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Blog Orientation for New Readers and Old Friends

I try to run this article every so often to orient new followers (and old friends who haven’t yet explored all the nooks and crannies of the blog) to the various features and information available here. I hope you’ll find these resources helpful.

Welcome Tab If you haven’t had a chance to read the Welcome & FAQs- Start Here tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page, it’s a good way to get acclimated to the blog quickly. You’ll learn some fast facts about me, my comment and e-mail policies, and more.

Comments, E-mails, Social Media Messages If you’ve sent me an e-mail, submitted a comment on one of my articles, or sent me a private message on social media and I haven’t responded to the message or published the comment, this is why: E-mail, Messages, and Blog Comments Policy (Plus additional helpful information)

The search bar is your friend. If you want to know my take on something or whether I’ve written on a particular person or topic, the search bar is the best place to start and much faster than e-mailing or messaging me. The search bar is located at the very bottom of every blog page. There’s also a tab labeled Search Bar in the blue menu bar at the top of the blog.

The tabs at the top are your friends, too. The tabs in the blue menu bar at the top of the blog are designed to provide quick information to many of the questions I’m most frequently asked.

“What do you think of Teacher X?” Probably the largest volume of questions I get is readers wanting to know my take on particular teachers and ministries. I would love to be able to respond immediately to each one, but it takes a tremendous amount of time to research these folks. Because I know you need answers right away, and because every Christian should know how to research teachers for herself (you should never just blindly take anyone’s word {including mine} that someone is a false teacher), if you can’t find the information you’re looking for on a certain teacher at the Popular False Teachers & Unbiblical Trends tab at the top of this page or by using the search bar, I’ve written this article to help you research teachers for yourself: Is She a False Teacher? 7 Steps to Figuring it Out on Your Own.

“Discernment is for doody-heads!” I understand it’s not easy to be told that a pastor/teacher/author you’ve grown to love is a false teacher. I’ve been in that position myself. But Christians are people of the Book. That means we measure everything by Scripture, not by our personal preferences, feelings, or opinions. I’ve written numerous articles on teachers and ministries which can be found under the Popular False Teachers & Unbiblical Trends tab (and, just a few of the many awesome teachers out there are under the Recommended Bible Teachers tab). I don’t warn against false teachers because I’m a hater. I do it because it’s Scriptural and because I love the Christian women who are being victimized – often without even knowing it – by false teachers. I tend to hear the same objections to my discernment articles over and over and over again. Answering the Opposition- Responses to the Most Frequently Raised Discernment Objections answers, from Scripture, the objections people raise to my discernment articles. (I don’t answer e-mails or publish comments that are answered by this article.)

Church Ladies Complementarianism can be difficult to navigate in a feminist world and an increasingly feminist church. You might find my Rock Your Role article series helpful, since it deals with the Scriptures governing women’s roles in the church. I keep Rock Your Role FAQs updated, so long time readers might be interested in giving that one a re-read.

Searching for a new church? It can be really hard to find a doctrinally sound church these days, and I’d like to do everything I can to help. Check out the Searching for a new church? tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page. You’ll find tons of resources on what to look for in a good church, several church search engines, and churches recommended by readers.

Podcast Need something to listen to? Amy Spreeman and I have a weekly podcast called A Word Fitly SpokenClick the Podcast tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page to check it out.

Conferences/Events Want to see if I’ll be speaking at an event near you? Check out the Calendar of Events at my Speaking Engagements tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page for more information.

Speaking Engagements/Podcasts I’d love to come speak at your Christian women’s conference, to the ladies of your church, or on your Christian podcast. Check out my Speaking Engagements tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page for more information.

Let’s Get Social Join me on social media! All of my direct links are at the Contact and Social Media tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page. I’m currently on Facebook, X, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. I’m most active on X, least active on YouTube. (I maintain accounts at MeWe and Gab in the event I’m kicked off Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t interact or post on those platforms any more.) At the moment, I have no plans to get on any other platforms. New ones are popping up every day, and it takes an enormous amount of time to maintain the ones I’m already on.

Financial Support I don’t receive any income or compensation from blogging. But if you or your family have been blessed by my work and you’d like to be a blessing to me and my family in return on an ongoing, occasional, or one time basis, please click here.

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Thank you!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to my ministry fundraiser last week!

I did my best to send a thank you note to everyone who donated via PayPal (If I missed anyone- THANK YOU bunches!!!), but some of my platforms don’t have a convenient way to send a message, so I thought I’d do it here.

Thank you so much to my new patrons over on Patreon, as well as to those who increased their monthly giving. You are such a blessing to me each month!

Thank you to those who donated via CashApp. Your generosity and kindness are much appreciated!

And finally, thank you to my anonymous follower who clicked this little button at the top of the blog…

…and covered my platform fees for next year. What a blessing to me and to all of my readers!

