Articles Archives

Back When We Had Friends: Why Brothers Still Need Brothers

By Greg Morse — 12 hours ago

Men, do you remember when we had friends?

Back when we first asked in our own way, and without shame, Will you be my friend? Back when we could be vulnerable, known, honest with someone who would still have our back afterward. Back when we didn’t have so many better things to do than kick it with the boys. For me, it was back when the grass was worn to dirt through tackle football, back when the garage was dented from alley-hoops and allowance was spent at the movies. Can you remember that far back?

I mean those days of little league, basketball at recess, and trying to swindle your guys into swapping your PB&J sandwich for more chicken nuggets. Those sleepover days, those “girls have cooties . . . but we still kind of like them” days. Days chasing each other around, stumbling toward manhood, days making their joys your joys and their beef your beef. Back when ball games and bike rides were a sacred place of joke-telling, fear-sharing, dream-making, where friends became brothers — and the fatherless found a family. You know, back when we had friends.

But we’re grown now. We have jobs and pay bills. They have their wife and kids; we have ours. Text replies take longer — delivered, it seems, by carrier pigeon. You need to figure life out on your own; you’re a man now. Besides, you’re no longer who you were. Jesus found you; the friendship worsened. What partnership can light have with darkness? Not much, you’re discovering. What now?

Well, now you are in the church and have met good men, to be sure. No denying. They are brothers in the most profound sense, brothers in the Lord Jesus. But you haven’t found brothers, perhaps, in that more functional sense — a friend to spend time with, confide in, and have your back. A man who knows you. A man whose hands you love to strengthen in the Lord, but one you do things with besides studying the Bible. A man who isn’t caged into blocks on a calendar. A man you admire, trust, and come to love as your own soul.

One comedian joked that one of Jesus’s greatest miracles was having twelve adult male friends. We smile, then wince. Should such relationships be this rare? Does God’s word give us expectations that we should want this kind of friend? Pray for this kind of friend? Desire to be this kind of friend? I think it does.

Blessed to Have a Brother

Contemplating the meaning of life, the writer of Ecclesiastes gives us a beautiful apologetic for fellow-ship, for brotherly love.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9–12)

The wise man teaches that two are better than one, and a brotherhood of three is even better. He has just finished explaining that it is not good for man to be alone, speaking not just of marriage but of manhood (Ecclesiastes 4:7–8). We need brothers. Life is better that way. He gives four reasons why.

1. Brother for the Work

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. (Ecclesiastes 4:9)

The first place where we see the blessing of this brotherhood is in our labor. Men do not just meet at coffee shops and update about life; they live life together. They labor with each other.

They know part of their discipleship is active, toiling together. Jesus has a yoke, and these brothers want to pull shoulder to shoulder. And when they do, they have a good reward for their work. By pulling together, they help each other become better men, disciples, husbands, fathers, workmen, and neighbors. They serve in the church, use their gifts, sharpen each other, fill their hands with the good works that God prepared them to walk in — together. Instead of seeing such an investment as a distraction from their other duties, they know a good reward stands on the other side of their joint labor. They see better results than if they remained in harness alone.

2. Brother for the Fall

Two are better than one . . . for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10)

How many Christian men lie on the ground, fallen, with no one to help? George Whitefield puts it ably:

When we reflect how prone we are to be drawn into error in our judgments, and into vice in our practice; and how unable, at least how very unwilling, to espy or correct our own miscarriages; when we consider how apt the world is to flatter us in our faults, and how few there are so kind as to tell us the truth; what an inestimable privilege must it be to have a set of true, judicious, hearty friends about us, continually watching over our souls, to inform us where we have fallen, and to warn us that we fall not again for the future. Surely it is such a privilege . . . we shall never know the value thereof, till we come to glory.

Good brothers are God’s hands to help us up. When we fail, when we sin, when we take the wrong path to great consequence, there they are to reach down their hands and help us to our feet. They come to us at our lowest. They listen. They offer correction. They pray with us. They plead for repentance and remind us of Christ and his precious promises. And when life leaves us doubled-over, heartbroken, and unable to stand, they are there again. They weep with us, and we with them. Woe to us if we fall and keep falling in our marriages, our private lives, our fathering, our vocations, or if we get ribs broken from a punch we never saw coming — and have no brother near to help lift us to our feet.

3. Brother for the Cold

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? (Ecclesiastes 4:11)

Picture two travelers on a journey. The nights are cold, and a pilgrim can stay warmer huddled with a companion. On especially cold nights, a brother to help keep warm can mean life or death.

“Good brothers are God’s hands to help us up.”

