We have no Government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our constitution was made for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams, second President of the United States

Adams’ meaning was that a constitution works only when the people have the moral character and will to submit themselves to it. We are no longer that people. We have stopped listening to God and therefore are unable to make our constitution work. We are a nation of self-indulgent moral weaklings, ruled by our emotions. Whatever the founding fathers were, they were not that. The founding fathers were a mix of deists, secularists, and Christians of various traditions. Their common premise, however, was that God is the creator and sustainer of all things and the source behind our rights. But that premise has gone away, particularly among our cultural elites and the institutions that created them. We have become too rich, too smart, too connected, and too powerful to bow the knee to an ancient regional God from the Bronze Age.

The politics of decadence: how the West forgot God

That is why the secularists, the cultural elites, want to change it, adapt it, to make it like putty in their hands. Take the whole document, throw it into the A.I. blender, and let it tell us what to do. One of the clearest symptoms of this decay is putting their hopes in politics. They suggest that we change the Electoral College, or the composition of the Supreme Court, or limit the terms of elected officials. These are all puffs of hot air that dissipate into the changing winds of their mood swings. These are governed by whether they are in power or out of power. There is a general decadence in the United States, in all of Western society, for that matter, among those who have forgotten God, and we are now paying the price. We have decided that we are too advanced for God. Too smart for God. Too hip for God. Frankly, too good for God.

We are reaping the bitter harvest of secular humanism’s long walk through our major institutions. It comes with a side dish of socialism, agnosticism, scientism, and a general rot that has seeped into our bones, polluted our souls, and caused our moral base to collapse. The evening news shows us the decadence, the growing number of homeless on our streets, the general disregard for authority, the “smash-and-grab” looting, destruction of property, and the growing ignorance of basic facts of history and of civics. It goes on and on. Therefore, our constitution and associated laws can’t save us. We are goners without God’s direct intervention. Just look at the hors d’oeuvres being served with it: abortion on demand, antisemitism, gender neutral bathrooms, guys with beards in women’s sports, drag queens replacing librarians, and genital mutilation surgery and hormone therapy for children. It’s all disgusting and evil. Yet those too good for God cheer it on in the streets of America. But more importantly, in Ivy League boardrooms, classrooms, and faculty lounges.

Downstream

Politics are downstream from culture. And politics are downstream from theology. Think of the situation this way: Theology is our composite cultural belief about God, our origins, and our purpose. It is the headwaters of life’s river that forms our values and creates our culture. Culture is, as Walker Larson writes, “elemental of things—family, religion, art, music, beauty, virtues, principles. Culture both forms and expresses those values that define a people.

When culture is broken, it can’t be fixed by politics because politics is an ever-changing reaction to culture. Culture can only be fixed by going further upstream to God. Larson makes another good point: “The legalization of abortion or gay marriage, for example, would have been unthinkable had the battle not already been lost culturally, had culture not already been radically transformed by the sexual revolution and other forces.” ^[2]

I assume that Christians who care about what is happening around us would like to know what to do about it. First, realize that we are in a spiritual battle and that our enemy, Lucifer and his cohorts, primary strategy is to get us to question God and his ability and intelligence to understand modern society.

“Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” ^[3]

Upstream world

We, Christians, need to decide what kind of world we live in and what makes it work. Those too smart, too hip, too rich, too connected to bow the knee to God are committed to a secular world. The word secular means “a single life span.” Many of us live this way, in a world robbed of its enchantment. A world that has been emptied of His wonder, the miracles, the unexplainable, and the simple beauties that take our breath away. A world where God is a principle, an idea, but not a person who talks, appears, acts, and guides.

I wouldn’t suggest Christians avoid politics; it can stem the tide, can create a short-term solution like your doctor prescribing a drug that treats the symptom but doesn’t cure the problem. Again, Walker Larson provides a simple illustration, “At best, politics can dam up the river or divert it a bit here or there; still, culture remains upstream of all that.” ^[4] Classically, Presidents love the Executive Order. But the next President, if of a different party, cancels all those and issues a new pile, making the constituents happy, and the donor dollars flow.

For Christians, the real fix is upstream at God, worldview, and, as Paul described, the world you can’t even see unless you are looking for it. Reality is not what some hubris-filled philosopher or scholar lays on you. They confidently proclaim that the world has no meaning, no one knows anything, and when we die, we are greeted by complete darkness and nothingness. What is true is that reality is an enchanted world filled with legend, myths, wonder, and spiritual power far greater than any mortal can create. God created all this and filled the heavens and the earth with wonder and signs for his creation to enjoy and explore.

The great reveal

God decided to reveal himself gradually over the centuries until he showed himself completely, becoming one of us and showing us true reality: God in human flesh. ^[5] This embodied communication was something everyone could see. As Marshal McLuhan said, “The medium was the message.” Reality is Jesus the Christ, God in human form, God with us. When asked whether the incarnation was a percept or a concept, McLuhan said, “It is a percept because, as Christ said over and over again, it is visible to babes, but not to sophisticates. The sophisticated, the conceptualizers, the Scribes and the Pharisees—these had too many theories to be able to perceive anything. Concepts are wonderful buffers for preventing people from confronting any form of percept.” ^[6] McLuhan spoke about the left brain construing Christ as a concept; the right brain as precept, something directly perceived by the senses. If you want to relate to Jesus as a person, you must use your right brain and relate to him as precept. Even a child can get it. In general, the great scholar Dr. Iain McGilchrist tells us that the right brain perceives something and sends it to the left brain for analysis. But the right brain comprehends and understands. The left brain is the right brain’s servant. The left brain is a great servant, but a bad master. A life of wonder, power, signs, and wonders is a life of being aware of all the reality that makes life work.

What can we do?

Ultimately, not much! While on Earth, we can do what Larson mentions; we can build dams in the river to hold back the water and/or release the water in different ways. There is political action that bends the will of elected representatives to make policy and govern in ways that are sane and nourishing to human beings. Redirect the cultural river waters and get boys out of girls’ locker rooms. Get those drag queens back to the red-light district where they belong, get teachers teaching again, and get them out of the social engineering business. Try to make Christians braver and more willing to stand up and speak out concerning Biblical morality and convince people that socialism is a failed project, that Israel is God’s special people, and we shouldn’t turn against them. And that Islam, like communism, is an ideology built for world conquest and domination. Who knows, we might return to a saner time when we could all define a woman, and women relished being women and men could return to being men. But that is all downstream activity, corporate action, and public life. But there is one more thing: what can I do that could help turn the tide?

Winning the world

Love God and then love your neighbor. This is not like going to grade school in that you must pass loving God before you can start loving your neighbor. This is a simultaneous doing and learning. Remember, Jesus commissioned us. He authorized his disciples to enter the entire world, where we would make disciples. In other words, make more of what we are. And do this in every nation and people group on earth. Yes, we as his people are to take the world on and let everyone know about the God who loves them and wants to know you. But 99% of us will do this in a rather mundane way of living out our daily lives in communities and towns.

I will end with a statement from Dr. Karl Rahner 1904-1984. It speaks of what will break through all the chatter and clamor of the post-Christian world. It wasn’t just the talking and teaching of the early Christians that broke through and changed the Greco-Roman world; it was the signs, the wonders, the miracles, and the love that smashed the resistance.

“The devout Christian of the future will either be a “mystic,” one who has experienced “something,” or he will cease to be anything at all.”

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] Walker Larson, Thinking Upstream of Politics, Column in Epoch Times, 2026.

^[2] Ibid Walker Larson

^[3] Ephesians 6:11,12.

^[4] Ibid Walker Larson

^[5] Hebrews 1:1-4

^[6] Marshall McLuhan, The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010. Pages 82,83. (As found in Rod Dreher’s Living in Wonder, page 241)

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” George Orwell

“My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my kingdom is not of this world. Pilate said, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus responded, ‘You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.’ ‘What is the truth?’ Pilate asked.” ^[1]

What is more true: Homer’s Odyssey or the Bible? Does anyone care? Does it matter? Millions of moviegoers have seen Christopher Nolan’s epic film, The Odyssey, in recent weeks. The same questions have arisen among those watching that 3.5-hour marathon.

Did that really happen? Was there really a Trojan War? Was there a hero and king of Ithaca named Odysseus with a wife named Penelope? These questions lead to others. Is this a myth? Who was Homer? Is this fiction? In fact, is any Greek Mythology true? Zeus, Aphrodite, the Titans, Cyclopes? Did Sisyphus really roll a rock up a hill every day? Did Narcissus fall in love with his own reflection, and how do we know? Is this the kind of truth that is fluid and flexible? You know how people say you must live your truth, or that a story really spoke to them, and it became their truth.

We live in a very confusing post-truth world. Can a woman have a penis? Can a man have a baby? Is the moon made of cheese? I have lived long enough to remember when answering these questions was not that hard. Pontius Pilate asked Jesus a good question: “What is truth?” ^[2] I find it interesting that Pilate, a morally and politically confused man in a tight spot, asked Jesus how can you know that something is true? Truth is what we call it when a person makes a claim with evidence proving it to be real. Or at least true enough to have faith in it. A person who is 7 feet tall is indeed tall. In the material and physical realm, truth is much easier to access than in stories from ancient literature and mythology. Some writings and stories survive the vetting of time and criticism and are considered in one way or another true.

Historical Documents

The Odyssey, by tradition, was written by Homer. History knows nothing about Homer. Many scholars, who rarely agree on anything and rarely reach a conclusion, believe Homer represents the work of several authors and storytellers. There is no complete manuscript of the work before the 3^rd or 4^thcentury CE. A complete manuscript of that period is on display in the British Library in the John Rylands Research Library in London. The Odyssey falls into a larger category of Greek Mythology. Greek Mythology was real, but its characters and gods were not.

The Need for Gods

The stories of such capricious and odious gods fighting like malevolent malcontents demonstrate them as mere projections of the worst in human nature. It is a characteristic of the Bronze Age that each town or region had its local gods. These people were not stupid; they just didn’t have access to much beyond their own horizons. This was true of the area called the Fertile Crescent or the Middle East. Of course, since the birthplace of Greek mythology was Greece, the basic story was of Zeus, who lived on Mount Olympus just outside of Dion. There were more than eighty gods, and of course they gave us modern stories that have profound meaning.

These local gods were gods with training wheels. It was ancient people in antiquity working out morality and meaning through stories. Gods were plentiful, and just about any rock, mountain, or local hero could be nominated. None of it could be legitimately defined or categorized as divine revelation. The Roman Government even permitted regional gods with the caveat that on the appropriate days, everyone would acknowledge Caesar as the biggest and best god. It was like our moment of silence at a public or national remembrance, ending with life going on as before.

Yes, there was a city named Troy in Turkey, but there is no historical evidence of a ten-year Trojan War. The Odyssey is not much different than a modern author writing an epic novel with a backdrop of any major city or region. Of course, there are many noble lessons to be learned from the character of Odysseus, Penelope, and others. Icarus flew too close to the sun, Narcissus collapsed into himself, and Sisyphus showed us the brutal senselessness of hell.

What Does The Odyssey Claim?

One reason the Odyssey doesn’t qualify as a Bible-level revelation is that it makes no grandiose claims. The Quran presents the truths of God and elevates Mohammad over Jesus. Jesus plays a prominent role in the Muslim’s holy book, but only as a role player. Allah, the Arabic name for God, dictated his thoughts to Mohammad, the book claims. Regardless of Islamic scholars’ ability or inability to verify the Quran’s historicity, the book is taken seriously as a book of divine revelation. When Muslims read it, they believe they are reading God’s words. The Odyssey does not reach these literary heights, though most great ancient literature is far superior to the Quran.

Eastern Mystics and the Truth

Western writers often call the Bhagavad Gita the Hindu Bible. It means the song of God and is part of a larger poem called the Mahabharata. The Hindus have a variety of holy scripture-like literature. The Vedas and the Upanishads are also part of a larger body of writings in and around Eastern Mysticism. The most authoritative literature seems to be the Shruti, the four Vedas and the Upanishads. The books contain stories, poems, chants, rituals, and meditations.

Do any of these Hindu texts claim to have or profess a final great deity to follow? Yes, they do! The Bhagavad Gita claims that Lord Krishna directly states he is the supreme personal form of God. Some claim the ultimate truth to be Brahman, an infinite but formless reality. You might have concluded by now that the throne room is a bit crowded and that there may not be enough thrones to go around. The claims are not clear enough for there to be a solid God in the misty world of Eastern religion.

How about Buddha? 563 BCE -483 BCE

Buddha was an ancient reformer, sort of a Martin Luther. Both Buddha and Luther were fat. Buddha was a failed ascetic, a closet eater. Luther was on the Hermann Göring Diet. Buddha came from Hindu roots and taught key concepts such as Karma but rejected some of Hinduism’s texts and ideas. The Buddha, born a prince, did not claim to be God. He didn’t believe he was the only way to God. One must know that in that misty world of Eastern religion, the Western law of non-contradiction is not believed. At least philosophically, two, three, or more things that contradict each other can be true simultaneously. Christian apologetics are built on the law of non-contradiction, which is the reason they do not work well in Eastern cultures.

Just as an aside, the reason the church grew was not its logic; it was signs and wonders performed by ordinary people in the name of Jesus. If we boil down Eastern mysticism, it is a story about reincarnation and the struggle to evolve to higher forms of human life until reaching Nirvana. ^[3] It encapsulates the human impulse to improve ourselves, to make progress and end up in some kind of heaven for eternity.

The Double Nature of Truth

Can God reveal himself through the Odyssey? Truths about human existence have been taught through drama and tragedy. All great myths teach moral ^[4] truth. Whether it be The Lord of the Rings, the best-selling fiction of the 20^th century, or The Godfather, voted the greatest film of the 20^th Century. The power of paradox and mystery is found in the most important writings known to the human species: the Bible. It is a collection of 66 books of poetry, historical narrative, and didactic teaching. It had forty authors and was written over a period of 1600 years. It remains the best-selling book in the world.^[5]

Truth in a Nutshell

Truth comes in many different packages. It has a mysterious nature. For example, the Bible teaches that God chose or elected certain key figures: Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Jewish people to speak to humankind and to be his vehicle of salvation. But all these people also decided or chose it. Novices often ask, “Which is it, did God elect or did the people choose?” The answer is yes, both are true. That is the truth in a nutshell.

The reason people get all sideways about it is that we insist on trying to figure it out. We fight with each other, and it is a very stupid thing to do. Truth is a mystery, a paradox. Physical truth about matter involves science, which is observation, experimentation, et al. Humans have reason and logic; it works on that stuff. But the metaphysical is taught through philosophy, which is reason dedicated to ultimate meaning. Poetry, which is condensed thoughts of humans, isn’t sensible; rather, emotional and cathartic.

There is beauty of persons, of behavior, of the creation, the heavens above, and the beautiful earth upon which we stand. We see it in painting, sculpture, music, dance, and the creative process. It all is a reaction to the total creation and its diversity. And yes, truth is generally known and agreed upon by most humans. People prefer love to hate, peace to war, beauty to ugliness, cleanliness to dirtiness, sweetness to sourness, life to death.

Coming up Short

But that leaves us wanting. It doesn’t tell us enough to get us all the way to understanding. There is only one thing that closes the gap—revelation. That means God reveals himself to us. The greatest paradox and most powerful explanation that answers our most profound questions and fulfills our greatest longings is God with us, the God-Man; God in human flesh.

God has spoken to us fully by becoming a person, Jesus of Nazareth. Here is a paradox, even a metaphor if you like: he comes and lives among us. He experiences what we experience. He wasn’t born in a palace; his family was not wealthy; he lived in a village and worked with his hands for the first thirty years of his life. We know that at age twelve he amazed and baffled the greatest minds of his day. Yet he went home and took care of his family after his father died. He sat in his little synagogue and listened to his local Rabbi struggle to explain truths he already knew. He became a maverick Rabbi and chose a group of blue-collar, uneducated teens to follow him. He rocked the land of his ancestors; he explained and interpreted their scriptures, and challenged their institutions. He claimed to be God, and it couldn’t be disproven. Finally, his answer to a suffering and waiting world was to willingly be scourged and nailed to a tree, taken outside the city gates of Jerusalem, and executed as a slave beside criminals. Just before he died, he said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing.” Then he said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” He also uttered, “It is finished.” And then he died. That, my friends, is the truth. As the great apologist and evangelist Francis Schaeffer called it, “True Truth.”

Oh, by the way, the Odyssey was a myth that didn’t happen. The Bible is history, and it did happen.

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] John 18:36-38a

^[3] Nirvana: A rock band founded in 1987 with lead guitarist Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide. Apparently, the plan didn’t work. Suicide is to perform an abortive act on the natural process of reincarnation. But before there was a band, thousands of years before the band Nirvana, there was an Eastern mystical goal, or the ultimate state of salvation, a release from suffering and from the cycle of birth and rebirth.

^[4] Morality: A system of principles and values that guides people to know the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. It shapes human behavior, creates social harmony, and sets standards for a society.

^[5] Annual sales of the Bible and its distribution around the world, including all languages, is between 5-7 billion copies. There are tens of millions sold every year.

Warnings

“Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” ^[1]

“We are human, but don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.” ^[2]

Lucifer is a schemer, a powerful and highly intelligent strategist. Without God’s illumination of our minds and spirits, and without Christ’s authority and power, we are toast! It is quite common for a well-toasted Christian to skip and sing his or her way through life without knowing they are seriously compromised. The most obvious example is the devoted members of Oprah’s Book Club. The common denominator of such a literary genre is what the Church Fathers called syncretism, the mixing of faiths, essentially that all religious roads lead to Rome.

The Mountain Road

A common example is that every religion or philosophy has its own separate path up a large mountain. This mountain of ultimate truth is where all paths lead to a single ultimate reality at the top. So, you can read a book by a Zen Buddhist, a Confucius scholar, a native American shaman, a gay or trans Methodist cleric, or even the Marquis de Sade; it makes no difference; everyone ends up in the same place. On top of the holy mountain stands Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, Abraham, Moses, Deepak Chopra, all the Hindu gods, along with Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and the Hippie Dippy Weatherman. The star of the show is The Christ, a luminous figure who gathers them together and delivers his newly edited Sermon on the Mount. But The Christ, a luminous being like an angel of light, never mentions someone who is not present. Absent is the historical Jesus of Nazareth because this luminous Christ is none other than the angel of light, ^[3] Lucifer himself. It was all clever celestial jive. ^[4] Whereas Jesus of Nazareth was God in human form; God with dirt under his fingernails, food between his teeth, and sweat on his brow. As he walked the earth, he confronted evil and spilled his blood.

The Gap at the Top

Oh, there is only one group missing on top of the mountain: serious Christians with serious beliefs, the ultimate party poopers who, since the first Christians, have insisted that there is only one path. They are ruining it for everyone else by being so stubborn, judgmental, and hateful. They are dividers. Even the enlightened Christ doesn’t like them. The contemporary hip Jesus would rather go to a Bruce Springsteen Concert than to a church service.

Back to Satan’s Reading List

Satan’s favorite books are not what you think. But in general, anything that smacks of Oprah’s Book Club, the post-truth culture, self-help books, mostly stuff produced by pop psychology that feeds the soul of our psychologized culture. Satan isn’t fond of full-frontal nudity, not when it comes to his instruments of deception. He likes subtlety, the power of suggestion soaked in kindness. Let’s look at some examples.

When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Harold Kushner, 1981

Lucifer is treacherous, slick, and deceptive. He knows what sells and makes his victims feel good about themselves. The thesis of Kushner’s classic is so close to the truth that hardly anyone recognizes that it is a lie. It places suffering and tragedy in a compelling and compassionate costume. A man of grace and understanding, he was an established Rabbi and grieving father who wrote this book in the wake of the tragic death of his fourteen-year-old son. His appearances in the media always seemed like advice coming from a wise and trusted friend. The book was a major best seller, and its title has become part of the nation’s vocabulary.

The treacherous and seditious portrayal of God is exactly what Lucifer was looking for. Satan sat back in his armchair with his bowl of popcorn and enjoyed the Hell out of his creation. Kusher, a good man, was clearly unaware of how Satan was exploiting his grief and confusion. The book was about Kushner and his family’s attempt to cope with their loss and those of millions of others. His thesis was that God is good and benevolent, but also limited; God does not send suffering, nor does he use it as punishment. But God’s power is not absolute, and he must contend with other forces such as evil itself, human freedom, and choice. Kushner had good advice for people. Instead of asking why this happened, he asked, “Since this has happened to me, how do I move forward?”

Lucifer’s strategy with humankind is simple. Weaken God’s profile and ability to help or deliver his creation. Have people question God’s motives, his competency, his control, and his power to help you when times are horrible. The church is compromised in this regard, not going to God first for help. Usually, God is in second or third place when Christians look for help. Satan’s goal is to get people to buy into this common idea: if God is good and all-powerful, then he wouldn’t allow suffering. If he is good but not all-powerful, he is not so great a God, not a bad guy, but not worthy of worship. If he is all-powerful and allows suffering, he is not good; he is evil itself and a real monster. Satan’s goal is to create a reason for a human not to turn toward or trust God.

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, 1859

Charles Darwin lost interest in his medical studies at Edinburgh University, to the chagrin of his father. Instead, he studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University. In 1831, he made his famous voyage on the HMS Beagle expedition as a gentleman naturalist and geologist. The voyage took nearly five years, ending in 1836. The book On the Origin of Species details his findings in the Galápagos Islands just off the coast of Ecuador; he was there for five months. His findings are credited with creating what today is called evolution. The full title of the book is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. The thesis was that organisms evolve by natural selection because the strongest and fittest survive. The evidence was Darwin’s notes and observations.

On his return to England, a good deal of research and experimentation was conducted on samples he had collected. What Lucifer liked about this book was that it questioned the creation narrative found in the Bible. It challenged the need for God, God’s authority, and, of course, drove a stake through the book of Genesis. It created a different origin narrative for Western Civilization that has continued for nearly two hundred years. Man came from a monkey; this was great for Lucifer’s business and brand—it gets him lots of likes. His goal was to make our brain seem like a banana tree full of monkeys.

Lucifer loves the way evolution has divided the orthodox Christians from everyone else and has used science to drive a wedge between the two. Highly educated scholars and public figures typically assume evolution is the gold standard for secular explanations of human existence. The secularists’ kryptonite questions for Bible believers are: “Do you believe in evolution, or a young earth, or the earth being created in seven literal days?” This, of course, is a fake question because there are good answers to be given. But for now, it must suffice to say Satan loves Darwin’s book. Even though it doesn’t say a word about origins or prove anything other than that certain sea life and birds happened to mildly adapt to the conditions in which they live. Nordics have adapted to Singapore, and Floridians learned to live in Minnesota. You may have heard of the missing link. For example, how an amoeba became Albert Einstein.

The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804

Lucifer, like many of us, didn’t really understand this book. And that is why he liked it so much. People posing as intellectuals shook their heads in hearty agreement after reading the book and said, “Deep, yes, very thoughtful, a great deal to think about.” And no one wanted to say, “What a load of crap.”

I read a very long, boring biography of Immanuel Kant. And you guessed it, I said, “What a load of crap.” Winters were long and cold in Königsberg, East Prussia. Kant, the son of a harness maker, spent his entire life in this small town. He was a professor and writer, a sickly man with a close circle of friends, and never married. He was, of course, a boring man with a fantastic mind. He is famous in philosophic circles as a man of habit. It was commonly said you could set your clocks by his routine. No traveling the continent with young debutantes on his arm, no wintering in Cannes or Marseille; no, he was up early, ate his bran flakes, and went to work. He was a harmless figure with a poisonous pen. His work was in the field of epistemology; for those of you keeping score at home, that means the study of how we know what we know. Another way of putting it is: can you really trust what you think you know? Or how can you know that you know anything at all for sure? I warned you. Please read on if you want to know that you can know that what you think you know is real.

Kant’s famous book, The Critique of Pure Reason, posits that human knowledge is a result of a synthesis of sensory experience and innate mental categories. (Please take a deep breath. Ok, here we go.) Kant argues that while all knowledge begins with experience, it does not all rise from experience, because the human mind actively shapes and structures raw sensory data using built-in concepts such as space, time, and causality. Ok, that’s enough of that. What I think he means is that when we walk through a garden and see flowers, trees, bees, and birds, we are processing it all through our senses plus the fixed structures of our mind. But why does Satan like this book so much—was it a sleep aid? No, because he doesn’t sleep.

