President Trump wrote yesterday evening on Truth Social:

I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan. This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed-upon line as the first step toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would meet today to approve the agreement and “bring all our dear hostages home.” Hamas similarly announced that it had reached “an agreement that ends the war in Gaza, provides for the withdrawal of the occupation, allows the entry of aid, and implements a prisoner exchange.”

If Israel’s ministers approve the deal, the IDF must withdraw from Gaza to the agreed line, which would likely happen within twenty-four hours. The seventy-two-hour clock would then begin where Hamas must release the living hostages, which would likely occur on Monday, though the return of the bodies of deceased hostages will take longer. Once the hostages are returned, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinians in Israeli prisons and 1,700 Palestinians who have been detained in Gaza during the conflict.

The hostages’ families released a statement: “Their return is a condition for the rehabilitation and revival of Israeli society as a whole. We will not rest or be quiet until the return of the last hostage. We will bring them back. We will rise.”

The memoir of a Hamas hostage

If you are wondering what life has been like for Israelis held captive by Hamas for two years, I strongly urge you to read Eli Sharabi’s new book, Hostage. He was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and spent 491 days in captivity. His memoir is deeply painful to read as he describes the brutal torture, horrifically inhumane conditions, and near starvation he and his fellow captives endured.

But through it all, Eli chose to be a survivor. He did not know if his wife and children were alive, so he determined to live for them. He chose not to let the terrorists take his will to live.

He writes that he and the hostages imprisoned in his tunnel with him were encouraged by a sentence one of them shared with the others: “He who has a why can bear any how” (his italics). Even when Eli was finally freed and learned that his brother, his wife, and his two daughters had been murdered by the terrorists, he chose to write his book to encourage support for the remaining hostages. His story became the fastest-selling book in Israeli history.

Eli’s courage is made all the more remarkable by the fact that it is unremarkable in his nation.

Last Tuesday, I wrote to my friends in Israel to express my sorrow and solidarity with them on the second anniversary of Hamas’s horrific terror attack against their people. One of them wrote back with this story:

An eighteen-year-old girl wanted to join the Israeli army, but her weight was too low. She failed. She tried again, this time by putting stones in her pocket. She made it. Unfortunately, she died on the 7^th of October.

“When one has one’s wherefore of life”

Friedrich Nietzsche is sometimes called the “father of postmodernism,” a movement that has led to the denial of absolute truth, which has come to dominate our culture. In Twilight of the Idols, the atheistic philosopher asked, “Is man only a mistake of God? Or God only a mistake of man?” Because he was convinced that “God is dead,” he was equally convinced that he had to find his own meaning and purpose in life.

Nietzsche therefore famously asserted, “What does not kill me, strengthens me.” And he made the statement Eli Sharabi’s fellow captives paraphrastically embraced: “When one has one’s wherefore of life, one gets along with almost every how” (Nietzsche’s italics).

Eli’s resolve to survive his horrific captivity illustrates this maxim, as does the eighteen-year-old Israeli soldier who died serving her country. Our confused and chaotic “post-truth” culture can learn much from their examples of purpose-driven courage.

As can all of us who call Jesus our Lord.

For Christians, our “wherefore of life” has been chosen for us. Jesus’ call was consistent across the Gospels: “Follow me” (cf. Matthew 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; 10:38; 16:24; Mark 10:21; John 1:43; 10:27; 12:26). Not “follow my teachings” or “follow my church,” but “follow me.” The word translated follow means to “live alongside and obey unconditionally.”

Jesus’ call is to live with him and for him, to know him intimately and then to make him known publicly. The more emphatically our post-Christian culture rejects this call, the more courageously you and I must embrace it.

Marking the birthday of Jim Elliot

Let’s close with an example.

Yesterday was the birthday of the famed missionary Jim Elliot. He and his wife Elisabeth followed God’s call to the Ecuadorian jungle, where he and four other missionaries were speared to death. After his martyrdom, his wife and their young daughter moved into the Auca/Waodani village to live among those who killed him and share the gospel with them.

This remarkable story was shared around the world, inspiring millions to serve God through missions.

Jim’s most famous words were written in his journal on October 28, 1949: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” He understood the essence of the gospel: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). He therefore embraced the same “wherefore of life” as the Apostle Paul: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me” (v. 29).

His wife agreed. According to Elisabeth Elliot,

“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”

How courageously will you embrace and share this “secret” today?

Quote for the day:

“It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.” —A. A. Hodge

Our latest website resources:

• Worship, anxiety, and identity with Landon Wolfe of Passion City Church and the voice behind “The Lord Will Provide”
• Faith, science, and the call to hospitality with Dr. James Tour
• Who is Sean Feucht? Why the worship leader and conservative activist is facing financial misuse allegations
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results

Denison Forum

Following yesterday’s tragic October 7 anniversary, let’s focus today on something more uplifting. Or at least very different.

I typically try to write on subjects about which I have at least some personal knowledge or expertise. Today, I’ll not do that—at least to begin. Instead, I want to reflect with you on the prolific output of Taylor Swift, who released her twelfth original studio album last week.