In that higher sense, our souls need the spiritual heat of other men. Even redeemed hearts grow cold alone. We pass through a wintry world. How can we stay hot until the end? How will we not be chilled by suffering or sin or distraction? How shall we keep above that room-temperature religion that leads so many to destruction? How can one stay warm alone?

On this journey, we need real brothers who burn with real passion for Christ and his kingdom. We need them, and they need us. Good brothers warm us on cold and lifeless days and add their heat so our faith may not freeze. In the words of Rafiki, “If you want to go fast, go alone. There’s the road. Off you go! But if you want to go far, we go together.”

4. Brother for the Battle

Two are better than one . . . [for] though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12)

Many of us do not search and fast for such brothers because we do not understand who seeks to prevail against us. We do not know what Philistine, what armies, what thieves and enemies stand between us and Christ’s kingdom. If you look out and see a meadow of flowers in the way, you may need no men, but if you look out and see legions of spiritual forces sworn to destroy you, what wouldn’t you give for an Aragorn and Legolas by your side?

Brothers, we go out, says Whitefield,

with “ten thousand, to meet one that cometh against us with twenty thousand;” as persons that are to “wrestle not only with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high places.” And then tell me, all ye that fear God, if it be not an invaluable privilege to have a company of fellow soldiers continually about us, animating and exhorting each other to stand our ground, to keep our ranks, and manfully to follow the captain of our salvation, though it be through a sea of blood?

You will never overvalue God’s gift to you of a man who gets bolder the more the need grows — a brother more eager to ride with you when more enemies swarm ahead. He is built for this: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17). And if you have two such men with you — may whatever lies ahead beware!

For This Life and the Next

What do we conclude? Many of us are less effective for Christ, fallen into grief or sin and unable to rise, cooled in affections for God’s glory and the souls of others, as well as more regularly prevailed upon by Satan, the flesh, and the world. And why? Because we do not have a brother or two by our side.

Two are better than one, three better than two, and yet we see lone generals of their families scattered all over the war effort — good men, God’s men, lonely men. They are starved, not of things to do, but of godly men to do some of those things with. To hunt with, eat with, watch the game with, work out with, study God’s word with, evangelize with, build a porch with, or start a business with.

Frodo needs Sam; Harry needs Ron; David needs mighty men; Jonathan needs his armor-bearer. Even Jesus, who had to finish his unique course alone, still chose to pass precious moments on earth with his twelve. Divide and conquer is still an effective stratagem of the enemy. But what can you do? What if you don’t have such a brother, though you desire one?

You can pray. You can prioritize space in your week for these relationships. You can live on mission and see what brothers come to fight beside you. One other strategy I have tried: be this kind of man yourself. Be quick to labor with, uplift, heat, and fight beside other men. Do this, and I wager you will find your mighty men yet. So, who can you strengthen this week in the Lord?

In the meantime, as you wait, remember to prize that brotherhood greater than any other. Jesus still stretches his hand toward us disciples and says, “Here are . . . my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother” (Matthew 12:49–50). The Spirit of Christ spans the divide and indwells us. Maybe, just maybe, you do not have those brothers just yet because God would have you truly value Christ working in you, Christ lifting you up, Christ warming your soul, and Christ battling with you. Blessed is the man who learns — even among good brothers — to depend entirely upon this Friend.

Post Views: 6

Three Levels of Sermon Introduction

By Tim Challies — 17 hours ago

Though every sermon necessarily needs a beginning, it does not necessarily need a formal introduction. Though it has to begin somewhere, there is no rule that it must begin with some kind of story or illustration. A preacher can jump straight into his text if he so desires. Some do.

However, many preachers, and perhaps even most, do choose to begin with a kind of “bridge” from the service to the sermon—a way of capturing the listeners’ attention and drawing them into the exposition. In this way, the introduction serves as a kind of hook to intrigue a congregation and motivate them to listen. H.B. Charles provides helpful guidance on doing this well:

Don’t start every sermon the same way. Be creative. Use different doors to get into the house. Tell a story. Raise a question. State a problem. Use a strong quote. Describe the background of the text. Do an object lesson. Try multimedia. Mix it up. Practice diversity. Change the way you come at them, especially if you preach to the same congregation each week. Practicing variety in the introduction is a simple but effective way to stay fresh in the pulpit.

In my experience, there are several “levels” of sermon introduction, each one more difficult to prepare, yet also more rewarding, than the one before.

The first level of sermon introduction is the one that simply begins the sermon and does not come up again. It may be a story from current events or a fable from history. It may be a poem or an experience from the preacher’s life. It helps ease the congregation from the song they have just sung into listening to a 40-minute exposition. The best of these introduces a note of tension that needs to be resolved or a question that needs to be answered. It is not trite, crass, or boring, but serious, appropriate, and interesting. The point of the introduction harmonizes with the point of the sermon which, in turn, harmonizes with the point of the text.

