Category Archives: Just One Minute

Sep 13 2025
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Just One Minute

The Scarlet Rope of Grace

Is the God of the Old Testament different from the God of the New Testament? Some people think so. They see God’s judgment of the Canaanites as the work of a vindictive and bloodthirsty spirit.

The story of Rahab in Joshua 2 destroys that narrative. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God always looks for people He can save. He often finds uncut gemstones even in the filthiest muck. He found it in Rahab, the harlot.

At first glance, Rahab seems an unlikely candidate for God’s favor. Some people rationalize that Rahab was an innkeeper, but other references in both Old and New Testaments indicate she was indeed a prostitute. She plied her trade in the walled city of Jericho, destined for destruction by God through the Israelites.

So why would God save Rahab whose life represented the depravity that God wanted to destroy? Was it because she risked her life in helping to save two Israelite men who came to spy out the land? Was it because she recognized the sovereign power of the Israelites’ God?

Yes, but I believe there was even more: Rahab and her household were saved because she joined in the covenant of faith with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob right along with the Israelites.

When Rahab begged the two spies to save her life along with the lives of her family members, the two spies told her to hang a scarlet rope outside her window to identify her living place. The two spies vowed that the presence of the scarlet rope would save from destruction all those she gathered with her.

That scarlet rope became to Rahab and her family like the Passover Lamb became to the Israelites when God led them from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Her act of faith in God separated her and her family from the doomed people of Jericho. That scarlet rope was visible for all her people to see. Rahab acted in faith that God would faithfully save her and her family from His judgment—something she did not deserve but acted to claim for herself. Her family members acted with that same faith when they gathered with her.

Such faith and obedience were counted to Rahab and her family as righteousness just as real as the righteousness of faith that separated Abraham from his pagan society. Rahab was later entered into faith’s hall of fame (Hebrews 11:31), a woman of good works (James 2:25) who even entered the family tree of the Lamb of God Himself (Matthew 1:5).

If more of Jericho’s people had demonstrated the faith of Rahab the harlot, they, too, would have been saved. We can say that from what happened later with the cruel and wicked city of Nineveh that came under God’s judgment but repented in sackcloth and ashes and were all spared (Jonah 3).

God’s grace is greater, more inclusive and more ingenious than we know. This should give us great encouragement as we pray for wayward loved ones, nations and radical haters of the gospel who seem totally resistant and “impossible” to change.

May each of us learn to think more like God thinks so that we will pray with greater faith and expectancy for Him to work His grace in ways beyond our understanding.

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Aug 09 2025
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Just One Minute

3 Ways to Conquer What Looks Unbeatable

What does it take to defeat an enemy?

The Canaanites were not ordinary enemies. Few peoples in history have matched Canaanite depravity. They comprised a body of various peoples who became so devoted to evil that God decided they must go or they would corrupt the whole human race.

They practiced every kind of twisted sexual immorality, child sacrifice and idolatry. They were proud of it. Their ethic was violence. They were physically large, abnormally strong and lived in fortified cities no one had conquered, not even the Egyptians with their mighty armies. An earlier generation of Israelites saw them and felt like grasshoppers in their sight.

The Canaanites had never been brought to account for their depravity and thought they were stronger than God. Even after they heard how God delivered the Israelites at the Red Sea, they refused to repent. Things were getting worse, not better.

For 400 years, the Canaanites tried God’s patience, but even God’s patience wore thin. He called upon the Israelites to destroy them. For their trust and obedience, the land of the Canaanites would become their own “Promised Land” forever.

By worldly standards, the Israelites were an unlikely people to do this. They were former slaves, nomadic shepherds and wilderness wanderers, not military people. But even the Israelites could conquer the Canaanites and take their “Promised Land” if they fulfilled the following conditions:

  • They were to be strong and of good courage. They were to be strong and courageous in God, convinced He would do exactly what He promised them because He was stronger than the enemy. They were inadequate in themselves, but they were not to fear the ferocity of the enemy because God would never desert them.
  • They were to observe all of the Law. They were to remember the covenant God made with Abraham and Moses. They were to obey God in everything He asked of them. They were to learn how to think as God thinks, not follow their own instincts. They were to heed all God told them, even when it did not seem to make sense. They were not to get distracted by other things but always hold the promises of God before them. Faithfulness to obey all of God’s word to them would prevent needless heartaches and setbacks.
  • They were to know that wherever they went, God was with them to bring success. To stand together in unity and trust God alone and not their own ways was the only sure way to success, even against a fierce and evil enemy like the Canaanites.

