TruthCurrents

Welcome to TruthCurrents. I'm continuing my conversation today with Emilio Lartigue, a brother and a friend. We are in an extended conversation about some doctrines that you will be interested in. Today our topic is hermeneutics. You may say, “I don't even know what that is.” Well, hopefully you'll understand by the time we finish why this is so significant for people who are determined not to be tourists in the word of God, but to be explorers.

Every November, I sit down with Emilio Lartigue. He has served in ministry beside me for many years. He has a platform that he teaches theology and contemplates the philosophical side of the gospel. It's called Truth Matters and is a compliment to TruthCurrents. So, for the next several weeks we are going to talk about some critically important theological issues. So, join us.

How will the rise of the Antichrist ultimately come about? The topic is usually reserved for theologians, but given recent events in our generation, the topic is gaining conversation among regular people who are wondering about just how things will happen? How is it possible that a single ruler will by the acclaim of the whole earth come to rule a government over everything? Let's talk about that.Nathan A. Finn, “Back to gender reality for Gen Z,” October 24, 2025.Jerry Bowyer, “Peter Thiel talks about the Antichrist,” October 23, 2025.Josh Grover, “Humans are not mere animals,” October 22, 2025.Eric Patterson, “Zohran Mamdani's civic immorality,” October 22, 2025.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That's the opening line of the Declaration of Independence. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, it asserts that all individuals have inherent, God-given rights that cannot be taken away by any government. They can't be taken by government because they were not granted by government. But what's a shame in 2025, is that we have democrat Senators in the U.S. Senate who don't seem to understand this most basic American principle.Joseph Backholm & Ashley Vaughan, “Everyone legislates their beliefs,” September 26, 2025.Delano Squires, “Democrats must face their Christian exodus,” September 19, 2025.R. Albert Mohler, Jr. “Yes, Sen. Kaine, our rights come from the Creator,” September 5, 2025.

Our public life in America has become so morally deformed that now, a cold-blooded murder caught on camera elicits no more than a shrug, a smirk, or even all out laughter and dancing in the streets. When did we become such horrible people. It's interesting that Charlie Kirk's organization was called “Turning Point USA.” I believe that right now the USA is actually at a turning point.Robert J. Pacienza, “A turning point for America,” October 1, 2025.Nathan A. Finn, “A revival pattern in America,” September 19, 2025.

King Charles III recently approved the nomination for the new Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the leader of the Church of England, what we often call the Anglican church. That news would be of minor interest to a small segment of specialists, except for one thing: the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury will be a woman. Biblically, is that a problem?

The assassination of Charlie Kirk occurred almost a month ago, and interesting story lines continue to emerge related to that event. For example, on September 8th, two days before the assassination, Jezebel magazine published an article with the headline, “We paid some Etsy Witches to curse Charlie Kirk.” Let's talk about the presence of evil in our generation.Graham Faulkner, “Etsy witches and the murder of Charlie Kirk,” September 18, 2025.James R. Wood, “Be neither terrorized nor radicalized,” September 16, 2025.

Well, unless you've been living under a rock, you're aware that we are now in full-blown football mode. College football is underway and the NFL has kicked off with its new '25-'26 season. Everything should be wonderful in the world of football fans. Except, one of the story lines in the NFL this year is the increasing prominence of male cheerleaders. Ray Hacke, “This is nothing to cheer about,” August 27, 2025.Denny Burk, “Jen Hatmaker and her appeal to deconstruct,” August 26, 2025.

On Saturday a week ago, thousands of Shiite Muslims marched together in a parade celebrating the Muslim holiday, Arbaeen. This holiday translates it's title as “The Fortieth Day,” and it commemorates the martyrdom of a leader named Imam Hussein, who was the third Shiite Imam, or spiritual leader, the grandson of the founder of Islam, Muhammad. Let's talk about that.A.S. Ibrahim, “CAIR, Mahmoud Khalil, and progressive naivety,” August 27, 2025.___________, “A revealing Muslim rally,” August 20, 2025.

