Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 68

Languages and Laughter in Heaven, and a 9-Year-Old Reader in France

This tweet from a pastor in France touched me deeply. He kindly gave us permission to use his words and the photo he posted of his son.

Jason Procopio 

My son (9) is loving the logic of “Touchpoints: Heaven” by @randyalcorn (French translation): we can hear him from the other room reading the passage quoted, then the book’s conclusion, and saying, “That makes sense.”

It is so encouraging to hear from readers in other countries. Counting each of my books in each language as one book, I now have five times more books in other languages than in English. When I look at my books in other languages on the shelf, I sometimes marvel at how far God has taken them and what lasting impact there may be even in books which have gone out of print but will fall into someone’s hands at the right time and place in the providence of God.

This is true for all of us: we just won’t know how far our work has gone, by God’s grace, until we are with Him. I think we will be blown away by the stories we will hear from the people that we meet.  

Here’s an excerpt from TouchPoints: Heaven (French translation Les pieds sur terre, les yeux vers le ciel):

Languages

What languages will we speak in Heaven?

“They cried out in a loud voice.” (Revelation 7:10, NIV)

This singular “voice” implies a shared language. This could be a trade language, Heaven’s equivalent to Swahili or English, second languages that many know in addition to their native languages, allowing them to communicate. Or the common language could be our primary one. It may be a universal language God grants us without our having to learn it. If he wishes, God could allow us to understand all languages even if we can’t speak them.

“At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. . . . Then they said, ‘Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.’ But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. ‘Look!’ he said. ‘The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.’” (Genesis 11:1, 4-7)

TheBabelaccount offers clues to the importance of shared language in an ideal society. God confused the language of the people and dispersed them, so their great city went unfinished. Notice that all people originally shared one language, which empowered them to cooperate together in great achievements. But because they were united in self-glorification rather than God-glorification, they embraced a false unity that would’ve empowered further rebellion and self-destruction. Because the people weren’t united around their God-designed purpose to rule the earth for his glory, God removed a source of their destructive unity and power—their shared language. Once mankind is made righteous and entrusted with stewarding the New Earth, God will likely restore a common language.

Laughter and Fun

Will we laugh in Heaven?

 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.” (Luke 6:23, NIV)

Just as Jesus promises satisfaction as a reward in Heaven, he also promises laughter as a reward. Anticipating the laughter to come, Jesus says we should leap for joy now. Can you imagine someone leaping for joy in utter silence, without laughter? Take any group of rejoicing people, and what do you hear? Laughter. If God didn’t have a sense of humor, we as his image bearers wouldn’t. It is God’s gift to humanity, a gift that will be raised to new levels after our bodily resurrection.

 “God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh.” (Luke 6:21)

The reward of those who mourn now will be laughter later. I’m convinced Christ will laugh with us, and his wit and fun-loving nature will be our greatest source of endless laughter.

Does Using VidAngel to Screen Offensive Content out of Movies Still Involve Financially Supporting Hollywood?

A reader wrote:

I ran across your blog while researching VidAngel. I’m a Christian, and a mom to seven. We love movies and are pretty choosy because of content. I’m thinking VidAngel is an amazing answer for us, in wanting to enjoy so many stories without the smut. 

But I had a friend ask, “Aren’t we still supporting those who make movies with all this content we wish to avoid?” I’m struggling with the moral question of whether to financially support Hollywood, even though my contribution would be miniscule in comparison to what they already make. Is this an issue you could speak to?

Here's my answer:

I think it’s similar to how we view Wallstreet. If you invest in stocks, you should stay away from those that clearly dishonor God. But just because some stocks are immoral doesn’t mean I shouldn’t invest in good ones. None of us have the power to turn a bad stock into a good one. But if you have the power to remove from a movie everything that dishonors God, why not use it?

If you go to see some movies in theaters that are appropriate, arguably you are indirectly supporting those that aren't and are making the theater profitable. If you buy milk from a store that also sells inappropriate magazines, is that acceptable? If there was a piece of clothing that was inappropriate, could you buy it and sew on something that would make it appropriate? That’s what I think VidAngel is doing—It’s taking mostly decent movies and removing what isn’t decent. (If a movie is mostly bad, and some certainly are, I wouldn’t use VidAngel with it. I just wouldn’t watch it at all.)