The second level of sermon introduction is the one that begins the sermon and then appears again in the conclusion. It introduces a note of tension that needs to be resolved or a question that needs to be answered and then circles back in the conclusion to explain how this has happened. This usually requires a stronger theme such as a particularly poignant illustration or an especially interesting anecdote. It might be a song whose first stanza comes in the introduction and whose final stanza comes in the conclusion. It might be a story whose first part is told at the beginning of the sermon and whose conclusion is told at the end. If the first level of introduction is a bridge into the sermon, the second level is a bridge into the sermon and then back out. It is a kind of bookend that resolves whatever theme, question, or tension was introduced at the beginning.

The third level of introduction is the one that not only begins and ends a sermon, but also appears throughout. It frames the sermon but also illustrates it in an ongoing way, providing a continual theme that engages the listener. Only the best illustration, anecdote, song, or motif is capable of doing this. And even then there is the danger that such a strong illustration can threaten to actually become the point of the sermon, displacing the point of the text that is being preached. If the first kind of introduction serves as a bridge in and the second serves as a bridge in and out, this one also provides the waypoints along the way. It is a bridge in, out, and through, if you will.

I believe H.B. Charles is right when he says, “The takeoff is arguably the most important part of the flight. Sprinters work to get a strong jump from the blocks to win the race. And the introduction is key to preaching a strong message.” While every introduction serves a function, some are merely functional. They are serviceable but not particularly skillful and they are practical but not especially memorable. A good introduction often requires extensive thought, research, and prayer, yet such labor is handsomely rewarded when that introduction blesses the listeners and serves them well as they listen to the preaching of God’s Word.

(Parenthetically, I am increasingly of the perspective that references to popular culture such as shows and movies are most often unhelpful and tend to fall flat. I say that because I don’t think there is enough shared culture now that one film or one show will be meaningful to enough people in the church that it can serve as a helpful illustration (unless it is given a lot of explanation). I don’t think we can assume people have seen most films and therefore can’t assume that people have any knowledge of them. Neither are there very many of them that a pastor can quote or refer to without offending at least one listener who deems it unsuitable for Christian viewing. Hence, other means of illustration tend to be superior.)

Post Views: 30

How Many Wills Does Jesus Have?

By Mike Riccardi — 18 hours ago

The faculty of will is a property of nature, not person. And since the one man, Christ Jesus, subsists in both divine and human natures, He has two wills: divine and human. It was by virtue of His human will that He made human choices—choices to resist temptation, to obey God’s law in the place of sinners, and to bear the curse of God’s law in the place of those same sinners.

