As Christians, we cherish our religious freedom. But this constitutional right is a little harder to accept when it involves another religion—if, for example, a mosque is built in our community. 

Liberty for All: Defending Everyone’s Religious Freedom in a Pluralistic Age explains the all-encompassing benefits of religious freedom. The book is a  challenging yet rewarding read for the layperson. 

What is religious liberty?

Author Andrew T. Walker, an associate professor of Christian ethics and apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers this definition: “Religious liberty is the principle of social practice wherein every individual, regardless of their religious confession, is equally free to believe, or not to believe, and to live out their understanding of the conscience’s duty, individually and communally, that is owed to God in all areas of life without threat of government penalty or social harassment. It is nothing short of grasping truth and ordering one’s life in response to it.” 

That includes people of every religious belief, or none at all. Religious liberty, in Walker’s view, “helps us manage social and religious differences” in a pluralistic culture. 

More importantly, there can be no decisions for Christ without freedom of choice. 

The gospel and religious freedom

“We Christians should extend religious liberty to everyone, because everyone is pursuing truth, even if incorrectly,” Walker wrote. “In a secular and increasingly pluralistic age, we need to allow falsehood a space to be wrong in hopes that individuals will ‘come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim. 2:4). 

“This does not mean we refrain from naming moral wrongs or fall captive to empty-headed relativism. It means we do not seek to criminalize, persecute, or marginalize people whose beliefs are sincere and are animating them toward lives of purpose, meaning, and goodwill (and there are checks and balances to consider when convictions pose risks and harms to civil society).” 

Only Christ can judge religious convictions. The just state’s job is to guarantee freedom of choice. But even in an unjust society where Christians are persecuted, the gospel has shown throughout history an ability to thrive. “The government may possess the authority to kill the body, but it cannot damn the soul,” Walker wrote. “The martyrs of the early church went to their deaths knowing that from death came life.” 

A day of judgment is coming. Until then, governments should allow religious freedom. 

“If the gospel is true, the gospel does not need government preference,” Walker wrote. “Why? Because in the scope of history, truth wins.” 

And that’s good news.

Denison Forum

At this writing, as many as fifteen thousand Americans remain in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover of the country. They have been urged to go to Hamid Karzai International Airport for evacuation out of the country, but the US is reportedly unable to provide transportation or guarantee them safe passage.

A Taliban spokesman promised that “nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan,” including Americans. However, their actions so far speak a very different message.

They faced their first street protests yesterday against their takeover of the country. When a crowd gathered in the northeastern city of Jalalabad, Taliban soldiers fired into them and beat protesters and journalists. At least two people were killed and a dozen injured.

Taliban fighters recently executed twenty-two Afghan commandos as they tried to surrender. Earlier this month, they assassinated a presidential spokesman who was head of the government’s media and information center. A letter circulating recently listed activities forbidden by the Taliban, including girls banned from school, women confined to their homes and forced to wear a full hijab, boys forced to learn rote recitation of the Qur’an, and women banned from leaving their houses without a male relative.

With regard to Americans still trapped in Afghanistan, Walter Russell Mead writes in the Wall Street Journal that “Mr. Biden should worry about a repeat of Tehran in 1979.” He adds that “even if national Taliban authorities want to avoid a confrontation, with thousands of unprotected US and other foreign citizens scattered around a chaotic country, authorities in the capital may not be able to control radical factions or ransom-hungry groups of local fighters and criminal gangs.”

The history of al-Qaeda and the Taliban

While Americans are understandably deeply concerned about our citizens remaining in Afghanistan under the Taliban, we should also be concerned about ourselves at home.

American troops were sent to Afghanistan twenty years ago in response to the 9/11 attacks and the Taliban’s provision of safe harbor for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Our forces toppled the Taliban from power not because we were concerned that they wanted to launch attacks on our homeland, but because we wanted to prevent further such attacks from al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups they were protecting.

From their beginning, the Taliban were foundationally linked with al-Qaeda. Their shared Islamic ideology and fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan brought them together.

Al-Qaeda was an experienced militant group with an established global brand when the Taliban were in their infancy. The early training, fundraising, and supplies provided by al-Qaeda were critical to the Taliban’s growth. In turn, before the Taliban were toppled by US forces, al-Qaeda reportedly paid them up to $20 million a year for its safe haven in Afghanistan.

What of their relationship today?

The United Nations reported in June 2021, “A significant part of the leadership of al-Qaeda resides in the Afghanistan and Pakistan border region. . . . Large numbers of al-Qaeda fighters and other foreign extremist elements aligned with the Taliban are located in various parts of Afghanistan.”

While the Taliban committed to the US government in February 2020 that it would restrain jihadist groups, including al-Qaeda, from organizing and launching terrorism from the country, the UN states that “it is impossible to assess with confidence that the Taliban will live up to its commitment.” It adds that “al-Qaeda and likeminded militants continue to celebrate developments in Afghanistan as a victory for the Taliban’s cause and thus for global radicalism.”

“The best news al-Qaeda has had in decades”

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “the Taliban continues to provide al-Qaeda with protection in exchange for resources and training.” US authorities reportedly believe that al-Qaeda’s chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is in Afghanistan as well.

The Morning Dispatch reports that “many top al-Qaeda leaders have sworn blood oaths to the successive heads of the Taliban, and others including Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has a $10 million price on his head from the US government, serve as leaders of both groups.”

It quotes Nathan Sales, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, who wrote in an expert briefing: “The Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is the best news al-Qaeda has had in decades. With the Taliban back in charge of the country, it is virtually certain that al-Qaeda will reestablish a safe haven in Afghanistan and use it to plot attacks on the United States.”

Sales added: “The terrorist group responsible for 9/11 will soon find itself flush with cash looted from Afghanistan’s central bank, with weapons seized from the defeated Afghan army, and with fighters freed from prison.”

Britain’s defense minister agreed, warning that al-Qaeda will likely have a resurgence as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. And Robert M. Gates, secretary of defense for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from 2006 to 2011, wrote in the New York Times that the Taliban “still maintain ties with al-Qaeda.”

He asked, “Why should we assume they will no longer harbor al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups that seek to target those—above all, the United States—that ousted them from power and have been fighting them for twenty years?” He concluded in his June 2021 article that “the consequences of another Taliban takeover in Kabul would not be limited to the people of Afghanistan.” Now that takeover has been accomplished.

Will 9/11 be a “catalyst for acts of targeted violence”?

As I noted in my 2011 book, Radical Islam: What You Need to Know, al-Qaeda and similar jihadists are convinced that America has been attacking the Muslim world since the Crusades. They consider the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948 to be a theft of land from its rightful Muslim owners and see our support for Israel as complicity in this attack. Since Americans are citizens of a democracy, they view us as part of this “assault” on Islam.

Since the Qur’an requires Muslims to defend Islam (cf. Surah 2:190), al-Qaeda’s followers believe they are required to attack Americans in our homeland. As a result, they do not see 9/11 as an attack on innocent Americans but as a defense of Islam striking back at “Crusader” aggression.

Now that the Taliban are in control of Afghanistan, such attacks may be more likely. The head of an Afghan news and media company told New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, “The relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda will get stronger. Why should the Taliban fear the Americans anymore? What’s the worst that could happen? Another invasion?”

He added: “These guys are going to be the most belligerent, arrogant Islamist movement on the planet. They are going to be the Mecca for any young radical of Islamic heritage or convert. It’s going to inspire people. It’s a godsend for any radical, violent group.”

Author Peter Bergen believes the Taliban takeover will inspire extremists around the globe. He notes, “When ISIS ran a lot of Iraq and Syria, there were a lot of Westerners who volunteered to go and fight. Here we have the Taliban doing something not dissimilar in Afghanistan. I anticipate a lot of problems for Western states.”

The Department of Homeland Security added in a recent security alert that the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 and upcoming religious holidays “could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence.” It noted that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula recently released the first English-language version of its Inspire magazine in four years, apparently intended to mark the upcoming anniversary of 9/11.

Three practical responses

What can you and I do about the threat of a resurgent al-Qaeda?

One: Pray for members of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other jihadist groups to come to Christ. Jesus urged us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). As I have noted frequently, more Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus today than at any time in Islamic history, many through visions and dreams of our Savior. If you doubt whether such conversions are possible, remember Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).

Two: Pray for Christians in Afghanistan and across the Muslim world to be protected, emboldened, and empowered as they share Christ with their neighbors. We are to “keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). I plan to say more about this in tomorrow’s Daily Article, but please join me in praying for our sisters and brothers today.

Three: Pray for ministries and missionaries to Afghanistan and the Muslim world to be effective and courageous. Jesus called his followers to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). Then Jesus called his apostles to answer their prayer by taking his message to their culture (Matthew 10).

The choice of the hour

I was interviewed yesterday by Chris Brooks, a brilliant pastor and radio host. At one point, he mentioned a member of his church in Michigan who has been called to go to Afghanistan as a missionary. Ask God to raise up many more, then pray for them and support them however you can. And ask God to use your life and witness to reach Muslims and others in your circle of influence.

Chris also quoted the maxim that, in regard to missions, we can “go, give, or live in sin.”

Which will you choose today?

Denison Forum

“I am sitting here waiting for them to come. There is no one to help me or my family. I’m just sitting with them and my husband. And they will come for people like me and kill me. I can’t leave my family. And anyway, where would I go?”

This is how Zarifa Ghafari, the youngest mayor in Afghanistan, describes her future with the Taliban now in charge of her country. They have frequently vowed to kill her in the past. Her father was gunned down last November, twenty days after the third attempt on her life failed.

The Taliban declared an “amnesty” yesterday and called on women to join their new government. Their spokesman declared during a news conference Tuesday in Kabul, “We assure that there will be no violence against women.”

However, when the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan, their fighters tortured and killed the country’s former president, then hanged his body from a traffic post. Women who were unaccompanied in public places could be beaten; an Afghan mother was forced to kneel in a stadium and then shot dead between the goal posts.

According to the US State Department, women over the age of eight were prohibited from attending school; females were given only the most rudimentary access to health care; the Taliban raided and temporarily closed a foreign-funded hospital in Kabul because male and female staff allegedly mixed in the dining room and operating wards.

Which should women and girls in Afghanistan believe: the future now promised by the Taliban or the one predicted by their past?

“Life can only be understood backwards”

Søren Kierkegaard was right: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

The crisis facing Afghanistan is a tragic object lesson in the importance of history to a culture and corresponding civilization. However, this lesson is not limited to Afghanistan. I believe there are principles to be learned that apply directly to America and our future in these critical days.