I am more concerned about what I take into my mind than what the movie industry makes money on. They are not making money on my choice to listen to their bad language or watch their bad scenes, because I’m not doing that. True, technically a handful of Christians who use VidAngel to morally screen a movie may at an extremely small level contribute to the financial success of that movie. But I think that’s negligible. In the same way, if you buy from a store owned by Mormons (or for that matter if you subscribe to VidAngel) you are supporting Mormons. But if you knew who owned the other stores there would likely be atheists, supporters of Planned Parenthood etc., who in their own way are as bad as Hollywood.

The truth is many Christians do end up watching things on Netflix and Amazon Prime, etc.—as well as on network TV—trying them and hoping they will be moral, then seeing what they shouldn’t. With VidAngel, you don’t have to hope because it actually will screen out what you’ve told it to screen out—I will never see a sex scene, hear the Lord’s name taken in vain, or hear the f-word. You are making choices to guard your mind. To me that outweighs the considerations. Of course, everyone has to make their own choices. It’s a matter of conscience, and if your conscience says don’t use a service like Vidangel, then don’t. But realize the consciences of others, such as mine, tell them that’s exactly what they should do. It’s just like Romans 14 says:

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God….

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean….

22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

Browse more resources on the topic of purity, and see Randy's book The Purity Principle and his booklet Sexual Temptation.

Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash

Spurgeon on the Ever-Living Gospel and the Person of Jesus

Note from Randy: I’d been a pastor for ten years before I discovered the writings of Charles Spurgeon, and then I couldn’t get enough of him. The Bible oozed out of his pores, and he let Scripture be Scripture, rarely twisting it to fit his theology.

One of my books on Heaven, We Shall See God, contains segments from his sermons on Heaven, so about 60% of the book is Spurgeon. It was one of my favorite books to work on, since I extracted my favorite portions from many of his messages. One day I’ll meet him and say, “Don’t know if you realized we were co-authors. There really wasn’t any way I could ask your permission!”

I enjoyed these writings from Spurgeon on the gospel and Jesus, which I found through the excellent Logos software.

“But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”—1 Pet. 1:25.

ALL human teaching and, indeed, all human beings, shall pass away as the grass of the meadow; but we are here assured that the word of the Lord is of a very different character, for it shall endure for ever.

We have here a divine gospel; for what word can endure for ever but that which is spoken by the eternal God?

We have here an ever-living gospel, as full of vitality as when it first came from the lip of God; as strong to convince and convert, to regenerate and console, to sustain and sanctify, as ever it was in its first days of wonder-working.

We have an unchanging gospel, which is not to-day green grass, and to-morrow dry hay; but always the abiding truth of the immutable Jehovah. Opinions alter, but truth certified by God can no more change than the God who uttered it.

Here, then, we have a gospel to rejoice in, a word of the Lord upon which we may lean all our weight. “For ever” includes life, death, judgment, and eternity. Glory be to God in Christ Jesus for everlasting consolation. Feed on the word to-day, and all the days of thy life. [1]

“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”—John 12:46.

THIS world is dark as midnight; Jesus has come that by faith we may have light, and may no longer sit in the gloom which covers all the rest of mankind.

Whosoever is a very wide term: it means you and me. If we trust in Jesus we shall no more sit in the dark shadow of death, but shall enter into the warm light of a day which shall never end. Why do we not come out into the light at once?

A cloud may sometimes hover over us, but we shall not abide in darkness if we believe in Jesus. He has come to give us broad daylight. Shall he come in vain? If we have faith we have the privilege of sunlight: let us enjoy it. From the night of natural depravity, of ignorance, of doubt, of despair, of sin, of dread, Jesus has come to set us free; and all believers shall know that he no more comes in vain than the sun rises and fails to scatter his heat and light.

Shake off thy depression, dear brother. Abide not in the dark, but abide in the light. In Jesus is thy hope, thy joy, thy heaven. Look to him, to him only, and thou shalt rejoice as the birds rejoice at sunrise, and as the angels rejoice before the throne. [2]

Faith and the Nature of Christ

No idea of the Lord Jesus Christ approaches to correctness which does not see in his one person the two natures of God and man united. In that person, wherein were blended, but not confused, the Godhead and the Manhood, a practical faith has its most ample help. Jesus sympathizes with the condition in which the struggler after excellence finds himself, for he also was tempted in all points like as we are; he knows the difficulties which grow out of the infirmities of flesh and blood, for he felt sickness and pain, poverty and hunger, weakness and depression. It is a great gain in a human career, a specially suitable assistance, to have an unlimited power at one’s side sympathizing with our weakness.