The Chalcedonian Definition of 451 has been the touchstone of orthodox Christology for the past millennium and a half. In this definition was found the resolution to the complex Christological debates of the fourth and fifth centuries. Here, Scripture’s teaching of the hypostatic union was codified for the church: the incarnate Christ is one divine person who subsists in two distinct yet united natures, divine and human. He is not two persons, as the Nestorians taught, but rather “one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son.” Nor does He subsist in only one nature, a divine-human hybrid, as the Monophysites taught, but rather is to be “acknowledged in two natures inconfusedly [and] unchangeably… the difference of the natures being in no way removed because of the union, but rather the properties of each nature being preserved.” One person, two natures. This is the doctrine of the hypostatic union, a cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith.
But as brilliant as the Chalcedonian definition was, it did not answer every question that was to arise in the succeeding decades. In the late sixth and early seventh centuries, a debate arose over whether Christ had one will or two. Sure, He had two natures, one divine and one human. But did that mean He had two wills, one divine and one human? Or, since He was one divine person, did He have just one divine will?
The Monothelite Controversy
This debate has been dubbed “the Monothelite controversy.” Those who taught that Christ had only one divine will were called Monothelites (monos, “one,” thelēma, “will”), and those who taught that He had two wills—one divine and one human—were called Dyothelites (duo, “two,” thelēma, “will”).
The disagreement basically boiled down to whether the faculty of will is a property of a person or a nature. If the faculty of will were a property of a person and not a nature, we would expect Christ, who is one person, to have only one will. But if the faculty of will were a property of a nature and not a person, we would expect Christ, who has two natures, to have two wills. So which is it? Does will belong with person or nature? Does the incarnate Christ have one will or two?
The debate was hashed out in earnest in the events leading up to the Third Council of Constantinople in 680 and 681, when 164 bishops convened to decide the matter. The Monothelite cause was taken up by Macarius I of Antioch, but the majority of the bishops agreed with the writings of Maximus the Confessor of Constantinople (ca. 580–662), a learned monk who argued vociferously for a Dyothelite Christology. The Sixth Ecumenical Council concluded that Christ had to have both a divine will and a human will. Monothelitism was condemned as a heresy leading to Monophysitism, Macarius was deposed, and Dyothelitism was codified as orthodox Christology.
Only a Human Will?
But what was the case against Monothelitism? Well, in the first place, if the incarnate Christ had only one will, which will did He have, and which did He lack? On the one hand, you could argue that part of becoming truly human required the Son to have a human will, and if He could only have one will, then it must have been the divine will that He lacked.
But this raises a number of problems. If Christ, being one person, has only one will, then will must be a property of person rather than nature. This would mean that, from eternity, the Son, being a divine person, had a divine will—up until the incarnation, that is. For when the Word became flesh and took on a human will, He would have had to shed the divine will that He possessed from all eternity. This would be to predicate genuine change in the Second Person of the Trinity, undermining divine immutability. He would have transmuted from (a) a divine person with a divine will to (b) a human person with a human will.
But of course Christ did not become a human person (anhypostasis), as even the Monothelites stipulated. He was a divine person who assumed a human nature into personal union with His divine nature. For this reason, it has not been argued that Christ’s one will was human.
Only a Divine Will?
Well, if the incarnate Christ had only one will, and it wasn’t a human will, it must have been a divine will. This is what the Monothelites argued. The eternal Son was a divine person, and thus had a divine will from all eternity. When He assumed a human nature in the incarnation, He remained a single divine person and thus retained a single divine will. But because (they argued) will is a property of person and not nature, the incarnate Christ did not have a human will.
But does the Bible support that claim? There are at least four reasons to answer in the negative. Monothelite Christology is fatal to Chalcedonian orthodoxy, fatal to the doctrine of the Trinity, fatal to the humanity of Christ, and fatal to the Gospel itself.
Fatal to Chalcedonian Orthodoxy
The first problem with Monothelitism is that it is fatal to Chalcedonian orthodoxy, which is a biblically faithful synthesis of scriptural teaching concerning the person of Christ.
Recall that the crux of this debate is whether the faculty of will is a property of person or nature. If will belongs to person, and Christ is one person, then Christ can have only one will. If will belongs to nature, and Christ has two natures, then Christ must have two wills. Interestingly, Chalcedon weighs in on this question, and in so doing it commends Dyothelitism.
The Definition says that Christ assumed a human nature in order to be “perfect in manhood,” “truly man,” and “consubstantial [i.e., of the same nature] with us according to the manhood.” Then, it defines the human nature Christ assumed by saying He was “of a rational soul and body.” According to Chalcedon, a human nature is a rational soul and body.
But it is virtually universally acknowledged that the will is a faculty of the human soul, alongside the intellect. A rational soul is equipped with (a) a mind that interprets and understands the world and (b) a will that makes choices informed by that understanding. This means that Christ’s human soul is that by which He thinks, understands, and makes choices. The faculty of the will is located in the rational soul, which Chalcedon says was part of that human nature that the Son assumed to be consubstantial with us.
In other words, Chalcedon locates the will in the soul, and it locates the soul in the nature, not the person.[1] Since will is a property of nature, and Christ subsists in two natures, Chalcedon constrains us to a Dyothelite Christology. In Chalcedonian terms, Monothelitism is inherently monophysitic, because one will implies one nature.[2]
Fatal to the Trinity
Second, Monothelitism is fatal to the doctrine of the Trinity. In the first place, it runs afoul of an essential maxim that was universally accepted in early orthodox Trinitarianism: the doctrine of inseparable operations.
Versions of the phrase opera Trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt (“the external works of the Trinity are undivided/indivisible”), along with its Greek counterpart, appear throughout the writings of such pro-Nicene fathers as Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine. It means that the acts of the Triune God cannot be divided up among the three persons, but that each divine person performs each divine act.[3] Just as God’s nature is indivisible, so also His acts are indivisible.
Read More

.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);padding-top:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);padding-bottom:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd{background-color:#dddddd;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-layout-overlay{opacity:0.30;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}
.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 19

Principles to Remember in Crisis: God Desires for You to Endure and Be Blessed

By Kevin Carson — 18 hours ago

The testing of your faith is producing endurance right now. The wisdom God gives is for this moment. To say, “We’ll see how God works this out later,” risks missing the transformative work He is doing in the present. God desires for the transformation process to take place inside the current pressures or crisis.