It doesn't take much real insight to recognize that things have changed around here. The America of 2025 is vastly different from the America of 30 or 40 years ago. And I often hear Christians use a verse from Psalm 11 to throw up their hands in despair. Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Let's talk about what the righteous can do.Thaddeus Williams, “An anti-gospel take on greed,” August 11, 2025.Katy Faust, “The myth of ‘no difference',” August 4, 2025._________, “The end of the rainbow?” June 30, 2025.Janie B. Cheaney, “Times of testing,” May 15, 2025.

I call it, “Bumper-sticker Theology.” That's my label for the kind of theology that involves no deep, contemplative, pondering or meditation of the weighty issues of faith. But rather it's like a drive-by approach to significant issues where we just wave at them as we go past and summarize our conclusions in pithy phrases that fit well on t-shirts or bumper stickers. We have a plague of bumper-sticker theology in our generation.Daniel Schreiner, “Engaging with ‘Practicing the Way': Nine Thoughts on John Mark Comer's Best Seller,” March 12, 2025.

Maybe you've heard of the website, Etsy. It's an online marketplace where people buy quaint, homemade goods: jams, jelly's, quilt, all kinds of homemade items. But what you might not know about Etsy is it is now a place that has developed a full-blown cottage industry for selling magical spells to witches. What should we think about this biblically?Katie J. McCoy, “The witches of Etsy,” July 30, 2025.Mary Jackson, “Out of Darkness,” World Magazine, May 4, 2025.

A few weeks ago on May 25th, a man named Harrison Ruffin Tyler, died at the age of 96. You might recollect that the 10th president of the United States was John Tyler, Harrison's grandfather. You heard that right, Harrison is his grandson. John Tyler was born in 1790 and died in 1862. He had 15 children late in life and the last one was Lyon Tyler who lived from 1853-1935. Lyon also saw a child born when he was 75 years old, Harrison Tyler. And so, with the death of Harrison this year, we see that the Tyler family has three generations that span 230 years. This is what historians call historical consciousness, that is, the awareness of how history unfolds and how the past in connected to the present. I want us to talk about that because America is a nation with a great past, but today very little historical awareness of that past.Carolina Lumetta, “Pastors ponder how best to exercise new freedom to politick,” July 10, 2025.Lauren Canterberry, “Churches may endorse candidates from pulpit, IRS says,” July 8, 2025.John D. Wilsey, “History's enduring presence,” June 4, 2025.

Well, we're halfway through the month of July and I realized the other day that I missed something. Apparently, I missed Pride Month. The month of June came and went and I heard almost nothing about it and so I decided to look into it. Where did Pride Month go? After years of being assaulted every June with an in-your-face publicity campaign, what happened in 2025? You need to know what I found out.Glenn T. Stanton, “A deception exposed,” July 8, 2025.Bekah McCallum, “The Pride Month that wasn't,” June 30, 2025.Bethel McGrew, “Playing hardball,” June 27, 2025.

Religious liberty is a topic that is always worth the time to think about and talk about because the concept is a uniquely American contribution to the history of western civilization. Also, religious liberty is a uniquely Baptist contribution to the history of the American experiment. We know historically there is a give and take in the relationship between church and state and we are forever trying to assess in particular instances exactly how that relationship should play out. Right now, there are shifts being made by the United States Supreme Court and so, the proper understanding of government and organized religion is once again a topic worth examining. So, let's talk about religious liberty.Andrew T. Walker, “The scandal of compromising evangelical elites,” June 9, 2025.Joseph Backholm, “The myth of secular neutrality,” June 3, 2025.Colin J. Smothers, “Fuller Seminary's untenable ‘third way',” May 30, 2025.Thaddeus Williams, “Tax money for some religions,” May 27, 2025.