Nor is the advantage less in the other direction, for here is a Man, bound to us by relationship and affection the most intense, who is not only tender to the last degree of our suffering nature, but is also as wise as he is brotherly, and as mighty to subdue our faults as he is gentle to bear with our frailties. His Manhood brings Jesus down to us, but united with the Divine nature it lifts us up to God. The Lord Jesus thus not only ministers to our comfort, but to our betterment, which is the greater concern of the two.

Could faith believe in a Being more answerable to all our needs, more helpful to our noblest longings? Allied to Jesus, we confidently aspire to such likeness to our Creator as it is possible for a creature to bear.

Enthusiasm for the Person of Jesus

The love of the believer to the Lord Jesus is intensely personal and enthusiastic. It overtops all other affections. His love, his sufferings, his perfections, his glories fill the heart and set it on fire. There is more force in the love of an actual living person than in subscription to any set of doctrines however important they may be. The courage of a leader has often produced deeds of daring which no philosophy could have demanded. Our glorious leader, Christ Jesus, inspires his followers with a burning passion, an all-consuming zeal, an irrepressible enthusiasm, which supplies all the energy which the noblest life can need. It is no small aid to our noblest ambition to have our hearts captured by incarnate holiness.

Faith in the Life of Christ on Earth

The more we examine the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more are we filled with admiration of it. In the gospels we have a fourfold photograph of his countenance, taken from different positions. Putting these together, or even meditating upon any one of them, we are charmed with its singular beauty. Nor is this at all remarkable, for almost every man in the world, believer or unbeliever, has acknowledged the singular excellence of the life of Christ. It is so original, so transcendent, so perfect, that all men, except certain blinded partisans, sworn to run-a-muck at all things holy, have bowed before its glory, and regarded it as the beau-idéal of perfect manhood. Now this is in Scripture set before us as an example, therefore it is imitable; and better still, it is set forth as the ordained pattern to which the believer is to be conformed are God’s great work is done. To have a high ideal, to be assured that we can reach it, and to have a capable Helper, who will enable us to reach it—this is to have a grand assistance towards a life of virtue. Faith in this Exemplar, who is also our Saviour, must minister strength in our life-battle. To aspire to such a perfect character, as the salvation which we most desire, is to be already saved in principle. It is a great comfort to be fired with an ambition to be like Jesus. Salvation from hell to heaven every selfish wretch may wish for; but to be saved from selfishness into the image of Christ is that which only the renewed in heart are pining for, and by that pining their salvation is assured.

Faith in the Principles of Christ’s Life

It is observable that the self-denial of our Lord Jesus, which was complete and entire beyond all suspicion, proved to be for him the way to that pre-eminence of glory which he now enjoys. He is above all things because he stooped to the lowest and meanest state. It is his honour that he laid aside his glory, and bowed to the greatest shame and scorn. His glory in the hearts of his redeemed is this, that he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and even died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. No secondary motive deteriorated the compassionate self-sacrifice of Jesus; yet the abnegation of himself has turned to his boundless exaltation. Faith perceives this, and knowing that in this case one rule holds good for the Leader and the follower, it accepts all manner of service however menial, and consents with alacrity to a thorough self-emptying. To lose one’s life for truth’s sake and love’s sake is according to Biblical philosophy to save it. The complete sinking of self is the surest road to glory and immortality. Herein is the soul prepared or all ill-weathers, and rescued from a passion which is of all things else the most weakening to the force of virtue. [3]

 

[1] Spurgeon, C. H. (1893). The cheque book of the bank of faith: being precious promises arranged for daily use with brief comments (p. 244). New York: American Tract Society.

[2] Spurgeon, C. H. (1893). The cheque book of the bank of faith: being precious promises arranged for daily use with brief comments (p. 70). New York: American Tract Society.

[3] Spurgeon, C. H. (1892). The Clue of the Maze (pp. 94–101). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

Photo by Jessica Delp on Unsplash

Our Giving Reflects the Ultimate Giver

Jesus makes it clear that the abundant life consists not in material abundance but in the life-giving spiritual abundance found only in Him. Eternal and abundant life begins in this world when we come to Jesus, the ultimate giver, and continues as we become more like Him. The gospel itself centers on the single greatest act of giving in the history of the universe.

