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.
Behold the Lamb
Bradley Gray
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
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
Chad Bird
01/19/16

Meeting Jesus at Mile Twenty

They may also be fellow sufferers who’ve hit their own bottom with you. Whoever they are, they wear the mask of Jesus the crucified. In them and through them the Lord is at work to love you.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
01/05/16

Reconnecting Through My Father's Ghosts

I’m still piecing together fragments. I’ve spent my life collecting scraps of personal stories that will explain my father to me.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/22/15

The Dad Who Didn’t Have to Be a Dad

It’s one of my favorite family pictures. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on a couch are my granddad, my dad, me, and my son. A four-generation snapshot: Lee Roy to Carson to Chad to Luke.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/02/15

Violence and the Church Go Way Back

We are like the spoiled children of kings who spit in the face of paupers on the street. We have been given so much, yet we treasure so little.
Brian W. Thomas
Brian W. Thomas
12/02/15

Father Connection and Christmas

He loved me, to be sure, but in a very nondescript, emotionally detached way, which is the way my grandfather loved him.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/05/15

An Unmighty Fortress

Left to ourselves, we are like Adam and Eve; we sew together fig leaves of self-righteousness and hunker down behind trees of flimsy excuses to hide in vain from a judgment we deserve.
Brian W. Thomas
Brian W. Thomas
11/03/15

Crowded House: The Unexpected Home of Martin Luther

As Luther’s efforts at reform began to build, so did the vacancies in monasteries and convents across Europe as monks and nuns motivated by evangelical teaching left their orders for other vocations and opportunities, including marriage.
Rick Ritchie
Rick Ritchie
10/06/15

Is Your Imagination in Bondage?

(This article first appeared in Modern Reformation and is posted here with permission.)
Steven A. Hein
Steven A. Hein
09/30/15

Christians Have A Secret: Good Works

Just how should we think about our good works in the Christian life of faith as we live that life before others... and before God?
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
06/23/15

Families in Turmoil

You may not believe it; you may even scoff at the claim, but here’s the truth: God hears your roar of pain on the other side of your silence. He counts every tear you let escape, or refuse to let go, from the ocean of anguish inside you.
Sam P. Schuldheisz
Sam P. Schuldheisz
06/11/15

Hobbits and Evangelism: Friendship

I have found that Gandalf’s words above ring true, not only in Middle-earth, but in our world as well.
Jessica Thompson
Jessica Thompson
05/13/15

When Parenting by Grace Doesn't Lead to Change

A twelve-year-old girl stomped out of the room and slammed her bedroom door. Her two parents sat at the table completely befuddled. They had been trying to lead her to grace, to forgiveness, to a remembering that she was loved.
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