I have a feeling that, when we’re all standing in front of Jesus having our stewardship of His resources evaluated, the guy who worked in the food bank is going to fare a lot better than the guy who argued about secondary doctrine all day on social media.

Wait until they figure out that “pickleball” is my MKUltra activation word.

UPDATE: Covenant Baptist Church and Flooding in Asheville

Worst yard project ever.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ — Matthew 7:22-23

Every bit of first and second hand info I’m getting from western NC and eastern TN is very bad. This should be all we’re talking about right now. Pray for those cut off from help.

I was at the home of members of our church today, who had the same thing happen. It dominoed around the back of their house and one got the corner of the house. Other members lost homes and cars. There’s downed trees on pretty much every street. Some roads are just now opening.

Over the last few days on this app, you could more easily see who has a sense of basic humanity versus who is here to feed a dopamine habit, through getting angry at a screen. That line cuts across all tribes.

Jesus already won, and there’s nothing that can change that. The only thing that ultimately matters is sharing the good news with others. Everything else is infinitely less important. Stop freaking out over tertiary issues. Chill out. Be kind.

Richard Shaw's Dagger John (1977) was a great narrative biography of Bishop John Hughes. It's always instructive to see that every era has its church figures who compulsively take the bait and engage in constant squabbles. Next, I'll be reading John Loughery's Dagger John (2018).

Think about how your life, and the lives of others, would change for the better if you took all that time and energy you're expending on being angry at a screen, over things you have no control over, and diverted it into helping real people in your immediate vicinity.

It's been a long week, but pickleball is back on tonight!

As a SBC member, it’s bonkers to me that there are no standards whatsoever for public conduct among pastors. You can be a raving, maniacal lunatic, with most of your peers agreeing that you wholly fail the 1 Timothy 3 test, but, as long as you cut a check, you’re good to go.

Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetent malice.

We’re only a few years from AI generated photo/video/audio being indistinguishable from reality, and it’ll be deployed in the same manner as below. You want “proof” immigrants are eating pets? You’ll get it. Now is a good time to stop getting angry over things on your phone.

I'm sticking to my decision to not write about "Reformed" CN anymore, and I suggest you do the same. Name-brand guys are down to defending actual Nazi propaganda and Holocaust denial. Let them relegate themselves to obscurity, and let their sympathizers expose themselves.

My Substack dedicated to refuting Christian Nationalism is now a static repository as I transition to the role of generic history nerd writing on past religious conflict in America. My first planned piece will be on the fight over Bibles in public schools… in the 19th century.