We can shout to the heavens how excellent and wonderful it is for women to be women! And by women, we are talking about Biblically defined womanhood! We are not celebrating the perverted, diminished, and hollowed-out femininity the world has championed. We are celebrating the God-ordained, glorious femininity that is beautiful and wholly pleasing to God.

You Can’t Talk about That…Watch Me
In clown world, you cannot speak to me unless you agree with me. And you certainly can not speak intelligently on a topic unless it comports with your personal experience. For instance, a white person could not and should not opine about a topic like racism these days because they obviously have no experience with being oppressed (as assumptions go). At best, she is a closet white supremacist, and he is clearly sitting advantageously atop the oppressor mountain (as assumptions continue). According to our new class of social and moral philosophers, the melanin-challenged among us could not possibly have anything to add on such a subject because they have been blinded by decades and centuries of toxic advantage and privilege. If you disagree with such pitiful logic, it is just your white fragility barking.
The same is true when a man opens his Bible and studies a topic like womanhood. He may be learning the truth from the very designer of women, but his opinions are somehow invalid because he has no experience of being a woman. This kind of abysmal logic comes from a feministic culture that no longer knows what it means to be a woman. Now, women can have penises, men can have babies, and groomers who wear dresses can disrobe and flash their genitals in front of little girls, all in the name of womanhood. Perhaps, even a white male pastor, looking at what the author and perfecter of femininity has to say about it, could offer a clearer picture of a woman than the so-called experts. Just maybe.
Putting Forward the Question
The question “What Is a Woman” has more recently become a viral topic on social media since the Daily Wire decided to make their signature documentary “What Is a Woman” by Matt Walsh free on Twitter. The documentary explores that very question, “What is a woman” and allows various representatives from clown world to hang themselves with utterly ridiculous propositions. For that reason, it is a must-see.
Yet, other than a last-second quip by Matt’s wife that a woman is a “Human biological female,” the documentary utterly fails to answer its own question with any sufficient treatment. Therefore, I would like to offer a Biblical case for what a woman is and why womanhood is a very good thing.
What Is a Woman?
From the moment we open the Bible, we are bombarded by what a woman is. According to Scripture, a woman is a special creation (Genesis 1:26) endowed with blessing, significance, and value by the creator who sculpted her in His image (Genesis 1:27-28). In that image, she has been made equal in personhood to the male God called her to correspond with, yet she is made distinct from him in her body, role, and rank.
The Woman’s Body
Regarding her body, she was made to be visually stimulating to her husband. The Bible does not present an androgynous woman who binds her breasts and wears men’s clothing; in fact, it forbids such a thing ( Deuteronomy 22:5). This is because feminine sexual beauty, when rightly expressed in the confines of covenant marriage (1 Timothy 2:9-10), is a beautiful and glorious thing. Take, for example, Adam. When he stirs from a deep siesta the Lord God put him into, He awakens with blissful delight to behold a woman’s naked body (Genesis 2:23). She was made lovely, with softened curves and rounded thighs (Song of Solomon 7:1) that will intoxicate her man, and leave him ever satisfied with her breasts all his days (Proverbs 5:19). Far from being a repulsive aspect of masculinity, male sexual attraction for his wife is part of a woman’s glory. The man is not deviant for desiring his wife, and she is not sensate when flaunting her naked body in front of him to cultivate his desire. She receives affection and attraction from her husband in a way no one else can, and he covenants to cling to her, protect her, provide for her, and love her all His days (Genesis 2:24).
This is why the Bible says it is not good for the man to be alone, because when the man is alone, the woman is left unprotected, unloved, and unprovided for. Instead, her radiating beauty is meant to allure him and then tame him to become more than a man. In her love, he becomes a gentleman, a provider, a father, and a companion. Through her womb, she will bring forth legacies of people who will subdue the earth per God’s perfect vision (Genesis 1:28) and bring manifold blessings to her husband (Psalm 127:5).
Neither the man nor the woman could accomplish God’s plan independently. But through distinct yet equal giftings, they cling to one another in blessings; she becomes the man’s helper (Genesis 2:18), and together they become fruitful, multiplying, ruling, and subduing to the glory of God. In this sense, she was made for man, to help execute the vision he will be held accountable to the Lord for, not vice versa (1 Corinthians 11:9).