As I noted earlier this week, the Taliban have been driven by a version of Islamic theology known as “Deobandi.” It excludes all studies and traditions not directly related to the study of the Qur’an. Crucially, it claims that the “purity” of the Qur’an and the practices of the Prophet Muhammad (known as the Sunnah) is the goal for which Muslim society should strive.

In essence, the Taliban seek to create a culture mirroring the seventh-century world in which Islam began. This worldview motivates their disparaging view of women, non-Muslims (“infidels”), and Muslims who disagree with them (“apostates”).

In addition, they are a product of their Afghan history. As National Geographic notes, their country is landlocked and surrounded by mountains, deserts, and competing empires. It has been surrounded historically on the north by countries influenced by Russia, on the west by Iran and Persian influence, on the south by Pakistan and British influence, and on the east by Chinese influence.

The Afghan people have been resisting foreign incursions for centuries, nearly all by non-Muslim powers. The Taliban have also thrived in rural areas neglected by governing elites in major cities. Their tribal culture is the product of their faith, their environment, and their history.

Their governing approach in the future is likely to reflect these values, to the tragic detriment of women and all who oppose their puritanical version of Islam.

The “cultural climate change” we face today

Os Guinness is one of the most perceptive cultural analysts in the Christian world. His new book, The Magna Carta of Humanity: Sinai’s Revolutionary Faith and the Future of Freedom, is a work I cannot recommend too highly.

In it, he explains our cultural moment as a conflict between two versions of freedom: the 1776 American revolution and its commitment to freedom within a Judeo-Christian worldview, and the 1789 French revolution and its commitment to freedom within a radically secularist worldview.

Guinness notes that the Russian and Chinese revolutions which followed the French shared its commitment to secularism. They also produced genuine totalitarianism and “became the epitome of oppressive evil and the complete denial of liberty.”

These revolutions “were overtly antibiblical, antireligious, and anti-Christian, and their overall record on freedom has been dismal. . . . their claims to be the true and reliable source of human freedom have been left in tatters by the history of their repressive secularist regimes in the twentieth century and the slaughter of millions of their own citizens.”

Why is this history relevant to the current moment? Because there is a transformative movement afoot in America and the West that repudiates the 1776 American revolution and seeks to remake our country along the secularist lines of the 1789 French revolution.

Guinness writes: “In the form of postmodernism, political correctness, tribal politics, and the extremes of the sexual revolution, the advocates of cultural Marxism and critical theory are now posing serious threats not just to freedom and democracy but to earlier understandings of humanity and to Western civilization itself.” He calls this “cultural climate change” and warns that it is “damaging the way we used to live and beginning to shape the way we need to live if humanity is to flourish.”

Four crucial commitments

What does a biblical approach to a flourishing civilization look like? Let’s identify four foundational commitments:

One: God is the creator and sustainer of the universe and of all life (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16–18). His word is true (John 17:17; Psalm 119:160) and guides every dimension of life (2 Timothy 3:16–17; Psalm 119:105; Matthew 4:4).

Two: All people are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and thus are equal in value and worth to God (Acts 10:34; Galatians 3:28) and should be to each other (Mark 12:31).

Three: People are inherently sinful (Romans 3:23) and thus require governing authority and the rule of law to which they owe obedience and support (Romans 13:1–7; 1 Timothy 2:1–2). At the same time, those in authority should lead by serving (Luke 22:26) with personal integrity (1 Timothy 4:12) and humility (Philippians 2:3).

Four: Society and individuals should do all they can to care for those in need, including the poor and afflicted (Deuteronomy 10:18; 24:17; 27:19), the widow and the orphan (James 1:27), and all who need our help (Matthew 25:35–40).

How Afghans have flourished

Taken together, these commitments fuel a culture motivated by personal character and collective progress in which individuals and society each serve the other for the common good. They clearly contradict the antireligious French revolution, the communistic dictatorships of China, Cuba, and North Korea, the corrupt authoritarianism of contemporary Russia, and the secularist revolution currently sweeping the West.

It should not surprise us that civilizations that reject these biblical principles tend to struggle, while those who embrace them tend to flourish. This is not a health-and-wealth gospel or a promise that people who live biblically will not suffer in our fallen world (John 16:33). Rather, it is a historical observation built on the logical fact that creatures who live according to the plans and purposes of an all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful Creator should expect to experience the results of his “good and acceptable and perfect” will (Romans 12:2).

Consider the results of democracy in Afghanistan across the last two decades. While decidedly imperfect and often led by corrupt officials, the society there thrived in significant ways:

• Infant mortality rates fell by half.
• In 2005, fewer than one in four Afghans had access to electricity; by 2019, nearly all did.
• Denied education under the Taliban, more than one in three teenage girls today can read and write.
• The “social progress index” in Afghanistan, measuring prosperity, human development, and overall happiness, rose dramatically.

My point is not that Afghan society, like that in America and every other nation in our fallen world, has not struggled with massive challenges. Rather, it is that worldview matters. The foundational beliefs of a society are enormously influential in determining its present outcomes and future flourishing.

The crucial question

I am praying that the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan will not lead to dramatic reversals for women and others in Afghan society, but if the past is a reliable predictor of the future, the prospects for them are indeed dim.

I am also praying that America and the West learn from the failed revolutions of the past and present. Os Guinness is right: “Either America goes forward best by going back first [to biblical foundations and morality], or America is about to reap a future in which the worst will once again be the corruption of the best.”

This statement is a present-tense reality: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Psalm 33:12). However, nations are made of people. So let’s add: “Blessed is the person whose God is the Lᴏʀᴅ.”

Are you living a life God can bless today?

Denison Forum

The latest from Afghanistan: The US Embassy in Kabul was evacuated last night. The Taliban took control of the presidential palace yesterday. The UN Security Council has called an emergency meeting for this morning.

The Taliban’s sweeping takeover of Afghanistan is dominating world news. Tomorrow, we’ll examine America’s decision to withdraw through the lens of Scripture and Christian theology. For today, let’s ask some prior questions: Who are the Taliban? What does God think about them? How should we respond biblically to them?

Who are the Taliban?

In my 2011 book, Radical Islam: What You Need to Know, I explained the origins of the Sunni Islamist group known as the “Taliban” (from the Pashto for “students”). According to the most common explanation, when two teenage girls were kidnapped and raped in 1994 by followers of a warlord in Afghanistan, a group of thirty students joined their village cleric, Mullah Muhammad Omar, in rescuing the girls and hanging the group’s commander from a tank barrel.

Their group grew in strength and popularity, eventually gaining the support of religious parties within neighboring Pakistan. In the chaos of post-Soviet Afghanistan, their enforcement of order and law was a welcome relief to the population. They conquered Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, at the end of 1994. Two years later, they captured the capital city of Kabul. By 1998, they occupied 90 percent of the country.

Before long, it became clear that the Taliban would enforce a puritanical version of Islam akin to Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. They provided sanctuary to Osama bin Laden and formed a crucial base for the rise of al-Qaeda.

After 9/11, they refused to expel bin Laden and end their support for terrorism. In response, a US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan to remove them from power. A new constitution was adopted in January 2004, creating a parliamentary democracy. However, charges of widespread corruption soon surfaced against the new government and have persisted in the years since.

US forces remained in the country as the Afghan government developed a military force intended to prevent the return of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Over two decades, more than 2,300 US military personnel were killed in Afghanistan, with more than twenty thousand wounded.

The “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”

Following prior announcements of troop drawdowns by Presidents Obama and Trump, President Biden stated in April 2021 that the US would withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. In response, the Taliban have escalated their military engagement across the country in recent days.

Yesterday, they seized the capital city of Kabul. They are planning a ceremony at the presidential palace renaming Afghanistan as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

They are promising a new era of peace and normalcy in the country along with amnesty for those who have battled them for two decades. However, there are already indications of a return to the harsh version of Islam that Afghans lived under from 1996 until the Taliban were driven out of power in 2001.

When they previously ruled Afghanistan, they banned television, music, and cinema, and disapproved of girls over the age of ten going to school. Women had to wear the burqa and had to be accompanied by a male relative whenever they went outside. The Taliban were accused of human rights and cultural abuses such as their destruction of the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues in central Afghanistan.

Now there are reports of such atrocities again. Last month, according to the semi-official Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Taliban fighters went door to door in one province looking for people who had worked for the government, killing at least twenty-seven civilians, wounding ten others, and looting homes.

In early July, Taliban leaders in two provinces ordered religious leaders to provide them with a list of girls over the age of fifteen and widows under the age of forty-five for “marriage” with Taliban fighters.

“Its end is the way to death”

The Taliban follow Deobandi theology (named for a seminary founded in 1866 in the city of Deobond, India). This school excludes all traditions and studies not directly related to the study of the Qur’an. It rejects reinterpretation of Islamic precepts in accommodation to changing times and seeks to return to the “purity” of the Qur’an and the Sunnah (practices of the Prophet Muhammad).

In line with this worldview, the Taliban believe religious edicts to have a divine source and thus view them as more authoritative than humanitarian laws stressing individual freedoms.

In this sense, we can view the Taliban as religious zealots. While tribal and social issues are definitely influential for them, their passionate commitment to extreme religious legalism fuels their drive to create a purified Islamic culture.

God’s word is clear: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12). Like millions of people who follow false religions, the Taliban are deceived by Satan into believing that their religious zeal can save their souls.

The atrocities they have committed in the name of their religion are in fact inspired by the “thief” who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). And their treatment of women clearly violates God’s will (cf. Galatians 3:28).

What should be our response?

In this spiritual conflict (Ephesians 6:12), Christians should be praying for God’s protection for those endangered by the unfolding tragedy in Afghanistan. And we should pray passionately for Taliban leaders and followers to meet Jesus in visions and dreams, a miraculous phenomenon now reaching Muslims around the world.

To this end, let’s make Paul’s prayer for his fellow Jews our intercession for the Taliban: “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:1–4).

If you question whether God can answer such a prayer, consider the man who first prayed it. If Saul the persecutor could become Paul the apostle, this fact is clear: it is always too soon to give up on God.

NOTE: I want to thank Dr. Mark Turman and Mark Legg for their outstanding work in writing last week’s Daily Articles while I was on vacation with my family. I am grateful for the privilege of partnering with such gifted and godly men. It is an honor to share this ministry with them and with you.

Denison Forum

A blue canvas with a single stripe down the middle sold for $43.8 million in 2013. A banana duct-taped to a wall was bought for a whopping $120,000 two years ago.

These art pieces and others like them receive more eyerolls and laughs than appreciation by most (the banana “sculpture” is titled “The Comedian”). Maybe “art” like this is what comes to mind when you think of “minimalism.” Technically, minimalism did start as an art movement in the ’60s, and, though the “art” mentioned above is not considered part of the minimalist modern art movement, their simplicity gets the point across.

Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer pointed out that art diffuses philosophical ideas into popular culture. In the past decade, a new wave of popular minimalism has trickled down from avant garde art, captivating Millennials and Generation Z.

The cultural invasion of minimalism

Brands have picked up on this trend using a “minimalist aesthetic” in their marketing to reach the younger generation. There are minimally designed styles, groceries, shoes, wall art, and even baby clothes. As an old Gen Z-er, I feel the appeal of these brands. I proudly own a pair of Allbirds shoes. They’re comfortable and clean. (Today’s Daily Article is not sponsored, by the way).

The lifestyle movement of minimalism has been picked up in a Netflix documentary called Minimalism: A Documentary about Important Things. The popular minimalist and productivity YouTuber Matt D’Avella has accumulated over 220 million views.

Some spouses may recall when they came home to an unexpected mountain of clothes on the bedroom floor, which may have required mountaineering equipment to get up and down the other side. Marie Kondo was probably the person responsible for that fateful clothing apocalypse.

The Japanese lifestyle guru became wildly popular for her decluttering method a few years ago. She was named one of TIME’s top 100 most influential people in 2015 and has sold over 4 million copies of her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up in the US.

“Does it spark joy?”

Why are people hopping onto this train of decluttering their walk-in closets (Marie Kondo), wearing only one pair of pants (hardcore minimalist), or buying from simplistic brands (Millennials)?

Sometimes, it’s to save money. For others, buying from these simplistic brands is about the environment and sustainability. Many simply want to reduce stress and not be tied down to material possessions. And of course, most are probably just following the trends.

Marie Kondo stands out in her success. According to her, the “method” isn’t minimalism because she focuses on “cherishing” what you want to keep. One fascinating aspect of Marie Kondo is her famous mantra about whether an object “sparks joy.” Her method may have been trendy, but it hasn’t yet lost steam. Her reality TV show, Sparking Joy, airs on Netflix at the end of this month.

So, after all this, should believers “simplify, simplify?”

And more specifically, is Marie Kondo’s philosophy biblical?

God’s view of material possessions

Instead of focusing on the objects themselves or how they bring us happiness, a biblical understanding of our possessions is about following a kingdom economy and submitting everything to Christ. Here are some principles and topics taught in the Bible:

What does the Bible say about wealth?

The Bible does not disparage the wealthy themselves. However, when the rich young ruler approached Jesus and wanted to follow him, Jesus saw his heart was captivated by money. This prompted Jesus to say, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24) Wealth can give us a false sense of security and easily becomes a perilous idol (Luke 12:13–21).

Consider that the worldwide individual median income is about $3,000. Most people living in a first-world country should consider themselves wealthy. At the end of the day, whether wealthy or poor, Jesus cares most about our hearts (Luke 21:1–4).

What does the Bible say about generosity?

I’ve received a great deal of generosity in my life. My grandparents, who worked hard and saved frugally, helped pay for my college education. I am immensely grateful for that, and it’s encouraged me to live open-handedly (2 Corinthians 9:6–7).

What does the Bible say about anxiety?

Jesus teaches us not to be anxious about tomorrow because we can rest, knowing he will take care of our needs (Matthew 6:25–34; Philippians 4:6; James 4:13–15).

What does the Bible say about stewardship?

As believers, everything we own is God’s creation. Therefore we are stewards of it. We’re not only stewards of material possessions, but of our time, skills, and spiritual gifts (1 Peter 4:10; Luke 16:11).

What does the Bible say about thankfulness?

If we want to follow minimalist living, use Marie Kondo’s method, or buy from millennial brands, remember to thank God. To be in a place to choose minimal living instead of being forced into it because of poverty is a blessing (1 Timothy 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:18).

True joy is like a fire, not a spark

Getting rid of enough clothes so that we can walk in our “walk-in closets” probably sparks joy. Receiving Amazon packages of new clothes may spark joy. Remembering a memory attached to a sentimental item likely sparks joy. Marie Kondo’s method may spark joy. There’s nothing wrong with any of these sparks of joy, but they’re just that: sparks.

None of these will lead us to everlasting joy or true fulfillment. In contrast to the temporary “spark” that these fleeting moments lend, true joy is an everlasting fire because it rests in God, who does not change.

Philippians 4:4 says to rejoice in the Lord always.

James 1:2 says to count trials as joy.

Romans 12:12 says to rejoice in hope.

Psalm 16:11 says that in God’s presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore.

When we become weighed down by things of this world, let us pray Psalm 94:19: “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.”

Enjoy the spark of joy, but let it lead you to the true joy only God offers.

NOTE: Today’s Daily Article is by Mark Legg, staff writer for Denison Forum. He is a recent graduate of Dallas Baptist University and holds a degree in philosophy and biblical studies.

Denison Forum

When Christians fight among themselves, they’re neglecting an often-overlooked biblical truth: Christ has called us to model unity to a watching world. 

With the church in this country divided by race, politics, the pandemic, and a host of other issues, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart: Powerful Prayers to Unite Us in Lovehas a message we desperately need today. 

In the introduction, author Dr. Tony Evans quotes from John 17, often called Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer.” It offers a rare glimpse of private interaction between Christ and the heavenly Father, on the night before Jesus died. 

In verses 20–23, he asks for “complete unity” among his disciples and those who heed their message. “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me,” he prays. 

“An alternative to the ways of the world”

Stronger Together, Weaker Apart is part prayer book/part Bible study about the importance of unity among believers in spreading the gospel. But too often, the church is just as divided as the outside world. 

“As kingdom followers of Jesus Christ, we have been chosen to model unity, love, and peace as an alternative to the ways of a world that stands divided,” Evans writes. “Yet it seems that division often slithers its way into our churches and Christian organizations as well. Satan’s overall strategies rarely change — whatever he can divide, he can conquer (Mark 3:24). He accomplishes this division through lies, deception, and destruction (John 10:10).” 

Unity is not uniformity, but we shouldn’t let our differences divide us, preventing the church from playing its unique role in our culture.  

“The church is the only authentic cross-racial, cross-cultural, and cross-generational basis for oneness in existence,” Evans writes. 

We are all one

If you model Christlike qualities such as empathy, forgiveness, and humility in service to others, you encourage unity. On the other hand, “Every time you disparage a politician, preacher, neighbor, teacher, coworker, or family member, you are erecting walls with your words,” Evans writes. “We all must learn how to change our thoughts and words if we want to close the gaps that separate us.” 

The book has an appendix with a list of Scriptures about unity, including Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

In other words, there should be neither Black nor White, rich nor poor, Republican nor Democrat, for we are all one in Christ. If we truly model that, the world will know that we are his disciples.

Denison Forum

The Disney children’s series Muppet Babies chronicles the lives of the legendary Muppets during their toddler years. In a recent episode, Gonzo decided to cross-dress, going to a royal ball dressed as a girl. When he explained his decision later to his friends, one of them assured him, “You’re our friend, and we love you any way you are.”

In other news, a Russian woman is reportedly suing McDonald’s after claiming that seeing one of its cheeseburger commercials made her break her fast for Lent. She accused the fast-food chain of breaking consumer protection laws and insulting her religious feelings.

Right now, you might be thinking, “Surely there are more important stories in the news to discuss than these.” And you’re right.

For example, on this day in 1974, Richard M. Nixon became the first president in American history to resign. In other political news, Melissa DeRosa, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, resigned from her role last night, a week after a state attorney general report found the governor had sexually harassed eleven women.

Why, then, did I begin today’s Daily Article as I did? Because I have been in ministry long enough to learn something about human nature: we are most interested in that which most affects us.

If we were discussing the resignation of the current president rather than an event that occurred nearly fifty years ago, that would obviously be different. If this Daily Article were written only for those in New York State, the order of news discussed would have changed.

The axiom on which “the whole philosophy of Hell rests”

In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis explains that “the whole philosophy of Hell rests on recognition of the axiom that one thing is not another thing, and, specially, that one self is not another self. My good is my good and your good is yours. What one gains another loses.”

Socrates (470–399 BC) taught us that the way to wisdom is to “know yourself.” Not “know God” or “know God’s word,” not “know your community” or “know your family.” From his day to ours, Western culture has focused on the individual as the centerpiece of reality.

The “philosophy of Hell” takes advantage of this existentialist worldview in two ways.

For non-Christians, the constant drumbeat of secular culture is that you don’t need Christ. Personal authenticity is the path to flourishing, we’re told. Whether the subject is abortion or euthanasia, sexual orientation or gender identity, the message is the same: your body is yours to do with as you wish. So long as you’re not harming others (an assertion tragically overlooked by abortion advocates), you’re free to do what makes you happy.

Why, then, would anyone want to hear a message that insists we are sinners in need of salvation and calls us to repentance, contrition, and submission to God? Why dress up to go sing hymns and hear sermons at church? Since hell appears nowhere on our list of top fears, why not live and let live?

Or so our enemy would have us believe, right up to the day when it is too late to believe.

Satan’s strategy for Christians

For Christians, however, the devil’s strategy is somewhat different. If he cannot persuade us to reject Jesus, he’ll entice us to serve our Savior on our terms. It’s still all about us, it’s just that the “all” includes God, at least as a means to our end.

Go to church to “get something out of it.” Start your day with prayer and Bible study so God will bless you day. Give money to God so God will bless your money. This is how the “philosophy of Hell” wants us to serve Jesus to serve ourselves.

By contrast, the New Testament repeatedly and adamantly insists that the true Christian life is one Christ lives through us. We are his body (1 Corinthians 12:27), the temple of his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). The “riches of the glory” of the gospel mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

This is why we are to be “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), to begin every day by yielding that day to the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Jesus literally wants to continue his earthly ministry through you and me. We are the visible extensions of his abiding presence in our world (Matthew 28:20).

Christians being empowered, led, and used by Christ is obviously the last thing the enemy wants. That’s why he works so hard to convince us that it’s all about us when it’s actually all about Jesus.

A brother willing to die for his sister

Why should we submit our lives to Christ that he might continue his ministry through us? Let’s close with two answers.

One: Jesus can do more in the world than we can. Every person you know needs a Great Physician, a Good Shepherd, an omnipotent Lord and King. When he works through us, everyone we serve benefits, in this life and the next.

Two: Jesus can do more with our lives than we can. He knows us better than we know ourselves and knows the very best way our lives can fulfill their eternal purpose with true significance. Submitting to Jesus doesn’t make us robots—it makes us partners with God. In an incarnationally mysterious yet very real way, he makes us more than we could otherwise be while using us for greater purposes than we could ever serve without him.

Here’s how you can know you can trust him with your life: he gave his life for you (Romans 5:8).

