The Book of Revelation begins with an angel telling John: “Do not be afraid.” But then the angel goes on to pummel John with one terrifying vision after another. How do you explain this? Is John a fraud? He says not to be afraid, but then he paints, in great detail, many scary threats. That’s…

In 1957, as a college freshman, R.C. Sproul heard the captain of his football team quote a verse from Ecclesiastes, and Sproul’s life changed forever. The verse was Ecclesiastes 11:3: “If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where…

All writing disseminates information—even bad writing. Good writing does something more. Good writing teleports a person. The reader, yes, but also the writer. What do I mean? When you read good writing, you sense the writer’s presence. You may be reading words written ten decades ago, by someone writing in Sleepy Eye Minnesota or Butternuts…

David Ray Griffin casts a prophetic vision for process theism. In the clearing fog of the future, he sees it ascending the throne of contemporary theology—anointed by theologians, robed by scientists, and crowned by the zeitgeist. For process theism to ascend to such heights, Griffin admits, it must first usurp older theological paradigms. He maintains…

Lenin kicked off his revolution with the “Decree on the Separation of Church from State and School from Church” (1918). He ended state support of churches, stripped them of their land, and revoked the civil rights of priests. Stalin intensified this persecution, banning all religious publications and missionary activity, harassing and arresting clergy, and even…

Writing is seduction. Stephen King said that.* I like this metaphor because, whoa, have I beheld terrible attempts at seduction! I’ve worked at night clubs and fancy restaurants. I’ve heard pickup lines bad enough to flatten your beer. I’ve smelled colognes and perfumes so thick the fire alarms went off. The gimmicks people use to…

5 out of 5 stars. In John Piper’s “Five Points: Towards a Deeper Experience of God’s Grace,” Piper lays down a clear case for this crazy crazy crazy theology, complete with Piper’s self-assured tone and total blindness to his own domineering presuppositions. In typical John Piper fashion, which I’ve come to simply consider part of…

I worked at this fun, though admittedly garish, restaurant called Planet Hollywood while in college. After a particularly grueling week of classes, pummeled by tests and papers, I dragged my weary body into work. One of our bartenders, Gretchen, sat at the break-room table playing with a freshly lit cigarette. “You look like shit,” she…

LESSER DRUGS uncle Casey made me laugh so hard, when I was a kid, I’d cry. one time we were laughing I couldn’t even breathe. another time, in the truck, we made Grandpa mad: “Dammit, I’m tryna’ drive” (but pretty soon he was laughing too) Casey. he showed me treasures of humor and joys hidden…

I really really wanted to like the movie 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. But WOW was it bad. Shallow and simplistic characters, plastic dialogue, and, sheesh, Dixon… this guy transforms from a racist Gomer Pile into Mahatma Gandhi all because his boss wrote him a letter saying “you’re a good guy” and “you should love…