God’s word to the Israelites in the face of a vicious foe remain true today as we work together to take the Good News to all of India. We face many foes who defy God and are stronger than we are, with vastly more resources than we. Yet God guarantees victory as we remain strong in Him and think His thoughts. We have His promise that through us, the Great Commission will be fulfilled, and the knowledge of the glory of the God will fill India and the whole earth.

May God’s words to Joshua also encourage and strengthen you in these days as you remember His promises to you in the midst of your own challenges from seemingly unbeatable foes.

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Jun 08 2025
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Just One Minute

God’s Unchanging Plan for His People

“For I the Lord do not change…,” Malachi 3:6 tells us.

God’s plan has never changed. As God’s redeemed people, how we live our lives means we must know what an unchanging God has always intended for us. Our salvation comes through the cross of Christ and has restored us to what God always intended for us before Satan robbed us by deceit.

To know what this means in its fullness means we can better join God in His work of redeeming all of India and the entire world from the power of Satan. So, what did God intend from the beginning?

In Genesis 1, we learn that God made us “in His image.” Often, we interpret this to mean moral, ethical and intellectual abilities. However, a more accurate view, based upon better understandings of ancient Middle East culture and Hebrew grammar, suggests a deeper meaning.

A more accurate reading of this text is, “Let us make man AS our image.” In ancient days, a ruler’s image in the town square signified that ruler’s sovereignty over that town. In other words, God created humanity as a sign of God’s rulership over the earth.

“According to our likeness” indicates that God has assigned to us an active role in rulership alongside Him. God has designed us to become His regents in the earth, to keep the world in order according to His will. To have “dominion” means to rule as God would rule, with wisdom, reason, good judgment and careful management over all things. Adam’s fall disrupted all of this. History records how we have failed miserably in our assignment.

Through His life, death and resurrection, Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). All that Satan stole from the first Adam and his descendants (us) is returned to us by the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. By His authority, He has restored to us our lost authority as His image, according to His likeness, to have dominion. We are empowered through the Holy Spirit (John 14-17), spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12) and the keys to the kingdom (Matthew 16).

Through the cross, these already belong to us. All we must do now is claim and use them.

With our authority, granted by Christ, we are to use them to complete the full defeat of our adversary, Satan. Of course, Satan wants to blind us to our authority so he can continue to steal, kill and destroy. But in the end, God will still crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20).

As restored sons and daughters of our King Jesus, we have the opportunity to join Him in restoring the earth to its former glory—occupying until He comes, declaring the gospel of the kingdom, discipling the nations, preparing the way for the kingdom of heaven on earth where the knowledge of the glory of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that creation groans, waiting anxiously for the revealing of the sons of God.

May our generation not let the groaning continue! Once again, by God’s grace, we are His regents on earth. Let us learn by His Spirit to fully incorporate our unchanged assignment into our lives to His glory and for the blessing of the whole world!

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Mar 01 2025
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Just One Minute

When Kings Tremble

As we follow Paul’s ministry in the Book of Acts, we note that at Paul’s conversion, Jesus told him that the day would come when he would proclaim the gospel before kings (see chapter 9).

That day arrived when he was arrested and stood before Ananias, the high priest, followed by appearances before Antonius Felix, governor of Judea, Porcius Festus (Felix’s successor), and then King Herod Agrippa and his wife, Bernice (read Acts 22-26).

All these rulers were known even in their own day as corrupt tyrants, marked by greed, incest (Bernice was Agrippa’s sister), violence, plunder, cowardice, disrespect for God and man alike.

The historian, Josephus, contemporary of Jesus, Paul and all these potentates, has much to say about these rotten excuses for leaders. For example, Ananias, the high priest, sold food meant for ordinary priests for his own profit, causing priests and their families to starve to death. He betrayed his own people to the Romans and was eventually murdered for his betrayal.

Nothing changed their eternal destinies even after Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, eloquently and fearlessly gave them the gospel. These oppressors paved the way for Paul to present his case to the most powerful (and corrupt) of them all—Caesar himself, namely, Nero.

