The Original Sin of Preaching: The Constant Craving for a Useful God in Pulpit and Pew
By Magnus Persson
03/25/26
12mins

The Original Sin of Preaching: The Constant Craving for a Useful God in Pulpit and Pew

God is not a tool in our hands. He does not exist to serve our goals, our metrics, or our platforms.
Even Chuck Norris Needed a Savior
Russ Lackey
Russ Lackey
03/23/26

Even Chuck Norris Needed a Savior

The gospel isn’t for the strong but people who know they aren’t.
Post-Denominational Lutheranism
John W. Hoyum
John W. Hoyum
03/20/26

Post-Denominational Lutheranism

One great thing about our post-denominational age is that it has opened up opportunities to make common cause with other Lutherans who, despite their differences and eccentricities, can agree on some of the most important things.

All Articles

Ken Sundet Jones
Ken Sundet Jones
11/02/18

Election Hacking

Divine election hacking happens with the proposal that God’s Word is irrelevant and powerless, weak and impotent.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
11/02/18

The Impossibility of Salvation

The salvation of wretched sinners by an omni-holy and forever-righteous God is, by all accounts, a categorical impossibility.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/01/18

Waking Up as a Dragon

Thank God for heroes: they inspire us to be better, to help others, to live and work for the good of our race. And thank God for villains, too: they incarnate our shadow side, our nocturnal soul, the dragon within us that must incessantly have its throat slit on the altar of repentance.
Sam P. Schuldheisz
Sam P. Schuldheisz
10/30/18

The Tolkien Option: Consolation and Eucatastrophe

Consolation is the breath of life filling our lungs, hearts, and minds with the fresh, incorruptible air of the new creation.
Ryan Couch
Ryan Couch
10/29/18

Forgiveness Is Finished

I’ve had a lot of nasty things done to me in my 43 years of life. Many of which were done by church people while we were worshipping and serving Jesus together.
Haroldo Camacho
Haroldo Camacho
10/29/18

The Almost Forgiven

Since Adam, we are all illegal and undocumented aliens in God’s country.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/27/18

The Reformation, Cancerous Tumors, and a 7th c. Prophet

What do Habakkuk and Israel have? Nothing but the word of God. Nothing but the promise of God. Nothing but God himself. They have the vision that Yahweh gives, the words of hope he utters. And that, amazingly, is enough.
Mark Jasa
Mark Jasa
10/25/18

Cutting Off Our Sin

But there is something far more serious and important: being reconciled to our Father in Heaven.
Joel Hess
Joel Hess
10/24/18

The Gospel is Only for Consumers

Perhaps the answer to creating a healthier church and a more invested people is found in preaching more clearly the full freeing Gospel.
Erick Sorensen
Erick Sorensen
10/23/18

Self-Esteem?

What do you think of when you hear the term “self-esteem”?
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/22/18

When We're Mad at God, How Do We Pray?

It’s by no means an ivory-tower theological question. It’s as real as the weight we’ve lost from the stress of our divorce. As real as the bottle of antidepressants on our nightstand. We believe in him. We love him. But every voice inside us and every shred of evidence outside us points to his abandonment of us in our hour of deepest need.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
10/22/18

A Christian’s Satanic Comfort

The devil isn’t a popular subject nowadays. The argument is made that we’ve progressed as a culture.
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