chanted, “Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets too.”

Since Hamas terrorists murdered an estimated 1,200 men, women, and children in Israel last October 7, antisemitism has escalated dramatically in the US and especially on college campuses.

Columbia, an Ivy League school in New York City, became an epicenter when a tent city dubbed the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” was created on the school’s campus. Now pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments have spread to more than a dozen schools across the country. Students are calling for an end both to the Israel–Hamas war and to their universities’ investment in companies engaged with Israel.

School administrators at Columbia did report some progress early this morning in negotiations with pro-Palestinian protesters, who agreed to remove a significant number of tents from the lawn, ensure non-students would leave, and bar discriminatory or harassing language among the protesters.

Harvard University has closed its yard until Friday in anticipation of pro-Palestinian protests. Yale’s president is concerned about “reports of egregious behavior such as intimidation and harassment” on his campus. Officials at numerous schools are concerned that pro-Palestinian demonstrators will disrupt graduation ceremonies later this spring.

Jewish students are especially at risk. Some at Columbia have been assaulted and otherwise threatened. Jewish groups have been hiring extra security for Passover events.

What is behind these protests?

How can the answers help us engage our broken culture with redemptive truth?

“The only nation founded on a creed”

The day after the October 7 massacre, Columbia professor Joseph Massad praised the “awesome” scenes of the assault “witnessed by millions of jubilant Arabs.” In 2018, Columbia professor Hamid Dabashi posted on Twitter (now X): “Every dirty treacherous ugly and pernicious act happening in the world” could be traced to “the ugly name of Israel.”

As I noted in my ebook on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, protesters claim that Israel “colonized” its land from the rightful Palestinian owners and that it “occupies” territory that should belong to a free Palestine. As I explain in my book, both claims are absolutely false, both with regard to the history of the land and to current realities there.

However, we no longer live in a culture where truth is determined by what is right and wrong, factual or fallacious. As a result, it is difficult to have a reasoned conversation these days about Israel, abortion, same-sex marriage, transgender rights, or any other contested cultural issue.

G.K. Chesterton famously noted that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed.” Ours can be stated in a sentence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

But if these truths are no longer “self-evident,” are we then free to reject them?

• Darwin convinced many that we are not “created” by a “Creator” but the product of naturalistic processes.
• Anti-semitists and other racists, pornographers, and sex traffickers do not believe we are “created equal.”
• Abortion and euthanasia advocates do not believe that the “unalienable Rights” to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” extend to all.

Now we’re seeing a blatant rejection of our founding creed at some of our most elite educational institutions. What does this mean for our future as a democracy?

Beware this “work for God”

Self-governance will fail if people cannot govern themselves. And, as Scripture notes, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). This is why, as we have seen this week, we each need a daily, intimate relationship with the only One who can forgive our sins and transform our hearts.

The good news about human history is that anyone can change history. Paul’s unnamed nephew (Acts 23:16–22) and a Roman officer named Claudius Lysias (Acts 21:31–23:30) were instrumental in saving the apostle from his enemies, enabling his ministry in Rome (Acts 28:30–31) and the last seven of his letters (Acts 23:16–22). Many of the Bible’s greatest heroes came from the unlikeliest of backgrounds.

According to Jesus, you and I are “the light of the world” today (Matthew 5:14). But we must be the change we wish to see. To manifest the love of God, we must experience the love of God (1 John 4:19).

This is why Oswald Chambers warned:

Beware of any work for God which enables you to evade concentration on him.

He explained: “A great many Christian workers worship their work. The one concern of a worker should be concentration on God.” Then he added:

There is no responsibility on you for the work; the only responsibility you have is to keep in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with him. . . . God engineers everything; wherever he puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to him in that particular work.

What is your “one great aim” today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Cable news coverage of Trump trial reflects a US divided
• Senate passes Ukraine, Israel aid package after monthslong fight
• US Congress approves bill banning TikTok unless Chinese owner ByteDance sells platform
• Israelis fled these towns after Hamas attacked. Now they’re coming home
• On this day in 1800: Library of Congress established

Quote for the day:

“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.” —St. Augustine

Denison Forum

The power of Christian character to change the culture

Let’s meet a couple whose commitment to Christ and to godliness is making headlines. Rebekah Hurford and Kirk Peter plan to get married one day, but they’ve never shared a passionate kiss and are waiting until marriage to do so. When the Christian couple began dating, they chose not to become intimate. They never sleep at the same place. They have had sexual relationships with others in the past which led to “broken trust” and “a lot of wounds,” so this time they’re choosing to live biblically.

How’s this working for them?

“The result of strong boundaries and saving ourselves until marriage has been the most joyful and stress-free relationship of my thirty-one years,” Hurford says. She added: “Don’t compromise in dating, ladies, the man who will honor you is out there.”

You might think I read their story in a Christian publication, but it’s actually a headline in the New York Post. So was this: “Scottie Scheffler has become golf’s unassuming megastar.” The article was published even before Scheffler won the Masters and then won again yesterday.

Though he is always quick to give the glory to God, as I noted after his triumph at Augusta, the secular world doesn’t seem to make the connection. One golf commentator went on and on Saturday describing what a “good person” Scheffler is with no mention of the real reason why.

It’s a fact: The darker the room, the more obvious and attractive the light.

A quick way to improve your health

Yesterday we focused on research indicating that perhaps as few as 5 percent of Americans attend religious services weekly. What are they missing?

A friend recently pointed out this article: “Why public health should attend to the spiritual side of life.” The subheading answers the question: “Research suggests weekly service attendance is associated with better health.”

The writer points to extensive evidence that “weekly religious service attendance is longitudinally associated with lower mortality risk, lower depression, less suicide, better cardiovascular disease survival, better health behaviors, and greater marital stability, happiness, and purpose in life,” linking to research for each outcome.

He also notes that about 40 percent of the increasing suicide rate in the United States from 1999 to 2014 could be attributed to declines in attendance at religious services during this period. According to another study, declining attendance from 1991 to 2019 accounted for 28 percent of the increase in depression among adolescents.

Again, you might think I’m quoting from Christianity Today or a similar publication, but this article was written by Tyler VanderWeele, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and published by Harvard.

The darker the room, the more obvious and attractive the light.

Benjamin Franklin on the power of faith

Our spiritual enemy has a strategy for combatting stories like the ones we’re discussing today. If he cannot get us to reject Christ, he’ll tempt us to adopt religion. That’s because he knows that religion cannot save anyone’s soul—only a personal relationship with Jesus can do that. Religion cannot transform the human heart—only the indwelling Holy Spirit can do that.

St. Basil the Great (AD 330–379) observed:

Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the status of adopted sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory—in a word, our being brought into a state of all fullness of blessing both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us.

When you and I experience the risen Christ each day, our lives cannot be same. Nor can our culture. Even Benjamin Franklin, not known for evangelical piety, recognized this fact:

“He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.”

“Christ in you” is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), not just for your soul but for everyone you influence.

The darker the room, the more obvious and attractive the light.

“Long eagerly for what heaven has in store”

Pope St. Gregory the Great (AD 540–604) encouraged us:

Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveler who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going.

