The birth of a child produces wonder, astonishment, even adoration. The birth of Jesus was no different. Yet, biblical Christianity adds that He was God in human form entering our history. As Chuck Swindoll summarizes: “On a rescue mission designed by His Father before time began, Jesus silently slipped into our world, breathed our air, felt our pain, became acquainted with our sorrows, suffered and died for our sins . . . to show us the way out of our darkness and into His glorious light.”

In this chapter, Peter details the message of hope centered on Jesus keeping His promises to return for us.

Many times I have used this quote from G.K. Chesterton: “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing; they then become capable of believing in anything.” From Chesterton’s quote I am choosing to use “men” here as gender-specific—males in American culture today. There is so much confusion within our culture about what it means to be a man. As David French reports, the very definition of “masculinity” betrays a crisis.

Peter levels four major charges against the “heretics” threatening the church. Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up Share via MySpace share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Bookmark in Browser Tell a friend

The past three decades have produced an economy in America that is indeed the envy of the world. The Economist summarizes the financial and economic dynamic of the US economy: “In 1990 it accounted for about two-fifths of the GDP of the G7. Today it makes up half. Output per person is now about 30% higher than in Western Europe and Canada, and 60% higher than in Japan—gaps that have roughly doubled since 1990. Mississippi may be America’s poorest state, but its hard-working residents earn, on average, more than Brits, Canadians or Germans. Lately, China too has gone backwards. Having closed in rapidly on America in the years before the pandemic, its nominal GDP has slipped from about three-quarters of America’s in 2021 to two-thirds today.”

Peter assures his readers that God will deal with the false teachers in judgment and rescue those who belong to Him from His wrath.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has redrawn the balance of power in the Middle East and indeed in the world. Here is a summary of its triumphant war against savage theocratic terrorists

This week is Thanksgiving and it is appropriate in this edition of Issues in Perspective, to focus on Thanksgiving. To that end, I want to share a perspective on the Thanksgiving hymn, “We Gather Together.” Melanie Kirkpatrick of the Wall Street Journal offers an instructive history about this traditional hymn.

The 2024 election is, thankfully, behind us as a nation. We affirm the truth of Psalm 115:3: “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” [ESV] The local election results, the various state election results, and, of course, the national results are a demonstration of that mysterious tension found throughout Scripture of human responsibility and divine sovereignty: At the presidential level, Donald Trump was elected president because the people voted for him; Donald Trump is also president because God chose him to be president.

It is now conventional wisdom to argue that America is more polarized as a society in 2024 than it has been in its history, save the decade of the 1850s right before the Civil War. Why? There is no simple answer to this important question, but it is quite important as Christians that we seek to understand the nature of this polarization. The columnist and recent convert to Christianity, David Brooks, offers a most helpful analysis and overview of our polarized society.