One of the critical marks of Christianity is the willingness of God's people to cooperate together in Kingdom endeavors. My church is a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC is defined by cooperation more than organizational structure or any of the things that bind other denominations together. The SBC is a convention of churches who have voluntarily associated with each other because we know that together we can accomplish more than we can apart. Last week was the annual SBC meeting held in Dallas, TX. I want to share with you the state of Southern Baptists: the good, the bad, and the embarrassing. Mark Wingfield, “Why won't the SBC be more financially transparent?” June 12, 2025.Lauren Canterberry, “SBC urges Supreme Court overturn of gay marriage ruling,” June 11, 2025.Nathan A. Finn, “Confessional fidelity and denominational faithfulness,” June 10, 2025.

I had breakfast this morning with nearly 100 men who gathered together for fellowship and spiritual warfare. I pastor a church where men are enthusiastically involved in disciple-making and pursuing Christ-likeness. I hear from other pastors all the time, “How do you get men involved at church because we are not being successful at it?” And I tell them that muscular Christianity is the key to living out the call of the gospel for men.

Artificial Intelligence is changing our world in unexpected ways and oddly enough, AI is the biggest thing that Christians are not talking about. We need to consider the way that humanity and human society will be altered over the course of the next generation by Artificial Intelligence. C.R. Wiley, “AI Jesus and other heresies from Silicon Valley,” January 6, 2025.Anne Kennedy, “In the care of AI,” March 3, 2025.Flynn Evans, “Dating alone,” March 18, 2025.Liz Lykins, “Should elementary students use AI tools?” March 19, 2025.

Are charter schools state schools or private schools? And can they be religious schools. There's an Oklahoma court case which has made it all the way to the Supreme Court and we should have answers to these questions in the next few weeks. Lael Weinberger, “Funding for the faithful?” May 1, 2025.Kristen Waggoner, “Making religious school choice a reality,” April 30, 2025.Steve West, “Church school, state school, or both?” April 30, 2025.

Does your church have a pastor? Because if you do, you might want to hold on to him. Because if he leaves you might not be able to get another one. U.S. Pastors are calling it quits across the nation. Elizabeth Russell, “Facebook removes churches' SermonAudio links,” May 5, 2025.U.S. Rep. Mark Harris, “Free speech for pastors, too,” April 15, 2025.Steven Wedgeworth, “A shortage of shepherds,” April 8, 2025.

The United Kingdom's top court recently issued a radical ruling. They said that a woman can be defined as someone who is born biologically female. In other words, men are men, women are women, and that can be defined in objective, biological ways. The highest court in Great Britain has now come down on the side of what every toddler has known for the last 5,000 years. Will America follow suit and once again be able to define what a woman is?Erin Hawley, “An odd way to celebrate women,” April 9, 2025.Jamie Bryan Hall and Ryan T. Anderson, “The Abortion Pill Harms Women,” April 28, 2025.

Today is Good Friday. It's the day that we celebrate and remember the cross of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice for our sins that culminates in the glorious news of the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. These observances are ingrained in the history of Western civilization. Or are they?Nasser Hussain, “Canceling Easter,” April 9, 2025.Denny Burk, “What a difference a year makes,” April 16, 2025.

The wicked witch of progressivism is dead, right? And Christians finally have the opportunity that we said for generations that we wanted: the opportunity to engage culture and win. Well, we might not be as ready for that as we think.Andrew T. Walker, “All grace, no nature,” March 25, 2025.R. Albert Mohler, Jr. “They are going to call us Christian nationalists,” March 14, 2025.

Throughout human history, cultures have died and civilizations have vanished. Why? It's because, eventually, nations or people groups lose the foundational principles, the core values that allowed them to thrive and have success. When a nation allows poisonous enemies to begin to assault their core identity from within a nation has started the process of self-extinction. Craig Carter, “Mark Carney is a man with a plan,” March 12, 2025.Nathan A. Finn, “The great migration,” March 11, 2025.A.S. Ibrahim, “How cultures die,” March 7, 2025.