Last year, a then-six-year-old named Bridger Walker saw a German Shepherd charging at his younger sister, so he stood between her and the dog. He saved her but suffered extensive injuries to his face and head. A year later, Bridger is still recovering. He has a simple explanation for his bravery: “If someone had to die, I thought it should be me.”

Jesus died so you could live eternally. He would do it all over again, just for you.

How will you respond to such love today?

Denison Forum

Unlike most Olympic athletes making headlines these days, Daniel Jervis did not win a medal in the Tokyo games. In fact, he came in fifth in the men’s 1500-meter freestyle. After the event, however, he said something that is worthy of global attention.

He began: “I want to thank my village of Resolven. I want to thank my church, Sardis Baptist Church, [and] Ammanford Church in Ammanford, who have been really supportive of me. Everyone back home has been praying for me.” Then he added: “The thing I’m most proud of in my life is that I’m a Christian, and obviously God was with me tonight, and I’m just really grateful to be representing him.”

It is fairly common to see competitors win and then thank God for their success. However, skeptics can dismiss such faith, no matter how sincere it is, as the natural result of success. They often claim, as Satan said of Job to God, “You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1:10–11).

For this reason, it can be especially powerful when believers glorify God before they achieve success. For example, South African Olympic swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker posted on Instagram a prayer for God’s will to be done “no matter what the outcome,” days before she won a gold medal and set a new world record in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke.

And it can be even more powerful when we honor God when we lose.

“I’m planning my future, not my legacy”

This fact is on my mind in light of an interview Jane Marczewski gave to CNN’s Chris Cuomo Wednesday. The singer known as Nightbirde has been much in the news after her stunning performance on America’s Got Talent, her disclosure that she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and her recent announcement that she will not be able to continue on AGT because of her cancer battle.

When Cuomo asked how she was doing, she was honest: “Well, to tell you the truth, I’ve been curled up in a ball like a cocktail shrimp, having an A-plus pity party for myself, because it’s just been a bad, bad month. It’s been really, pretty devastating.”

She described having to leave AGT: “I’m not a quitter. So it was really, really hard for me to say that I couldn’t finish the show. I got shocking news less than a week ago about cancer regrowth that has taken over my lungs and liver. So my liver right now is mostly cancer. More cancer than liver in there right now.”

Then she added: “But like I said, I’m planning my future, not my legacy. Some people would call that blind denial. I prefer to call it rebellious hope. And I’m not stopping anytime soon.”

She then asked Cuomo, “Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up? Don’t you want to see what happens? And that’s what I keep saying to myself and that’s what I say to everyone watching tonight. Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up?”

Just as she impressed the acerbic Simon Cowell on AGT, she similarly impressed Cuomo, who asked whether or not she has “always been like this.” She replied, “I don’t know. I think when you’re faced with so many blows to the gut in a row, like I have over the past several years, you find out what you’re made of in a sense, and you’re given the opportunity to choose what you want to become. So no, I don’t think I was always this way.”

“Therefore we will not fear”

Psalm 46 begins: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (v. 1). This is not a wish for the future but a fact in the present.

A “refuge” is a place where we go to be sheltered. However, we must choose to go there. A shelter is no help to us unless we use it. If we think we can withstand the storms and crises of life on our own, we will not humble ourselves enough to admit that we need God’s help and then to seek that help.

So, when the crisis comes, run to God. The Hebrew word for refuge is literally “a place to which we flee.” Don’t walk to him—run. Run to his help, his power, his love, his grace. And seek the “strength” he offers, knowing that his power can be yours if you will ask for it from him.

If you do, through the incontrovertible lens of your Father’s omnipotence and love, you will be able to testify with the psalmist, “Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (vv. 2–3, my emphasis).

Sometimes God calms the storms, and sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child. A troubled saint said, “I prayed for less wind in my sails, and God gave me more sails for the wind.”

“He must win the battle”

Martin Luther turned Psalm 46 into one of the best-loved hymns in Christian history, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. In that hymn he wrote these words, “Did we in our own strength confide, / our striving would be losing; / Were not the right man on our side, / the Man of God’s own choosing. / Dost ask who that may be? / Christ Jesus, it is He; / Lord Sabaoth, His Name, / from age to age the same, / And He must win the battle.”

Note the word must. If our Father is truly omnipotent, no power can defeat him. If he is truly omniscient, no need can escape his knowledge. If he is truly all-loving, he will only ever do what is best for his children.

The next time you lose a race, remember Daniel Jervis’ example and look for a way to thank and honor your Lord for his love and grace. Remember Jane Marczewski’s question: “Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up?”

And remember this fact: it is always too soon to give up on God.

Denison Forum

Nothing is more frustrating for an air traveler than facing cancelations with no obvious explanation. Such has been the case at DFW Airport this week.  

For example, American Airlines canceled more than 340 flights Tuesday even though skies were clear and there were no equipment failures. The reason: bad weather on Sunday disrupted their travel schedules, resulting in major problems with crew availability in the days following. In fact, more than three-quarters of the cancelations on Tuesday were due to crew staffing problems. 

As the Dallas Morning News reports, pilots and flight attendants have limits on how many hours they can work, even if such work is sitting on a runway waiting for the weather to clear or to get clearance for takeoff. When crew members hit their maximum hour limits, they often need to be replaced by other crew members. The more delays and cancellations there are across the system, the more difficult it can be to backfill pilots and flight attendants. 

I’ve experienced this often over the years. It can be frustrating to wait to be seated in a restaurant when open tables are visible. Usually, however, this is caused by a shortage of waitstaff and the restaurant’s desire to make sure its customers receive good service once they are seated. 

A couple of years ago, I had to take my car in for what I thought were minor repairs. When I didn’t hear back that day, I became frustrated and called for an update only to learn that the damage was far more extensive than I had thought and the mechanics were doing a complete assessment before calling with the news. 

All this to say, what we can see is often caused by what we cannot see. 

Two consequences follow. 

One: We should resist criticizing others for behavior we cannot fully understand. 

A counselor once wisely noted that there is always “one thing more” we don’t know about people with whom we are in conflict. Usually, if we learned that “one thing,” we would better understand and perhaps even appreciate their actions. 

For example, a man came home from work and told his wife he wanted to take her out for Mexican food. She insisted, however, that she wanted to go to their favorite Chinese restaurant. He became insistent that he wanted what he wanted; she insisted that she wanted what she wanted. Frustrated, he finally yielded and went with her to the Chinese restaurant, where he found a surprise birthday party waiting for him which his wife had arranged. 

Jesus warned us, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). We are told, “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers” (James 4:11). We are to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). 

Some behavior is obviously unbiblical and cannot be justified even by further knowledge. But often, if we would stop to pray for discernment, patience, and wisdom, the Lord will help us understand what others are experiencing and enable us to serve them with his compassion and grace. 

Oswald Chambers is right: “Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to fault finding.” 

Two: God knows what no one else knows. 

The Bible teaches that “God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything” (1 John 3:20). Scripture states, “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). 

As a result, we can know that God understands what no one else does. When we are facing issues that are not visible to the world, our Father sees them and cares for us. He feels our pain and walks with us in our struggles. We have an unseen Companion for the unseen trials of life. 

But we can also know that our unseen sins are obvious to him. We may think we’re “getting away with” sins the world does not see, but this is not true with our Lord. We will be judged one day for all we have done, whether good or evil (2 Corinthians 5:10). At risk is not eternal salvation for Christians, but eternal reward or loss of reward (1 Corinthians 3:12–15). 

I’ll close with this: a few days ago, I got into my car only to detect a strong odor. It smelled like water had caused carpet to rot or an animal had died inside the engine. I opened the windows as I drove to work, but that didn’t help. I left the windows open overnight, but the next morning, the entire garage stank. 

So I began seeking the source of the problem. Checking the carpets for moisture, I came to the passenger side front door where I found an empty carton of protein drink I had left days before. The lid was on the carton, but being dairy-based and left in a hot car for a few days, it became the source of the malodorous problem I was trying to solve. Once I removed it, the problem was resolved. 

Is there an “empty carton” in your soul today?

Denison Forum

Guinness World Records has confirmed that Samantha Ramsdell is the record holder for the world’s largest mouth gape for a female. Hers measures two and a half inches; when measured across, it reaches more than four inches.

Ramsdell has 1.7 million TikTok followers and has used her mouth frequently in videos. She has stuffed three donuts in her mouth and fit in a large order of fries, for instance. She says her mouth used to be “something that really I was so insecure about, something that I wanted to keep so small.” Now she says that it’s “one of the biggest, best things about me.” 

Samantha adds: “It’s your superpower. It’s the thing that makes you unique and special. Everyone should be celebrating what makes them different.” 

Three ways we know everything we know 

Samantha is right: we each have a “superpower.” We are each uniquely made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) with gifts, abilities, experiences, and opportunities that are uniquely ours. 

If we are to be Jesus’ witnesses (Acts 1:8) by making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), it stands to reason that we should discover the way we can best fulfill his commission. 

For example, philosophers tell us that we learn all we know in one of three ways: the intuitive, the pragmatic, and the rational. We do math rationally; we start our cars pragmatically (unless we are automotive engineers, in which case we probably start them rationally); we like people intuitively. 

We all do all three, but one tends to dominate our personality. For example, I am “wired” by God to be rational to such an extent that I have very limited intuitive capacities and sometimes do not consider the practical consequences of my rational ideas. 

Three consequences follow. 

One: We should know our weaknesses and trust those who are gifted in ways we are not. 

My wife is highly intuitive, with discernment as one of her spiritual gifts. Rev. Jeff Byrd, my ministry partner for more than three decades, is a former engineer and business consultant and is highly pragmatic. On my good days, I consult them before making any major decisions, knowing that they will see things I will not and can predict consequences that I likely will not see. 

Whom do you know who is gifted and created in ways you are not? With whom are you partnering as you partner with the Lord? 

Two: We should focus our energies on strategies that play to our strengths. 

Paul was a former Pharisee and student of Gamaliel. As a result, he typically began his missionary work in a town or city by engaging with the local synagogue where his personal history lent credibility to his work. William Wilberforce, a man whose family was well known to British aristocracy and governing authorities, was called by God to serve as a member of the government and use that position to help eradicate slavery. 

God’s call usually aligns with our capacities. Knowing where your gifts, abilities, and experiences align is often a good way to identify your kingdom assignment. 

C. S. Lewis told a congregation of Oxford University students and scholars, “A man’s upbringing, his talents, his circumstances, are usually a tolerable index of his vocation. If our parents have sent us to Oxford, if our country allows us to remain there, this is prima facie evidence that the life which we, at any rate, can best lead to the glory of God at present is the learned life.” 

What is your “Oxford”? 

Three: We must always trust God more than ourselves. 