Kant probably didn’t mean to, but he broke the back of knowledge, particularly metaphysical knowledge, especially breaking the back of religious revelation. To put it in more basic terms, the Bible. His work prepared the way for the deconstruction of objective truth and spiritual truth’s ability to stand toe to toe with physical truth. Lucifer knew that only scholars would read this stuff or think about it, but they taught all the cultural leaders, the future teachers, and particularly the clergy. Within a hundred years of Kant’s death, his teachings had eroded much of Biblical orthodoxy in Europe, and the United States was only about a hundred years behind. So, the next time you stare at a tree, you might want to think twice before you conclude it is a tree. Kant sliced and diced knowledge and made it so complex that the common man could never understand it because his bottom line was, “In the end, you can’t really know anything for sure.” What I think Professor Kant missed, and so do the scholars who followed him, is that knowledge is a mystery, and what is self-evident to us as true is God’s contribution to our minds. ^[5] In the end, Lucifer is gleeful because he plans to get all of humankind to doubt the absolute. Remember his first statement to a human: “Hath God said?” ^[6]

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900

Kushner said, God is weak; Darwin said, God is unnecessary; Kant said, God can’t be known; and Nietzsche said, God is dead!

Nietzsche was a maverick genius who kicked against the goads of convention, and he could not be denied. He was given a full professorship even though he didn’t finish his necessary schooling. He was sickly and finally succumbed to his illness in the last decade of his life. Some say he went crazy, but more likely he just wasn’t right because of the wear and tear of his physical ailments. He was a favorite son of the famous German composer, Richard Wagner. During some rough periods of Nietzsche’s life, he found comfort and consolation in Wagner’s home, having his own room for extended stays.

The Death of God

Nietzsche was the most honest of all the philosophers by his insistence that the elimination of God from the philosophical world required an honest, cold, hard look at the consequences. The death of God was a metaphor for the rejection of all revelation and a complete commitment to reason on the part of the thinking world in Europe. Nietzsche insisted that you couldn’t honestly eliminate God and keep his teachings. If you throw God overboard, you can’t say, “Oh, I will keep the parts I like, the golden rule, three of the ten commandments, and a few good stories Jesus told. I really like that Good Samaritan story and the Prodigal Son; the rest I will throw out.

Nietzsche wrote Beyond Good and Evil to prove that standard morality based on a Christian worldview must be discarded. Go beyond the weak, pacifistic, typical Christian teaching of turning the other cheek and the meek inheriting the earth. He advocated going beyond good and evil, and when all standard morality was gone, you would have “The Will to Power.” The strongest person, the superman, the Übermensch, was the answer. Don’t be weak and depend on God. Why submit to a dead deity? Give yourself to yourself; become the strong man. Ironically, Nietzsche was a weak man, but he could dream about the strong man. Nietzsche was not a Nazi, he died in 1900. He was not Aryan; he was not a believer in genetic breeding as an answer. It is believed that Wagner and then Hitler took some of his teachings further and to absurd applications. Nietzsche was and continues to be popular in the United States among those who want to create a new utopian society. Unfortunately, no one is strong enough to take up the mantle, for it is a false vision that no one can achieve. Hitler failed, Stalin failed, Mao failed, Pol Pot failed, and everyone else who has or will try will fail. Failure is certain. But Lucifer continues to believe. He loves his own myths. The delusion is complete, so enjoy his favorite books. For extra credit, read Das Kapital or The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. The works of French philosopher Michel Foucault are recommended. He said that all truth is simply a social construction so the ruling class can maintain power. He campaigned for his freedom with an orgy of promiscuity on the streets, in studios and salons of San Francisco until venereal disease took his life. It was suicide by lust.

Happy Reading

Bill Hull 2026.

^[1] Ephesians 6:11,12 NLT.

^[2] 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NLT.

^[3] 2 Corinthians 11:14. Paul warns that evil often disguises itself as righteousness and truth rather than appearing dark or wicked. Paul claims that Satan masquerades as an angel of light and his servants as servants of righteousness. This opens an entire discussion of apparitions and the appearance of angel-like figures.

^[4] Jive: lively swing music, or in this case, foolish or deceptive talk.

^[5] Romans 1:20

^[6] Genesis 3:1

“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.” ^[1] Paradise Lost, lines 261-263

Does Hell seem to be overkill? Just crunch the numbers. A person lives a typical life of good and evil, pain and pleasure, good days and bad days, and decides to decline God’s offer for redemption that is in Christ alone. Or worse, they never heard of Christ and lived in the pre-Christ world or in the never-heard-of-gospel world. Western Christianity traditionally assigns these persons to eternal residence in Hell. Here goes the crunch. Let’s say everyone lives 100 years. Under this arrangement, God then places them in Hell for eternity. Eternity means never-ending existence outside of time. You might observe, “If it’s outside of time, then the length of stay is not relevant to your argument.” I would respond, “But it is the never-ending part that is a bit rough.” Is God over-charging for the crime?

Does the Penalty Fit the Crime?

In modern society, the court can be accused of overcharging for a crime where the penalty is seen as excessive and unjust. Does God’s commitment to justice demand inhumane treatment? The Christian gospel preaches that all humanity has sinned, is separated from God, and under His judgment and wrath. ^[2] Some Christians are fine with the following logic: Yes, everyone deserves Hell, but God is such a nice guy that he has chosen a few of us to be his elect and will be saved. Since the church doesn’t know the identity of the elect, its job is to preach the message around the world, and the chosen will answer the call. A little bell goes off in their heads, but the game is fixed; no one really chooses, not really.

The non-elect, composed of billions who have already lived and died, and the billions alive today, and the even more billions to come, are going to populate Hell. It is a dark existence without God, a world of alienation and separation where evil becomes more evil, the corrupt more corrupt, the angry more angry, the depressed more depressed. And it never ends. The doors to Hell are locked from the inside, but for some reason, no one thinks to open the gates. Everyone hates it, but no one has the will to leave. The longer they stay, the more they hate God.

Most people want there to be Hell for people they hate. It is handy to be able to tell someone who blocks your route to a great day to go there. Think of how much needless energy it would take to create a new place to tell idiots to go. We all believe that life would be a cruel joke without a just reward for all who do good and do evil. Some people say Hitler and the next-door neighbor who built his new fence two feet into their property should go to Hell. The only healing balm for history’s atrocities is the hope of judgment and justice meted out in the end by a perfect judge.

A Short History of Hell

Hell has its roots in antiquity, in ancient Mesopotamia, the general area of the fertile crescent, the birthplace of humanity, the Garden of Eden. The literature from this area includes writings and traditions describing a place for the dead. The Hebrew scriptures called it “Sheol.” This is found in the Psalms ^[3] and was understood to be a subterranean resting place, a state of suspended animation for the dead. This indicates that humans were not fully dead, but physically dead and spiritually alive. The God of Israel created man, gave him life, ^[4] then interacted with him, and worked with him, indicating that life has some great meaning. At the same time, Persian Zoroastrianism and Greek Philosophy, particularly Plato, introduced judgment and punishment into the mix. The concepts of the abyss, a dark pit, Gehenna, which referred to the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, came into play. At one time, the Valley of Hinnom was a place where Israel sacrificed their children to Molech, the foreign god of the Ammonites. ^[5] During the time of Christ, the area outside of Jerusalem was a garbage dump. It stank like only an ancient landfill could stink. Jesus used it as a metaphor for Hell. ^[6]

Where is it?

Greek mythology influenced the language and culture of Christian literature. Sheol became Hades in Greek. Hades was the netherworld or underworld to which all people went after death. The river Styx ran through the heart of Hell, and behold, Achilles makes an appearance and is dipped in the river for safekeeping, but his heel is left out of the magic waters, and thus vulnerable. Tartarus ^[7] was a section of the dark underworld reserved for the wicked, you know, Hitler and other vegans. Some speak of the Elysian fields, a better neighborhood that housed the good folks. In Peter’s first letter, he speaks of Christ going to Tartarus, the location of the dead who were outside of God’s grace, and there Christ preached the good news. Now, some of us may not like this because, after all, it would mess up our theology. No theologian likes to rethink and then repackage their theology. After all, it opens the door to the story of man not quite being dead after death. He might get a second chance to make a more enlightened choice. It’s like TSA tossing your perfectly packed suitcase, looking for your six ounces of illegally packed foot cream. Some like to think that Jesus preached in Tartarus only to taunt those who had not believed, even those who didn’t believe and mocked Noah. I think he preached the Good News and made a genuine offer for them to repent and believe. Prepare to repack your neatly packed God. I have no vested interest in pulling up heaven’s ladder just because I’m in. I don’t resent my life of discipleship to Christ. But some very certain Christians seem to get some celestial glee thinking that the unbelievers will get their comeuppance. ^[8]

Finally, in the New Testament, Heaven and Hell are real, not mythological, and very different places ruled by different masters. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Heaven was prepared for Jesus’ followers. ^[9] Heaven is not just a single place; it probably includes a restored New Heavens and New Earth. Hell is a realm, as earlier mentioned, not a lockdown facility just outside of Bakersfield, but a place outside of time and space where those who don’t care for God can be together without Him. The New York Times will be delivered to their porches every morning. Dr. Bart D. Ehrman, PhD, will deliver daily lectures on why Hell is a metaphor and doesn’t exist. And why they should not believe their lying eyes, or that sulfur smell in the air. Speaking of comeuppance, Ehrman also hopes no one notices the millstone around his neck. ^[10]

Why is Hell Necessary?

We need Hell! God needs a place to dispose of his creation’s garbage. Hell is sin’s landfill. A more serious answer is found in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. One of those very long poems people used to write, like Homer’s The Odyssey, Dante’s Inferno, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, T.S. Eliot’s Wasteland, and W. H. Auden’s The Age of Anxiety, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. Have you noticed they keep getting worse? Hell is prepared for Lucifer and his fellow angels. As in Milton’s poem, Satan would rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. The Devil needs a place to be his own God, along with all his disciples who have chosen to be their own gods as well. So, God has prepared a place for them, and he won’t be joining them there. What does Paradise Lost have to do with a Jewish carpenter, maverick, dissident, prophet, dying on a cross?

The Story of Christ, Hell, Wrath, et al

Let’s say you are a businessman/inventor and you create and then curate your invention. You prepare a perfect situation and choose a perfect man and woman to build and spread your creation. There is only one rule, and if they break that rule, it will ruin everything, but there is no good reason why they would even be interested in such a deal. Everything seems to be working great until they decide to give in to the temptation to break the one rule. And that one rule is: do not try to replace your owner and creator.

But they meet someone who convinces them to question the motives in providing such a perfect existence. They get stars in their eyes and can’t resist trying to be their own gods, so they go for it. Now everything is screwed up, and almost immediately, the lying, the blame shifting, and not taking responsibility for one’s own actions begin. Then there is killing, abusing all the beautiful things you provided, like marriage, family, beauty, and wealth. They ruined your creation, and you were about to pull the plug on the entire mess, cut your losses, and live to create another day. But there was one good guy named Noah, and you decide to hit the restart button with his family and enough of your nonvolitional creatures to restart life on earth. It was an awful business, but you have a plan for all those who perished. It looks bad on your resume, but someday everyone will understand.

Fast forward a few generations, and the business is up and running pretty well. You have lowered your standards for your creation, and now you have a means to deal with the problems. But you still have one major problem. Your creation has been polluted, and your creatures’ natures have been contaminated ever since they chose to try to be their own god. This means that your creation owes you a debt. There has been great damage done, and they must pay the debt. It would be unjust, and they would never understand themselves or their history without understanding that they owe you, and that they, as a creation, are guilty of their choices and the sad results.

Redemption

You, as the owner, decide to choose a people group to be your representatives. The world will be alerted to this fact because they will be the first to claim that they serve a God who is the only true God, and that all the regional gods, the many gods of mythology, and the gods of various kingdoms are false, and your people will not bow the knee to any of these other gods. These puny gods of flesh and bone, of vivid imaginations, of wood and stone, even the stars above and the mysteries of the deep would not suffice. These people would be led by Abraham; they would be called Israelites, Jews, or Judeans. You will raise them, and they will thrive and suffer, disobey, and resist. They will say they don’t want to be the chosen people, they would rather not be Judeans, they don’t want to be special, they want to be like everyone else. But you won’t let them go, and you won’t forget them, or abandon them, no matter how bad it gets.

The Intervention

Then you realize that your creation, while they notice the Abrahams, the Issacs, the Jacobs, the Moses’ and the Josephs, the Judges, the prophets, the law, and all the signs and wonders, feasts and festivals, they have forgotten You. This time, you will send them someone who can’t be ignored or forgotten. And you have figured out how to get through to them. Part of you will become one of them. You will be a person and will show them what you are like. You will teach them, you will explain everything to them, and to top it all off, you will sacrifice yourself and pay back the debt they owe you. Yes, that is it, you will pay off their debt yourself by being the world’s first and only God who uses example and persuasion, capped off with an act of love.

You will make a sacrifice they cannot ignore. And once the debt is paid, it will offer them a return to the original plan of perfection. They accept my gift, believe in me and my Son, and follow Him. And when everyone has had their chance at this offer, I will send my Son back to rule the earth. And the new heavens and the new earth will be where we all live together. Time and space will be eliminated, and eternity will be ours.

And what about all those who reject or resist my plan, my gift, my grace, and my forgiveness? Justice will be done. I will provide a place for all those who have insisted on being their own gods. They can believe that lie and live with the father of those lies. That is a place called Hell, where they will live separated from me and all the blessings of my original plan. My wrath will be limited to that mission of eliminating and separating evil from the new world where they will be my people, and I will be their God.

Bill Hull

2026.

^[1] Paradise Lost, lines 261-263. Lucifer is the tragic figure who viewed God as a tyrannical figure and refused to be subjected to his reign.

^[2] Romans 1:18, 3:13ff.

^[3] Psalm 116:3, Psalm 30:3, Psalm 89:48, Psalm 139: 8, 49:14.

^[4] Genesis 1:26-28, 2:7.

^[5] Leviticus 18:21.

^[6] Matthew 5:29,30, 22. Matthew 10:28, Matthew 7:14.

^[7] I Peter 3:19.

^[8] A lovely word meaning Karma, poetic justice, usually assigned to someone universally considered worthy of their punishment, such as Joseph Stalin or your cousin, Fred, who never returned your lawnmower.

^[9] Matthew 25:41, John 14:2.

^[10] Millstone around the neck, Matthew 18:6. Erhman’s thirty-year career as a Professor of Religion at the University of North Carolina is enough to warrant several millstones. He was very proud of being able to deconstruct a multitude of 18-year-olds’ faith year after year, class after class.

Hitler in Heaven? Not something most of us think is a possibility. Yet skeptics and fun-loving opponents of the Christian faith enjoy mocking its theology that seems to let bad people off the hook. The mockery is an effective way to trivialize the teachings of historic Christianity. You can see their point. It appears to the casual observer who lives in our rough and tumble world of cause and effect, sowing and reaping, that people who do especially bad things should not be suddenly pardoned. It does fly in the face of justice, and isn’t God supposed to be for justice? What say you, church?

The skeptic may say, “Adolf Hitler was a baptized Catholic. Therefore, he was a Christian, and as a result, strictly speaking, he could be in Heaven and living next door to another baptized Catholic, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.” Christian theology does make allowances for last-second deathbed conversions. This doesn’t make sense to many because it makes Christian belief seem absurd.

There are many motives behind anti-Christian speech and movements. Some are malevolent. But is there a good answer to this confusion and repulsion of the idea of grace? We find some answers in the Christian attempts to convert Adolf Hitler to the Christian faith. We begin with the historic record of what Hitler, while a baptized Catholic, believed about Christ and Christianity. A person being baptized as an infant does not make them a Christian. If there is no choice, and the person has no moral agency, ownership of a religious rite is ascribed to the infant’s parents, not the child. Yes, there is comfort in the idea that somehow the child’s soul is placed in safety from hell and damnation for the time before the age of accountability. ^[1]

By the time Adolf Hitler was twenty-one, he had made certain decisions about the Christian faith. It is well known that he believed Jesus was an “Aryan fighter” who battled Jewish materialism, and promoted “Positive Christianity,” a nazi ideology that purged the faith of “Jewish elements.” ^[2] Hitler viewed orthodox Christianity with contempt and saw it as weakness, and was a fan of Nietzsche’s Superman concept that eschewed the teachings of Christ for the strong man who flourished with the “will to power,” the person who could deny the mystical and absurd doctrines of pacifism and take the world by storm. In other words, Hitler was off his theological rocker. One thing he was not was a good, well-behaved Catholic. He duped the Catholic Church in 1933 with the Concordat, which guaranteed the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany, freedom of worship if they would withdraw from all political activity. In other words, “shut up, sit down, you are not allowed to speak.” ^[3]

Attempt to Convert Hitler: Frank Buchman

During the 1920s and 30s American businessman Frank Buchman (1878-1961) was convinced that if he could secure a private appointment with Hitler, he could lead him to Christ, and millions of German citizens would follow suit. This theory is taught and believed by much of the Christian world today. Its romanticism has not diminished; it is still believed that the changing of one key figure can change history. Buchman’s motto for his Oxford Group and Moral Re-Armament Movement was: “Change the world by changing people’s lives.” Buchman believed that Hitler served as a bulwark against the perceived Anti-Christ of Communism. However, many American and European elites believed the exact opposite. They saw communism or socialism as much better than Hitler’s Fascism. The bottom line is that Buchman thought spiritual revival could cure the ills of entire countries. Buchman believed that if Hitler turned to Christ, a God-controlled fascist state could solve the world’s problems. Buchman was never able to secure the appointment.

Some Things Never Change

The argument continues about whether a spiritual transformation in a leader can change a nation or a movement. The belief that a non-believer who becomes a believer can change history is contingent on many factors. When does the leader’s conversion take place? Is it early enough to form the leader’s character, or has the new life in the person been long enough to change their worldview, their habits, and conduct? Jimmy Carter was a born-again Christian, but as a politician, he was a Democrat; his policies were more Democratic than Christian. One can ask the same questions about Presidents from Lyndon Johnson, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump. Sparks will fly in any real debate regarding the degree to which the Christian faith had on any of these men. Hitler, for example, could have repented of his sin and decided to follow Jesus. But even a converted Hitler could have continued many of his programs and military conquests by adapting his Christian doctrine to Aryanism. How long would it take for him to convince his key leaders and followers to also become disciples of Jesus? There is no way to know if his new life in Christ would have immediately changed his mind regarding the treatment of the Jews. Consider, for a moment, the very pious Christians who owned and engaged in chattel slavery. Or the many professing Christians who support the killing of the innocent unborn. They all seem to have a Christian rationale for immoral beliefs.

Intercessory Prayer: Rees Howell

Another attempt was led by Rees Howell. (1879-1950) Howell was the President and Founder of The Bible College of Wales. He was an advocate of “Spiritual Intercession.” He believed that if he and his students prayed, they were directly influencing Hitler’s decisions and military actions. It is possible that he was right in that Hitler made some disastrous decisions that led to the defeat of Germany. The faculty and staff engaged in round-the-clock sacrificial prayer to “bend Hitler” so that he would never be able to invade England. He believed his prayers saved the soldiers at Dunkirk, caused Hitler to make terrible decisions such as the invasion of Russia, and finally, to be easily fooled on D-Day.

Again, we cannot say they didn’t impress and move God. We can only commend Frank Buchman and Rees Howell for putting forth the effort to influence Herr Hitler. They believed a couple of things about Mein Führer. ^[4] Buchman believed that Hitler’s soul was reachable. That he wasn’t any more evil than the average man. This is very important to acknowledge. At that time, Nazi atrocities were not well known. Hitler seemed a classic dictator or authoritarian strong man, not the monster that is now revealed. Regardless, while not a popular thing to say, I believe that Hitler was very human, and like all of us, in his immaterial makeup. He made choices that placed him in a vulnerable position and under demonic influence. His hatred and ideology of the Jews was his greatest delusion and demonic belief. It was the core problem Hitler had that set him apart. Because, as I like to say, God is a Jew, his Son is a Jew, his disciples and the early church were all Jews, and they wrote the Bible. When you dedicate yourself to the destruction of Jews, you are set squarely against God himself, and you are going to lose. Israel continues to illustrate this point. This devil’s brew, with great political power and military might, made Germany a threat to human freedom. Adolf Hitler could have made different decisions as a young man and chosen a different path, led a good life, and there would be many little boys named Adolf in the world.

Rees Howell believed that through prayer, a tyrant like Hitler could be influenced and moved by God. This could be for good or for ill. But he believed that Hitler was a human who made decisions and that God could turn the heart of this powerful man, as he did the Pharaoh. ^[5]

The Man Who Struggled with Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

History is a big, multilayered story, and nations are big machines with many working parts. The way God works through leaders and people who follow them is mysterious, and often beyond human capacity to understand. Buchman and Howell launched their spiritual efforts from afar. They lived and worked in England in a free society, and they proposed solutions that were clearly out of context, though not out of the realm of possibility.

Bonhoeffer, however, was born to German nobility. His mother was a part of the elitist society of the Weimar Republic, named after Kaiser Wilhelm II. Dietrich’s father Karl, was the most famous neurologist in Germany and Chairman of the Neurology Department at the University of Berlin. Karl was the father of German psychiatry. Dietrich was to the manor born, or as Americans would say, “born on third base.” Dietrich’s privilege was that he could name his chosen profession, and the red carpet would be rolled out; all he had to do was walk on it. At fourteen, he chose theology.

Bonhoeffer was a brilliant young man, perceptive, high-strung, sensitive, and born with a short fuse for injustice. He was quite brave and usually the first to give his opinion. God uses our station in life to make our own unique mark in history. With privilege comes power and a good dose of confidence. That, along with accomplishment, gives a person greater cultural impact among the elites. We witness this every day. If the common man endorses a deodorant, no one listens. But if Peyton Manning does, he gets paid big money, and a nation lifts its arms. When a television network wants to know something about a serial killer, they interview an expert with credentials from Yale or Harvard, not from Online University.

Bonhoeffer had cultural cachet; he was only 26 years old when asked to give a national radio address. Hitler had only been Chancellor for two days. Bonhoeffer warned the public of the Führer cult. He spoke out and declared Christ as his only Führer. His microphone was abruptly cut off in mid-sentence. He was asked to give the speech because he was a highly respected scholar and the son of Karl Bonhoeffer, and well known among the Berlin elite.

Bonhoeffer went on to become a leader in the Confessing Church ^[6], a breakaway movement from the German Evangelical (Lutheran) Church. Hitler had co-opted the National Church, rigged the election of the National Bishop, and presented them with a document including the Aryan Clause. Essentially, the Aryan Clause ^[7] banned Jews and Slavs from public life and from holding any administrative positions. The National church voluntarily agreed to the Aryan paragraph, which banned people of Jewish descent from holding any church office or leadership position. Bonhoeffer, still quite young, was a key figure in resisting this move of his government. He, along with a third of the clergy, agreed to the Barmen Declaration ^[8] written in large part by Theologian Karl Barth. It established the right and the freedom to preach Christ and the gospel without restraint.

True Discipleship

Bonhoeffer taught that true discipleship to Christ was to stand between the oppressors, the Nazis, and the oppressed, the Jews. In his quest to be a true disciple of Christ, he started as a scholar, then a pastor, a dissenter, and finally, a spy. This process is the third example and the most realistic course when confronted with evil. Bonhoeffer began as a pacifist and ended up as a co-conspirator in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. And for that crime, he was hanged on April 9, 1945. He attempted to use first, prayer and persuasion with family, friends, associates, students, and through official channels to change the direction of National Socialism. When he participated in the Confessing Church and taught in an Illegal Seminary, he set himself against the Führer. When he joined the Abwehr ^[9] and became a dissident and spy, he realized action had to be taken.

Bonhoeffer knew about the various plots to kill Hitler. None of them worked. In fact, prayers for Hitler didn’t work. One must admit, and I hesitate to bring it up, millions of German Christians were praying for the Glory of Germany and for the success of Hitler. What God does with such prayers is a matter for another time. It must be acknowledged that well-meaning Christians and our many prayers are often uttered in ignorance, and God does not even consider saying yes to them. It is quite sobering to consider how much of our praying is in God’s dead file. It is quite awkward to consider the possibility that Adolf Hitler was not one of God’s elect. That is not much of a stretch, but considering a beloved family member being non-elect, that is more difficult.