A few weeks ago, in February of this year, a Representative by the name of Laurel Libby, who serves in the House of Representative for the state of Maine, was censured by that body for what they termed, a reprehensible social media post. As it turns out, Libby had posted about a young, high school, male athlete who won first place in pole vaulting in the women's category of competition in the state of Maine. We need to talk about where we are right now in America on the topic of transgender athletes, as well as the topic of censorship of those who wade into the public square and dare to speak their minds.Liz Lykins, “Maine madness: Lawmaker still banned from House floor over social media post,” March 18, 2025.Nathanael Blake, “Sex and the post-Christian right,” March 11, 2025.R. Albert Mohler, Jr. “So boys shouldn't play on girls teams?” March 7, 2025.Lauren Canterberry, “Newsom deviates from progressives on women's sports issue,” March 7, 2025.

Is a one-world, global government even a real possibility in our generation? As it turns out, political leaders, almost since the dawn of human history have always pursued an impulse to take global control of mankind.Larry Schweikart, “Return to Babel: The temptation of globalism persists despite historic failures,” World Magazine, pp.45-51, January 27, 2024.

The Gallup polling group recently released new data on a very interesting subject. They have decided that the LGBTQI+ collection of viewpoints is nothing more than an incoherent, undefinable absurdity of random political positions that really have nothing to do with each other. What they're telling us is, far from being a monolithic political force in our country, this media narrative of a group of people that share all of these commonalities, in fact, is nothing more than a man-made, artificial special interest group. How do we approach this revelation, that the whole idea of LGBTQ is, in fact, meaningless; what one writer called, “an undefinable absurdity.”Glenn T. Stanton, “An undefinable absurdity,” March 3, 2025.Nathanael Blake, “The Cass Report remains undefeated,” February 28, 2025.Josh Schumacher, “Iowa governor signs new law combating gender ideology, February 28, 2025.

This generation continues to be marked by the persecution of the church of Jesus Christ across the globe. It's not just a single enemy. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, in a variety of countries are persecuting the church and martyring believers. We need to talk about the persecuted church because you won't hear about it in the mainstream media.“Christian Husband, Wife First to Be Convicted Under Anti-Conversion Law,” January 27, 2025.A.S. Ibrahim, “Another familiar attack,” February 27, 2025.___________, “Muslims head for the exits,” February 21, 2025.

I lost some church members recently. They left evangelicalism to become Roman Catholic. That surprised me because I would consider that a reverse reformation. But as I did some research, it turns out that there is a slight trend, right now, of people leaving Protestantism, disillusioned with a variety of things, to make their way back to the church of Rome. How do we think about this theologically? How do we assess the differences in the branches of Christianity and the options available to us? How do we answer people who say that they are going back to the original church?Bekah McCallum, “Pilgrimage to Rome,” World Magazine, January 2025.Andrew Voigt, “Some Evangelicals Are Leaving Protestantism for Other Traditions,” August 13, 2024.Gavin Ortlund. What It Means to Be Protestant. Zondervan, 2024.

A few months ago, I received a letter from a friend asking for advice. The letter says, “I want to ask for some advice regarding politics. I started trying to help 5 years ago and in those 5 years, I've never seen so much deception, greed, lies, good ol' boy clubs, evil plans, abuse, etc. My eyes were truly open to the amount of evil in our country and our city. I had no idea.” It then goes on to describe the cost of that 5-year involvement. And the loss of friends, the breaking of relationships, friends walking away and saying rude things.And then she says “I've got friends involved in politics with me and we are tired, exhausted, crying, and ready to give up. We just can't do it anymore. Nobody not in the fight seems to care that there is a fight. Knocking at doors trying to tell neighbors, trying to get their church to help. We all get the same thing: ‘I don't want to know.' ‘I don't care about politics.' ‘I don't have time, I have a golf game to get to.' ‘Why are you doing this? These things aren't happening.' Pastor, how do we stay in the conflict?”Joe Rigney, “The bishop's untethered empathy,” January 24, 2025.Daniel Darling, “More dangerous than ever,” August 28, 2024.