In the first post of this series, we revealed that the Apostle Paul provided two vital steps to persevere in trials or crisis. The first step, in a world with false teachers, false belief systems, and false hope, the Apostle reminds us to stand firm in what we know. The second step is to hold fast the traditions which we have been taught or learned from the Word. We simply identified those steps as: (1) Remember key principles and (2) Obey practical steps to encourage our perseverance.
This is our eighth principle to remember.
God Desires for You to Endure and Be Blessed (James 1:2–5, 12)
In the face of crisis, the Lord is not merely testing your limits; He’s building your character and faith, while preparing you for a reward that lasts as you endure. This truth comes alive in the words of James, the half brother of Jesus, who wrote to believers facing their own incredible crises:
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.… Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:2-5, 12)
James doesn’t sugarcoat the reality of trials; they are inevitable. He uses the word for trials which you can simply understand as pressure-filled circumstances. In light of this series, this term includes the crises in our lives as well. Here, James reframes these pressure-filled circumstances as opportunities, not obstacles. God’s desire in every crisis is for you to endure, to stand firm, and to grow through the process. Let’s unpack this principle and see how it equips us to face today’s challenges.
Endurance: God’s Goal in Your Trials
James begins with a startling command: “Consider it all joy.” Joy in trials? It sounds counterintuitive, but James reveals the divine perspective. Trials test your faith, and that testing produces endurance, which functionally is a steadfastness that keeps you rooted when the storms of life come. God is not trying to break you; He is strengthening you. The goal is not simply survival; it is maturity. As endurance does its work, James explains, you become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” This is not perfection in the flawless sense but a wholeness, a readiness to reflect God’s character more fully; that is, the capacity to demonstrate Christlikeness in increasing measure. As you understand this process, you have joy in Christ for what God does in you, even though your trials and pressures sometimes bring with them a great measure of sobriety, hurt, and difficulty.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 24

The Sons of Sceva and Gen Z’s Spiritual Anxiety

By Cyril Chavis Jr. — 18 hours ago

Written by Cyril Chavis, Jr. |
Friday, April 4, 2025
The gospel is good news because it offers us a Savior who isn’t just a god among gods or a spirit among spirits but a God who is above and victorious over the spiritual realm and, therefore, the earthly realm.

On a Wednesday night on Howard University’s campus, I stood in front of 20 to 30 college students, going through a series on the basics of Christian ethics. We were looking at the first commandment and using the story of the sons of Sceva in Acts 19 as a case study.
With tongue-in-cheek humor, I said to the group, “Ephesus was something like out of a Harry Potter book. Because our culture is still pretty influenced by Christianity, our culture isn’t like this yet, but we’re headed there.” I paused and second-guessed what I’d said. “Actually, let me ask you all. Do y’all see these things on campus?”
“Yes!” The room quickly replied. A few students began to detail the experiences they’d had with New Age spirituality, witchcraft, and more.
This room full of college students surprised me: I’ve always known the post-Christian drift of Gen Z is real, but it hit me that night. Their post-Christian landscape was similar to Ephesus’s pre-Christian landscape. Perhaps the sons of Sceva have a lesson to teach us about how to engage our increasingly religiously pluralistic friends and families.
When considering how this story in Acts 19 relates to the first commandment to worship Yahweh exclusively, the narrative doesn’t appeal to Yahweh’s judgment, jealousy, or law per se; it appeals to his all-sufficient, all-satisfying power. He’s the one-stop shop and all you need. In light of this truth, subscribing to multiple religious systems is not only forbidden but also unnecessary.
Christianity will only become compelling to a post-Christian culture when people realize that Jesus’s demand for exclusive worship comes coupled with Jesus’s demand to trust him for security amid life’s threats. This powerful Jesus melts away the spiritual anxiety that animates our religious pluralism.
Religious Pluralism as an Antidote to Anxiety
What defined Ephesus’s landscape––and increasingly defines the urban American college campus––is religious pluralism. I’m not speaking of the attitude of civility that allows people with religious differences to coexist in the same society but of a worldview that allows a person to subscribe to multiple spiritual systems simultaneously, even if they conflict. Such a worldview often requires someone to remix spiritual systems to fit them together.
Allow me to paint a picture of Ephesian spirituality. As a large, prestigious city in the Roman Empire, Ephesus was religiously pluralistic. Worshiping and devoting yourself to many different gods and religions at the same time was normal, and many did so without cognitive dissonance. Magical practice and devotion to the imperial cult were also widespread.
This is the kind of place where Paul went to preach the gospel. This is increasingly the kind of culture to which we preach the gospel. Jesus still dominates the religious landscape of the United States, but for many, he’s one among many.
Religious Pluralism Today
I haven’t often encountered a thoroughgoing religious pluralism like that in Ephesus, but the instinct of many belonging to the generation I serve is to embrace multiple spiritual systems as different ways of tapping into a common spiritual reality in which all people, knowingly or unknowingly, participate. This reality is explained by forces, energies, universal principles, spiritual realms, and a spiritual being or beings.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 20

What Does Fear Have to Do with Wisdom?

