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

Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
12/26/23

Justification for Sinners and Beggars

Paul has zero patience for the gospel of God to be called into question, especially when the ones questioning it are the ones who should’ve known better.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
11/06/23

No Other Gospel

Any message other than "Christ for you" is not good news.
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
10/30/23

The Stinging Lessons of Matthew 22

Matthew 22 sees Jesus address Jewish legal debates. In the process, he makes disticntions between the Law and Gospel.
Wade Johnston
Wade Johnston
10/27/23

When God Gets Your Guts

How the ancient view of "guts" is a lively metaphor of promise
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
10/17/23

Calculus of Forgiveness"

Christ reshapes what forgivness means and why it's important
Grant Klembara
Grant Klembara
08/10/23

What C.S. Lewis Thought About Aliens

Lewis takes us to the planets to satisfy our cravings for spiritual adventure, which, as he says, “sends our imaginations off the Earth,” in the first place.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
08/04/23

Faith That Exceeds Flannel-Graphs: An Excerpt from Finding God in the Darkness

This is an excerpt from “Finding God in the Darkness: Hopeful Reflections from the Pits of Depression, Despair, and Disappointment” by Bradley Gray (1517 Publishing, 2023).
Joshua Miller
Joshua Miller
07/21/23

Idolatry in Living Color

We may not all be mass-murdering Nazis. But we all have the same root sin that causes the most egregious criminal activity on the face of the earth. We all have the desire to be our own God.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
06/27/23

Ice Baths for Lost Sheep

The Parable of the Lost Sheep bursts through the confines of convention and demands that we embrace the messiness of life and the unpredictable ways in which God's grace and forgiveness operates.
Gerhard Forde
Gerhard Forde
06/15/23

Sin Will Have No Dominion

We live for the most part, on the strength of our moral fiber, under the law, by our zeal for God and all that which tickles our proud fancy.
John W. Hoyum
John W. Hoyum
05/01/23

What is Theosis?

What might Christians of the Reformation tradition think of claims like these about the nature of salvation?
Scott Keith
Scott Keith
04/11/23

If Christ Has Not Been Raised, You Are Still in Your Sins

What if sin was truly removed and what if the one who took it from us had the power to conquer it’s curse and spit in the face of death?
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