Rafael Samuel rocketed to world-wide fame about six years ago with a simple lawsuit. He filed a lawsuit against his own parents for bringing him into the world without his consent. Now, six years later he admits that that was pretty much nothing more than a publicity stunt. He knew the judge would throw it out and it didn't have any real standing, but he wanted to raise issues that he believes need serious consideration. Samuel is an anti-natalist. Let's talk about another bad idea that flows out of a secular worldview. Grace Snell, “Extinction event,” February 1, 2025.

Over the last couple of weeks, have you noticed there has been a vibe change in America? Much of America is moving from despair to hope, from trepidation about the future to enthusiasm about where we're headed. Except, in some quarters, the movement is in the opposite direction. Let's talk about that. Daniel Darling, “Evangelicals in today's America,” January 27, 2025. Alex Kocman, Seize the Moment: 8 Ways Pastors Can Leverage Today's Freedom for Tomorrow's Mission, December 5,2024.

This week we were privileged again, to observe something that is relatively rare in the history of nations. We watched the peaceful transition of political power from one president to another. In a nation as divided as ours, it is remarkable to watch a president from one party voluntarily leave office and a president of a different party take the oath to be inaugurated. This is one of the marks of why America as political structure is exceptional in the history of nations. Sharon Dierberger & Emma Freire, “The Battle for America's Identity,” April 20, 2024. Larry Schweikart, “An Exception to the Rule,” July 15, 2023.

As we approach the inauguration a new presidential administration in just a few days, it might be worth while for us to examine the soul-searching process that progressives have undergone over the last ten weeks trying to figure out why Democrats were so overwhelmingly set back and defeated last November. The question is, have they learned any lessons? But there's another question: what lessons should we learn?

Welcome back to TruthCurrents! The holidays are passed. It's 2025, and it's time for us to look forward. A new year usually brings out resolutions because we've decided that there are things in our lives we want to make better because we're chasing a nebulous idea: I want to be happy. Well, we now have scientific research that tells us the secret recipe for being happy. Katelyn Walls Shelton, “Who are the happiest people in America?” December 16, 2024. Shane Morris, “Looking for happiness?” August 2, 2024.

Almost two weeks ago British lawmakers advanced a bill toward full engagement in Biritish society that legalizes euthanasia, or what is often referred to as medically-assisted suicide. The culture of death continues to make advances across the globe, particularly in western industrialized societies. How do we think about this biblically? Lauren Canterberry, “U.K. Parliament backs assisted suicide bill,” November 29, 2024. Brad Littlejohn, “Taking the easy way out?” November 27, 2024. Samuel D. James, “The ‘death of expertise,'” October 30, 2024.

As we enter a season with a lame-duck President, we find that President Biden is not just running out the clock. He is, in fact, desperately trying to accomplish things that he couldn't get done otherwise while he still has democratic support and the opportunity with the stroke of a pen to do what he thinks is ok, whatever that happens to be. How do we think biblically about his abuse of office? Carolina Lumetta, “Biden pardons his son Hunter after promising not to,” December 1, 2024. Tyler Arnold, “Biden Awards Medal of Freedom to Former Planned Parenthood Leader Cecile Richards,” November 22, 2024.