Even C. S. Lewis, for all his brilliance, did not possess the capacity to convict a single person of a single sin or save a single soul. Humans cannot do the work of the Spirit. Only the Father can recreate us as his children through faith in his Son (John 1:12). 

While he chooses to call, equip, and use us in his kingdom enterprises, we must always remember that our work is a means to his end. We must begin every day by submitting that day to his Spirit’s leading and empowering (Ephesians 5:18). We must “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) that he would work in us and through us to make fallen people into his “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

As we work, God works. As we do our best in his strength for his glory, he uses us in ways we will not fully understand on this side of eternity. 

“I am a walking testimony” 

American hurdler Kendra “Keni” Harrison won a silver medal for Team USA in the 100-meter hurdles Monday. Her achievement was the result of years of training, hard work, and sacrifice. 

Nonetheless, in an interview following the event, Harrison proclaimed that “all the glory goes to God just to have this opportunity.” When she broke the world record in 2016, she stated, “I am a walking testimony of how incredible God truly is.” Her Twitter biography features the phrase, “I love Jesus.” 

As we work, God works. 

How will you partner with him today? 

Denison Forum

Australian officials would like us to rebrand shark attacks as “negative encounters.” The swimmer who was bitten by a great white shark at a beach near San Francisco last month may not agree.

Officials in Texas are assuring the public that the Dallas resident who has the first-ever case of monkeybox in our state is “not a reason for alarm.” The infected patient in isolation at a Dallas hospital may not agree.

It is human nature to downplay threats we cannot control. For example, we say of those who die that they “departed” or “passed on.” But euphemisms cannot change the reality they describe.

As of this morning, 188 people have died in massive flooding in Europe. The death toll in the Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse stands at ninety-seven. At least sixty-five people underwent decontamination on Saturday following a chemical leak at a Six Flags water park near Houston.

Three people were wounded in a shooting outside the Washington Nationals baseball stadium that caused the game to be suspended. At least two people were killed and several others were wounded by shootings at three locations in Tucson, Arizona, yesterday afternoon. And the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic stands at 4,089,175 at this writing.

American Christians are under unprecedented pressure by our secularized culture to compromise biblical truth and morality. But the inescapable realities of death and eternity beyond the grave demonstrate conclusively that every person we know needs to know what we know about death.

Martin Luther said, “Every man must do two things alone: he must do his own believing and his own dying.” Let’s see how the first helps us with the second.

Why nonbelievers fear death

It’s human nature to fear the unknown. The dread we feel that keeps us from venturing into a cave where a predator is waiting is a God-given response that may save our lives.

Even when our lives are not at risk, we understandably fear what we cannot predict. From going to a new school to beginning a new job or moving to a new city, we are naturally apprehensive of the future.

Death, of course, is the greatest unknown. Nonbelievers do not believe anyone has ever come back from the other side, so they have no empirical way to know what happens when we die. Do we simply cease to exist? Are we reincarnated? Do we spend eternity in heaven? In hell?

However, our post-Christian society has devised a solution. Postmodernism has taught us that our reality is the reality. Truth is “our truth.” Therefore, if we don’t believe there is an afterlife, we don’t need to be concerned with an afterlife. The man who declared to me “I don’t believe in hell” was convinced that his opinion settled the matter.

“I consider eternity as another possibility”

This is illogical in the extreme, of course. Denying that cancer exists doesn’t keep me from getting cancer.

Even more, this is a satanic deception. Our enemy wants nothing more than to delude us into thinking we don’t need what Jesus came to give. We are unlikely to repent of our sins and seek forgiveness if we don’t think we need to repent of our sins or seek forgiveness. We would not turn to Christ as our Lord if we do not need a Lord. If we can be our own god (Genesis 3:5), we’ll try to be our own god.

The poet Mary Oliver wrote: “When death comes / like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, / I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: / what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?” As a result, she continues, “I look upon time as no more than an idea, / and I consider eternity as another possibility.”

She concludes: “When it’s over, I want to say all my life / I was a bride married to amazement. / I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. / When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder / if I have made of my life something particular and real. / I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened / or full of argument. / I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Nor do I. Nor do you, I suspect. But her plan for being “married to amazement” and “taking the world into my arms” is to “consider eternity as another possibility.” If we see eternity as only a “possibility,” we will assuredly not be ready when we experience it as a reality.

Are you a practical universalist?

I hope you do not share nonbelievers’ agnosticism or atheism with regard to death and eternity. If you are not certain that you have made Jesus your Savior and Lord, please turn to him today. (For answers to frequent questions about Jesus and a way to trust him for salvation, please see my website article, “Why Jesus?”)

As we have seen, one of Satan’s great deceptions is convincing lost people that they are not lost. A second deception is convincing Christians that lost people are not truly lost.

Based on the clear teaching of Scripture (cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; John 3:18; Revelation 20:15), we may agree theologically that lost people need Jesus. But if we are not taking the risk to share Christ with them, our actions betray our supposed convictions.

In this case, we are practical universalists. We are not so certain that our lost neighbors, friends, and family members need Jesus to avoid hell and go to heaven that we are willing to share God’s love with them.

Here we face one more satanic deception: that sharing the gospel is “imposing” our beliefs on others. Postmodern secularists have convinced many Christians that tolerance is the highest value, that telling people they risk eternity separated from God in hell is intolerant and bigoted.

In fact, it is just the opposite. Sharing God’s love in Christ offers others the greatest gift they could ever receive. It is giving people the only key that opens the door to heaven. It is sharing the cure for spiritual cancer with people who are dying of the disease whether they know it or not.

We will say more tomorrow about what happens to Christians when we die. For now, would you ask God to help you help someone you know be ready to die today?

Denison Forum

Monty Williams is the head coach of the Phoenix Suns. His team won the first two games of this year’s NBA Finals, though the Milwaukee Bucks won Game 3 last night. If the Suns win two more games, they will achieve their first championship in franchise history.

When Williams received the Michael H. Goldberg Coach of the Year Award from the National Basketball Coaches Association this season, he said, “God knocks the ball out of the park and I get to run the bases. It is a blessing and a privilege to be able to coach this team, alongside this staff, for this organization—it is a ‘get to,’ not a ‘got to.’”

But it is one thing to praise God when we succeed—it is another to trust him when we suffer.

Williams learned about saving faith in Christ from Ingrid, the woman who became his wife. Through her example and prayers, he came to trust in Christ personally. As he entered the NBA, the two married and started a family.

In 2016, Ingrid was killed when a driver under the influence of methamphetamines hit her car. At her funeral, Williams testified, “In my house, we have a sign that says, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15). We cannot serve the Lord if we don’t have a heart of forgiveness.”

He added, “Everybody is praying for me and my family, which is right. But let us not forget that there were two people in this situation. And that family needs prayer as well. And we have no ill will toward that family.”

Sir Richard Branson flies into space

Sir Richard Branson made headlines yesterday when his Virgin Galactic space plane flew to an altitude of more than fifty miles before returning to earth.

However, our planet’s atmosphere extends 6,214 miles into space. Our moon is 238,900 miles from us; our sun is 94,499,000 miles away. The next nearest star is 24,984,092,897,479 miles from our planet. The edge of our Milky Way galaxy is estimated to be 25,000 light-years away. The edge of our universe is thought to be 46,500,000,000 light-years away.

Jesus made all of that (Colossians 1:16), and his Father measures it with the palm of his hand (Isaiah 40:12).

I don’t mean to depreciate Sir Richard’s achievement, just to put it in context: the God whom Coach Monty Williams trusts and serves is worthy of our trust and service.

When we face the inevitable crises of life, we can turn to ourselves, our capacities, and our achievements, or we can turn to the One who created us, endowed us with our capacities, and enabled our achievements. We can trust creatures or their Creator. We can trust our wisdom or his word.

“The only correct map of the human heart”

I make this point because truth and biblical truth are under assault in our culture as never before. A recent study reported that only 42 percent of Americans (and only 31 percent of adults under the age of thirty) believe God is the basis of truth. According to Gallup, only 24 percent of Americans consider the Bible to be the literal word of God. This is the lowest percentage in Gallup’s forty-year trend on this issue.

By contrast, in Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers, historian Daniel L. Driesbach demonstrates that many of America’s leaders across our history had a profound belief in objective biblical truth. For example, Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible, “It is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be portrayed in it.”

John Adams stated, “The Bible contains the most profound philosophy, the most perfect morality, and the most refined policy, that ever was conceived upon earth.” Benjamin Rush, another of the founding fathers, called the Bible “the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published.”

Then he added, “All systems of religion, morals, and government not founded upon it must perish, and how consoling the thought—it will not only survive the wreck of these systems but the world itself.”

“The aim of the spiritual saint”

Christians in every generation have faced their battles. For followers of Jesus today, our conflict begins with the existence of objective truth and the trustworthiness of biblical truth. I plan to say more about this battle tomorrow, but for today, let’s close with this fact: the foundational way we can persuade skeptics that the Bible is truth is to experience and manifest that truth in our lives.

If we meet Jesus today in his word and worship, others will see Jesus in our words and lives. If we truly experience him this morning, we will manifest him this day. If we seek to know Jesus in everything we do, we will make him known in everything we do.

Paul, after listing his astounding personal achievements (Philippians 3:4–6), said of Jesus, “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ” (vv. 8–9).

Oswald Chambers observed, “Self-realization leads to the enthronement of work; whereas the saint enthrones Jesus Christ in his work. Whether it be eating or drinking or washing disciples’ feet, whatever it is, we have to take the initiative of realizing Jesus Christ is in it. Every phase of our actual life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized his relationship to the Father even in the most menial work.”

Chambers added, “The aim of the spiritual saint is ‘that I may know him.’ Do I know him where I am today? If not, I am failing him. I am here not to realize myself, but to know Jesus. In Christian work the initiative is too often the realization that something has to be done and I must do it. That is never the attitude of the spiritual saint, his aim is to secure the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances he is in” (my emphasis).

What is your “aim” today?

Denison Forum

Kieran Moïse has always been known for what the Washington Post describes as “a stunning Afro that stood high and wide above his head.” For the last six years, he has not cut or trimmed it because, as his mother explained, “he really hated haircuts.”

When Kieran was accepted to the Air Force Academy, he knew he would have to cut his now nineteen-inch Afro. He lost a close friend to cancer when Kieran was in the eighth grade. So, he decided to make his hair cutting into a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and donate his hair to Children With Hair Loss, a Michigan nonprofit that provides free human hair wigs to children and young adults facing medically related hair loss.

Both plans came to fruition. His hair was mailed to the children’s hair charity, and the fundraiser ultimately brought in more than $38,000 for St. Jude’s. Kieran is now at the Academy, where his mother says, “He’s going to do great things. I have no doubt.”