By Mitch Chase — 18 hours ago

Possessing a “fear of the Lord” means having an inner reverence and honor for God. Such an inner posture of reverence toward God is, says Solomon, the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).

Solomon was the wisest king in the Old Testament, and he said that wisdom starts with fear. Have you ever found that strange? What should we be afraid of, and why?
In the opening chapter of Proverbs, Solomon says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7). And later in the book he says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (9:10).
We should treat “the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7) and “the beginning of wisdom” (9:10) as parallel. The knowledge in view is wisdom. And apparently this knowledge for living, this wisdom, is not just something we have innately. Wisdom must be pursued and acquired.
Something must be present for wisdom to be gained. In Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10, Solomon says we must have “the fear of the LORD.” Since that is the beginning of wisdom/knowledge, we must get some clarity on what fearing the Lord means.
One way to think about fear is with the notion of being afraid. People are afraid of all kinds of things. They’re afraid of climbing great heights, speaking in public, choking while eating alone, seeing spiders in the bathtub, and flying in airplanes. Maybe something in that list made you shudder when you read it!
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 19

Syria: Over 7,000 Christians and Alawites Massacred by New Jihadi Terrorist Regime

By Uzay Bulut — 18 hours ago

The EU Executive must remember that al-Sharaa, to whom they have recently pledged to send millions of euros, was the leader of ISIS’ Syrian offshoot, Jabhat al-Nusra…. The EU Commission must take action to help stop the ongoing massacres targeting Alawites and Christians and help create a safe haven for those persecuted minorities in Syria.

Since al-Qaeda-affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) conquered Damascus with the help of Turkey in December 2024, HTS fighters and Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militants have committed massacres against religious minorities in the country. Social media posts show Alawite or Christian men, women, and children barbarically shot at close range. And the death toll is increasing.
The Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East, John X, said during a sermon on March 9th:
The bloody events taking place on the Syrian coast left many dead and wounded.… In many cities, towns, and villages, their houses were burnt, and their properties have been stolen. The targeted areas were the places of Alawites and Christians. Many innocent Christian victims were also killed. Residents of some of those places were forced to leave their homes. Then they were shot and killed. Then their houses, property, and cars were stolen.
On the invitation of Patriarch John X, Greek MEP Nikolas Farantouris, who is a member of the Security and Defense Committee, the Constitutional Affairs Committee, and the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament, paid a two-day visit to Syria’s capital, Damascus, on March 8-9.
In a statement Farantouris made following his visit, he said:
Reliable data indicate 7,000 massacres of Christians and Alawites and unprecedented atrocities against civilians. Christian and other communities with a presence in these parts for over a thousand years are at risk of extinction. The new Islamic regime is leading Syria into an Islamic state and is claiming that it cannot control the paramilitaries and their affiliated gangs who attack innocent civilians.
I call on the Greek Government and the entire political world of the country, the European Institutions and the governments of the Member States, to act NOW. Neither Greece nor the EU can continue to show tolerance and limit themselves to ceremonial visits and courtesies with the Islamic regime for investments and ‘business’ while thousands of civilians are being massacred under its tolerance if not its guidance.
In an interview with Greek Kontra TV, Farantouris said, “The situation [in Syria] has spiraled out of control. The West is watching the atrocities of the new Syrian regime as if nothing is happening. Actions are needed here and now. The slaughter of hundreds of civilians continues.”
Approximately 500,000 Christians currently live in Syria. Most are of Greek descent and have inhabited the country for millennia.
In the “Valley of the Christians,” Marwan Shahda, chief of the Christian village Mazraa, was found slaughtered with a machete on March 8th. On March 11th, a Christian man, Elias Michel Asaad, was found executed with a shot to the head after being kidnapped two days prior in the city of Homs. On March 13th, Johnny Al-Sayegh, a Greek Christian from the village of Burj Balamana in Tratous, was shot to death. He was riding his motorcycle with his fiancée on the Baniyas Road. News regarding the murders of Syrian Christians by Islamists is regularly posted on social media monitoring the ongoing violence in the country.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 23

God’s Plan to Redeem the Earth

By Randy Alcorn — 18 hours ago

Redemption will forever destroy the work of the devil by removing his hold on creation and by reversing the consequences. Far from destroying the world, God’s plan is to keep it from being destroyed by Satan. God’s plan is to remove the destruction that has already been inflicted on it. His plan is to redeem the world.