None of the actions taken to convert, change, or stop Hitler seemed to work. After all that effort, it seems that Adolf Hitler will not be in Heaven. Where will he be? One thinks of an oven, of being a little pile of ash. But my friends, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust, for you were made from dust and to dust you will return.” ^[10] This is how we find ourselves in the post-death interim period, pre-final judgement mode. We all have a little Hitler in our hearts. I present to you that our choices count. Hitler could have chosen something else, but he didn’t, and no one was able to change his mind. But many minds have been changed, and lives changed, and cultures changed, and eternity changed, because of it. Will Hitler be in heaven? No, you won’t see him there. But will we see you there? Will I be there? It’s a choice, make the right one.

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] Age of Accountability is a concept inductively articulated from the Bible. The argument is based on the natural development of moral understanding in a child. Roughly, people think of it as somewhere between 12 & 18 years. Jesus seemed to have enough of it to dazzle the scholars in the Temple when he was but 12. Today’s children grow up too fast sexually and too slow morally. Maturity seems to be more elusive for young people born and raised in the post-Christian secular West. A favorite passage regarding this is found by looking at David and his deceased son in 2 Samuel 12:21-23.

^[2] There are numerous explanations for this fact. Here is one of them, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Adolf_Hitler

^[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat

^[4] Mein Führer: German for “My Leader.” A very important German term rooted in mythical German folklore.

^[5] Proverbs 21:1, 22:7, Romans 9:17,18

^[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessing_Church

^[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_paragraph

^[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmen_Declaration

^[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abwehr

^[10] Genesis 3:19

“A man can’t want what he wants.” Peter O’Toole as Lawrence of Arabia

“The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” Galatians 5:17 NLT

“I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” Romans 7:15 NLT

Toward the end of David Lean’s classic 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, there is an easily missed conversation that takes place between the two main characters. It is late in the film, and both men are spent and are tired of war. Lawrence, played by Peter O’Toole, and Sherif Ali, played by Omar Sharif, have become friends. Lawrence, a British Lieutenant Colonel, and Sherif Ali, a Bedouin killer and warrior, have developed a friendship in the crucible of war. The two men won each other’s trust and admiration; they have rubbed off on each other. Sherif Ali has come to believe that his British friend is an extraordinary man who can inspire and lead men to do Heraclitean feats.

Lawrence came to agree that he indeed was an extraordinary man. His hubris in battle has led him to believe that he could even violate his own moral compass. He became a bloodthirsty man and entered into a period of messianic delirium, leading to the slaughter of an already defeated Turkish army. The world is at his feet. The Bedouin tribes will follow him anywhere and do anything he commands. The British Military has promoted him to a full Colonel; they want to make him a hero and use his fame to solve their political problems. But Lawrence, disgusted with himself, refused to do their bidding, which led to a dramatic scene, the conversation between the friends:

Lawrence, in the midst of victory and fame, has become a defeated man. He has seen his own faults, his shortcomings, but Sherif Ali has become a true believer and says, “A man can be whatever he wants, you said.” He says this because Lawrence’s example had taught him this. Lawrence: “I’m sorry. I thought it was true.” Ali: “You proved it.” Lawrence: Look, Ali, Look! (pinches his own flesh). That’s me! What color is it? That’s me! And there’s nothing I can do about it.” Ali: A man can do whatever he wants, you said.” Lawrence: “He can—but he can’t want what he wants. This (pinching his own flesh) is the stuff that decides what he wants.” With his piercing blue eyes, blond hair, and Oxford English accent, he grabbed the white flesh of his arm, indicating he was not a dark-skinned Bedouin. He couldn’t be one of them; he was stuck with what he was. His basic nature was in control of his deepest desires. He wanted to believe he could do anything; he came close to becoming an honorary Bedouin, but he remained a Brit on a camel. Lawrence’s quest was defeated by himself. And this is the condition of man, true of any man without God. So, can the basic structure of human nature change?

Original sin: A gift to humanity

Original Sin is controversial because it assigns blame to the human race. And the human race takes exception to this accusation. At best, it seems to many that God should seek a partnership with mankind and that the blame should be disseminated widely and include Himself. This is curious to me because it is obvious that something went very wrong early in human history. Whatever name we give it, something is askew; we all know it down deep in our bones. One characteristic of the relationship of people to one another is the attempt to get those around us to change.

We tend to want everyone else to adapt to us, because the world would be a better place if people would agree with me. This is what creates arguments, which lead to conflict between family and friends, and between nations. Original sin is such a downer for the more confident among us. Think of it this way, we are stuck with who we are, and we are unable to change. This is what troubled Lawrence of Arabia—a person can’t want what they want. What O’Toole’s character is saying is that there is no real hope that we can become the lofty beings we yearn to be. We are mad about it and are on the lookout for someone to blame. The rich, the powerful, the privileged, if only we could take that wealth, that power, that privilege and distribute it among the entire human race, we could live in peace and harmony. This is the lie of human progress, at least in the moral sense, that human nature can change if conditions change.

The basic structure of human nature cannot change or improve. Unless—yes, there is that sticky word unless. Unless you ask for help. But that help can only come from the creator. This requires admitting we are sinners and somehow have missed the mark. That is followed by repentance, meaning we have looked at all the facts and agreed to do a 180-degree turn, ask for forgiveness, and then become God’s apprentice through and in the person of Jesus Christ. People don’t like this option because it requires us to admit we are wrong, it requires us to take a knee, and finally to submit to an apprenticeship under God.

Other options from the smart but ignorant

Smart means a person has a strong IQ and brain power. Ignorance is not knowing a certain set of facts. A brilliant scholar may be ignorant of how to change a tire or use a weed whacker. An Ivy League student might not know who the first President of the United States was, who our opponents were in WWII, or why we fought the Civil War. I was reading last evening about prime numbers and their relationship to π.3.14159—I don’t have a clue. Ι am ignorant of such things.

Smart people who have rejected religious revelation as a possible option to the world’s problems have taken up replacement causes, all of which primarily seek to improve humanity. Most of these efforts are utopian and are recycled over time. Socialism is making a comeback after its abysmal failure in the 20th century. It intends to get people to share. After all, the first-century church shared its wealth, and no one had any needs. There were the hippies, living in communes in the 1960s and 1970s. Of course, they always ended up hating each other and becoming cultic. But the theory of Socialism, which morphed into Communism, was born from the writings of Karl Marx, the grandson of a Rabbi, the son of a lawyer. Ironically, Marx was always broke and depended on his patron, Friedrich Engels, to keep him functioning. He advocated the transformation of the masses through new economic systems. This has been attempted in the last century and into this one in the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and now attempting to find a new life in the United States. Socialist theory left a pile of 100 million dead bodies in its 20^th-century wake.

Why are so many attracted to something that has always failed, and will continue to fail?

Why does Lucifer fight on when he continues to lose, to fail? He can never win. He does it because it is his nature. Man’s nature is to continue to pursue any means to secure his own independence, desperately avoiding submitting to an absolute authority that holds each person responsible for his or her own actions. Socialism blames others, the system, yet it violates human nature. Enough is never enough for humanity. If you have plenty, you want more; someone always wants to control, to have the power. Communists are world-famous for revolution, killing all their rivals, securing power, controlling the money, and creating a system that doesn’t work. They house the proletariat (working class) in public housing (commie condos) and control the thermostat. The state determines when the heat is turned on and when the air conditioning goes on. Oh, sorry, there is no air conditioning except in public buildings where the top 1% live. The commie condos do have windows to open when the heat goes on, but the weather is still hot, and to close when the heat goes off, but the weather is still frigid.

Motivation

It must be said, however, that some of this motivation is very Christian. You see, even socialist, atheists, existentialists—all those who glorify human potential have been Christianized. They believe in human progress, and when a society like the United States finds itself the finest and fairest land where liberty and freedom are at their best, we believe that we could get just a bit better by tinkering with things and thus improving life. They try to get everyone to share, to ignore the realities of nature, such as billionaires, even trillionaires, and create more opportunities for the poor, disenfranchised, and level the playing field. They preach we can be male and female, our bodies tell us what we are, but we can ignore our bodies and listen to our hearts and feelings. All of this is a distorted human attempt to love our neighbors and follow a strained, diluted teaching of Christ. Strain out the divinity, His teachings on His kingdom, His punishment of evil, and serve up Jesus meek and mild. Turn the other cheek and give away your fortune to the poor, etc. And if anyone goes against their holy cause, cancel them, cut them off, shut them up, snuff them out. Praise the Lord.

Socialism doesn’t fail like fascism because of bad intentions. It has the best intentions. It fails because its premise is wrong, its foundation is built on sand, and reality comes and washes away the entire house. Like Lawrence of Arabia, he failed because mankind is incapable of transforming itself.

Colonel T.E. Lawrence wanted desperately to become Lawrence of Arabia. He risked his life and nearly died many times. He emptied himself of his finest effort and sacrifice to be seen as an extraordinary leader of men. And not just any men, but Bedouin men, desert warriors, men of valor. In the end, his quest to transform himself failed. He was spent, defeated, and disillusioned. He couldn’t do it even though his endurance and determination were legendary. Everyone praised him, except himself. He alone knew that he had not succeeded. In this film’s last scene, he is dressed in full uniform, being driven in a fine automobile to board a ship with private quarters. His car passed some Bedouins on their camels, and Lawrence stood to say, “I’m one of you.” But sat back down when the camels were frightened by the car. He had a very drawn and defeated look on his face, and then the credits rolled.

When we all come to that same realization that we can’t overcome our basic nature, that it won’t change, and it will fail us, then we are ready to ask for help. Then we can be changed.

Bill Hull

2026

Where did God come from?

“Why are there beings at all instead of nothing?” Martin Heidegger^[1]

Everyone from Aristotle to Attila the Hun to 100-year-old Mel Brooks has conceded, “Someone or something must have started this whole thing.” All of creation concludes the same self-evident truth: if creation is the effect, then the cause must be God or something like God. Even the atheist scientist, being a true materialist, must posit that if you have nothing, you will always have nothing. Something doesn’t come from nothing. If you have nothing, you are stuck with nothing. Of course, you wouldn’t know you had nothing because you would not be there to know you have nothing. The Bible takes a shot at it: “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.”

This statement doesn’t seek to prove it as much as to describe it. In fact, the entire Bible assumes God exists and that everyone knows it. ^[2] It treats it as a statement of fact, an explanation. It is not trying to start an argument; it is the creation itself that begins the argument. The Bible is telling God’s story and presents a general description of the order in which God put it all together. We, the readers, recipients of the story, like to criticize by telling God, or Moses, the Pentateuch ^[3] general editor, that his presentation is not right based on our critique of how he made things. ^[4] I suppose it never occurred to the created beings that their creator put it all together like an innovative chef who put the ingredients in a big pot and added a bit of this and that, stirred it up, tasted it, and added a few more things, not in any particular order, and then made it all work. In the end, God said, “Hey, this is good, really good.”

Who created God?

Anti-theists reject the argument of cause and effect as proof for God. Not because they reject the truth of cause and effect, but because it created an even greater question. “Where does God come from?” At this point, I should pack it in and admit that I don’t know. But before I do, I have a few questions. ^[5]

Does the Bible assume the existence of God?

You’ve heard that adage, “I can’t prove it to you, but I just know it is true.” If I go to bed and there is no snow on the ground, and wake up in the morning and see two inches of snow, I will assume that it snowed overnight. Such realities are woven in and around every strand of our lives. Creation itself makes the existence of God self-evident. Everyone knows it because it is indelibly imprinted on our consciousness; we see beauty, power, and wonder in His creation. It takes our breath away, it beckons us to something higher, better, loftier than ourselves. ^[6]

It takes a great deal of motivation and hard work to vanquish this wonder and beauty from a created being. It takes a concerted effort by the archenemy of this revealed and commonly experienced truth. ^[7] There are even those who give their lives to their holy mission of shaking people out of what they see as religious stupor. Karl Marx (1818-1883) was such a person who dedicated his life to an alternative salvation from that of a God. It was a salvation of economics that not only denied the reality of God but also proposed a magical and false view of personhood. It proposed that you take the wealth of the few and, by force, distribute it among those in need. “From each according to his ability to each according to their need.” It is government-sanctioned theft. It was a utopian ideology purloined from the New Testament. It was a take-off on the “communion” of the early church, where they put all their money into a common fund, and lived out of that fund, and every need was met. ^[8]

The only thing that made socialism or communism fail and will always make it fail every time and everywhere is simple. The early church did it voluntarily, but the socialist elders would do it through compulsory action of the state, and those who didn’t share would lose their wealth and end up in prison.

There is a reason only 12 people attended Marx’s funeral; he died broke. He used up his friends’ money, and he had few friends left. His life and work were a massive mistake and failure. Marx famously said that “religion is the opiate of the people.” He thought of Christians as drugged and in an altered state of reality; you be the judge of who was under the influence. He was delusional regarding the fixed nature of the human. One thing that never changes is the basic nature of the man. Not just for evil, but also ambition for good, and the competitive spirit that makes free people everywhere more prosperous and happier. Marx is one of many who dedicated their lives to not believing in what was obvious and was assumed by most of humanity; “There must be a God, just look around. Have you noticed the miracle of new life? Have you ever been touched by kindness?”

Does God claim to have always been around?

Yes indeed! He claimed that no one created him, and that he exists in a realm unknown to any created being. He lives outside of time and space, not limited to either, but not locked out of either. Most famously, he revealed this when asked who he was. Moses was asking God, as he stood in the warmth of the burning bush, who he should tell Pharaoh had sent him. He answered, tell him, I am sent you. ^[9] “I am” means the self-existence one, one who exists in the realm without time, without a beginning or an end.

I am!

The gospel of John is famous for its eight great “I ams” of Jesus making himself equal to God. I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the gate, I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth, and the life, I am the true vine, and the eighth, the crescendo—before Abraham was born, I am! ^[10]

God is consistent in his claims to have always existed. Not only is this claim implicit in “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In the beginning he created time. God, who already existed, created the heavens and earth, which is space. In one statement by fiat, he creates time and space. Later, in speaking to and through the prophet Isaiah, he says, “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord. “You are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God-there never has been, and there never will be. I, yes, I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior.” ^[11]

Does God claim exclusive rights to the entire universe, for all time, and that he has no rivals?

He does! And we don’t like it! God is so narrow-minded, so insistent that he alone gets the credit and, I might add, the blame for everything that exists. There is no way to eliminate either his magnificence or his culpability for it all. One can’t say that God didn’t have any regrets because he quite openly has. He was sorry for the mess his creation had made and more than once wanted tπo eliminate it all. Most famously, he intended to end it all with a flood, or the flood may have been his capitulation. One does not know what he may have decided to do without his being impressed with Noah. He could have dropped the whole idea. This is what scares us more than anything about God. He is wild and woolly, at times intemperate, even unpredictable.

And don’t believe the revisionists who like to think God was growing through his own repentance or that he has remade himself through the centuries to become the gentle Jesus or that he has undergone ions of therapy and, through self-discovery, become more enlightened. Who knows, just a few more dinner parties on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and he could teach poetry at Yale. However, biblical authors claim that God is immutable; for those keeping score at home, that means he doesn’t change. I am guessing that he is a bit more complex than we humans can imagine. God’s sorrow seems to be real; his compassion finally caught up with his frustration.

The restart button.

God hit the restart button with just eight souls. Those eight souls were not pristine examples of exemplary living, but Noah did believe enough to spend between 55 and 75 years obeying and building an ark. Can you believe what a laughingstock it was for him to do so when there was no history of rain? ^[12] This impressed God, and so they survived. He regretted having made Saul King of Israel. It may have been more the fact that he capitulated to the wishes of Israel to be more like the surrounding nations and trust him a bit less. Saul was, by my most standards, not the worst King in Israel’s history.

God is not willing to share. I know this is counterintuitive to what we teach our children and the entire thesis of Christianity. But God governs himself in possessing the discipline to share only what is good for others to receive. On the other hand, we share in good and even banal ways, but often in ways that harm others. It is a story often told of how loving parents overindulge their children, contributing to the ruin of their lives by putting them on the family dole. God does not withhold any good thing from those who obey him. ^[13]

No one likes to hear this, but if God made you very rich and you didn’t need to ever work again, it would ruin you. You would flush your life down the toilet and be disgraced. The Scotsman historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle said it many years ago: “Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.” ^[14] The primary reason is man’s lack of restraint, self-discipline, reflection, and humility. These qualities are necessary for acquiring wealth and managing it. Prosperity removes these guardrails and there is nothing to stop people from acting on their impulses. As John Calvin said, “The ruin of man is to obey himself.” This is why God withholds many good things from his people. But he does not withhold good things from those who obey him and do his will. God alone knows what is in our hearts and our character. He knows what we can handle and, more importantly, what we have trained ourselves to handle. God alone is qualified to run the universe. There was no one before him, and no one will come after him. He is not competing with Zeus or the Titans, for Zeus and nearly a hundred rival gods do not exist. They arise from the imagination of his creation, who are endlessly searching for an alternative to God himself, who runs a tight ship.

So, where does God come from?

He’s already answered the question. Our problem is that we don’t like the answer. God has always been the self-existent one, who exists outside of time and space. What is left when time and space are off the table? The question self-destructs. The five questions, who, what, when, where, and why, have existed since antiquity for analyzing, understanding, and problem-solving. Where assumes space. There is no space outside of time and space—get it? God is. The great “I am” means present tense. He exists, now, in another realm we do not know. God didn’t come from anywhere. Where does not exist outside of time and space. When God began is another question that vaporizes, because outside of time, there is no when. Who or what created God is a non-starter because the who is the I AM. The entire question, the entire discussion, vaporizes into the air. What doesn’t exist is the answer to the human question in a form that humans can grasp. That leaves us with why. Read on:

What is our choice?

You can either ignore the question altogether, a popular option taken by many. You can continue to reason out the question and wrangle with “god” about it until you can fly to Mars with Elon Musk and find nothing and keep asking the same question on a different rock. Or you could accept the answer that God has given that we don’t understand, but that satisfies our souls. God became a man and entered our struggle, he told us some things, he prepared us, and then he climbed up on a cross and showed us how much he loved us. He showed us how different he was than all the other gods and answers. His answer was to become the crucified God. The sacrifice that befuddles us, but that grabs us and won’t let us go until we say, “Yes.” That is it, that is the answer. I don’t know where He came from, but I do know what He is really like.

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher who lived in the early 20^th century. Best known for three things, 1. His important work on human action and being. 2. Supporting the Nazis during WWII, 3. Conducting an affair with his promising female student, the famous philosopher Hannah Arendt.

^[2] Romans 1:18-21

^[3] The first five books of the Bible. Moses is considered the author or general editor. Moses, it is generally understood, didn’t sit down and pen the five books. It was a combination of scribes, experts, and oral tradition, with Moses’ guidance and telling of the stories, with help from his friends. This is the subject of a great debate. I believe God was guiding this process, and the work product is accurate and inspired.

^[4] Created order critics who say “God’s Spirit hovered over the surface of the water before there was light. Yet God didn’t make the sun, moon, and all that until the fourth day”- this kind of critique is a bit dim-witted because the critic is looking up at God through a glass darkly and doesn’t recognize the nature of the literature he or she is reading. It is a story about a supernatural, all-knowing God putting together his creation with the option of sustaining it over and above the laws of physics or natural order as he does the work.

^[5] Just consider me your ‘Hippy Dippy” Theologian, thanks to the late comedian George Carlin and the Hippy Dippy Weatherman.

^[6] This is clearly presented by Paul in the book of Romans 1:18-32. The Good, the bad, and the ugly, it’s all there. “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. Since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

^[7] John 10:10 Kill, lie, steal, and destroy is the mission of Lucifer, to take away the abundance that God provides those who believe in him.

^[8] Acts 2:42-47 , also 4:32-37

^[9] Exodus 3:14.

^[10] John 6:35, 8:12, 10:9,10:11,11:25, 14:6, 15:1, 8:58.

^[11] Isaiah 43:10,11 NLT.

^[12] Some scientists say that it has rained on the Earth for billions of years. Since there are no written records of rainfall from those days, they expect us to take their word for it. An alternative option is that God watered the earth with a mist. Honestly, I have no idea. But the no rain before the flood idea preaches very well.

^[13] Psalm 84:11

^[14] From his 1840 series On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History.

“You can’t ask to exist if you don’t exist.” God

“At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. He said: Let the day of my birth be erased, and the night I was conceived. Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no light shine on it.” Job 3:1-4 NLT

What seems foolish to the secular-minded is the simple phrase, “Christ died for our sins.” And your next-door neighbor asks, “Why would Christ need to die for me? What did I do? This wasn’t my idea; I didn’t create the earth and make it ‘tooth and claw.’ Not my idea, not my doing, so how can I possibly be held responsible? I’m not guilty, I don’t need a savior! God is the one who is responsible for sin; he is the one who needs to repent, to fix what he broke.” After all, didn’t God repent of having made man, and he flooded the earth and hit the restart button with eight people? ^[1] People seem disposable to God; He creates them, He destroys them, then He restarts His experiment like a high school chemistry student who flunked the final. Now he’s in summer school trying to fix it. Your neighbor would have a good argument. People have a right to be skeptical, to be confused, and to tell the gods, get back to me when you get your act together.

Reason

Reason is a two-edged sword. Without it, you can’t get through a full day on Earth. Don’t put your hand on a hot stove, don’t jump off a water tower, don’t talk back to Mom. Reason is essential in a material world, and part of sanity is to acknowledge that accessing an electrical charge by flipping a switch on the wall is far better than jamming a screwdriver directly into a high-voltage electrical grid. At the same time, reason can assist one in approaching a divine being, but reason gets in the way when it confronts spiritual realities that supersede human understanding. Reason gets you to the plank of faith, but then, you must walk the plank.

Geworfenheit

The Germans have a word for this conundrum. The philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) called it geworfenheit or thrownness. Being thrown into existence, finding yourself suddenly in the world. Born into a specific time, culture, and set of circumstances without having chosen it or having any control over it. Kind of obvious, isn’t it? This would include every person born—except one.

When you think about such a reality as birth, it can bring up a wide range of responses. I know that many Americans born in the 20^th century have remarked at one time or another, “I am so thankful to have been born into a great family in the best nation on earth in modern times, with all its medical advances and its many opportunities for advancement, and particularly its freedoms.” Most children, however, apart from outright suffering, hardly notice their circumstances. We don’t get around to complaining until the teen years or even later.

“I’ve never been to me” ^[2]

Philosophers and their partners in crime, psychiatrists and psychologists, like to make it an identity crisis. A crisis that can only be ended by a process that tends to enrich and advance their professions, wrongly called therapy. ^[3] It has worked, but not very often. The proof is that the more successful it is, the longer you stay in treatment. This is an argument for its failure, but let’s drop that for now. Has it ever occurred to you that those who boast of having a lifelong therapist are rich? To sum up this response to “thrownness,” it becomes an identity crisis, and you waste your life chasing the true “me.” I think it was the late Elizabeth Eliot, the Christian writer and speaker, who, when asked, “Who is the real Elizabeth Eliot?” answered, “I don’t know, and may God keep me from ever finding out.” ^[4]

Charlene, the seventies singer/songwriter, summed it up when she had traveled the world but had “Never been to me.” The search for me is a fool’s errand. It has left philosophers scratching their heads and kept scientists, sociologists, and counselors working. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s father, Karl (1868 -1948), was Chairman of Neurology at the University of Berlin, and described this search as “…the bad fruit of people who like to busy themselves with themselves.” ^[5] The Freudian disease was poisoning the pot then, and it has now triumphed in the 21^st-century West. ^[6]

Jesus gave the immediate two-fold cure when he said: “If any person would come after me, let him deny himself, put aside his selfish ways, and follow me.” ^[7] Another dose of the cure comes from the Apostle Paul’s profound rendition of history and its search for God, given in his sermon in Athens. ^[8] To summarize the Athenian speech, God created us for a specific time and place. And in the end, it is all about seeking God and finding him. Furthermore, God is near to us, just beyond our immediate reach. But if we seek him, we will find him. And when we do find him, we lock in. We have found our purpose, but there are other common responses to this frustration of not having control over one’s destiny.