Women are also made with a body that can produce children. She has a monthly menstruation that men cannot have, signifying her ability to bring life, even from the throes of death (Leviticus 15). During ovulation, a woman’s sexual drive increases as a way of helping her become pregnant. During conception, she will take a single sperm cell and transform it into an eternal living being (Psalm 139:13), which demonstrates part of the miracle of what it is to be a woman. She takes the small blessings a man gives her, and she multiplies them across the whole of her life. And while the delivery of those children has become arduous and painful because of sin (Genesis 3:16), the woman has a unique and hormonal ability to forget her pain the moment the child is born (John 16:21). After the delivery, the breasts that were used to satisfy her husband, now nourish her infant babes physically from the milk God has made for her to produce (1 Thessalonians 2:7). And, in her mothering, she develops an extraordinary love for her children, that even their father cannot fully comprehend (Isaiah 49:15) that will cause her to give up everything for the blessing of her children. Her body was made for her husband and her children, and from her body, a multitude of blessings flow out to everyone around her.
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Our nation may be under attack right now. The pride flag may be flying. And, the American people, once known for valor, may now be impotent. But the Church of Jesus Christ shall surely stand, and she shall reign until all His enemies have become a footstool for His feet. The only question is will you be the one who fights and builds His Kingdom? Or will you be one who compromises, cowers, and capitulates?

Star-Spangled Patriotism
In the heart of the night, as the cannons boomed and the air crackled with tension, Fort McHenry stood resolute against an onslaught that threatened to engulf the fort. The Battle of Baltimore, an inferno of chaos and valor, surged through the darkness during the War of 1812. In this epic clash, the fate of a young nation hung precariously in the balance, with the stars and stripes of the American flag, flying rebelliously overhead, serving as a beacon of hope amidst the tempest of war.
As the British fleet arrived and unleashed its fury upon the fort, the relentless bombardment shattered the tranquility of the Baltimore sky. Thundering cannonballs screamed through the air, painting the horizon with fiery trails of destruction. Yet, as the explosions rent the air and as buildings crumbled, the defenders clung to their resolve, their spirits unwavering.
Amidst the pandemonium, a colossal American flag billowing defiantly in the face of peril soared high above Fort McHenry. Each gust of wind unfurled its stars and stripes, a sight that ignited the hearts of the defenders at every fateful flash of light. It symbolized their unyielding determination and an emblem of their unwavering love for country and land.
As the British bombardment intensified, fury was unleashed upon McHenry’s walls. Explosions jolted like volcanic eruptions, devouring the night with smoke and flame. The defenders, though few, not only held their ground but held up that flag defiantly through every blast keeping it from falling, keeping it upright, and ensuring it remained intact. Hour after hour, the shells fell on the heads of those poor souls, killing American patriots left and right, painting the dampened soil like rubies from their sacrificial blood. The earth shook beneath their feet all night, and the deafening roar of cannons reverberated through their bones.
But yet, by dawn’s early light and by twilight’s last gleaming, what the men of Fort McHenry beheld as the smoke and ash began to clear, was far brighter than the rocket’s red glares and much more deafening than the British bombs that were bursting in air. What they beheld was proof that our flag had withstood the night and that it was still there. Still there through the bitter onslaught. Still waving, though, hell had been unleashed upon it. Yet, though tattered and torn, it stood proudly, defiantly streaming and screaming at the English Navy that America was still here.
The sight of the American flag still waving triumphantly above became a powerful symbol of American resolve and inspired a deep sense of national pride in the men standing beneath it. And as their hearts swelled with pride and their bodies fueled by an instant bath of adrenaline, those heroic American soldiers valiantly defended the fort, won that battle, and eventually the entire war.
Flags and Declarations of War
To comprehend the profound willingness of these valiant men to sacrifice their lives in defense of a mere piece of colored fabric, it is imperative to delve into the intrinsic essence of what a flag is. These emblems were not intricately woven to serve as mere decorations or museum relics. Instead, flags embody the very heart of national sovereignty.
When the British beheld that resolute flag fluttering defiantly in the morning harbor breeze, it was not the robust fabric that rendered them immobile but rather the damning symbolism it represented. As the flag soared proudly overhead, the British came to a realization: America was the embodiment of resilience, refusing to fade silently into oblivion like the flag they proudly held aloft. That banner symbolized her undying spirit and unyielding dominion that they could not overcome.
This is precisely why every invading army endeavors to establish its own flag upon conquered territories. Why? Because planting the flag signifies a shift in power dynamics, the rise of a new ruling nation, and the ultimate demise of the former regime. The iconic sight of Marines hoisting the Old Glory amidst the battle-scarred landscape of Iwo Jima epitomized the irrevocable defeat of Japanese imperialism. Likewise, the Soviets triumphantly displaying the hammer and sickle above Berlin’s Reichstag symbolized the dethronement of Nazism and the definitive end of Hitler’s tyrannical reign.
When a nation plants its flag firmly into the ground, it openly and audaciously proclaims its dominion over that soil. It screams, “We are the ones in charge!”