I am apparently unlike most of humanity in that I have heard only one of her songs one time (at my granddaughter’s urging), have never been to one of her concerts, and have never heard a podcast or seen a movie featuring her. The closest I have come to observing her in popular media has been those times when the TV cameras panned to her in the stands watching her now-fiancée Travis Kelce play tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

So, I’ll turn to an expert on the subject. Ari Perez is an associate professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, where she teaches a class called “Taylor Swift: Cultural Mirrorball.” She explains that Swift is so prolific because she genuinely likes what she does: “I think she enjoys keeping a strong, productive output so that putting music out on a continuous basis makes her happy and fulfilled.”

That was simple, wasn’t it? But there’s more to the story.

“Let them + let me”

Next, we’ll turn to another very popular media figure: Mel Robbins, the bestselling author and podcaster. Her latest book, The Let Them Theory, was the #1 selling book of 2025 and is on pace to have the best non-fiction book launch of all time. In reading it, I was impressed with the simplicity of its central formula:

Let them + let me.

“Let them” applies to people whose behavior bothers you. These two words are a way of admitting that we cannot control them and that they are going to do what they choose to do. “Let me” applies to us as we decide how we will respond proactively to what life brings us.

According to Robbins, allowing people to live their lives while taking control of our own is the key to flourishing. She complimented Taylor Swift for modeling this philosophy: “Let Them be wrong about you. Let Me get back to doing what I was put on this earth to do.”

So, how do we know what we were “put on this earth to do”? Ray Bradbury famously offered advice that aligns with the philosophies of Swift and Robbins: “Love what you do and do what you love.”

Here’s the catch: Doing what you love only leads to flourishing if what you love is worth doing.

When the police went on strike

In The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations, Nicholas Wade reports:

On the morning of October 7, 1969, the entire police force of Montreal went on strike. Within a few hours, gathering crowds started to loot stores. Gangs of masked men arrived to rob banks. Citizens huddled indoors as looters swept through downtown Montreal, smashing the windows of restaurants, stores, and hotels. By the end of the day some $500,000 worth of merchandise had been looted. Not until the arrival of army troops shortly after midnight were the violence and disorder brought to an end.

Paul would not have been surprised. He listed the “works of the flesh,” the things fallen humans naturally do: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19–21). We can love doing them, but we see the brokenness they produce every day in the news.

Conversely, the apostle listed the “fruit of the Spirit,” the things Spirit-led humans naturally do: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22–23). When we love doing them, our changed lives change the world.

The highest purpose in life

Yesterday morning, I spent time on my favorite bench beside my favorite lake just before the sun came up. The “Harvest Supermoon” was still iridescent in the predawn sky, though I could only see it in fragments through the trees that canopied overhead. However, its reflection on the lake before me was so clear as to mirror the moon itself.

This thought occurred: the source of the light (the sun) is most visible to me in the reflection of the reflection of the moon.

Jesus said of himself, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Now that he is in heaven, you and I are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13), called to reflect his light in our darkened culture. Others cannot see his light in our hearts, however, but in the character we manifest through the circumstances of our lives. Our acts are a reflection of the reflection of our Source.

How does this work in practical terms? Jesus tells his followers, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). When we know Jesus personally and intimately, we will make him known publicly and powerfully.

Here’s why this matters: People need to know God more than they need anything else. They are made in his image and likeness, and their hearts are “restless until they rest in him” (St. Augustine). As a result, knowing the God of the universe and making him known is the highest purpose, privilege, and passion in life.

“We may never meet after today”

This purpose is urgent beyond any other in our fallen world.

On this day in 1871, the great evangelist Dwight Moody preached in Chicago to the largest congregation he had ever addressed in that city. In The Life of Dwight L. Moody, written by his son William R. Moody, we read that Moody paraphrased that evening the question of Pontius Pilate: “What shall you do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22). He challenged the congregation to think about this question during the week and return to church the following Sunday, when “we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.”

But as he said later, “I have never seen that congregation since.”

The Great Chicago Fire began that night, killing hundreds of people, destroying thousands of buildings, and causing more than $4 billion in damages (in today’s dollars). Moody reflected later on the tragedy:

I want to tell you about one lesson I learned that night, which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to urge Christ upon the people then and there, and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. . . .

I have asked God many times to forgive me for telling people that night to take a week to think it over, and if he spares my life, I will never do it again. This audience will break up in a few moments.

We may never meet after today.

Is the same not true for everyone you meet this day?

Quote for the day:

“No one can sum up all God is able to accomplish through one solitary life, wholly yielded, adjusted, and obedient to him.” —Dwight L. Moody

Our latest website resources:

• Faith, science, and the call to hospitality with Dr. James Tour
• Who is Sean Feucht? Why the worship leader and conservative activist is facing financial misuse allegations
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results
• Defeating temptation before it becomes sin

Denison Forum

Negotiations began in Egypt yesterday to finalize a deal based on President Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. The talks are expected to last “a few days,” with a focus on a proposed hostages-for-prisoners swap.

The negotiations began on the eve of one of the most tragic anniversaries in Jewish history. Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7, 2023, is considered the deadliest and most brutal terrorist assault in Israel’s history.