As we learn to give, we draw closer to God. But no matter how far we progress in the grace of giving, Jesus Christ remains the unmatchable giver. It was He who left the wealth of heaven to make the supreme sacrifice to deliver us from eternal poverty and grant us eternal riches.

No matter how much we give, we can never out-give God.

In this video clip, I talk about how being made in the image of a generous God impacts our giving.

See more resources on money and giving, as well as Randy's related books, including Giving Is the Good Life and The Treasure Principle.

Photo by Igal Ness on Unsplash

Dads, Your Humble Willingness to Apologize to Your Kids Speaks Volumes

I remember vividly a meal and conversation Nanci and I shared with Tony and Lois Evans at an event we were speaking at. I never tire of his messages—I am always riveted. I thank God for Tony and his family and his many years of faithful ministry. I love what we hear from him and his son Anthony in this video about the need for fathers to apologize to their children. (In this article, I share a personal story and talk about how saying “I'm sorry, please forgive me,” may teach your children more than you would have by never failing, and far more than pretending you never fail.)

Watching this video made me reflect on my own relationship with my dad. When I was young, he was very tough on my brother and me. Though he could at times be good-natured and funny, his default mood seemed to be disapproval of us. Dad wasn’t abusive, but we were not at ease around him. He never came to my many games or school activities, only my mom was there. To me she was always the world’s best mom, but I came to really resent my dad.  In fact, I’m sad to say that from age 12 to 15, I actually hated him. 

I’ll never forget walking home after football, basketball, or track from Orient Grade School, and coming to that place on what was called then Harris Road, now 302nd, where I could first see my house a quarter of a mile away. I would immediately look to see whether dad’s car was in the driveway. Usually it wasn’t, and I would feel great relief. But when occasionally it was, I felt dread and would tighten up and try to figure out any way to avoid seeing him.

My dear sister Gail, my dad’s daughter by a previous marriage, saw a tender side to dad that I didn’t see until we had our daughters and observed how he was with them, very sweet and kind. I remember telling Nanci I wished I would’ve seen those qualities in my dad when I grew up in his house. But he faced a world of difficulties growing up and living through two World Wars and the Great Depression that I never did, and every time I think of him my heart is tender toward him.

I’m glad to say that after I came to faith in Christ, I immediately felt a love for my dad that I had never known before. I prayed for him for many years and at age 84, as he faced cancer, he came to faith in Christ. For the first time he seemed to need me and enjoy my company. That was a great gift of God to me, and I hope to him also. 

I feel no bitterness at all in my heart toward my dad, but I’m sorry to say I never once remember him apologizing to me for anything or even admitting he was wrong. I think that if he had, our relationship would’ve been very different. This is why the video with Tony Evans and his son is so powerful to me. I too am an imperfect dad and husband, so I certainly feel more empathy toward dad and his failures than I did when I was growing up. But I also know that I am right to hold myself to a higher standard, because while my dad never knew Jesus when I was a child, or any of his children were young, I did know Jesus by the time I had children. And in that sense, I have fewer excuses then my dad did for my own shortcomings.

My daughters Karina and Angela know my weaknesses and imperfections and when I failed them, sometimes knowing it, but most of the time not knowing. But I hope they also know the depth of my love for them, which is beyond anything I can express. I do recall times of asking their forgiveness for things I said and did, but I’m sure there were other times when I failed to do that. I thank God for His love and forgiveness.

Here is a great passage of Scripture for dads and their children, for husbands and wives, for siblings and for every family member, including those who are fellow members of a church family:  “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Heaven as Substance, Earth as Shadow

In his seventeenth-century classic Paradise Lost, John Milton describes Eden as a garden full of aromatic flowers, delicious fruit, and soft grass, lushly watered. He also connects Eden with Heaven, the source of earthly existence, portraying Heaven as a place of great pleasures and the source of Earth’s pleasures. In Milton’s story, the angel Raphael asks Adam,

What if Earth

Be but the shadow of Heav’n, and things therein

Each to other like, more then on Earth is thought?