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Men, masculinity is defined by God in Scripture. When that is the kind of man you are learning to become, or striving to become, then you have aligned yourself with God’s “very good” vision. Care nothing for what the haters and critics say. Do not apologize for your masculinity, do not be ashamed of it, and do not run from it. Instead, embrace your manly call in Christ and live it out with strength and conviction to the glory of God.

Men, This is Why They Hate You
As society stumbles ever closer toward the cliffs of insanity, speaking the truth has become all the more offensive. But, on the other hand, if you suppress common sense and genetics, dutifully bow the knee like a good boy, and virtue signals the rankest perversions, then you will be perceived as a reasonable man. All you have to do is toe the party line, walk in lockstep with the kind of people who think twelve-year-old boys should be chemically castrated and that men can expose themselves to young girls in lockerrooms, embracing the queerification of America, and then maybe you will go places.
But, if you think Dylan Mulvaney is a groomer, homosexuality and transgenderism are abominations (Biblically defined), that Bud Light wasn’t a real beer in the first place, and that Target should stop selling girls bathing suits with penis pockets, well, then you are a bigot of the highest order. Similarly, if you think education should not be secular indoctrination, that children’s programming should not have lesbian kisses included within it, that pronouns are based upon God’s design of biological sex, and that it should be illegal for drag queens to twerk in front of children in libraries, then you are precisely the kind of rational man, steeped in objective reality, that the rainbow railroad is reeling to run over. They hate you because you love truth and reason, plain and simple.
If that is you, then I want to encourage you with this blog. And I want to equip you for the battle of our lifetimes. Men were made to fight. Not with activism or finger-pointing vitriol that combats hatred with more hatred. No. But also not with a spineless winsomeness popular in the evangelical world that pretends to care about everything but takes a stand for nothing. No, no, no. I want to equip you to fight. Not by wasting your time calling out all of the lies, which at this point are legion. Not in getting angry and going to war with every ideology we, as Christian men, are rightly opposed to.
Today, however, I want to equip you to begin fighting for what you are FOR instead of fighting what you are AGAINST. We should remember that the only way to spot the counterfeit is by knowing exactly what the authentic actually is. With that in mind, I want us to understand Biblical manhood and unapologetically celebrate it. I want us to hold our heads high that God made us men and that being a man is very good!
In the weeks ahead, we will look at how Biblical womanhood is “very good,” how Biblical sexuality alone is “very good,” and how covenant marriage brings all of these “very goods” together into one home. But today, we will be focused on the men. And to do that, we will go back into the pages of Genesis, where we left off last week, speaking about God’s good design of masculinity.
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God made marriage to reflect the holy, eternal, loving, intimate, joyful, and sacrificial love He has always cherished among the members of the Godhead. In that sense, marriage is not about you but is certainly for you. God has invited you to participate in and imitate His triune love. Perhaps this is why Scripture calls marriage the “mystery of the Gospel” because, unlike any other human relationship or institution, it most clearly and most beautifully pictures the divine. 

Recently I remembered why I had stopped noticing the sounds of war during my deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom. When we first entered the country, every cell in my body was on heightened alert. My adrenaline was constantly pumping. Every staccatoed rat-tat-tat from a distant AK-47 was enough to make my hair stand on end. Every civilian standing in the crowd could be a suicide bomber. Every vehicle could deliver the IED that would send me home looking forever like Lieutenant Dan. And with every mortar round fired, the reality of going home in a box and my mother receiving a triangle-folded American flag pressed upon my mind. Yet, as the deployment wore on, these sounds melded into a strange kind of normalcy for me.
For instance, every morning around 3 AM, the reverberating rumbles of incoming mortar rounds would agitate the little mud brick house we lived in. Those first nights in theater, I awoke in a great alarm from every blast, alert and ready for combat, frantically putting on my equipment for readiness and protection. But, once I realized that Iraqis with Mortar rounds could not hit the proverbial sand when falling off the fictional camel, I eventually learned to sleep right through the explosions as if nothing strange was happening around me.
The thunderous eruptions, once jarring to me, became the ethereal drum tap in the desert’s lullaby. Time, like an ancient spell, wove its enchantment upon my senses, leaving me unconscious of my surroundings, which is what I believe has happened to the modern church.
In his timeless malice, Satan has assailed the sacred bond of marriage for so long that the sounds and signs of warfare upon her have faded into the cacophony of noises we have become accustomed to. While we have grown numb to the relentless onslaught at the devil’s hand, divorce, infidelity, and broken homes have become the tapestry woven into the threads of our society.
For this reason, it is incumbent upon us to wake from our slumber, recognize the war, and cling to the weapons of warfare our compassionate General has assigned us. For all who call themselves Christians, it is time to rekindle our love for the hallowed Word. As followers of Christ, we must valiantly thwart the adversary’s advances on marriage in general, and our marriages in particular, by embracing God’s designs for us, our marriages, our children, and our homes that are revealed in Holy Scripture.
