March 24, 2026

The Dow surged 631 points yesterday after President Trump said the US and Iran have held “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.” In response, the president postponed strikes on Iranian power plants for a five-day period.

However, I’m following a different story today that I believe to be enormously significant as well. I have not seen it widely reported, which points to my point.

According to the Los Angeles Times, West Hollywood’s city council has unanimously approved advancing what the article calls a “registry of multi-partner domestic relationships.” The writer explains that West Hollywood is now “the latest of a few cities in the US to pursue legal protection for groups of more than two adults living in a single household who are romantically or otherwise committed to each other.”

Advocates claim that such protections are needed for a broad group of people, such as immigrant households that depend on extended family members for child care and support. Multigenerational families living together would be another example.

And of course, the ordinance is intended to “protect” polyamorous households where multiple sexual partners live together.

Would today’s article be illegal?

Even though I strongly disagree with polyamory on biblical, moral, and practical grounds, I understand that our secularized culture does not typically legislate morality with regard to such consensual behavior. For example, though 90 percent of Americans consider “married people having an affair” to be “morally wrong,” adultery is not illegal in the US.

But here’s the part of the article that could easily be overlooked: the West Hollywood city council also “outlawed discrimination against polyamorous people and others in nontraditional family structures” and has added “family or relationship structure as a protected class in the city alongside race, religion, gender, and other categories.” The anti-discrimination law will go into effect in mid-April.

Will it mean a church or ministry would be forced to hire someone in a polyamorous relationship? What about Christians operating a business? What about believers who use their influence to defend biblical morality in this context?

Would today’s article be illegal in West Hollywood?

“The greatest danger to our future”

For several years, I have spotlighted the four-stage strategy employed by LGBTQ advocates in our society: normalize immoral behavior through popular media, legalize such behavior, stigmatize those who disagree as “homophobic” and otherwise dangerous, and criminalize such opposition. Today’s discussion is one example of the fourth stage.

Jane Goodall, the famed British primatologist and animal rights activist, once warned:

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

However, as a strong advocate for LGBTQ causes, she meant her warning in precisely the opposite way that I am endorsing it today.

It is human nature to focus on issues that seem most relevant to us personally. This “fight-or-flight response” is our natural, automatic reaction to stress or danger. Whether you attribute it to evolutionary development or God’s design (I choose the latter), you can understand the need to evaluate all experiences, including this article, through a prism of personal relevance.

Consequently, unless you live in West Hollywood or in the few cities in Massachusetts or on the West Coast where polyamory “protections” have been enacted, this threat to religious liberty can seem remote and thus less relevant to you.

But that’s only because we tend to overlook how this strategy works. Statutes deemed legal in small towns can then be advanced to major cities. What starts in one part of the country can advance to others. And when such actions rise to the level of federal civil rights, they can supersede states’ rights (as occurred in 1973 when Roe v. Wade overturned abortion prohibitions in at least thirty-one states).

Three reasons to reject moral apathy

Consequently, moral apathy is indeed “the greatest danger to our future.” Consider three reasons.

The first is legal, as we have seen.

When Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004, the response by evangelicals would likely have been much stronger if we had foreseen that the US Supreme Court would discover this “right” in the Constitution a decade later and impose it on the entire country. Why should we think the same cannot happen with polyamory?

The second is personal.

Because Satan hates us, he will never tempt us to commit sin that will pay more than it costs us. He loves to turn down the moral lights in our cultural room so gradually that our eyes adjust and we find ourselves in the dark without complaint. And he knows that sin we tolerate in others often metastasizes into sin we commit personally.

This is why God’s word warns: “Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). Because Satan always seeks to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10), “death” and nothing less is his ultimate goal. And moral apathy is one of his most effective means to this end.

The third is collective.

Because God is holy (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8), he must judge unconfessed sin. His word is clear: “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaiah 13:11). He therefore warns us, “Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin” (Ezekiel 18:30).

Our Father deals with us as gently as he can or as harshly as he must. The more society chooses moral apathy, the more we force him to choose the latter. This is why “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

“Conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed:

Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” Vanity asks the question, “Is it popular?” But conscience asks the question, “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.

Where do you need to take such a position today?

Quote for the day:

“The world won’t be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” —Albert Einstein

Our latest website resources:

• Why “Project Hail Mary” is a family-friendly score
• Why Christian unity matters for the global church today
• Why March Madness is for everyone: How to enjoy the NCAA tournament
• Why gas prices are rising, prediction markets exposed, Talarico’s theology, Oscars recap & March Madness
• Should we be culture warriors or cultural missionaries?

Denison Forum

We’re learning this morning that the US has sent Iran a fifteen-point plan to end the war in the Middle East. The plan was delivered by way of Pakistan, but it is unclear how widely it has been shared among Iranian officials.

However, Israeli journalist Amit Segal reports that Israeli leaders fear the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will undermine any agreement with the West. Yesterday’s announcement that Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a former IRGC commander, will replace the slain Ali Larijani as head of the country’s security council reinforces their fears.

Why would the IRGC want to continue fighting a war that is so devastating to their nation?

Winning by not losing

According to an extensive report by the Middle East Institute, the IRGC has developed in recent years from a militia into a “parallel state” within Iran. Its leaders and members understand the world through the prism of Mahdism: the return of the twelfth divinely ordained Imam Mahdi, who will rid the world of evil and injustice through “one final apocalyptic battle” between the dar al-Islam (land of Muslims) and dar al-Kufr (land of infidels).

They believe that the 1979 Islamic Revolution marked the first stage in the Mahdi’s return. The IRGC now exists to “prepare the world for the emergence of Imam of the Age” by fighting the “enemies” of Islam.

In such a conflict, they win by not losing. The survival of the IRGC and the Islamic regime constitutes success, enabling them to continue their aggression against Israel and the West until they are defeated and/or the Mahdi returns. In this sense, the US and Israel are fighting a military battle against an ideological foe.

For anyone who doubts whether the spiritual is real or relevant, this conflict should be proof enough.

“The wind blows where it wishes”

A bench beside a pond in our neighborhood is my favorite place to visit. When I spend time there in the early morning, it often seems that the veil between the physical and the spiritual lifts just a bit. I sense the Creator in his creation and feel more than hear his voice in my spirit.

Sitting by the pond yesterday, my attention was drawn to a fish jumping in the water. By the time I heard the splash it made, it was too late to see it, but the ripples it created cascaded to the shoreline.

The thought came to me: like the world beneath the surface of the pond, the world of the Spirit is often most evident through the effects it produces in our fallen world.

Consider wind as an example. I’ve experienced it all my life, but never wondered why. It turns out, wind is primarily caused by the uneven heating of our planet’s surface by the sun. As air moves from areas of cooler air to warmer air, wind is produced. The earth’s rotation (known as the Coriolis force) also deflects air movement, and friction with the earth’s surface causes diverging winds as well.

All that to say, we don’t see the forces that produce the wind, but we feel what they produce. Jesus made this point to Nicodemus: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8a).

Then our Lord added, “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (v. 8b).

This is as it must be. The God who is Spirit must work in nonmaterial ways in our material world. He leads us through his inner voice, the truth of Scripture, and the circumstances of our days into obedience that manifests itself in tangible, material ways. We see what he does by the results in and through our lives.

When “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), we see the effects of our faith on our walk. And so does the world.

The faith to have faith

This fact relates first to our salvation.

When a brilliant friend and I were talking the other day, he asked me how I knew with certainty that I was a child of God and that I would go to heaven when I die. I told him that I had learned over the years this fact: it takes faith today to believe God saved me, just as it did when I asked him to do so.

I still cannot prove through scientific means that God exists, much less that he loves me, his Son died to pay the penalty for my sins, and now his Spirit lives in me as his temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). These are all relational truth claims. And while objective evidence from archaeology, history, ancient manuscripts, fulfilled prophecy, and changed lives is strongly compelling, relationships cannot be proven—only experienced.

Just as I cannot prove to you that my wife loves me, I cannot prove to you that God loves you. But I can invite you to experience your Father’s love for yourself by faith.

“Though I was blind, now I see”

This conversation points to a second reality: our changed lives are often our most compelling apologetic for Christ.

I can show you through the ancient writings of Tacitus, Suetonius, Mara bar Serapion, Pliny the Younger, and Josephus that Jesus existed and was crucified, and that his early followers believed him to be raised from the dead and worshiped him as God. But you can say they were all wrong. Or you could make a postmodern move and say that’s just “their truth.”

What a skeptic cannot so easily dismiss is the change Christ makes in a life fully surrendered to his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Like the man born blind, we can say to the world, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). Others may dismiss our theology, but they cannot say that our experience is not our experience.