The entire physical universe was created for God’s glory. When we rebelled, the universe fell under the weight of our sin. Yet God did not give up on us.
The serpent’s seduction of Adam and Eve did not catch God by surprise. He had in place a plan by which He would redeem mankind—and all creation—from sin, corruption, and death. Just as He promises to make men and women new, He promises to renew the earth itself.
“‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so will your name and descendants endure’” (Isaiah 66:22).
“In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1).
Many other passages allude to the new heavens and New Earth without using those terms. God’s redemptive plan culminates not at the return of Christ, nor in the millennial kingdom, but on the New Earth. Only then will all wrongs be made right. Only then will there be no more death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:1-4).
Consider this: If God’s plan were merely to take mankind to the intermediate Heaven, or to a Heaven that was the dwelling place of spirit beings, there would be no need for new heavens and a New Earth. Why refashion the stars of the heavens and the continents of the earth? God could simply destroy His original creation and put it all behind Him. But He doesn’t do that. Upon creating the heavens and the earth, He called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Not once has He renounced His claim on what He made.
God isn’t going to abandon His creation. He’s going to restore it. Earth’s destruction will not be permanent but temporary. Just as our destroyed bodies will be raised as new bodies, the destroyed Earth will be raised as a New Earth. We won’t go to Heaven and leave Earth behind. Rather, God will bring Heaven and Earth together into the same dimension, with no wall of separation, no armed angels to guard Heaven’s perfection from sinful mankind (Genesis 3:24). God’s perfect plan is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).
God has never given up on His original creation. Yet somehow we’ve managed to overlook an entire biblical vocabulary that makes this point clear.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 29

Michael Wigglesworth and His Struggle With Same-Sex Desires

By Simonetta Carr — 18 hours ago

Wigglesworth’s diary is the honest description of the day-to-day struggle with relentless sins that persevere in spite of many attempts to eradicate them and desperate prayers. It can be of comfort to anyone who has to battle persistent sins over, whatever their nature.

[Place for Truth] Editorial Note:
There are a number of reasons why Wigglesworth’s diary is a help to those who struggle with same-sex attraction in our day. First, as Carr points out, Wigglesworth understands that his desires are sinful and therefore must be confessed to the God who sees all. Second, Wigglesworth found, contrary to his fears, “so much comfort in a married estate,” which did not remove his sinful lusts but was an acknowledged help in the fight. Thus, Wigglesworth goes against the conventional wisdom today, and sadly, even some of that which is found in the church.
Michael Wigglesworth and His Struggle With Same-Sex Desires
How would a Christian deal with same-sex desires in the seventeenth century? What about a Puritan minister? We can get a glimpse of this struggle by reading the diary of Michael Wigglesworth – a diary he never intended to share with others. He might forgive us for peering at it if we use it to grow in compassion and understanding.
A Respected Minister and Poet
Wigglesworth was both on October 18, 1631, in England (possibly in Yorkshire) and emigrated to America in 1638 with his family, settling in New Haven. In 1651 he graduated from Harvard College, where he was a tutor and a fellow from 1652 to 1654.
In 1654, his poor health prevented him from accepting a call to pastor a church in Malden, Massachusetts – a post he filled two years later. His health, however, continued to deteriorate, even though he kept such a cheerful countenance that people wondered if he was really sick.
Whenever his health forced him to stop working, he wrote. His most famous work, a long poem entitled The Day of Doom: or a Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment, was published in 1662. The first edition, counting 1800 copies, was sold within a year, and the book continued to enjoy much popularity. In 1671, he published another long poem entitled God’s Controversy with New England.
As other ministers of his day, Wigglesworth also took an interest in medicine – a subject he found particularly interesting in view of his puzzling and persisting health conditions.
In 1663, he took a seven-month trip to Bermuda, in hopes of improving his health (sea trips were encouraged at that time for all kinds of illnesses). In Wigglesworth’s case, however, the trip seemed to have made things worse.
Back in Malden, Wigglesworth continued to pastor the local church until his death in 1705. Cotton Mather, son of Increase Mather who had been a student of Wigglesworth, preached at the poet’s funeral.
In spite of the homosexual tendencies revealed in his diary, Wigglesworth outlived two wives, married a third one, and fathered eight children.
A Coded Diary
As many other Puritans, Wigglesworth wrote a diary where he described his thoughts, his daily activities, and the lessons he learned along the way. His most troubling feelings, those of sexual attraction for his male students, were recorded in a secret code. This system allowed him to explore his emotions and lay them open before God while concealing them to others.
After all, he knew the futility of hiding anything from God. In The Day of Doom, he devoted several lines to this fact:
It’s vain, moreover, for Men to coverthe least Iniquity;The Judge hath seen, and privy beento all their villainy.He unto light and open sightthe work of darkness brings;He doth unfold both new old,both known and hidden things.[1]
Revealing these feelings to others would instead have been disastrous in a colony where sexual deviancies were met with heavy penalties. His encoded confessions were only decoded in the 1960s by historian Edmund Morgan.
His struggle against his homosexual tendencies was fierce and often seemed hopeless. In 1655, after much deliberation and fear that marriage would make his condition worse, he agreed to marry a cousin, Mary Reyner. The deciding factor seems to have been the opinion of a doctor that marriage might be beneficial to his health. But marriage didn’t remove his attraction to men. The day after his marriage he wrote, “I feel stirrings and strongly of my former distemper even after the use of marriage, which makes me exceeding afraid.”[2]
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 13