Today, we begin our series on marriage by traveling back to the genesis of it, seeking solace in the profound wisdom spoken by our God in His Word. In this collection of essays on the topic of marriage, we will lean into what Scripture teaches and glean from our Maker’s timeless intention for marriage that will ever illuminate our path. Today, we begin by speaking about the design of marriage from the first Biblical text on marriage found in Genesis 1:26-28.
The Text

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – Genesis 1:26-28

The Trinitarian Design of Marriage
The Bible describes the creation of man in marital language. For instance, God did not merely create two distinctly gendered individuals, calling them “very good” in their disconnectedness, but a pair of people who would become one flesh together. In the same way that shoes come in twos and socks come in pairs, God made man as a male and female unit that would join together to become one very glorious thing, which of course, was the “very good” part.
In this, we must also notice that the creation of man was a trinitarian event. God does not create the first domestic community without blueprints. Instead, he patterns it off the divine community that has existed forever. At the height of the creation enterprise, God speaks, saying, “Let Us make mankind in Our image” When God does this, it not only serves as proof for the triunity within the Godhead but the kind of intimacy God intends to be present in the marriage.
The Trinitarian Community
For all eternity, members of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in perfect harmony and self-giving love, an exquisite dance of divine affection. This celestial community lives in exquisite blissful intimacy, lavishly pouring out fragrant love upon one another, heralding each other’s praises in melodious harmonies that echoed across the unformed realms, holding nothing back from one another across eons of affectionate fellowship.
In the embrace of the Father, love emanates as an eternal wellspring, an outpouring of perfect affection towards the Son and the Spirit. The Father’s love, boundless and unchanging, encapsulates the essence of nurturing care and tender compassion. It is a love that delights in the Son’s obedience and wholeheartedly affirms His eternal Sonship, a love that seeks to glorify and honor the Son above all.
The Son, in response, reciprocates this love with perfect devotion and filial obedience. His passion for the Father is marked by complete surrender and an unwavering desire to fulfill the Father’s will. It is a love that willingly steps into the realm of humanity, taking upon Himself the weight of the world’s sin, offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice—a demonstration of love that knows no bounds.
The Holy Spirit, the breath and life within the Trinity, embodies the love that flows between the Father and the Son. It is a love that unites, empowers, and guides. The Spirit’s love is like a gentle wind, constantly moving and animating the divine dance. It is a love that testifies to the unity and oneness of the Godhead, bringing forth the fruit of love in the hearts of believers.
Together, the love within the Trinity is a symphony of self-giving, perfect love. It is a love that transcends time and space, existing in timeless eternity. It is a love that invites us to behold the divine dance and participate in its harmonious rhythms. Through the love of the Trinity, we catch a glimpse of the infinite depth of love and are invited to enter into a transformative relationship with the Triune God, where we, too, can experience the boundless love that unites Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This, of course, is best pictured in human marriage.
As many scholars and authors attest, when our triune God patterned man according to His image, He was undoubtedly creating individuals with a rational and creative capacity to think, feel, love, and do.
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This series will not add to the growing noise with my anecdotes, funny stories, and bare lived-out experiences. Instead, this will be a series on what the Bible says. How it defines marriage, sex, manhood, womanhood, gender roles, and many other topics that are long overdue to be addressed.

Why a Marriage Series?
The downfall of every civilization begins with a collapse in marriage. In the beginning, God designed covenant marriage as the fundamental unit of human society. He called one man and one woman to enter into a one-flesh union that would bring fruitful labor into every neighborhood, would multiply God’s blessings into every town, would extend God’s reign to the ends of the earth, and would bring the kind of stability that would establish empires and kingdoms. Without healthy and God-glorifying marriages, there will be no culture worth preserving, no society left to flourish, and no nation that could stand.
Think about it like a fully ripened apple tree. In a peculiar fit of madness, a farmer could take a baseball bat and knock every delicious honey-crisp apple right off that tree. Nothing would happen, except maybe there would be a noticeable lack of apple pies for Thanksgiving. But, suppose he saw the error in his ways and never undertook such an action again, the apples would come back the following year, and nothing catastrophic would occur to the tree.
The same could not be said if that same farmer decided to take an axe and attack one of the exposed roots that are visible above the soil.
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One of the most important works you will ever do is bringing family worship into your home. Family worship will disciple your children in the faith, give them ownership that this faith belongs to them, and prepare them for the war they will be engaged with in the years ahead.

Christianity’s Helm’s Deep
If you have seen or read the Lord of the Rings, you will remember that the defense of Helm’s Deep was one of the finest battles ever filmed or written. Today, it seems that Christianity in general and Christian families, in particular, have found themselves where the forces of Rohan once stood, outnumbered, outmatched, and in a battle for survival.