Are you “determined” to reach your “destination” today?

Tuesday news to know:

• NY vs. Trump: First witness takes the stand in Manhattan court
• Columbia cancels in-person classes amid pro-Palestinian protests
• Supreme Court divided over homeless ban and rights of the unhoused
• Lyrid meteor shower 2024: How to see a stunning fireball tonight
• On this day in 1564: William Shakespeare was born

Quote for the day:

“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” —Francis Bacon

Denison Forum

Cultural Christianity and the power to change culture

How many Americans say they attend religious services each week?

How many actually do?

According to Gallup polling, 21 percent of us say we attend religious services every week; 41 percent say they attend at least monthly.

However, the data says otherwise.

Devin Pope, a business school professor at the University of Chicago, studied cell phone geodata from over two million Americans to examine their behavior with respect to religion. He found that only 5 percent attended services weekly, and only 21 percent attended monthly. As an article reporting Pope’s study headlined, “People who say they go to religious services weekly are probably lying.”

The story raises a cultural question: Why would so many people claim to attend religious services so much more often than they actually do?

Religion is twice as popular as sports

According to Gallup, about three in four Americans identify with a specific religious faith. Religious commitment therefore outranks a number of other significant identifiers in our culture:

• 28 percent of Americans identify as Democrats, 28 percent as Republicans, and 41 percent as independents.
• 60 percent of us are employed.
• 66 percent of us own a home.
• 37 percent of us say we follow sports extremely or somewhat closely.

In an ever more secularized society, why is it still appealing for so many Americans to claim a religious identity and even to say that they often attend religious services?

British atheist Richard Dawkins made headlines recently by claiming to be a “cultural Christian.” He meant that he appreciates the contribution of Christianity to his country’s history and cultural heritage and prefers the Christian tradition to Islam or other options.

I think Dawkins speaks for many. Religiosity still equates to cultural, moral, and traditional values in our society.

But religiosity is not enough to meet the challenges we face today.

“A hedge against bad things”

In his brilliant exposition, Why Politics Fails, Oxford professor Ben Ansell identifies one of the greatest values of democratic governance: “There’s nothing . . . that guarantees democracies get good politicians. But at least ‘the people’ will be able to throw them out if they’re terrible.”

Cultural commentator Jonah Goldberg agrees:

Democracy’s greatness lies in the fact it is a hedge against bad things. (Its record in assuring good things is decidedly more mixed and contestable.) The ability to fire people is essential to political competition. If a politician or a party screws up or starts looking out for its own interests more than the interests of the voters, the ability to kick them out is essential. This was among the greatest innovations in human history. Monarchs and aristocracies can get selfish and self-absorbed. Indeed, they always do eventually. Politicians are prone to the same tendencies. But in a democracy, you can get rid of them without swords or guns.

While we can be grateful for democracy’s ability to remove bad leaders, Ansell is right: democracy cannot guarantee good leaders. The people we vote into office next will be just as fallen and flawed as the ones they replace.

And religiosity cannot make up the difference.

Only one of the 469 members of the current US Congress admits to being religiously “unaffiliated,” while 87 percent claim to be Christian and another 6 percent say they are Jewish. America has never elected an avowed atheist as president.

How is the religiosity of our leaders working out for us?

Cultural Christianity is a contradiction in terms

We experience the transforming power of Christianity not by identifying with it as a religion but by experiencing the living Christ personally. Saul of Tarsus was changed not by changing his religious identity from Jewish to Christian but by meeting the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He would later explain this reality to the rest of us: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This is how all relationships work. Marriage changes your life not because you are “married” but because you commit your life to your spouse and they to you. The same is true with parenthood, education, or employment—it is not identifying with the institution but experiencing the relationship it offers that matters.

However, this is especially true with Christianity. Unlike your spouse or parents, your Lord lives in you by his Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:16). Unlike your employer or professor, Jesus has the divine power to forgive your every sin (1 John 1:9) and to transform your character into his (Romans 8:29).

Here’s the bottom line:

Cultural Christianity is a contradiction in terms, but biblical Christianity transforms culture.

When last did the living Lord Jesus change your life?

NOTE: Did you know that Denison Forum is a nonprofit ministry fully supported by readers like you? So, when you request one of our books—like our just-released and updated edition of Between Compromise and Courage—you’re supporting our calling “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12). Get your copy of our new book today; impact believers across the world tomorrow.

Monday news to know:

• House approves $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
• US-China internet war intensifies as House passes TikTok ban
• Israeli military intelligence chief resigns over his role in failing to prevent Oct. 7 attack
• Nelly Korda wins fifth consecutive title at the Chevron Championship
• On this day in 1994: Former President Richard Nixon dies

Quote for the day:

“Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it.” —Harry Emerson Fosdick

Denison Forum

Israel conducted a strike in Iran early this morning in what appears to be its first military response to Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel last weekend.

Fars news agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that explosions were heard in the city of Isfahan in central Iran near an air force base. Iranian state TV also reported that several drones were shot down by air defenses in the city.

Climbing down “the escalation ladder”?

The limited scale of the attack and Iran’s muted response both seem to signal a successful effort by diplomats working to avert all-out war after Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel last Saturday. Tehran is playing down the incident and indicates it has no plans to respond. In fact, they referred to the incident as an attack by “infiltrators” rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.

According to Israeli officials, their leaders came close to ordering widespread strikes in Iran on the night Iran attacked. However, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to American President Joe Biden, and because the damage was limited, the war cabinet postponed a decision.

Rather than launching a response that would intensify the conflict with Iran, Israel chose a limited action aimed at military targets. Its response was reportedly intended to show Iran that Israel can strike within its borders, but without provoking a larger escalation. In turn, Iranian state-run media sought to minimize the incident, airing footage of an otherwise peaceful Isfahan morning.

“As long as Iran continues to deny the attack and deflect attention from it and no further hits are seen, there is space for both sides to climb down the escalation ladder for now,” according to Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

“Nations do not have permanent friends or enemies”

We can be grateful that leaders in Israel and Iran have apparently chosen the path of de-escalation, since an all-out war between their nations would affect the world in a number of dire ways:

• Oil supplies would be threatened, sending oil prices skyward and damaging the global economy.
• A conflict could trigger a sell-off in the global stock market, with oil-based sectors such as automobiles, transportation, and aviation taking the greatest hit.
• Such a war would likely bring Hezbollah more fully into the conflict, threatening all of Israel with its rocket and missile systems and formidable ground forces.
• And Iran could develop nuclear weapons, a step it has avoided thus far through fear of military escalation with Israel and the US.

However, we should not interpret the motives of Iranian and Israeli leaders so altruistically.

In his perceptive book Why Politics Fails, Oxford professor Ben Ansell writes:

The basic model underlying political economy is that everyone is selfish, or at the very least self-interested. You have a set of things that you want, and you’ll do your utmost to get them. Self-interest is everywhere. It explains why we do what we do. And why we should expect others to do that as well.

This is why, as British Prime Minister Henry John Temple stated in the mid-1800s:

“Nations do not have permanent friends or enemies, only interests.”