Though the idea of Earth as Heaven’s shadow is seldom discussed, even in books on Heaven, it’s a concept that has biblical support. For example, the temple in Heaven is filled with smoke from the glory of God (Revelation 15:8). Is this a figurative temple with figurative smoke? Or is there an actual fire creating literal smoke in a real building? We’re told there are scrolls in Heaven, elders who have faces, martyrs who wear clothes, and even people with “palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9). There are musical instruments in the present Heaven (Revelation 8:6), horses coming into and out of Heaven (2 Kings 2:11; Revelation 19:14), and an eagle flying overhead in Heaven (Revelation 8:13). Perhaps some of these objects are merely symbolic, with no corresponding physical reality. But is that true of all of them?

Many commentators dismiss the possibility that any of these passages in Revelation should be taken literally, on the grounds that it is apocalyptic literature, which is known for its figures of speech. But the book of Hebrews isn’t apocalyptic, it’s epistolary. It says that earthly priests “serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5). Moses was told, in building the earthly tabernacle, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain” (Hebrews 8:5). If that which was built after the pattern was physical, might it suggest the original was also physical?

The book of Hebrews seems to say that we should see Earth as a derivative realm and Heaven as the source realm. If we do, we’ll abandon the assumption that something existing in one realm cannot exist in the other. In fact, we’ll consider it likely that what exists in one realm exists in at least some form in the other. We should stop thinking of Heaven and Earth as opposites and instead view them as overlapping circles that share certain commonalities.

Christ “went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation” (Hebrews 9:11). “Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself” (Hebrews 9:24). The earthly sanctuary was a copy of the true one in Heaven. In fact, the New Jerusalem that will be brought down to the New Earth is currently in the intermediate or present Heaven (Hebrews 12:22). If we know that the New Jerusalem will be physically on the New Earth, and we also know that it is in the present Heaven, does that not suggest the New Jerusalem is currently physical? Why wouldn’t it be? Unless we start with an assumption that Heaven can’t be physical, it seems that this evidence would persuade us that it is indeed physical.

These verses in Hebrews suggest that God created Earth in the image of Heaven, just as He created mankind in His image. C. S. Lewis proposed that “the hills and valleys of Heaven will be to those you now experience not as a copy is to an original, nor as a substitute is to the genuine article, but as the flower to the root, or the diamond to the coal.”

Often our thinking is backwards. Why do we imagine that God patterns Heaven’s holy city after an earthly city, as if Heaven knows nothing of community and culture and has to get its ideas from us? Isn’t it more likely that earthly realities, including cities, are derived from heavenly counterparts? We tend to start with Earth and reason up toward Heaven, when instead we should start with Heaven and reason down toward Earth. It isn’t merely an accommodation to our earthly familial structure, for instance, that God calls Himself a father and us children. On the contrary, He created father-child relationships to display His relationship with us, just as He created human marriage to reveal the love relationship between Christ and His bride (Ephesians 5:32).

In my novel Safely Home, I envision the relationship between Earth and Heaven:

Compared to what he now beheld, the world he’d come from was a land of shadows, colorless and two-dimensional. This place was fresh and captivating, resonating with color and beauty. He could not only see and hear it, but feel and smell and taste it. Every hillside, every mountain, every waterfall, every frolicking animal in the fields seemed to beckon him to come join them, to come from the outside and plunge into the inside. This whole world had the feel of cool water on a blistering August afternoon. The light beckoned him to dive in with abandon, to come join the great adventure.

“I know what this is,” Quan said.

“Tell me,” said the Carpenter.

“It’s the substance that casts all those shadows in the other world. The circles there are copies of the spheres here. The squares there are copies of the cubes here. The triangles there are copies of the pyramids here. Earth was a flatland. This is . . . well, the inside is bigger than the outside, isn’t it? How many dimensions are there?”

“Far more than you have seen yet,” the King said, laughing.

“This is the Place that defines and gives meaning to all places,” Li Quan said. “I never imagined it would be like this.”

Browse more resources on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s related books, including  Heaven .

Photo by Denys Argyriou on Unsplash

Ten Great Quotes on Writing

Note from Randy: I’ve been writing since the 1970s and started researching my first book in 1981. Depending upon whether you count study guides as books, I’ve written 57-65 books. That tells you a few things, but mostly that I started young and am now old. :) If you write and just keep on writing, eventually you’ll be called prolific. Of course, being prolific doesn’t mean what you’ve written is good or that it matters. Writing is an exercise in humility. Regardless how good a writer thinks he is, readers and reviewers can bring you back to reality! Still, after over forty years of writing, there are few things more satisfying to me than to read email from a reader who says one of my books has been life-changing.  

