The Talking Heads’ song “Once in a Lifetime” is punctuated by a series of questions that all begin with, “You may ask yourself . . . ” As Western culture continues its dangerous decline, many pundits find themselves repeating those lyrics and asking themselves, “How did we get here?” Over the next two issues of […]
There are three letters by John in the New Testament. Their titles, which indicate common authorship and order of composition, are only traceable to early church tradition and are not part of the sacred text. Even so, a strong argument has been mounted for their apostolic authorship because of their similar words and truths.1 So […]
Life is complex. In our fast-moving world, we gravitate toward simple answers, clear definitions, and well-defined categories. At first glance, sin seems to fall into this classification. It’s an offense against God, and through Christ it is confessed and forgiven. But when it comes to mental illness, we lose many of our bearings, whether we […]
Marco Polo describes a hidden city, Berenice, to his host and captor Kublai Khan.1 It is really two cities, one above and another hidden from view, “behind the shops and under the stairs.” Evangelical Protestant missions is like that. There is a world you can easily see of structures, conferences, how-to manuals, and endless debates. […]
White Horse Inn radio cohost Michael Horton interviewed Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto, former religion editor of United Press International, international columnist, and Lutheran lay theologian. He is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow of 1517 The Legacy Project. WHI: Please tell us the story about how you came back to your Lutheran upbringing. US-N: This was in […]
A friend recently shared an image on social media showing the Disney cartoon villain Cruella de Vil, bloodshot eyes staring straight ahead, hands clutching the wheel of her infamous coupe, black-and-white hair waving wildly in the wind, oversized fur coat flapping behind—in a word, crazed. Over the image someone had typed: “Me trying to excel […]
In 2015, a Pew survey on religion was released that confirmed the greatest hopes of some and the greatest fears of others—Christianity is in decline in America.1 Or is it? After digging through the data, Ed Stetzer pointed out that “convictional Christianity” is actually holding steady but “nominal Christianity” is hemorrhaging. The real story, Stetzer […]
The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart by Harold L. Senkbeil Lexham Press, 2019 290 pages (hardback), $21.99 After nearly three and a half decades of parish ministry and two dozen more teaching and as the executive director for spiritual care for DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel, Harold Senkbeil, trusted […]
Flourish: How the Love of Christ Frees Us from Self-Focus by Lydia Brownback Crossway, 2019 139 pages (paperback), $12.99 In her latest book, Flourish, Lydia Brownback challenges readers to think carefully about their lives and to begin Christ-centered living rather than self-focused living. She begins by pointing out what types of things can cause us […]
Humble Calvinism By J. A. Medders The Good Book Company, 2019 128 pages (paperback), $12.99 If you’ve been part of Western Christianity for the past fifteen or twenty years, you’ve probably run into a brand of Calvinism—or I should say Calvin-ist—that can’t easily be described as “humble.” It’s this issue that Jeff Medders confronts in […]
One of the sad realities of our day is that Christian marriages have as much difficulty and nearly the same rate of divorce as non-Christian marriages. The rate of Christian teen sexual activity is nearly identical to the surrounding culture, with the best estimates saying that they postpone intercourse for one to two years later […]