Not everyone is called by God to such daunting service. But God formed in Paul an intensity of purpose that allowed him to face this challenge with dignity and grace.

Still, we might ask ourselves, why did God require this sacrifice by Paul, since none of these monsters ever actually bowed the knee to Christ?

We must remember that God not only wants us to join Him in heaven one day, He also wants to revive and reform human society on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus mandated His followers to disciple the nations. This can happen only when governments cease to actively obstruct the gospel and human dignity.

During Paul’s day, 25-40% of the Roman Empire’s peoples were slaves. Women and girls had minimal rights. Life was cheap. People lived in fear of death by torture or crucifixion by unpredictable and unaccountable rulers obsessed with power, not truth. Even their religious leaders were hopelessly corrupt.

God called Paul to start the reformation of government by clearly and fearlessly proclaiming Christ to the powers of his time. They did not submit, but we are told that Felix “trembled” and Agrippa was “almost persuaded.”

Though they did not heed, others also must have heard—and they were persuaded.

We get a strong hint of this in Philippians 4:22 where Paul sends greetings from “the household of Caesar” who followed Christ. The “household of Caesar” included all kinds of people in service to Caesar ranging from slaves to high government officials in positions of influence and authority.

Even when the most powerful refuse to believe, the gospel still penetrates to the highest and most degenerate parts of society. As a result, Christlike values begin to permeate the culture.

Wherever and to whomever the gospel goes, even if they refuse to submit, Jesus makes His mark. When we submit to Christ as Paul did, His Word, spoken with Holy Spirit power, will never return void. In the end, God always wins, even when He appears to lose.

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Jan 04 2025
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Just One Minute

The Jericho Principle

Hebrews 11 portrays the miracle of Jericho in Joshua 6 as one of history’s greatest examples of faith.

Perhaps even more miraculous is that this is not just a record of what happened to Israel 3000+ years ago. The miraculous fall of Jericho becomes a template for our own day when we are linked in covenant with Israel’s God through the cross of Jesus Christ. It becomes a timeless model from a timeless God of how we can face our own “Jerichos,” those seemingly impossible foes and insurmountable odds, whatever they may be. Our weapon is our faith in Him.

We all know the story. The Israelites, led by Joshua, approach the walled, fortress-like and hyper-evil city of Jericho. They have no battering rams, catapults, ladders or anything else to break through city gates or scale those high walls. 

In obedience to God’s command, the people march in silence around the city once a day for six days, seven times on the seventh day. At the sound of the priests’ trumpets, they shout a great shout, and the walls fall flat. The city is taken and all its unspeakably demonic inhabitants are slain.

This great act of faith did not just “happen.” It resulted from the Lord’s preparation of His people beforehand. It resulted from God’s discipline of His people. It involved remembering prior acts of God’s provision and taking account of the evidence. It involved parting with past sins, setting themselves apart for God alone, separating themselves from a victim mentality. We, too, must prepare ourselves ahead of time.

We often say that “God is in control,” but He does not choose to act alone. He did not make those walls crumble until His people got involved in the process. They were not just passive observers of God’s power. Also involved were the angelic armies. But they did not get involved either until God’s people first got themselves right with Him and became willing to obey God. Only then did He and the angelic hosts act.

To have faith meant they had to obey God even when His orders didn’t seem to make sense. Until the miracle at Jericho, no city walls ever fell, or were city gates broken through except with battering rams and other instruments of war. The Israelites could have resisted this seemingly irrational command, but they obeyed. Will we obey God’s sure orders to us when they appear foolish to our families, and even to other church people
and pastors?

In a sermon on Joshua 6, Charles Spurgeon boiled down the essence of faith to three words: work, wait, win. The “Jerichos” that challenge us in life are not the result of men but of our ultimate enemy, Satan. God gives to us weak and flawed people the privilege of joining with Him to defeat that evil one who enslaved us. He wants us to get involved in winning back our own lost “Promised Land.”

In 3000+ years, God has not changed. We are still made in His image. He still requires of us the same kind of faith He required of the Israelites at Jericho. When we prepare ourselves ahead of time as did the Israelites under Joshua, God will, in the words of Paul, “crush Satan under our feet” (Romans 16:20).