No Silver Spoons

Many have been born into difficulty. Poverty is not a major feature in this because millions of people over thousands of years have been born into poverty worldwide and have not resented their plight. If, however, they are bitter or angry because of abuse, there is a serious consequence. A person stuck in an abusive family system, particularly as a child, will struggle with their reality quite naturally. Situations such as molestation, drug addiction, crime, and beatings will bring real suffering and pain, and dangerous consequences.

There is a fatalistic stage common to those rejecting the Christian message. They simply back away from the questions and solutions and busy themselves with everyday life. Cynicism is associated with this posture. This manifests itself with an agnosticism that claims, I don’t know and no one else can know either; therefore, all religions are useless attempts to reduce death anxiety and this vale of tears that this incompetent God has brought on all of us.

Church Culture and the Academy

Any form of suffering is diffused into the tissue of life in informal and generally effective ways. It is well known that during the Middle Ages, there was a great deal of physical suffering and death, but it didn’t create as much anxiety as present-day suffering. This is an argument taken up quite effectively by Stanley Hauerwas and others in Naming the Silences. ^[9] Dr. Kenneth Surin explained how suffering was absorbed by Christians in the church. The community of Christians and its beliefs acted as shock absorbers to take the hard blows of diseases and death, particularly in a society where fifty percent of children died before the age of five. Alasdair MacIntyre points out “the fact that the contradictions of a benevolent divine omnipotence and the existence of evil were not seen by the Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages as obstacles to belief. Only after the seventeenth century did the problem of evil become the central challenge to the coherence and intelligibility of Christian belief per se.” ^[10]

The church, as the primary player in handling suffering, diminished in the 19^th century in both Europe and America when the academy took away from the church this task of dealing with suffering, and alas, the church allowed this to happen by being weak and increasingly liberal in its approach to the authority of scripture. The war against the problem of evil became an abstract debate rather than a reality to be absorbed by the consolation of Christ and his church. Abstract debate and philosophical constructs are of little value when you are holding a dead child.

Many people just put all these problems of God, evil, and Christ dying on a cross, and gratitude for that stuff out of their minds. It gets shoved back into the corner of the brain just behind the old high school yearbook and letter sweater. It only disturbs us at funerals, weddings, and nightmares or epiphanic moments. A small percentage of the population goes for all the gusto of life in daredevil-like activities, climbing mountains, jumping off cliffs, or going as fast as possible in cars and motorcycles. Then an even smaller, even minuscule slice of the intelligentsia read Sartre and Camus, and ask Camus’ question, “Why haven’t we all committed suicide?”

The Answer

Why haven’t we all committed suicide? For the same reason Albert Camus attended church in his last years before his untimely death in an automobile accident. Camus developed a relationship with a Clergyman and summer break guest preacher at the American Church in Paris. Reverend Howard Mumma, a Yale-educated minister, preached there for several summers in the 1950s. Camus, famous for his works, The Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger, won the Nobel Prize at age 44 in 1957. Through a series of luncheons and deep discussions, he decided to be baptized. Camus decided not to commit suicide because he knew the answer to the question and complaint that began this column. I didn’t ask to be born, and I’m not connected to this Christ dying on the cross and forgiving my sins. As far as I am concerned, Christ is guilty; I am innocent of these so-called crimes. But if Albert Camus, one of the most famous atheists and existentialists of the 20^th century, was able to answer that complaint, couldn’t we?

You Can’t Ask to Exist if You Don’t Exist!

There it is, the cold, hard facts. A child cannot ask to be born while they are non-existent. Your parents decided to have a child, you became that child, they didn’t know what you would be like, what gender you would be, but out of mutual love and commitment brought you into being. More profoundly, if that is not enough, God did exist and knew you and created you in his plan before time and space existed. He knew how many days you would live and what your days would be like, and ascribed a general and then a more specific purpose to your life. ^[11]

Life is a gift; nonexistence is not better than existence. Even though the world’s pearl clutchers lament, “I’m not bringing a child into this awful world full of bigots, potential famines, nuclear holocausts, climate change, and dictators; it wouldn’t be right! These cynics wouldn’t know “right” if it bit them on the butt. May they spill their oat milk lattes. Life is a gift, filled with enjoyment and tragedy. You may have heard of the classic wedding vows, “…to have and to hold, from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.” You can be sure that you will get all of that, and it will be well worth it.

We’ve all Tested Positive for Sin

Life exists in God alone. The first human was created from dust, out of dirt, and God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul. ^[12] Adam was created and was joined by Eve, and they resided in Eden. Eden was a perfect paradise. Then disaster struck, Adam complained after eating the forbidden fruit that it wasn’t his fault; Eve was the culprit. He proclaimed himself innocent. He didn’t need saving; he wasn’t guilty because it was the woman’s fault. Sound familiar? And none of us would, by trying to be our own god, do any better than Adam. We are Adam, we are Eve, we’ve been tested for the virus of sin, and we have tested positive again and again. Adam and Eve’s DNA is in our DNA. We are part of this human family that has life, a life that is a gift. By putting any distance between yourself and God, you are revealing your guilt, your separation, your rebellion. Even your belief that you could have done better than Adam, and that you could have done better than God.

Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” When a potter makes a jar out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy who were prepared in advance for glory.” ^[13]

Ok, suck it up, buttercup—drink it down to the dregs, this is God on the rocks. So, get on your knees and pray after me, “Lord, I repent of trying to figure you out.” Amen

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] Genesis 6:6 “So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.” Actually, God intended to end it all, but Noah found favor with the Lord. Thus began Naval History.

^[2] Charlene, I’ve Never Been to Me (1976).

^[3] Therapy is from the Greek word therapeia, meaning healing or curing.

^[4] https://joniandfriends.org/news/elisabeth-elliot/

^[5] Charles Marsh, A Strange Glory. page 384 Alfred A. Knopf, 2014, New York.

^[6] Philip Reiff, The Triumph of the Therapeutic (2007), and Carl Truman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, 2020.

^[7] Luke 9:23.

^[8] Acts 17:24-31.

^[9] Stanley Hauerwas, Naming the Silences, God, Medicine, and the Problem of Suffering, Pages 5051, Eerdmans Publishing, 1990.

^[10] Surin, Theology and the Problem of Evil, pp. 3-7. Alasdair MacIntyre quoted Surin in Theology and the Problem of Evil, p. 9. Both are found in Naming of the Silences by Stanley Hauerwas, Page 48, T&T Clark International, 1990.

^[11] Ephesians 2:10, Psalm 139.

^[12] Genesis 2:7

^[13] Romans 9:20-24 NLT.

“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” ^[1]

“I don’t understand why a good God would sacrifice his own son because he is pissed off at the world for not worshipping Him. What kind of monstrous megalomaniac does that?” Your Next Door Neighbor.

“A fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” ^[2]

Athens was the Monte Carlo of philosophy. Monte Carlo is an independent microstate on the Mediterranean coast of the French Riviera. It’s where Gary Grant and Grace Kelly fell in love in the 1955 film To Catch a Thief. And it is where Grace Kelly stayed and married Prince Rainier III in 1956. It’s a fairy tale spot; peasants, barbarians, and ordinary people need not apply. Athens was the home of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates, like Jesus, never wrote a book, but had many written about him. Socrates asked the big questions about meaning and truth, and for it he was sentenced to drink the hemlock. ^[3] Jesus answered the questions and said, “I am the truth.” And he drank a different cup and was executed as a criminal on the cross.

Foolish Philosophers

The great philosophers believed that Socrates asked the questions, Plato answered them, and Aristotle systematized them. Many believed that Plato was so influential that much of Christian teaching is based on his teachings. In fact, John’s Gospel begins speaking of the logos, which came from Greek philosophy. ^[4] The logos was the organizing mind or concept around which the world was organized. Aristotle was famous for tutoring Alexander the Great. Saint Thomas Aquinas famously assimilated Aristotle’s teachings into the Summa Theologica, which became the backbone of Catholic theology. It has even been said that if Plato had a poet, it would have been Dante, and his painter would have been Michelangelo. ^[5]

Three hundred and fifty years after Aristotle died, the Apostle Paul found himself in Athens waiting for Silas and Timothy to meet him there. He was perturbed, even made angry, by Greek philosophy and its dead ends. They daily discussed and debated an unknown God. ^[6] After five hundred years of seminars and symposiums, they still had no answers, just statues and icons that dotted their city. You can travel to Athens and tour the ruins of their temples of reason, and it is clear, still, they don’t know a damn thing. Paul had his say, and he left Athens and sailed across the Saronic Gulf to Corinth. Today, you can travel those 60 miles by car or ship in a bit over an hour. But if Athens was the posh Monte Carlo, Corinth was Spring Break, debauchery gone wild. It was glamorous, on an isthmus linking two seas and known for its crowded harbors, many sailors, and the proficiency of its prostitutes.

Two centuries earlier, the city had been destroyed by the Romans and rebuilt as a Roman colony. Because of its location, it was a true melting pot. Paul had not been popular in Athens; he stayed only a few days. But in Corinth, he found “Itinerant philosophers, Jewish scholars, shipping magnates, cobblers,” a mishmash of culture. ^[7] And he stayed 18 months. This is where Paul supported himself, working on tents and living among his fellow tradesmen. He established a church there based on many converts, Jews and non-Jews, Greek-speaking people, many of whom knew nothing of monotheism or the Jewish ways. But they had all been saturated in Greek philosophy with a cultural understanding of Greek mythology. And as Paul himself said, to them the cross seemed foolish. Why would a God die for his subjects? It made no sense. Zeus wouldn’t do it, and Apollo would have mocked such a sign of weakness. ^[8]

For the Corinthian working class, morals were a hodgepodge of customs that left new Christians confused and struggling. By the time Paul wrote back to this church a couple of years later, it could be said there wasn’t a problem one could name that they didn’t have. Drunkenness, debauchery, adultery, prostitution, greed, sexual promiscuity with all its aberrant forms. The Corinthian fleshpots were open twenty-four-seven. And they were factious, oh boy, they were competitive, and they knew how to hold a grudge.

Foolishness

Some followed Peter, others Paul, some preferred Apollos, but the most arrogant were those who followed no person, only Christ himself. This meant that they answered to no one and were the most independent and rebellious of all the other factions. Paul became quite sarcastic with them and unleashed his competitive streak. Paul presented himself as their Father in Christ, as a boxer in a fight, as a runner in a race, but turned around and also told them, regardless of great feats of miracle working, “if they did not have love, it was all worthless.” ^[9] It was a dangerous mess, a boiling pot foaming over, so hot no one dared pick it up. But Paul didn’t bring up all this mess until he had reminded them of who they were and what they had. More importantly, what had come of it and the foolishness of returning to the land of questions with no answers. In the first two chapters of his first letter to the Corinthians, he sorted out the biggest mysteries of the universe. The mysteries that had stumped Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Paul’s Stunning Denial

I’m no philosopher! I’m a Preacher! What a beginning! While standing in the belly of the philosophic beast, he denies any sage credentials. I’m not Demosthenes (384-322 BC), the great orator who cured himself of a speech impediment by speaking with pebbles in his mouth. He would shout over the sound of ocean waves, he recited verses as he climbed hills to build endurance, he practiced facial expressions, and gestures.

It’s funny that Paul bragged to the church that he baptized fewer than ten people. How many pastors would brag about such a stat? Speaking about baptisms: “For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.”

Philosophers don’t have Good News; they have very bad news, unless you think being intellectual, morally confused, and wrong will solve your death problem? And if you think death is something to resign yourself to, then no one wants to hear that. You’ve already lost before you begin. It is a devilish idea; it is an obscenity about God’s image being in each of us. And the reason that no one wants to hear that is not wish fulfillment. It is a yearning down deep in our soul that says, “I’m made to live forever, I’m an eternal being.” ^[10] No self-aggrandizement or sage status can save anyone from anything. Paul says, I’m not confused, I have answers, not questions, I have power, not weakness, I have hope, not despair. Now for sorting it out.

The World is Stumped

The Jews are offended by the whole idea of the gospel because it is blasphemous to think that God has a son, and to make matters worse, that he is the promised deliverer sent to save us, and we are to worship and follow him. Please, oi vey! Paul explains all of this in one sentence.

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. It is a penetrating truth that stings all the way through the soul… and then he piles on with an even more serious indictment of human reason:

“So, where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.”

Let’s all pause for a moment and visualize famous philosophers, past and present: From Socrates to Schopenhauer. How about Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Wittgenstein, then the scientists: Newton, Einstein, Alan Turing, and Stephen Hawking. The Great debaters of our age: Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, et al. God has made them look foolish. In fact, he has arranged that they are clueless as to how the world was put together or how it really works.

The most garish television evangelists know more about reality than these guys. The preacher with a grade school education can outthink them because he is foolish enough to believe what he has read in his tattered Bible with verses underlined and scribbles in the margins.

Only a select few people will know, and no one else will have a clue. If anyone refuses God’s offer, regardless of reason, they can’t know God. The offer is this: repent of your sins, believe the good news, and follow me. ^[11] Paul sketches out the way to understand all the humans walking the earth.

1 The Soulish Person

In the second chapter of his letter to the Corinthians, he tells them that God alone understands the mysteries of the universe. And God only reveals these truths by His Spirit. The Spirit of God alone searches out the deep things of God. Then only the people who have the Spirit of God, meaning people who have believed, have access to the mysteries and secrets of God.

Therefore, if a person does not have the Spirit of God, they cannot know the thoughts of God, the truths of God, the mysteries of God. It doesn’t matter how high their IQ is or how much they have studied, pondered, meditated, chanted, or sacrificed; they will be stumped by it all. He puts it this way, “But people who aren’t spiritual ^[12] can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them, and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.” ^[13] Brilliance, study, and hard work are off the table. Regardless of the amount of effort a person makes, without God’s Spirit, they are locked out from his wisdom and understanding. So, the point is, understand that they cannot understand until they bow the knee. That requires a bit of reason and a good deal of faith.

2 The Spiritual Person

Paul then explains who can understand. “Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” ^[14]

That is a mouthful, a head full—the believer who follows Christ has a mind that is being transformed into the mind of Christ, sort of. Our minds are limited and debilitated by the fall. But over time they can and do be shaped by God. The knowledge of God is just as real as is knowledge regarding geography, medicine, and of persons.

I wonder if you have noticed that many great minds around you, our media elites and others who famously influence the direction of nations, see the world upside down. It reminds me of a statement attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi who said, apparently in jest, that he would need to stand on his head to see the world alright. We live in a world where up is down and down is up. Where we are told what is good is bad and what has been considered bad is good. Where a criminal convicted of murder becomes the victim and the elites plead for mercy. Yet the same advocates fight tooth and claw for the right to kill an innocent baby in the womb. We wonder if they are deceived, evil, or victims themselves of malevolent powers. But at least we can understand that they don’t get it—and won’t—until they bow the knee to a story of a crucified God. One who came when he saw the lostness and desperation of His creation, He who became one of us and suffered with us and for us and died to show us that He is on our side.

Each night just before sleep I think about my day. What was good and what was bad. I ponder what I understood and what mystified me. And I have a choice—to proclaim to my God that I am a fool for believing in him and trusting him—or will I choose once again to be a fool for Christ’s sake. Every night I have chosen to continue to be a fool for Christ’s sake. Not because it all makes sense or that I agree with him on what happened. But because His Spirit has shaped my mind into a place where all I can muster is a “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now I commit my spirit into your hands.”

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] I Corinthians 1:18 NLT

^[2] Psalm 14:1 NLT

^[3] Socrates was executed in 399 BCE by poisoning. He was condemned by the Athenian court after being found guilty of “corrupting the youth” Rather than flee, or renounce his teachings, he willingly drank the hemlock. He was guilty of not acknowledging the city’s gods and for introducing new ones.

^[4] John 1:1-3 In addition the entire world view of Heaven being up or above us and Hell being down or below us along with the soul being separate from the body indicates the influence of Greek philosophy.

^[5] This would be based on Dante’s Divine Comedy or description of Hell, which is found on the back wall of the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo.

^[6] Acts 17:22,23.

^[7] Tom Holland, Dominion, page 91.

^[8] I Corinthians 1:23.

^[9] I Corinthians 9:24-27, I Corinthians 4:14-16, I Corinthians 13:1-3.

^[10] Ecclesiastes 3:11

^[11] Mark 1:14 -18 Jesus’ invitation to the first century Jewish world and to the believers prove their belief by following him.

^[12] The NLT is a bit wordy here. It could have simply said the soulish person. The word for unspiritual is ψυχικος which means a normal human minus the Holy Spirit inside of them. Therefore, they have a soul or a transcendent ability to work with, but no more. They are not linked to God the way a believer would be.

^[13] I Corinthians 2:14 NLT.

^[14] I Corinthians 2:15,16 NLT.

“…he knows the number of hairs on your head!” ^[1]

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.” ^[2]

How could it be possible that God would be interested in me? I ask myself this question every day. It really does mystify me. Why does such a comforting idea seem so ridiculous to my reasoning powers? First of all, we are talking about billions of creatures who have already lived and died. Then there are the eight billion now alive and the billions yet to come. That is trillions of hairs on billions of heads whose number is changing second by second. We naturally shed 50 to 100 strands of hair a day. Let’s not even get into the rest of the body. Too many haircuts, hair cutters, toupee makers, and body waxers to count. It must be taxing for God, trying to keep all these statistics; he thanks himself for creating the bald.

We can’t imagine how God, even with His super brain, oops, I almost forgot, God doesn’t have a brain! He doesn’t need one because God the Father is Spirit, neither male nor female.^[3] He doesn’t need a brain because he has a mind. His truest nature is immaterial, and he doesn’t live outside of his Son, Jesus, in time and space. He invented and created time and space as a realm in which we can live. The brain is physical gray matter, which houses and connects the mind to the body, and helps orchestrate and deliver signals to the body. The brain is part of the body and doesn’t need to be frozen or kept in a jar after death because even if there is a scientific breakthrough for raising the dead, more than a thawed brain would be needed to constitute life. The soggy pile of human tissue that once was a brain would not be needed because it is the immaterial mind of an eternal person who gives life. Science has taught us that God has designed the brain in such a way that various parts have different functions. ^[4] Please allow me to complete the first sentence at the beginning of this paragraph: We can’t imagine how God can keep track of all these details. We don’t know of any computer or even A.I. that could complete the simplest task performed routinely by God. Possibly, a super A.I. a thousand years from now could do a God-like task equivalent to a chimp learning to push the right button to feed itself a banana. Or I could learn to use the dishwasher.

Space and Time

Why should we expect that we, creatures of space and time, could understand life outside of space and time? It is quite unreasonable to believe that we could walk through that looking glass. Movies have portrayed time travel. Captain Kirk stood on the Bridge of the USS Enterprise and led us to galaxies far, far away. In reality, Captain Kirk never left the studio; his real name was William Shatner. He lowered his goals and became a TV patrol cop, T. J. Hooker. The best we can do is imagine time travel and test the limits of space. We have gone on short trips to the moon, and some dream of Mars. But who wants to go on a flight that takes nine months to get there, moist towel, anyone? And when you arrive, there is nothing you need or want, not even air to breathe. We are finding understanding life in time and space more than we can handle; we have no real chance of learning about life outside of time and space. The only way we would have a clue about life outside time and space would be to be told by someone living there. Our English word for that being is God. God claims to be there, and he is not silent; he has spoken.

God, Creator and Designer

Think of God as a painter living outside of time and space in His realm; let’s call it Heaven, for that is where he claims to exist. ^[5] There is no time in Heaven; God sees our history as a simultaneous reality. All knowledge is simultaneous; reality is stacked on top of itself. It is all known now—he is the God of now, the self-existing one, none before him, none after him—he’s it! ^[6] God, the painter, has finished the painting. Creation of all human experience is a completed painting.

Back in time and space, we are still painting the picture he has already finished. Another way of saying it, since our human painting is neither a masterpiece nor perfect, is that God helps us paint using crooked lines to match his masterpiece in the end. As the adage says, “God writes straight with crooked lines.” ^[7] Because he comes in and makes everything right. This is what the Scripture claims: He will reconcile all things to himself. ^[8]

Reality

People talk about the “real world” to dismiss God talk and the supernatural. Our reality is that reason and the ability to figure out reality are a lost cause. We can figure out the human stuff, like discovering fire, inventing plumbing and how to deliver water, how to go faster than a horse, or fly inside a tube crusing at 600mph. However, as to why anything exists, how it started, and who is behind this project of Earth—that requires revelation. And revelation to be helpful will only be accessible to the humble-minded. For the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man. And humankind doesn’t take kindly to such a come-down. God has spoken to us and continues to do so, and then there is prayer. Oh yes, this is the way we talk to God, and once again, we return to our question as to why God would be interested in my thoughts and prayers. And more to the point, how does he keep track of it all? And finally, if he lives outside of time and space, where he knows all things real and even potential in a stacked reality, how does he sort it all out?

Prayer

C.S. Lewis presents his readers with a helpful illustration of how the problem can be solved. He contends that God has all eternity to listen to every single prayer, meaning everyone who prays gets His undivided infinite attention. One thing you won’t find in heaven is a calendar. Picture a novelist sitting in a chair writing a story. The sentence begins “Mary went to the store to buy bread and…”

Just then, the writer’s doorbell rings. The writer puts down his pen, answers the door, and is greeted by an old friend. They spend a few hours together and go out to dinner. The author, after a long day, knows it is too late to write, and goes to bed. Traveling for business the next few days delays the writing again. The writer has not written one word for some time, but has been thinking for days about Mary and the bread. It is only then that the sentence is finished. In fact, the author has infinite time to pause and think about the character Mary. In the same way, God in eternity could have taken years to study your life or my life, to think through every detail, to examine every event and decision we will make, every prayer we will utter, and put it into his masterpiece, the finished painting. Back in space and time, we are living it out. We are still making our version of the painting. God has time precisely because he lives outside time to focus on each prayer, thought, action, heartache, and tear. Because he is God, he is infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient; he knows all this completely and instantaneously.

C.S. Lewis says, “If a million people pray at 10:30 PM, God does not have to squeeze all those voices into that single minute. Because he is not bound by time. He has all of eternity to listen to each split-second prayer.” We are creatures set in a linear world of past, present, and future. Time is fundamental to everything we do. We can save time, use time, waste time, and have a good time. We count everything, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, need I continue? We drive by buildings, parks, and monuments, and they appear in our rear-view mirrors. We are leaving one place and moving to another place. Everything we experience is going through time. We can’t escape it. Lovers often wish that time could stand still; they are caught in a moment they don’t want to end. But it always does, and all we have then are memories, movies, or pictures. To extract ourselves from this reality takes more than fantasy. It requires a revelation, one with enough force to jolt us and convince us to stop and enter a new reality.

Knowledge

God speaks to us and reveals his knowledge, which is above and different from what reason can provide. We search the scriptures, we pray, we seek to know God’s will and his plan for our lives. Because, yes, there is a plan. He really does have one for us. Tailored to each individual. We are to work out our salvation in time and space. Paul told us to work it out with fear and trembling.

“…And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” ^[9]

Part of God’s knowing you and me is that he provides the desire to know him back. He instructs us in his special book, written in a language we can understand, on how to go about it. And the key is to believe that he really does know me, he really does love me, he really has thought about it, and his plan is perfect. But alas, I am not perfect, and so God does write straight with crooked lines.

Reason

Reason has a part to play in this process of acquiring spiritual knowledge. God uses logic and how the human brain works to explain it to us. God doesn’t have a personal calendar on his wall, doesn’t have a wrist watch, doesn’t have wads of crumpled papers on his office floor. No papers on which are failed plans and bad ideas that he has thought up and discarded. But, he does have stacks of inactive files that contain millions of people who have told him NO, I don’t like your plan, I’ve got my own, and when he leans back in his chair and looks at them, tears come to his eyes.

But you and any other persons who humbly seek him and want to know him put a big smile on his face. And when you ask, how is it possible that God is interested in me? Just take a look at your own children, if you are blessed to have them, and you will have the answer. Reason doesn’t give you the answer; your children’s behavior, their testing of you, their successes and failures, their pleasures and pains don’t really get you there. It is something down deep inside of you that defies reason, and sees beyond faults, something even supernatural that you can feel in your heart. That’s it! That deep inner knowledge and knowing, that is the reason God is interested in you—He loves you.