Pete Davidson is getting his tattoos removed

One of the ways God redeems all he allows is by using past suffering to make us more sensitive to present needs and future opportunities to help others. The loss of Kieran’s friend to cancer led him to do what he could for cancer patients. When we use our suffering to serve, we become what Henri Nouwen called “wounded healers.” And our story touches more lives than we may know.

Here’s another example in the news: comedian Pete Davidson is getting his tattoos removed. He says the process is incredibly painful and will take another two years to complete.

He teamed with smartwater to promote last Monday’s first-ever Rehydration Day, a day dedicated to getting Americans rehydrated after the July 4^th holiday weekend. As a result, he made a video in which he had arm tattoos lasered off while confessing, “I’ve made a lot of questionable choices, and a couple of them need removing.” Then he added, “Now I’m trying to make smarter choices, hydrating with smartwater and stuff like that.”

When we recognize our “questionable choices” and use them to serve others, our humility earns us the right to share a positive message. If we follow Jesus, such compassion born from his grace enables and empowers us to share that grace with the world.

Presbyterian denomination takes stand on homosexuality

However, part of sharing God’s grace is standing against decisions and deceptions that harm those we are called to serve.

For example, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) recently adopted Overture 23, a statement that those who “profess an identity (such as, but not limited to, ‘Gay Christian,’ ‘same sex attracted Christian,’ ‘homosexual Christian,’ or like terms) . . . are not qualified for ordained office.” The overture, which was approved overwhelmingly 1,438–417 on July 1, explains that such an identity “undermines or contradicts their identity as new creations in Christ, either by denying the sinfulness of fallen desires . . . or by denying the reality and hope of progressive sanctification, or by failing to pursue Spirit-empowered victory over their sinful temptations.”

The chair of the committee recommending Overture 23 stated that it is not intended to exclude Christians who are gay but remain celibate. The overture must still be approved by two-thirds of the denomination’s regional presbyteries and then again by a majority at the General Assembly scheduled for next year in Birmingham, Alabama.

One pastor who spoke in favor of the overture called it “most consistent with the gospel—and because it’s consistent with the gospel, it is by definition compassionate.”

I agree with that pastor and commend PCA leaders for taking a biblical stand on such a pressing cultural issue. Not everyone would agree with me, however.

Why I disagree with Philip Yancey

Bestselling author Philip Yancey was asked in an interview with Religion News Service, “If you could talk to evangelical leaders right now or to people in the pew, what would you tell them?” Yancey, perhaps best known for his insightful book What’s So Amazing About Grace?, stated: “So often the church seems more interested in cleaning up society, you know, returning America to its pristine 1950s. That’s the myth we have—we are making America pure again, cleaning it up.”

He added: “Jesus lived under the Roman Empire, Paul lived under the Roman Empire, which was much worse morally than anything going on in the United States. They didn’t say a word about how to clean up the Roman Empire, not a word. They just kind of dismissed it.”

Yancey then called us to “remember why we are here. We love people, we serve, and we show them why God’s way is better. Let’s concentrate on that rather than tearing people down or rejecting them or denigrating them in some way. We’re here to bring pleasure to God. I believe we do that by living in the way God’s Son taught us to live when he was on earth.”

I appreciate Yancey’s reminder that we love people by serving them. But I disagree completely with his belief that Jesus and Paul “didn’t say a word about how to clean up the Roman Empire.”

Jesus’ earthly ministry did not extend beyond Palestine, but he addressed specifically the hypocrisy of the religious leaders (Matthew 23) and the urgency of serving those in need (Matthew 25:31–46). Paul’s ministry did extend throughout the Empire; he addressed directly the sexual immorality and other sins of his day (cf. Romans 1:26–32; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:8–11). And don’t forget that John the Baptist was martyred for opposing the sexual immorality of Herod the tetrarch (Matthew 14:1–12).

As Yancey notes, part of loving people and serving them is showing them “why God’s way is better.” However, God’s way includes sexual purity (cf. Matthew 5:28; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5; Colossians 3:5) and holy living (cf. Galatians 5:19–26; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14).

William Wilberforce’s “two great objects”

As we have seen today, we serve others best when we do so out of humility that recognizes our own weaknesses and compassion that empowers us to seek their best. Then we will pay any price to impact our culture with God’s transforming word and grace.

William Wilberforce testified, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.”

What “objects” has God Almighty set before you?

Denison Forum

Let’s begin with some good news: First responders at the Surfside condominium tragedy are receiving hundreds of homemade cards from children. One note said, “Dear First Responders, thank you for everything you did and are doing even tho some people have not been recovered you guys are working day and night to find those that are missing that’s what makes you guys hero’s.”

So far, nearly five hundred similar notes, crafted by children of all ages from near and far, have been hand-delivered to first responders at the scene of the collapse. Hundreds more are expected to pour in as the search for victims continues.

The idea began with Florida state Sen. Lauren Book, who returned home from visiting the site and had to explain the tragedy to her four-year-old twin children. They wanted to help, so they spent the day at their dining room table with crayons and construction paper, creating about fifty cards. Their mother brought the notes to the site the next day, handing them to any first responder she met. Many of them cried instantly, she said.

She then posted the idea on Twitter, asking for children to mail in similar notes of encouragement. Cards have been delivered from around the country.

Death toll from COVID-19 passes four million

People obviously need such encouragement today.

Eighteen more bodies were recovered from the rubble Wednesday as the search of the collapsed building in Surfside, Florida, turned from a rescue effort to a recovery operation.

The global death toll from COVID-19 passed four million yesterday, a number equivalent to the population of Los Angeles. Japan’s prime minister announced a coronavirus state of emergency for Tokyo this morning as organizers consider banning all spectators from the Olympics.

The Washington Post reports that “America’s workers are exhausted and burned out” after fifteen months of pandemic-related stress. Axios notes that many Americans are responding to such stress by drinking more alcohol—a lot more for some—even though the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism warns that alcohol-related death is the third-leading preventable cause of death in the US.

Reflecting the stress of recent months, an American Psychological Association survey found that 61 percent of US adults experienced undesired weight changes since the pandemic began. And experts are calling the ransomware attack that began over the Fourth of July weekend a “landmark event” that could lead to future “disruption on an absolutely massive scale.”

“He is our actual hope”

Where can we turn to find the best source of strength and peace in these hard days? The answer would surprise most people in our secularized culture.

MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, recently made headlines when she and her current husband made a $2.7 billion donation to several groups. She included several progressive Christian groups but excluded evangelical ministries.

Kelly Kullberg, editor and co-author of the bestseller Finding God at Harvard, responded: “The Left is attempting to redefine the gospel, using biblical words but not their accurate meanings. If we, as individuals, no longer admit our sin, we no longer turn to Jesus. And he is our actual hope. And biblical truth yields great love for people and great progress for cultures.”

Kullberg is exactly right. The paradoxical truth is that we will not turn to Jesus as our “actual hope” unless we recognize that we need what he alone can provide. As we noted yesterday, to fear and revere the Lord is to recognize that he is the true King and Judge of the universe and to admit that we need his forgiveness, grace, and peace.

“The mind of Zeus is hard to soften with prayer”

How can we experience God in such a transforming way? The key is to see him as he actually is.

In Isaiah 6, the prophet “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (v. 1) and saw himself in the light of God’s holiness (vv. 3, 5). Isaiah’s confessional response led to his cleansing (vv. 6–7) and his commission as one of the greatest prophets in history (vv. 8–9).

We are not to fear God as did the Greek and Romans, whose deities were capricious, sinful, and vengeful. Zeus was unfaithful to his wife Hera, Poseidon was known to foist storms and shipwrecks on those who displeased him, and Ares was feared for his violent temper. In Prometheus Bound, the Greek playwright Aeschylus (525–455 BC) said of their gods, “Many a groan and many a lamentation you shall utter, but they shall not serve you. For the mind of Zeus is hard to soften with prayer.”

Nor should we see God as a “resident policeman,” “parental hangover,” “grand old man,” or “managing director,” as J. B. Phillips notes in his classic Your God Is Too Small.

Rather, we are to fear and revere God as “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3), the one true King of the universe. The more we worship him with humility, repentance, and submission, the more we experience his perfect will and empowering presence.

When last were you awed by God?

I invite you to take some time today to experience God as Isaiah did. Read Isaiah 6 and imagine yourself in the text. See God on his exalted throne. Hear the angelic worship. Feel the foundations shaking. Smell the smoke filling his temple.

Ask him to reveal anything in your life that displeases him, then confess all that comes to your thoughts and trust him for his cleansing grace. Now surrender your life to his purpose—whatever he asks, wherever he leads, whatever the cost. And know that as you fear and revere your King, he will use your life for his eternal glory and your greatest good.

When last were you awed by God?

Why not today?http://www.denisonforum.org/

More than four million people in Florida are under hurricane warnings as Tropical Storm Elsa approaches landfall this morning. The system became a Category 1 hurricane yesterday before weakening to a tropical storm early today. Millions of people are facing life-threatening storm surges, heavy winds, potential isolated tornadoes, and heavy rains that could cause flooding up and down the Florida coast.

Meanwhile, the search for victims of the Surfside, Florida, building collapse reached its fourteenth day today. Eight more deaths have been announced, bringing the death toll to three dozen with more than one hundred people still unaccounted for.

Sisters buried in the same casket

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn have been married seventy-five years today, the longest marriage in presidential history. From living in publicly subsidized housing while running a peanut warehouse to becoming governor of Georgia and president of the United States—theirs is a made-in-America story.

Their anniversary is not the only auspicious event on this day. On July 7, 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first female Supreme Court justice in US history. On this day five years earlier, female cadets enrolled at West Point for the first time.

However, the storm in Florida and the condominium tragedy remind us of our finitude as Americans and as humans.

The bodies of two young sisters pulled from the rubble of the Florida condo building were buried in the same casket yesterday alongside their parents. Officials in Montana are searching today for a grizzly bear that killed a woman early Tuesday. Chicago has now recorded more than two thousand shootings so far this year, a 58 percent increase since 2019. And the “woke” culture continues to escalate as Disney removes “ladies and gentlemen” from its Magic Kingdom greeting to be more inclusive.

As we noted Monday, the freedom we celebrated on July 4 is rooted in the declaration that “all men are created equal.” However, as we discussed yesterday, our freedom as finite and fallen people is best exercised under the authority of our Creator. When we fear God, we need fear nothing else, as Oswald Chambers observed.

Why don’t we fear God?

When was the last time you feared the judgment of God so much that you did something you would not otherwise have done? When was the last time you did not do something you would have done for the same reason?