His sentiment was echoed most famously by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, but it applies to all nations across all of history.

Leaders in democracies are elected to advance the interests of the people they serve. However, it is in their self-interest to do so effectively enough to be reelected. Leaders in autocracies typically act to their personal benefit. In both cases, if we can determine what is in their self-interest, we can typically predict their behavior.

It is in Israel’s self-interest not to escalate conflict directly with Iran while it confronts the existential threat of Hamas in Gaza along with Hezbollah on its northern border, militias in Syria and Iraq, jihadists in the West Bank, and the Houthis in Yemen. It is in Iran’s self-interest to wage its war with Israel through proxies rather than in ways that directly endanger its military and economy.

Thus, the long-running “shadow war” between the two nations has apparently returned to its previous status quo—at least for now.

How to discover if you are a servant

What is true of national leaders is also true of individual humans. It is in my self-interest to write an article this morning that you will find helpful to the degree that you continue to read what I write and support the ministry that enables me to do this work. It is in your self-interest to read this article to the degree that it meets your personal needs on some level.

There is only one way to escape the “will to power” by which we strive to be our own god (Genesis 3:5), and that is to experience the transformation by which God’s Spirit remakes us in the image of God’s Son so that we manifest the character of the God who “is” love (1 John 4:8). The “fruit” of this Spirit in our lives is “love,” translating the Greek agape, which refers to the unconditional, self-sacrificial commitment to put the other person first (Galatians 5:22).

When we submit our lives every day to the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), he enables us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). He empowers us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). With his help, we can break the cycle of retribution by forgiving as we have been forgiven and loving as we are loved.

Today’s news highlights the binary choice I discussed yesterday: to treat people as instrumentally valuable to the degree that they are means to our ends, or to treat them as intrinsically valuable as sacred bearers of the imago Dei (Genesis 1:27).

The former perpetuates the wars between nations and conflicts between people that have blighted humanity across our history. The latter is the path to God’s best for ourselves and our world as we emulate the One who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

To discover if you are truly a servant, see how you respond the next time someone treats you like one.

Denison Forum

The FBI arrested an eighteen-year-old in Idaho after discovering what it termed a “truly horrific” and “violent plot” to attack churches this past weekend on behalf of ISIS. According to an FBI investigator, “his attack plan involved using flame-covered weapons, explosives, knives, a machete, a pipe, and ultimately firearms.” The would-be terrorist also stated “his intention to die while killing others on behalf of ISIS.”

In related news, FBI Director Christopher Wray told an American Bar Association luncheon in Washington, DC:

The foreign terrorist threat and the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, like the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia Concert Hall a couple weeks ago, is now increasingly concerning. Oct. 7 and the conflict that’s followed will feed a pipeline of radicalization and mobilization for years to come.

Why is this the case?

Geopolitical analyst George Friedman popularized the concept of the “metanarrative.” As I explained in a podcast on the subject, this is a nation or group’s cultural DNA or overall purpose. Understanding it is essential to interpreting their past and predicting their future.

Several years ago, ISIS made their metanarrative clear. In explaining why it hates the West, the group listed the West’s disbelief in Islam, the prevalence of secularism, atheism, “transgressions” against Islam, military operations, and tactical incursions. The group added that even a complete withdrawal from the Middle East would not stop its violence because “our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam.”

For America to confront this metanarrative effectively, it is vital that we return to ours.

Why we need a “coherent national community”

Michael Lind is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who has previously taught courses on American democracy and foreign policy at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Virginia Tech. In a deeply researched article published this week in Tablet, he notes: “Most Americans—though not all—from 1776 onward have shared and continue to share a common language, a common culture, and common values that transcend particular religious groups.”

While we are a “melting pot” composed of people from around the world, our democracy works because we share what Lind calls a “coherent national community” in which we embrace foundational values that transcend our governmental charter.

By contrast, our secularized “post-truth” insistence upon tolerance as our supreme value is rapidly producing an atomized culture in which we are bound only by our laws. But Lind warns that if the larger “elements of a common American culture are thrown out” by our society, “what remains is more likely to be a failed state along the lines of Lebanon or Somalia than a flourishing democracy.”

If public polls are any indication, we’re already heading in that direction.

According to Pew Research Center, public trust in our institutions has fallen from near 80 percent in 1964 to less than 20 percent today. A recent Gallup survey charts a precipitous decline in “Americans’ satisfaction with the way things are going in the US” from more than 70 percent in 2004 to 23 percent today. In my view, these findings are linked.

If you were to ask an American of my parents’ World War II generation why our nation exists, they would likely have said that we serve to protect and promote democracy around the world. If you ask an American today, what would they say? Would any two answers agree?

“The finest of the wheat”

Our God is a loving Father who wants to bless us, who invites us to “open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10). He desires to “feed you with the finest of the wheat” and to “satisfy you” with “honey from the rock” (v. 16).

However, a holy God cannot bless that which is unholy and remain holy. Nor can a loving Father bless that which harms his child. Consequently, no nation’s unity or flourishing is guaranteed, as today’s anniversary of the beginning of the US Civil War demonstrates.

Michael Lind’s essay reinforces my argument this week:

1. Our national future requires the consensual morality upon which our democracy depends.
2. Consensual morality requires changed hearts, not just enforced laws.
3. Changed hearts require the transforming agency of the Holy Spirit.

This means that evangelism is not the imposition of personal opinion but the sharing of life-giving truth. Spiritual formation is not the religious hobby of some but the indispensable path to flourishing for all. Serving Christ is vital to serving America.

Stated succinctly:

Being people God is able to bless is essential to being a nation God can bless.

Oswald Chambers noted: “If I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God.”

How fully will you “see the face of God” today?

NOTE: When our culture increasingly demands that Christians stand down, how can you stand firm in your faith? In our newest book, Between Compromise and Courage (2nd ed.), we look at 8 hot-button topics from a biblical perspective. To read more about AI, gun control, the end times, and more, request our latest book today.

Friday news to know:

• J. Simpson, football star whose trial riveted the nation, dies at 76
• Iranian attack expected on Israel in next two days
• US, Japan military-to-military relationship reaches “new heights”
• Astronauts watched the eclipse from ISS Space Station and grabbed some cool pictures and video
• On this day in 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham

Quote for the day:

“The proximate result of obedience to God is inward conformity to the divine image.” —Charles Hodge

Denison Forum

As Israel’s war with Hamas passes the six-month mark, here are some updates:

• The IDF is withdrawing troops from the southern city of Khan Younis; Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire proposal and Israel set a date for an offensive into Hamas’s last stronghold in Rafah.
• Israel and the US are preparing for a significant attack by Iran in response to Israel’s strike in Damascus last week.
• Israel is also preparing for a second war on its northern border with Hezbollah.
• Iran is arming fighters in Iraq to join Hezbollah in an attack on Israel.
• The UN recently adopted what Israel’s envoy to the group called the body’s 105^th anti-Israel resolution.

Despite all the hardships Israelis are facing these days, Gallup’s recent World Happiness Report lists their country as the fifth-happiest nation on Earth, behind Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. The US ranks twenty-third.