The Consequences of a Culture That Rejects God (Romans 1:18-32) and the Collapse of Biblical Truth

By Virgil L. Walker — 18 hours ago

Written by Virgil L. Walker |
Friday, April 4, 2025
We are living in an age of deception. The signs of divine judgment are evident, but so is the call to remain steadfast. The church must reject cultural conformity and embrace the full counsel of God.… Compromise is not an option for those who stand on the authority of God’s Word. The cost of compromise is too high, and the time for silence is over.

Western civilization is unraveling before our eyes. This is not merely a cultural shift—it is divine judgment unfolding in real time. As societies reject God, they descend into moral chaos, corruption, and confusion. The apostle Paul warned of this in Romans 1:18-32, a passage that perfectly diagnoses our present condition.
History is clear—when a people reject God, He gives them over to their own destruction. This is not speculation; it is the inescapable reality revealed in Paul’s Roman epistle.
From the redefinition of gender and marriage to the suppression of Christian convictions, the erosion is undeniable. Romans 1 is not just a historical passage—it is a roadmap for understanding cultural decline, where truth is exchanged for lies, and righteousness is openly mocked.
The Reformers understood this well. John Calvin insightfully wrote in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, “The human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols,” emphasizing mankind’s relentless pursuit of self-made gods, crafting objects of misplaced devotion. A society that suppresses divine truth does not become neutral; it collapses into moral insanity. Our duty as believers is to stand firm, proclaim the gospel, and refuse to compromise.
God’s Wrath: When a Society Worships Self Instead of God
Romans 1:18-20 declares that God’s wrath is revealed against all who suppress the truth. When societies reject Him, they spiral into idolatry—not just the worship of physical idols but the exaltation of self, pleasure, and human autonomy. Despite the evident knowledge of God through creation, humanity chooses to reject Him, leading to futile thinking and darkened hearts. This rejection manifests in idolatry—not merely the worship of carved images but the elevation of self and personal desires above God’s truth.
This idolatry is glaringly evident in contemporary issues such as same-sex attraction and the ongoing debates surrounding gender identity. The Apostle Paul addresses this directly in Romans 1:26-27, highlighting that abandoning God’s design leads to dishonorable passions and actions contrary to nature. Recent statistics underscore this shift: a 2025 Gallup poll reported that 9.3% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+, a significant increase from previous years. Notably, among Generation Z, 22.3% identify as LGBTQ+, reflecting a profound cultural transformation.
This surge correlates with the rise of self-identification and the societal push for gender affirmation, often at odds with biological and theological understandings of human identity. The Puritan Thomas Watson wrote in The Ten Commandments, “When God is dishonored, sin is cherished,” highlighting the inevitable moral decay that follows when divine authority is rejected. Our culture’s embrace of subjective identity over divine design exemplifies this tragic reality.
Romans 1:28-32 also makes it clear: God’s wrath is not arbitrary. It is the just response to human rebellion. When people reject God, they do not cease to worship; they simply redirect their worship to something else. Today, we see this idolatry in full bloom—self-worship, materialism, and the deification of human autonomy. The result? A society governed by emotions rather than truth, where men call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).
This idolatry doesn’t stop at the secular world. It has infiltrated the church. Many pulpits have abandoned biblical preaching in favor of self-help messages that soothe rather than convict. They no longer preach Christ crucified but instead offer motivational speeches. Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon Feeding the Sheep or Amusing the Goats?, warned, “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats,” lamenting the dilution of true biblical teaching in favor of superficial amusement. That time is now.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.