And when they see the difference Jesus is making in our lives (cf. John 10:10), they may be drawn to seek that difference in their lives as well.

Church baptizes four hundred in one weekend

Lead Pastor Jason Britt of Bethlehem Church in Georgia was recently teaching a series on Acts 2 and the Day of Pentecost. He felt prompted to call for spontaneous baptisms, and four hundred people were baptized across the church’s three campuses during one weekend.

He explained: “A Spirit-filled church is full of Spirit-sensitive people, and Spirit-sensitive people obey.”

How sensitive to the Spirit are you today?

Quote for the day:

“Without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. We are as ships without wind. We are useless.” —Charles Spurgeon

Our latest website resources:

• When a letter becomes lethal: Why the gospel is uniquely suited to combat the rise of the newest evolution in narcotics
• Why “Project Hail Mary” is a family-friendly score
• Why Christian unity matters for the global church today
• Why March Madness is for everyone: How to enjoy the NCAA tournament
• Why gas prices are rising, prediction markets exposed, Talarico’s theology, Oscars recap & March Madness

Denison Forum

An Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late last night. Both pilots were killed, dozens of people were injured, and the airport will remain closed until at least 2 p.m. ET today.

Earlier in the day, I received news that my spiritual mother had passed away.

In August 1973, two men knocked on my apartment door in Houston, Texas, inviting my brother and me to ride their bus to church. When we did, I was assigned to the tenth-grade Sunday school class taught by Sharon Sewell, the pastor’s wife.

She made me her project, inviting me to youth ministry events and calling me each Saturday to encourage me to come to church the next morning. On September 9, 1973, she led me to faith in Christ. I will be grateful for her forever, literally.

Mrs. Sewell had been declining rapidly in recent weeks. Her son told me yesterday that her last words to him were, “I want to go to heaven.” She is now reunited with her husband, my first pastor, and we are celebrating her homegoing.

Some deaths, like those that occurred in NYC last night, are tragic. Others are cause for gratitude.

Chadwick Boseman’s widow on “the weight of grief”

When acclaimed actor Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer in August 2020 at the age of forty-three, many were shocked to hear that he had cancer. His widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, told Today last Friday that his symptoms began just weeks before his diagnosis and that he chose to fight the disease privately.

When asked if grieving gets easier over time, her response was poignant and profound.

“The edges get less sharp, I think, is the best way to put it,” she said. “There are still edges and there are still a lot of painful moments. But I think it becomes easier to find the love in those moments as well. You become more accustomed to carrying the weight of grief. But it doesn’t go away.”

Most of us who have experienced significant loss would agree with her, I think.

My father died in 1979 at the age of fifty-five. To this day, my greatest grief is that he never met my sons. He would have been a wonderful grandfather. Over these many years, I have “become more accustomed to carrying the weight of grief,” but it is still there.

“People are shoved to the left side of their brains”

In the years since, however, I have come to believe that God redeems all he allows and to look for such redemption with my father’s passing. In this regard, Arthur Brooks’s latest article for the Free Press is insightful.

He writes that many of the young people he has taught at Harvard and met in other settings are “undeniably, desperately, incorrigibly unhappy.” When he started asking their stories, he discovered a common thread: their lives are busy but not meaningful.

Wealth and achievement are insufficient in this regard. In fact, Brooks reports that the wealthier and more technologically advanced the country, the greater the percentage of the population that answers “no” to the question, “Do you feel your life has an important purpose or meaning?”

He explains this paradox in a way I had not seen. Most of us are familiar with the hypothesis that the left side of our brain is logical while the right side is creative. Brooks notes that this is not accurate: both hemispheres deal with just about everything our brains do. But they do so in consistently different ways.

Brooks cites the work of the British neuroscientist and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, who shows that the right side of our brain is the “master,” asking big, transcendent questions such as “Why am I alive?” The left side, which McGilchrist calls the “emissary,” addresses such practical questions as “How do I get food so I can keep being alive?”

Here’s the problem, as Brooks explains:

In our increasingly complicated, technology-dominated, and endlessly distracting world, people are shoved to the left side of their brains. They are stuck in a complicated simulation where there is a lot going on, but which is bereft of mystery and meaning.

A gateway into a life of purpose

With regard to “carrying the weight of grief”: Our left-side, secularized culture processes death in practical, present-tense terms. We make arrangements for the funeral, manage the financial and practical aftermath, and seek ways to move on with our daily lives.

But the right-side, transcendent questions remain: What does my grief say about God? About me? About my purpose in life?

In my case, God has used my father’s early death to lead me into what has become my lifelong vocation: to engage the ultimate questions of life with biblical truth. I have focused on innocent suffering and other deep issues as a philosophy professor, a pastor, and now as a cultural apologist. My father’s death has become my gateway into a life of purpose as I seek to help others find purpose in their questions and challenges.

None of this makes my father’s early death any less painful. I still miss him and still wish he could know my children and now my grandchildren. But I find peace in the purpose his death has forged for me.

And I am grateful beyond words for the presence of my Father as he has grieved with me over these many years and we have walked together through “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4).

Why God “comforts us in all our affliction”

If you’re “carrying the weight of grief” today, could I encourage you to seek God’s purpose in your pain? To ask him to show you how you can partner with him in redeeming your loss? To look for ways to be what Henri Nouwen called a “wounded healer,” someone whose pain enables you to help others with theirs?

If you’re not carrying such weight today, do you know someone who is? Will you pray for them to find meaning in their grief and walk with them toward hope?

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to suffering (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23–29), but he testified that our Lord is “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). And he discovered a purpose in such grace, adding that God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v. 4).

How will you pay forward such grace today?

Quote for the day:

“Our infirmities become the black velvet on which the diamond of God’s love glitters all the more brightly.” —Charles Spurgeon

Our latest website resources:

• Why Christian unity matters for the global church today
• Why March Madness is for everyone: How to enjoy the NCAA tournament
• Why gas prices are rising, prediction markets exposed, Talarico’s theology, Oscars recap & March Madness
• Should filmmakers politicize the Academy Awards?
• Should we be culture warriors or cultural missionaries?

Denison Forum

An Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late last night. Both pilots were killed, dozens of people were injured, and the airport will remain closed until at least 2 p.m. ET today.

Earlier in the day, I received news that my spiritual mother had passed away.

In August 1973, two men knocked on my apartment door in Houston, Texas, inviting my brother and me to ride their bus to church. When we did, I was assigned to the tenth-grade Sunday school class taught by Sharon Sewell, the pastor’s wife.

She made me her project, inviting me to youth ministry events and calling me each Saturday to encourage me to come to church the next morning. On September 9, 1973, she led me to faith in Christ. I will be grateful for her forever, literally.

Mrs. Sewell had been declining rapidly in recent weeks. Her son told me yesterday that her last words to him were, “I want to go to heaven.” She is now reunited with her husband, my first pastor, and we are celebrating her homegoing.

Some deaths, like those that occurred in NYC last night, are tragic. Others are cause for gratitude.

Chadwick Boseman’s widow on “the weight of grief”

When acclaimed actor Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer in August 2020 at the age of forty-three, many were shocked to hear that he had cancer. His widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, told Today last Friday that his symptoms began just weeks before his diagnosis and that he chose to fight the disease privately.

When asked if grieving gets easier over time, her response was poignant and profound.

“The edges get less sharp, I think, is the best way to put it,” she said. “There are still edges and there are still a lot of painful moments. But I think it becomes easier to find the love in those moments as well. You become more accustomed to carrying the weight of grief. But it doesn’t go away.”

Most of us who have experienced significant loss would agree with her, I think.

My father died in 1979 at the age of fifty-five. To this day, my greatest grief is that he never met my sons. He would have been a wonderful grandfather. Over these many years, I have “become more accustomed to carrying the weight of grief,” but it is still there.

“People are shoved to the left side of their brains”

In the years since, however, I have come to believe that God redeems all he allows and to look for such redemption with my father’s passing. In this regard, Arthur Brooks’s latest article for the Free Press is insightful.

He writes that many of the young people he has taught at Harvard and met in other settings are “undeniably, desperately, incorrigibly unhappy.” When he started asking their stories, he discovered a common thread: their lives are busy but not meaningful.

Wealth and achievement are insufficient in this regard. In fact, Brooks reports that the wealthier and more technologically advanced the country, the greater the percentage of the population that answers “no” to the question, “Do you feel your life has an important purpose or meaning?”

