Last spring I had the privilege of speaking at a conference for NFL players put on by Pro Athletes Outreach (PAO), a group which exists to unite a community of pro athletes and couples to grow as disciples of Jesus and positively impact their spheres of influence. They have a fantastic outreach to professional football and baseball athletes and their wives. I’ve seen firsthand the amazing difference they’re making. In the off-season I exchanged emails and texts with dozens of NFL players and cha..Continue reading→
Home
Thoughts
Motherhood Is a Marathon
I wanted to do great things for God. In the spring of my senior year of college, on the brink of embarking upon my own journey into adulthood, my future was undecided and that was simultaneously terrifying and thrilling. As a philosophy major, my path was narrower than I had realized, but I was sure it would take me on some grand and glorious adventure. I knew the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. “Glorify” sounds like such a grand term. It evokes images of battlefie..Continue reading→
1 Peter 5:7–8: How Not to Battle Anxiety
Anxieties attack our faith and torment our peace. The question with anxiety is not whether it will come, but rather, how can I fight it when it does? Watch NowContinue reading→
Is Love of Money Really the Root of All Evils?
Is the love of money the “root of all evils” or only the “root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10)? “All evils” is the formal English equivalent of the original Greek (pantōn tōn kakōn). It is remarkable that all older versions of the Bible translate 1 Timothy 6:10 in the more literal way: “The love of money is the root of all evils” (or all evil). This includes the Wycliffe Bible, Luther Bibel, Geneva Bible, King James Version, Douay-Rheims, Darby Bible, and Revised Standard Version. Bu..Continue reading→
Hot Topics
God and Country: Americans’ Views of God’s ‘Relationship’ with the U.S
What do Americans think about the United States and God? Fascinating new data. Two hundred thirty-nine years ago tomorrow, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, nearly a month before it would eventually be signed. I hope you're having a fun weekend, getting to enjoy some time with family and friends. As I explained in a post last year: Christians are, in a sense, dual citizens-- of the Kingdom and of the nation wh..Continue reading→
Why Growing Closer To God Is Such a Slow Process
My last post addressed the question whether free will could truly be said to exist if one believes, as Christianity teaches, that man is born with original sin. I argued that man remains free, despite this fallen nature, because he acts in accordance with his desires. Unlike a robot or lower animal, operating on programming or instinct, man has the capacity to weigh and balance, to imagine, and to foresee, at least in part, the consequences of his choices. Man therefore has the capacity to trans..Continue reading→
Why We Remain Free Despite Our Fallen Nature
Evil is not a created thing, but is instead the measure of the extent to which a particular thought or act deviates from “the good.” That was the point of a recent. Drawing on the work of Augustine and other early Christian thinkers, I concluded that God allows for evil – for human beings to think and act in a way that is contrary to his perfect will – because that is the only way “free will” could exist. He could make us robots or mere things, but he could not make us “free” without the capacit..Continue reading→
Solving the Problem of Evil
One of the most common challenges to the Christian worldview is the problem of evil. In its common syllogistic form, the challenge can be reduced to this: God created all things Evil is a thing Therefore God created evil. This challenge is not new. In the 4th century, St. Augustine tackled it, as did St. Thomas Aquinas centuries later. What we call evil, they explained, is in fact a deprivation of the good and is therefore not really a “thing” at all. Like the hole in a donut, it describes what..Continue reading→
Music
Children of God Acoustic Sessions by Phil Wickham