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Dec 06 2024
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Just One Minute

The Heart of a True Shepherd

Do you want to know what kind of person the apostle Paul would advise you to have as the pastor of your church? If you read Acts 20, you will get a good idea from his parting words to the elders of the church at Ephesus.

The elders were responsible for leadership and oversight of the church. They taught, preached, guarded against false teachers, encouraged believers, prayed for and visited the sick, decided doctrinal matters and trained new believers.

Paul must have done a good job with them. The church of Ephesus became one of the strongest of the early churches. This was a mighty feat, given that Ephesus had lived for more than 1,000 years under the worship of the goddess, Artemis. How did Paul do it? We are most blessed that Paul shares with us the ingredients of his successful recipe. I call them the “ten commandments” for making a good elder/pastor:

  • Paul taught the Ephesians with “all humility and tears.” What powerful words! Paul exhibited a strong empathy with the Ephesian people that he shepherded, whatever their background. They knew he was on their side and wanted only their best.
  • He boldly taught the truth. He left out nothing they should know. He held nothing back, even if it might make them uncomfortable or cost him popularity.
  • He preached the same gospel to all. It didn’t matter what their background was. That gospel required repentance before God and faith in Jesus Christ.
  • He willfully placed his life in the hands of God, knowing some in the community would become offended at the truth and speak evil against him.
  • He knew he had a definite call of God to preach. He had a single-minded purpose and desire to complete the mission God had given him. He would not be swayed by lesser things.
  • He kept a clear conscience, knowing that he preached all that God commissioned him to preach. He preached the whole counsel of God, never mincing his words, so that he comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.
  • He took care to shepherd his people as Jesus would shepherd them, willing to give up his life on their behalf if necessary.
  • He remained alert for those who entered the flock and led others astray by charisma, smooth talk filled with false and perverse, but attractive-sounding, things.
  • He depended daily upon God to help him do what he could not do in himself alone. He trusted God to build up his own faith as he built up the faith of his people.
  • He especially bent over backward to help those who were weak, giving sacrificially of himself.

What did Paul teach the Ephesians? The epistle to the Ephesians gives us a good idea. Martyn-Lloyd Jones preached at least 232 sermons from this epistle, portraying Paul’s high view of the gospel, a profound portrait of what God intends. Is this the gospel coming to you from the pulpit in your church? Is this the same gospel that guides your life, family and community?

This gospel preached by Paul reflects the life of a man who has met God, witnessed His glory and is completely sold out to Him. May all our pulpits become filled with like-minded pastor/teachers who deliver the message of God, true to the Word and in great power and truth.

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Nov 02 2024
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Ephesus to India: Power, Opposition, and the Unstoppable Gospel

The Book of Acts, written almost 2,000 years ago, serves as a template for God’s workings at any time in the history of Christ’s followers, including our own. It reveals human nature in its response to God. This includes Acts 19 which records Paul’s mission to Ephesus.

In Paul’s day, Ephesus was a vital port city, its impressive buildings constructed of fine marble. The city was dominated by the overpowering presence of the white marble temple to the goddess, Artemis (or Diana), widely worshipped throughout the Mediterranean region. Millions of pilgrims flocked to Ephesus to worship at this temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

This worship of Artemis went back more than 1,000 years. It was a highly entrenched religion that dominated the region, like Hinduism in Varanasi or Islam in Mecca. A myth grew up among Artemis followers that in ancient days, her statue descended from heaven.

Paul came to Ephesus to introduce Jesus Christ and challenge this deeply rooted religious culture. Fearlessly, he proclaimed Jesus as Lord, and he depended upon the Holy Spirit to do what rational argument alone could never do.

Dr. Luke tells us that notable miracles took place. Handkerchiefs and aprons, touched by Paul, become instruments of healing and deliverance from demons. This demonstration of the gospel by power as well as word won people to Christ in droves as they saw Jesus do what Artemis had never done.

Not everyone was happy about this. The silversmiths, who got rich selling silver idols of Artemis to devotees, saw their profits dwindle as Jesus gained influence. They reacted with venom against Paul’s “attack on society”. Others envied what they wrongly perceived was Paul’s magical powers and coveted this power for their own selfish ends.

What took place in Ephesus during Paul’s ministry was truly a power encounter with Satan, who long blinded the people, and the power of Jesus Christ who opens blind eyes. The clash between God and Satan broke out into the visible human realm at Ephesus.