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] Luke 12:7

^[2] Psalm 139:1

^[3] Galatians 3:28. God presents himself as male, being the Father figure to his celestial family and to his earthly family as well. Gender is necessary for reproduction, and the human family is an accommodation to present the divine in a way that can be understood by and experienced by humans. We are adopted into his family, and he has one Son. His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, who entered the redemptive drama in the First Century. He also made a man for practical purposes. It fit the male-dominated culture, and of course, for biological reasons, the man being the initiator and progenitor of families.

^[4] McGilchrist, Iain. 2021. The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmasking of the World,Perspective Press: London.

^[5] Isaiah 66:1 “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.”

^[6] Isaiah 43:10-13.

^[7] St. Teresa of Avila, also popularized by C.S. Lewis.

^[8] Colossians 1:20.

^[9] Philippians 2:12,13 NLT.

“It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” ^[1]

Either God is good, and we are the sinners, or God is the sinner, and we are the gods.

Humans are always searching for higher forms of life. We are disappointed with our limited choices on Earth. Therefore, we look to the heavens, not for any conventional God, but for little weird-looking beings with antennas who have apparently attained what we haven’t. There is a false modesty among humans who seek a higher intelligence in the heavens above. It is a false modesty because this quest for the stars is rooted in an exquisite pride that knows they know better than our failed God. The grand delusion is that any higher form of life will agree with us because we know better than any God who would allow humans to languish, suffer, and die in the most horrible ways for thousands of years before intervening. We seek peace, and these aliens will have found peace. We want an end to famine, war, disease, and death, while more highly developed forms of celestial life will be living in an uber-evolved utopia. Their god or gods will be perfect, just as they are perfect. In other words, our skeptics, having rejected our flawed God and his plan, are peering into space for a better option. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you live in a high-rise penthouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan or in a trailer park outside of Winslow, Arizona; you seek paradise. Even if you want to be abducted and taken to an alien ship, your chances are better in the Arizona desert than at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Even Martians know better than to enter NYC after dark. But back to the point, our God is the sinner, he is the one who represses our desires, limits our sovereignty, and how dare he tell us what to do.

Unanswerable questions

Neil deGrasse Tyson ^[2] is a popular Astrophysicist who loves to mock religion in a very nice way. He is a bit jolly and wants to be compassionate toward his inferior fellow humans. He often appears on television to poke the bear of conventionality. His academic credentials are first-rate: Harvard, Columbia, University of Texas, Hook ‘em Horns. He couldn’t be more elite. Astrophysics—I looked it up—means to apply the laws and methods of physics and chemistry to understanding how the universe and everything in it works. It is science trying to do what it cannot possibly do: explain the universe.

Oxford’s great mathematician and Christian Apologist, John Lennox, tells the story about the limits of what great scientists can know. He has asked some of the greatest scientific minds in the world the question, “Could you please explain gravity, how it began, and how it works?” He could not find anyone who could answer the question. Science can’t answer life’s most important questions: how did the world begin? What does it mean? How will it end? What is my role in it? This means that when astrophysicists or any other credentialed “holy man” attempts to answer these questions, they have become religious, they are exercising faith, they are evangelists. After they launch their banal attacks on religion, they stand before the world with their pants around their ankles. They are exposed for not offering hope or meaning.

Muzzy truth

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a very religious man; his personal faith in science is immense, and he is an evangelist par excellence. He loves to speak about three kinds of truth. The first truth is personal: “You can believe that Jesus is your savior, and no one can take that away from you because that is your personal truth.” He goes on to say that this is because we live in a country that protects free expression and speech. And that includes zany flat-earthers and evangelicals. He throws a few other religions into the mix and says that it is your right. But you can tell he is also saying, with great condescension, you’re wrong, you poor things, but you are entitled to your own little private truth, which is not true. Truth that is not truth because it can’t stand up against truer truths. He associates beliefs such as the Virgin Birth, or Jesus being the only true religion, to be on par with fundamentalist beliefs that the world is only 6000 years old. They love to pick on poor Bishop Usher, who took out his Sharpie pen and his Blue Horse notebook in 1650 and deciphered the earth’s age. ^[3] Possibly, the agnostics should update their criticisms. After all, in 1650, medical doctors were using leeches and bleeding out evil humors that plagued the sick.

Tyson’s second kind of truth is political truth. This is the kind of knowledge that is repeated over and over until it becomes some sort of cultural norm. It could be something like Republicans are conservative, and Democrats are liberal; The Government will spend more than it takes in and run up debt; Progressives can ruin everything about California except its weather and coastline. Frankly, this was a confusing point made by Tyson—I call it muzzy.

His third kind of truth is scientific truth. Now we are standing on holy ground. This is the kind of truth that Tyson can bite down on: “It is true whether you believe it or not.” It is verifiable, it is repeated again and again, and yields the same result. I’ve often said this of the Bible—its message is that God has come to rescue us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, regardless of our response—it’s true whether or not anyone believes it. But it is widely believed because it is true. It is, however, a statement requiring faith because reason gets us just so far, but anything divine requires that last step called faith. “Smart” people believe that doubt is more intellectually respectable than belief. Faith is not inferior to doubt; in fact, you must have belief to doubt. Doubt, however, is only a part of belief; doubt provides the rebar that reinforces belief because, in the end, belief gives life, and doubt gives death. Doubt feasts on despair, and belief soars with hope.

Scientism

Scientism is when science jumps off the science ship and attempts to swim in philosophic waters. Philosophy is the human attempt to employ reason to explain the universe and the human experience apart from any help from God. They reject revelation and all the holy books. There they are, bobbing about on the sea of despair, Einstein, Kepler, Oppenheimer, Heidegger, Schopenhauer, Russell, Hume, Locke, Kant, all floating on mystery, hanging on to their life rafts for dear life. Lots of questions, no answers.

This leads me to their hubris, cockiness, condescension, and pride; none of them offer any hope, any answers that satisfy, anything to reach for that might rescue us from our darkness. They suggest that we just accept that when we are dead, we’re done. That is the realistic thing to do. Is it really? Is that what a serious person is supposed to do? How about that deep hunger for more that won’t go away, why doesn’t resignation satisfy? Or how about Tyson’s answer: hold on to your private truth, the one that is silly and childish, at least it will comfort you even though it is for the weak of mind. An untrue truth doesn’t help.

Funny little premise

That funny little premise of Tyson’s was fully on display on his last appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. It is the premise that extraterrestrial life is more intelligent than humans. Couldn’t they be dumb as posts? As small as it is reported they are, could it be possible that they are in search of growth hormones? There has been a lot of press recently on spaceships that are so fast and agile that they can’t be explained. We are told that they move at a speed unknown to humankind. There seems to be phenomena that cannot be explained, but could these sightings be playing into a false premise? Could visitors from other planets in separate solar systems find us interesting but not a threat? Is that the reason they come to our planet, abduct a few folks, give them the anal probe, then leave? This seems a fantasy, but the Tysons and Mahers of the world eat it up; they swallow it whole.

Being our own god

Being an atheist creates a religious zeal that requires something to discredit the religious options on planet earth. Atheism requires the belief that we are backward, that intelligent life is out there, more advanced intelligent races than earthlings, anachronistic beings, providing us hope for the utopia that we all wish for—and they don’t require our God. Why? Because our God has laid down the rules and laws that govern the universe and life on our planet, and they don’t like it. We want to be our own gods, we know better, God is the sinner, we are not guilty, God is guilty, we are not on trial, God should be put in the dock and found guilty of his crimes. Please see the French Revolution: get rid of God, worship reason, purge the dissenters, roll in the Guillotine.

They search for an alternative that feeds their narrative. Interestingly, these intelligent humans fancy themselves elite leaders, yet they go to great lengths to be ruled by a more intelligent unknowable society. Just think, they can be ruled by people who look down on them, like they look down on the religious. But the hilarious part is that they seek submission, leadership, answers, solutions; they are looking almost everywhere, but reject the God of the Bible because they know better.

Why would aliens be Interested in Us?

Alien believers follow the premise that all Aliens are smarter and more sophisticated than humans. Yet, does higher intelligence indicate a more moral being or a more perfect society? Other questions, more difficult to answer, are: If they are so smart, why are they wondering about us? They obviously don’t see us as threats because they have not attacked us or destroyed us with their superior firepower and technology.

Are we the high school senior class lab experiment of a nearby galaxy? Is Earth their petri dish? According to our experts, we can’t see them, but they must be able to see us. Unless they can travel faster than the speed of light, they live too many light-years away to ever get here in time for any of this to matter. What about if we did a meet and greet with a celestial delegation, where we decided to integrate our societies, or send our delegation to learn how to live in their society and create a new world of peace, and harmony, where there is no more suffering, no more death, where the utopia that all of us desire and so many despots have tried to force on us was real?

In modern times, Marx tried socialism, which is Christianity without Christ, Lenin brought Communism, and we got gulags and Joseph Stalin. Utopian idealism has left piles of bodies numbering in the millions throughout the 20^th century and continues to do so around the world now that we are 25% into the 21^st century. Islam insists on destroying the evil Satan, which is Christianity and the West; they choose to do so by creating an oppressive society with a purity culture enforced by Sharia law. They are even more dedicated to world conquest than Communists. They are playing a longer game than China.

Everyone wants to rule the world

Have you noticed, my dear readers, a thread that runs through this entire topic? It’s a song title from Tears for Fears: Everyone Wants to Rule the World. Humans, and I know for sure that humans do exist, and want to rule, because God showed us how to rule the world He made. It is not yet real, that space aliens do exist. I seriously doubt that they exist. But the desperation of even our smartest people reveals their foolishness. They are so sure that they can do a better job than one they see as a flawed God. The one who revealed himself in Jesus, the God who sacrificed himself, the crucified God—they would rather slay him, put him on trial, kick him to the curb, and be ruled by funny little beings who are a figment of their imaginations.

The problem that leads to all this nonsense is a fixed and fallen nature that wants a big bite of the apple, a taste of that juicy fruit that is the knowledge of God; It’s not enough to be like God, it is the devilish desire to be God.^[4] I might want to ask them, ok, aspiring self-elected God, what is your plan and how do you propose we begin?

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] Genesis 3:3-5 NLT

^[2]

^[3] James Usher or Bishop Usher 1581-1656 was a Church of Ireland Archbishop. In 1650 he calculated the age of the earth with a meticulous timeline-based on genealogy of the Old Testament. He concluded the earth was created on October 23, 4004 BC. Just before Halloween.

^[4] Isaiah 14:12-14 The five I will’s of Satan.

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: Who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent?” ^[2] Friedrich Nietzsche

In the 5^th Century AD Formal arguments were called Apologies. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Eusebius, and Blaise Pascal, all defended the Christian faith against its enemies. The great Saint Augustine took twelve years to write twenty-two separate presentations into his famous Apology, The City of God. Saint Thomas Aquinas penned the Summa Theologica, which was a nine-year project. One and all stated their case; they defended the faith against the major threats of their day. They did this inspired by the apostles’ example and work, especially that of Paul of Tarsus with his thirteen letters, and Apostle Peter.

It was Peter who penned the words that gave them sanction. He was speaking to the Christians scattered because of persecution under Roman edicts:

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [apologia] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” ^[3]

Who was giving Christians trouble when Peter wrote this? Who was challenging all these great apologists in Church history? It can be summed up by what Christians have always insisted—Christ alone is the singular God, and they have refused to bow the knee to any other, whether it be Caesar or some regional or pagan god. History is replete with tyrants, despots, and megalomaniacs. Christians have found themselves living in war-torn lands where compliance with the government is paramount, such as in communist nations. Christians have always been a threat to governments, kings, and generals; therefore, they have been persecuted and killed. When the church is strong and growing, it is a threat. When it is weak and in decline, the powerful leave it alone. A compromised church is not a threat to Lucifer.

The church has had a good run in America; the question of its influence remains unanswered. Even when it appears to be advancing, growing, and multiplying, the content of its message and the life of its disciples will determine if they are legitimate. If they are not opposed, then the church is compromised. When the church is at a low point in the culture wars, Lucifer and his disciples don’t need a game plan for the church. The church, in its good times, has served as a bulwark against the prince of darkness. If the church is out of the way, it becomes open season on the rest of the culture.

Peter’s advice to us throughout history has been to be prepared to make a defense in the face of opposition. Scholars write apologies, leaders do as well. Most of us, however, are not being published in scholarly journals, or speaking at conferences, or debating in public forums. The percentage of Christians doing this, even if one includes podcasters and social network authors, comprises less than 1% of the Christian population.

Our Christian world is blessed with many professional apologists. They are well schooled, accomplished, and properly degreed. It is true, however, that even our elite apologists don’t convince many non-Christians to convert. I love to debate and to watch great defenders of the faith go head to head with skeptics and fools. It has become a blood sport, and we all love winning, defeating our opponent, grinding them into dust. Sometimes the audience votes, and someone wins, and someone loses. This is a holdover from the ancient traditions of Athens, the time of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Oxford and Cambridge started debating societies, with appearances highly sought after by elites and the ambitious. Debates are a form of entertainment and teach the best and the brightest the value of debate and the free exchange of ideas. But hardly anyone on earth will ever give their opinion in such lofty venues adorned with stained glass.

Winning means humiliating the opponent to get them to shut up. I’ve never seen a debate end with the loser saying, “You are right, I am wrong, what must I do to be saved?” I do not see this entirely as a negative; there are positives because many in the audience are encouraged when obstacles to belief are removed or dislodged. However, it often violates what Peter is suggesting to us.

Be ready

That is where the other 99% come in, and that is what Peter is talking about. Peter is talking about something more than ideas and rhetorical skill. There are two things Peter says that humanize the communication between ordinary people. He says, “Be ready.” Ready to explain the hope that is inside you.

Be ready to give an apology, a defense of your faith. But when you do, do it with gentleness and respect. This means you are not in competition or scoring points, so you can high-five your friends. It is much more serious than that. Because your opponent, the enemy, is out to get you! ^[4] Being ready to speak or defend can mean studying, gaining knowledge, and knowing your stuff. It is even more about your inner life, your disposition, your calm, your courage. When you are mocked, ridiculed, or shamed, respond with gentleness and respect. This doesn’t mean you back down; it does mean listening and taking the person’s ideas seriously.

Peter seems to be suggesting—and he is an expert on this subject—that sometimes you are confronted by officials who are threatening you. Another time, it could be a sincere seeker. It also could mean that you explain the hope that is within you on a very personal level. He is calling on Christians to be authentic, be Christlike in our spirit and demeanor. If you do that, then even when they slander you as a “hater,” a “homophobe,” a “divider,” “a warmonger,” et al, they will have no case against you.

My Apologia

At various times and stretches of my life, I have spent time working in coffee shops. It might be some philosophic hangover from reading about Sartre 1905-1980, and Camus 1913-1960, hanging out in Parisian coffee shops with Simone de Beauvoir 1908-1986. Of course, my fantasy includes assassin Edward Fox, in scenes from The Day of the Jackal, sitting in a café in Paris, figuring out the best way to kill Charles DeGalle. I tried the Parisian café in Paris several times and always felt like an imposter. I usually ended up at McDonald’s.

I have at times established myself as a regular at a local coffee shop near home. I joined the coffee community—we knew one another’s names. People would come to my table and seek my counsel and advice. They would have questions about the Bible, God, and religion. Generally, these conversations were loud enough to be heard by those seated at surrounding tables. It was rare that people would raise their voices above a hush. But the loud and opinionated would turn up now and then. I recall one gentleman around my age, a retired history professor from a nearby university. He was always warm and congenial until one day I asked him about his view of history and what role religion played in it. To claim you can teach Western Civilization and not mention the importance of religion would be nearly impossible.

The professor told me point-blank that he didn’t believe in God and that only fools did. I then asked him, “If you tell the story of humankind and don’t include God, the church, and the role of religion, what story do you tell them?” He looked at me, raised his voice, and told the entire coffee shop community and me, now leaning in to hear our conversation, “I think the Bible is a book of fairy tales, fantasy, and simply a projection of man’s need to comfort himself.” I could see by the look on the faces of my fellow patrons that they were waiting for my retort. I told him I saw how passionate he was, how strongly he felt. I told him he must have a better idea than God. “Thank you, Dr. Freud,” I said. “What is your better idea?” Then he really got mad and started cursing. He made a few more comments about the Crusades and the Inquisition. I laughed and said, “I suppose you know then that the Inquisition was short-lived, and it was Catholics against Catholics, and less than 2000 people were punished in Spain. And I suppose you teach that the Crusades were a defensive response by the church to Muslim aggression, and that they lasted over 200 years, with ten waves or battles, and that the Muslims won. At this point, he refused to answer me. I smiled at him and said, “I can see that you are going to be a tough case.” People laughed, but he didn’t.

This kind of thing happens to me because I enjoy it. I’m asking for it. This is probably not you, but it is me, and I have spent my life getting ready for this kind of thing. But 99% of my conversations are with the curious, the seekers, and those in pain.

Being sent

The other caveat Peter mentions is that we are to be ready when asked. This doesn’t mean to sit passively by waiting for the world to come to you. One could reason, and it would be a rationale or escape hatch ploy, “If no one ever asked me about my most important beliefs, I am free not to speak of them at all.” Now we know this is not true. We are sent people, and we are asked about our faith because it emanates from our entire being. People see the reality, and they witness what we do and say, and what we don’t do and don’t say.

Peter was helping people who were being harassed and punished for their insistence that God had visited his own, and his name was Jesus. And for the Jewish people, that meant he was the Christ, but for the Gentile Roman world, it meant that he was higher than another Son of God, Julius Caesar, who was deified by the Roman Senate in 42 B.C. Higher than any of the regional gods or demigods scattered around the empire.

Jesus gave us a cure for the disease of spiritual ease, and that is to go and make disciples. The truth is, if we obey God, we will not be able to hide our light under a bushel basket. Jesus told us to let it shine so everyone can see it. ^[5]

If your light is on, it will shine, and you will be asked. You will need an apologia. Being ready is about more than reading, attending seminars, and filling your mind with data. It is also about preparing your spirit, knowing that we are little Christs, and the truth about him is written on our hearts. ^[6]

The future columns will be my apologia for the many forces and philosophies that come against the Christian faith now, in 2026, and beyond. I am going to present the down and dirty street vendor kind of answers that the 99% can use.

I leave you with a statement from Dr. Dallas Willard, one of the great Christian apologists in the modern era, who refused to engage in formal debate because he thought it was just an exercise in trying to get people to shut up. “Speaking of apologetics,“…. “It is not only a ministry to unbelievers; it is a ministry to anyone wrestling with certain kinds of quandaries or puzzles. We need to emphasize that point strongly, because the great problem facing the gospel of Jesus Christ is not the doubt that is outside the church; it is the doubt that is inside the church.” ^[7]

Bill Hull

2026

^[1] I Peter 3:15 Apologia: “…but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” RSV.

^[2] Gay Science, Aphorism 125. Spoken by the madman.

^[3] I Peter 3:13-16 ESV.

^[4] John 10:10, I Peter 5:8.

^[5] Matthew 5:14-16.

^[6] Romans 2:15. 2 Corinthians 3:1-6.

^[7] Dallas Willard, The Allure of Gentleness, Harper One, 2015. Page 25.

The Gospel of the Kingdom For Disciples Only

Paul arrived on Italy’s shore on a ship adorned with twin gods mounted on horses. Castor and Pollux were the demigods of sailors who provided traveling mercies to all who sailed the seas. Paul’s arrival in Rome was not by any means guaranteed. He had survived a shipwreck, kangaroo courts, unruly mobs, prison time, beatings, and most of all, a life of constant controversy. Castor and Pollux were nothing but carved images, wooden gods of myth. Paul, however, had depended on a singular God that couldn’t be carved from wood or mounted on the bow of a ship. It was only because of his singular God’s sovereignty over the land and sea, nations, armies, judges, and godless judiciaries that had delivered him safely. It had been hard on him, it had worn him down, but he was a tough one, a leatherneck, a man driven from deep in his soul.

In the past twelve years, he had traveled the lands around the Mediterranean Sea, and created the Mission Church, a network of churches hewn from needy humanity city to city, synagogue to synagogue, from the banks of rivers to philosophers’ forums. The Mission Church was composed of fifteen mother churches that would multiply into hundreds of others. After all those years on the road, first with Barnabas, then Silas, and finally his school of disciples composed of trusted friends, he now arrived on the coast of Italy under arrest, escorted by soldiers assigned to him by the Roman courts.

A small greeting party met him at the Forum on the Appian Way. The Appian Way, which led straight north to Rome. Some had traveled thirty miles to meet him at Three Taverns and the Appian Forum, to be distinguished from the more famous Forum in Rome. This must have been an emotional experience for Paul; finally, he had reached the city of his dreams, yet his chains, real or symbolic, jangled from his body. The beauty of it all was that the gospel had arrived before him, and a church in the form of a delegation came to honor him. This man in chains had already planted a “depth charge” ^[1] in the heart of the Roman Empire. Two hundred and fifty years later, Rome would surrender and bow to this prisoner’s gospel.

When Paul met this delegation, he was encouraged. It lifted his spirit and caused him to raise his voice in thanks to God. He was not greeted with a grand parade like Caesar; there were no garlands or wreaths, no procession of conquered enemies, no booty from the conquest, no acolytes singing his praises. Yet as he saw the great wonders of Roman architecture that would take his breath away, something inside of him said, “This is not the Kingdom of God. These buildings will crumble, this kingdom will fall, only the Kingdom of God abides forever.” But those noble thoughts were temporary because he was turned over to the Roman authorities. He was allowed his own private quarters as long as he was willing to pay the rent. Paul established an HQ for himself where he could see visitors and provide his own forum for presentations. Please pay attention, readers, on how to take advantage of your circumstances; even when in jail, you have an audience, an opportunity, not a season of lament. Paul took three days to settle in and then called together local Jewish leaders.

Paul’s Cachet with Jewish leaders

Paul calls together local Jewish leaders. One wonders why they showed up, considering his reputation for leading a Jewish cult. First, they came because he was a famous and controversial Jew, and there weren’t that many Italian Jews! He was one of them, and he was part of the community, and had become a topic of conversation and disagreement in Rome. He convinced the gathering that he would explain why he was under arrest and clear his name.

Paul had rehearsed his case and defended his right to speak. He also claimed that the Romans had wanted to release him and not give him the death penalty, but the Jewish leaders had protested the decision. Therefore, Paul was insistent that he secure his release, but he made it clear that he would not hold it against the Jewish people. Many in the crowd obviously came to the meeting thinking Paul planned on attacking them in court and blaming them for delaying his release.

Paul was willing to give his life, just like his Lord. This is very different from wanting to die, but giving, just as Jesus did. He wanted to live just like any other person. As Irish playwright Sean O’Casey wrote: “No man is so old as to believe he cannot live for one more year.” ^[2] It is nonsense that coming to terms with one’s own death means that you lose the will to live. Jesus didn’t lose his will to live during his struggle with his Father over the cross. “Not my will, but your will be done” is not giving up; it is giving in. Paul sprang his surprise when he said, I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that a hope of Israel—the Messiah—has already come.

Jewish Leaders Respond

Some would have thought, “What a heretic!” Others, “A troublemaker.” Some more clever ones could have quipped, “Then why are we not all feasting in Jerusalem, enjoying our world dominance? If you haven’t noticed, Paul, we are in Rome, and you are a prisoner of Rome. Messiah has come—what a joke.” But in truth, they kept their composure, and a spokesman gave a measured response. Jews had to be careful because of their reputation of being troublemakers, stubbornly clinging to their little Middle Eastern, primitive God who insists on being the one and only God. These Jews are seditious. Surprisingly, they didn’t want to talk about his legal problems, but they did want to hear about the cult they accused him of leading. It was denounced everywhere. A date was set for the presentation a few days later.

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Thirty years before, in the backwater of Israel, an unwashed Rabbi first declared the arrival of the Kingdom of God:

…Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. The time promised by God has come at last, He announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” ^[3]

Now, thirty years later, an off-the-grid militant Rabbi was saying the same! But Paul was a combo-platter of first-rate academic Pharisee, a rabid enemy of Rabbi Jesus, the target of that Nazarene who was killed and was raised from the dead, and the man whom God knocked off a horse, struck blind, then taught him everything he would need to know to lead his mission to the Gentiles.

