“A group of congressional representatives this week urged the Biden Department of Justice to refrain from deporting a German family who emigrated to the U.S. more than a decade ago seeking asylum in order to home-school their children.” - Catholic Telegraph

“The 2023 issue of the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal has just been posted online. This new issue contains six articles and dozens of book reviews.” - DBTS

“Israel vowed to lay total siege to the Gaza Strip on Monday, as its military searched for militants, guarded breaches in its border fence and pounded the Hamas-ruled territory” - BPNews

More:

“One reason God has given His people prophetic promises is that their dependence on God’s faithfulness in keeping His Word takes away their fear of the future so they will experience spiritual comfort and peace in present difficulties (Isa. 26:3–4).” - P&D

Read the series.

Many people believe that it is okay for Christians to drink intoxicating beverages if they are careful to keep sober. What are their arguments?

No Christian should defend drunkenness. Drunkenness is sin, an evil to be repented of, something that cannot be defended or excused by anyone. This was the subject of our first article in this series about social drinking (Part 1).

Read Part 1.

Did you know that there will certainly be a future end-time spiritual revival upon this Earth? Jesus prophesied in Matt. 24:14, stating:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

What will that look like during the days of the tribulation? Who will be the personalities that will be involved?

“1. Bad philosophy must be answered…. 2. Life itself must be answered…. 3. Philosophy is for theology…. 4. Christianity is the true philosophy.” - TGC

“there are two kinds of Bible poverty in the world: first, the poverty of those who don’t have God’s Word in their own language; and second, the poverty of being surrounded by Bibles, but not reading them.” - Randy Alcorn

“Less than half of U.S. adults (41%) believe businesses should take a public stance on current events, down from 48% in 2022” - Gallup

“It’s common for Bible teachers to say that ‘fearing the Lord’ and ‘being afraid of the Lord’ are two very different things. But this overstates the case.” The fear of the Lord in Proverbs and beyond. - Word by Word

“Measuring attendance, giving, staff levels, and several other metrics in 2022, he found that after all the regulations had been lifted …there was little to no discernible difference between churches where there had been lots of restrictions and those where there had been almost none.” - CToday

“Beliefs on the severity of climate change have not shifted much among religious traditions over the past decade and few religious Americans view climate change as a crisis, according to the PRRI study” - CLeaders

Related: Pope takes on climate change deniers in ‘Laudate Deum,’ a new document on global warming - RNS

“Moments like these require discernment, a biblical posture and convictions, and an intentional discipleship plan. What does this look like practically?” - TGC

“Very often, as dad goes, so goes the culture…Tim Witmer’s book is timely; but it’s not social critique or theological treatise. It’s simple, practical, Christian wisdom, rooted in biblical truth and love.” - 9 Marks

“Natural theology is the term that is used to define the things about God which can be known through reason. This includes empirical observations about the world, as well as logical inquiries from philosophy surrounding the nature of existence and the need for a first cause.” - Credo

“The Vatican on Monday published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on July 11…. In it, Francis suggests that such blessings could be studied if they didn’t confuse the blessing with sacramental marriage.” - RNS

“At least a million students are on track nationally to take their Bibles to school on the 10th annual Bring Your Bible to School Day Oct. 5, event sponsor Focus on the Family (FOTF) told Baptist Press.” - BPNews

“Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults currently agree with the statement that the Republican and Democratic parties do ‘such a poor job’ of representing the American people that ‘a third major party is needed.’” - Gallup

“Church should be the place we sprint to when things are at their worst, not the place we avoid until we’ve got our Instagram-worthy Christianity back in place.” - TGC

“When asked if Trump… was a person of faith, 53% of Republicans answered in the affirmative.” Pence 52%, DeSantis 47%, Scott and Haley 31%. - CPost

“The creation of synthetic embryos—whether animal or human—raises all sorts of ethical questions about the moral status of these cell cultures….The answers aren’t obvious—regardless of worldview considerations.” - Reasons

“We interrupt our normal release schedule to get you a video responding to a talk that was given just a few days ago by Lloyd Read at the Spiritual Leadership Conference, held at Lancaster Baptist Church, home of West Coast Baptist College.” - Mark Ward

“The state of South Carolina can partner with or fund foster care agencies that refuse to hire individuals who do not share their religious beliefs” - CPost

Read the series.

The Olive Tree Metaphor in Romans 11

Some passages of Scripture have suffered under the myosis of its interpreters more than most. At the forefront of these abused passages is surely Romans 11:16-29. For sure, there is a bit of deciphering of Paul’s language to do, but all in all I think the apostle’s thrust is easy to grasp. The problem with so many interpretations of the verses, especially by those who like to employ the NT to interpret the OT, is that they tend to read their theology into the passage while ignoring the details. Here is one example:

Inscription: “Jesus Christ, guard me, for I am poor and needy” Psalm 86 (NIV) “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you” - CPost

“Sides are intellectually easy and emotionally satisfying. Positions are intellectually challenging and emotionally complex. Once you know which side you’re on—in the culture war, or the political war—you can let your friends, or your podcasts, do your thinking for you.” - Persuasion

“The change was approved by a majority of delegates at the Alliance’s general council in June, after several years of discussion.” - CToday

“The real threat of AI isn’t what you think. AI has the capacity to undermine our understanding of the human person.” - RNS

Pastors experience discouragement. It goes with the territory. Paul wrote his protégé, Timothy, to encourage him at a time when he was down. Paul’s letter is what we call 2 Timothy.

“Iowa parents have temporarily blocked a public school policy requiring their children to use the preferred pronouns of their transgender classmates and share bathrooms with them or face expulsion.” - BPNews

Victory in another case: Kentucky, Tennessee can ban sex-change surgeries, puberty blockers for minors: appeals court - CPost