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

Paul Dunk
Paul Dunk
12/12/16

Grace Came Down

God coming to us at Christmas encapsulates the essence of Christian faith: we don't make ourselves strong and then work our way up to a strong God.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/11/16

Oh Happy Fall Into Sin!

He created us with an eye on recreating us. He made humanity in his image because one day he would assume that image. The Creator would become a creature while remaining Creator.
Joel Hess
Joel Hess
12/09/16

Spending Advent in God’s Winter Garden

So it is with my little garden as well; dead, so it would seem. Nothing. Barren.
Bonnie Petroschuk
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
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
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
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
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
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
11/08/16

The Hard Reset: Rediscovering God's Word

It's easy to forget that today, just like then, most people who laud Luther publicly as a reformer, revolutionary, and so on, secretly reject his teaching because it's too much to take.
Scott Keith
Scott Keith
11/03/16

Philip Melanchthon: The Method of the “Loci Communes” - 1526

by Philip Melanchthon, translated by Scott L. Keith, Ph.D.; edited by Kurt Winrich
Rod Rosenbladt
Rod Rosenbladt
10/31/16

What Drove Luther's Hammer?

This evening we will together take a very abbreviated look at what led Luther down the long road to the discovery of the Gospel.
Steven A. Hein
Steven A. Hein
10/31/16

Human Depravity: The Doctrine on which Justification Stands or Falls

Lose trust in the free grace of the righteousness of Christ alone, and the holiness of the Church and all in her is lost.
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