This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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Scott Hall may not have been a theologian or a preacher but for me, at that moment he might as well have been.
We cannot love first. Therefore God comes, takes hold of the heart, and says: "Learn to know me."
God is often hidden in history, even as we make it now, but He is always manifest where He has promised to be.
Each email entry in The Withertongue Emails is intended to compel the reader to stop and think about their pastor, themselves, and their churches.
God is not a preoccupied parent, he’s an invested and interested tender loving Father. He values what perplexes us.
This is the patient love of God. He is stubborn about the salvation of sinners. He will not be rushed even if his name is mocked, and the trustworthiness of his promises are called into question.
This world of unbearable grief and accidental calamity is being renewed and, soon, will be completely bereft of every pernicious foe.
Excerpt #3 from the new book “Withertongue Emails" by Donavon Riley.
The firestorm of the Reformation which turned Europe upside-down was not Luther’s doing. It was the Word, and the Spirit working through it.
Excerpt #2 from the new book “Withertongue Emails" by Donavon Riley.
Maybe it was because I read this book to put myself to sleep. But maybe the lack of any Christian references was part of my sadness.
The problem with sin is that we fail to honor God who wants to take our hearts captive and fill us with his goodness.