It’s hard to fear what we don’t believe exists. I doubt that you’re worried about an invasion by Martians this morning.

According to Pew Research Center, 10 percent of Americans do not believe in God; another 33 percent believe in some type of higher power but not the God of the Bible. Only 43 percent of those under thirty believe in the one true God.

But denying the existence of something or someone doesn’t change its reality. I’ve never met the Queen of England, but denying her existence makes her no less real. The man who told me “I don’t believe in hell” didn’t change the existence of hell. In fact, if he persists in his rejection of the gospel, one day he will discover for himself how wrong he was.

In addition, many Americans have attended churches where divine judgment and the existence of hell are seldom if ever mentioned. The “seeker sensitive” movement that began in the 1980s was a well-intentioned strategy to make worship services more accessible to nonbelievers. However, if we speak only on topics that lost people want to hear, we are like oncologists who never tell our patients when they have a life-threatening malignancy.

If we don’t help others fear God now, one day they will most assuredly wish we had.

Why should we fear God?

The first reason to fear God is that he is fearsome. He is the Judge of the universe (Revelation 20:11–15) before whom “each of us will give an account of himself” (Romans 14:12). We do well to remember every day that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

A second reason to fear and revere God is that his word commands us to do so. The psalmist called us to “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:1). Jesus was blunt: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

A third reason to fear God is that doing so is best for us. The God who is love (1 John 4:8) wants only our best. His will for us is always “perfect” (Romans 12:2). The harder it is to obey his word, the more we need to obey his word.

The king of the universe cannot honor rebellion against his reign lest he deny his holiness and permit that which harms his subjects. He calls us to seek his glory because to do less would be idolatry on his part and ours. Conversely, when we enthrone him in our hearts and serve him with fear and reverence, we experience his best in and through our lives.

A frightening flashback

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss practical steps we can take to fear and revere God more fully. For today, let’s ask ourselves this question: If I feared God more than I do, what would change in my life?

I came across my doctoral dissertation in my library yesterday. Opening it, my mind flashed back to December of 1986 and the oral exams I had to pass before I could begin writing it. During the two-hour test, my professors could ask me anything we had discussed in three years of doctoral seminars. Only if I passed their scrutiny would I be permitted to write the dissertation that would complete my degree.

I spent six months preparing for those exams. I had the highest respect for my professors and actually feared their examination since they held my academic future in their hands. But the experience made me a better student and scholar, which was precisely what it was intended to do.

Paul testified: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). I don’t know that you and I will face his judgment tomorrow, but I don’t know that we won’t.

Are you ready?

If not, why not?

Denison Forum

My grandfather fought for America in World War I. He was so proud of his country and the flag he defended that he installed a flagpole in the front yard of every home he owned. Every day that I knew him, he raised the American flag at sunrise and lowered it at sunset. I still remember the pride I felt as a child on the day he first allowed me to join him for this ceremony.

However, the New York Times tells us that “what was once a unifying symbol—there is a star on it for each state, after all—is now alienating to some.” The article asserts that many now identify the flag with former President Trump and his supporters. Negative response to its claims and tone has been swift and strong. 

Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-Missouri) also caused an uproar when she tweeted, “When they say that the 4^th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people. This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.” Others were quick to note that she is free enough to be elected to Congress. 

We can be upset with those who criticize our nation, its founding, its progress, and its flag. But we should also note this fact: unlike much of the world, we live in a nation where we are so free that we are free to criticize our nation, our leaders, and each other. 

As E. J. Dionne Jr. writes in the Washington Post, “Maybe the best reason to love the United States is that it’s a place where people are free not to love it.” 

“The legacy of dignity and worth” 

What is the source of such freedom? 

Preaching at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 4, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described with his usual eloquence the injustice so many African Americans still faced in America. He called for justice, fair pay, and equality for all Americans. 

But he did so on the basis of America’s founding creed, quoting the Declaration of Independence’s stirring proclamation, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” He then claimed that this declaration “ultimately distinguishes our nation and our form of government from any totalitarian system in the world.” Dr. King explained: 

“It says that each of us has certain basic rights that are neither derived from or conferred by the state. In order to discover where they came from, it is necessary to move back behind the dim mist of eternity. They are God-given, gifts from his hands. Never before in the history of the world has a sociopolitical document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language the dignity and worth of human personality. 

“The American dream reminds us, and we should think about it anew on this Independence Day, that every man is an heir of the legacy of dignity and worth.” 

“The true ground of democracy” 

Dr. King was right, of course. Because we are each created by God in his image (Genesis 1:26), we each possess “dignity and worth.” The equality promised in the Declaration of Independence finds its source in this theological truth. 

However, there’s another side to this affirmation. 

In his 1945 essay “Membership” (published in Weight of Glory), C. S. Lewis stated: “I believe in political equality. But there are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. 

“On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows. That I believe to be the true ground of democracy.” 

“Corruption and darkness will reign” 

It is because we are each fallen, broken, sinful people that we cannot be trusted with unaccountable power. It is because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” that we need God (Romans 3:23). 

The Constitution grants us freedom of religion because we need it. We need the God we are free to worship and trust. We need the biblical truth we are free to proclaim. We are so immoral that we need the morality taught by God’s word and empowered by his Spirit. 

This is why Daniel Webster warned us so prophetically, “If the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end.” 

And it is why “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). 

Tomorrow, I intend to explore why our culture no longer fears God, why we should, and how we can. For today, let’s close with this observation by Oswald Chambers: “The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” 

Do you fear God today?

Denison Forum

On Monday morning, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a ruling that challenged the NCAA’s approach to student athletes, stating that the existing rules violate antitrust laws by placing limits on the education-related benefits that schools can provide.

Yesterday’s decision does not mean that schools can begin outright paying players, giving them luxury cars, or doling out many of the other frivolities and benefits that have gotten universities in trouble in the past. 

In writing the concurring opinion, Justice Kavanaugh was clear that “the NCAA’s remaining compensation rules also raise serious questions under the antitrust laws.” Kavanaugh went on to add that “the NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America.”

Despite the legalities and logic behind the court’s ruling, however, there are still many who lament their decision as the first step down a path that will fundamentally alter the sports and entertainment they hold so dear. 

But the presence of such concerns, in conjunction with the court’s unanimous decision, offers a helpful insight into how the Supreme Court is supposed to work that could prove important as we look to issues of religious liberty in the years ahead. 

How much does the culture influence the Supreme Court?

When it does its job well, the Supreme Court is supposed to decide cases on the basis of law rather than public opinion. And while religious liberty is clearly a more nebulous concept to many on the court than blatant violations of antitrust laws, it is still encouraging to be reminded that cultural whims do not have the final word on these issues.

At the same time, it’s worth noting that these shifts in NCAA rulings did not occur until they gained momentum with the populace at large. While the law of the land is meant to be above public opinion, the justices are still human. Moreover, because the cases they see have to work their way up through the less-insulated lower courts first, which cases arrive before the Supreme Court is often dictated to some degree by which issues are most important to the masses. 

Twenty years ago, it’s unlikely that challenges to the NCAA’s compensation of student athletes could have gotten the necessary momentum to make it all the way before the country’s most powerful court. But here we stand. 

Recent challenges to religious liberty have often followed a similar course. 

How will the Supreme Court decide religious liberty cases?

Many of the recent cases pertaining to LGBTQ rights, for example, are based on new interpretations of laws that date back much farther than the current outrage. It was only when they began to generate greater public support that they worked their way up through the legal system.

As such, while there is some room for encouragement in remembering that the justices who will ultimately pass judgment on these issues can, and should, be willing to do so in the face of powerful opposition, we should not take for granted that they always will. Moreover, they can only pass judgment on the laws brought before them, meaning what happens further upstream will always dictate, to some extent, the areas of the culture over which they will yield the most influence. 

That’s why the primary lesson we should take from this story is that it is, and always will be, foolish to place our hopes in the hands of other fallen people or the institutions they create. 

And that’s fine. 

In the roughly two thousand years since the time of Christ, God’s people have worked with varying degrees of help or opposition from their government. And while help is usually preferable, it’s not necessary. 

The advancement of his kingdom is not dependent upon friendly courts or laws that align with Scripture. It’s dependent on the faithfulness and obedience of his people. 

That should be good news. 

Is it for you? 

Denison Forum

Joe Duncan came home from working a twelve-hour shift as a cement technician to learn that his daughter was having difficulty breathing. His wife, Sara, wanted to take her to the hospital, but Joe had to return to a morning shift a few hours later. She encouraged him to stay home and rest, but he insisted on making the one-hour drive with his family to the hospital.

Their daughter received treatment and was cleared to go home after two hours. Sara found Joe napping on the hospital floor using the car seat as a pillow. She took his picture and wrote, “I was looking at him thinking how thankful I am for him and how I wouldn’t want to do this life without him.” Her post went viral.

Father’s Day gave us all an opportunity to thank our fathers and to thank our Father for our fathers. Being there, showing up, and doing life with our families is the foundation of fatherhood.

Sincerity is not enough

Here’s the problem with this wonderful story, however: being there is essential, but it’s not enough. Sincerity is not enough.

The Bible tells us that parents are to teach God’s word “diligently to your children . . . when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7; cf. Ephesians 6:4; Proverbs 22:6).

God’s word also tells men how to be good husbands: “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them” (Colossians 3:19; cf. Ephesians 5:25); “Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies” (Ephesians 5:28).

Sincerity is essential, but it is not enough. However, our secular culture disagrees.

Boris Johnson says he is a “very, very bad Christian”

US Catholic bishops announced on Friday that they had voted to prepare a document laying out conditions under which Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, including President Biden, may be denied Communion. Watching the media’s largely negative response, it is clear that many consider Mr. Biden’s apparent religious sincerity to be sufficient, regardless of his positions on official Catholic doctrine.

In other political news, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently married fiancée Carrie Symonds at Westminster Cathedral in London. The fact that they were married in a religious rather than secular ceremony interested the media, since the prime minister has been less than forthcoming about his personal religious views. He did, however, tell an interviewer for The Atlantic, “Christianity is a superb ethical system and I would count myself as a kind of very, very bad Christian. No disrespect to any other religions, but Christianity makes a lot of sense to me.”

In our culture, sincerity is enough. If the prime minister sincerely believes he is a Christian (albeit a “very, very bad” one), he must be a Christian. Just as I can be a fan of the Texas Rangers or Dallas Cowboys by declaring myself one, I can be a Christian by declaring myself one. Sincerity has replaced truth in our culture.

Why won’t this work?

The death of the president’s dog

One answer is logical: Our postmodern, relativistic culture rejects the existence of absolute truth, which is an absolute truth claim. In a brilliant new article I hope you’ll read, philosopher R. J. Snell observes, “One cannot deny our ability to know the truth without making truth claims and by that very act affirming the possibility and necessity of truth.”

