The Battle Belongs to the Lord
By Steve Kruschel
08/17/26
17mins

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

As Jesus hung on the cross there would be no last second escape. No Greek goddess would swoop in to rescue him. He suffered alone. And yet even in that suffering he declared his victory on the spiritual battlefield to be your victory.
God, kill my enemy!
Russ Lackey
Russ Lackey
08/14/26

God, kill my enemy!

God can handle grief, rage, and cries for justice. God can handle the victim who cannot yet forgive. God can handle the prayer that comes out jagged and wounded. The good news is that God is holy and merciful enough to handle all our prayers.
The Legacy of Martin Luther's Father, Hans Luther
Amy Mantravadi
Amy Mantravadi
08/12/26

The Legacy of Martin Luther's Father, Hans Luther

But while scholars are right to focus on the bond between Martin and Hans, the evidence of Martin’s own words suggests their relationship may not have been as troubled as some suppose. For Hans Luther was not a cartoon villain but a normal human being attempting to make his way in the world and raise his children to the best of his ability.

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Chad Bird
Chad Bird
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Bows, Arrows, and Baptismal Fonts: The Significance of the Rainbow in the Bible

The instrument of execution has been changed into an emblem of peace--a hawk become a dove, a sword hammered into a plowshare. Now every time God sees His bow, He who never forgets will nevertheless remember His oath never to draw it again to punish the earth by a cosmopolitan flood.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
05/12/14

What's So Wrong with a Golden Calf? What Happens When We Make Our Own Ways to God

So the law was shattered, our icon was becoming urine and dung inside our guts, and lots of bloody corpses littered our camp. All this because we decided that it was okay for us to choose how we approach God.
Mark Pierson
Mark Pierson
05/09/14

Burial of Jesus and Bart Ehrman

If you haven't seen this video clip yet (and even if you have), it's worth watching (again) regardless of your taste for Colbert's style of humor. In it, he trounces the typically smug fundamentalist-turned-liberal Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, who is so used to being fawned over by members of the media that Colbert's defiance leaves him at a near loss for words.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
05/07/14

The Phone Number that Could Tell My Life's Story: A Mother's Day Reflection

Perhaps a phone number seems an odd thing to get sentimental about, but I can’t help myself. You see, if that number, and the phone connected to it, could speak, they would tell my life’s story.
Steve Byrnes
Steve Byrnes
05/05/14

Christian Drinking: Wine that Overflows

The wine of communion is a gift from God and the blood of Christ we receive at the rail an inebriant that encourages and frees us.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
05/01/14

The Blind, Demented Woman Who Introduced Me to Myself

As I peer back over the years between the me-then and the me-now, I see one striking similarity. I am always a man who forgets who he really is, because I’m always focused on becoming the man I want others to think I am.
05/01/14

More and Religious Liberty (Part 3)

Which makes the question of prudence worth asking again: given the recent and strong Catholic attempts to defend a broad religious liberty, why all the implicit and explicit swipes at their potential Protestant allies?
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
04/26/14

Living the Victorious Christian Life at McDonald’s

I sin more in thirty minutes than those of the “victorious Christian life” supposedly sin in thirty years.
04/25/14

Place, Vocation, and Horse-Shoes

An understanding and appreciation of the goodness (and given-ness) of place and family, and the vocations attending each, can of course be taught and learned in a classroom or by means of a book.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
04/22/14

Why I Don't Want to Go Back in Time Anymore

The thing is, not only is fixing our past impossible; who’s to say we wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes? In fact, who’s to say we wouldn’t make matters even worse?
RJ Grunewald
RJ Grunewald
04/14/14

God Makes Pizza

A couple of weeks ago I ordered pizza for dinner. I didn’t pray, “Lord, give me pizza.” I called the store. The pizza did not drop down from heaven at my doorstep like manna from heaven.
Jeff Mallinson
Jeff Mallinson
04/10/14

Theology of the Cross and Gardens

For all our best efforts—political and evangelistic—our approach should always be through the Theology of the Cross. Our gardens are still bloody, but the blood of the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world will one day restore peace to our gardens.
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