The assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah State University was a shocking act of depraved evil carried out by a young man whose heart was overcome by demonic hate. This horrific moment overwhelmed the hearts of countless people around the world with grief and sorrow. We were forced to reckon with […] The post A Christian Response to the Murder of Charlie Kirk appeared first on The Cripplegate.| The Cripplegate
We need to be bolder. We need to be willing to tell people about Christ, and we need to be willing to suffer the consequences of it. I never had the privilege of meeting Charlie Kirk, but if there is anything that has been made clear in the last few days it is that he […] The post How Charlie Kirk should inspire us appeared first on The Cripplegate.| The Cripplegate
In the spring of 1992, after the former Soviet Union had been dissolved, then-Russian Ambassador Vladimir Lukin asked American Robert Gates, “So when are we going to get together and make some new rules for spying on each other?” What is true of the CIA and other intelligence groups is openly admitted (the lack of […]| The Cripplegate
Since I arrived at Desert Hills in March 2011, our church family has used the New American Standard Bible 1995 edition in our Sunday morning worship services. The NASB is the translation I have used since my days at The Master’s Seminary, and it has served me well for nearly three decades of Christian life […]| The Cripplegate
If you were to tour Martin Luther’s house in Wittenberg today, you would see a dark spot on the wall of his study. The docents of the property attribute this spot to a famous incident in which Luther, awakened in the night by Satan, grabbed an inkwell and threw it at the Tempter. Whether or […]| The Cripplegate
As we have studied the fruit of the Spirit, we have seen how we’ve had to define each term carefully from Scripture because our culturally determined definitions are inadequate and often incorrect.…| The Cripplegate
The fruit of the Spirit of kindness is a distinctly Christian virtue. For example, the Greek word for kindness was often confused with the word for Christ and Christian. However, kindness is fraught with problems. There is the problem of definition – what is kindness? People often interchange kindness with niceness. Kindness and niceness, though, are not the same. Then, […]| The Cripplegate
We all love to experience patience from others, but patience can be so difficult to show. Patience is also widely misunderstood. Although people commonly say, “Patience is a virtue,” their idea of patience is shallow and superficial. It usually indicates merely an ability to wait. Moreover, we know that even this superficial patience is in […]| The Cripplegate
Over the past three articles, we have been studying the fruit of the Spirit. In this post, we come to the third item in Paul’s list: peace. For more than half a century, peace has been little …| The Cripplegate
On February 9, 1831, the Reverend Andrew Thomson suffered a stroke, collapsed in the street, and passed into glory. As Scotland’s preeminent evangelical preacher, the shock of his death shook the whole Kirk, and many mourned their loss at his funeral some days later. Thomas Chalmers, who would succeed Thomson as the chief evangelical herald […]| The Cripplegate
We live in a world that is in a constant search for joy. This quest is so important and widespread that researchers often study what makes people happy, or what decreases happiness, identifying how…| The Cripplegate
My wife and I are Americans who have now lived more of our lives on African soil than on American soil, for the past 27 years and counting. All five of our kids were born in Africa, and we ar…| The Cripplegate
for a new generation of non-conformists| The Cripplegate
In our introductory post for this series on the Fruit of the Spirit, we took a general look at the list to begin to uncover the meaning of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Galatians. Now we will exa…| The Cripplegate
God doesn’t want you to be a man-pleaser. But he wants you to be a man-pleaser. Let me explain. In the New Testament, the word for “pleasing” another person means exactly what you’d think – doing what another person wants or, more specifically, making them happy by doing their will. Like in Acts 6:5, when […]| The Cripplegate
The fruit of the Holy Spirit addresses a critical concern in our day – the importance of cultivating virtue. Virtue is a word not often used, but it basically means moral excellency. It speaks…| The Cripplegate
God designed the church to be a foretaste of the new creation, but sadly, the church can often look more like the old creation as Christians surrender to the desires of the flesh. These problems in…| The Cripplegate
Pope Francis is dead. He died by a suspected cerebral stroke Monday morning April 21, 2025. One day after Easter. World leaders are coming to Rome in the next few days for the Pope’s funeral. Every…| The Cripplegate
Every church faces the reality of conflict. Throughout the New Testament, we see that conflict was a constant problem the early church faced, and the nature of the conflict varied from church…| The Cripplegate
In the first major section of 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul addresses the unfortunate, but inevitable, problem of conflict within the church. At the outset, we should recognize that conflict in t…| The Cripplegate
The first Shepherds Conference I attended as a pastor was in 2016. I had attended the conference in 2001 and 2002 while a student at The Master’s Seminary (in 2000 the conference was suspended whil…| The Cripplegate
In the year 841 BC, the prophet Elisha’s messenger came to Jehu’s house and anointed him the next king of Israel. According to the Lord’s purpose, Jehu was to destroy the house of Ahab so that God …| The Cripplegate
People don’t give much thought to the problem of idolatry, but since Scripture spends so much time addressing this issue, we should understand what the Bible says about it and how to obey God’s com…| The Cripplegate
We are beginning a new series entitled, “No Other Gods: Destroying the Idols of Our Hearts,” where we will consider the important biblical topic of idolatry. Idolatry is not spoken of much today, n…| The Cripplegate
How should Christians think about baptism? I recently ran across this post on X making a case for infant baptism: Although the argument is brief, it encapsulates well the thinking of thos…| The Cripplegate
Inside of American evangelicalism is a paradox: many of the most respected leaders use their influence to steer denominations and institutions in a direction that is significantly more liberal than the people those leaders ostensibly represent. There is no shortage of examples of this. Congregations who would reject critical race…| The Cripplegate
What does it mean that Jesus is our prophet, priest, and king? Like all theological questions, more is at stake than merely intellectual comprehension. The Gospel calls us to put our trust in Jesus for salvation. How, though, can we believe in Jesus if we do not know who He…| The Cripplegate