Upon the horizon of Western Civilization, the storm is raging, howling like a tempest on the open sea, and threatening to engulf the Kingdom of God and all its soldiers in a torrent of doubt and misery. Under the spell of the Dark Lord’s command, the forces of liberalism, secularism, and moral relativism have been amassing armies for years, bending the education system to their will, employing the entertainment industrial complex as propaganda for their perversions, and strong-arming government to execute their commands. This warfare has been aimed squarely at the home, marriages, sexuality, children, and the faith.
Like the valiant defenders of Helm’s Deep, we are tempted to look around and notice that there are but few upon our walls defending compared to the advancing legions. As a result, many have abandoned the fight, convinced themselves that there is no fight or that the Uruk Hai prefer our niceness. Yet, this small and embattled group, the covenant home, though vastly outnumbered by the forces of darkness that assail them, will likewise triumph. Not because our weapons and defenses are so great but because our God and His promises are greater than the walls of Hornburg.
This means we are not defenseless. On the contrary, God has armed our men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, to wield His weapons, which are as ancient and powerful as the faith we hold dear. The sword of truth cuts through the lies and deceptions of the enemy, illuminating the darkness with a bright and piercing light. The shield of faith protects the heart of the believer, deflecting the fiery arrows of doubt and the blows of temptation. Our banner of love waves high, even above the castle walls, as a symbol of the divine affection that sustains and strengthens us for every battle. And like the men of Helm’s Deep, an abiding conviction to protect our women and children will be how this battle is won.
Today, an all-out war is being waged to snuff out the light of the Gospel and plunge this world into chaos, moral perversion, and ruin. That fight is coming for you, your home, your faith, your children, and you must be vigilant to stand. This post is for our men to wake up, remember that there is a battle, join the ranks, and do everything we can to protect our women and children from the enemy’s encroachment. Our family is our future. The next generation’s church will be filled with our children. And if they take the Kingdom deeper and farther than we did, we will need to prepare them well. To do that, we must recover the ancient discipline of family worship!
What Is Family Worship?
Quite simply, family worship is daily Biblical worship that occurs within our homes. It is the male-led, wife-aided, Spirit-inspired, truth-bound, faithful, and joyful morning and evening adoration of a family unto their God. It is the hymns we sing, the Scriptures we read, the thanksgivings we share, the blessings we heap, the service we render, the prayers that we pray, and the commands we commit to both memory and action that echo from the covenant home and prepare our children for the future battle.
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We can come up with many illegitimate reasons to remain silent. We can join the majority church in burying our heads in the sand while the predators swarm around us. Or, we could share Christ with all creation no matter the cost. Doing this will glorify God, it will extend His Kingdom, and it will conform us to the image of Christ.

I fear that in some of our less enlightened country churches there are conservative individuals who almost believe that to preach anywhere except in the chapel would be a shocking innovation, a sure token of heretical tendencies, and a mark of zeal without knowledge. Any young brother who studies his comfort among them must not suggest anything so irregular as a sermon outside the walls of their Zion. In the olden times we are told, “Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets, she crieth in the chief places of concourse, in the openings of the gates” (Pro 1:20-21); but the wise men of orthodoxy would have wisdom gagged except beneath the roof of a licensed building.—C.H. Spurgeon.

Intro
One of the most glaring differences between the ancient Church of the New Testament and the tepid church of the modern era is our current fixation with cowardice disguised as winsomeness. That early church turned the world upside down with the powerful and glorious Gospel. In contrast, the modern church has become so preoccupied with safeguarding her reputation she doesn’t have the stomach or backbone to overturn anything.
Don’t get me wrong, those earliest Christians succumbed to the tendency of seclusion and cowardice as well. For a few days, they were scattered in terror of being arrested when the Son of Man was crucified. Once He was resurrected, they spent forty days of private instruction with the risen Lord and ten additional days tucked away in a clandestine cubbyhole in Jerusalem before the Spirit of power came upon them. But, once the Spirit came upon them like a rushing wind, they remained hidden no longer. In fact, they boldly left the safety and security of the upper room to be left bruised, beaten, bleeding and battered all over the Roman world in the service of Christ. They were crucified, fed to lions, and bludgeoned with stones. What they did not do was cower or crawl into a hole to maximize their safety and comfort. Instead, they kept on advancing regardless of what it cost them.
Compare that robust, manly, and evangelistic church of old with the milquetoast, vanilla, chicken-hearted ekklesia we see today, and you will spy the problem. We have grown as squishy as overcooked spaghetti noodles at a time that requires sharpened steel! Instead of publicly meeting our era’s increased secularization and immorality with the Gospel, as the first-century church did, we have adopted a sugar and spice and, for goodness sake, have a posture that’s nice. But, unfortunately, that niceness has caused us to run from the fight, surrender the public arena, and treat the church with the same exclusivity and secrecy as a cluster of Freemasons in the grand lodge.