The Kingdom of God was this Jewish audience’s whole world. It had been promised to Abraham and his progeny, and that meant them, it meant their people, it meant the world, it meant the next world. The rule and reign of God would bring peace, restore worship to the people, and bring prominence to Israel. It would take the Roman boot off their necks and they would be governed by Messiah.

Paul was now the messenger, the missionary, and in front of him sat those who wanted the Good News of the Kingdom to be true, to be now. But if it were, it would upend their world and change every cell in their bodies and brains. He would expand and scandalize their minds, starting with the definition of God. Yes, Israel would be restored, the promises delivered, but it would be so much more.

But Paul was clever and theologically adept; he started with their scriptures and used logic to persuade them.

“He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the Law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening. Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe. And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul:

The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet:

‘Go and say to these people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes, so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ ^[4]

So, I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles and they will accept it.” ^[5]

The Gospel of the Kingdom is a hard sell!

Paul gave it his best, and his best was the very best. The best was not good enough for some, but for those whose heart was open, it was enough indeed. Paul left them with the words of Isaiah, words that are both wonderful and terrible. In one of the most glorious and famous scenes in all of scripture, Isaiah takes us into his celestial trance in God’s throne room. The prophet is commissioned to speak the words of God for him, and a hot coal touches his lips, purifying and empowering the prophet to speak. In doing so, this likens his situation to that of Isaiah and, in turn, to every person who speaks for God.

God sends Isaiah to a people that God tells him will not, in large part, believe. They have minds that won’t understand, eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear and wills that won’t bend. This is the condition of the human race. When we want to be our own god, we will choose not to believe or hear what God is saying. Being a messenger, especially a prophet among the powerful—those who have the most to lose—is a thankless and dangerous mission. The irony of ministry among those who have the most to lose in human power and influence is that by trying to save their power they lose everything.

Preparation for the role of being a witness, teacher, preacher, prophet, or first man, such as Isaiah or Paul, is preparation for failure because most listeners will disagree. Preaching the gospel of the kingdom today in a Christianized culture is different than in Paul’s time and circumstance. Paul was in a pre-Christian environment, a Jewish culture that was transitioning into a Gentile one. We now live in a post-Christian period, a secular city, where the gospel must be tailored to penetrate beneath the surface of the Gospel Americana ^[6] that protects the public from real transforming faith.

But we dare not stop teaching the Kingdom Gospel for 2026 and beyond. What is that Gospel of the Kingdom? To be succinct, it is a gospel that makes discipleship a normal part of what it means to be saved. The gospel makes a declaration: the kingdom of God is now the rule and reign of Christ over all of one’s life. It also requires a response: what Jesus preached—repent of our sins, believe the good news, follow me. The operative words of the discipleship gospel are “follow me.” It is a faith that creates works, a faith that embraces obedience, a faith that is evidence that new life is working in us. And a gospel that has benefits—regeneration, justification, adoption, forgiveness, reconciliation, et al. It is a gospel that puts us at the front of what God is doing in this world.

What a Way to End

Paul continued to be the leader of the Gentile mission while stuck in a house that he had to rent. He was under house arrest for two years until Nero had him beheaded. But during those two years he lived in Rome, he paid his own way, held court, and entertained guests. I’m sure he, along with Peter, who also resided in Rome, and whom one would suggest was one of Paul’s guests, continued their apostolic leadership. He continued to boldly proclaim the Kingdom of God and teach about the Lord Jesus Christ.

No one tried to stop him. This tells me that we are less limited than we believe we are. Paul wasn’t important until he was. This means that Nero and company didn’t care that Paul was changing the world and laying the foundation to take down the Roman Empire, their empire of lies, because they didn’t understand what he was doing and what it meant.

This is now happening all over the world; they don’t know enough to try and stop you and me from being effective in making new disciples who will make their own disciples and create a movement that will eventually, as in the case of the Emperor of the Roman Empire, Constantine, to make Christianity the official religion of the entire empire. While becoming the official religion of a country is not a Christian goal, making enough new disciples and multiplying them to create another kingdom—now that is worth everything. Now it’s your turn to write your own bulletins from the front. Some call it Acts Chapter 29.

Bill Hull 2026

^[1] “Depth Charge” a vivid reference first coined by Tom Holland in Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World.

^[2] https://www.allgreatquotes.com/quote-414028/#google_vignette

^[3] Mark 1:14-15 NLT

^[4] Isaiah 6:9,10

^[5] Acts 28:23-29 NLT

^[6] Gospel Americana: The contemporary and common gospel that teaches you can become a Christian and not follow Jesus. Please see my book, Conversion and Discipleship, You can’t have one without the other, Zondervan, Chapter 1&2

“Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last Priest.” Denis Diderot 1713-1784

Spirituality is a tricky business. It seems the church talks out of both sides of its mouth. On one hand, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. We are all sinners and recipients of grace; no one can earn their way to heaven. On the other hand, the church is a hierarchical society with all the pomp and circumstance necessary to show who is in charge. There are two main categories, the washed and the unwashed. The washed are the clergy and church officials, along with those who have distinguished themselves. ^[1] To see the divide, one only needs to attend a sacramental church. Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, any church where the clergy wear special robes, street clothes, and hats—special hats are big. From first rites to last rites, the robed, the anointed, the vicars of Christ have great power over those they serve.

The great unwashed, however, simply walk into church and take a seat. A seat in a section that is not roped off for the washed. The washed have their own parking, and when they enter, it is called a processional, usually accompanied by music. Some of them carry a staff, wear a beautiful designer robe, and are preceded by acolytes puffing out incense. This theological vibe portends we are all the same with God, but the entire religious exercise shouts, “Not Really!” Maybe in Heaven, but not yet.

This is also true in the less sacerdotal middle grouping of churches, such as Baptist, Assemblies of God, and the more conservative Wesleyan or Holiness congregations. There may be an absence of pomp and circumstances without the special clothes, icons, and sainted feast days, but still the unwashed or not ordained support and spectate while the pros perform the show.

Hierarchy?

I must say that a closer reading of the New Testament and a review of Church history teach us that spiritual authority and hierarchy are needed. We are a rowdy bunch, needing structure, commandments, reminders, exhortations, and the comfort that someone is leading us. The management of a religious society requires some very human and mundane rules, necessary to temper the human tendency to replace God with our own ideas and plans for planet earth. So, we are instructed to gather on the first day of the week, to make it a habit, and to honor and submit to the authorities in our lives. But is there something the washed are supposed to do that is more lofty than management of the flock? Is there a higher mountain to climb, something to which we can aspire, something to make our heart beat a bit faster, to make our spirit well up within us? Whatever it is, there are very few who are called to teach us.

Clergy comprises only 0.14 % of the American population. Such a meager number is not able to preach the gospel to every nation before the end comes. ^[2] A gospel mission based on the spiritual addition of the few rather than the multiplication of many is doomed to fail. The clergy, the washed, have a very clear and special work which must be precise and exacting. Paul, who sorted out the church by trial and error over a thirty-year period, summarized it: the appointed leaders were told to multiply their impact. “…the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” ^[3]

Equip?

Equip means to heal a bone, to mend a frayed net, to train an athlete. It is very much like coaching, putting a team on the field ready to play. When the church huddles and calls a play, everyone on the team knows their position, their responsibilities, and is ready to perform. Right now, we are like a team in the huddle. The quarterback calls the play, but since very few know the plays, there are a lot of busted plays and quarterback sacks. The team skipped practices, didn’t study or memorize the plays, and therefore lacked the skills needed in their muscle memory. The spectators who are actually meant to become players start booing and chanting for a new quarterback. This is to cover up their disappointment in themselves and hide their shame. But there is a cure, it is a bitter pill—please swallow it whole.

Persecution?

Pressure creates tension and is often needed. God has a way of sending it so he can help us along. You might recall when the church was first persecuted, believers were scattered to the four winds—except the Apostles. ^[4] When the church scattered, what these new unwashed did was follow the Apostle’s example. That is no less true now of your average parish priest, pastor, or elder. What are the people that you trained, comforted, encouraged, and disciplined doing? What happened to them when they went out on their own?

The interesting dilemma is that if clergy, the washed model, do only sacramental ministry, then the laity, or unwashed, are locked out by church theology or doctrine; it means over 99% of your labor force is unable to reproduce what has been modeled for them. That is why the Apostles not only taught, broke bread, and celebrated Holy Communion with the people—they also modeled the making of disciples. They did what Jesus taught them, and then they taught the first church in Jerusalem what they knew. This is known as the Apostles’ teaching. ^[5]

What Jesus taught them was costly discipleship. All but one of his original group would die at the hands of enemies. But even these brave men, the shaky disciples that became the Apostles, doubted, and they delayed the actual implementation of taking the gospel beyond Jerusalem and Judea. We don’t do the hard stuff on our own, and if we do, it is rare. The disciples stayed in Jerusalem not for philosophical or strategic reasons; they stayed because I believe the authorities wanted to keep an eye on them. Or that they knew they were safe because neither Roman nor Jewish authorities had the gumption to actually do them harm.

The Great Unwashed Released

It was easy for Paul, twenty years later in retrospect, to write the letter to the Ephesians because enough time had passed for him to see how important scattering the church had become. And also, how it looked theologically and practically in a more organized and mature church. It was visceral theology created in crisis that launched the spreading of the Good News. They were running for their lives and knew what to do because their leaders had modeled it. They had coached them up and unleashed these unwashed upon the world. America, now, instead of 0.14% of the population doing the ministry and announcing the Good News, it could be the other 99%, the unwashed, ordained by a higher power than the church—by God himself—a vast throng of believer-priests, reproducing and in time, multiplying. ^[6] The Reformation had a positive effect, releasing the saints, who had direct access to the Father via the Son and who were authorized to join the Apostles in making new disciples worldwide.

The Unwashed Break from the Pack

Acts of the Apostles is the story of new disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene who broke from the pack and started preaching to the Gentiles. This is the nature of human nature; inner enthusiasm often causes the freshly saved to break convention and do something ill-advised. But who cares about ill-advised when you have the answer to disaster and despair? The ill-advised part is that critical tongues will wag, and unseasoned, freshly minted saints will make mistakes of protocol when they cross over into unfamiliar environs. But people like this put a big smile on God’s face, maybe even laughter, because of the results. “The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.” ^[7] There is no way the outreach committee at The First Church of Jerusalem would have authorized this action or could even have imagined it.

Now for a bit of fun: The Heavenly House

This was lived out in my pastoral experience. Many years ago, a couple of off-the-grid-crazy members of my church, led by our youth pastor, presented me with an interesting idea. They had been thinking that there were too many Haunted Houses at Halloween, so their idea was to offer a Christian alternative. The plan was nutty. They would transform a former parsonage on the edge of our property into the Heavenly House. Each room would be a scene from the Bible. Moses and the Burning Bush, Pentecost Sunday, the Discovery of the Empty Tomb, with the most spectacular display, the Crossing of the Red Sea, with a sea that receded and closed again with real water, nicely engineered by our members. The last room on the tour was the garage, where the gospel would be presented on a video with response cards. Interested parties would be followed up by our team. I thought it over and said, “OK, why not?”

Why not?

The answer to Why not came in a barrage of criticism from a more resistant arm of the congregation. The parsonage had now become our Christian Education House. It was a holy space, and the Trustees were quite upset with the desecration of said holy space. There was a more serious obstacle—why would anybody want to come to such a crazy thing? Volunteers started redecorating anyway. We let the local television stations know about it and didn’t expect much there. We advertised it in local churches in the city of 50,000. The big night came. We had it all—candy, treats, food, hay bales, and a local band playing on the back of a flatbed truck.

The line snaked from the Heavenly House through our large parking lot into the street and as far as I could see down the highway. All three television stations came with cameras and reporters. Thousands had shown up to take the tour. We were God-smacked! What an astonishing moment. The band was playing, children were jumping on hay bales, and the air was filled with the unmistakable aroma of mustard, hot dogs, and burgers. And over on the edge of the parking lot were the Trustees, cranky and complaining. They were carefully making sure to check the holy space walls for nicks, scrapes, and pinholes. My favorite moment was when a couple of younger men approached them, and said what I could not, “If you guys are so unhappy about this, resign, and we will replace you.” I could only smile on the inside, one of my greatest moments.

A heavenly payoff

Thousands came, hundreds prayed, and filled out cards. There was great joy among the people; it was a huge success. All of this was thought up by, planned by, and operated by the “unwashed.” Luke recorded these words in the first century that were true of the 20^th century: “The power of the Lord was with them and a large number of Gentiles (unbelievers) believed and turned to the Lord.” Do you really believe that God can work just as much, if not more, through the unwashed, the unordained, than the religious professional? It’s 99% against less than 1% of the church population. The 1% have a heavy burden, the call to equip the unwashed to do the work of ministry. And the 99% have the joy and the burden to make themselves available to the task. These are not enemies; they are friends. Together they are the church. Here’s to the Great Unwashed, without them, the church doesn’t have a chance.

Bill Hull 2026

^[1] A general practice of various religions is that the Clergy prepare for approaching God by cleaning themselves with water. They remove the grit and grime of life and sin to prepare to meet God. You put on your best clothes and look your best for God. The unwashed are the vast throng of the populace, the audience, the supporting cast in the great drama which is redemption. The washed ascend the platforms, the pulpits, and the altars. The unwashed sit in pews, chairs, and benches to view the proceedings.

^[2] Jesus issued the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, and it is still in force today: make new disciples of all people groups and tribes. And when it comes to an end, God will let us all know because he will return. Matthew 24:14. The Great Commandment is to love God with all we’ve got and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Matthew 22:36-40.

^[3] Ephesians 4:11,12.

^[4] Acts 8:1

^[5] Acts 2:42-47

^[6] I Peter 2:9 “…for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.”

^[7] Acts 11:21.

“The Church is the invisible scaffolding that holds America together.” Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805-1859, Democracy in America

“Heave an egg out of a Pullman’s window, and you will hit a fundamentalist almost everywhere in the United States today.” H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956

I would rather get into trouble for God than be in trouble with God. As Jesus told us,

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” ^[1]

The earliest Christians knew this, believed it, and practiced it, particularly its leaders. Peter, Paul, Stephen, James, the brother of John, and many more who bravely died triumphantly with hearts full of faith. The Apostle Peter was the most surprised leader in the early church. His was a life of firsts:

He was often the first to open his mouth, sticking his foot in it, regretting it later. The first to walk on water, the first to announce that Jesus was the Christ, the first to publicly deny that Jesus was the Christ—or that he had even known him. He gave the inaugural sermon at the Feast of Pentecost, the first to be taken before the Jewish Supreme Court, the first to officially preach to the Gentiles, announcing that they would receive the Gospel just as the Jews did. Along the way, he had been persecuted, jailed, and threatened. His biggest surprise was, on the heels of this great breakthrough at the house of Cornelius, that he found himself in trouble with his own.

In trouble with god’s people

He returned to Jerusalem to deliver the news of the revolutionary breakthrough for the gospel and found himself in trouble with the church. This is a church specialty; we like to trim back any gains made by those who color outside the lines of our rules. He was criticized for several violations of church protocol. First, he had entered the home of a Gentile, and to make matters worse, ate with him. This violated several rules concerning association, which transgressed countless dietary restrictions that made a meal kosher. ^[2] Peter might as well have attended a pig roast and crammed its crispy hooves into his mouth and then oinked.

This reminds me of my childhood at the Northside Pilgrim Holiness Church located at 46^th and Kingsley Drive in Indianapolis, Indiana. The rules were clear—no TV, no movies, no dancing, no smoking, no drinking. There were rules added for women. No makeup, no jewelry. Wear long sleeves and skirts that cover the knees. It was considered unseemly to shave, cut, or trim any hair from their bodies. They were not allowed to wear men’s clothes. Even in the hot summer, girls had to play in long-sleeved dresses. Boys were not allowed shorts unless, of course, it was me.

If a woman broke the rules, tongues would wag; it was red meat for conversation. It was easy to get into trouble with God’s people and find oneself on the wrong side of a man-made fence, unlike many religious societies today, where it is fun and kind of sporty to criticize different varieties of religious experience. Podcasts are replete with religious and philosophical debates; it is one of our favorite indoor sports, no harm, no foul.

Being in trouble with the church from the first century until the 20^th century, however, proved to be deadly. Just pick up a volume of church history that catalogues millions of bodies piled high in religious wars. However, those wars over religious differences have been wars waged by nations, not churches. When the church and state were one, the church had a king, an army, and an ethnically distinct people, fighting a war over land. For example, when Constantinople fell in 1453 to the Ottomans, it began a 250-year transition from Christianity to Islam, from Constantinople to Istanbul. The Crusades was 200-year series of attempts to take control of Jerusalem. It is surprising that so many mistakenly believe that the Christians started it and won. They did not start it, and they lost. ^[3] When Mel Gibson, as William Wallace, fought for the first Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England, they were both Catholic. Whether it be Catholics killing Protestants, Christians fighting Muslims, or Scottish Presbyterians lopping off the heads of Anglicans, religious beliefs were somewhat incidental. Later, when Mary Queen of Scots attempted to wrestle England back into the Catholic Church, Protestant leaders such as Bishop Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, along with Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake for religious reasons. It is safe to say that intramural church conflict can be everything from catastrophic and deadly to banal and trivial. It’s all there, and Peter did find himself in a bit of the banal. After some conversation, the Apostles and the congregation stopped their criticisms and started praising and thanking God. The truth is the cure for such matters. In Peter’s case, the mission proved to be paramount, and the church went forward.

What does it mean to be in trouble for God in the 21^st Century?

Please allow me to provide you with a 21^st Century Discipleship Starter Kit on getting into trouble for God: attend church, read your Bible, pray, give, and strive to be a faithful witness of the Good News. You don’t need to go out of your way if you mix with people. Simply speak up and speak out about the moral issues of the day—everything from everyday morality and kindness to such issues as immigration and abortion. Why not talk about the general desecration of society, such things as graffiti on buildings, gangs leading smash and grabs in local stores, the general decadence of vocabulary, and the filth and sleaze that litter society? Or take the high road and talk about beauty, the order, and magnificence of the universe? Life swirls around us, and we are not in control of very much. Lean into your strengths, what interests you, and you will find God’s truth in abundance when you know what to look for.

The air that we breathe, the cultural waters in which we swim, the earth on which we walk, is sinking slowly into decadence. It is something like the city of Venice slowly sinking, which, at certain times of the year, must employ special walkways to keep tourists’ feet dry. This is the inevitable result of a world that has forgotten God. Oh yes, there are the ceremonial churches, monasteries, and the related treasures of antiquity that provide a city like Venice with its charm. But still it sinks, and the waters are seeping up through the foundations. Another word that describes the cultural rot is desecration, an old word, but one with force and power. To desecrate is to make something holy profane. Graffiti or gang tagging on a stop sign or freeway underpass can irritate us. We would rather see beauty than a sign of our decadence. It may cause us to moan, “Oh, that’s too bad. Why don’t they paint over that?”

Seeing a political statement sprayed on the side of a courthouse brings a different response: “That is wrong. That must be painted over immediately, and those people should be arrested.” We say that because the courthouse, unlike the freeway underpass, is a secular holy place. Holy means to be separate, to be higher, different, and honored. The legal system is integral to a society’s freedoms and the rights of the citizens to be fairly judged for their actions. Ideally, we live with certain inalienable rights granted to us by our creator, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This introduces the highest form of desecration.

Consider the painting of a swastika on the side of a synagogue. Nearly everyone in Western civilization recoils. We share a collective memory of the Holocaust. “Desecration” is our response. Whether it be a synagogue or a church, or religious works of art, they represent the highest aspirations of the human race. These are the spaces dedicated to kneeling, praying, confessing, and to our most important events of life—baptisms, rites of passage for people of many faiths, weddings, and funerals. When someone throws acid on the Mona Lisa or takes a chisel to The Pieta in Saint Peters it shocks the public. When one now views The Pieta, it is not up close and personal as in earlier times, but from a great distance. Mona Lisa has been damaged, or had a lucky miss, six times and is now under tight security. These holy sites, secular and religious, along with nearly everything else we hold dear, are under threat; society itself is slowly sinking, is more decadent, and the evidence is the desecration of man-made images.

The decline of the human

Here we are, followers of Jesus in the 21^st Century, which is now a quarter of the way over. We can’t throw the car in reverse and do it over. As Edgar Allan Poe wrote in his masterpiece, The Raven, “nevermore.” Life is a perishable commodity, and the past is irretrievable. We all have made mistakes, and we have regrets that only forgiveness can reach into our past and cleanse. We can’t go back and change it, so the future is our only option.

The decline, the decadence, the desecration can be seen by the general public in the physical world around us. There is a spiritual decline that only the spiritually trained eye can see. As Paul wrote with such perception, “The unspiritual (soulish) person cannot receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” ^[4]

Let’s assume that you are endowed with the perception of the Holy Spirit, who will be your advocate, comforter, guide, and who will lead you through this mysterious journey called life. Don’t be fooled by all the technology and change. I just viewed C.S. Lewis giving me a ten-minute explanation of why Aristotle was right about the creation of God when he spoke of the Unmoved Mover. I only bring this up because it wasn’t real; it was A.I. But it was real in the sense that what he said was from his book, Mere Christianity. One thing has not changed; human nature has not changed—not at all! No one can understand themselves; that is why we ask God to help us sort out our lives, our motives, et al. ^[5] You are not imagining what you are seeing happen around you. But what are you practically going to do about it? Let us return to my original items in your 21^st Century Discipleship Starter Kit.

1. Attend Church at Least Once a Week

85% of success in life is showing up. Get up, make yourself presentable, and go to a church where Christ is honored, and his Word is believed and preached. This will take care of the lion’s share of what you need. It will give you a sense of commonality with fellow disciples. You will be reminded weekly of who you are, why you are here on earth, and your mission. It will help you keep God’s story straight and will give you the courage to stand up and speak up. If you attend a church that isn’t doing this—find a better one.

2. Read Your Bible

Yes, it is important to hear the word in a public setting, but attend a study that will get you reading the Bible and asking questions like: What? Why? How? When? So What? Something supernatural takes place when God uses language, and the Holy Spirit helps you understand what you are reading. There is only one book in the world that creates this supernatural process.

3. Pray

Prayer is mysterious, personal, and a conversation with God. You only learn it by doing it. Do it with others at church or in a study, and then give it a go on your own. Remember, even when you pray alone, you are not really alone. Jesus is praying for you, the Holy Spirit helps you pray, and then of course, you are praying. ^[6]

4. Take Communion

This is a wonderful way to submit yourself to God with others who share the same common need for something visible and tactile that makes Christ more real. It requires you to be at peace with your fellow believers, and that makes life so much better. ^[7]

5. Give

The church has a tradition of giving to the poor and needy in order to remind us that the journey of life is about loving our neighbors. Start giving 10% off the top and if you do, you will never stop.

6. Witness

This simply means to tell your story and live in honesty and humility before God and others.

OK, got it.

Yours for making trouble,

Bill Hull 2026

^[1] Matthew 10:28 NIV.

^[2] Acts 10:28, as found in Leviticus 11. Deuteronomy 7:2-6.

^[3] Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades, 2009. Stark argues that the Crusades were not unprovoked European colonial wars, but rather a delayed, necessary response to centuries of Islamic aggression.

^[4] I Corinthians 2:14-16 RSV.

^[5] Psalm 139:23,24, Jeremiah 17:9-11, John 2:21.

^[6] Romans 8:24-28.

^[7] I Corinthians 11, Matthew 5: 23,24.

“The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God.” Acts 10:45,46 “Peter was very perplexed…Peter was puzzling…” Acts 10:17 & 19

Peter was uber relaxed, staying at Simon the Tanner’s house by the sea. He had been ministering to others for weeks, and finally, he was away from the fast-paced world, and he could rest. It was just about noon, and he went up to Simon’s roof where the soft sea breezes off the Mediterranean warmed his face and soothed his soul. Lunch was being prepared; it promised to be good, and it would be kosher. Peter was a follower of Jesus and an observant Jew. What else could he be? He went to the Temple when in Jerusalem, he observed the Sabbath, and he had no plans to change. Peter was hungry, but first he would pray. It was warm and quiet on the roof, and he slipped into a trance. This seemed to happen to Peter often; he had seen and heard things with Jesus that were surreal. He had walked on water, and he was transported to the Mount of Transfiguration. He was present when Jesus turned water into wine and fed five thousand with five loaves and three fish. God had revealed many things to him. However, Peter always seemed surprised and sometimes, violently opposed to what he was being told.^[1]

Technically, a trance happens while awake, something like a vision. Dreams are what take place when one is asleep. Sigmund Freud put a lot of weight on the validity of dreams, especially “wet dreams,” something boys know about. Siggy liked to blame religious repression as the source of the world’s ills. He wrote a very thick book on dreams. ^[2] His theories have been fully discredited along with the practice of psychoanalysis. Unless you are a member of the progressive chattering class and don’t mind paying $500.00 an hour to have your mind trashed. But Peter’s trance was not a dream, and it proved to be real.