Track Listing 01. Better Than Life (Acoustic) 02. The Secret Place (Acoustic) 03. Divine / Sailing / Time / Hymn (Acoustic) 04. Your Love Awakens Me (Acoustic) Purchase 05. My All In All (Acoustic) 06. Starmaker (High Above the Earth) [Acoustic] 07. At the Foot of the Cross (Acoustic) Purchase 08. Spirit of God (Acoustic) 09. As It Is in Heaven (Acoustic) 10. Here With Me (Acoustic) Purchase 11. Children of God (Acoustic) Purchase 12. Doxology / Amen (Acoustic) 13. Wide Awake (Acoustic) 14. Body Mind & Soul (Acoustic) 15. Stand in Awe (Acoustic) Continue reading→
L’s by Puntin
New single by Puntin. Anthem type song for athletes, dream chasers, and whoever needs a little hype music to get pumped! This one is sure to be the soundtrack to a lot of highlight videos, and dance videos! Dab, whip, and jig away! Written Produced by Puntin of Puntanious Ent. Engineered by Dennis Thomas of TrynaTellEm. Follow Puntin: www.instagram.com/puntanious www.facebook.com/puntanious www.twitter.com/puntanious Buy this track here www.yaboypuntin.com[...]Continue reading→
Getting Stronger by Philip Hamrick
Track Listing 01. Bigger 02. Born Again 03. Getting Stronger 04. Will Not Let Me Go 05. The War 06. Calling Us By Name 07. Fire 08. Love Is On the Line 09. Rivers 10. By Your Love Continue reading→
Loss by Seeker
Track Listing 01. Without 02. Throat 03. Void 04. Rot 05. Swallowed 06. Welcome Death 07. Empty Vessel 08. Submit 09. Self Harm 10. Loss Continue reading→
Heart On My Sleeve by B.Reith
Track Listing 01. Winning Feeling (f/ Christon Gray) 02. Start Over 03. Can't Stop Lovin' You 04. Roll With the Punches 05. On My Own 06. Deep End Continue reading→
Beauty For Ashes by Heesun Lee
HeeSun Lee's 3rd full length album, "Beauty for Ashes," which is set to drop on October 14th, 2016 on all digital outlets, is further enhancing her credibility as an emcee. She named this album "Beauty for Ashes," quoting the Bible verse Isaiah 61:3, where it talks about how we were made out of ashes until God transformed us into beautiful. "A garment of praise instead of despair," which she mentions in one of her songs, in hopes to let the listener know how much they are worth. The album discusses topics on motherhood, the lack of "humble" artists, anxiety, being[...]Continue reading→
Essential Music Publishing Celebrates Four GMA Dove Award Wins
It was announced during Tuesday's 47th Annual GMA Dove Awards that Essential Music Publishing received a total of four Dove Award wins, thanks to two of their most well-known producer/writers, Jason Ingram and Paul Mabury. Ingram was awarded as Songwriter of the Year (non-artist), while Paul Mabury won for "Trust In You" as Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year. Together, Mabury and Ingram received Dove wins as producers for both the Inspirational Album of the Year (Brave New World by Amanda Co..Continue reading→
Compassion International Announces 2017 Rock & Worship Roadshow Lineup
The 9th annual Rock & Worship Roadshow, presented by Compassion International, has announced its official 2017 tour lineup. Award-winning and chart-topping artists Steven Curtis Chapman, Francesca Battistelli, Rend Collective, Passion, Family Force 5, Jordan Feliz, along with Derek Minor and Urban Rescue, will join together for Christian music's most uplifting and entertaining concert experience for the whole family. Author and comedian, Tony Wolf, will be the guest speaker and Carlos Whitt..Continue reading→
Followers by Tenth Avenue North
"This album is about following Jesus wherever He calls us," explains frontman Mike Donehey. "Everyone says let's follow Jesus let's do all these extravagant things but what we're saying is not to follow Jesus in what we do but to follow Jesus in the WHY we do it." With numerous No. 1 radio singles, multiple Dove Awards including New Artist of the Year and touring accolades that include Casting Crowns, MercyMe and Chris Tomlin, it would be easy for Tenth Avenue North to get caught up in the success of being an artist. However, since their last album Cathedrals (2014),[...]Continue reading→
American
Abortionist Says He Does Abortions Because of a “Life-Altering Conversion” to Christianity
One abortionist is revealing his abortion religion – and one New York Times writer couldn’t get enough of it. In a piece published Wednesday, New York Times Magazine columnist Ana Marie Cox interviewed Willie J. Parker, a Mississippi abortionist and former Planned Parenthood medical director, on his upcoming Life’s Work memoir. During the interview, Parker pointed to his faith as the reason he performs abortions. And while abortion is “life-ending,” he added, it isn’t “killing a person” – just ..