Hamas is celebrating today’s anniversary as a “glorious day” in a message calling the invading terrorists “heroes.” Lest we forget: these “heroes” killed 1,195 people, including 815 civilians. Evidence and autopsies later revealed widespread sexual violence, with dozens of Israeli women raped, sexually abused, or mutilated.

In addition, the terrorists took 251 hostages. Here’s what we know about them:

• 146 have been freed or rescued, while eighty-three have been confirmed killed.
• Thirty-seven were under the age of eighteen; eight were eighty-one years of age or older.
• Fifty-one were women, some of whom were starved, intimidated, and threatened by armed men.
• Thirteen women and two men who survived captivity said they experienced or witnessed sexual violence while held hostage in Gaza.
• About twenty living hostages remain captive in desperate conditions, according to Israeli officials, and about twenty-five more are believed to have died, but their bodies have not been returned.

Why did Hamas take them two years ago?

The answers are not only relevant to peace in the Middle East but a window into human nature.

Taking Israelis hostage is nothing new

According to the British policy institute Chatham House, Hamas took hostages on October 7 for five reasons:

1. To be used as human shields in the face of Israel’s counter-attack.
2. As an insurance policy and bargaining chips as the conflict evolved.
3. To create media opportunities for Hamas and an ability to control the narrative.
4. To draw other countries into the conflict (given the multinational nature of the hostage group), inflicting harm not just on Israel but on some of its closest allies.
5. To generate terror, shaking the foundation of life for many Israelis.

Hostage-taking by Israel’s enemies is nothing new. Palestinian terrorists have taken Israeli hostages numerous times; in some cases, a few Israelis were then swapped for thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

The calculus behind the taking of Jewish hostages is worth contemplating on this tragic anniversary.

The Qur’an describes the Jews as “apes and swine” (5:60; 2:65; 7:166). Hamas further claims that the Jewish people were behind World War I and World War II, among other global conflicts and revolutions. The terrorists are in fact convinced that the Jewish people are hostis humani generis, the enemies of humankind itself.

Such dehumanization of others is always the first step to their mistreatment:

• The ancient Romans saw themselves as a superior civilization and believed that conquering and assimilating other people into their empire was best for those they subjugated.
• Many European explorers characterized the indigenous peoples they encountered in the New World as an inferior race and culture, paving the way for the theft of their tribal lands.
• Many who supported the enslavement of Africans similarly considered them intellectually and morally inferior to whites, convincing themselves that Africans were better off as their slaves.

What pastors said about their members

In On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin famously observed that in nature, there are typically more offspring produced than can survive, creating a competition for limited resources in which the “fittest” tend to prevail. We don’t need to adopt his bias against religion or larger biological theory to recognize this principle as a basic fact of human psychology and culture.

Our “will to power,” the fallen drive to be our own god (Genesis 3:5), operates as a zero-sum equation: for me to win, you must lose. If Hamas can blame Israelis for all the Palestinians’ problems, they can justify unleashing their basest sinful instincts to oppress their “oppressors” and “advance” their people and cause.

This calculus is by no means limited to terrorists in the Middle East. In fact, every crime against another person is a version of such denigration and commodification.

We see this across the biological spectrum, from aborting unwanted babies to euthanizing the infirm and elderly. At the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994, Mother Teresa warned: “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another, but to use any violence to get what they want.”

If I see you as my equal, created in God’s image as I am and equally loved by our Father, it will be difficult for me to lie to you, steal from you, or otherwise harm you. But my fallen nature wants to denigrate and commodify you so I can use you as a means to my ends.

I have known ministers who said (only half in jest) that they loved pastoring churches—it was dealing with church members that was the problem. Even now, I am tempted to write this article to impress you rather than to serve you.

If you were put on trial

As I noted yesterday, you and I are typically persuaded by ideas that appeal to our self-interest. So, let’s close with a biblical argument for sacrificial service that does just that:

• Our all-knowing, all-loving Father has a plan for our lives that is better than ours (Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 12:2).
• When we submit to his Spirit each day, he will lead us onto this path and empower us to walk it faithfully (Ephesians 5:18; Proverbs 3:5–6).
• One consequence or “fruit” of the Spirit’s operation in our lives is “love,” the selfless desire to serve others at our personal expense (Galatians 5:22; John 13:34–35).
• When we serve those who cannot serve us, we serve Jesus himself (Matthew 25:40).
• Serving Jesus is the key to significance in this life (Colossians 3:23–24) and “the joy of your master” in eternity (Matthew 25:21, 23).

To paraphrase my youth minister’s question: If you were put on trial for being submitted to the Holy Spirit, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Quote for the day:

“A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.” —Jackie Robinson

Our latest website resources:

• Who is Sean Feucht? Why the worship leader and conservative activist is facing financial misuse allegations
• Embracing the wonder after Forrest Frank’s miraculous healing
• Government shutdown, peace in Gaza, UFO video, Tim Allen, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny & Ryder Cup Results
• What is the Trinity?
• Defeating temptation before it becomes sin

Denison Forum