Peter’s paradigm smashed

Just the day before in Caesarea (where, by the way, I first tasted humus) an Italian Captain named Cornelius had a vision during his time of prayer. Yes, he was a Gentile, yes, he was Italian, yes, he was a leader under the authority of the Roman Empire. However, Cornelius was not resistant or proud. Unlike Peter, he was unaccustomed to having angels chat with him. He was terrified, but the angel affirmed him and extolled him for his gifts to the poor, his prayers, and his devout life. He was a God-fearer, and God was about to reward his seeking and his dedication. He was told to send his men to talk to Peter and to bring him to his home. They were almost to Joppa the next day when Peter went onto the roof.

If you follow Christ, you will be amazed, perplexed, and spend a good deal of time scratching your head, puzzling over what has just happened or is about to happen. Peter saw the sky open, and a large sheet descended, let down by its four corners. On it were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat them.” You might as well have ordered a vegan to swallow a prime filet mignon, wrapped in bacon and washed down with some aerosol Cheese Whiz. For Peter, anything with split hooves, particularly pigs, was forbidden. He would have wretched at the sight of a stack of baby back ribs on his plate. Peter’s paradigm of life and religion was shattered. He protested, and the command had to be repeated two more times.

But as bad as it all seemed to him, what had happened the day before in Caesarea in the house of Cornelius, an Italian Captain in the Roman Army, would go beyond anything Peter could have imagined. This episode tells us something about ourselves—that well-meaning apostles and disciples would never get around to doing God’s will when left entirely on our own. We are experts at putting off hard things. We would rather study it, reflect on it, pray about it, discuss it, preach on it, than do it.

We won’t do it on our own

What is it? It is the mission to make disciples of all nations. Why? Because we don’t want to leave our comfort zone of ideas and practices. Because we don’t want to associate with people who are different from us. Because we hesitate to cross cultural barriers, customs, languages, foods, climate, time zones, prejudices, and stereotypes. We are really good at procrastinating and not doing it at all. But God forces the issues and calls us to obey him, die to self, pick up our crosses, and move ahead with fear and trembling.

Peter was told that the men were coming and that he should go with them. So, after a night of rest, Peter went with them to Caesarea (humus again, on the sea next to the ruins of a Roman aqueduct) to the house of Cornelius. He didn’t go alone; he took friends for support and to be witnesses. When they arrived, Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet, where Peter immediately told him to get up, and helped him up, saying, “I am just a man like you!”

What is going on here?

Peter, himself, was in awe and saw that Cornelius had a heart for God. Peter’s old world, life, premises, and assumptions lay shattered in pieces on the floor of Cornelius’ home. Cornelius had invited only family and a few close friends because it was risky to have Peter, a fugitive in parts of Israel, in his home. It breached strict Roman military and social protocols and would damage his reputation among his fellow soldiers. Peter was mystified and said, “Now tell me why you sent for me.” Both men were taking risks, both men were obeying God, neither man had yet grasped the gravitas and historic nature of the moment. Cornelius recounted his story and told Peter they were waiting to hear the message the Lord had given him. This is the case when two very different people meet who have the same Lord. They risk and trust together because they both trust the same God. The light went on for Peter, and he made a statement for the ages:

“I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation, he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” ^[3]

Peter went on to give them the history of Jesus, what he and his fellow apostles saw in Jesus, and finally, the meaning of Jesus. A very tight homiletical masterpiece, but the people were so eager, so ready, so prepared, they burst at the seams and started praising God. The Holy Spirit couldn’t even wait for Peter to conclude. He spilled out on them, and they were speaking in tongues just like the Jews, just like the Samaritans. Suddenly, they were being baptized. Everyone was overcome with astonishment, and Peter stayed a few days to take it all in and, I’m sure, to do some teaching. What does all this mean to us, the readers of the 21^st century?

1. This doesn’t teach universalism

We postmodern, post-Christian, post-evangelical sophisticates love philosophical loopholes. Are we really that sophisticated? No, frankly, human nature has not changed since our most ancient ancestors took the big bite from the apple. We love to work a deal, to wiggle out of reality and somehow be our own gods. This statement of Peter’s: “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right” is a general acknowledgement that the gospel message is extended to more than Jews. And that Jews should accept it. It is not to discount everything else that Jesus had taught them. Otherwise, Peter would not have needed to go to Cornelius’ house. Cornelius could have figured out his own version of God, and so could everyone else, based on their life experience, whatever religion their culture had created. They would not have heard about Jesus in particular. I think it does, however, indicate that God is fair, that God is patient, and the Good News is progressing, and that God does provide compensation for those prior to Christ and for those who presently have not heard of Christ.

There is much mystery in all this, which is obvious and should be taken for granted. We are accountable for what God has revealed to us, and he has not told us of his arrangement for everyone else. Therefore, who is in and who is out is not our business. Our business is like Peter, do what God tells you to do when he tells you to do it. Get on with it and trust him. If it was up to me, I would say, “Oh what the hell, let everybody into the heavenly abode.” Except for this list of 38 people I hate and never want to see again. Oh, yeah, that’s the problem, isn’t it? Everyone has a list, and the end result is, Mother Teresa will have heaven all to herself. But then again, the late militant atheist, Peter Hitchens, hated her. ^[4]

2. When people are filled with the Holy Spirit, they change

Pentecost changed behavior. When the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 in the upper room, they spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem and began preaching the Good News in 16 different languages they had not learned. Then they scattered throughout Jerusalem using every font, stream, and pool to baptize thousands of people. The entry of the Holy Spirit into the human being means God lives in us. Subsequently, various means and traditions have developed to authenticate this event, to name the event, and to faithfully administer it in the lives of people. It began with the Apostles visiting scenes where tongues, in particular, were evidence of the Holy Spirit breaking through cultural and racial barriers, such as in the case of Cornelius. Tongues are associated with the giving of the Holy Spirit because of their prominence at the start of the church. Admittedly, it is a strange choice regarding the spread of Christianity. It is kind of nutty, odd, hard to understand, and has been easy to copy and abuse via Lucifer’s treachery.

It was a sign to the Apostles that God continued to extend the message to other people groups. The church has a history of attempting to control the Spirit’s release into the world. Paul said that every believer has been baptized by the Spirit at the moment of spiritual birth.^[5] He also developed the concept of being filled with the Holy Spirit, the evidence being inner joy, peace, and good relationships in the family and at work. ^[6] Later, John explained it as walking in the Spirit.^[7] There are tribal theologies of the Spirit that place the entry of the Spirit as an earmark of their ritual. This led to many tribal fights and alienations, which have now become an unpleasant memory for most of the contemporary church, which seems to be peacefully floating on the sea of moderation. Regardless of your tribe, access to the Holy Spirit is essential for growth and power. Paul artfully slipped tongues into the gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12-14 and issued instructions on how to manage them in balance and in worship.

3. God’s spirit is aggressive

He will keep leading us into uncomfortable and frightening situations. It will increase our heart rate, and adrenaline will flow. But God knows us, which is why, when he issues an order to his disciples, he follows up with the means to accomplish it. In order to make new disciples of every nation, the need will be to cross racial, cultural, economic, sexual, and political barriers. I recently read ^[8] that the two fastest-growing segments of the church are Anglo-Catholic and Pentecostalism. I don’t know if you have thought about it, but this is the part of the church that is most out of step and otherworldly from our culture. It is the part of the church that is not attempting in any way to be like the world. It is just as odd and foreign as it can be. Anglo-Catholic means Priests in funny clothes and hats, smells and bells, candles and chants, and some hocus pocus. Pentecostals are rolling, dancing, singing, slaying people in the Spirit, and praying in other tongues.

What does it all mean? KEEP CHRISTIANITY WEIRD, MAN; THE MORE WEIRD, THE BETTER.

Bill Hull 2026

^[1] On Mount of Transfiguration, Mt. 16, Peter wanted to make shrines, and when Jesus said that he must die, Peter protested, prompting Jesus to stare at him and say, “Get behind me, Satan.” Mark 8:31-38.

^[2] The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud, 1900. (I think he should have paid more attention to what people did when awake.)

^[3] Acts 10:34-36 NLT.

^[4] Peter Hitchens criticized Mother Teresa for glorifying suffering, et al. Hitchens even dedicated an entire book about the Catholic hero, The Missionary Position, calling her a fraud. Hitchens died of cancer a few years back, and I would love to hear from him now. Wherever he might be, if the little Albanian Nun could reach him, she would bless him and care for him; a drop of water might be his request.

^[5] I Corinthians 12:13

^[6] Ephesians 5:15-6:4

^[7] I John 1:7-2:2

^[8] The article I read was concerning growth in denominations in the United States. It was not about specific churches. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/us/catholics-converts.html

In 1992, Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate jumped headfirst into our culture’s therapeutic waters. Its five categories have become iconic; everyone has either been to a seminar on it, read about it, seen it on a talk show, or been told about it in conversation. In case you have forgotten, the five love languages are:

1. Words of affirmation

2. Quality time

3. Gifts

4. Acts of service

5. Physical touch

Chapman, once a Baptist pastor, stirred the waters of people helpers everywhere. It became popular, controversial, and spent 297 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. Chapman believed that everyone has a primary love language and a backup or secondary one. Problems arise when partners speak different languages. One partner gives gifts to compensate for being too busy. The other partner wants quality time. The husband may use physical touch to express love, but the wife would rather have him clean out the dishwasher, take out the trash, or fix a leaky faucet. I am personally disappointed that Chapman didn’t include “good looking” as a love language, as it only requires me to make appearances in the kitchen rather than clean it. The idea, of course, is that people in relationships learn how to express love to each other effectively in ways that enhance and please. It also makes saying the hard things to each other more palatable.

How God speaks to us

God seems to understand us perfectly. And with all due respect to Gary Chapman, He doesn’t need to read The Five Love Languages to be effective in His communication. Take, for example,

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” ^[1]

Regardless, the Christian world has been very busy for two thousand years trying to figure out how God speaks to us. A cursory survey of his communication to us must begin with biblical accounts. It all began with God’s personal appearances and direct conversations with his chosen instruments. Before there were Jews, a chosen people, or a holy city like Jerusalem, God spoke with his creatures, instructing them, rewarding them, and punishing them. He led them on adventures and entered into covenants with them. The biblical data contains spectacular, even fantastic, stories and events. At the same time, however, 99% of the human race had to depend on certain chosen leaders to communicate with them about what God was saying and had to take their word for it.

Human beings and God have always needed a middleman, a mediator to bridge the gap between the holy and the profane. Jesus, it turns out, is now and forever the uber middleman, mediating between God and the human race. ^[2]

Only this past Easter morning on Fifth Avenue, New York City, the street in front of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral was teeming with a wide range of human beings celebrating the festival of Easter in various ways. Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is an icon of Americana and a recognized holy space surrounded by the profane. The celebrations, however, had little to do with a risen Christ. At least in a historical and verifiable way that would lead to repentance, faith, and following Christ. The Easter eggs, the bright yellow outfits, and the dance music were filled with hope and cheer based on wishful thinking. Most of us like a good party, and the joy in the streets was not dangerous or intentionally sinister, but it was certainly disconnected from God’s actual bodily resurrection. The crowd outside respected the priests and didn’t confuse their celebrations with the celebration of resurrection inside. That was for the holy ones to do. It was the Holy who entered the sacred space at the altar when a crucified God was slain for the sins of the world, but overcame death. The holy do the dangerous work of going into the presence of God. It is a dangerous place where most humans don’t want to go, but we do want to know what God told them, what good word he has for us. If it isn’t true, then, of all the people in the world, Christians are the biggest suckers who have ever lived. What a pity, oh, what a pity this whole charade is.

The advocate

There is a radical alternative to sending a holy man into the presence of God and waiting outside for him to deliver God’s message to you. The risk is that what you are being told is a lie or tainted. That alternative is called direct access. The promise in scripture is that you and I have an advocate with the Father. It is Jesus Christ the Righteous, who is just to the right hand of God, making intercession for us according to the will of God. ^[3]

God’s doorway into our souls

With apology to Dr. Chapman and all holy men everywhere, I suggest five ways God carries on a conversation with us. Based on Psalm 139, quoted above, He is certainly qualified to do so.

1. Language, the written word: books, words, concepts, & principles

I start with language that is written down in words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, chapters, and books. My best friends are books. I’ve come a long way since Junior High English class when the teacher was diagramming sentences. I got lost in the details. I remember the moment I gave up trying to understand it. I always loved to read, even when I was flunking the seventh grade. I got through High School and the first two years of college based on my jump shot; I didn’t study much. Then I became a follower of Jesus and realized I couldn’t manipulate my way through the classroom. I began to study and discovered that I had a natural love of words, concepts, and principles, and I couldn’t read fast enough to keep up with my inner hunger to know about life. The Bible was first, and still is, but I also found that my brain felt a special pleasure when I read, underlined, and memorized, especially when I could write about it. This is how God got my attention and held it. It is how he has spoken to me throughout my life. It is not the exclusive way he has communicated with me, but it is the dominant way, and when I don’t read, write, study, memorize, or learn something new, it is a day wasted for me. My greatest pleasure is that after engaging in many other wonderful things in life, I can settle down surrounded by my best friends, dusty and piled up around me, and start reading.

2. Sacraments, symbols, contemplation

A secondary language of God to me has been in symbols, the sacramental and contemplative ways God communicates. There is much mystery in the cosmos. The paradoxes are many: light is seen best in the dark, good is only known in the context of evil, flesh is God’s natural habitat for his spirit, God reveals himself as a man, freedom is a product of discipline, joy is at its best in sadness, and death to self leads to life. Finally, God chooses us, and we choose him. Mystery isn’t only what divides people, it also brings us together around questions and answers that defy our comprehension. I recall one speaker saying that Christians were 100% saints, 100% sinners, 100% of the time. How can Jesus be fully God and fully man at the same time? How can people be made in the image of God yet commit heinous crimes against each other and humanity? How does God keep track of all our prayers? The Psalmist says that he collects our tears in a bottle. These are true mysteries that must be embraced rather than parsed or declined.

So, we put crosses on top of steeples, we ring bells that call people to worship, and we lift symbols of the faith to help us focus on worship. Some of our holy men wear funny clothes and hats and hold books with golden covers above their heads. If you see a cross held high in a church with Christ hanging on it, Christ is being lifted up, and he will draw all people to himself. That is not fully what he meant when he said it, but it helps us pilgrims to see glory, if just for a brief moment, the truth of what he said. It is important to note that a mostly faithful Anglican, C.S. Lewis, warned Christians not to confuse the real thing with the symbols that surround the thing. While sacraments are symbols of the real thing, they are not the thing itself.

There have been wars fought and blood running in the streets of Europe over the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. One will have to admit that holding a wafer in one’s hand dipped in wine mixed with consecrated water is different in quality and kind from the actual presence of the resurrected Christ. If there isn’t a difference, then what the hell are we talking about here? I expect more than a wafer when I actually stand or bow before him in the eternal state. There is something special and magnificent, and yes, mysterious about it all; something supernatural is happening. I think it is because we believe that something special is happening that our words cannot capture. But in the end, I am just one person guessing, hoping, praying, along with billions who have lived limited, mortal, and confused. We are sinners, and we are saints, we are good, and we are bad; we all need some mystery to elevate our spirits and cause us to reach out to our Savior.

3. Beauty

Natural beauty in creation is a wondrous thing. I think God speaks to every person in the magnificence of nature. I have been astonished and my spirit lifted by much of the natural beauty of the world. The Canadian Rockies in winter, the rivers of Idaho, Montana mountains, the rolling hills of Tuscany, the White Cliffs of Dover, the flamingos in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. A California sunset or throwing our face into the warmth of the morning sun all make the heart sing. But, here, I want to write about the Arts: Painting, Sculpture, Music, Poetry, Dance. I must confess that the art world is an acquired taste and requires a tutor, someone to teach us about what to look for when we are puzzled about whatever it is.

Creatives are usually “three sheets to the wind” ^[4] in their personalities. A study of the world’s most famous artists finds a who’s who of strangeness and pathology. They have challenged the conventional—the ordinary was and remains their enemy. They have brought great beauty to the world: Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, T.S. Eliot, Keats, Shakespeare, William Blake, et al. I have stood with great appreciation before some of the greatest works of art in the world. It hasn’t spoken to me as clearly and deeply as it has for others, but it is not for a lack of effort. Jane and I traveled to Saint Petersburg, Russia, for one primary reason—so I could meditate like Henri Nouwen did, before Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal, displayed in the Hermitage Museum. It hangs no more than a hundred yards from the spot where Vladimir Lenin sparked the Russian Revolution in 1917.

The great moment arrived when I walked into the room and saw the painting hanging before me. I was alone for one minute, just settling into my attempted mediation, when suddenly fifty Japanese tourists spilled into the room and shoved me aside. Then, more people crowded in, and I thought I had been transported to Disneyland in a long line for a ride, without a ticket. Oh well, I now have the painting hanging in my study. I hope they haven’t missed it. If you have forgotten my point, God uses the arts to speak powerfully to people everywhere, and He has used many who live in the margins of society to carry on His creativity and His imaginative way of speaking to us.

4. Liturgy

Liturgy, in the Greek language, means “public work” or “the work of the people.” More commonly, people think of liturgy as what Catholics, Anglicans, and other sacramental churches do. I think of it as a structured mystery. Its earmarks are recital, catechisms, and structured ways of preparing both the young and the new before their first Eucharist. I have found the unadorned reading of scripture quite powerful. Written prayers that have survived hundreds of years of scrutiny stand tall and possess an inner strength. They force me out of elementary asking, to help me pray with those who have gone before.

As early as 150 AD, Justin Martyr wrote about the early church and described many of its characteristics. One of them was that new believers would go through a catechism before baptism and participation in the Eucharist. The church had five practices of worship. What should be remembered is that in 150 AD meetings were held on Sundays, the first day of the week. This was not made official until Constantine’s reign in the early 300s. There were no paid clergy or church buildings. These would come later.

1. Scripture—The reading of the Apostle’s memoirs, Gospel, and Paul’s letters

2. Sermon—Given by the church president. Make comments according to his ability

3. Prayers—Organized and specific

4. Eucharist—Embedded in a meal or separate, based on conditions

5. Giving to the Poor—Reaching out, outward focus. ^[5]

There you have it, at least four arenas in which God speaks to us in various languages that provide his care and specificity in communicating with us. I hope you will seek the ones that you find most in sync with your temperament and personality.

But one last thing—you can’t wire around the written word of God. It is non-negotiable in communication. Even if you can’t read, you can hear the word of God in various forms in this digital age.

Bill Hull 2026

^[1] Psalm 139:1-6 NLT.

^[2] I Timothy 2:5 There is one God and one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus.

^[3] I John 1:9-2:2, Romans 8:24-27, I Corinthians 2:13-16.

^[4] An idiom for being extremely drunk or unsteady. Originates from a 19^th-century description of a ship loose, uncontrollable, with the sheets or sails unsteady and uncontrolled, flapping in the wind.

^[5] Gavin Ortlund,

https://truthunites.org

“When God has an impossible task, he takes an impossible man and crushes him.” ^[2]

98% of what we need to hear from God we have already heard. The issue is not that we followers of Jesus need new information. What we do need is to be reminded of what he has already revealed, especially that we hear it again in the right context. I know how to fix a flat tire; it is somewhere in the back of my mind because I’ve changed flat tires before. That is different from sitting alongside a freeway with a flat tire; now I need clarity and courage because the cars are whizzing by, and it is raining. Oh yeah, I let my AAA membership lapse.

I began this column with “I’ve never heard from God when I was trying to hear from God.” I don’t mean seeking God or listening to God in a general sense. I mean, when I want him to tell me something right now! It is like trying to go to sleep by concentrating on it. One thing is certain: you won’t go to sleep. You can try counting sheep, but sheep usually turn into thoughts—unfinished tasks, conflicts with people, and regrets of life. I have even found reciting Psalms about sleep to be useless in falling asleep. Claiming my God-given right to sleep in the name of Jesus and entering into his rest is useless. The main lesson I have learned about sleep is to commit my life to God, turn out the lights, and stay in bed. I do know that being in bed with the lights out is a great start if you want to sleep.

Hearing aid

If you want to hear from God, an open Bible, memorized scripture, along with a general attitude of receptivity will greatly enhance the possibility that God will speak. Prayer is a conversation because we are in a personal relationship with God. And there is one more thing: if you want to be close to Jesus and hear from him, get your body and mind into the same place where he is easily found, and that is on mission.^[3] If you are active and involved in doing his explicit will, God will talk to you a lot, because you will have so much in common.

Peter and Cornelius get smashed

“When God has an impossible task, he takes an impossible man and crushes him.” Alan Redpath must have been studying Acts:10. Peter and Cornelius were about to have their precious worldviews smashed, and God was about to do the smashing. God took Peter’s world, its premises, its customs, its priorities of what was clean and dirty, what was right and wrong, and raised it above his head and smashed it into a thousand pieces. Peter didn’t want to hear because it would cause him to cross lines that he had never considered crossing. God often speaks to us when we are desiring to commune with Him, when we are seeking peace and solace, but that is often not what we get. After God does speak, we might quip, “Sorry I asked.”

This is what we get when we follow Christ into the mission of making disciples because God means to go to the entire world, every tribe, every people, every nation, every neighbor. The calling means crossing geographic, language, and racial barriers. It means laying aside bias, prejudice, and getting very uncomfortable. This is why, when God speaks and we go, it is costly, but life-giving. And it explains why people don’t want to hear from God. There are times we don’t want God’s opinion, we don’t want to make the sacrifices, we want to be left alone to indulge our own priorities in safety.

The triumph of the therapeutic

The therapeutic culture is one in which personal fulfillment sits at the center. The world of antiquity gave us prehistoric man, then the religious man, and now, from the mid-twentieth century forward, we have the psychological man. Its creed is expressive individualism and its fuel is sentimentalism. Listening to one’s own heart is paramount, our own inner voice. “Listen to your heart” is the credo we hear constantly, but leading to the contemplation of the navel. God has already told us what we don’t want to hear:

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” ^[4]

The heart is wonderful if properly motivated and trained by the Spirit of God. Otherwise, the melodious strains of its music sucks us down into its contemptuous vortex. Peter had his own worldview that God smashed into little pieces. The question is us; what about our premises and assumptions, our prides and prejudices that must go if we are to move forward—or would we rather not hear?

At first, Peter resisted God’s direct teaching; he protested, no, Lord, no, please, no! All that unclean food is for the unwashed, for the half-breeds, for the unclean. I can’t go there; it would be wrong. ^[5] What seems clear to us, looking back on Peter’s world, is harder to see in our own world. But we need to remember that Abraham, Moses, and many others were skeptical of what God wanted them to do. It seems par for the course to be afraid of what God is asking of us. The differences can be subtle.

Casablanca and The English Patient ^[6]

Two of the most popular films in the 20^th century were Casablanca (1943) and The English Patient (1996). The two films reveal the differences in how people thought in 1943 and 1996. Both films were lauded by the Academy Awards. In Casablanca, the main characters are Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, who owned a bar, and Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman. They fell passionately in love but, at the airport, in the film’s most iconic scene, they decided to sacrifice their love and life together for a bigger cause. The war and the fight for freedom were much more important than their private feelings. They parted. It was an act of courage, and it was right.