Utah House Passes Bill Banning Dangerous Webcam Abortions
On Tuesday the Utah House of Representatives voted to approve HB 154, a bill which (as the Associated Press explained) “mainly promotes the use of telemedicine, a growing practice in which doctors use images and webcams to consult with patients, typically far away or in rural areas, and treat them.” So why would pro-abortion Democrats howl? Because the measure also explicitly forbids abortionists from using telemedicine–meaning the abortionist is not in the presence of the pregnant woman–to pre..
Will Canada Force Doctors to Participate in Assisted Suicides?
Just a quick post to show you how the slippery slope slip slides away. Canada’s Supreme Court imposed a nationwide regime on the entire country. An obedient Parliament passed enabling legislation, including “safeguards” to protect against abuse. Now, these supposedly vital protections — in actuality, they are loosey-goosey — are increasingly seen instead as “hurdles” that interfere with the right to be made dead. Here’s an example from a journalist’s opinion column out of London, Ontario: Ca..
Dear Mr. Franklin Graham
By Northern Seminary student, Nate Ray, a Minnesota, a sensitive and solid pastor, and also a splendid student in our classes. I like the tone of Nate Ray in this letter. Dear Mr. Graham, I’ve recently read some of your comments on the role of government with admitting refugees, and I think you’ve oversimplified a complex issue. You were quoted as saying “it’s not a Bible issue.”[1] That is: “It’s not a biblical command for the country to let everyone in who wants to come, that’s not a Bible iss..
Australia
‘Need prayers to get through this’
“Need prayers to get through this,” is the message from Rick Zamarripa, father of a police officer killed in Dallas, sent from the hospital where his son Patrick was taken. Father, we bring this father’s request to you. Whether Dallas, Baghdad, Istanbul or many other places, our world seems to be an unsafe world. Most of us know people who have passed through these cities. Australia does not seem so far away after all. We know, that it is you, not..
Why read the Old Testament?
At the theological college where I grew up (my father was the principal) the students would have an annual revue. You know the sort of thing: sketches gently ribbing their teachers, a couple of guys with guitars strumming through a tuneless ditty, even an attempt at stand-up comedy here or there. One of the sketches has stayed with me since I saw it when I was about 14 years old. It was a pretend preaching class. The trainee preacher was given..
Seven things I wish Christians knew about the Bible
1. The Bible did not fall out of the sky, bound in leather, written in English. The Bible is not a single book, but more of a complex library, written over some 1500 years, in the languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. There were real human processes behind its composition and canonisation which God used to give the Bible to us. First, the composition of many of these texts was a process rather than a single event. For instance, while Moses..
Fresh clashes in South Sudan cancel Independence celebrations, but Bible work continues
July 9 marks five years of South Sudan’s independence, when it broke away from Sudan after decades of conflict. But this year, the world’s youngest country has cancelled celebrations as it struggles to contain the civil war that has beleaguered the new state since 2013. A tentative peace was established in April, when rebel leader Vice President Machar returned to the capital, Juba, after being in exile. He was sworn in as the first vice pre..
Entertainment
‘Gleason’ and two other summer movies about fathers: Hunt for the Wilderpeople & Captain Fantastic
Fathers are a theme that keeps emerging in this summer’s movies. We always complain about how women are portrayed in films but how often do we consider the role of fathers? Here are three worthy films that probably deserve more analysis on how fatherhood is presented that I provide here, but if you like meaningful movies, these might be a good choice for you. ‘Gleason’ Steve Gleason played defense for the New Orleans Saints for seven seasons and is famously remembered for a punt he made that blo..
Studio Asked Him to Direct the New BEN-HUR Film and He Said ‘No Way’ Unless He Could Change The Story in This Way
Jack Huston plays Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur from Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. Director Timur Bekmambetov says he was honored to be asked by MGM to direct the studio’s reinterpretation of the classic novel BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST, filmed for the big screen twice before. But Bekmambetov only took the job after he was certain he could implement his vision for spotlighting a different theme from the 1880 novel than the famous Charlton Heston version of the film did. “The..
A Brave New “Ben-Hur” Charges Into Theaters August 19th
I hate to admit it, but I never saw the epic 1959 movie Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, until just last month. I had been invited to see an advance screening of the new Ben-Hur coming out this summer — starring Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Morgan Freeman, and Rodrigo Santoro as Jesus — so I figured I’d better do my homework. I downloaded the huge movie file (the original is nearly 4 hours long) and settled in to see what all the fuss was about. (It won a record 11 Academy awards, an accomplishm..