In what follows, I will sketch out ten reasons why we must adopt a faith that proclaims the Gospel publicly. This could be conversations with lost family members, engaging coworkers, handing out tracts, and open air evangelism. However it looks, we must not go quietly into the night, but publicly on to glory.
Why Must Our Faith Be Public?
1. Because It Afflicts the Flesh
The best apologetic for sharing the Gospel in public is that our flesh despises it. We tense up like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs at the mere prospect of sharing our faith with a stranger. So instead, we prefer to speak in the security of our church buildings with people who already agree with us.
And while that kind of fellowship is edifying and good, we are also called to mortify the flesh and its desires. If my heart objects to preaching outdoors, sharing my faith with a stranger, or handing out Gospel tracts in a public area, then I need to discern why it is reacting that way. I must ask myself some questions: Am I protecting a fragile ego? Am I afraid of what others will think of me? Am I nervous? Do I feel unprepared or won’t know what to say? Do I have a fear of how that person will react? If any of those, or any other unBiblical reasons, prevent me from doing it, I must slay the flesh and move on to obedience.
Remember, the Bible describes the heart as wicked and desperately sick. Therefore, any action that buffets the heart and encourages the flesh is immediately suspect.
2. Because Hell Is Hot
A second reason for publicly declaring the Gospel is the reality of eternal conscious torment for all who stand opposed to Christ. Paul says in Romans 10:
How, then, will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? – Romans 10:14-15
The word used for “preach” in this passage (κηρύσσω) certainly includes the homiletical discipline of vocational ministers who herald the Gospel from behind solid oaken pulpits on Sunday. Praise God for that work! But it is also not limited to that! In fact, the word here means to announce something publicly and to make a message known to the masses. So, far from limiting this to a group of trained seminarians, Paul has in mind equipping everyone as messengers and sending them out into the world to make Christ known wherever He is not.
His reason for this is simple. How will the world hear it if we do not send messengers out into the world to publicly announce the Gospel? And how could they possibly believe it if they do not hear it? And without belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will spend an eternity in hell.
Our inactivity and passivity for evangelism have awful damning consequences.
3. Because It’s Faithful to the Mission
As a Calvinist, I understand that the Lord draws all men unto Himself. He predestined the elect in eternity past, paid for them two thousand years ago on the cross, and regenerated them in space and time by the Spirit’s working. He is the author of salvation, the one who seeks and saves the lost and draws all His people unto Himself and holds them secure in His ferocious and tender grip. Still, none of these glorious truths nullify the need for and the command for us to go and make disciples of all the nations (Mt. 28:18-20).
When Jesus gave the great commission, He didn’t limit His authority and dominion to a church building or require His followers to only make disciples from a gathered flock. Instead, he told us to go into the world and disciple the nations. This involves getting outside our buildings and comfort zones, announcing the message to outsiders, and being ready to answer any objections they have until they cut us off, curse us out, or are converted unto Him.
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Sometimes, the Lord will lay it on your heart to do something you usually would not do. To get outside your comfort zone, follow Him into the uncomfortable, and declare His Gospel in ways you could not imagine. Be open to whatever He calls you to do, be engaged in His Kingdom at every level, and pray that we will see it expand.

As a wild-eyed, inquisitive young lad, I often found myself in very precarious situations. With a couple of green acres of the Piedmont plot to plod around and enough imagination to get me into a heap of trouble, it’s a wonder I made it out of childhood alive. From crashing bicycles, catching black widows in dixie cups, climbing and falling out of trees, and pouring gasoline into the underground nests of unsuspecting miner bees, my younger years were filled with all sorts of unsupervised and unsafe adventures.
If there was a limit, I was the one testing it. If there was a line, I was usually crossing it. If there was some cue the average person was supposed to pick up on, I was oblivious to it. And, on more than one occasion, my grandpa dutifully came outside delivering a message that likely originated with grandma, saying: “Kendall, don’t you think you’d better leave well enough alone?” The point he was getting after was that my life’s homeostatic balance hung in the balance of my next move. A nervous grandma was inside shuddering over the safety of her pride and joy, and a man who wanted to please her had detected that “well enough” was somehow in danger. The status quo was being threatened. Peace and vitality were in jeopardy, and the one accosting it all was me.
As an adult, I realize there are many occasions where “leaving well enough alone” is good. We do not need to poke every sleeping bear, throw rocks at every bee hive, or go to war with every enemy. Sometimes doing nothing is the exact right thing to do, and knowing when that applies takes wisdom and discernment.