Thanks also to all who shared such kind birthday wishes and encouraging comments on social media and the blog.

You are all such a blessing to me, and it is my pleasure to serve you in Christ.

Second Coming, Uncategorized

How to Stop Arguing about Christian Nationalism in One Easy Step

“We lose down here!”

“You’re just a bunch of Boomers with a pessimistic eschatology!”

It’s been going on for months on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter). The post-mil “We’re sick of the depravity in America. Let’s build a biblical society” Christian Nationalists against the pre/a-mil “Preaching the gospel is the only way you get a biblical society, and the signs of the time seem to indicate that that biblical society is not going to happen before Christ’s return” tribe.

Is it

“Change the structure and you’ll have an environment conducive to changing hearts.”

or is it

“The only way to truly change the structure is for people’s hearts to change first.”?

Yes. No. Both. And at this point, I’m tempted to add, “Who cares?”.

If you opened this article looking forward to finding out which side of this argument I take, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. I’m not on either side. I’m on the third side of the argument, which is to stop arguing about it regardless of which side you’re on.

I have friends and loved ones – good, solid, doctrinally sound brothers and sisters – on both sides of the argument. I’m sick of the tension. Sick of each side treating the other like the enemy, idiots, traitors, slanderers. Sick of feeling forced to choose sides. And I’m not going to do it. And I don’t think I’m alone in this “third way”. Not by a long shot.

I have to wonder, were there variegated incarnational theology streams in Israel prior to Christ’s first coming? Did they sit around in the city gate arguing about how much longer it would take for the Messiah to get here? His station in life? The exact timing, order, and nature of the way He would set His people free? Exactly how He would accomplish all of that?

Maybe there were, and maybe they did. And how many of them do you think got all of the details exactly right? My guess is zero. And even if there was some champ of an Israelite who managed to accurately predict exactly how, and in what order everything related to Jesus’ first coming would happen, what did he win? We certainly don’t see God giving him a trophy, or “I told you so” rights, or even mentioning his name and his amazing feat anywhere in Scripture.

Arguing over Christ’s second coming is no less folly.

Can you hold an eschatological position? Sure! Study the Word like there’s no tomorrow. Draw biblical conclusions. Knock yourself out. But at the end of the day, the most any of us can say is, “Based on my best good faith reading of Scripture, I think it’s going to happen like this…”. If God has veiled from our eyes something as simple as the day and hour of Christ’s return, is it not arrogance to think we’ve got all the more complex details figured out definitively?

Nobody knows with 100% certainty exactly how it’s going to happen, brothers and sisters. And we all need to humble ourselves, admit that, and stop beating each other over the head with our educated guesses.

How? There’s just one very simple, very biblical step.

Daily bread

Daily manna

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.

And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you…’

This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

God’s mercies are new every morning.

You can probably think of other verses and stories that fit this biblical motif of trusting and obeying God today and not fretting about the future.

The daily manna was actually a test of Israel’s obedience and trust in God on a daily basis. If they gathered more than they needed for that day, they failed the test and God disciplined their disobedience.

Only for the Sabbath were they allowed to look to the future and gather manna one day in advance.

It’s not an accident that “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” is immediately followed by “Give us this day our daily bread.”.

“Tomorrow will be anxious for itself.”

Want to stop arguing about Christian Nationalism? Get up every day, love the Lord, and walk in obedience to Him in whatever He gives you to do that day. God opens up an opportunity for you to run for office? Go for it. You have a chance to share the gospel with someone? Do it. Pray. Work. Worship. Study the Word. Love and serve your family and your church.

Stop trying to figure out the next five or five thousand years. Live faithfully today, and glorify God to the best of your ability.

And get up tomorrow and do it all over again.

Stop trying to figure out the next five or five thousand years. Live faithfully today, and glorify God to the best of your ability. And get up tomorrow and do it all over again.

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New Year, New Look!

Time to spiff up the joint a little!

I love this amazing new branding work my friend Amanda created for me for the blog and my social media platforms. She does beautiful work, and if you have any branding or marketing needs – and if you love supporting Christian-owned small businesses – I hope you’ll connect with Amanda Hess Marketing on Facebook or Instagram.

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Announcement

Hi readers-

I just wanted to let you know about something…

My dad passed on Saturday (January 6) after a difficult hospitalization that began on Christmas Day. He was 80 and his health had been gradually declining for quite some time, so it was not completely unexpected. An Army Ranger and Vietnam vet, he served this country proudly. My parents were married 58 years on December 29.

I’m taking a short break from blogging and podcasting while I tend to family responsibilities.

The Lord is sustaining us, and your prayers are appreciated.

I took the photo above yesterday at the state veterans cemetery where my dad’s remains will be interred. The grounds are beautiful, and some of the wreaths placed by Wreaths Across America were still out.