I’m often asked for advice on writing. I appreciate Trevin Wax as a brother, and I like his ten favorite quotes on writing. I hope you enjoy them too.

10 of My Favorite Quotes on Writing

By Trevin Wax

Over the years, I’ve collected quotes on writing that speak to the craft, the discipline, and the thrill of putting thought into words. On a regular basis, I get asked for advice on writing more or writing better, and I find myself returning to the suggestions implied by these ten quotes. 

1. “The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.” — Samuel Johnson

Other writers make a similar point. Here’s Stephen Pinker: “Good writers are avid readers. They have absorbed a vast inventory of words, idioms, constructions, tropes, and rhetorical tricks, and with them a sensitivity to how they mesh and how they clash.”

And, of course, Stephen King: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

Too many times, people have told me they have a book inside them, when in reality, they have a chapter. In order to really write, you must really read. First fill the library of your mind; then see if there’s a book in there.

2. “Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.” – Cal Newport

Writing doesn’t begin with filling your mind with substance, but emptying it of clutter. Whenever I try to make headway on a book, I schedule a few days away and abide by strict rules. Unplug the television. No listening to podcasts. Nothing but a pen and notebook when I’m walking, or when I go out to eat. It’s time for writing and thinking—mulling over ideas, considering new concepts, trying out new structures and putting together sentences to see how they fit. Clean out the clutter before you commence.

3. “Shakespeare stole; but he did wonderful things with his plunder. He’s like somebody who nicks your old socks and then darns them.”  – Mark Forsyth

Truth be told, there is no original thought. Not totally original, anyway. We’re not talking plagiarism here, but simply the acknowledgment that good writing is just a creative and compelling presentation of truths discovered elsewhere. Were you to list the source for every single idea in your book the end notes would be longer than the body. The world is your source. Plunder its treasure and repay it with wonderful words.

4. “A writer is a world trapped in a person.” – Victor Hugo

Our kids have heard me say that every book in our home is a world that can be entered. We don’t have a library full of books; we have a room filled with worlds. But what about the world that gives birth to a world? That’s what a writer is.

Hugo’s quote captures the feeling after you’ve done the hard work of preparation and are now bursting with words. Like Jeremiah describing the passion for prophesying as a “fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones,” the writer senses a world trapped inside that must be released through words.

5. “The people who achieve extraordinary results don’t achieve them by working more hours. They achieve them getting more done in the hours they work.” – Gary Keller

This quote applies to productivity, yet is especially true of writing. Good writers block out time; they set aside distractions and commit themselves to the task. It’s not the amount of time that matters most, but the depth of focus during that time.

Focusing is the hardest part. John Stott called it PIM (“pain in mind”) and believed the best work doesn’t happen without it. But when it’s most painful—when you don’t shy away from the mental exhaustion but lean into it—that’s when you are most likely to make progress and do good work.

6. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”  –  Stephen King

Don’t wait to write until the creative juices are flowing. They won’t flow until you start to write. It’s work. Get to it.

7. “Don’t be afraid of your reader.”

I say this to people all the time, and I don’t remember where I first heard it. Writing is already difficult. To cower before your reader, expecting them to pounce on every little mistake or disagreement, will paralyze the process. So don’t be afraid of the person on the other side of the page. Your heart is to serve them with your words. Offer what you have and expect them to say “Thank you.”

8. “You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” ― Jodi Picoult

The first stage in writing is getting words out there. Don’t worry if it’s not good enough for anyone else to see. Just write. You can clean up the mess later.

Don’t fall for the Michelangelo myth—the notion that he saw the final product in a block of marble and then just chipped away until the figure emerged. Sounds inspiring, but it’s false. Michelangelo altered his sculptural plans as he went, testing his ideas and changing his mind. He learned through practice not theory. Good writers do the same.

9. “Whenever there’s something wrong with your writing, suspect that there’s something wrong with your thinking.” – Patricia O’ Connor

If you can’t get clear in your words, it’s not clear in your head. When you’re in the editing stage and you come across sections that don’t make sense or things you want to say but can’t express, follow the trail of misery back to your thought process. It’s there you’ll find the fog.