He explains this paradox in a way I had not seen. Most of us are familiar with the hypothesis that the left side of our brain is logical while the right side is creative. Brooks notes that this is not accurate: both hemispheres deal with just about everything our brains do. But they do so in consistently different ways.

Brooks cites the work of the British neuroscientist and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, who shows that the right side of our brain is the “master,” asking big, transcendent questions such as “Why am I alive?” The left side, which McGilchrist calls the “emissary,” addresses such practical questions as “How do I get food so I can keep being alive?”

Here’s the problem, as Brooks explains:

In our increasingly complicated, technology-dominated, and endlessly distracting world, people are shoved to the left side of their brains. They are stuck in a complicated simulation where there is a lot going on, but which is bereft of mystery and meaning.

A gateway into a life of purpose

With regard to “carrying the weight of grief”: Our left-side, secularized culture processes death in practical, present-tense terms. We make arrangements for the funeral, manage the financial and practical aftermath, and seek ways to move on with our daily lives.

But the right-side, transcendent questions remain: What does my grief say about God? About me? About my purpose in life?

In my case, God has used my father’s early death to lead me into what has become my lifelong vocation: to engage the ultimate questions of life with biblical truth. I have focused on innocent suffering and other deep issues as a philosophy professor, a pastor, and now as a cultural apologist. My father’s death has become my gateway into a life of purpose as I seek to help others find purpose in their questions and challenges.

None of this makes my father’s early death any less painful. I still miss him and still wish he could know my children and now my grandchildren. But I find peace in the purpose his death has forged for me.

And I am grateful beyond words for the presence of my Father as he has grieved with me over these many years and we have walked together through “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4).

Why God “comforts us in all our affliction”

If you’re “carrying the weight of grief” today, could I encourage you to seek God’s purpose in your pain? To ask him to show you how you can partner with him in redeeming your loss? To look for ways to be what Henri Nouwen called a “wounded healer,” someone whose pain enables you to help others with theirs?

If you’re not carrying such weight today, do you know someone who is? Will you pray for them to find meaning in their grief and walk with them toward hope?

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to suffering (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23–29), but he testified that our Lord is “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). And he discovered a purpose in such grace, adding that God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v. 4).

How will you pay forward such grace today?

Quote for the day:

“Our infirmities become the black velvet on which the diamond of God’s love glitters all the more brightly.” —Charles Spurgeon

Our latest website resources:

• Why Christian unity matters for the global church today
• Why March Madness is for everyone: How to enjoy the NCAA tournament
• Why gas prices are rising, prediction markets exposed, Talarico’s theology, Oscars recap & March Madness
• Should filmmakers politicize the Academy Awards?
• Should we be culture warriors or cultural missionaries?

Denison Forum

The problem with Peter Thiel’s take on the end times

Peter Thiel is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who made his mark with PayPal, Facebook, and Palantir before becoming one of the largest donors to the Republican Party and an early advocate for President Trump. However, he’s in the news this week for an entirely different reason.

Thiel helped organize an exclusive conference in Rome, where he led four days of discussions on the Antichrist and his view that modern society is hurtling toward an inflection point that could pave the way for the end times. He claims that the Antichrist will use issues like nuclear war, climate change, and—perhaps most importantly—artificial intelligence to promise security in exchange for devotion and lead people to submit willingly to the sort of one-world, totalitarian government depicted in Revelation.

But while the lectures in Rome are not the first time he has taught on this subject (he gave similar talks in San Francisco and Paris), this week’s event has generated far more attention in religious circles. Part of the reason is that the meetings were arranged by Catholic organizations and located on the Vatican’s doorstep, both of which raised the ire of the Pope and others who have condemned Thiel’s message.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Is AI a tool for the Antichrist? →

The legendary actor and comedian Dick Van Dyke recently became a centenarian. He explains his longevity simply: he keeps a positive outlook and never gets angry.

Scientists agree with his theory.

In one study, people who were optimistic lived between 11 and 15 percent longer than their pessimistic counterparts. In another, those who were more optimistic were more likely to live into their nineties than pessimists.

Research shows that chronic stress and anger are linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, diseases that account for roughly 75 percent of early deaths. Stress is also linked to cellular aging. And researchers studying stroke survivors have found that optimism lowers chronic inflammation, leading to less severe strokes and less physical disability.

However, you and I didn’t need scientists to tell us what we innately understood, that happier people are typically healthier people.

If only knowing and doing God’s will were so obvious and intuitive.

“Yet your footprints were unseen”

I was reading Psalm 77 recently and was struck by verse 16: “When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.” Some scholars believe Asaph was referring to the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14), while others point to Israel’s miraculous crossing of the flooded Jordan River (Joshua 3).

Whatever the specific reference, what God did was stupendous: “The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook” (Psalm 77:17–18).

Now to my point: Asaph then prays, “Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen” (v. 19, my emphasis).

It is one thing to follow someone whose “footprints” are obvious to us. It is another to follow someone we cannot see, trusting that their word is true and their will is best, before we can verify either.

“The people passed over in haste”

When the Israelites passed through the parted Red Sea, its waters were “a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Exodus 14:22). Imagine what it must have felt like to risk your life and your family in this way, knowing that any moment the waters could come crashing down on you as they later did on the Egyptian army (v. 28).

Forty years later, the people found themselves on the bank of the flooded Jordan River. Again they crossed in peril of their lives, knowing that the flood waters could return at any moment to sweep them away (cf. Joshua 4:18).

No wonder “the people passed over in haste” (v. 10).

God similarly called Abraham to leave his family and homeland, “not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). And the Lord called Paul to leave where he had been to go to a place he had never gone (Acts 16:6–10).

Solomon famously advised us: “Trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). There are times when the first requires the second, when our “own understanding” is insufficient for understanding the ways of God, and we must trust what we do not see.

As Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Accordingly, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

“I will remember your wonders of old”

As a longtime pastor and theologian, I am familiar with the texts I just cited. But that doesn’t mean I like them better than anyone else. I don’t want God’s footprints to be “unseen.” I don’t want to have to go out “not knowing” where I’m going. I want to walk by faith but also by sight.

It seems that God requires unseeing faith as though it is a precondition to knowing his will, a bill we must pay or work we must perform. But we are saved by faith, not by works (Ephesians 2:8–9). There is nothing we can do to make God love us any more or any less than he does right now, because “God is love” (1 John 4:8, my emphasis).

Why, then, must we so often trust his will before we understand it? Because this is so often the only way we can understand it.

How could God prove to the Jews while they crossed the Red Sea or the Jordan River that the waters would not return to drown them? How could he prove to Abraham before he went out “not knowing” that he would become the father of the Jewish nation as a result of his obedience (cf. Galatians 3:6)? How could he prove to Paul before he followed his Macedonian vision that the apostle would take the gospel to the Western world?

Relationships typically require a commitment that transcends the evidence and becomes self-validating. This is true of choosing to be married, having children, taking a job, or even reading this article—you can’t prove my words are worth your time today until you spend your time reading them.

As a result, when I want God to explain his will to me before I choose it, I am asking him to do the logically impossible, like making a square circle or naming the color of the number 7. At such times, I do well to follow Asaph’s example: “I will remember the deeds of the Lᴏʀᴅ; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:11–12).

When I do, I will testify with the psalmist, “Your way, O God, is holy” (v. 13). And I will find the courage to choose this “way” myself.

“The secret of spiritual knowledge”

In Catholic tradition, today is “St. Joseph’s Day.” A ninth-century calendar mentions March 19 and Joseph, implying that this was the day he died. In 1621, Pope Gregory XV made the commemoration of this day official.

For Jesus’ adoptive father, God’s footprints were truly “unseen.” Joseph was told that his fiancée was pregnant with the Messiah and instructed to marry her anyway. He was told to flee Israel for Egypt and later to return. He was directed to settle in Nazareth, a town so small it is not mentioned even once in the Old Testament.

And his obedience changed both history and eternity.

The famed missionary Eric Liddell noted,

“Obedience to God’s will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight.”

Will you learn this “secret” today?

Quote for the day:

“The Christian man must aim at that complete obedience to God in which life finds its highest happiness, its greatest good, its perfect consummation, its peace.” —William Barclay

Our latest website resources:

• Why Christian unity matters for the global church today
• Why March Madness is for everyone: How to enjoy the NCAA tournament
• Should filmmakers politicize the Academy Awards?
• Iran war update, Kristi Noem out, Warner Bros. sold, Oscar predictions & Selection Sunday
• Should we be culture warriors or cultural missionaries?