Another is practical: I can sincerely deny that Boris Johnson exists, but my sincere opinion doesn’t change his reality. I can ignore the fact of death, but death won’t ignore me. Even the president of the United States is just as mortal as his beloved dog Champ, whose passing was marked with grief by the Biden family Saturday.

Iran’s new president is obviously sincere about his commitment to Shiite Islam. However, he has been accused of systematically sending as many as three thousand people to slaughter on orders of his religious leader, the former Ayatollah Khomeini. We can be sincere but sincerely and tragically wrong.

“Go back to your beginnings with God”

However, if our sincere faith is faith in the one true God, everything changes. Consider three biblical facts.

One: It’s not too late to come to Jesus.

The New England Aquarium honored a woman’s thirty-eight-year-old ticket that had been in her great-aunt’s wallet. Jesus is even more gracious: he will welcome your faith whether you are young (Matthew 19:14), old (Luke 2:25–38), or even at the end of your life (Luke 23:42–43).

Two: It’s not too soon to come to Jesus.

A new medical device is giving surgeons “x-ray vision” by fusing digitally enhanced images into the microscope of a surgical device. Jesus is even more omniscient (Luke 6:8) and will lead all who will follow into his providential and perfect will (Matthew 11:28–30).

Three: The best way to serve others is to help them follow Jesus.

A father’s best gift to his children is leading them to their Father. If we sincerely love others, we will want them to love our Lord. However, we cannot give what we do not have or lead others where we will not go.

To this end, let’s close by focusing our grateful sincerity on our loving Savior.

Billy Graham’s personal pastor, Don Wilton, told of a time he asked the famed evangelist, “Please tell me what I need to know as I try to serve the Lord.” He writes that Dr. Graham “looked at me for the longest time, and then he began to talk.” Dr. Graham advised him, “Go back to your beginnings with God. God will never be able to use you unless you are totally surrendered to him. A surrendered man never forgets where he came from as a sinner separated from Christ.

“From a heart of gratitude will flow loving the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind. From the act of surrender will come the love you have for your wife and children. From that same heart will flow the love with which you love your people and preach the Word.”

Would Jesus say you are surrendered to him today?

Denison Forum

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could undermine Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion across America. The Wall Street Journal explains that the case in question is “a Mississippi abortion law that seeks to ban the procedure after fifteen weeks of pregnancy, a case that gives the justices an opportunity to revisit the court’s precedents protecting abortion rights.”

According to the New York Times, pro-life supporters are “expressing excitement at the court’s decision to consider the case, saying they hoped the justices would overturn Roe and allow states to restrict abortion at any stage of pregnancy.”

John F. Kennedy famously noted, “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” If anyone doubts the wisdom of his statement, they need look no further than the idea that led to legalized abortion in this country.

More than sixty-two million abortions have occurred since Roe v. Wade; 93 percent of abortions in the US are elective. This means that 57 million lives have been ended through abortion for reasons that have nothing to do with rape, fetal health, or the mother’s health.

Why you should “watch your thoughts”

Abortion is just one example of the power of ideas. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas is another: the latter was created in 1987 “for the purpose of liberating Palestine” from the former.

Article Thirteen of Hamas’ charter rejects all “so-called peaceful solutions” to its conflict with Israel and states, “There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad” (holy war). Article Thirty-Three calls on all Muslims to continue this war “until liberation is completed, the invaders are vanquished, and Allah’s victory sets in.” Accordingly, its history is one of aggression and violence toward Israel and the Jewish people.

Another example is the idea that biological males who identify as females should be able to compete against females in sports. Female athletes who have lost to such competitors are now speaking out against regulations they consider unfair. The NCAA claims that strength and endurance advantages of transgender women “dissipate after about one year of estrogen or testosterone-suppression therapy,” but a study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine reports that such individuals continue to have a competitive advantage over female athletes.

The philosopher Lao Tzu warned us: “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”

Three steps to biblical thinking

In Monday’s Daily Article, I stated the importance of investigating truth claims before accepting them. We are to worship God “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24) as we “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge” (2 Peter 1:5). “Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7), but “the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6).

In other words, to think effectively, we need to think biblically.

I recently studied a prayer in Psalm 119 that offers practical help in this regard. Here we find three steps to biblical thinking and living.

One: Choose to immerse ourselves in God’s word and worship.

The psalmist testified: “With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord! I will keep your statutes” (v. 145). Obedience is the natural and joyful response of a person who worships God with passion. When last did you pray to God and obey his word with your “whole heart”?

Two: Meet God early and late.

The psalmist continued: “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words” (v. 147). The best way to walk with God is to begin walking with God. The sooner we connect with the Spirit of God and the word of God, the sooner they can empower and guide us.

The psalmist then added: “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise” (v. 148). The best way to end the day is by meditating on God’s promises and presence.

Three: Seek God’s word for the challenges we face.

Being immersed in God’s word through the day does not prevent obstacles and challenges. Rather, it empowers us to face the temptations and opposition of a fallen world. For example, after the psalmist noted, “They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose” (v. 150), he claimed the biblical truth, “But you are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true” (v. 151).

Like Jesus, who confronted the wilderness temptations of Satan by reciting biblical truth (Matthew 4:1–11), we should know God’s word and use its wisdom to defeat our enemy and glorify our Father.

Billy Graham’s pastor

Thinking and living biblically is the path to God’s best for our lives and for our culture. The less popular God’s word becomes, the more God’s word is needed. And the more we need to think and live biblically to glorify the One who has given us his word and his Son.

Don Wilton has served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina, since 1993. He was also Billy Graham’s personal pastor. I am reading his new book, Saturdays with Billy, in which he describes his weekly visits with Dr. Graham.

As Dr. Wilton told the Christian Post, humility was a constant theme of his encounters with Dr. Graham. The world-famous evangelist’s life reflected Galatians 6:14, a verse that was posted in a number of places around his home. It reads: “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

If we take time to immerse our minds in this biblical truth, it will become true in our lives and our legacy.

Why not today?

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A pet tiger that had been wandering around a Houston neighborhood for several days has been found safe. It was taken to an animal sanctuary yesterday morning, and for good reason: there really is no such thing as a “pet” tiger. As the Humane Society notes, attacks by captive tigers have killed children and adults.

What is true physically is even more true spiritually: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He has clearly been roaring lately, as a scan of the headlines shows:

• A four-year-old boy was found dead Saturday morning on a street in Dallas. Police said he died in a violent manner and have arrested a suspect in connection with his death.
• The Biden administration is seeking ways to prevent cyber threats such as the ransomware attack that caused havoc for Americans on the East Coast.
• Economists are concerned about rising inflation and disappointing jobs reports.
• As the conflict in Israel continues, observers report that Hamas is winning the battle for leadership of the Palestinian national movement, with significant consequences for the future of peace in Israel.

If you and I were all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful, we would not allow tigers to attack humans or humans to mistreat tigers. We would not allow children to be harmed, much less murdered. We would not allow attacks of any kind on innocent people, or inflation to threaten our financial wellbeing, or military conflicts and their inevitable destruction.

And yet, our all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God does. Obeying God’s word when we don’t understand his ways is one of the great challenges of the Christian life and a significant obstacle to faith for many skeptics. In a culture with greater scientific progress and technological sophistication than ever before in human history, it is easy to deceive ourselves into believing that we should not believe what we cannot understand.

However, with God the opposite is actually true. To paraphrase the classic song, the less we understand his hand, the more we need to trust his heart.

The miracle of medicinal mud

John 9 finds Jesus in the Temple precincts, where he had been debating with the religious authorities. As he left, he and his disciples “saw a man blind from birth” (v. 1). The Great Physician responded to the man’s plight in a strange way: “He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’” (vv. 6–7a).

If I were the man born blind, I would question both what Jesus did and what he asked me to do.

Using mud for medicinal purposes was common in the ancient world. So-called “medicinal clay” is described on Mesopotamian tablets around 2500 BC and by ancient Egyptians as well. It can draw toxic substances from the body, protect against bacterial infections, and help with skin diseases. But none of this would be true for a person born blind.

Nor does Jesus’ command to the man make sense in human terms. The pool of Bethesda was adjacent to the temple area; we visit it whenever I lead groups to Israel. The pool of Siloam, by contrast, was at the opposite end of the city. Formed by Hezekiah’s tunnel in 701 BC, it has been partially excavated and is a remarkable site. I have taught John 9 many times when visiting it.

But we make our way there on buses as sighted people. Imagine being blind, your face caked with mud, making your way through the city streets. None of this would make sense to you. But the man obeyed what he did not understand, with this result: “He went and washed and came back seeing” (v. 7b).

Obeying God’s will when we don’t understand his word is a common theme of Scripture. Noah built an ark to protect from a flood such as the world had never seen; Moses stood before a Red Sea that only God could part; Joshua and the people stepped into a flooded Jordan river that the Lord then stopped; the disciples who left their nets to follow Jesus had no idea they would become the spiritual forebears of billions of saved souls.

Each testifies today: when we do not see God’s hand, we can trust his heart.

Teaching calculus to a three-year-old

Where are you being asked to trust what you do not understand? What does God want you to do or stop doing in order to be more like Jesus? Who is he asking you to forgive? From whom is he calling you to seek forgiveness? Where is he calling you to use your influence and witness even more passionately and courageously for your Lord?

When it’s hard to trust God, remember this fact: human minds cannot understand divine sovereignty (Isaiah 55:8–9).

This should come as no surprise. If God is omniscient and our minds are finite and fallen, how should we understand his thoughts? He is not withholding explanations he could give if he wished—there are times when we simply are unable to understand his purposes and ways.

If we cannot explain calculus to a three-year-old, how much less can the King of the universe explain his thoughts to fallen humans?

Far from a problem for skeptics, this proposition should encourage faith in God. If our minds could fully understand God, either he would not be God or we would be. If we could understand every word of the Bible, we would have good reason not to believe that God inspired it.

I traveled in Turkey many years ago doing research for a book on the seven churches of Revelation. My driver and guide was a committed Muslim. During our conversations, he explained that he could not become a Christian because he could not understand the doctrine of the Trinity. I asked him: If there were no mystery to the nature of God, would he truly be God?

When you cannot see his hand

As we’ll see tomorrow, I am not asking you to suspend your intellect or to accept truth claims without investigation. Rather, I am encouraging us to believe that a Father who sent his Son to die on a cross so we could live eternally is a God who always wants our best.

I can testify both rationally and personally that it really is true: when we cannot see his hand, we can trust his heart.

Would you trust your greatest challenge to your Father’s heart today?

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