10. “Always write (and read) with the ear, not the eye. You should hear every sentence you write as if it was being read aloud or spoken. If it does not sound nice, try again.” – C. S. Lewis

William Zinsser backs up Lewis on this point: “People read with their ears, whether they know it or not… I write by ear, and sound is what leads me to what I’m rummaging for.” This is why I read out loud, from start to finish, every book I write before it goes to print.

Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash

Ben Watson on Why We Need a Culture of Life to Address America’s Falling Birth Rate

Retired NFL player Benjamin Watson is husband to Kirsten and father of seven precious children. He recently wrote an excellent opinion piece in Newsweek titled “To Address America's Declining Birth Rate, We Need a Culture of Life.” Ben says this:

Americans aren’t having kids like they used to. The most recent census shows that the U.S. birth rate has hit its lowest level since 1979. In fact, the birth rate has fallen almost every year since 1991. Today, at just 1.64 births per woman, American families aren’t even having enough babies to meet the replacement rate of 2.1 births.

Our plummeting birth rate is a complex issue, of course. But it presents a unique problem for our country. We need to view this trend as a part of a broad and deeply concerning cultural drift away from the importance of the family.

…raising a family is hard, and not just economically or financially. Aspiring parents need things like job security and health care, that's for sure. But they also need a robust life-respecting culture that supports mothers, encourages fathers and inspires young couples to raise families.

Our historically low birth rate is the canary in the coal mine; it's a sure sign that we don't have that kind of culture anymore. Young parents need support and guidance, but our culture gives them confusion, doubt, worry, pessimism and fear. Instead of uplifting and protecting the dignity of families, our culture seems to systematically devalue them.

(Read the rest of his excellent article here.)

Ben points out a major anti-family issue in our culture:

It’s almost impossible to understate the scale of devastation that abortion is wreaking on the family. With our historically low birth rate, the census data reports that there were just over 3.6 million babies born in 2020. The pro-choice Guttmacher Institute reported that in 2017, the last year of available data, there were more than 860,000 abortions.

Not only are fewer people than ever before finding their way to a full appreciation and embrace of the family, but hundreds of thousands of babies are being killed every year by the for-profit abortion industry. Our culture doesn't just devalue the family and discourage pregnancy; it actively supports killing what few children are conceived.

One of the pro-choice claims I address in my book ProChoice or ProLife? is “The world is overpopulated, so the fewer births the better.” As I explain in the book, the problem of a shrinking population propagates itself. Because today’s women have fewer children, there will be fewer parents tomorrow, resulting in still fewer children. Fewer and fewer people having fewer and fewer children adds up to dying societies.

Society used to view children as an asset. Now we view them as a liability. Even in the church people with large families tend to be looked at like they’re weird, because we’ve bought into the Planned Parenthood mentality that children are inconveniences that interfere with our lifestyles. But Psalm 127 says children are a blessing from the Lord.

Ben points out, “…people need to hear the truth about children. They need to hear stories and learn from perspectives that center the inherent worth, dignity and beauty of loving a brand-new person into existence. People need to be inspired by the special, simple glory of raising a new human being the world has never seen before.”

As God’s people, may we demonstrate to the world that parenthood is a joy and a calling, far more important than any vocation. Our children and grandchildren are an ongoing investment, a gift we leave to a world we won’t be part of, but which we will impact for eternity through the generations that follow us. And for those unable to have children of their own, adoption is a possibility, so is foster care, and the investment in the life of a child through mentorship and example is also eternity-impacting! Creating a culture of life involves people from every life stage joining together to uphold God’s plan for the family and the dignity of each person, created in His image.

Photo by K A D M I E L on Unsplash

Christ Sides with You Against Your Sin, Not Against You Because of Your Sin

When I really love a book, I tend to either read it quickly or slowly. In the case of Dane Ortlund’s excellent Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, I have been reading it very slowly. I’ve spent multiple days reading some of the chapters because I find the book so rich and nourishing and worthy of contemplation. I find I’ve underlined most sentences on a number of pages!

I would highly recommend this book to any follower of Jesus. Here’s one of many small portions I have appreciated:

…to those who do belong to (Christ], sins evoke holy longing, holy love, holy tenderness. In the key text on divine holiness (Isa. 6:1-8), that holiness (6:3) flows naturally and immediately into forgiveness and mercy (6:7).