Denison Forum

How to enjoy the NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament tips off tonight with the first two play-in games. You’ll still have a couple more days to get your bracket in, though, before the first round starts on Thursday. And while there may be fewer Cinderellas now than in the past, the best teams have seldom been better. And there’s a lesson in that truth that goes well beyond the basketball court.

Why it matters: I usually dedicate this space to an extended look at some issue in the world or our culture, with the hope of helping us understand how to navigate it in ways that honor God and draw us closer to him. I think most of us would agree that the NCAA Tournament does not quite rise to that level. However, few things unite this country like the chance to compete with friends, family, and coworkers in trying (and often failing) to predict how the Tournament will play out. And given everything else going on in our world, it would be a shame if we failed to take a moment to stop and appreciate that opportunity.

The backstory: One of 80 million

The NCAA Tournament—also known as March Madness—kicks off tonight with the first two play-in games. If you’re one of the estimated 80 million people who plan to fill out a bracket for this year’s festivities, though, don’t worry. The games tonight and tomorrow don’t usually count toward your score.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why March Madness is for everyone →

The law of unintended consequences and the wisdom of St. Patrick

Israel’s defense minister announced this morning that its military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike. In other news, the US embassy in Baghdad has been targeted by explosive drones, British Airways says it is suspending some flights to the Middle East until the end of May, and US gas prices are continuing to rise as a result of the war.

However, much of the focus today is on a narrow waterway that is central to the global economy.

A quarter of the world’s liquified natural gas and seaborne trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Iran has effectively closed it by attacking ships and reportedly laying mines in the strait. More than a thousand cargo ships have been blocked so far.

According to Stanford and Harvard historian Niall Ferguson, however, the Strait of Hormuz is potentially less significant to the world than the Strait of Taiwan. He notes that more than 90 percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductors and 99 percent of the chips used for cutting-edge AI training are manufactured in Taiwan. The island also imports 97 percent of its energy supply in the form of oil, LNG, and coal.

Continue reading Denison Forum – How could the Iran war go global? →

What do movies tell us about ourselves?

One Battle After Another won the Academy Award for Best Picture last night, along with five other Oscars. Michael B. Jordan, Sean Penn, Jessie Buckley, and Amy Madigan won acting Oscars.

The awards show prompted some reflections for me, which have less to do with the films themselves than with the experience of watching them.

My wife and I took two of our grandkids to a movie the other day. We seldom go to the theater except with them, it seems. However, hardly a week goes by without us watching at least one movie at home, usually on a streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime.

We are apparently not unusual: only half of Americans went to a movie theater in 2025, while 75 percent told surveyors that they had recently opted to stream a movie at home instead of watching it in the theater. The movie-watching experience, wherever it takes place, is ubiquitous. While 7 percent of Americans told Pew Research Center they had never seen a movie in theaters, I cannot find data indicating that a significant percentage of Americans have never seen a movie at all.

So-called “moving pictures” were first developed in 1891; the first time projected moving pictures were presented to a paying audience was in December 1895 in Paris, France. Over the generations since, they have become a pervasive and indelible part of our lives.

Why is this?

“What distinguishes us from the beasts in the fields”

Clinical psychologist Ana Nogales explains in Psychology Today that movies can be cathartic, as they express the emotions we feel. They help us escape from our own world for a couple of hours as well, offering entertainment that distracts us from our challenges.

She writes that they can be therapeutic when they “help us view things from a different perspective and become more understanding of other people.” And they inspire us with stories of achievement that encourage us to be our best selves.

I would add that the best movies are often the most surprising, the ones with a plot twist we did not foresee, films that convey an unanticipated message that nonetheless resonates with life. In The Future of Truth, acclaimed filmmaker Warner Herzog writes:

I don’t think truth is some kind of polestar in the sky that we will one day get to. It’s more like an incessant striving. A movement, an uncertain journey, a seeking full of futile endeavor. But it is this journey into the unknown, into a vast twilit forest, that gives our lives meaning and purpose; it is what distinguishes us from the beasts in the fields.

“On purpose for a purpose”

Obviously, I disagree with his postmodern rejection of objective truth. As I often note, to claim there are no absolute truths is to make an absolute truth claim. Our Father has a mission for each of our lives, a kingdom assignment by which we are to know and glorify him and lead others to know and glorify him. As Max Lucado notes, we were created “on purpose for a purpose.”

But I do agree with Herzog that our pursuit of this purpose is a “journey into the unknown.”

Every significant junction of my life has been a surprise to me. I thought when I went to seminary that I would earn a PhD and return to my alma mater to teach philosophy. When my seminary offered me a faculty position, I thought I would stay there for my career. I resigned from the small church we had been pastoring during doctoral work, expressing my gratitude for all they meant to us and telling them that they were the only church we would ever pastor.

Our call from the seminary back into the pastorate was therefore a surprise to us, as were our subsequent calls to churches in Atlanta and Dallas. When two very gracious friends came to my wife and me in 2008 with the idea of launching what became Denison Ministries, we were shocked. But this ministry, which began in February 2009, has grown to a size and scope I could never have imagined. We began with a daily article and seven thousand subscribers; last year, our ministry’s content was read, heard, or seen more than 110 million times around the world.

Please believe me when I say that none of this was our doing. The vision came from God; the content our team and I produce is led by him; the growth of the ministry has come as we have followed his direction. We have worked hard, but even the capacity to do so is his gift to us.

And our Lord continues to use our team to deliver his word to the world, not because we are worthy but because “the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and always accomplishes the purpose for which God intends it (Isaiah 55:10–11).

“The power at work within us”

I tell you our story only to say this: God has a plan for your life that transcends anything you can plan for yourself. Because his ways are “higher than your ways” (Isaiah 55:9), he is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).

When you pursue your Father’s purpose, your life becomes a “motion picture” in which the scenes you “film” today are part of a story you are telling the world. The key, as a wise mentor once taught me, is to stay faithful to the last word you heard from God and open to the next.

And the key to this key is knowing the living Lord Jesus so personally and intimately that you can hear his voice and follow his lead.

Plato famously likened humans to prisoners chained in a cave in such a way that they cannot see the fire behind them but only the shadows it projects onto the wall before them. The purpose of philosophy, he believed, was to break these chains so we can turn from the “shadow” of the physical world to the “fire” of the world of ideas. The job of philosophers is to help others break their chains so they can join us in this quest for true knowledge.

Plato was wrong about the power of philosophy: only the Spirit can break the chains of sin and free us to experience the Light that defeats all darkness (John 1:5). But he was right that, once our chains are broken, we are to help others with theirs.

With whom will you share your story today?

Quote for the day:

“We need storytelling. Otherwise, life just goes on and on like the number Pi.” —Ang Lee, Academy Award-winning director

Our latest website resources:

• Why do people fear Friday the 13^th? Is the Christian faith superstition or truth?
• Cyberattacks, “sleeper assets,” and oil above $100 a barrel: The latest on the Iran war and the path from fear to faith
• Iran war update, Kristi Noem out, Warner Bros. sold, Oscar predictions & Selection Sunday
• Should we be culture warriors or cultural missionaries?
• The slippery slope of Canada’s fall toward 100,000 assisted deaths

Denison Forum

Is the Christian faith superstition or truth?

March 13, 2026, falls on a Friday. So did February 13 of this year. So will November 13.

Most years produce one or two Friday the 13ths. Having three such Fridays in one year is relatively rare, occurring forty-four times per four-hundred-year cycle and only when the year begins on a Thursday. In such years, Friday the 13ths always fall in February, March, and November.

The fear of such days is called “paraskevidekatriaphobia,” derived from the Greek for Friday (Paraskevi), thirteen (dekatreis), and fear (phobia). According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated seventeen to twenty-one million people in the US are afflicted with this phobia.

This makes Friday the 13^th the most feared day and date in history. Some people avoid following their normal routines, taking flights, or even getting out of bed. Some estimate that $800 to $900 million in business is lost on the day.

Some speculate that such fear originated in the Bible: thirteen guests attended the Last Supper, including Jesus and his twelve disciples. The next day, Good Friday, Jesus was crucified.

Patrick Mahomes’ underwear

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wears the same pair of red underwear on every NFL game day. He first wore the undergarment during a successful first season in 2017 and continues to do so, believing it brings him good luck.

Some baseball players refuse to step on the out-of-bounds line when running on or off the field. Some basketball players dribble the ball a set number of times before shooting free throws. They are not unusual in this regard.

According to a 2024 study, “very few people show a complete lack of belief in superstitions and practice none.” Psychologists explain that superstitions persist in our scientifically advanced age because they can alleviate stress, bring emotional comfort, and reinforce themselves if we believe they are true and act accordingly.