Why, in the midst of a battle for its very existence, surrounded by enemies on all sides and confronting the escalation of anti-Semitism around the world, are Israelis so happy?

And how is the answer relevant to Christians in our secularized culture?

“An intimate society that runs on trust and generates hope”

Gil Troy is an American presidential historian and senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, he explains the difference between Israel and the US: “Amid unspeakable suffering, Israelis have found comfort in one another and a higher calling. Too many Americans feel lonely and lost.”

According to Troy, “Israelis pursue happiness through family and community, by feeling rooted and having a sense of purpose.” He adds: “Despite disagreeing passionately, Israelis live in an intimate society that runs on trust and generates hope. Israelis feel that they’re never alone, and that their relatives and friends will never abandon them.”

After leading more than thirty study tours to Israel over the years, I can attest personally to the truth of his description. The Israelis I know are indeed some of the most optimistic, gracious, and family-centered people I have ever known.

By contrast, Troy says of anti-Israel progressive students in the US:

These illiberal liberals trash traditional families, religion, and America’s noble story of a flawed nation becoming “a more perfect union.” These campus commissars are among the unhappy Americans the surgeon general sees in the depths of loneliness and despair.

Israelis didn’t seek this war—but when attacked, they unleashed a patriotism, idealism, self-sacrifice, and grit that today’s regressive progressives scorn. Israelis’ resilience, duty, and love of life explain how this often polarized and besieged society remains such a happy place. Rather than demonize these heroes, protesters could learn from Israelis about the art of living—not only for their sake but for America’s too.

Secularized Americans can indeed learn from Israelis about “resilience, duty, and love of life.” But both are missing a factor that should cause Christians to be an even greater model for “the art of living.”

The gospel before the Gospels

Witnessing yesterday’s solar eclipse, I was reminded of the biblical report that on Good Friday “there was darkness over the whole land” from noon until 3:00 PM (Luke 23:44–45). The ancient historian Thallus the Samaritan attempted to explain this darkness as an eclipse of the sun. The church father Julius Africanus showed that Thallus was mistaken since Passover always occurs at the time of the full moon, but a full moon cannot come between the earth and the sun.

I mention this discussion because Thallus wrote his account around AD 52, likely before any of the canonical Gospels. Here we find fascinating, early non-biblical historical evidence for Jesus’ existence and crucifixion.

Of course, the best evidence for Jesus’ existence in the first century and relevance in the twenty-first century is the changed lives of his followers.

Think of it: the God who made you now lives in you (Colossians 1:27). His Spirit indwells you (1 Corinthians 3:16) and is working to make you more like Christ every day (Romans 8:29). You are literally the “body of Christ” in the world (1 Corinthians 12:27), continuing his earthly ministry through your own.

Here’s the point:

The more we become like Christ, the more we will draw the world to Christ.

“The condescension of compassion”

To this end, let’s close by reflecting on the miracle of Jesus’ incarnation. Pope St. Leo the Great wrote:

[Jesus] took the nature of a servant without stain of sin, enlarging our humanity without diminishing his divinity. He emptied himself; though invisible he made himself visible, though Creator and Lord of all things he chose to be one of us mortal men. Yet this was the condescension of compassion, not the loss of omnipotence. So he who in the nature of God had created man, became in the nature of a servant, man himself. . . .

Beyond our grasp, he chose to come within our grasp. Existing before time began, he began to exist at a moment in time. Lord of the universe, he hid his infinite glory and took the nature of a servant. Incapable of suffering as God, he did not refuse to be a man capable of suffering. Immortal, he chose to be subject to the laws of death. . . .

One and the same person—this must be said over and over again—is truly the Son of God and truly the son of man.

Because Jesus became one of us, we can be one with him.

How fully will you seek to know him and make him known today?

Tuesday news to know:

• Trump says abortion law should be left to the states
• Biden announces new student debt relief plan for millions of borrowers
• The Vatican says surrogacy and gender theory are “grave threats” to human dignity
• UConn dominates Purdue to capture back-to-back national championships
• On this day in 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders

Quote for the day:

“Christlikeness is not produced by imitation, but by inhabitation.” —Rick Warren

Denison Forum

When an event won’t happen again where I live until 2317, of course I’m writing on it today. Total solar eclipses occur every eighteen months, but at any given location, it can be centuries between appearances.

When the “totality” occurs this afternoon in Texas, the moon will completely cover the sun for about four minutes, the temperature will noticeably drop, and birds and other wildlife will become quiet, changing to their nighttime behavior. They’re not alone in responding to today’s unusual event:

• Umbraphiles (“shadow lovers” in Latin) have booked hotels in my area and across the path of totality for months if not years.
• Those traveling to see the eclipse will bring a financial boost of as much as $6 billion to communities across a dozen states.
• Some will travel up to thirty hours in the air to see the eclipse from the sky.
• Four NASA pilots will remain in the path of totality for seven minutes to observe the eclipse at an altitude of fifty thousand feet, one of numerous ways scientists will be studying the event.
• Product releases tied to the eclipse include donuts, cookies, juices, chips, pizza, chicken, and other restaurant offerings.

A 105-year-old man who has witnessed twelve solar eclipses is ready to watch his thirteenth today. He is aware that this might be his last: “They don’t come but one or two, every couple of years. . . . I may not see any more eclipses.”

The same is true for you and me.

“God is the most ancient of things”

Today’s eclipse reminds us of both our Maker’s omnipotence and our finitude. He created the sun and the moon (Psalm 148:3, 5); we did not. He rules the universe (Isaiah 40:22); we do not. From the earthquake that rattled New York City last week, to the nor’easter that cut off power to hundreds of thousands, to the critical fire threat in the Central US, to the avalanche that killed three people in Switzerland and the falling tree that took the life of a woman in a storm, we are reminded daily of human frailty.

We can’t even look at today’s eclipse without the right protection for our eyes.

However, one of the hallmarks of our fallenness is our steadfast attempt to deny our fallenness. When the philosopher Thales predicted a solar eclipse using empirical rather than religious reasoning six centuries before Christ, he became known to history as the “first scientist.” While Thales also called the universe “the work of God” and claimed that “God is the most ancient of things, for he had no birth,” many who followed in his scientific footsteps have sided with the French mathematician Laplace who is reputed to have said of God, “I have no need of that hypothesis.”

Let us not fall victim to the same self-reliant temptation.

When humans die, they obviously cannot produce life beyond the grave for themselves. Death is the final, irrefutable proof of the fact that we can do nothing in our own capacity to survive death. The psalmist asked the question facing us all: “What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?” (Psalm 89:48).

There is only one Answer to his question.

“They heard him and saw the signs that he did”

Here’s the problem: The same temptation to self-reliance that keeps secularists from depending on God can keep Christians from depending on his Spirit. When we fall to this satanic deception (Genesis 3:5), our fallen culture pays the price.