Paul did not flee but stood firm and discipled the new believers. The Ephesian church grew fast. The Ephesians became a bright light for the gospel. Later, Paul wrote his epistle to these former worshippers of Artemis and praised their mature faith in Jesus Christ.

The happenings at Ephesus take place in India today as we see God answer your prayers and the prayers of His people in India. The Word of God is both preached and demonstrated in power with healings, deliverance from demons and other signs and wonders. An entrenched religious system is being challenged by the living and powerful Jesus Christ who is opening eyes once blinded by the devil.

At the same time, opposition has come thick and fierce from those who enrich themselves through the status quo and accuse Christians of “destroying society.” The enemy comes armed with entrenched traditions backed by overwhelming political and financial power.

Despite the opposition, the Holy Spirit enables us to train new disciples and send more harvest workers. Quietly, former believers of old religions enter their workplaces and schools to counteract this influence at the grass roots with the power of Christ in word and deed.

May what happened in Ephesus take place all over India in coming days — and in the place where you live and work!

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Sep 13 2024
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How God Strengthens Us in Our Darkest Moments

Acts 18 records Paul’s first visit to Corinth. This chapter includes a matter that, at first glance, seems odd in a great man of faith as Paul—fear.

While Paul made great progress among the Gentiles, he faced blasphemous opposition from Corinthian Jews. As Paul experienced their ferocity, fear rose in his heart.

One night, he had a vision of Jesus who told him, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking… I am with you… no man will attack you… I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

Every person who contends for the Lord faces the rage of those who hate God. In the Old Testament, Elijah won an overwhelming victory over the prophets of Baal. But when Queen Jezebel remained set in her idolatry even after the miracle of God, she threatened Elijah’s life. He fled and hid in a cave, convinced he was the only faithful one left in Israel.

Moses, David, John the Baptist had their own bouts with fear. Even Jesus Himself, bearing His true human condition, experienced every human emotion including fear.

In 1517, Martin Luther experienced fear when he faced a hostile religious establishment, seemingly all alone.

Recent years have presented the greatest challenges I have ever faced in my ministry. Fear is a very real thing which I also face.

The question is not whether we have fears, but what we do with them. Does fear master us, or do we master fear? Do we retreat from Satan’s rage, or do we trust our Lord through his rage?

Jesus, who was truly human, knows from experience how fragile we are. He does not leave us alone in our fear but encourages us through it. He came to Paul, not to chastise him for weak faith but to strengthen him and re-confirm His call on Paul’s life. He assured Paul that He was for him, and that he would bear much fruit in Corinth. He had a purpose, and he would fulfill it no matter what. Paul stood firm.

When we stand firm despite our fear, we will also bear much fruit because God is faithful to deliver. God is glorified by the fruit we bear in this life, and we are immortal in this life until we accomplish our purpose.

God is faithful even in our mortality. Martyrs for the faith, such as Stephen, did not die in vain but paved the way for Paul’s conversion and future mission to the Corinthians and many others. Think of Odisha missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, trapped and burned to death by a murderous mob. A terrible death indeed, but how many men and women now serve Christ in Odisha today through their sacrifice and suffering?

Paul, who endured more than his share of suffering, and must have faced fear many times, has written, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

Paul kept his perspective. He remained close to God who continually encouraged him and gave him hints of greater glory. Even those little hints overwhelmed all the enemy threw at him.

May God encourage each of us through our own struggles with fear in troubled times!

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Aug 17 2024
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Bridging Cultures: Paul’s Approach

Paul’s visit to Mars Hill in Acts 17 has some important lessons for us today as we confront a culture that has become almost as pagan as the Athenian culture Paul confronted.

In many ways, the Athenians of Paul’s day resembled our own. Yet Paul made an impact upon these heathens, and some of them had their eyes opened. This should encourage us in our own day.

See if you recognize some of these Athenian traits in our own day: rationalism, materialism, relativism, promiscuity (even in religion), rampant sexual perversion, i.e., homosexuality and pedophilia, human trafficking (in this case, slavery), worship of beautiful people, belief that education is the solution to society’s problems, a two-tiered justice system, just to name a few.

Like many people in our own day, these jaded people had no knowledge or trust in inspired scriptures. Quoting from the Old Testament would have meant nothing to these elites steeped in Epicurean and Stoic philosophy, and worship of many gods and goddesses.