In this sense, superstitions can be like horoscopes: when we believe what they claim, we then act in ways that become self-fulfilling prophecies. If your horoscope tells you that you’ll meet an interesting person today, for example, you may be more likely to be interested in people and thus fulfill its prediction. If it warns you against making major decisions, you take its advice, and nothing untoward happens to you, you might assume that your horoscope was correct.

But correlation is not necessarily causation unless we confuse the two.

Driving around the donut shop

A similar phenomenon can be observed with regard to religious faith.

For example, we can pray for God to act in specific ways and then interpret what happens as his answers (the so-called “Gideon’s fleece” strategy of Judges 6). A rather pejorative illustration tells of the man who asked God to open a parking spot in front of the donut shop if he was to stop there on his way to work. Sure enough, on the man’s eighth trip around the shop, one “miraculously” appeared.

Some skeptics claim that all faith functions in a similar way.

The philosopher Antony Flew popularized a principle called “falsification”: if a truth claim cannot be proven wrong, it cannot be proven right. If nothing can dissuade us from our beliefs, they are just that—mere beliefs. To be considered actual truth claims, they must be capable of being proven false.

It is just here that Christianity can claim an advantage over other world religions.

Hindus believe in reincarnation, but they have no way to prove that their belief is based in fact. Muslims claim that the Qur’an was given by Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad, but they have no empirical way to test their thesis.

Christianity, however, stands or falls on an actual event in history that can be empirically tested. Paul was specific and clear: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Accordingly, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (v. 17).

In other words, if it could be proven beyond all doubt that Jesus was not raised from the grave on Easter Sunday, our faith would be falsified, and our preaching would be useless. The good news is that the evidence from history, archaeology, ancient manuscripts, and logic is clear and conclusive: “He has risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6).

Our faith is therefore not superstition but truth. And sharing it with others is not imposing our subjective opinions but giving the world the hope it needs most.

“By it I see everything else”

Friday the 13^th has long been special to my family because my father was born on Friday, July 13, 1924. If he had not been born, I would obviously not have been born.

In a similar fashion, if Jesus had not been raised from the dead, I would have no reason to believe that I will one day be raised from the dead. When I die, I will have no agency by which to determine what happens next. My life beyond this life is entirely dependent on forces beyond my capacity or control.

When I wonder about that day or otherwise question the beliefs of my faith, my mind returns to the empty tomb. The fact of the resurrection means that Jesus was and is the divine Son of God, his words conveyed in Scripture are the word of God, and his promises are sure.

CS Lewis, the former atheist turned brilliant Oxford apologist, testified:

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

When we “see everything else” in our world in light of Easter, we find peace that transcends our pain and hope that heals our hearts.

This is the promise, and the invitation, of God.

Denison Forum

While the Trump Administration’s focus remains largely on the war in Iran, the president took some time earlier this week to address the situation with Cuba as well. Hinting that they may be next in line for regime change, he stated, “It may be a friendly takeover, it may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn’t matter because they’re really, they’re down to, as I say, fumes.”

Trump went on to add, “They have no energy. They have no money. They’re in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis.” As I discussed in the News Worth Knowing section of this week’s Focus, those comments came after he’d previously mused, “They want to make a deal, and so I’m going to put Marco [Rubio] over there, and we’ll see how that works out.”

As we’ve seen with Iran, Russia and Ukraine, Venezuela, and in a host of other conflicts, wanting to make a deal and being willing to give up what it would take to get a deal are rarely the same. And while the president is correct that Cuba is struggling in almost every way, it’s still unclear what any such negotiations would entail.

Cuba does not have a clear successor who could take over, like in Venezuela. They also don’t have the same kind of economic or natural resources that could prove appealing. Instead, it’s likely that any concessions of interest to the administration would center around the country’s relationships with Russia and China.

A report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies found that there are likely multiple sites on the island that China is currently using to spy on the United States. Russia is also thought to utilize Cuba and other Latin American countries like Nicaragua for similar purposes. Reducing our neighbor nation’s ties to these countries would be difficult, but it would also fit well within the administration’s foreign policy focus on the Western hemisphere.

Yet, until a deal is reached, it’s the people in Cuba who will continue to suffer, and it’s crucial that we don’t lose sight of their plight as we consider the broader negotiations between governments.

“You can tell something isn’t right”

While the toppling of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro—and, more specifically, the cessation of free oil to Cuba—was, in many ways, the tipping point for the Cuban people, many were in dire straits well before then.

Cuba is one of only two Latin American nations currently in a recession, with Haiti the other. 89 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty, and even their government admits that most live on one meal a day, if that. Moreover, a mosquito-borne illness—easily treated with acetaminophen like Tylenol—has proved difficult to contain and has led to 55 deaths since November due to a shortage of medicine.

A nationwide blackout was triggered recently after the Antonio Guitera thermoelectric plant, the island’s largest power station, failed. Even when the plant was functioning, though, the aforementioned fuel shortages meant many went without power. Power cuts of up to twenty hours are common, while the lack of fuel makes getting to work, transporting food, or simply getting around too great a struggle for most.

And, as Jaob Lesniewski, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) regional codirector for Cuba, described, it gets worse the farther you get from the capital:

When you arrive in Havana, you can tell something isn’t right. But it’s nothing compared to what you begin to see as you travel farther east. Entire cities look like ghost towns. There are factories, schools, and hospitals that once functioned but now stand empty and severely deteriorated.

As is often the case, however, God is already at work through his people in ways that are making a genuine difference in the lives of those in need.

“Christian churches have become essential spaces”

Hernán Restrepo has an excellent article in Christianity Today about the work believers are doing in Cuba. In it, he describes how Christians are using whatever means are at their disposal to help those around them. Whether it’s providing food, clothing, hygiene products, or simply comfort, God’s people are giving from what little they have to be his hands and feet to the people the Lord has placed around them.

Moreover, even the government has started to recognize the value of getting help from believers. Ministries like MCC have met remarkably little resistance as they’ve brought in shipping containers of humanitarian relief. Instead, their greatest problems have come from getting that aid to the people once it arrives.

The oil embargo has made it difficult to use trucks to distribute the supplies, and the churches with whom they work are often forced to rely on “underfed horses” and carts instead. Still, they’re doing what they can, and it’s still often far more than the people receive from the government.

As Mayra Espino, a sociologist and researcher in Cuba, points out:

In a country where the state can no longer provide basic services like health care and education, Christian churches have become essential spaces for society—not only to receive humanitarian aid or spiritual comfort, but also to build community.

And it’s been that way for quite a while.

In 2008, for example, Cuba was devastated by four hurricanes in a single year. Espino notes that Christians earned a newfound respect after local churches helped repair the roofs of their non-Christian neighbors before fixing their own. It was a gesture of care that was not soon forgotten, in part because Cuban believers have continued to demonstrate that kind of concern in the years since.

And, in so doing, they offer an important example for believers everywhere.

“The gospel is relational”

Sometimes it can be easy to look at the gravity of the needs around us and feel overwhelmed. And that’s alright. Many of those needs are truly overwhelming and, to put it a bit cynically, there’s a reason Jesus told his disciples that they would always have the poor with them (Matthew 26:11).

But the lesson we should learn from our brothers and sisters in Cuba is that we don’t have to meet every need in order to make a tangible difference. Moreover, seldom will you be called to meet those needs alone.

Cuban believers, at their best, make a difference in their communities by working together. They try to model the kind of fellowship Luke describes at the end of Acts 2, where the believers devoted themselves to the study of God’s word, to sharing meals, to prayer, and to providing for the needs of those around to the extent that it was within their capacity to do so (Acts 2:42–46).

And the result is often the same today as it was two thousand years ago: “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).

As Pastor Carlos Alamino of Proclaim Cuba described when he and his son were guests on the Denison Forum Podcast, “The gospel is relational . . . So if we are able to provide for a person, if we’re able to meet their needs, their hearts are going to be ready to receive the gospel.”

And the key is that they are not doing it alone. Carlos went on to describe how “if I close my eyes and I touch any part of the island, we have somebody there that we can call and do ministry with.”

Can you imagine how much more we could accomplish for God’s kingdom in America if we could say the same? Can you imagine how much more you could accomplish just in your city or your town if you could point to any part of your community and know that your finger would fall on someone you could “do ministry with”?

The best place to start toward that goal is to make sure you are willing to be that someone in your community.

While your role in the Body of Christ is essential, you can’t play that role well if you’re trying to do it by yourself. So don’t try. Instead, take some time today to ask God where he would like you to serve, then pray for people to serve with you in that capacity.

