Christian Living, Culture, Death, Fear
John Beeson
What Spooks You?

Across the street from our home is the holiday house. You probably have one in your neighborhood. They go all out for every holiday. On Saturday, cars stacked up on the main road leading into the neighborhood as families drove by slowly, taking in the massive display that must have cost the owners thousands of dollars.

 

Last week I drove by a home whose Halloween decorations weren’t as massive or ostentatious, but the lawn display was undoubtedly the eeriest I’ve ever seen. A life-like severed head hung from a tree limb. A decapitated corpse with a visible spinal cord jutting out between slumped shoulders sat underneath.

What Spooks You?
Christian Living, Culture, Fear, Wisdom
John Beeson
The Temptation of Temptation

In 2023, 46 horror movies were released. 75 million tickets were sold, and the industry made $798 million in domestic revenue alone. It’s been argued that horror movies remain a draw for many in the contemporary West because there is so little actual danger in most of our lives.

 

Atheist Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature argues that we live in the most peaceful era of human existence: wars have decreased, human rights have expanded, and rates of starvation and lifespans have improved. Drawn to conflict, we now have access to global news coverage, which gives us the dopamine hit of feeling like we are in conflict.

The Temptation of Temptation
Christian Living, Fear, Spiritual Growth, Wisdom
John Beeson
Night

What attracts us so much to the dark?

In the story of Swan Lake, a ballet by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette (who has been cursed by the evil magician, Von Rothbart), after happening upon her at the lake one night during a hunting trip.  As a result of Von Rothbart's curse, Odette is human only at nightfall, for at daybreak she transforms into a swan.  True and faithful love is the only thing that can break the curse, and Siegfried aims to marry Odette, proclaiming such love, at a ball his mother is throwing for his birthday. 

Night
Christian Living, Death, Heaven, Religion, Spiritual Growth, Worship
John Beeson
How Changing Your View of Heaven Transforms the ...

In 2003, Bart Millard still mourning his father’s recent death, penned the lyrics for “I Can Only Imagine,” a song that would go on to be the most-played song in the history of Christian radio.

Can you imagine what heaven is going to be like?

There are lots of different views of heaven out there. A couple of decades ago a cottage industry developed, selling stories of those who said they had been to heaven while on death’s doorstep. We’re told of bright lights, lives re-played, and a warm glow. Others might daydream of harps and clouds, when asked to imagine heaven.

How Changing Your View of Heaven Transforms the Way You Live Today
Identity, Counseling, Culture, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
One Year Old!

On October 17, 2023, we (my wife Angel and I) released our first book, Trading Faces. With around four million books published annually (one for every resident of Oklahoma!), an author can feel as though they’re contributing a grain of sand to a beach. And there is truth to that! As the Preacher wisely reminds us in Ecclesiastes,

Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
It has been already
    in the ages before us. (Eccl. 1:10)

One Year Old!

Scott McConnell

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Why Pastors Must Talk About Race: Derwin Gray reminds us, “Our ethnicity is a gift from God reflecting his multifaceted wisdom. Biblical characters are not colorless or cultureless. They were people situated in real places, with real, image-bearing ethnicities, in particular cultures and times—just as we are.

  2. An Open Letter to a Distressed Sufferer: Mike Emlet offers gentle word to those who are hurting. He concludes, “I’ll close for now. Please know that your burden is my burden and I am privileged to walk alongside you. That’s another way in which you are not alone, embedded as you are in the body of Christ.”

  3. How the Gospel is Good News for Every Story: Scott McConnell with an insightful article on how the gospel speaks to every cultural worldview. He begins, “Missiologists often describe three worldviews different cultures exhibit: innocence-guilt, power-fear, and honor-shame. The innocence-guilt worldview believes being and doing right is what matters most. Much of what is considered right in these cultures has been codified in law, so following the law is very important. The power-fear worldview says overcoming fear by tapping into power matters most. Typically, that power is believed to be accessed from the spirit world. The honor-shame worldview says the honor and wellbeing of your group, tribe, or extended family matters most.

  4. Sing Your Heart Out at Church (Even if You Hate the Music): Brett McCracken begins, “I love church pipe organs and classical music. I prefer Victorian hymns and Stuart Townend songs over Hillsong and Bethel. I dislike “modern renditions” of old hymns, where the melody is slightly tweaked or a new chorus is added in between original verses. A simple piano, organ, or acoustic guitar accompaniment to “Be Thou My Vision” will do just fine.”

  5. Does God Love Me Just the Way I Am? Ligon Duncan answers the question.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Want a Happy Relationship? Go to Church Together: New research by the Institute of Family Studies. Aaron Earls reports, “More than 3 in 4 regular church-attending couples (78 percent) say they are “very happy” or “extremely happy” in their relationship.”

  2. 12 Ways to Help a Pastor Stay in Ministry: I appreciated this article from Scott McConnell, which highlights ways both pastors and congregants can keep pastors in ministry. For instance, speaking to the need for a pastor to be humble, McConnell notes that, “In [a] study of pastors, a one unit increase in level of agreement (from somewhat agree to strongly agree, for instance) that “the church would not have achieved the progress it has without me” corresponds to being over three times less likely to remain in pastorate.”

  3. Stop Eating Spiritual Candy: Amy Gannett warns, “Christians frequently exchange the nourishing truths of God’s Word for “sweeter” substitutes. Particularly when life wears us thin, we can lean on half-truths about our own resilience rather than on reminders of God’s sovereignty and sufficiency.”

  4. Death Comes in Slow Drips: Chrys Jones speaks of the danger of allowing sin to drip into our lives, “Then it happened. He fell “in love with this present world” and deserted Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). While there is some debate as to whether Demas was an apostate or not, the fact remains: Demas chose sin instead of supporting Paul in the work of the ministry. Falling in love doesn’t happen in an instant. Demas chose to dwell on the world day by day, drip by drip, until he made the decision to walk away.”

  5. What Animals Kill the Most Humans Each Year? I found this article from World Atlas interesting. I’ll give you a preview: #4 at 25,000 deaths is the dog, #5 at 10,000 deaths is the Tsetse fly.

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