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

Wade Johnston
Wade Johnston
11/19/18

Enough is Enough

When we say in the benediction, “The LORD make His face shine on you,” grace is what we mean.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
11/14/18

There is Only One Who is Permanent

When our mind betrays us, our body fails us, and our soul can’t be comforted, our Jesus now saves us.
Daniel Emery Price
Daniel Emery Price
11/09/18

The Grace Growing Up in the Weeds

The following is an excerpt from Scandalous Stories: A Sort of Commentary on Parables written by Daniel Emery Price and Erick Sorenson (1517 Publishing, 2018).
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/08/18

A Cynic Walks into a Church

The more that we hear the law, the more we recognize others as those who, like us, are torn and tattered by the wounds of sin and brokenness.
Caleb Keith
Caleb Keith
11/07/18

Enthusiasm and the Enthusiasts

God acts through His Word and means in order to create, restore, and renew inward faith.
Valerie Thur
Valerie Thur
11/05/18

The House Who Built Us

The desire to go home—or to find the place where one truly belongs—is latent in every human being.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
11/02/18

How Luther Pointed Me to Christ in the Old Testament

Jesus is the Word of God. God’s Word—on two legs (John 1:14). I’d read it in the first chapter of John’s Gospel many, many times.
Ken Sundet Jones
Ken Sundet Jones
11/02/18

Election Hacking

Divine election hacking happens with the proposal that God’s Word is irrelevant and powerless, weak and impotent.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
11/02/18

The Impossibility of Salvation

The salvation of wretched sinners by an omni-holy and forever-righteous God is, by all accounts, a categorical impossibility.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/01/18

Waking Up as a Dragon

Thank God for heroes: they inspire us to be better, to help others, to live and work for the good of our race. And thank God for villains, too: they incarnate our shadow side, our nocturnal soul, the dragon within us that must incessantly have its throat slit on the altar of repentance.
Kelsi Klembara
Kelsi Klembara
10/31/18

Reformation Day: 501 Years Later

While 500 years is certainly something to be celebrated, to always focus on the anniversary number could run the risk of forgetting the true meaning behind the reason we remember the Reformation as an important period in the history of the Christian church.
Haroldo Camacho
Haroldo Camacho
10/29/18

The Almost Forgiven

Since Adam, we are all illegal and undocumented aliens in God’s country.
1517 is a Christian non-profit (501(c)3) multi-media organization. Our mission is to declare and defend the Good News that we are forgiven and free on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus alone.
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