Paul completes his discussion about gender roles in the church and lays the foundation for choosing Elders.

In mid-August 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order reducing federal recommendations for routine childhood immunizations from 17 down to 11. The directive also proposes splitting the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shot into separate individual doses and spreading visits out over time, while repeating unproven claims linking vaccines to autism.

Paul clarifies the role of women in the local church.

The phrase “a new world of counterhistory” was popularized by historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. He uses it to describe an era where ideological rigidness causes people to reject both past and present factual truths if those facts conflict with their chosen political or cultural orthodoxy.

Paul reminds the church to pray for those in authority over us, so that the church can do this job of making disciples.

Michael Keller, the founding and senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church–Lincoln Square, did his PhD dissertation on computational linguistics as applied to historical theology. As a pastor with his unique graduate training, Keller is well-equipped to help us understand how AI affects all aspects of the human condition. I recently read a lengthy article he wrote on AI in which he related this technology to identity formation and the larger identity crisis so pervasive in America. It is remarkably insightful and worthwhile. In this Perspective, I will summarize salient aspects of the article and then close with a series of conclusions drawn from Scripture.

The blockbuster movie of the 2026 summer is unquestionably Christoper Nolan’s The Odyssey. Over the years I have enjoyed Nolan’s films, for they are not only entertaining; they are provocative and thought-provoking. For example, Nolan’s Joker in the Batman movies is a classic nihilist who simply ”enjoys seeing things burn.” Interstellar was a disturbing movie because it focused on questions of life’s meaning and purpose as well as the stewardship responsibility of humanity. His film Oppenheimer caused me to read Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s masterful, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. But his Odyssey is challenging in other ways.

Paul closes out his instruction to Timothy about false teachers and begins his instruction about the duties of the local church.

In 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the nationally sanctioned constitutional right of an abortion and in effect making it a state issue. The strategy of the pro-life movement was to prohibit abortion in conservative states and work for abortion restrictions in other states. But abortion pills now threaten that strategy. Nearly two out of three abortions in America are “chemical abortions.” They are especially popular in states that prohibit abortion clinics.

Paul instructs Timothy to guard against the false teachers in his church by focusing on sound doctrine.