When Religion Becomes Obsolete, Christ Does Not

By Russ Lackey | Mark Mattes

01/20/26

19mins

When Religion Becomes Obsolete, Christ Does Not

American religion did not become optional because the gospel failed. It became optional because religion slowly redefined itself around usefulness.

Bradley Gray

01/19/26

Behold the Lamb

The Passover wasn’t just Israel’s story; it’s ours.

Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies

Steven Paulson

01/16/26

Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies

God makes us pure saints by planting us back in the earth we imagined we needed to escape.

All Articles

Chad Bird

01/05/17

Christ's Bride Doesn't Need Botox

Hers is not a beauty of breathtaking cathedrals, stained glass, or towering arches, but of a body.

Joel Hess

01/05/17

The Church is not a Hospital for Sinners, It's a Morgue for the Dead

It is the strangest of morgues—people arrive dead as doornails and leave alive.

Chad Bird

01/03/17

Baptism Foreshadowed in Old Testament Narratives

Old Testament narratives foreshadowed the gifts that our Father gives us in baptism.

Bror Erickson

12/29/16

A Bridegroom of Blood

The arrangement was made with Abraham when God claimed for Himself all of his being, and put the seal of His promise upon the most personal member of his anatomy.

Donavon Riley

12/27/16

Where There Is No Gospel...

Can one still find a church that teaches that Christianity, and the Christian life, can be summed up as: "We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone?"

Joel Hess

12/22/16

Where Is Jesus?

In his Gospel account, Luke challenges us to play "Where is Jesus?"

Bonnie Petroschuk

12/07/16

In Our Time of Need

Have you ever grown despondent from trying so hard to stop behaving in certain destructive ways, but always failing?

Larry D. Hughes

12/07/16

"God Said, 'Take'"

The devil is effective with this attack because it calls out all the things a Christian sinner experiences as simultaneous sinner and saint.

Chad Bird

12/03/16

Two Ways to Launch Your Career in the Self-Salvation Business

Sometimes we try be the bad god, sometimes the good god, oftentimes a freaky hybrid of both. The result is the same: Jesus the savior just gets in our way.

Jessica Thompson

11/30/16

Forget Not All His Benefits

I have the easiest time remembering all the good things I have done. How I was kind in the face of anger.

Chad Bird

11/30/16

Gospel Phobia

If the devil took over a church, I suspect it would be bursting at the seams every Sunday, with smiling faces, clean noses, straight morals, conservative voting, institutional fidelity

Bradley Gray

11/28/16

Green Jackets & White Robes

I don’t know much about golf, but I do know that The Masters is like the Super Bowl for golfers.

1517 is a Christian non-profit (501(c)3) multi-media organization. Our mission is to declare and defend the Good News that we are forgiven and free on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus alone.

1517 grants permission for our free online resources to be printed, photocopied, and otherwise used freely for private and church use. We require that authorship and source (1517.org) are referenced and maintained. These resources may not be sold or included in any publications for sale.

Articles

Podcasts

Scripture

Books

Events

Music

Videos

Courses

All Articles