Indeed, when Paul first began to speak to them of Jesus, most of them initially brushed him off as an “idle babbler” and a teacher of “strange deities.”

Yet Paul never assumed the privileged Athenian know-it-alls were too far gone for redemption. These pagans also possessed the image of God. They had eternity in their hearts, and these facts inadvertently revealed themselves in the pagan philosophies of the day. So he approached them through the very words of their own philosophers who possessed some truth–though not all of it. For example…

Sometimes we quote Paul, who said to them of the Creator God, “In Him we live and move and have our being,” not knowing that we are actually quoting a pagan Cretan philosopher named Epimenides (c.a. 600 BC). Through such links with their own thinkers, Paul led them to consider Jesus Christ. We are told that his approach struck a receptive chord. Some of them stopped laughing, listened to what Paul was trying to tell them—and they believed!

Paul demonstrated that before we can effectively communicate the gospel to anyone, we must first understand where they are coming from. Only then can we link them to Jesus. We must love them even as God loves them, knowing that Christ died for them as He died for us. The Good News resonates with people of every background—if we take the time to know them and present the truth in a manner they best understand.

Some teachers at IGO training centers and many graduates come out of Hindu, Sikh, Muslim or Buddhist backgrounds—religions regarded by many westerners as “unreachable.” But today, they communicate Jesus Christ to their own people. In many ways, evangelists and church planters from non-Christian backgrounds are the best gospel communicators of all.

Dr. Mahendra Singhal, a former Hindu who knows Hindus and leads an outreach to Hindus, has said, “Hindus believe in going to the extremes in showing love to someone… I have discovered in my witnessing to Hindus that they are generally moved by the depiction of Jesus on the cross to validate His love for us.”

Paul’s approach still works. May his approach become our own as we stand for Christ where we live, work and learn!

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May 03 2024
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Resistance Against Truth

“These men have upset the world!”

These charges were leveled at Paul and Silas after they preached the Good News in Thessalonica. They must have done a great job in making the gospel clear to all who heard them. Acts 17 tells us that many people came to Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. For these people, the gospel was a welcome fragrance.

To others, it was the stench of death. Some Jews hated the message, and wanted to make Paul and Silas pay for ruining their day. They accused Paul and Silas of promoting another ruler besides Caesar. These Jews hated the rule of Caesar, but they hated Jesus even more.

This episode illustrates a truth about the Good News. Even when clearly presented, it will win some and infuriate others, even to the point of violence. In one person, the Holy Spirit brings new life; in another, the gospel reveals spiritual death.

Why do people reject the gospel? Such people love their sin above all else and resent having it exposed by the light of Christ and told that it is evil. They want to call evil good, to run their own lives without accountability to anyone, including God who made them.

No doubt some people who opposed Paul and Silas were religious, but they were dead to the true God. They wanted to turn the truth of God into something that sounded moral and sounded comfortable. As such, it was something less than truth. They preferred a god that helped them feel good about themselves, not repent. When Paul and Silas reminded them of their sin and God’s holiness, they recoiled.

Paul and Silas did not follow the seeker-friendly approach popular in many churches today. The seeker-friendly approach may lead people to adopt certain ideas from the Bible that appeal to them, but fail to reveal sin leading to repentance. They become devoted to their own ideas of God more than to God Himself.

A spiritually dead person can have spiritual longings, but they are always less than God. They still hate the true God even when they speak in moral and spiritual ways. In real life, they operate according to natural thinking.

The seeker-friendly approach operates on the false premise that one can share the gospel and lead a person to God without upsetting anyone. The seeker-friendly approach is a sign of how much the culture has impacted the church more than the church has impacted the culture.

George Barna reports that in his research, he has found that only 6% of today’s adults have a biblical worldview. The average American church person’s dominant worldview, he says, is syncretism, a collection of contradictory beliefs pasted together to suit themselves. A growing number of people in churches believe in reincarnation and that people are basically good. Fewer pastors preach the gospel with the clarity of Paul and Silas.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. He has already defeated Satan at the cross and invites us to join Him in enforcing His victory. He also warns us that Satan will go down swinging hard.

Let us move forward like Paul and Silas, assured of victory but also steeled for resistance from those who refuse to bow the knee to the King of kings. Let us remember that Jesus has already won.

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