Then and now

In The English Patient, the two lovers were the dashing Count László, played by Ralph Fiennes, and Katharine Clifton, played by Kristin Scott Thomas. The English patient was the Count, who, during the 1930s, fell in love with Mrs. Clifton. The Count was burned in a plane crash and scarred beyond recognition. He betrayed his country by providing information to the Nazi army to secure transport to save his mortally injured lover, Katharine, whose jealous husband had tried to kill her. The lovers’ dialogue in the film shows that the maps he provided the Nazis were only lines drawn between countries that nations kill each other over. But their love crossed all barriers and borders because their love was paramount; more important than freedom for millions.

Two great films with very different messages. One, the product of an earlier time of living and dying for higher moral values. The other, a testament to the change of the heart in the therapeutic mind, especially of the Western Hemisphere. It leads to an isolation of life, and in the end, everyone discovers the truth that no man or couple is an island.

“No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were: Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” ^[7]

It’s harder for Americans and the English-speaking world in particular to get outside oneself and connect hearing from God to a larger world community. Making personal decisions is shaped by the culture and the Zeitgeist. ^[8] The mental logjam of Peter’s age was the clash between Jewish culture and the larger Gentile world. The logjam of the present age is between the personal, individualistic fulfillment culture and the Christian view of living for others which is a life of taking up one’s cross, self-denial, and following Christ into the mission.

God’s means of communication

The confusion about hearing voices is that God uses all forms of language to speak to us. The challenge is authenticating the validity of the many voices. There exists a thin margin between the glorious voice of our creator and being fitted with a straitjacket. But let’s take a quick look at the options.

1. Dreams (take place when a person sleeps)

2. Visions (take place when a person is awake)

3. Signs and Wonders (a break with natural laws or natural cause and effect)

4. Impressions (an inner sense or urge based on Christian teaching)

5. Counsel from others (buyer beware, please see Job’s counselors)

6. Holy Writ (scriptures starting with tablets, scrolls, papyri, paper, digital)

Both Peter and Cornelius had visions. They were both awake, and they were both in an attitude of prayer. Peter may have been doing his daily prayers which could be argued to be different than praying. But God took that opportunity, based on his timing and Peter’s maturation, to lead Peter into a new perspective. The same on the other end, Cornelius was a God-fearing Gentile in search of God and both had a vision. It is also easy to confirm it because Cornelius sent the soldiers and Peter was told to expect them; it was very clear that God was behind it.

Peter had just finished an intense period of seeing signs and wonders, and entire villages and towns had turned to Christ. Those were objectively observed by hundreds of people. I must report that such miracles that were done with such ease by Peter are no longer common, especially with the mimicking and impersonation of such events on the contemporary Christian stage. Some 21^st-century Evangelists in the West and frankly, everywhere, because of our digital global village stage, show miracles through a sophisticated vetting system that only allows reasonable needs to be platformed. These miracle-workers, wave their arms or blast their breath, and people fall down like trees falling from chainsaws. These are the most egregious cases and the best known because they are seen on satellite. Then they fly off on their private jets to their palatial homes by the sea. The test case, I suppose, is whether people turn to Christ in spite of such foolishness. We can’t know for sure, can we? So, I must take a step back and say, my hands are not clean, my motives are not pure, my criticism of such may indicate that I am just a less talented and envious critic.

Regardless, we all desire to hear from God. I do hear from God; I’ve heard from God throughout my long walk with him. I have heard from him in all six categories mentioned above. Primary among them has been my study and reading of scripture. The words jump off the page and embed themselves deeply in my soul, now more than ever. These are the words of life animated by the Holy Spirit. Everything else, visions, dreams, signs, wonders, impressions, counsel, all kneel before the scripture and submit to it. This posture then places a premium on the careful interpretation of scripture. I owe my abilities in this area to the many great scholars, pastors, and heritage of the Christian Church. I will give you one example.

I dream quite often, but rarely do they make any sense, nor do I take them seriously, not remembering them past breakfast. But one stands out. I have always lived on the edge of institutions and organizations. I’ve been a half-in, half-out maverick, loving and challenging my denomination, the church, my university, my seminary, et al. It may have been my independent streak that was born from a realization as a 14-year-old fatherless boy, that it was up to me to get a basketball scholarship to college or bust. No one thought it was possible but me. Years later, I was still half-in half-out. I was much like William F. Buckley, who wrote about why he was such a force in the conservative movement, when most of his friends were liberals. “I’m a conservative by conviction, but I am not of the breed.” I recognized this is how it is for me. I love the church, and I’ve given myself to the church and it is work. But I don’t like the church. I am preternaturally more comfortable outside it.

Now for the dream

In the dream I am seated with a Quaker kind of Clearing Committee. My closest advisors are together to help me discern my next step. At the time, I was considering pursuing a position of prominence that was clearly fully embedded in the modern evangelical movement, in the belly of the beast, so to speak. People were speaking, then a woman came up behind me as we were seated in a circle. She whispered in my ear, “God will use you greatly, but in an informal way.” These words set my course and freed me to say, “no” to going deeper into the evangelical machine. Which, by the way, I have no problem with and cheer on those who are deeply embedded in its function and administration. It was clear that I, like that fourteen-year-year-old boy, should, would, and could, flourish as an outside voice taking my shots and then slipping away into the night. No name on buildings, no walls filled with honorary degrees, just a pile of books and a happy life.

Thank you, my Lord and my God. You spoke, and I heard you.

Bill Hull 2026

^[1] An insight from my personal experience which is based on a foundation of scripture.

^[2] Alan Redpath, once the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago 1904 1989 British pastor and evangelist

^[3] On mission is not a generalized term here, it means on the making disciples mission that contributes to the fulfillment of the Great Commission issued by Christ. Matthew 28:18-20 and the fulfillment of that same commission Matthew 24:14. That when the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached to every nation, then the end will come.

^[4] Jeremiah 17:9 NLT.

^[5] Acts 10:9-23

^[6] Example taken from The Andrew Klavan Show, The Daily Wire, episode 1270.

^[7] No Man is an Island. John Donne, English poet, Anglican cleric, once the Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

^[8] The spirit of the age and its norms

“I’ve always wanted to write.” Dr. Luke M.D.

Singers want to act, actors want to sing, dancers try to sing, and singers attempt to dance. Who can forget Frankenstein’s monster dancing in Young Frankenstein? We humans have our fantasies. So, you get the late Paul Newman and Steve McQueen driving race cars, for real. Michael Jordan attempted baseball; former NFL quarterback Tony Romo is attempting to qualify for the PGA Tour. Terry Bradshaw became a recording artist in both country and gospel. As sang by Tears For Fears: “Everyone Wants To Rule The World.”

Once in a while, it works out. Leonardo da Vinci was a great painter and inventor. Benjamin Franklin was a diplomat, inventor, author, and scientist. Michelangelo was both a great sculptor and painter. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Champion bodybuilder, Mr. Universe, and a great actor—remember the dialogue from The Terminator, and the smooth-talking Governor of California? He now teaches diction at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Ok, now I have gone too far.

And I add a first-century physician named Luke, who became a world-class historian. He wrote two books that have been perennial best sellers for 2000 years: The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

Luke, the Doctor

Luke was the product of the first-century medical school. It was based on the Greek and Hippocratic traditions and was an apprenticeship system that included the study of human anatomy and the dissection of the body. It was hands-on and not done in a classroom. It was on-the-job training, learning by doing, all practiced in a pre-anesthesia world. After a while, you get used to the screaming patients. By today’s standards, it was primitive, mistaken, and based on several false premises. But these were not mistakes of the heart, or of intention. They were the wisest people in the world at that time. Leeches may have been used to remove poison from the body, gladiator blood was thought to cure epilepsy, cabbage was a wonder drug, and the diagnosis of ailments was based on the alignment of stars in the galaxy. Luke, as a physician, probably believed, along with his fellow Christians, that the earth was flat, if they even thought about it at all. This doesn’t mean that his ability as a historian and a conscientious storyteller was at all hindered. He excelled in both arenas.

Luke, the historian

decided to interrupt Saul’s story and give his readers an update on Peter. After all, Peter was a great leader, the rock of the church. No one could have imagined he would become the first of 267 Popes, and counting. Peter would not have been impressed if he were told he would be the first Bishop of Rome. More than likely, after his life experience, he would have quizzically asked, “What is a Pope?” Maybe it was some kind of fish; could you fillet it? Peter would probably be more opinionated about going down in history as Heaven’s head usher. Every bad joke about Heaven features Saint Peter guarding the entry, asking a lot of set-up lines for comedians. Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet; he was thought of as a god. But Peter knew better; he only knelt at the feet of Jesus and cried out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” ^[1]

It was the best of times

True, Nero was Emperor. He was an evil man, and Rome ruled the world. Yes, he had killed his mother and kicked his pregnant wife to death so he could marry the love of his life. The ceremony was very moving. Nero was dressed as a woman because he was married to a man. But Nero was too busy being Nero to be concerned with the Jewish cult at the edge of his empire. The church had been scattered, Saul was finally removed from the scene, and a cooling-off period was being enjoyed. Peter was now away from the tumultuous Jerusalem and other big cities; he was enjoying the coastal breezes and beauty of the Mediterranean Sea as he traveled and ministered from Gaza to Joppa and on to Caesarea.

Luke, the storyteller

Peter was relaxed. There were no temple police or hair-on-fire Priests to chase him through the streets. Jerusalem held little sway in these pastoral towns and villages. Peter could really do Peter; he could be concerned about the kind of people Jesus taught him were important. There were no little people, and there were no little places. Jesus had taught him, “As you have done to the least of these, you have done it to me.” Luke wants to tell the story of Aeneas, a man who had been paralyzed for eight years. In those days, medical doctors thought evil spirits, a curse, an imbalance of humors or body fluids might cause such ailments. Also considered was too much phlegm obstructing the nerves. Sounds like my chiropractor. It could come from the disruption of a flow of pneuma, vital spirits. Stretching, the key is stretching.

Peter’s success

Success breeds confidence. Peter was a different man post-Pentecost. He was less the fool who blurted out whatever crossed his mind. He, I believe, was slower to speak, yet when he did speak, it was with authority. This is evident as he crosses the path of Aeneas, a man paralyzed for eight years. This man was not sitting at the main entrance of the Temple in Jerusalem, where hundreds would hear about and see the miracle. Aeneas was a nobody, residing in Nowheresville. Peter saw him and spoke clearly and with great authority, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and roll up your sleeping mat!” ^[2] And he was healed instantly. Luke tells us the response: the entire population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they, as a people, turned to the Lord.

Peter called Aeneas by name. This could mean Peter had been around long enough to know the man’s name, or perhaps he had just been told the name. But when God tells a person to do something or to be something, it is personal, and he often uses our name. When we hear our name called, we stop, we look up, we sit up: there is no doubt that what follows is for us and about us. Aeneas was told that he was healed, and now, Aeneas needed to act: “Get up and roll up.” He did, and was healed instantly.

No details needed

Dr. Luke doesn’t go into any further detail of the medical reason Aeneas was not able to walk or what God fixed in Aeneas that made it possible for him to stand on legs that were atrophied. Most medical personnel would tell you that after 48 hours in a hospital bed, you lose over 50% of your body strength; that after eight years, extensive rehab would be necessary, one step at a time. First standing, then walking with spotters, then a walker, then walking slowly, and probably, never to run again. But Luke does none of this. What a leap in Luke’s mind, as he uses the word “instantly.” This is a power like no other, it breaks the rules, it amazes witnesses, there is no denying it, and it overwhelms skepticism, doubt, and fear. There is great rejoicing; Peter’s words have brought great hope and cheer to these pastoral villages. It goes without saying that what we call a church was born from this intervention.

We don’t know much else about Aeneas. We just know he walked around, and people marveled at him. It would be disappointing to think that he didn’t become a willing symbol of God’s greatness, power, and love. He must have spent his remaining days testifying to his miracle. God changes lives, and even those who continued to have ailments that God chose not to heal, for those disappointed with God, Aeneas was a reminder that God is there and he does care.

Hidden saint

Dorcus/Tabitha was quietly doing good to all those around her. And when she died, those who knew her and loved her gathered to pay her respect. The scene is typical of Middle Eastern mourning. Tabitha’s body was on display and set for burial. But first, a period of lament was observed to show respect. The mourners were often a mix of relatives and sometimes professionally paid mourners who were expert wailers. In this case, other widows were there to show Peter the many gifts and garments that Dorcus had made for them. ^[3] Peter asked everyone to leave the room; he chose not to make a show of it or a public resurrection. He knelt in prayer, then, after prayer, he turned to Tabitha and simply said, “Get up Tabitha.” She opened her eyes and sat up. In some cases, Peter prays before he makes a declaration; other times he puts it out there and risks it in public. This is entirely conjectural on my part; possibly, he wasn’t sure about Tabitha, what God would do. But he got his answer, and he spoke to her. Once she was alive, Peter called in the people, and she was presented alive. This, of course, was another major boost for the growth of belief, and there was great joy in the city.

Dreams

In a world where everyone has dreams of fame, of being important, of the triumph of progressive individualism, here is an option. Submit to God’s design on your life. You may not be able to be someone you’re not. You may not be able to rule the world, not even your puny little world. Why don’t you drop that fake person you are on social media and give God a go? Aeneas and Tabitha had little power, were little people on the edge of meaning. Yet, God knew them, their names, their conditions, their needs, and he met them and used them for his purpose. It seems to me that people in need don’t ask philosophical questions. They don’t think through Saint Thomas Aquinas’ five arguments for the existence of God. ^[4] They actually ask, “God, where are you?” “Can you help me, right now?” There is an interesting note concerning Aquinas, who wrote the magisterial Summa Theologica, and was considered the greatest Catholic Scholar and translator of Aristotle’s teaching in the theological world. He had a profound mystical experience during Mass in December of 1273. He told his secretary, Brother Reginald, “I can write no more. I have seen things that make my writings like chaff. He left his masterwork, Summa Theologica, unfinished. He considered human words inadequate to describe divine reality.^[5]

Faith

The late Elie Wiesel was a Nobel Laureate and a Holocaust survivor who wrote 57 books, the most famous called, Night.^[6] As a boy in Auschwitz prison camp he said, “My God died in Auschwitz.” So many ask the question, “Where was God in Auschwitz or in many other calamities or periods of suffering? There have been many stories, but one that Wiesel tells is soul-crushing. Wiesel recounts a specific hanging of a young boy, he was too light, leading to a long, slow death. When someone asked, “Where is God now?” Wiesel heard an inner voice reply, “He is hanging here on these gallows.” For me, Wiesel’s comment means that the crucified God, Jesus, was there hanging with the boy. Jesus was killed to stop all this man’s inhumanity to man’s evil. Jesus was the crucified God.

Another Holocaust survivor was the late Corrie Ten Boom. Her sister died in the camps, but she and Corrie didn’t lose their faith; they relied on it. She is known for her famous statement in her book, The Hiding Place,^[7] “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”

Bill Hull 2026

^[1] Luke 5:8

^[2] Acts 9:32-35

^[3] Jewish mourning was highly structured with a seven-day intense in-home period of Shiva followed by stages lasting up to a year. Yet in first-century Israel, the body was buried within 24 hours because of ritual uncleanness. The hot climate required prompt burial.

^[4] The five arguments are 1: Motion 2: Efficient Cause 3: Necessity 4: Gradation 5: Design

^[5] https://www.catholic.com/qa/when-st-thomas-aquinas-likened-his-work-to-straw-was-that-a-retraction-of-what-he-wrote

^[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_(memoir)

^[7] https://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Place-Corrie-Ten-Boom/dp/0800794052

“God has willed that we should seek and find God’s living Word in the testimony of other Christians, in the mouths of human beings. Therefore, Christians need other Christians who speak God’s Word to them. They need him again and again when they become uncertain and disheartened because, living by their own resources, they cannot help themselves without cheating themselves out of the truth. The Christ in their own hearts is weaker than the Christ in the word of other Christians. Their own hearts are uncertain: those of their brother’s and sister’s is sure.” ^[1]

Paul had disciples. He was the kind of man who bred them naturally. His gifts, his drive, his disposition created a magnetic force that drew them in like slivers of metal shavings. Paul knew what to do with disciples: either send them away or leave them behind. But one thing you don’t do is hang around and enjoy their company, indulging your flesh when it is time for them to reproduce. And the only way men and women do things on their own is when they are out of the shadow of their mentor. Yes, there is an optimum time for training and nurturing, but often life doesn’t present that option. Soldiers are sent into battle green and unprepared. Who can forget the scene from the film, Enemy at the Gates (2001), when Russian soldiers were put ashore at Stalingrad, when only every other raw recruit was given a rifle? They were told that since half of them would be killed, very soon rifles would be in abundance, just pick up a dead comrade’s rifle and fight on.

Define following

Christians were told by their founder and leader, Jesus, that if our desire is to follow him, we should begin with denying ourselves and taking up our cross (a weapon of spiritual warfare) and follow him. The cross symbolized death; it took place outside the city gates, where slaves, thieves, zealots, and traitors were tortured, killed and left to hang by the hundreds to show what was awaiting all those who dared resist Roman rule.

Jesus’ logic was, “If you try to save your life, you will lose it. And what would it profit a person if they would gain the entire world, (even the Roman world), but lose their own soul?” So, one might forgive Saul/Paul for not taking his disciples with him as he escaped Damascus; he left them behind to “carry on,” to be ambassadors of Christ, citizens of heaven, as drink offerings, joining in the joys and sorrows of the sufferings of Christ. Saul was a tough guy, but even a naive and young spoiled Berliner scion like Dietrich Bonhoeffer would realize that a hell-bent-for-glory gutsy guy like Saul would need someone to help him along. So, God sent Barnabas. Sometimes, there isn’t time for a formal ceremony, caps and gowns, cakes and cuddles. Awards are sometimes deferred to the battlefield, to live action, ye ole battlefield promotion. When disciples go live action, they prove themselves by reproducing, usually without killing. Even though we must honor those who must kill for a greater good, as a minister of the state. God’s justice and moral judgment can be delivered through war. To think otherwise is to ignore and misinterpret history. It is to forget how God intends to put an end to evil itself. ^[2]

The sidekick

Saul was too gifted to be ignored and too passionate not to engage his foes. He attempted to argue his case at synagogues where his story of conversion was enough to get him a hearing. But his brilliance in apologetic argumentation concerning the identity of the Messiah befuddled and enraged the synagogue leaders. They finally got fed up and strategized to kill him. All his potential new friends in Jerusalem wouldn’t go near him. The apostles wouldn’t meet with him. He was notorious, feared, and a couple of stories from a distant Damascus weren’t enough for them to lower their guard. The Apostles had a trusted emissary named Joseph who had a nickname—Barnabas—which meant “son of encouragement.”

Barnabas was able to meet with Saul and present Saul to the Apostles, telling them the story firsthand. They trusted Barnabas, and thus trusted Saul. Saul was now in, he had some friends, and later was considered an apostle. For a short while, he had the luxury of being an apprentice among apostles. But like most things for Saul, it didn’t last long enough for a certificate with a golden seal. Paul would later set the time as fifteen days. The synagogues, especially the Jerusalem synagogues, were upset with him. But the Greek-speaking Jews were angry enough that they tried to murder him. This means more than a plan or intention; it implies at least one actual attempt. Saul was so hot and controversial that the environs in Jerusalem once again became very dangerous for the church.

When to Retreat

The church by now had significant experience with persecution. It had been off and on for several years. They had early success, wild and disorienting success that had tossed them about and finally, after trials, jail time, and crisis after crisis, the church was completely scattered except for the Apostles. The Apostles had stayed in Jerusalem not for ecclesiological reasons; for contemporary theologians to posit such an idea is silly. These men were not writing textbooks, they were into survival. They had learned from their leader, Jesus, who had retreated several times in order not to press too hard too early in his battles with religious leaders. He knew they would feel threatened, which would lead to infighting, which would lead to plots to kill Him, which would lead to riots in the streets. Roman Governors get nervous when the local populace gets out of hand. Word would get back to Rome and soon thereafter, the Governor would be dismissed.

Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem in the territory of Philip the Tetrarch [26 BC-34 AD] rather than in Herod Antipas’ (20 BC-? Exile in Gaul) part of Israel. In Herod’s domain, Jesus was wanted; in Philip’s area, he was free to move about. The Apostles knew this, and now that the church had scattered and reformed in the Judean and Galilean countryside, there was some peace and quiet. Also, Jerusalem had settled into a peaceful and fruitful church where the persecution had slowed. Saul was a threat to this peace wherever he went.

The church, therefore, sent him to Caesarea and then on to his hometown of Tarsus. That’s right, they put Saul on ice; it was time for a cooling-off period, a time of preparation, a time of ordinary life for Saul. When he went home, he was no longer an offense to the synagogue and Sanhedrin in Jerusalem or Judea; he was no longer a threat to the church. He wasn’t knocking down doors, arresting Jewish Christians, and throwing them in jail or presiding over executions. He would now be an apprentice, a learner. In fact, there is a simple summary of the general conditions after Saul was sent back to Tarsus,

“The Church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.” ^[3]

Scattering and diaspora

In modern history, the diaspora reminds one of the Jews. The Jewish diaspora was gradual and lasted 2400 years. In particular, one thinks of the absence of a homeland from 70 AD until 1948. There have been many other diasporas of peoples clearly evidenced by wars and refugee camps throughout the world. The diaspora of Christians was both Jewish and Gentile. In fact, the Apostle Peter mentioned this in his first letter found in the New Testament. “This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” ^[4]

Peter himself wrote these words from Rome. He was far from home and would have been surprised that his bones would someday rest beneath the world’s most famous church and that church would be named Saint Peter’s. Paul had picked up on this theme when he spoke of Christ’s disciples as foreigners, sojourners, pilgrims, citizens of Heaven, people not of the world but living in it. It is a difficult concept to get locked and loaded in the brain because this world is all we have known.

When I hear discussions on revivals and religious movements from around the world and the resultant movements of people, I almost always throw in a bit of historian Niall Ferguson’s comments. Ferguson has written very insightfully concerning war. He makes the argument that wars have had as much to do with the placement and displacement of peoples around the world as religious movements. Case in point: the reason that Jews were dispersed from Jerusalem, and Jewish Christians, as well, was the fall of Jerusalem. Peter wrote to the scattered church.^[5] The first scattering recorded in Acts chapter 8 was part religious but actually political in a Jewish theocracy embedded under Roman rule. Geopolitical factors have moved the church unwillingly around the world. It is happening in many places globally, even as I write these words.

Cooling off

Moving around to survive is, at times, something that God sanctions, that the church has sanctioned, and certainly, Saul’s exile was strategic and took the heat off. Followers of Christ have always been exhorted by their leaders to make the best of it. Millions have died at the hands of murderous regimes. Particularly acute presently is Muslim violence against Christians. Saul made the best of it.

Tracking Saul from conversion to his cooling-off period in Tarsus isn’t without difficulty. His own words are recorded in his letter to the churches of Galatia. “I did not rush out to consult with any human being. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away to Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus. Then three years later, I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. The only other Apostle I met at the time was James, the Lord’s brother. I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.” Paul goes on to say that he traveled into the northern parts of the region, and the people didn’t know who he was. Then he sums it up by claiming that fourteen years later, he returned to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus.

Long sabbatical

What was Saul/Paul doing for fourteen years? Paul spent some time learning from Christ, studying, but also preaching in regions around Tarsus and later Antioch.^[6] By the time his missionary journeys began with Barnabas, he had become a seasoned leader. This period was not a contemplative experience as some suggest. It does show us that God’s work is urgent, but he is not in a hurry. The work of preparation and demonstration of faithfulness is not merely prelude, it really counts. People who become apprentices of Christ learn while doing God’s work, and it is no less God’s work than is done after apprenticeship ends. The fourteen-year period is just a time frame from one Jerusalem stint with some Apostles and a second meeting that would then commence a worldwide mission: Paul to the Gentiles and Peter to the Jews. And at the center of it all is not only Saul, but also Barnabas. We just can’t do this work alone, no matter how gifted we may be.

To all the Barnabases’

Bill Hull

^[1] Bonhoeffer, Life Together, page 32.

^[2] Revelation 19:11-21; 20:7-15.

^[3] Acts 9:31 NLT.

^[4] I Peter 1:1 NLT.

^[5] If Peter was executed under the reign of Nero, then, out of necessity, it had to have taken place before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Nero was exiled and chased into the countryside, where he killed himself in 68 AD. The letter addressed the diaspora of the years from Acts, chapter 8, until his writing in Rome.

^[6] Galatians 1:11, 12. He received it “by direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ.”