Why is Christianity declining in popularity and influence in the West at the same time it is growing dramatically in the Muslim world, Iran, Cuba, the underground church in China, and other places where it is persecuted so fiercely? Self-dependence amid prosperity robs us of the Spirit’s power, and without his power, we cannot convict a single sinner of a single sin or save a single soul. However, Spirit-dependence amid opposition empowers Christians to be used in transformative ways to change hearts and win multitudes to Jesus.

We read in Acts 8 that “the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did” (v. 6). It was not just his words but his Spirit-empowered deeds that persuaded them.

The great need of our day is for more Philips. For this reason, let us note today:

Self-reliance is spiritual and cultural suicide.

In response, let us use today’s solar eclipse as an invitation to worship the One who made the sun and the moon and measures the universe with the palm of his hand (Isaiah 40:12). And let us begin today and every day by asking his Spirit to empower and use us to advance his kingdom through our influence (Ephesians 5:18).

When we do, the Son of God will eclipse the Moon of our fallenness and bring us from the shadow of sin into the sunlight of grace.

“It made me feel the majesty of the universe”

Leticia Ferrer has been chasing solar eclipses around the world for several decades. She’s seen twenty in total and every one since 1998. But she’ll never forget her first one in 1991: “It made me feel the majesty of the universe,” she said.

Her experiences have shown her the immensity of the universe but also her personal finitude. She says of her eclipse viewing: “I’m the most blessed person in the world, but yet I’m a minuscule little ant.”

When we understand the latter, we can embrace the former, to the glory of God.

Monday news to know:

• South Carolina caps perfect season with NCAA championship
• The world steels for a Middle East escalation
• Experts warn about rise in gambling addiction thanks to legal sports betting
• Dutch woman, 28, to be euthanized over mental illness
• On this day in 2013: Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, dies

Quote for the day:

“Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.” —Corrie ten Boom

Denison Forum

In the wake of the Israeli air strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke yesterday to discuss the future of the war, including the role America will play in Iran’s proxy war. Over the course of that tense conversation, Biden threatened “to condition future support for Israel on how it addresses his concerns about civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, attempting for the first time to leverage American aid to influence the conduct of the war against Hamas.”

And while Biden stopped short of directly stating that he would cut Israel off from further munitions and aid, the implication was clear: his concerns over Israel’s present course can no longer be ignored.

The relationship between the two leaders has steadily frayed over recent months and, given Israel’s dwindling list of allies, it can ill-afford to lose the United States. That fact has been made even more apparent by the escalating tensions with Iran and its “Axis of Resistance,” which essentially constitutes the legion of proxy armies through which they have attacked Israel for decades.

• For more on the quandary Israel faces, see Dr. Jim Denison’s update on “what Israel should do now.”

And those tensions have reached new heights in the wake of Israel’s deadly attack on the building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus, Syria earlier this week.

A fundamental shift

While Israel’s latest war with Hamas in Gaza has lasted for nearly half a year now, the attack on Monday was one of its most aggressive moves to date and could mark a fundamental shift in how the rest of this conflict will play out.

You see, everyone knows that Iran is funding, supporting, and guiding various groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis as they repeatedly attack Israel and its American allies. However, prior to Monday, Iran had remained relatively free from the consequences of those actions. The puppets rather than the puppet master took the brunt of Israel’s response.

That is no longer the case.

Three of the highest-ranking members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), along with four other IRGC officers, were killed in the strike.

And while global leaders from the Middle East and the UN were quick to denounce the attack given its proximity to Iran’s embassy, Gabriel Noronha—a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America and a former special advisor on Iran in the State Department—noted that “If you’re having a bunch of top IRGC generals meeting, you’ve made it a military facility, not a diplomatic facility.”

He went on to add that Monday’s strike could be a sign that “Israel is starting to expand the envelope and say, ‘We’re going to hold the whole proxy network accountable, and we’re going to hold Iran accountable for the actions of its proxies.’”

And according to recent reports, Israel has made America aware of that shift as well, promising that “whoever harms us or plans to harm us, we will harm them.”

Such an approach would be a departure from how the war has played out to date and, if the past is any indication, the way that the United States would prefer for it to play out going forward. After all, despite repeated attacks on US bases by some of those same proxies, the American response never rose to the level of going after the IRGC.

Given our nation’s history—both in recent years and going back decades—of preferring proxy wars to open conflict, it’s understandable that Biden and others may not want to see that position change.

America’s approach to war

You see, the United States has not officially been at war with anyone since World War II.

Those who fought and died in Vietnam, Korea, the Middle East, and across the globe in the decades since would certainly—and rightly—say that they have been to war. However, the Constitution states that only Congress has the power to declare war, and they have not done that since 1942.

Instead, our government—on both sides of the aisle—has grown increasingly reliant on supporting others as they fight, either on our behalf or for the same principles that might otherwise lead us to engage more directly.

That reality is at least part of why Iran’s deputy UN ambassador, Zahra Ershadi, said in response to Monday’s attack that “the United States is responsible for all crimes committed by the Israeli regime,” even though in this particular instance it does not appear that we had any part in the planning or execution of the bombing.

Ultimately, it’s rare for proxy wars not to escalate into something more, and that could be what we’re seeing in real-time across the Middle East.

Of course, the danger inherent to taking on such a role does not necessarily mean that we are wrong to do so. Whether it’s our support of Ukraine in its fight against Russia or Israel in its battle against Iran and its proxies, there are good reasons to take the position that we have. But it would be naïve to assume that such conflicts will never grow into something more.

And, far too often, we see a similar sense of naivety play out in our walk with God as well.

A proxy war approach to sin

It can be tempting, at times, to treat sin the same way nations tend to view proxy wars. We act as though as long as we don’t directly engage in the sin, we haven’t committed it.

However, Jesus holds us to a different standard.

Six times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus took the typical way his culture—and ours—approached sin and went deeper to address the root causes rather than just the fruit that they bore. And whether it’s anger, lust, or any of the others mentioned in Matthew 5, he calls us to recognize the danger inherent to tolerating sin, even if we never act on it. The God who made us knows how easy it can be for us to cross that line when we make a habit of going right up to it.

So while there may not be much we can do to change what’s going on in Israel—though prayer is a great and necessary place to start—we can reject the temptation to take a proxy war approach to combating the sin in our own lives.

Which of your sins fits that description today?

Denison Forum

Richard Dawkins is one of the most visible atheists in the world. He has not changed his mind in this regard, telling an interviewer recently, “I do not believe a single word of the Christian faith.”

Here’s the part of the story that is making headlines: he also says he identifies as a “cultural Christian.” He stated, “I would not be happy if, for example, we lost all our cathedrals and our beautiful parish churches.” In his view, the UK owes much of its history and heritage to the Christian faith, a fact that should still be valued in our post-Christian day.

However, as T. S. Eliot asked in his Choruses From The Rock, “Do you need to be told that even such modest attainments as you can boast in the way of polite society will hardly survive the Faith to which they owe their significance?” The writer Niall Gooch adds that the great cultural contributions Dawkins appreciates “were not, and could not have been, created by half-believers who found Christianity merely soothing and comforting.”