Sneak Peek for ‘Born This Way,’ A&E’s Inspirational Show on Down Syndrome
God doesn’t make mistakes. It’s one of Christianity’s favorite clichés. We go to it when we’re struggling with our own self-esteem, when we’re discouraged because we don’t seem as smart or as attractive or as self-possessed as we’d like to be. We tell our kids that when they’re discouraged at work or home, when their friends turn their backs on them or they don’t make the soccer team. We may not be like everyone else, we’re saying. We may even fall short of the person that we’d like..
US
Anniversaries in 2017
The new year will mark some important anniversaries. The biggest will be the 500th anniversary of Luther’s posting of the 95 theses and thus the beginning of the Reformation. The significance of that event–not just for theology but for culture, education, socio-economic change, and the overall history of Western civilization–will be intensely debated, especially as October 31 approaches. Was the Reformation a good thing or a bad thing? A high point of Christianity or the beginning of its decline..
Make your predictions for 2017
Now it is time to look forward, to speculate about what this new year will bring. Lots of question marks hover over 2017. Will Donald Trump make America great again, or will his presidency prove to be a major fiasco? Will the economy boom or will it collapse? Will Christianity thrive or be declared a hate crime? Will the pendulum start swinging back, or will the sexual revolution keep going further? But these are big issues. When we check the predictions at the end of 2017 in our annual contest,..
Top 10 discoveries in Biblical archaeology for 2016
2016 was a good year for Biblical archaeology, with numerous excavations and artifacts confirming Biblical history. Christianity Today announced its “Top 10 Discoveries of 2016.” I give the list after the jump, but you’ll want to go to the link for descriptions of each of the finds. The linked article itself has links that will take you to details and photographs. From Biblical Archaeology’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2016 | Christianity Today: 1. Unsealing the tomb of Christ 2. Lachish gate shrine i..
Debbie Reynolds dies, one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, died last week. One day later, her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, also died. Her father, singer Eddie Fisher, abandoned his family to marry Elizabeth Taylor (who would later abandon him to marry Richard Burton). He died in 2010. Reynolds was known for playing the wholesome ingenue in scores of classic movies. She also sang and danced on stage and in musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain. Carrie lived a life plagued with mental ill..
Church & Theology
7 Ways to Find More Time to Read
Over the years, I’ve made it a practice to read regularly and on a variety of subjects. Reading not only gives information, but it gives inspiration too. A well-written book can challenge you to think, inspire you to use your life for God, and (particularly with books on history or biographies) give you gratitude for how God has used others. Sometimes people ask how I am able to find time to read. It’s not that some people have more time than others, but that some people put a higher priority o..
How to Align Your External World with Your Internal Commitments
At the start of a new year, we make goals, resolutions, or commitments. And we sincerely want to transform them into reality over the coming months. Very often, however, there is a disconnect between the internal commitments we’ve made and our everyday living. This can be the case for every kind of goal—from spiritual goals to physical goals. We may have positive thoughts, but we keep ending up with negative results. Why? Reaching a goal requires more than good intentions. We have to make chan..
3 Life Stewardship Principles for the New Year
I love the New Year for the fresh start it gives us on setting goals and making life adjustments. But in all our preparing and planning, it’s good to remember that our lives belong to God, and we are simply stewards—managers—of what He has entrusted to us. How do New Year’s goals look different when you remember this? This past Sunday morning at Lancaster Baptist Church, we looked at James 4:13–17 and learned from this passage about Successfully Stewarding the New Year. I’d like to share the ..
5 Free Resources for Your New Year
If you’re looking for encouraging, yet intensely-practical and thoroughly-biblical, resources to help you move forward for God in this New Year, here are five completely free resources that I believe could be a help to you: Daily in the Word devotions—Every day, receive a short devotion delivered directly to your inbox. Each day’s email includes a Scripture verse, devotional thought, and a solid takeaway you can immediately apply. (They also include an Old Testament and New Testament reading in..