Yet, there are other times when doing nothing would be morally wrong, strategically unwise, or giving into cowardice. In truth, there are some hills we need to die on, some enemies we need to face, and some risks we need to take. Again, wisdom and discernment are required here.
In what follows, I would like to sketch out why I cannot leave well enough alone when it comes to Satan Con coming to Boston.
If you are unfamiliar, the largest Satanic conference in human history will be hosted on April 28-30 by The Satanic Temple right in our backyard. In this article, I will provide a few reasons why I am going to Boston, preaching the Gospel on the streets, handing out tracts, and praying like crazy that someone down there will be delivered from darkness and rescued by the Light of the World. As you read this article, I hope it will also encourage you, and by that, I mean to give you the courage to find creative ways to get involved in Jesus’ great mission where you are.
Sometimes, you cannot leave well enough alone because
God is Sovereign
When I heard that the largest Satanic conference in human history was coming to Boston, my first thought was gratitude that I would not be there. I do not go to Salem in October, I do not watch horror movies with occult rituals or pagan symbolism, and I am certainly not inclined to be a stone’s throw away from a burgeoning bevy of Baphomet’s best buddies in the belly of Bean town. I stay away from such things because, you know, leaving well enough alone, right?
But as I thought about it, I realized I was acting in fear. You could have invited me to preach in any church in New England, storm any library, or skydive out of any plane, and I would have relished the opportunity. But, intentionally traveling to a gathering of secular Satanists had unnerved me.
I was then reminded that God is sovereign over all things, which means He has the right, power, and ability to control all things. Nothing occurs outside His administration, governance, and will. Because of that, even Satan cannot afflict us unless He has divine permission to do so (Job 1). His absolute sovereignty is the reason demons shudder (James 2:19). This is why they necessarily obey Him when He issues forth commands (Matthew 8:31-32). And this is also why unclean spirits cannot even speak unless King Jesus allows it (Mark 1:34).
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As Christians, we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the most wanton and senseless violence in order to bring about the most tremendous peace. As soldiers of the Living Christ, let us shine as lights in this dark and decaying world.

To the Church
Dear Christian,
As I write to you this day, my heart is filled with tremendous grief and sadness over the events that have transpired in Nashville, Tennessee. On Monday morning, a mentally ill biological woman, who identified as a transgender male, shot her way inside The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school in East Tennessee, firing indiscriminate rounds at both helpless children and adults before being gunned down by local police officers. In fourteen horrifying minutes, 6 innocent people were brutally killed, including three little ones aged nine and 3 adults in their sixties. One of the children who tragically perished was the daughter of Chad Scruggs, who serves as lead pastor over Covenant Presbyterian Church, the church that founded the school.
During such awful instances of darkness, we must remember we are children of the light. We are living examples of Christ to all who are perishing. How we respond to tragedies like this will say much about how we think, believe, and cherish the Gospel. Thus, as we pray for the victims, let us also pray for the victimizers. As we pray for affected families, let us diligently pray for the shooter’s family. And as we are bombarded with all sorts of opinions on this subject, let us be slow to speak, quick to listen, and ready to pattern our response in accordance with Scripture.
With that, I would like to consider how a Christian is supposed to respond to awful tragedies such as this.
This Memes War
Whether you like it or not, you will be inundated in the coming days with a cacophony of “hot-takes” from trolls on Twitter, rants by activists and personalities on social media, biased coverage by the news, and shots fired from both sides of the Left / Right culture war. You will also see this situation entirely weaponized by gun control activists, the news trying to play up the perpetrator’s victim status, and the trans community crying out for justice and days of vengeance, as we have seen in Virginia. Yesterday and today, instead of seeing an empathetic president consoling a wounded nation or addressing the victims, we saw a depraved dottering dolt making inappropriate jokes about what flavor of ice cream he stacks in his fridge before blaming republicans for this incident of gun violence. (Sadly, this was not the only occasion our dunderhead-in-chief quipped sardonically when doing so was both vile and inappropriate). Perhaps you also saw the despicable and insensitive meme posted by Arizona press secretary, Jocelyn Berry, depicting a woman holding two handguns in a threatening pose, captioned: “Us when we see transphobes.” Or maybe you saw any number of shameless responses on the vast interwebs, such as I have found here.
This Means War
From such a smattering of debased opinions, I believe it is obvious that we are in a war. But let me be unequivocally clear here, we are not in the Left / Right “culture war” that has captivated this nation for decades. We are not on the left; we are not on the right; we are on the side of Christ. When the pundits, politicians, and the ideological left blame Christians and gun laws for this attack, we must not respond with the equal and opposite fury displayed among activists on the right. As Christians, we must respond as Christians and not as activists! We are citizens of heaven, not paupers, in this pitiful and polarized political war game.
