Most churches die of self-inflicted wounds. Usually the same folks inflict wounds on those who are trying to serve and then take down the body itself.

I'm trying to think of times in church history where the church allied with the state and the faith was made better for it. Here's what I've come up with:

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Charles Durning was among the thousands of Americans who stormed the beaches of Normandy. Today, we honor his legacy by sharing the Purple Heart recipient’s powerful firsthand account from the 2004 National Memorial Day Concert. #MemDayPBS #DDay #CharlesDurning #WWII

They continue to forget (not care)that to any abuse victim anywhere who paid attn to our fight for protections in the SBC, these words are effectively silencing & traumatizing again Many are not believed, now a denom. is shouting fake, contrived, reckless,fabricated Silencing

My book about "righteous anger" and what to do with it... is now only $8 on Amazon. It's called Unoffendable. Great for group study and discussion, too, I think. EVERYONE can relate to this, and the approach is counter-intuitive.

And it not being easy is why the standard procedure is to refer it to the ExecComm to review it and make sure it makes sense. Bypassing that standard procedure is a bad idea.

Fascinating example of how social media works today… (LONG POST) Saw a display in the BHM airport honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. Like 99.999% of Americans, I’m Team 🇺🇸… especially over Nazis. Posted it. Most responses were what you’d expect likes, RTs, patriotism. Then the algorithm shifted. Started seeing a wave of replies saying: “Tuskegee success was a myth. Just PR. DEI BS” The argument? They had fewer aerial kills than other escort groups, so therefore it was all BS. So I paused and did a real deep dive looked for actual historical data from the official Air Force accounts and historians. Here’s what I found…. They were right. They did have less aerial kills the other fighter groups. However….. The SAME data being used to discredit them tells a completely different story if you read the whole reports. Yes, they had fewer kills. But here’s the data that they omitted: Bombers lost under escort (same theater, same aircraft): • Tuskegee Airmen: 27 • Other groups: ~49, 68, 88 That’s not spin. That’s the mission. Escort fighters weren’t there to run up kill counts, they were there to protect bombers. And by that measure, the 332nd was one of the most effective groups in the war. Why did they have less aerial kills? Was it because they were less skilled? Historians pointed out the 332nd was known for staying disciplined and stuck with the bombers while others groups tended to often peel off chasing kills. So both things can be true: • Fewer kills • More bombers protected But here’s the social media lesson: Same report. Same data. One side cherry-picks “lowest kills” = “they weren’t good” But they “conveniently” left out the part where they protected bombers better than anyone. What I observed? 2 things. 1) Most of the accounts pushing the “myth” angle? Burner accounts, fake names…,people that hid behind a vague account names 2) Setting the record straight wasn’t the goal of the “myth” posters, it was for them to get their personal beliefs off without the actual information they claimed to have used. Anyway… Team America 🇺🇸🫡

Beware, Boys You can get some area of ethics correct—say, gender or sexuality—and still miss the Kingdom of God. The scribes (theologians) and Pharisees in the New Testament were correct about some things in the Law, but many dishonored Christ while others blasphemed the Spirit.

Dear Hollywood, please read the room. Give us wholesome stories that call out the best in us and draw our attention upward. Use all your creativity to help us think about the timeless struggles & joys of the human condition. You will make more money & more good in the world.

🚨 COOLEST GIVEAWAY EVER! 📜 I am giving away one of @WesleyLHuff ’s P52 New Testament Manuscript Replicas. Entering is simple. Just… • Follow @JoshuaBarzon & @WesleyLHuff • Like & Share the post • Tag someone below I’ll pick the winner a week from today on 4/17/26.

When the church caesarizes the Messiah, it loses the gospel. When it messianizes Caesar, it gains a tyrant.

“Had he died in a more merciful, less deliberately dehumanising way, it would not be possible to see in his death the sum of all horrors.” @flemingrut on the theological implications of the fact that Jesus was not just executed, but crucified.

I still believe. I’ve had countless prayers that weren’t answered the way I hoped. Things withheld that I wanted in life so badly. Seen brokenness that never fixed. But I’ll tell you what I have seen. I’ve seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And I’ll tell you what I did get. I got Jesus. I realize again and again that the reason the scriptures still jump from the page with the life of the Holy Spirit so often when I read is because God saw to it that I’d need them. Require them. That they’d be my food and the living water of the Holy Spirit, my drink. This was to his good pleasure. I still believe. I believe his nearness is my good and his presence is my ecstatic joy. I have many regrets. Entrusting my life into the scarred hands of Jesus is not one of them. You can trust him.

I was thinking, instead of moving clocks forward an hour at 2 am on Sunday, what if we moved clocks forward an hour at 4 pm on Monday?

Day 59 of 2026:

Ten Religious Leadership Characteristics to Avoid Over the last 50 years I watched many religious leaders rise, and I watched many fall. Some I knew personally, some were acquaintances, others arose at a distance. Here are 10 leadership characteristics a Christian will avoid. 🧵

Three things the true Church of the one true God may never become: 1. An office of the State 2. A refuge for heresy 3. An accomplice of evil In each area—a Church State, diminishing Christ, justifying sin—beware any compromise! “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

If you’ve been listening to the Bible this year instead of reading it and feel a little sheepish, like somehow it doesn’t count, remember this: 95% of the early Christians encountered scripture this way. The vast majority were illiterate and had to have it read to them.

“It shall be called the Super Bowl and will be a huge national event played deep into the night on Sunday when everyone must go into work on Monday.” “Why not play it on Saturday?” “Nobody knows.”

We all know the halftime show we all really want. Do it, @NFL