Esmé Partridge, an MPhil candidate at the University of Cambridge, is right: “Like any organism, Christianity must recover its roots, or it will die—a fact of life which, as an evolutionary biologist, Dawkins ought to appreciate.”

The airstrike that killed aid workers in Gaza

In other global news, reaction continues to the recent Israeli airstrike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged his country’s responsibility for the attack. The Israeli military chief of staff also said, “It was a mistake that followed a misidentification, at night during the war in a very complex condition. It shouldn’t have happened.” (For much more, please see my new website article, “In its war with Hamas, what should Israel do now?”)

While the escalating Palestinian casualty totals in the Israel-Gaza war are grievous, David Brooks notes in the New York Times that the IDF is seeking to defeat an enemy hiding inside as many as five hundred miles of tunnels built under hospitals, schools, and other civic centers. Hamas spent as much as a billion dollars constructing these tunnels, money that could have gone to building schools and other crucial infrastructure for the people.

As Brooks reports, their strategy is to maximize the number of Palestinians who die and in this way build pressure for Israel to end the war before Hamas is wiped out. For its part, the IDF has done far more to protect civilians than the US did in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to John Spencer, chair of urban warfare at the Modern War Institute at West Point.

If Hamas survives this war, Brooks warns, “it would be a long-term disaster for the region.” The terrorist group would rebuild its military to continue efforts to exterminate the Jewish state, as it promised after its October 7 invasion. This would make it much harder for the global community to invest in rebuilding Gaza.

And, as I have previously noted, Hamas’s survival could convince Israelis that their families are no longer safe in their country. In that case, many are likely to leave, fulfilling the goals of Hamas and Iran to destroy the nation. This is why an Israeli commander said after October 7, “If we do not defeat Hamas, we cannot survive here.”

“Hate cannot drive out hate”

These two stories illustrate my focus this week on the need and opportunity for Christians to manifest the reality of Easter Sunday by our changed lives every other day of every other week of every other year.

When the risen Christ transforms us, the change will be obvious even to atheists and other skeptics. The darker the room, the more apparent the light. And when we love others as Christ loves us, we point them to our only hope for ending war and experiencing genuine peace.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated on this day in 1968, was right:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

Such love is a “fruit” of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). But we can experience this fruit only when we make Christ our Lord and his Spirit comes to live in us (1 Corinthians 3:16), and when we then submit to the Spirit each day (Ephesians 5:18).

Why philosophers and saints are the “real revolutionists”

Author and pastor Paul Powell’s daily devotional recently quoted historian Will Durant: “The only real revolution is the revolution of the individual. The only real revolutionists are the philosophers and the saints.”

Dr. Powell explained:

A person’s basic problem is his heart. It is out of the heart (the moral, spiritual, and intellectual center) that evil comes. To measurably change society, you must seek to change a person’s heart and not just his economics, social habits, and environment.

Changing people is the work of the philosopher and the saint! They deal with ideals, values, and truth. They seek to change others one by one. Changing men and women will ultimately lead to a change in everything these changed people touch.

He added: “This is why Jesus Christ is the greatest revolutionary of all time. His basic concern is with individuals—one by one. As he changes and empowers others he thus can change the world.”

Dr. Powell concluded:

Do you long to see society changed? Do you desire to make America a better place to live? Let Christ change your life by his love and grace, and then give yourself to the work of introducing him to others. You will do more lasting good than all the radicals alive.

Will you do such “lasting good” today?

Thursday news to know:

• Taiwan earthquake briefly halts chip factories that power the global economy
• Powerful storm unleashes severe weather across the US; possible tornado damage assessed
• Israel’s protest movement re-emerges with focus on bringing down Netanyahu
• Patient with transplanted pig kidney leaves hospital for home
• On this day in 1975: Microsoft founded

Quote for the day:

“Men would sooner believe that the gospel is from heaven, if they saw more such effects of it upon the hearts and lives of those who profess it. The world is better able to read the nature of religion in a man’s life than in the Bible.” —Richard Baxter

Denison Forum

US President Joe Biden said this week that he is “outraged and heartbroken” by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers. Israel’s investigation into the incident that killed people working for the World Central Kitchen “must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public,” he added.

The aid workers were traveling in two armored vehicles clearly marked with the World Central Kitchen logo and a third vehicle when they came under fire late Monday night. The convoy was hit even though it coordinated its movements with the Israeli military, the group said. The workers were leaving a warehouse in central Gaza where the team had unloaded more than one hundred tons of humanitarian aid that had arrived by boat earlier that day.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Israeli’s responsibility for the attack. “Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” he stated. “It happens in war, we are fully examining this, we are in contact with the governments and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again.”

The Israeli military chief of staff also said in a video, “It was a mistake that followed a misidentification, at night during the war in a very complex condition. It shouldn’t have happened.”

“Spreading terror and delivering death”

Israel clearly should be held responsible for this tragedy. But Hamas should also be held responsible for instigating this war through its horrific October 7 invasion that killed more than 1,130 people. In this number were 695 civilians, including 36 children.

United Nations experts found evidence that Hamas committed sexual assaults that day, including rape and gang rape, and also identified “clear and convincing” evidence that Hamas raped and tortured hostages it took back to Gaza. However, the terrorist group continues to deny these atrocities and claims that it sought to “avoid harm to civilians.” It further blames Israeli helicopters for killing “many” of the 364 civilians massacred at the Nova music festival.

In its view, since “conscription applies to all Israelis above the age of eighteen” and “all can carry and use arms,” Hamas considers all Israelis to be legitimate targets.

In response, Wall Street Journal columnist Matthew Hennessey notes:

The only thing Hamas takes responsibility for is doing what it loves: spreading terror and delivering death. When a bomb goes off in a marketplace, it claims responsibility. When a crazed maniac knifes random people on a bus, it claims responsibility. But when the subject is its failure to give Gazans a better life, Hamas throws up its arms. It didn’t take responsibility for the lies it told about the misfired terrorist rocket that hit Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital in October, or for that matter for using the hospital as a command center. It doesn’t take responsibility for the human calamity it has unleashed on its people with the unspeakable atrocities of Oct. 7.

No. Hamas, in its rhetoric and propaganda, pushes all responsibility for the suffering of Gazans onto Israel—and not just Israel, onto Jews and Americans. Hamas is always innocent, always at the mercy of perfidious forces.

This performative helplessness allows Hamas to play the perpetual victim when, in fact, it is a murderous gang of dead-end losers.

“What would you have Israel do to defend itself?”

However, a critic of Israel will point to the tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza who have died as a result of the IDF’s incursion following the October 7 invasion. The local Ministry of Health reports that more than thirty thousand have been killed through the end of February, an estimate confirmed by outside experts.

This in addition to the devastation to hospitals, other buildings, and critical infrastructure in Gaza, along with the humanitarian crisis unfolding as civilians are displaced and many struggle for food, water, and shelter.

Many see this as genocide on Israel’s part. Even some who support the nation’s right to defend itself and the resulting necessity of its incursion into Gaza now believe that the IDF has gone too far and that a temporary or even permanent cease-fire should be enacted.