Should Christians ask for miracles? Should we demand a sign from God? What is the purpose of signs and miracles? This week on TruthCurrents, Pastor Michael finishes his conversation with Emilio Lartigue from the podcast Truth Matters about tough theological questions. Last week the topic was evil and the demonic. This week these two focus in on signs and wonders. TruthMatters Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK2MTFu4NfqwjKhOWJBUzEQ

What does the Bible say about Demons? Why hasn't God destroyed Satan and his demons yet? Why do bad things happen to Christians? This week on TruthCurrents, Pastor Michael continues his conversation with Emilio Lartigue from the podcast Truth Matters about tough theological questions about evil. Last week the topic was hell. This week these two focus in on Satan and demons. TruthMatters Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK2MTFu4NfqwjKhOWJBUzEQ

Have you ever wondered about hell? Why did God create hell? How can hell be a just punishment for sin? Who goes to hell and who avoids it? For the next few weeks, Pastor Michael and his friend, Emilio Lartigue from the podcast TruthMatters, are teaming up to discuss some pertinent questions about hell and related topics. Thanks for joining us on TruthCurrents.   Truth Matters Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK2MTFu4NfqwjKhOWJBUzEQ

The election was just this week, and we have about 70 days ahead of us of interim period before a new president takes the oath of office, and before a new congress takes their place. How should we approach this historical moment over coming weeks?

One of the reasons we do TruthCurrents here at Evergreen is because I believe we have the responsibility as Jesus followers to be intellectually solid enough in our thinking to be able to apply biblical truths to the currents events and circumstances of our generation. We need to be able to recognize truth and to identify it to live by it. We also need to be able to recognize what one writer calls “damnable lies,” that is, falsehoods that really do damaging and damning things to a culture. In this final week before an election I want us to consider some damnable lies that are circulating in our day. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. “This is how religious liberty dies,” October 28, 2024. Robert J. Pacienza, “It's time to sound the alarm,” October 18, 2024.

The Washington Times reported last week on a story out of the United Kingdom. A man by the name of Adam Smith-Connor, a 20-year Army veteran, was arrested for anti-social behavior. Taken to court, he was convicted and fined nearly $12,000 and given 2 years of probabtion. What was his crime? Well, Adam Smith-Connor was standing on a street where there was an abortion clinic, with his back turned from the abortion clinic, he closed his eyes, bowed his head, and clasped his hands while he prayed silently. When confronted, he was arrested, taken to court and convicted. Now if he had been standing in the same posture, in the same location, but thinking about a math problem, or how to get to his next location on Google Maps, he would have been fine. His crime was, he was talking to God. They decided that that was harmful to the abortion clinic, convicted him of anti-social behavior, and this case becomes a precedent for the first ever thought-crime conviction in the United Kingdom. He's guilty…of thinking thoughts of which the government does not approve. Well, that could nnever happen here, right? Well, let's talk. Ericka Andersen, “A warning for all Christian organizations,” October 17, 2024. Daniel R. Suhr, “Jailed for exercising your right to free expression?” October 10, 2024. Bethel McGrew, “Pope Francis strays from doctrine…again,” September 23, 2024.

Jesus Christ left to his church a charge that we call the Great Commission. He told us to go and as we go to make disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe everything that he commanded. But as human history seems to be coming to a conclusion, how do we accelerate the spread of the gospel to the nations in these last days. Let me tell you about what's happening in the global church. Justin Schell, “Lausanne at 50: Effective Mission Still Depends on Right Theology,” July 16, 2024.

Leftists in our generation love to say that the very topic of persecution of Christianity is nothing more than overblown misinformation because they say, Christianity is the oppressive force that makes up the patriarchy. In other words, you can't be oppressed if you're the oppressor. Well, a new report has a different take on this subject. Center for Religious Liberty, “Free to Believe? The Intensifying Intolerance Toward Christians in the West,” Family Research Council, 2024. Maria Baer, “Laws that should be broken,” October 3, 2024. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. “The empire strikes back,” October 3, 2024.

The publishing industry has a new popular theme: books related to the “threat to American democracy.” Turns out that, according to books like, “The False White Gospel,” “Confronting Christofascism,” “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy,” and “American Idolatry,” the common theme is: there is a danger to the destruction of American democracy and it is, horror of horrors, American conservative Christians, evangelicals. We are the extremists that the world needs to be warned about. Well, American democracy is in fact in danger, but let's talk about where the real problems are. Eric Teetsel, “Killing the filibuster to kill the unborn,” September 26, 2024. Miles Smith, “'Unburdened' by the Constitution,” August 28, 2024. Daniel Darling, “The extremists you warned us about,” August 20, 2024. Jordan J. Ballor, “The Supreme Court isn't broken,” August 15, 2024.