Let’s start right now.

• Note: If you would like to find out more about what God is doing in Cuba and how you can help, I encourage you to visit ProclaimCuba.org. There are a number of organizations doing God’s work on the island, and they’re a great place to start learning more.

Quote of the day: 

“If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done. God will use anybody if you’re available.”—Rick Warren

Our latest website resources:

• Cyberattacks, “sleeper assets,” and oil above $100 a barrel
• Iran war update, Kristi Noem out, Warner Bros. sold, Oscar predictions & Selection Sunday | Ep. 60
• Should we be culture warriors or cultural missionaries?
• Iran, war, and the surprising growth of Christianity
• The Focus: The slippery slope of Canada’s fall toward 100,000 assisted deaths

Denison Forum

A reflection on cultural engagement and personal transformation

NOTE: Iran has apparently conducted a significant cyberattack against a US company, a first since the war began. As more is known, I will provide an update on the war and a biblical response in an article on our website later this morning.

If you live where I live, you waited for the rain to end yesterday for hours on end. But it could be worse: people in the Northern Territory of Australia are being warned to stay out of rain-fueled rivers in their area because, as one official put it, “There are crocs absolutely everywhere.”

Social media in the region is filled with images and videos of crocodiles floating down streets and galloping across roads. Residents are being told to “assume any waterway may contain a crocodile.”

There’s your devotional thought for the day.

If you pay much attention to secular culture, you might feel the same way about the moral issues of our time. It seems you cannot watch a television show without meeting LGBTQ characters normalizing LGBTQ ideology. Advocates for “reproductive healthcare” (abortion) are active on every platform. Non-evangelicals view evangelicals in decidedly negative ways.

Continue reading Denison Forum – “There are crocs absolutely everywhere” →

A surprising discovery about doubt and fear

A potent storm system is bringing a multi-day threat of tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail to the Plains, Midwest, and the Ohio Valley. This after a tornado with maximum wind speeds up to 130 mph ripped through Michigan last week, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. The mayor of Three Rivers, Michigan, told FOX Weather that the storm damage is so extensive that she does not recognize parts of her city.

I can understand on a logical level the suffering that results from human sin: God honors the free will with which we are made in his image, so the consequences of our moral failures are not his fault but ours. I can even stretch this logic to include the suffering our sins cause others; if God removed all such consequences, we would not have moral agency.

But this is easy for me to say when I am not the innocent victim of such sin. I would be horrified if someone used this logic to explain the Holocaust to the Jewish people or the horrors of 9/11 to those still grieving those who died on that tragic day.

And it is even harder to understand suffering when it has no moral cause. I know that natural disasters and diseases are the result of the Fall (Romans 8:22); in the Garden of Eden, there were no tornadoes or cancers. But God often intervenes in the Bible and across history to prevent such disasters. When he does not, we can easily question his decision and even his character.

A maxim I have heard over the years advises us to “doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs.” That’s fine until our doubts truly threaten our beliefs.

What then?

“First world” problems

I have been dealing with a series of “first-world” problems lately.

I skipped walking outside this morning because of the rain our local meteorologists forecast that never fell. A repair person is coming by later today to replace our modem because our internet provider couldn’t get the existing one to work, through no fault of the existing modem. I am placing my third call to a repair person who keeps promising to fix our back gate but never shows up. Later today, I will place my third call to an insurance representative who keeps promising to look into a missing rebate but never calls us back.

The other day, my wife and I were talking with an older man on our walking trail who told us about the illness their daughter continues to face. He made a statement that has stayed with me: “Everyone has a million problems until they get sick.”

It’s then, in those crises where we most need God, that we sometimes feel that he is least present. This struggle is not sinful: if the sinless Son of God could cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), so can we.

“But they had no child”

Part of our problem is that our minds are finite and fallen and thus cannot possibly comprehend the character and ways of an infinite and perfect Being. As Elihu noted, God “does things that we cannot comprehend” (Job 37:5). If we could truly understand God, either we would be God, or he would not be.

Another part of our challenge is that we can experience reality only in this moment and thus are incapable of seeing the larger perspective within which God operates.

For example, I read this week that Zechariah and Elizabeth “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years” (Luke 1:6–7). Then came the miracle by which Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, promising that he and his wife would have a son (vv. 8–23). We know him as John the Baptist.

They could not possibly have understood that God’s delay was so that Mary could become old enough to bear the Son of God, for whom their son would serve as a forerunner. We can seldom understand God’s timing at the time, but his omniscience is not limited by our limitations.

However, even acknowledging the finitude of my mind and temporality, I still want to understand why God permits such suffering in his creation. I would like to believe that such doubts are motivated solely by my mind and quest for rationality.

But a sermon I read this week has convinced me otherwise.

“In these times of doubt, look to your fears”

I subscribe to a daily devotional from the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston. These brief paragraphs are excerpts from longer sermons the brothers have preached over the years. A devotional I received earlier this week caught my eye, so I opened the sermon it came from.

It was preached by Br. Jack Crowley in January 2025. His message was based on the flight of the holy family to Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15), focusing on the doubts and stress that Joseph and Mary must have felt as they left all they knew for an unknown future as King Herod sought to murder their baby boy.

Br. Crowley noted that we all have similar “flights” and the fears they engender: “In our flight to Egypt there will be times of doubt. Times when we doubt if we have done the right things, times when we will doubt the quality of our own selves, times when we will doubt our ability to find God in any of it, and times when we will doubt humanity at large.”

Then he advised:

In these times of doubt, look to your fears. Ask yourself what fear is fueling your doubt? Do you fear that you are not good enough? Do you fear that you are not worthy of love? Do you fear that you have not done enough with your life?

These fears can drown us in doubt. These fears can make our lives impossible. These fears can paralyze our days. We need God’s help. We can admit it, we are not strong enough on our own, we need God’s help.

We need to bring to God our fears, our doubt, our stress and all the other things that keep us up at night. We need God’s help in our journey into Egypt. There is no shame in praying out of desperation and great need.

When we get to the other side of this thing we will be stronger, we will know ourselves better, and we will be closer to God. Our journey into Egypt may take a long time, but it is worth it. May God help us all.

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Br. Crowley is right: My doubts are sometimes birthed by my fears. What if God is not the loving Father I want him to be? What if his omnipotence or omniscience is limited? What if he doesn’t hear my prayers or care about my problems?

Then I realize these fears are less about him than they are about me. I fear that I am not worthy of his love and care. I fear that I am not able to pray effectively or to trust fully. I fear less that he is not enough than that I am not enough.

At such times, I need to remember the cross, where the Father considered my salvation worth the death of his Son. I need to remember all the sins he has forgiven, all the needs he has met, and to believe that he does not change (Malachi 3:6) and that all of God there is, is in this moment.

And then, if this is not enough, I can pray with the beleaguered father, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

And he will.

Denison Forum

NOTE: As the founder of a non-partisan ministry, I do not endorse candidates or political parties. My focus on the theological issues I will discuss today would be the same if the candidate in question was running as a Republican or an Independent.

Today’s news is understandably focused on Iran’s new leader, the war, and its implications for Iran, the Middle East, China, Russia, and the global future. With all of that, you probably wouldn’t expect me to devote today’s article to a response to liberal Christianity.

However, as I wrote yesterday in explaining the worldview Texas senatorial candidate James Talarico is popularizing these days, the way Christians approach our faith and its relationship with the world is foundational to our understanding of the world and our role in it. Talarico, who is a Presbyterian seminary student and thus considered a “Bible scholar” by some in the media, is advancing his liberal version of Christianity with regard to abortion, transgenderism, gay marriage, and the claim that all religions “point to the same truth.”

In response, I articulated the basic interpretive principle I utilized in my doctoral studies and taught in seminary classes and churches over the decades: the Bible can never mean what it never meant. This principle has been embraced by Christians across the vast majority of Christian history.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Responding to James Talarico’s theology →

NOTE: As the founder of a non-partisan ministry, I do not endorse candidates or political parties. My focus on the theological issues I will discuss today would be the same if the candidate in question were running as a Republican or an Independent.

James Talarico has become a national figure after winning the Texas Democratic Senate primary last week. His theological worldview has especially garnered attention. For example, today’s New York Times headlines that he “hopes to counter what he sees as a conservative takeover of the American church.” A recent Times headline asked if he can “Reclaim Christianity for the Left.”

Talarico has stated that “Jesus never said anything” about abortion, transgenderism, or gay marriage. In his view, Mary’s agreement to become the mother of the Messiah means that “creation has to be done with consent,” affirming what abortion activists call “reproductive rights” for women. Speaking against a bill restricting transgender student athletes, he stated that “God is nonbinary.”