David Brooks responded in his recent New York Times article, “What Would You Have Israel Do to Defend Itself?” He writes that he talked with security and urban warfare experts and scoured foreign policy and security journals in search of answers to his question.

The “thorniest reality” of the conflict, according to Brooks, is that Hamas constructed between 350 and 500 miles of tunnels where it lives, holds hostages, stores weapons, builds missiles, and moves from place to place. By some Israeli estimates, Hamas spent about a billion dollars building these tunnels, money that could have gone to building schools and starting companies.

Many of its most important military and strategic facilities are built under hospitals, schools, and other civic centers. Its server farm, for instance, was built under the offices of the UN relief agency in Gaza City.

When Israel destroys these tunnels, the buildings above them are often destroyed as a result.

A strategy built on “human ammunition”

Brooks reports: “In this war, Hamas is often underground, the Israelis are often aboveground, and Hamas seeks to position civilians directly between them.” An MIT professor describes this strategy as “human camouflage” or even “human ammunition.” Hamas’s goal is to maximize the number of Palestinians who die and in this way build pressure for Israel to end the war before Hamas is wiped out. Its survival depends on making the war as bloody as possible for civilians until Israel relents.

John Spencer, who serves as chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, served two tours in Iraq and has made two visits to Gaza during the current conflict. He told Brooks that Israel has done far more to protect civilians than the US did in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For example, Spencer reports that Israel has warned civilians when and where it is about to begin operations and published an online map showing the areas to leave. It has sent out millions of pamphlets, texts, and recorded calls warning civilians of operations to commence. It has dropped speakers blasting out instructions about where to go and conducted four-hour daily passes allowing civilians to leave combat areas.

According to Spencer, these measures have telegraphed where the IDF is going to move next and “have prolonged the war, to be honest.”

“There is no magical alternative military strategy”

Brooks reports that the IDF’s strategy has been “remarkably effective against Hamas forces.” It claims to have killed over 13,000 of the roughly 30,000 troops, disrupted three-quarters of Hamas’s battalions so that they are no longer effective fighting units, and killed two of five brigade commanders and nineteen of twenty-four battalion commanders.

As of January, US officials estimated that Israel had damaged or rendered inoperable 20 to 40 percent of the tunnels.

However, as Brooks notes, “Global public opinion is moving decisively against Israel.” In addition, “Israeli tactics may be reducing Gaza to an ungovernable hellscape that will require further Israeli occupation and produce more terrorist groups for years.”

After surveying the options available to Israel, from conducting a much more limited campaign to targeted assassinations of Hamas leadership, a counterinsurgency strategy, and stopping the conflict altogether, Brooks concludes that “there is no magical alternative military strategy.” He writes:

If this war ends with a large chunk of Hamas in place, it would be a long-term disaster for the region. Victorious, Hamas would dominate whatever government is formed to govern Gaza. Hamas would rebuild its military to continue its efforts to exterminate the Jewish state, delivering on its promise to launch more and more attacks like that of Oct. 7. Israel would have to impose an even more severe blockade than the one it imposed before, this time to keep out the steel, concrete, and other materials that Hamas uses to build tunnels and munitions, but that Gazans would need to rebuild their homes.

If Hamas survives this war intact, it would be harder for the global community to invest in rebuilding Gaza. It would [also] be impossible to begin a peace process.

I would add that if Hamas is allowed to survive and thus to continue its terrorism against Israel, the future of the Jewish state itself would be in question. Israel’s enemies know they cannot defeat the IDF through conventional military means. But they also know that the vast majority of Israel’s Jewish citizens could easily thrive elsewhere in the world if they were to leave Israel. If these enemies can mount a war of attrition that convinces the Jewish people that Israel is no longer safe for them and their families, they could provoke an exodus from the Jewish homeland that accomplishes their overall goal of ending Israel’s existence.

What they could not do with soldiers, they could do with terrorists. This is why an Israeli commander said after October 7, “If we do not defeat Hamas, we cannot survive here.”

How should Christians view the war?

Here’s the point I want to make today: each side is acting in accordance with its fundamental values.

After leading more than thirty tours to Israel, I can attest that both observant and secular Jews who live there embrace a biblical worldview that values the sanctity of all human life. Accordingly, as Brooks and others have noted, the IDF has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect civilians in Gaza.

In fact, Col. Richard Kemp, a retired British Army officer who served in Afghanistan, goes so far as to call Israel “the world’s most moral army.”

Hamas, by contrast, embraces a worldview that sees Jews as “apes” and “pigs,” sees all Israelis as complicit in a perceived attack on Palestinians and Islam, views terrorist attacks against them as a justified defense of Islam, and even views Palestinian civilians who die as a consequence of Hamas’s actions as “martyrs” to their cause. For their part, 71 percent of Palestinians support Hamas’s decision to invade Israel and 70 percent are satisfied with the role Hamas has played during the war.

As Christians view this war, it is vital that we adopt Israel’s worldview rather than that of their enemies.

Scripture is clear:

• God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26).
• Accordingly, “God shows no partiality” (Romans 2:11).
• With God, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
• “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him” (Romans 10:12).
• In heaven there will be “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9).

Now we are called to love others as God loves us. With God’s people,

“There is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11).

This fact calls us to pray fervently:

• Ask God to protect both Israelis and Palestinians and to provide for their needs.
• Pray for their leaders to seek justice and righteousness for all.
• Intercede for America’s leaders to do the same.
• Pray and work for all Jews and Muslims to turn to Christ as their Messiah who alone can change the human heart and bring true peace to humanity.

Scripture calls us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6), seeking that shalom that is peace with God, others, and ourselves. Israel and the Middle East especially need such intercession from God’s people now.

Denison Forum

The White House became embroiled in controversy over the weekend after issuing a “Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024” for Easter Sunday.

Rev. Greg Laurie called the proclamation “a profound insult to the sincerely held religious beliefs of millions of Americans on our holiest day” and added, “It’s time to turn back to God, not turn our backs on God.” Others joined in criticizing the proclamation as assaulting the Christian faith. Proponents noted that the event falls on March 31 every year and only coincidentally aligned with Easter this year.

If the event had been rescheduled so as not to conflict with Easter, criticism would have risen in precisely the opposite direction: proponents would have supported the move while critics would have labeled it discriminatory and likely blamed Christians for being “transphobic.”

This controversy is nothing new: Easter has been dividing skeptics and believers since Jesus rose from the dead. The authorities who arranged Jesus’ crucifixion, when told by the guard of his resurrection, bribed them to lie (Matthew 28:11–15) and continued to persecute his followers (cf. Acts 5:40). While billions of Christians claimed yesterday that Jesus is “risen indeed,” billions more rejected or ignored our claim.

How can we persuade Americans not to “turn our backs on God” but to “turn back to God”?

Monday can be our most persuasive evidence for Sunday.

Would you die for a lie?

The historical evidence for the resurrection is remarkably strong (see my article, “Why Jesus?” for an extensive overview). For example, we know from ancient non-biblical records that:

• Jesus of Nazareth was a real person of history.
• He was crucified by Pontius Pilate.
• His first followers believed he was raised from the dead.
• They worshiped him as God.