One of the story lines that keeps recurring during this election season is the incessant handwringing among the progressive left, worried about the fall of what they call “our democracy.” Pointing fingers, they actually make the claim that conservative evangelicals are the real threat to the survival to the American experiment. Well, let's think about that for a minute and process what it means for democracy to be in danger. Joe Rigney, “Avoiding ‘the progressive gaze' in the voting booth,” August 21, 2024. James R. Wood, “Against political Donatism,” August 9, 2024. Miles Smith, “Whose democracy?” July 24, 2024.

Summer is over and school is back in session, but not for Enoch Burke. Burke is a Christian who also happens to be a teacher in Westmeath, Ireland. He was fired from his job recently because he refused to endorse or affirm transgenderism. Because he refused to address students by their trans names or employ third person pronouns, he was suspended, and then after an investigation he was fired. Because he continued to show up for work after he was fired, he was eventually given a 400-day prison sentence for contempt of court. He had not been accused at any point of abusing students in any way. He had not been accused of offering inadequate instruction as a teacher. Nevertheless, Burke was told that his presence was “stressful” for students and staff and he posed a health and safety risk to the population of the school. And by the way, he was also fined €200,000. Can we please talk about free speech? Timon Cline, “School's out for ‘blasphemers,'” September 4, 2024. Andrew T. Walker, “Why free speech should be a Christian priority,” September 4, 2024. Erin Hawley, “Censoring the truth,” August 29, 2024.

A few weeks ago on X, formerly Twitter, there was an account managed for the Sesame Street character Elmo. A post was made on that account that simply said this, “Elmo is just checking in. How's everybody doing?” That message received over 200 million views, prompting thousands of people to unburden themselves. They told Elmo about their broken relationships, about their career and financial struggles, about other personal problems that have created sadness in their lives. There's a lot of unhappiness in America. Even President Joe Biden chimed in telling us all to be there for one another, to help our neighbors, and, most importantly, ask for help when we need it. In other words, if you're sad, talk to someone besides Elmo. Here's the problem, if you're sad, you need to be careful who you talk to because you're not going to get the same advice from everybody. Adam M. Carrington, “The deadly message of the ‘death capsule,'” August 26, 2024. Carl R. Trueman, “Assisted suicide and the happiness imperative,” March 18, 2024.

Despite the Dobbs decision, which reversed Roe vs. Wade after a generation, it turns out that right now is a tough time to be a pro-life voter in America. Every time abortion has appeared on a state-level ballot in recent days, it's lost. Turns out abortion is popular in America and our politicians are running for cover. What is a pro-life voter supposed to do? R. Albert Mohler Jr. “Trump and abortion,” September 3, 2024. Andrew T. Walker, “On abortion, Trump is his own worst enemy,” August 29, 2024. Leah Savas, “Democrats' radical abortion policy playbook,” August 27, 2024. Christina Grube, “Vance signals further GOP retreat on life protections,” August 26, 2024.

When I was a boy I used to laugh at the old men who would sit around and bemoan the fact that they miss the good ol' days, the way things used to be. And I made a decision when I was young that I was never going to be that guy, that I was never going to complain about missing the past. And yet, now I find myself in a position where there are some things from the past that I miss, some things that I used to have that I don't have anymore. One of those things is the ability to have a conversation with someone who disagrees with me without starting world war 3. How do we function in a culture that refuses to listen? Joseph Backholm, “Reality, anyone?” July 10, 2024. Andrew T. Walker, “No, it's still not right,” May 15, 2024. Bethel McGrew, “How high the cost for transgender ideology?” March 21, 2024.