We have been called to war, but not that one. Instead, the battle that we have been called into is a war – first and foremost – against the flesh (Romans 8:13). We are to be killing that which is wicked and depraved in us, mortifying it by the Spirit so that we may live. As Christians, we do not begin a plank-eyed campaign against a horde of sawdusty sinners without first pointing the lens of Biblical truth upon our own hearts and our own soul. We must make war through repentance, not hollow pharisaism.
But, this does not mean we have nothing to say. In fact, the Bible does call us to a kind of warfare with the world. According to Scripture, for the love of God and the redemption of the planet, we are called to expose the damnable misdeeds of darkness (Ephesians 5:5-13) and to call out pagan philosophies such as transgenderism with the light of the Gospel of Christ (Colossians 2:8; Jude 3). We are to be salt, which preserves the decaying world. We are to be light in the midst of a crooked people, which means exposing and chasing away the darkness (Matthew 5:13-16; Philippians 2:14-15) And if we do that work faithfully, meeting mistruth with love (Ephesians 4:15), we fully understand that the world will still hate us because it first hated Christ (John 15:18). No matter how the world views us, we labor on until every nation has been discipled according to the vision and Biblical standards of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).
It is also a battle fought against the demonic principalities and satanic powers who wage war against the plain truth of God (Ephesians 6:12). We must remember that the transgender community is not our enemy. Likewise, the LGBTQLMNOP activists are not our foe. We do not wage our warfare against them but for them! We wage a spiritual war against spiritual opponents with unique non-violent weapons that will advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ and take back dominion for our King in a world that is hopelessly lost and dead (Ephesians 6:13-17).
The Christians’ warfare brings life and light to the world, not death and hot-takes, which brings us to an apropos passage for such a time as this. In light of the events that occurred in Nashville, and whenever the next grisly evil is unleashed upon the world, may the words of Romans 12:14-21 become our guide on how to respond to the world, the flesh, and the devil, with uniquely and poignantly Christian warfare. This is our battle guide:
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In 1983, John Scully was the President of Pepsi. He had poured his life into that company and built it into one of America’s most iconic brands. By all accounts, he was on top of the world. But, in 1983, his life would dramatically change with a few simple words. Insert Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs was the genius upstart entrepreneur who founded Apple. He had a brand new company and visionary ideas. But, he was untested, unproven, and frankly a little unstable. Yet, in 1983, he delivered one of the most incredible sales pitches ever recorded. When courting John Scully to leave Pepsi and come to Apple, this is what Jobs said:

John, do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?—Steve Jobs

That proposal pushed Scully over the edge. At that moment, John Scully left everything he had built to follow Jobs and change the world.
I appreciate this story because it perfectly articulates how frivolous it would be to build a life on sugar water. But I also don’t like this story because Steve’s alternative is no better. To build a life on gadgets and tech would be just as meaningless as an empire of liquid sugar. It most certainly has been.
Most recently, this has become all the more clear. Tech stocks are plummeting, tech-friendly banks are going insolvent, and the entire industry is gearing up for a massive recession. If that were not enough, Big Tech hasn’t delivered on any of its promises.
Case in point, Facebook’s mission statement is: “to give people the power to build community and to bring the world closer together.” That sounds great, except that it hasn’t. Instead, in the Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok world, people have become more divided, isolated, and less able to have meaningful dialog, conflict, or relationships than ever.
All you have to do is look at the world around us, and you can see it. No one seems happy. People are polarized and angry at one another. Activism is fracturing people into increasingly smaller and smaller victim classes. Law and order is eroding, and the fabric of our society is unraveling as we speak. We are no better in the Steve Jobs era than we were in the Pepsi era. Any person who is being objective can see this.
With that, it is time for a new pitch.
If you want to change the world, limit investing in the limited and maximize your investment in the infinite. How do we do that? First, invest in a faithful church. Invest in a community that believes the Gospel and preaches it as their lives depend on it. Invest in a church that understands the disease of sin and liberally offers Christ as the only cure. Invest in a church that does not bend its knee to the world and woke culture but stands on God’s eternal and immutable truth!
How can you invest in this? I offer you three ways and one reminder.
Invest Your Time
One of the best ways to change the world is to get married, have lots of children, raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and teach them to invest their time in a local and faithful church. To fight to be there when the doors open and to value participation in the community. To help that church accomplish its mission. Listen intently to the sermon and walk away chewing on the truth of the Gospel throughout the week.
It involves teaching them to be present and active in the community and to give their lives for the very thing Jesus died for; His bride. It also involves teaching them how to go to work to the glory of God, how not to place their hope in their career, and how to build Jesus’ Kingdom through God-glorifying labor in their vocation (1 Cor. 10:31).
Paul says in Colossians 3:23:
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