We can also point to the empirical evidence of the empty tomb. No other explanation makes sense:

• If the disciples stole the body, how did they overpower the Roman guards, convince five hundred people that he was alive (1 Corinthians 15:6), make his body appear through locked doors (John 20:19) and cook a meal for the disciples (John 21:9–12), then cause his body to ascend to heaven (Acts 1:9)? Would they then all die for a lie, some in gruesome ways? Would you?
• If the authorities stole the body, wouldn’t they produce it when the disciples began preaching the resurrection?
• If the women went to the wrong tomb, wouldn’t the authorities and Joseph of Arimathea, who owned the correct tomb, correct the error?
• If Jesus didn’t really die on the cross, how did he survive a spear thrust that ruptured the pericardial sac of his heart (John 19:34) and an airtight mummified shroud, overpower the guards in his emaciated condition, make his way through locked doors, and then perform the greatest high jump in history at the ascension?

Of course, a postmodern relativist is likely to dismiss all of this with the rejoinder, “that’s just your truth.” We are objectivists with nearly every dimension of reality, from the laws of physics to laws against murder, theft, and the like. But when we confront reality that clashes with our preferences, we retreat to the shelter of subjectivism, claiming that “all truth is relative” (which is an objective truth claim).

The most compelling argument for Easter

You and I can choose today to become evidence for the most compelling argument for Easter in our relativistic culture: the changed lives of Jesus’ followers.

The apostles are our example. Men who abandoned Jesus when he was arrested, denied him when he was on trial, forsook him when he was dying on the cross, and then hid from the authorities behind locked doors soon became catalysts for the mightiest spiritual movement in human history.

Peter is Exhibit A. After boasting that he would never deny his Lord, he denied even knowing him three times. Even after he saw the empty tomb, he returned to his fishing profession (John 21:3). (Note that he went fishing at night, which was what professional rather than recreational fishermen did so they could sell their catch as “fresh” the next morning; cf. Luke 5:5.)

But when he met the risen Lord, he left his fishing nets behind to “fish for men” (Matthew 4:19). The other apostles joined him, spreading out across the Roman Empire to share the good news of Easter at the eventual cost of their lives. There is no other reasonable explanation for their transformed lives except that they met the risen Christ and were never the same again.

“From this, everything begins anew!”

So it can be with you and me. What we do today can show that what we celebrated yesterday is true. When others see the difference Christ makes in our lives, they will be drawn to seek that difference for their lives.

In his Easter message yesterday, Pope Francis proclaimed:

“The tomb of Jesus is open and it is empty! From this, everything begins anew!”

He noted that without the forgiveness of sins, there is no way to overcome the barriers of prejudice, mutual recrimination, and other conflicts that beset our broken world: “Only the risen Christ, by granting us the forgiveness of our sins, opens the way for a renewed world.”

This is “the path that none of us, but God alone, could open,” he stated.

If you and I truly walk this path with the risen Christ today, our world cannot be the same tomorrow.

Monday news to know:

• King Charles shakes hands, chats with crowd at most significant public outing since cancer diagnosis
• Crews carefully start removing the first piece of twisted steel from collapsed Baltimore bridge
• Gunman kills 1, injures 4 at Nashville coffee shop on Easter Sunday
• Seven kids, some as young as 12, wounded in mass shooting at busy Indianapolis mall
• On this day in 1789: First US House of Representatives elects speaker

Quote for the day:

“Fulfillment comes when we live our lives on purpose.” —Simon Sinak

Denison Forum

The 2024 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments kick off today, so if your office seems a bit more sparsely populated or email responses come slower than usual, now you know why. And the lengths to which some will go in order to watch the tournament’s opening days of chaos speak volumes to the place it has within our cultural psyche:

• A reported 37 percent of Americans are willing to call in sick or skip work to watch March Madness.
• One in five have canceled dates or birthday parties in order to catch the games.
• Those not willing to skip work will watch an average of six hours of tournament play while on the clock (and that was the estimate before working from home became more common).
• For men not willing to fake an injury or illness, March Madness is the most popular time of the year to get a vasectomy and have a legitimate reason not to leave the couch.

One of the primary reasons for the tournament’s popularity—especially its opening days—is the fact that it truly feels like anything can happen in most of these games.

As I wrote last year,

Upsets are common and, unless they happen to your school, we get to embrace the seeming randomness of each game’s outcome without being personally invested in the results. We can root for the underdogs without any sense of disappointment when they lose. There aren’t many other areas of our lives where we can emotionally invest in something without any real risk if it doesn’t go our way.

And considering the ways in which the sport has fundamentally changed over the last few years, this season’s tournament could be as unpredictable as any before it.

NIL money, transfer portals, and the chance to choose

As Billy Witz notes,

Three years ago, under mounting legislative and judicial pressure, the N.C.A.A. changed two major rules. It allowed athletes to make money from so-called name, image and likeness payments, and it eased restrictions on players transferring from one school to another. Those changes — prompted in part by a Supreme Court ruling that weakened the N.C.A.A.’s authority — have upended the top levels of college sports.

As a result, previously unseen levels of parity exist in a sport that used to be dominated by the blue-blood programs that routinely recruited the nation’s best prospects. Now—for better or worse—those players often go to the programs where they can get the most playing time while padding both their résumé and their bank accounts in the process.

While it would be naïve to assume that paying players is new to the sport, the ability to do so in the open has changed the way many of these young men and women have come to view their time in college. And given how much can ride on finding the right fit and opportunity, many of them are better off for it.

Consider this: Of Krysten Peek’s eight players who could help themselves the most in this year’s tournament, five of them started their college careers playing somewhere else. And before the tournament even started, a little more than 10 percent of players on the men’s side of Division I entered the transfer portal with the hopes of finding a better situation for next season.

For some, it will work out well. For others, it will not, with some losing the scholarship they had in the failed pursuit of a better opportunity.

Either way, though, most players seem to relish the chance to make that choice for themselves. And there is an important lesson in that reality for us today.

The consequences of free will

One of the fundamental truths of what it means to be created in the image of God is that we possess the freedom to choose how we will use the life he’s given us.

Now, that doesn’t mean we can do anything, as all free will exists more as a menu of options than the absence of limitations. But our heavenly Father created us to go through life with the ability to decide how we will approach it.

Ideally, we would use that freedom to choose to love and obey him. That is far and away the best approach, and Scripture makes that abundantly clear across its pages. But Scripture is also clear that the gift of freedom requires us to own the results of our decisions (Galatians 6:7–8).

We don’t get to make a choice and blame God or anyone else for how it turns out.

Ultimately, those consequences belong to us, and it’s a sign of maturity—both emotional and spiritual—to be able to accept those consequences and move forward. That doesn’t mean we have to like the results. But whether it’s a busted bracket or something of far greater consequence, when we choose to live in the past, we greatly reduce what the Lord can do through us in the present.

So choose instead to learn from your experiences, then move on to wherever God leads next. That’s how we grow, both as people and in our walk with the Lord.

Where do you need to experience that kind of growth today?

Denison Forum