In an interview with New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, Talarico said he believes “Christianity points to the truth,” but “other religions of love point to the same truth.” He views Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism as “circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos. And that truth is inherently a mystery.” Because he is a student at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the media often characterizes him as a “Bible scholar.”

Talarico’s positions are consistent with a stream of theology often called “liberalism.” Where does it come from? How are we to understand its core beliefs in light of biblical truth?

A brief history of theological liberalism

Liberalism is a freighted word that means different things in different contexts. If you give generously to others, you are “liberal” with your money. If you believe in freedom, equality, human rights, limited government, and democracy, you have historically been considered to be aligned with “liberal” governance.

For our purposes today, however, we will consider liberalism in the context of Christian theology. Let’s begin with a very brief history.

Until the seventeenth century, Christians were united in their belief that the Bible is the objective and authoritative word of God. Catholics believed that biblical truth is authoritatively interpreted through the teachings of the church, while Protestants insisted on sola Scriptura, “Scripture alone.” But both considered truth to be objective and ultimately revealed by God to and through his people.

However, the European Enlightenment (c. 1660–1798) shifted the focus of authority to human reason and/or experience. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) detached reason from religion, arguing that only what can be demonstrated by reason or learned through scientific discovery qualifies as knowledge.

He and those he influenced reinterpreted biblical teachings in line with their rational principles. In this view, theology is progressive and must be developed by each generation; many redefined miracles as myths that teach spiritual truths; some even reinterpreted the resurrection of Jesus as the resurrection of the faith of his disciples.

In nineteenth-century America, the Social Gospel movement became especially prominent, claiming that Christianity is primarily about the transformation of culture in the context of justice and various social problems. In recent years, “culture war” issues have dominated the conversation as many “mainline” denominations have taken positions endorsing abortion, same-sex marriage, LGBTQ advocacy, and euthanasia (as examples) that contradict historic Christian teachings on these subjects.

(For more, see my article Shaking the foundations: The shift in scriptural authority in the postmodern world, my book The Coming Tsunami, and historian Andrew Hoffecker’s excellent summaries here and here.)

A quest for cultural and theological tolerance

In the view of liberal (now sometimes called “progressive”) Christianity, the Bible can (and should) be reinterpreted by each individual and generation in accordance with their views of truth and their cultural and personal needs. The intended original meaning of the biblical text, so we’re told, is either unknown, unknowable, and/or irrelevant.

Consequently, the annunciation of Mary can be a proof text for “consent” in reproduction and thus for abortion rights. Jesus’ affirmation of the worth of women can be used to fuel feminist theologies that far transcend biblical teachings. Biblical calls for social justice (especially dominant in the prophets) can frame the central mission of the church; biblical claims regarding the uniqueness of Jesus and the necessity of faith in him can be reinterpreted or ignored in a quest for cultural and theological tolerance.

Arguments from silence are especially significant here. If Jesus (allegedly) did not specifically address abortion or same-sex marriage (as examples), we’re told that the church should have no decided position on these issues and that we are free to vote and express our personal convictions on them.

As you can see, this is a large and complex subject, one with massive ramifications for the way we view the Bible, our faith, and the role of our faith in the world.

The Bible can never mean what it never meant

My purpose has been to offer a brief explanation and context for the theological worldview James Talarico has brought into the larger cultural conversation. Tomorrow I plan to offer a biblical, theological, and apologetic response.

For today, let’s close with a principle articulated by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart in their marvelous book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. I used it as a textbook when I taught seminary classes on biblical interpretation and recommend it highly.

They explain that the “first task of the interpreter” is “to discover the original, intended meaning” of the biblical text. This means “to hear the word as the original recipients were to have heard it, to find out what was the original intent of the words of the Bible” (their italics).

The Spirit who inspired the words of Scripture (2 Peter 1:21) will lead us to know and apply their intended, objective meaning. Accordingly, as I often warned my students, the Bible can never mean what it never meant.

We must therefore measure all theological assertions, whether made by James Talarico, myself, or anyone else, by the objective truth of Scripture. In this sense, we need to emulate those in Berea who, when Paul arrived during his second missionary journey, “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

As a result, “Many of them therefore believed” (v. 12). When we do what they did, we will experience what they experienced.

Will you be a Berean Christian today?

Quote for the day:

“When you open your Bible, God opens his mouth.” —Mark Batterson

Our latest website resources:

• What to know about the church in Iran: Where is Christianity in Iran’s history, and where could it be in its future?
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• Is America’s war with Iran legal?
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Denison Forum

Where is Christianity in Iran’s history, and where could it be in its future?

The implications of the current Iranian conflict are far-reaching and go well beyond the geopolitical discussions you might hear discussed on social channels or cable news. While our media is focused on international trade outcomes, the White House’s foreign policy, and the prospects of stability for the region, an underrated impact is being felt by the Christian community in Iran. Though it may appear inconsequential on the surface, the Iranian church’s future is intertwined with the nation’s future and ultimately carries eternal significance.

Christianity is a persecuted minority today, but has a pivotal presence in Iran’s history, dating back to the Apostolic days of the church. Tradition holds that Thaddeus and Bartholomew visited modern-day Iran in the decades after the resurrection, even establishing a since-reconstructed monastery around 68 AD. Over the next two millennia, the church took a roller coaster ride. From the Muslim conquest, Ottoman rule, the modern missions movement, and the Iranian revolution to today, the church expanded and contracted, but always persisted.

While God has preserved a remnant of believers since the earliest days of the church, being a follower of Christ in Iran has not been an enviable position. Islam-sanctioned persecution has marked much of Persian history for believers. It is only by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that anyone would leave behind the “comforts” of Islam for the dangers of Christianity.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What to know about the church in Iran →

Who is Markwayne Mullin, and will he be better?

President Trump announced yesterday afternoon that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem would be reassigned to a new security initiative called The Shield of the Americas. While the move is not technically considered a demotion, the president’s frustrations with Noem have been growing for some time, with Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee serving as the final straw.

Many had called for Trump to fire Noem for months, with her handling of ICE activity in Minnesota a particularly potent example of the ways in which she seemed ill-equipped for the job. After the shootings of both Renee Good and especially Alex Pretti, Noem blatantly mischaracterized what occurred, which further exacerbated an already tense situation. President Trump eventually removed her from the state and sent border czar Tom Homan in to settle things down.

However, her handling of ICE was not the only reason many have been calling for someone else to take over.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Kristi Noem is out as DHS Secretary →

Praying for spiritual regime change in an ancient land

Last night, the Pentagon released the last two names of the six US soldiers killed in a Kuwait attack a day after the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury. The other four Americans had earlier been identified. A military official said of the soldiers, “We honor our fallen Heroes, who served fearlessly and selflessly in defense of our nation. Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten.”

If Iran has its way, they will be only the first of many American deaths to come.

As the New York Times reports, “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s first priority is to survive. To do that, its leaders will want to drive up the cost of the war for President Trump—in terms of American casualties, energy costs, and inflation—to try to persuade him to declare victory and go home.”

The reason the Iranian regime wants to survive this war at all costs is not just personal, as selfish as it was for them to massacre thousands of civilians who protested against them. Their larger agenda is ideological.

Until we understand it, we will be unequipped to win this war in ways that will matter long after it is over.

Sunnis, Shiites, Twelvers, and the Mahdi

(For an expanded explanation of this section, please see my books The War in Israel and Radical Islam: What You Need to Know.)

Around 85 percent of Muslims are Sunnis; around 15 percent are Shiites. The latter are the majority in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain, though sizable populations also live in Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.

We can think of the two groups somewhat like Catholic and Protestant “denominations,” with historic and significant differences but still part of the larger faith. Their divergence goes back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in AD 632. Sunnis (from sunna, “habit” or “usual practice”) believe that the caliphs (“leaders”) who followed Muhammad were his proper successors. Shiites (“partisans” or “party of Ali”) disagree, claiming that Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali, the fourth caliph, was his rightful heir.

Approximately 80 percent of Shiites are “Twelvers.” They believe that the twelfth imam (the Shiites’ supreme spiritual leader), Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, was hidden by God in AD 872 and then transported to a transcendent realm in AD 934 (this event is called the “occultation”). In their theology, this “twelfth imam” is still alive and waiting to reappear at the end of history as the Mahdi (“the guided one”), a kind of Muslim messiah. Many Shiites voice and write prayers to him daily.

