“After the Prop 8 fiasco, church leaders converted to a strategy of compromise on LGBTQ rights, at least in the public square” - RNS

“’I just remember being so excited about this gift because that was the first gift that I had ever received in my life,’ she said.” - CToday

“USRC said the SBC registered 17,649,040 adherents and had the largest number of congregations among all denominations…. with nearly 5,000 more congregations identifying as nondenominational, Christian adherents in the group swelled to 21,095,641.” - CPost

Also: Nondenominational’ Is Now the Largest Segment of American Protestants - CToday

“Solid research has shown that sexual activity among teens has been declining since 1988…. none of these studies have focused on specific religious groups. This important gap …led me to research this issue on my own.” - IFS

“Christmas season is the season of joy, but it is also a time when the cumulative weight of all that has happened in the course of the year catches up with you. Moving into the last month of the year often causes a sense of being worn out, discouraged, or stretched thin.” - Colin Smith

“While Metaxas often acknowledges the influence of the ‘great Charles Colson’ (6, 43), he seems to reject the counsel of Colson, who wrote, ‘If we have learned anything in recent decades, it is that we should not roll out heavy-handed political movements that recklessly toss around God-and-country clichés and scare off our secular neighbors.’” - TGC

“Just as Baptists disagreed on seemingly everything else, they did not view slavery in precisely the same way — even in South Carolina.” - London Lyceum

“Views of the impact of same-sex marriage on society are largely unchanged since 2019. However, there has been a dramatic increase in public support for same-sex marriage over the past two decades.” - Pew

“The Reformers believed in burning heretics. Making sense of that grave mistake means looking first at ourselves.” - N.T. Wright at CToday

“A lot of people are bewildered, scared, frustrated about all this change… The Scripture doesn’t ignore this problem, and it doesn’t try to ‘pep talk’ us out of our distress with platitudes. But it does offer two truths that can stabilize us despite the instability of our world.” - Olinger

“The CCCU does not allow member schools that hire married gay faculty members and requires policies upholding traditional Christian marriage between a man and a woman.” - RNS

The project is “a Gospel-centered, ethnically diverse racial reconciliation ministry designed to mobilize Southern Baptist pastors and leaders in unifying their communities” expected to launch today. - BPNews

“Franklin was part of the estimated 27 percent of Gen Z that voted in the midterm election—a notably higher turnout rate than millennials and Gen Xers when they were between the ages of 18 and 29.” - CToday

Read Part 1.

A quick survey reveals four basic approaches to the topic, most of which affirm the general teaching of the New Testament. The Generic Approach…The Business Approach…The Psychological Approach…The Pragmatic Approach” - 9 Marks

“November 14, marks the 306th anniversary of the death of Gottfried von Leibniz, a German polymath, committed Lutheran, and one of the most wide-ranging intellects in all of history.” - Breakpoint

“Bitcoin has no underlying value in itself. People talk about “investing in Bitcoin” as though it is a company with a profitable business to support its value or a commodity such as oil which is supported by demand for energy. Bitcoin has neither of those features. Its scarcity is purely contrived.” - World

“Despite a long-standing biased assumption among many that the uneducated cling to religion, studies show people with higher degrees are most likely to be religious.” - RNS

In Zechariah 1:7-17, we are introduced to four horsemen, and we see something very similar in Revelation 6:1-8 (aka, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”). How do you think they are related? Your BRIEF comments are welcome.

Poll Results

Are the horsemen of Zechariah related to the horsemen of Revelation?

“One of the books I require the seminary men to read … is More Than a Battle: How to Experience Victory, Freedom, and Healing from Lust by our school’s president, Dr. Joe Rigney. The wise advice in that book is a gift for … those who are struggling with pornography and those who want to help.” - Andy Naselli

Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? For example, what do we say when a Christian mother backs the car over the top of her little toddler crushing him to death? When a Christian man discovers he has brain cancer and must soon leave his three young children without a father? When a hurricane destroys the homes and disrupts the lives not only of unbelievers but also of believers? Perhaps you’ve asked that question while undergoing personal trial or tragedy. You’ve lost a loved one or gone through a heart-rending divorce or contracted a chronic illness or been betrayed by a Christian friend. The Lord has dealt bitterly with you, as He did with Naomi, and you desperately want to know “Why?”

“It’s never felt more plausible that the age of social media might end—and soon. Now that we’ve washed up on this unexpected shore, we can look back at the shipwreck that left us here with fresh eyes. Perhaps we can find some relief” - The Atlantic

“We always obey that which we desire the most. When we desire something more than we desire God, we will obey that something if ever and whenever we are faced with a choice to obey God or to obey it.” - Scott Sauls

“Like Leeman, I’m not beholden to the ‘Christian nationalism’ label….I more frequently talk in the language of historic Protestant political thought. And it’s on that basis that I’d like to offer a few critiques of Leeman’s position.” - 9 Marks

(Filing on Leeman’s article here)

“Dr. Anne Bradley recently presented the first of two webinar sessions in a series called ‘The Christian Economic Model,’ … Her talk kicked off a two-part series exploring what scripture says about economics.” - IFWE

“The fight over ‘book banning’ and who has the final word in a child’s education has taken some nasty turns of late. Everyone needs to take a step back and put the debate into some commonsense context.” - Acton

“It’s easy to see how complementarian churches could be accused of mansplaining. Generally speaking, complementarians seek to obey the plain meaning of 1 Timothy 2:12, which forbids a woman from teaching a man in the context of congregational worship.” - TGC

“Veterans Day honors all of those who have served the country in war or peace – dead or alive – though it’s mostly intended to thank living veterans for their service.” - C&C

“I asked Dr. Murphy to explain some basic arguments for anarcho-capitalism, the extent of American distrust in the current two-party system, and the current state and strategy of the libertarian movement.” - Acton