Here is how Goodwin explains it as he brings to a close his book The Heart of Christ with a series of concluding applications. Reflecting on the “consolations and encouragements” that are ours in light of Christ himself feeling pain in our own sins and sufferings, he writes:

There is comfort concerning such infirmities, in that your very sins move him to pity more than to anger… For he suffers with us under our infirmities, and by infirmities are meant sins, as well as other miseries… Christ takes part with you, and is so far from being provoked against you, as all his anger is turned upon your sin to ruin it; yes, his pity is increased the more toward you, even as the heart of a father is to a child that has some loathsome disease, or as one is to a member of his body that has leprosy, he hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the part affected the more. What shall not make for us, when our sins, that are both against Christ and us, shall be turned as motives to him to pity us the more?

The greater the misery is, the more is the pity when the party is beloved. Now of all miseries, sin is the greatest; and while you look at it as such, Christ will look upon it as such also. And he, loving your persons, and hating only the sin, his hatred shall all fall, and that only upon the sin, to free you of it by its ruin and destruction, but his affections shall be the more drawn out to you; and this as much when you lie under sin as under any other affliction. Therefore fear not.

What is Goodwin saying here?

If you are part of Christ’s own body, your sins evoke his deepest heart, his compassion and pity. He “takes part with you”—that is, he’s on your side. He sides with you against your sin, not against you because of your sin. He hates sin. But he loves you. We understand this, says Goodwin, when we consider the hatred a father has against a terrible disease afflicting his child—the father hates the disease while loving the child. Indeed, at some level the presence of the disease draws out his heart to his child all the more.

This is not to ignore the disciplinary side of Christ’s care for his people. The Bible clearly teaches that our sins draw forth the discipline of Christ (e.g., Heb. 12:1-11). He would not truly love us if that were not true. But even this is a reflection of his great heart for us. When a body part has been injured, it requires the pain and labor of physical therapy. But that physical therapy is not punitive; it is intended to bring healing. It is out of care for that limb that the physical therapy is assigned.

Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash

Abortion, Spiritual Warfare, and God’s Sovereignty: My Interview on a Prolife Podcast

I was interviewed earlier last week on Seth Gruber’s podcast UnAborted. Seth has a big heart for the unborn and is passionate about equipping Christians and pro-life advocates to make a gracious, winsome, and persuasive case of their prolife beliefs in the public square.

Watch or listen to our conversation, which includes some stories I haven’t shared before in an interview, about my family’s prolife history, Frank Peretti, and the Lovejoy abortion clinic in Portland, which recently closed after 50 years:

Our ministry received an encouraging note from someone who watched this podcast:

I woke up this morning at about 3:30 because I couldn’t sleep. Thought I would wash some dishes and cook some eggs. So I would have something to listen to, I came across Randy's interview with Seth Gruber. I have followed Randy’s ministry for many years. I have been aware of how EPM began and Randy's story for years but his interview with Seth had as much of an impact on me as anything he has said or written.

I am semi-retired so I have quite a bit of free time. When I worked, I travelled a good bit so I had a chance to listen to all of his fiction books and really benefitted from them. Although I've listened to Randy before, for some reason this interview affected me emotionally, particularly that his daughters were “all in” from an early age. They weren’t involved just because Dad led a ministry, they were involved with full faith in God's provision and the impact they would have on the abortion industry. At that time, there likely were more negatives than positives and yet they saw what was not apparent at first look. That God was in the details and no matter what Satan threw at them. God would sustain them.

I just wanted to drop this quick note to you to thank you for your years of ministry and the love that is apparent with every word spoken. I am praying for your ministry as it continues to have a profound effect on people everywhere. I will also pray about my own involvement. Despite following the prolife movement and having several friends that are very involved, I have never been personally involved in any way. I don’t know what that will look like. I'm 62 years old now and have a lot more time on my hands than I did when I was working 60 hours a week. Again thank you and God bless you and your tremendous work.

How might God be calling you to intervene on behalf of unborn children and their mothers? Here are 50 ideas to get you started. I also encourage you to check out my book ProChoice or ProLife: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims—What Do Facts & Common Sense Tell Us? It’s available as a free PDF.