Many Twelvers also believe that a time of great chaos will precede the coming of the Mahdi. According to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (the military that dominates Iranian politics and society), Israel must be destroyed before the Mahdi will reappear. This is why the possibility of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons is an existential threat to Israel and the West. This also explains why negotiations to prevent Iran from permanently acquiring such weapons have never succeeded.

We should add that for many jihadists, dying in a jihad (“holy war”) is their only certain guarantee of a place in paradise. Now that senior clerics in Iran have declared this conflict to be a jihad, this element should not be overlooked.

What Iran needs most

This ideology explains why, following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran has been the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. It has supported proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah in their atrocities against Israel and repeatedly incited violence against the West.

Their purpose is not geographical—Iran does not seek to “conquer” the land of Israel in the way Putin seeks to conquer Ukraine and Hitler tried to conquer Europe. Rather, it is ideological: they believe that their theological worldview is the only proper version of Islam and want to export it across the Muslim world. And, as we have seen, their even “higher” purpose is to prepare for the arrival of the Mahdi, who will then dominate the world for Islam.

The Iranian regime believes that it exists in the service of these agendas and that it is serving Allah in so doing. Accordingly, Israel and the US are encouraging a regime change by which the Iranian people revolt against their leaders and take control of their country.

However, what Iran needs most is a spiritual regime change. Its population has become dramatically more secularized in recent years (only 15 percent agree that “the hijab should be mandatory in public,” for example). As the Christian population in Iran grows exponentially, this is a crucial time for the gospel in this historic country.

The ancient land of Persia (as Iran was called prior to 1935) is mentioned some thirty times in the Bible. For example, the Persian King Cyrus liberated the Jews from their Babylonian captivity, enabled them to return to their homeland (2 Chronicles 36:22–23), and helped them rebuild their temple (Ezra 6:3–5). Many historians believe the Magi who worshipped the infant Christ were Persians as well (Matthew 2:1–12).

“If we don’t believe that the end is near”

Christians can therefore stand with this ancient people by praying for a transforming spiritual awakening to sweep their land. The more Iranians and their leaders turn to Christ, the more they will seek peaceful relations with other nations (cf. Hebrews 12:14) and the more they will help to advance such transformation across the world to the glory of God.

There is enormous urgency in our spiritual response to this spiritual conflict. Not just for the sake of those for whom we intercede, but for ourselves as well. In his famous sermon “Learning in War-Time,” C. S. Lewis, himself a veteran of World War I, observed:

War makes death real to us, and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right.

Br. James Koester of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston, therefore, notes:

If we don’t believe that the end is near, then it doesn’t matter how we live. After all, whatever messes we have made, we can clean them up tomorrow, or whenever, as the case may be. But if the end is coming, if it is near, then how we live, and the mess we have made in our own lives, and in the lives of others, needs to be cleaned up, not whenever, or tomorrow, or even later today, but right now.

Do you have some “clean up” to do today?

Quote for the day:

“The only reason we don’t have revival is because we are willing to live without it.” —Leonard Ravenhill

Our latest website resources:

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• A review of “Biblical Critical Theory” by Christopher Watkin
• Betting on suffering: The moral crisis of prediction markets

Denison Forum

Political headlines this morning are focusing on overnight results from Senate primaries in Texas and North Carolina, races whose outcomes could help determine control of the Senate in the fall. However, a different political story is making fewer headlines, though its impact could affect the entire world.

As Iran has expanded the war by targeting US allies in the Middle East, it is facing a consequence it apparently did not expect: the Wall Street Journal reports that “Gulf states, rattled by volleys of Iranian drones and missiles targeting their hotels, ports, and airports, are concluding the Iranian peril must be confronted.”

This is of foundational significance. Arabs are not Persians. There has been enmity between the two cultures for millennia. And most Arab Muslims are Sunni, while most Iranian Muslims are Shiite. If Arab states (most notably Saudi Arabia) side with Israel and the West in responding to Iran, this geopolitical alliance will forge what one article calls a “very different” Middle East.

However, there is a consequence to the Arab states’ involvement in the war that is not military or political but spiritual and eternal.

Sincerely running on the wrong road

I’ve been responding this week to “Operation Epic Fury” by reminding Christians that our “front lines” in this conflict are the prayers by which we wage spiritual war for the protection of innocents and the conversion of multitudes. Here’s my point today: the more Muslims across the Arab world are endangered by this war, the more urgently we should pray for them to know Christ before it’s too late.

Of course, secularists and even some Christians will respond by claiming that Muslims and Christians worship the same God and that my call to intercession for Muslim conversions to Christ is therefore unnecessary and oppressive.

Is this true?

You’ve perhaps heard the saying with regard to world religions, “All roads lead up the same mountain.” But the reality is that Christianity and Islam are very different “mountains.” And when two mountains exist, you cannot climb them both at the same time.

As I noted in Monday’s Daily Article, the Qur’an explicitly denies the divinity of Jesus (cf. Surah 5:75; 19:36), while the New Testament explicitly states that trust in Christ as Savior is the one essential path to salvation (cf. John 3:18; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 2 Corinthians 5:20–21; Revelation 20:15). If Islam is right about Jesus, Christianity is wrong about him. And faith in the wrong “road,” no matter how sincerely it is held, still leads to the wrong outcome.

You may have heard about the runner who was leading the US Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta last weekend before she was led off the course by a media vehicle. By the time she got back onto the right path, her lead was gone and she finished in ninth place.

She was sincere in running the wrong road, but she was sincerely wrong.

The biblical bottom line

If Muslims do not need to hear the gospel and respond by turning to Christ, why is God calling so many Christians to share the good news with them? You might say that these believers are wrong in thinking they are called to such ministry, but what of the dreams and visions by which Jesus himself is appearing to Muslims?

Is Jesus wrong as well?

I have encountered liberal theologians over the years who claim that the Bible commissions us to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) not because the lost will spend eternity in hell apart from Christ, but so they can live better lives in this world. But Jesus clearly stated, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:38).

And it is not necessarily true that Muslim converts to Jesus will live “better” lives in this world as a result. Many face the loss of their jobs, homes, families, and even their lives.

The biblical bottom line is clear and non-negotiable: Every person who does not know Jesus needs to know him personally. And every person who does know Jesus needs to share him personally.

“The whole purpose of becoming a Christian”

In The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Tim Keller notes: “If you don’t live for Jesus, you will live for something else.” Why choose him? As Keller reminds us, “Jesus is the one Lord you can live for who died for you—who breathed his last breath for you.”

With all due respect, Muhammad did not die for Muslims. Buddha did not die for Buddhists. Jewish rabbis do not atone for their fellow Jews by their deaths, much less for the rest of humanity. But “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Each of us. All of us.

Now we are to imitate our Lord by paying forward the grace we have received.

In his Exposition on Galatians, St. Augustine wrote, “The believer who imitates Christ becomes … the same as Christ whom he imitates.” According to C. S. Lewis, such Christlikeness and nothing less is the purpose of the Christian faith.

In Mere Christianity, Lewis observed: “The whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have his way, come to share in the life of Christ. . . . Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”

To become like Jesus, we must embrace his mission as ours: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28).

How will you “serve” those who do not know your Lord today?

Quote for the day:

“God had only one Son, and he made him a missionary.” —David Livingstone

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Denison Forum

The FBI is reporting that the mass shooting in Austin, Texas, last Sunday morning may be related to terrorism. A third victim has now died; more than a dozen others were injured, including some who remain in critical condition. Police shot and killed the suspect as well.

The attack came on the weekend that the US and Israel launched multiple strikes on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The gunman in Austin was reportedly wearing a sweatshirt with the words “Property of Allah.” An FBI agent also said, “There were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism.” The bureau’s terror task force is now probing the mass shooting.

A very troubling aspect of this story is its possible connection to hardline Muslim clerics in the US who have been claiming that war between the US and Iran is part of a prophetic destiny tied to the return of the Mahdi, their messiah. One of them closed his Friday prayer before war broke out: “May Allah destroy all the nonbelievers.” He asked for this victory “before the arrival of Imam Mahdi.”

Add to that senior clerics in Iran who have now issued a fatwa (religious edict) against Americans, stating that vengeance is a “religious duty” for all Muslims. Some Muslims believe that for a Muslim to die while carrying out such a jihad is a guaranteed path to paradise.

All of this taken together could cause Americans to fear all Muslims in our midst and to hate radical Islamists who seem to hate us. But while we should obviously take necessary steps with regard to the security of Americans at home and abroad, this visceral reaction is not the way God wants believers to respond.

The opposite is actually the case.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Possible terrorism in Texas and jihad against Americans →